KR20030036450A - Browser-Based Remote Operation of Remote Controller-Ready Home Appliances Through Internet. - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An Internet remote control apparatus for controlling household appliances by a browser and a method therefor are provided to simply and remotely control the household appliances on the Internet through the browser by adding an Internet connection function in a remote controller. CONSTITUTION: An ethernet controller(69) connects to the Internet by a TCP/IP(Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol). A control unit(67) controls the operation of the entire block of a system. A memory(68) stores HTML(HyperText Markup Language) pages and programs of a remote controller. A switch input unit(66) senses the push of function keys of the remote controller. An IR(Infrared) transmission unit has a frame output unit(65), an IR signal driving unit(64), and an IR diode(61). An IR reception unit has an IR sensor(60), an IR signal adjusting unit(62), and a frame input unit(63). The IR transmission unit and the IR reception unit transmit a code of the function key of the remote controller to a household appliance, and receive the operation state of the household appliance.

Description

Browser-based Remote Operation of Remote Controller-Ready Home Appliances Through Internet.

The present invention relates to a method for remotely controlling a remote control type electric and home appliance to remotely control a device at a low cost by connecting the remote control to a commercially available Internet network without establishing a dedicated networking in the room.

In general, in order to remotely control devices, an automation environment using a network must be established. In particular, a home networking environment is established in the home, and wired / wireless home networking such as IEEE1394, Bluetooth, etc., which can control various devices in an integrated manner. It is currently under discussion, but the construction of such an environment is expensive.

In general, except in special cases, only a few devices are connected to the Internet and then remotely controlled, so there is no need for professional networking configuration. Because of the large number of changes required, it is difficult to use these devices on the Internet.

However, remote control type electric devices can operate all of the devices by remote control, so if the remote control supports the Internet interface function and remotely control the electric devices by operating the remote control by a browser from outside, there is no big change of electric devices. Remote control of all functions of remote controller is possible at low cost.

In addition, it is possible to set the operation time remotely through the Internet, and add the automatic operation function to operate at periodic or non-periodic time of specific time zone, date, day of the week and automatically operate the electric and home appliances according to the programmed schedule. Very convenient and economical.

The present invention is to enable the remote operation of the device by the Internet by having the Internet connection function through the TCP / IP protocol to the remote control of the existing electrical and home appliances, and automatically operate the device through periodic or time reservation and By enabling the operation status monitoring, the purpose of economical and convenient operation of the device is to avoid the hassle of having to go and operate the electric device located at a long distance without being restricted by distance and time.

In addition, for the operation of the Internet remote control, it is possible to monitor the operation and operation status of electric devices by simply pressing a button using the control screen displayed on the browser without installing any software on the client computer. It can be used conveniently and economically for all the electric devices that use the remote control in various fields.

1 is a block diagram showing a remote operation environment of the home appliance by a remote control connected to the Internet network in the present invention.

Figure 2 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the remote control front panel of the home appliance in the present invention.

Figure 3 is a perspective view showing the front plate appearance of the home appliance in the present invention.

Figure 4 is a hardware block diagram showing the configuration of a remote control for accessing the Internet for remote control of home appliances according to the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the HTTP server and the command processing of the HTML control page in the present invention.

Figure 6 is a flow chart illustrating the operation of a program for controlling the transmission and reception of the remote control and the operation state of the device in the present invention.

Figure 7 is an example of the control screen of the browser for remote operation of home appliances located in a remote location in the present invention.

8 is an example of a control screen of a browser to automatically operate a home appliance located at a remote location in the present invention at a scheduled time.

* Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings

10: laptop computer 20: desktop computer

30: Internet connection remote control 31: Heating button

32: timer button 33: swing button

34: ON / OFF button 40: home appliances (wall heater)

41: control panel of the home appliance 42: ON / OFF button

43: Timer Button 44: Fan Indicator

45: 1000 W indicator 46: 2000 W indicator

47: swing indicator 48: 0.5H indicator

49: 1H indicator 50: 2H indicator

51: 4H indicator 52: Infrared signal receiver

53: infrared signal transmitter

Internet remote control system of a home appliance using the remote control is connected to the Internet and the electric device having an infrared signal transmitting and receiving means for receiving the infrared operation code from the remote control and transmitting the operation state of the device to the remote control of the electrical device in the infrared Internet remote control is configured to control the power operation, the Internet remote control is connected to the Internet for remote operation, infrared transmission and reception means for transmitting the operation code to the electrical equipment to obtain the operation status of the device, and the operation program and Memory means for storing the control HTML page, the control means for controlling the overall system and switch input means for inputting the state of the button to the control unit.

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

As can be seen in Figure 1, the remote control system of the home appliance 40 using the remote control 30 according to the present invention is a remote control (connected to the Internet using a browser of the notebook 10 or desktop computer 20) 30) and then press the function button of the desired remote control on the browser to output the code in the infrared to control the remote operation of the home appliance 40 on the web.

The appearance of the remote control 30 that can be connected to the Internet is the same as the remote control of a general electric device or a home appliance except for the infrared receiver 36 for receiving the operation state of the device, as shown in FIG. For explanation, an example of a remote control of a wall-mounted electric heater composed of a heating button 31, a timer button 32, a swing button 33, and an on / off button 34 will be described.

If the remote control-type electrical equipment or home appliances, all remote control is possible, as shown in Figure 3 for the description, the ON / OFF button 42, the timer button 43, the fan indicator 44 , 1000 W indicator (45), 2000 W indicator (46), swing indicator (47), 0.5H indicator (48), 1H indicator (49), 2H indicator (50), 4H indicator (51) For example, a wall-mounted electric heater 40 having a panel composed of an infrared receiver 52 for receiving an infrared signal, and an infrared transmitter 53 for informing the outside of an operation state of an electric device will be described. Here, the infrared transmitter 53 represents a part to be added to the device in order to monitor the operation state of the electric heater after the remote operation.

The control means provided in the remote control 30 that can be connected to the Internet as shown in Figure 4 is an infrared sensor 60, an infrared diode 61, an infrared signal controller 62, an infrared signal driver 64, a frame input unit 63, the frame output unit 65, the switch input unit 66, the control unit 67, the memory 68, the Ethernet controller 69, and the DC power supply unit 70.

The infrared signal output from the external electrical device is detected by the infrared sensor 60, the infrared signal controller 62 amplifies and converts it to the appropriate level, and the frame input unit 63 extracts the code included in the data frame. This is transmitted to the control unit 67.

On the contrary, the operation code output from the control unit 67 to the frame output unit 65 is inserted into the data signal frame, and the infrared signal driver 64 drives the infrared diode 61 to emit the infrared signal.

The control unit 67 controls the overall operation of the Internet access remote control 30, the switch input unit 66 reads the button state of the remote control and sends it to the control unit 67 accordingly, the operation for the corresponding button is controlled by the control unit 67 To be performed by

The Ethernet controller 69 configures a communication channel on the Internet through the TCP / IP protocol, and the memory unit 68 stores the HTML page for controlling the remote controller 30 so that the browser can display it on the screen as requested. In addition, by storing the HTTP server and the remote control and monitoring program so that the program can be executed in two threads, the DC power supply 70 supplies the power necessary for the operation of the remote control.

The program of the Internet remote controller 30 for remote control of the electric device as described above operates as two threads consisting of an HTTP server and a routine for controlling and monitoring the remote controller, and the user browses in the client computer 10 or 20. Access to the Internet remote control 30 through the request for the control page written in HTML stored in the memory unit 68 of the remote control to display the obtained page on the browser.

As shown in FIG. 5, when the HTTP server running on the Internet remote controller operates (S70), the server first determines whether the client is connected (S71), and when connected, transmits the control web page stored in the memory to the client ( S72) The operation monitoring applet to display the state of the electric device to be operated remotely is operated in the browser (S73).

When the user presses the operation button of the electric device on the control screen of the remote control front panel displayed in the browser, the server determines whether the heater is heated, a timer, a swing or an on / off command (S75), and the servlet for the corresponding button is operated. The command and the parameters are stored in the memory (S76).

In addition, after reading the operation status flag of the remotely located electrical device (S77), accordingly, the web page written in HTML is changed and transmitted to the client (S78), and the command change flag is set to notify other threads of the change of the command. (S79) Depending on whether the client terminates (S80), the above routine is repeated.

Routines for controlling and monitoring the Internet remote control 30 for remote control of electrical equipment first check the change state of the switch of the remote control as shown in Figure 6 (S90), if there is no change by a remote browser If the instruction stored after transmission is read (S91) and there is a change in the instruction (S92), it is specifically determined whether the instruction is heating (S93), timer (S94), swing (S95), or ON / OFF (S96). A command to be processed is set (S97, S98, S99, S100), and a command code is output to the infrared driver of the remote controller (S101).

The electric device operated by the remote controller remotely outputs its operating state as an infrared signal, and the remote controller reads the code of the infrared signal (S102) to determine whether the operating state has changed (S103) and sets the corresponding flag if changed. This value is then stored (S104), and the relevant state data is transmitted to the web (S105) so that the changed state is displayed in the client's browser.

Internet remote control 30 for the remote control of the electrical device to perform the operation of the function button of the remote control on the web page, as shown in Figure 7, or as shown in Figure 8 start and end time of operation of the electrical device The control screen can be configured to operate the electric device by reservation and monitor the operation state of the electric device, and can be designed to be operated through programming on a web page for more complicated operation of the electric device.

As described above, according to the present invention, the present invention allows an existing remote controller to have an Internet access function through the TCP / IP protocol, thereby remotely operating the remote control-type electric and home appliances through the Internet, and also reserves time for the electric apparatus. However, periodic automatic operation and monitoring of operation status are possible, so that it can be widely used in various fields without major change of hardware and software of existing electric equipment and establishment of professional networking.

Claims (4)

In the remote control device of a remote control type electric device that can be operated automatically by remotely controlling a variety of electrical and electronic appliances such as homes, factories, stores, offices using the Internet, Access means for connecting to the Internet so that a remote control button function can be operated remotely through an internet network to a remote control used in a remote control type electric device; Control means for remotely operating an electric device through a remote control using a homepage and a browser embedded in the remote control; Infrared transmitting and receiving means for transmitting the function button code of the remote controller to the electric device by the control unit and receiving the operation state code of the device by using infrared rays; Means for selecting an operation time so that a function button operation of the remote control or an operation of the device can be reserved by programming; Remote control device for an electric device using a remote control, characterized in that it comprises a display means for displaying the operation state of the device on the control screen to display whether the operation of the device when the device is operated. An internet remote control for remote control of electrical and household appliances according to claim 1, comprising: an Ethernet controller for connecting to the Internet using a TCP / IP protocol; A microcontroller for controlling the operation of all blocks of the system; A memory unit for storing a control HTML page and storing and executing a program of the Internet remote controller; A switch input unit for detecting pressing of a function button of a remote controller; Internet remote control for home appliances, comprising an infrared transmitter and an infrared receiver for transmitting the function button code of the remote control to the device and receiving the operation state of the device. According to claim 1, In the remote control of the various devices using a remote control, Displaying a home page embedded in the remote control in a browser; Selecting parameters such as a function button and an operation time of the remote controller on the browser; Extracting the transmitted commands and parameters required for control by the HTTP server; Generating an infrared signal to the remote controller according to the extracted commands and parameters and controlling the electric device accordingly; Internet remote control device for an electric device using a remote control, characterized in that it comprises the step of changing the HTML page so that it can be monitored according to the change in the operation state of the controlled electric device to the browser. The control screen of the electric device configured by the HTML according to claim 1 performs a function of a remote control button, and reserves the operation time of the electric device which is periodically repeated in units such as reservation setting of operation time, day / week / month, etc. Internet remote control device of the electric machine using a remote control, characterized in that it comprises a control screen having.