KR101632706B1 - System and method for controlling device - Google Patents

Abstract

A device control system includes a plurality of command sets for controlling each of a plurality of devices composed of same or different object Internet devices, a server solution for storing and managing the command sets, and a command set And a control unit that receives a first command included in the first command and controls a first device of the devices to match the first command to perform the first command.

Description

System and method for controlling device < RTI ID = 0.0 >

Technical aspects of the present invention relate to a device control system and a device control method.

The Internet has been used as a space where humans can share information with producers / consumers of information. In the future, it is expected that the Internet of Things (IoT), in which objects around us, such as household appliances and sensors, can be connected to the network, and environmental information about objects and information about objects themselves can also be shared. In other words, devices supporting the Internet are expected to increase rapidly in the future. Accordingly, it is considered that the ease of access to various types of Internet devices is important, and an integrated management and control system for Internet devices is required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a device control system and method capable of integrally managing and controlling various devices of the same or different types.

A device control system according to an aspect of the present invention includes a plurality of command sets for controlling each of a plurality of devices constituted by identical or different kind of object Internet devices, And a control unit that receives a first command included in a command set of any one of the command sets and controls a first device of the devices to match the first command to perform the first command . And a driving unit of a device which receives control commands transmitted to the respective devices in the control unit and controls the corresponding devices to control the plurality of devices, and includes a communication unit for transmitting and receiving these commands .

In some embodiments, the server solution may include a device information management unit for storing and managing the command sets, and a first communication unit for transmitting the command set registered in the device information management unit to the control unit.

In some embodiments, the control command can be transformed into a unique signal form that each device can perform in the control unit and transmitted, or the command received in the driving unit can be transformed into a signal inherent to the device.

In some embodiments, the control unit may include a user input unit for receiving the first command and a user authentication unit for determining whether the user who has input the first command has the control right of the first device .

Wherein the server solution includes a user authentication unit for determining whether a user who has requested control of the first device has a control right of the first device and a server unit for transmitting the authentication result determined by the user authentication unit to the control unit And an authentication result transmitting unit. The user authentication unit may perform user authentication using the voiceprint of the user.

The device control system according to the technical idea of the present invention can integrate and manage a command set of each of the same or different types of devices into one server solution, And ultimately can easily manage and control various devices. In addition, when the command input method of the control unit is set to voice input, it is possible to communicate with various devices only by voice through a control unit such as a portable terminal possessed by the user, so that various devices can be controlled without unnecessary behavior do.

1 is a schematic diagram for explaining a device control system and a method according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a server solution according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a schematic view for explaining a control unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a schematic view illustrating a device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a schematic diagram for explaining a device control system and method according to another embodiment according to the technical idea of the present invention.
6 is a diagram illustrating an application example of a device control system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numerals are used for the same constituent elements in the drawings, and a duplicate description thereof will be omitted.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown. These embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. The present invention is not limited to the following embodiments. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be more thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of the invention to those skilled in the art.

Although the terms first, second, etc. are used herein to describe various elements, regions, layers, regions and / or elements, these elements, components, regions, layers, regions and / It should not be limited by. These terms do not imply any particular order, top, bottom, or top row, and are used only to distinguish one member, region, region, or element from another member, region, region, or element. Thus, a first member, region, region, or element described below may refer to a second member, region, region, or element without departing from the teachings of the present invention. For example, without departing from the scope of the present invention, the first component may be referred to as a second component, and similarly, the second component may also be referred to as a first component.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the inventive concept belongs, including technical terms and scientific terms. In addition, commonly used, predefined terms are to be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with what they mean in the context of the relevant art, and unless otherwise expressly defined, have an overly formal meaning It will be understood that it will not be interpreted.

If certain embodiments are otherwise feasible, the particular process sequence may be performed differently from the sequence described. For example, two processes that are described in succession may be performed substantially concurrently, or may be performed in the reverse order to that described.

In the accompanying drawings, for example, variations in the shape shown may be expected, depending on manufacturing techniques and / or tolerances. Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention should not be construed as limited to any particular shape of the regions shown herein, but should include variations in shape resulting from, for example, manufacturing processes.

1 is a schematic diagram for explaining a device control system 1 and a method according to an embodiment according to the technical idea of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a device control system 1 may include a server solution 110 and a control unit 120 for controlling a plurality of devices Ds.

The devices Ds may be an Internet of Things (IoT) device that communicates with the control unit 120 via the first network N1. The first network N1 may be, for example, an Internet network, a mobile communication network, or a LAN.

The devices Ds may be of a homogeneous or heterogeneous object Internet appliance. The object Internet device may be, for example, a tablet PC, a laptop, a personal computer (PC), a smart phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA) A mobile communication terminal, a headphone, a digital camcorder, an audio, a digital camera, a navigation device mounted on a vehicle, Table top, light, refrigerator, microwave oven, gas range, electric rice cooker, washing machine, air conditioner, TV Television), and the like.

In some embodiments, each of the devices Ds may perform a unique operation corresponding to each of the commands forming a command set predetermined by the device manufacturers Ms. Here, the "command" may mean an individual command for controlling the devices Ds, and the "command set" may mean a device-by-device set of the commands.

When the user U inputs a command "turn on" to the control unit 120, for example, in the case where any one of the devices Ds is a lighting apparatus, The operation corresponding to the command "turn on" transmitted through the network N1, that is, the operation of turning on the light can be performed.

As another example, assuming that any one of the devices Ds is an audio device, if the user U inputs a command "volume up" to the control unit 120, The device can perform an operation corresponding to the command "volume up" transmitted through the first network N1, that is, an operation of increasing the sound of the audio.

A more detailed description of the configuration of each of the devices Ds will be described later with reference to FIG.

The server solution 110 can input, store, manage, and transmit device information of each of the devices Ds provided from the device manufacturers Ms.

In some embodiments, when the device information is updated, the server solution 110 may be provided with the updated device information from the device manufacturers Ms.

The device information may include a command set defined by each of the device manufacturers Ms.

For example, in the case where any one of the devices Ds is a lighting device, the command set includes a first command "turn on", a second command "turn off", a third command " And a fourth command "darker ".

As another example, taking an example in which any one of the devices Ds is an audio device, the command set includes a first command "turn on", a second command "turn off", a " A third command, and a fourth command called "volume down ".

In some embodiments, the device information may include information about whether or not to perform the authentication procedure by the user authentication means (not shown, see user authentication portion in FIG. 2 or 3) of the server solution 110 or the control unit 120 And the like.

For example, when any one of the devices Ds is secured for use by only a specific user, the user authentication means determines whether the user U who has input the command is the specific user, U) is not the specific user, the control of the device can be prevented.

Details of the user authentication means and the authentication method will be described later with reference to FIG. 2 and FIG.

The server solution 110 may communicate with the control unit 120 via the second network N2. The second network N2 may be, for example, an Internet network, a mobile communication network, a LAN, or the like.

Although the server solution 110 in this embodiment is illustrated as communicating with one control unit 120, it is to be understood that the server solution 110 may communicate with a plurality of control units.

Through the second network (N2), the command sets stored in the server solution (110) can be provided to the control unit (120). A more detailed description of the server solution 110 will be given later with reference to FIG.

The control unit 120 may be a portable terminal or the like capable of controlling the devices Ds by communicating with the devices Ds through the first network N1.

In some embodiments, the control unit 120 may receive and store a command set corresponding to each of the devices Ds from the server solution 110, and may store and manage the command set.

In some embodiments, the user U may select any one of the devices Ds through the control unit 120. [ The user U may then enter a command to the control unit 120 to cause the selected device to perform a specific operation. The method of inputting the command may be, for example, a voice input.

The control unit 120 may receive a command corresponding to the selected device and control the selected device to perform the command.

A more detailed description of the control unit 120 will be described later with reference to Fig.

In this embodiment, the command set of each of the same or different types of devices can be collectively managed by one server solution 110, and the user U can manage the same set of commands through one control unit 120 It is possible to control heterogeneous devices, and ultimately, various devices can be easily managed and controlled.

In addition, when the command input method of the control unit 120 is set to be a voice input, the user can communicate with various devices by voice only through the control unit 120 such as a portable terminal or the like, without any unnecessary behavior So that various devices can be controlled.

2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a server solution 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 2, the same reference numerals as in FIG. 1 denote the same members, and a duplicate description thereof will be omitted for the sake of simplicity.

Referring to FIG. 2, the server solution 110 may include a device information management unit 112, a user authentication unit 114, and a first communication unit 116.

The device information management unit 112 may store and manage device information provided by each of the device manufacturers Ms. The device information may include basic information such as a name of the device, a management number, and the like, and a command set of the device.

In some embodiments, the device information may include whether to secure the device, i.e. whether user authentication is required for control of the device. In this case, the device information may include information of a user authorized to control the device.

The device information management unit 112 may provide the user authentication unit 114 with information on the user who has the authority to control the device.

The user authentication unit 114 plays a role of authenticating the user through the first communication unit 116 based on the information of the user before the authentication inputted to the control unit 120 and the information of the user having the control right of the device can do.

The user authentication unit 114 can perform user authentication using, for example, voice print of the user. However, the user authentication method is not limited thereto, and user authentication can be performed through various methods such as password input.

The user authentication unit 114 may be implemented in a form of a web server or a network server in hardware, and may be implemented in any language such as C, C ++, Java, Visual Basic, and Visual C And a program module (Module). That is, the user authentication unit 114 is connected to an unspecified number of clients and / or another server through an open computer network such as the Internet, receives a request to perform a job from a client or another web server, And a software (web server program) installed for the hardware.

In addition to the above-described web server program, it should be understood as a broad concept including a series of application programs operating in the user authentication unit 114 and various databases built up in some cases. The user authentication unit 114 uses a web server program that is variously provided according to an operating system such as DOS, Windows, Linux, UNIX, or Macintosh to the server hardware Typical examples include a Web site used in a Windows environment, an Internet Information Server (IIS), and CERN, NCSA, and APPACH used in a UNIX environment.

The user authentication unit 114 includes an authentication unit for IoT communication. The user authentication unit 114 classifies user information and information about the IoT communication service and stores the information in a database. Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > and / or < / RTI > Such a database is a general data structure implemented in a storage space (hard disk or memory) of a computer system using a database management program (DBMS), and can be used to freely search (extract), delete, edit, (Relational Data Base Management System (RDBMS) such as Oracle, Informix, Sybase, DB2, Gemston, An object-oriented database management system (OODBMS) such as Orion and O2 and an XML Native Database such as Excelon, Tamino and Sekaiju are used for the purpose of this embodiment And may have appropriate Fields or Elements to achieve its function.

3, the user authentication unit 126 (see FIG. 3) is connected to the control unit 120, as described later with reference to FIG. 3, .

The first communication unit 116 may communicate with the control unit 120 to connect the server solution 110 and the control unit 120.

The first communication unit 116 may include, for example, a mobile communication module, a wireless Internet module, and a short-range communication module.

The mobile communication module can transmit and receive a radio signal with at least one of a base station, an external terminal, and a server on a mobile communication network. The wireless Internet module refers to a module for wireless Internet access, and the wireless Internet module can be embedded in the server solution 110 or externally. The short-range communication module is a module for short-range communication, and may include a wireless LAN card.

The wireless LAN card includes 802.11, Bluetooth, UWB, and Zigbee, which are standard specifications of a wireless network for a wireless LAN including a wireless LAN and some infrared communication proposed by IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.16, which is a standard for a wireless MAN (Metropolitan Area Network), a Broadband Wireless Access (BWA), which includes a standard 802.15 for wireless PAN (Personal Area Network), a fixed wireless access (FWA) 802.20, which is a standard for the mobile Internet for mobile broadband wireless access (MBWA), including WiBro, WiMAX, and the like.

The first communication unit 116 may communicate with the control unit 120 using at least one of a mobile communication module, a wireless Internet module, and a local area communication module.

The first communication unit 116 may transmit the device information stored in the device information management unit 112 to the control unit 120. [

The first communication unit 116 may communicate with the control unit 120 to provide the user authentication unit 114 with the information of the user before the input to the control unit 120. [ The first communication unit 116 may provide the authentication result provided by the user authentication unit 114 to the control unit 120. [

3 is a schematic diagram for explaining a control unit 120 according to an embodiment of the present invention. In Fig. 3, the same reference numerals as in Figs. 1 and 2 denote the same members, and a duplicate description thereof will be omitted for the sake of simplicity.

3, the control unit 120 may include a display unit 122, a user input unit 124, a user authentication unit 126, and a second communication unit 128.

 The control unit 120 may be a portable terminal that is connected to the devices Ds through the second communication unit 128 to control each of the devices Ds. The portable terminal may include a mobile phone, a smart phone, a notebook computer, a digital broadcasting terminal, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistants), a PMP (Portable Multimedia Player), a navigation device,

Although the control unit 120 in the present embodiment is a portable terminal, it is not limited thereto. For example, the control unit 110 may be an application that can be installed in the mobile terminal or the like without having separate hardware.

The display unit 122 may output various information related to the devices Ds.

For example, the display unit 122 may output a list of controllable devices Ds, that is, a list of devices Ds capable of communicating via the second communication unit 128. [

In addition, when the user U selects a specific device to be controlled among the devices Ds, the display unit 122 may output a command set including commands applicable to the selected device.

Further, the display unit 122 may receive and output the control result from the selected device.

In some embodiments, when the display unit 122 and the touch pad are configured as a touch screen having a mutual layer structure, the display unit 122 may be used as an input device in addition to the output device. That is, the display portion 122 and the user input portion 124 may be substantially one configuration.

When the display unit 122 is configured as a touch screen, it may include a touch screen panel, a touch screen panel controller, and the like. The touch screen panel is a transparent panel that is attached to the outside and can be connected to the internal bus of the control unit 120. The touch screen panel is watching the result of the touch, and may send corresponding signals to the touch screen panel controller if there is a touch input.

In some embodiments, the display portion 122 may be a liquid crystal display, a thinfilm transistor-liquid crystal display, an organic light-emitting diode, a flexible display, , A transparent display (Tranparent display), and a 3D display (3D display).

The user input unit 124 receives data for selecting a specific device to be controlled among the devices Ds from the user U or receives a command for controlling the selected device.

In some embodiments, when the selected device is secured, the user input unit 124 may receive information of the user U and provide the information to the user authentication unit 126. [ For example, when the user authentication unit 126 performs user authentication using a voice print of the user, the user input unit 124 receives the voice print of the user U, ).

The user input unit 124 may include a key pad, a touch pad, or a voice recognition device, but the present invention is not limited thereto and may have various input methods.

The user authentication unit 126 may perform a function similar to that of the user authentication unit 114 described with reference to FIG. The user authentication unit 114 of the server solution 110 (see FIG. 2) and the user authentication unit 126 of the control unit 120 do not need to be both provided. As described above with reference to FIG. 2, And the control unit 120 may be provided with the user authentication units 114 and 126, respectively.

The second communication unit 128 communicates with the devices Ds and / or the server solution 110 to connect the control unit 120 with the devices Ds and / or the server solution 110 . Similar to the first communication unit 116 described with reference to FIG. 2, the second communication unit 128 may include a mobile communication module, a wireless Internet module, and a local area communication module.

4 is a schematic view for explaining a device 130 according to an embodiment of the present invention. In Fig. 4, the same reference numerals as in Figs. 1 to 3 denote the same members, and a duplicate description thereof will be omitted for the sake of brevity.

Referring to FIG. 4, the device 130 may include a third communication unit 132 and a driving unit 134.

The device 130 in this embodiment may be any of the devices Ds described with reference to Figs. That is, the device 130 may be any one of a variety of object internet devices. If device information is provided to the server solution 110 (see FIGS. 1 to 3) and the control unit 120, I do not accept. Hereinafter, for convenience of explanation, the case where the device 130 is a lighting device will be described as an example.

The third communication unit 132 may communicate with the control unit 120 to connect the device 130 and the control unit 120.

In some embodiments, the third communication unit 132 may receive the command input by the user from the control unit 120. [ In some other embodiments, the third communication unit 132 may transmit the control result performed by the driving unit 134 to the control unit 120. [ Similar to the first communication unit 116 described with reference to FIG. 2, the third communication unit 132 may include a mobile communication module, a wireless Internet module, and a local communication module.

The driving unit 134 can perform a unique function of the device 130. [ For example, if the device 130 is a lighting device, then the command to turn on the third communication section 132 is sent to the driving section 134 to enable the device 130, i.e., the lighting device, have.

5 is a schematic diagram for explaining a device control system and method according to another embodiment according to the technical idea of the present invention. In FIG. 5, the same reference numerals as in FIGS. 1 to 4 denote the same members, and a duplicate description thereof will be omitted for simplicity of explanation.

5, the device control system 2 includes a server solution 210 and a control unit 220 for controlling the devices Ds, a first relay device 242 and a second relay device 244, . ≪ / RTI >

Each of the server solution 210 and the control unit 220 of the device control system 2 can perform a similar role with a configuration similar to the server solution 110 and the control unit 120 described with reference to Fig. The only difference is that the first relay device 242 and the second relay device 244 are involved in the communication between the server solution 210, the control unit 220 and the devices Ds.

The device control system 2 in the present embodiment is provided with a first relay device 242 between the control unit 220 and the devices Ds and a second relay device 242 between the control unit 220 and the server solution 210. [ Only the relay device of either the first relay device 242 or the second relay device 244 may be a device control system 2.

The first relay device 242 performs wired or wireless communication with the devices Ds and the control unit 220 and the second relay device 244 performs the wired or wireless communication with the server solution 210 and the control unit 220, The wireless communication device may be an access point or a gateway. The first and second relay devices 242 and 244 in the present embodiment are described as being separate devices from the server solution 210, the control unit 220 and the devices Ds, but are not limited thereto. That is, at least one of the first and second relay devices 242 and 244 may be a component of the devices Ds or the control unit 220 and may be a device control system 1 described with reference to Fig. 1 Similarly, the device control system 2 may not include the first and second relay devices 242 and 244.

When the device control system 2 includes the first relay device 242, the devices Ds and the first relay device 242 are connected through the third network N3, and the fourth relay device 242 is connected to the fourth network N4. The first relay device 242 and the control unit 220 can be connected to each other.

When the device control system 2 includes the second relay device 244, the control unit 220 and the second relay device 244 are connected via the fifth network N5, The second relay device 244 and the server solution 210 may be connected to each other.

Each of the third to sixth networks N3, N4, N5, and N6 may be, for example, an Internet network, a mobile communication network, or a LAN. The third to sixth networks N3, N4, N5, and N6 may be networks of the same type or may be heterogeneous networks.

6 is a diagram showing an application example of a device control system 3 according to an embodiment of the present invention. In Fig. 6, the same reference numerals as in Figs. 1 to 5 denote the same members, and a duplicate description thereof will be omitted for the sake of simplicity.

6, the device control system 3 may include devices D_1, D_2, and D_3, a control unit 320, and networks Nw1, Nw2, and Nw3. In the present embodiment, the server solutions 110 and 210 and the relay apparatuses 242 and 244 described above with reference to FIG. 1 to FIG. 5 are omitted for the sake of simplicity.

Each of the devices D_1, D_2, D_3 may communicate with the control unit 320 via the networks Nw1, Nw2, Nw3. In some embodiments, each of the networks Nw1, Nw2, Nw3 may be, for example, an Internet network, a mobile communication network, or a LAN. The networks Nw1, Nw2, and Nw3 may be the same type of network or may be different networks.

Although the devices D_1, D_2, and D_3 in this embodiment are illustrated as communicating with the control unit 320 via separate networks Nw1, Nw2, and Nw3, the devices D_1, D_2, And may communicate with the control unit 320 via one network.

The display unit 322 of the control unit 320 may output a list of controllable devices D_1, D_2, and D_3. The user can select a specific device to be controlled among the devices D_1, D_2, and D_3 through the list.

After selecting the specific device, the user can input a specific command to the control unit 320 to control the selected device.

For example, a user may select a first device D_1 as a lighting device and input a command "turn off" to light the light source of the first device D_1.

Similarly, the second device D_2, which is an audio device, can be selected and the volume of the second device D_2 can be increased by inputting a command "volume up".

Alternatively, the third device D_3 which is an elevator can be selected and the elevator can be called by inputting the command "11th floor" to move to the desired eleventh floor.

On the other hand, when various devices D_1, D_2, and D_3 are connected to the control unit 320, only some of the devices D_1, D_2, and D_3 may be set as needed.

For example, the first device D_1 as a lighting device and the second device D_2 as an audio device can be set as a security device if the user wants to control only the user himself or herself. However, the third device (D_3), which is an elevator, is generally required to be controlled by an unspecified number, so that the security setting can be omitted.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments, and various changes and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Change is possible.

1,2,3: Device control system
110: Server Solutions
112: Device information management unit
114:
116: first communication section
120: control unit
122:
124: user input
126:
128: second communication section
130: Device
132: Third communication section
134:
242, 244: first and second repeaters

Claims (5)

A plurality of command sets for controlling each of a plurality of devices constituted by identical or different kind of object internet appliances,
A server solution for storing and managing the command sets;
And a control unit that receives a first command included in one of the command sets and controls a first device of the devices to match the first command to perform the first command,
The server solution includes a device information management unit for storing and managing security related information of the command sets, the device, and a first communication unit for transmitting a command set registered in the device information management unit to the control unit,
Wherein the security-related information of the device includes security information of the device and user information of the device,
The control unit may include a user input unit for receiving the first command and a user who selectively determines whether the user who has input the first command has the first device control right based on security setting of the first device And an authentication unit,
Wherein the user authentication unit determines whether or not security of the first device is set based on security related information of the first device corresponding to the first device, first command is the device control system, characterized in that it performs user authentication operation that includes at least one of the included operation of matching the user's information.
delete delete The method according to claim 1,
The server solution comprises:
And an authentication result transmission unit for transmitting the authentication result determined by the user authentication unit to the control unit.
The method according to claim 1,
The first command is a voice input command,
The user authentication unit performs a user authentication operation using a voice print of the user,
The user authentication operation may include:
And comparing the voiceprint included in the user information having the control right of the first device with the voiceprint included in the first command.

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