KR20030070300A - Home Appliance Network System Including Bridge device and Its Operating Method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A home appliance network system having a bridge tool and an operation method thereof are provided to enable a user to conveniently control the home appliance and to effectively link the home appliance using a different communication standard by enabling the home appliance of the first communication standard to control the home appliance of the second communication standard. CONSTITUTION: A control instruction input part(31) receives a control instruction from a PC(10) of the first communication standard in order to relay the communication between the PC(10) connecting to the home appliance network system and the home appliance(20) of the second communication standard. A control instruction format converter(32) converts the control instruction inputted from the PC(10) into an instruction format fit to the home appliance(20). A control part(33) controls the home appliance(20) by inputting the converted control instruction to the home appliance(20). A web server(34) provides a response from the control instruction of the user by transmitting an XML(eXtensible Markup Language) document to the PC(10) in order to inform the PC(10) of an operation result of the home appliance(20).

Description

Home Appliance Network System Including Bridge device and Its Operating Method

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a home appliance network system having a bridge means, and more particularly to a home appliance network system in which a home appliance for a first communication standard and a home appliance for a second communication standard are connected. The present invention relates to a home appliance network system having bridge means for connecting communication of home appliances having different communication standards from each other so as to control the operation of the second communication standard home appliance according to a control command.

A home appliance network system that transmits and receives data such that a plurality of home appliances are connected to a network network to enable mutual control can not only connect a plurality of home appliances having a first communication standard but also a second communication standard different from the first communication standard. It can connect a plurality of home appliances having a.

Especially, the communication standard applied to many home appliances is UPnP (Universal Plug and Play), which is developed by leading companies such as Intel, 3COM, Cisco, Dell, IBM, Ericsson, Nokia, Philips, LG, and Samsung. The present invention has been applied to a home appliance network system, which is referred to as a first communication standard for convenience. However, in the home appliance network system, the home appliance for the first communication standard can be mutually controlled with the home appliance to which the same first communication standard is applied, but is connected to the same network as the other home appliance to which the second communication standard is applied. Due to the different communication standards, mutual control was not possible. Therefore, although consumers have purchased home appliances that support the home networking function, they are unable to use home appliances efficiently due to their incompatibility due to other communication standards, and support communication standards different from those of the first communication standard. In the case of manufacturers developing home appliances, costs for manufacturing and selling home appliances will increase, such as the need to separately manufacture a device for supporting the first communication standard.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, the object of the first communication standard home appliance in the home appliance network system connected to the second communication standard home appliance, the first communication standard home appliance It is possible to increase the convenience of the user's control of the home appliance by controlling the second communication standard home appliance having a different communication standard through the device, and to efficiently interoperate a plurality of home appliances using different communication standards. It is to provide a home appliance network system having a bridge means.

1 is a view showing an example of the configuration of a home appliance network system having a bridge means of the present invention;

2A, 2B, 2C and 2D are operational flowcharts of the home appliance network system having the bridge means of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols on main parts of the drawings>

10: home appliance for the first communication standard 20: home appliance for the second communication standard

30: bridge means 31: control command input unit

32: control command format conversion unit 33: control unit

34: web server 40: network

According to a feature of the home appliance network system having a bridge means according to the present invention for solving the above problems,

To mediate different communication standards between a network constructed for home networking, a home appliance for a first communication standard, a home appliance for a second communication standard, a home appliance for a first communication standard, and a home appliance for a second communication standard In the home appliance network system composed of bridge means,

The bridge means may include a control command input unit to which a control command of the first communication standard home appliance is input, and a control command of the second communication standard home appliance to read the control command input from the first communication standard home appliance. A control command format converting unit for converting a format, a control unit for monitoring and controlling the second communication standard household appliance to perform a control command by transmitting a control command having the converted format to a second communication standard household appliance; And a web server for providing a web document to the first communication home appliance so that the execution result of the control command of the second communication standard home appliance can be confirmed through the first communication standard home appliance.

The configuration of the home appliance network system having the bridge means of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

When the PC 10 operating based on the first communication standard controls the bulb which is one of the home appliances 20 based on the second communication standard, the bridge means 30 is connected to the home appliance network system. Control to receive a control command from the PC 10, which is the first communication standard home appliance, to mediate communication between the PC 10, which is a communication standard home appliance, and the light bulb 20, which is the second communication standard home appliance. Command input unit 11, control command format conversion unit 12 for converting the control command of the user input from the first communication standard PC into a command suitable for the second communication standard home appliance, and a control command format conversion unit 12; A control unit 13 for controlling the light bulb by inputting a control command having a format converted by the control command type converting unit to a light bulb which is a home appliance based on a second communication standard, and Result of the first communication standard Sends an XML (Extensible Markup Language) document, a standardized text format designed to transmit structured documents on the web, to notify home appliances to a PC, the first communication standard home appliance, to provide a response to a user's control command. It consists of a web server (14).

The operation of the home appliance network system having the bridge means of the present invention configured as described above will be described with reference to the operation sequence shown in FIG.

The bridge means finds a first step of giving a management address to the second communication standard home appliance connected to the home appliance network system (FIG. 2A), and discovers the second communication standard home appliance connected to the home appliance network system. A second step of grasping information (FIG. 2B), a third step of transferring control commands input by the first communication standard home appliance to the second communication standard home appliance (FIG. 2C), and the second communication standard Home appliance is operated in a fourth step (FIG. 2D) in which an operation of a control command input from the first communication standard home appliance is performed and the second communication standard home appliance can be controlled by the first communication standard home appliance Configure the instrument network system.

Notify the bridge means that the second communication standard household appliance is connected to the home appliance network system (A1), and the bridge means detects that the second communication standard household appliance is connected to the network network and By allocating a management address to the telecommunication standard home appliance (A2), the bridge means detects the home appliance connected to the home appliance network system and assigns an address so that the control command input from the other home appliance can be immediately transmitted at all times.

The portal server requests the device status information on the detected second communication standard home appliance (B1), and the portal server provides status information on the second communication standard home appliance connected to the home appliance network system requested by the bridge means. Received from (B2). Informing the first communication standard home appliance connected to the bridge means that the second communication standard home appliance is found in the home appliance network system (B3), and the first communication standard home appliance is connected to the second communication standard. Respond to the bridge means that the standard home appliance has been searched and recognized (B4).

The first communication standard home appliance inputs a command for controlling the second communication standard home appliance (C1), and the bridge means receives a control command from the first communication standard home appliance and receives the second communication standard. By transmitting to the home appliance (C2), the second communication standard household appliance informs the bridge means that the control command has been properly received (C3), the bridge means control received from the second communication standard household appliance The response to the command input is transmitted to the first communication standard home appliance (C4).

The first communication standard household appliance informs the bridge means that the message regarding the transmission status of the control command input to the second communication standard household appliance is notified to the bridge means, and the bridge means checks this (D1), and the first communication standard. The second communication standard household appliance that receives the control command input from the home appliance notifies the bridge means of the operation result performed according to the input control command (D2), and transmits it from the second communication standard household appliance. The bridge means transmits the received operation result to the first communication standard home appliance (D3).

The home appliance network system having the bridge means of the present invention configured as described above includes a network constructed for home networking, a first communication standard home appliance, a second communication standard home appliance, and a first communication standard for In the home appliance network system comprising a bridge means for arbitrating different communication standards of the home appliance and the second communication standard home appliance,

The first communication standard home appliance enables the transmission and reception of data with the second communication standard home appliance having a different communication standard, and the second communication standard home appliance through a control command inputted through the first communication standard home appliance. By controlling the operation of the user to increase the convenience of the control of the home appliance, and also a plurality of home appliances using different communication standards are simultaneously connected to one home appliance network system to provide an effect that is compatible with each other efficiently It is.

Claims (7)

Different communication standards between the network network established for home networking, the first communication standard based home appliance, the second communication standard based home appliance, the first communication standard home appliance and the second communication standard home appliance In the home appliance network system consisting of a bridge means for arbitration, A control command input unit to which a control command of the first communication standard household appliance is input; A control command format conversion unit for converting a control command format so that the second communication standard home appliance can read the control command input from the first communication standard home appliance; A control unit for controlling and monitoring the second communication standard home appliance to transmit the control command having the converted form to the second communication standard home appliance to perform the control command; A bridge of the home appliance network system, comprising a web server providing a web document to the first communication home appliance so that the control command execution result of the second communication standard home appliance can be confirmed through the first communication standard home appliance. Way. The method of claim 1, The bridge means bridge means of the home appliance network system, characterized in that the communication with the external portal server that stores the state information of all home appliances connected to the home appliance network system. In the operation method of the bridge means for connecting the first communication standard home appliance and the second communication standard home appliances to enable mutual data transmission and reception, The bridge means includes a first step of giving a management address to a second communication standard home appliance connected to a home appliance network system; A second step of discovering a second communication standard home appliance connected to the home appliance network system and grasping state information; A third step of transmitting a control command input by the first communication standard household appliance to the second communication standard household appliance; And the second communication standard home appliance operates in a fourth step of performing an operation of an input control command. The method of claim 3, wherein The first step is a first step of notifying the bridge means that the second communication standard home appliance is connected to the home appliance network system, and the bridge means detects that the second communication standard home appliance is connected to the network network And a second process of allocating a management address to the second communication standard home appliance. The method of claim 3, wherein The second step includes a first step of requesting the portal server for device state information of the detected second communication standard home appliance; A second step of receiving, from the portal server, status information on the second communication standard household appliance connected to the home appliance network system requested by the bridge means; A third step of informing a first communication standard home appliance connected to the bridge means that a second communication standard home appliance is found in the home appliance network system; And a fourth process of responding to the bridge means that the first communication standard household appliance searches for and recognizes a newly connected second communication standard household appliance. The method of claim 3, wherein The third step may include a first process of requesting a command for controlling the first communication standard home appliance to control a second communication standard home appliance; The bridge means includes a second step of receiving a control command from the first communication standard home appliance and transferring it to the second communication standard home appliance; A third step of informing the bridge means that the second communication standard home appliance has properly received a control command; And the bridge means comprises a fourth process of transmitting a response to a control command input received from the second communication standard household appliance to the first communication standard household appliance. The method of claim 3, wherein In the fourth step, a first step of informing the bridge means that the first communication standard household appliance confirms a message regarding a transmission state of a control command input to the second communication standard household appliance, and the bridge means checks the message. and; The second communication standard household appliance which has received the control command input from the first communication standard household appliance comprises: a second step of notifying the bridge means of an operation result performed according to the input control command; And a third process of transmitting the result of performing the operation received from the second communication standard household appliance to the first communication standard household appliance.