KR20160080200A - Home appliance and communication connecting method thereof - Google Patents

Home appliance and communication connecting method thereof Download PDF

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Publication number
KR20160080200A
KR20160080200A KR1020140191773A KR20140191773A KR20160080200A KR 20160080200 A KR20160080200 A KR 20160080200A KR 1020140191773 A KR1020140191773 A KR 1020140191773A KR 20140191773 A KR20140191773 A KR 20140191773A KR 20160080200 A KR20160080200 A KR 20160080200A
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KR
South Korea
Prior art keywords
communication
unit
communication unit
energy measurement
energy
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Application number
KR1020140191773A
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Korean (ko)
Inventor
안창한
Original Assignee
엘지전자 주식회사
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Priority to KR1020140191773A priority Critical patent/KR20160080200A/en
Publication of KR20160080200A publication Critical patent/KR20160080200A/en

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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L12/00—Data switching networks
    • H04L12/28—Data switching networks characterised by path configuration, e.g. LAN [Local Area Networks] or WAN [Wide Area Networks]
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L12/00—Data switching networks
    • H04L12/28—Data switching networks characterised by path configuration, e.g. LAN [Local Area Networks] or WAN [Wide Area Networks]
    • H04L12/2801—Broadband local area networks
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L12/00—Data switching networks
    • H04L12/28—Data switching networks characterised by path configuration, e.g. LAN [Local Area Networks] or WAN [Wide Area Networks]
    • H04L12/2803—Home automation networks

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Automation & Control Theory (AREA)
  • Remote Monitoring And Control Of Power-Distribution Networks (AREA)
  • Telephonic Communication Services (AREA)

Abstract

The present invention relates to a household appliance.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a home appliance including a communication unit capable of communicating with an energy measuring unit capable of communicating with a server of a power company and an external server capable of communicating with the server; And a control unit capable of controlling a load based on information received from the communication unit, wherein the communication unit determines whether or not the communication unit can communicate with the energy measurement unit, and when the communication connection with the energy measurement unit is impossible, Try to establish a communication connection with the external server.

Description

Home appliance and communication connecting method "

The present invention relates to a home appliance and a communication connection method thereof.

BACKGROUND ART [0002] Household appliances generally provided at home include a washing machine, a refrigerator, a cooking appliance or a vacuum cleaner. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] Electrical appliances in recent years include a communication unit, and can receive energy related information through communication with an energy measuring unit installed in a power company.

In the prior art, Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2012-0075572 (published on July 30, 2012), electrical products are disclosed.

The electrical product can communicate with an energy management unit, which can communicate with an energy measurement unit. The energy measuring unit is configured and managed by a power company.

However, according to the prior art, there is a problem that the electric appliance can not receive the information provided by the electric power company when the energy measurement unit is not provided or the energy measurement unit does not have the communication unit according to the installation position of the electric appliance.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a home appliance product capable of acquiring information related to energy provided by a utility and a communication connection method thereof.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a home appliance including a communication unit capable of communicating with an energy measuring unit capable of communicating with a server of a power company and an external server capable of communicating with the server; And a control unit capable of controlling a load based on information received from the communication unit, wherein the communication unit determines whether or not the communication unit can communicate with the energy measurement unit, and when the communication connection with the energy measurement unit is impossible, Try to establish a communication connection with the external server.

In addition, the communication unit includes a Wi-Fi modem.

The communication unit may transmit the security key stored in the memory of the communication unit to the energy measurement unit by the energy measurement unit when the communication unit is communicatively connected to the energy measurement unit.

The communication protocol for the communication unit not stored in the memory of the communication unit may be received from the external server and stored in the memory.

When the communication unit is communicatively connected to the external server, the communication unit can transmit the information about the installation area of the household appliances and the electric power company to which the household appliance is to receive electric power to the external server.

The communication unit may attempt to establish a communication connection with the external server when the communication unit has a communication failure with the energy measurement unit while communicating with the energy measurement unit.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication connection method for a household appliance, the method comprising: determining whether a communication unit of a home appliance is turned on so that the communication unit can communicate with an energy measurement unit capable of communicating with a server of a power company; And a step of communicating with the energy measurement unit when communication between the communication unit and the energy measurement unit is possible and attempting to establish a communication connection with an external server capable of communicating with the energy measurement unit when the communication with the energy measurement unit is impossible .

The communication unit may communicate with the energy measurement unit or the external server through a Wi-Fi communication method.

In addition, when the communication unit and the external server are communicatively connected, the communication unit can transmit the information about the installation area of the household appliances and the electric power company, to which the household appliances are supplied with power, to the external server.

In addition, when the communication unit is communicatively coupled to the energy measurement unit and is in communication with the energy measurement unit, when a communication failure occurs with the energy measurement unit, the communication unit may attempt connection for communication with the external server.

According to the proposed invention, when the household electric appliance is turned on and can communicate with the energy measuring unit, the energy measuring unit can receive energy information from the energy measuring unit, In the case where the communication connection with the power department can not be established, it is advantageous in that a response (demand response) can be made to reduce energy usage by receiving energy information according to communication connection with an external server capable of communicating with the power company's server.

That is, according to the present invention, there is an advantage that the household appliance can receive the energy information provided by the electric power company irrespective of the installation area or the position of the electric appliance.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a schematic illustration of a network device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing a household appliance constituting the network device of Fig. 1; Fig.
3 is a flow chart illustrating a method of communication connection of a home appliance according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a view showing a state in which a household electric appliance communicates with an energy measuring unit;
5 is a diagram showing a state in which a home appliance communicates with an external server;
6 is a flowchart illustrating a communication object changing process of the communication unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, some embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to exemplary drawings. It should be noted that, in adding reference numerals to the constituent elements of the drawings, the same constituent elements are denoted by the same reference numerals whenever possible, even if they are shown in different drawings. In the following description of the embodiments of the present invention, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the difference that the embodiments of the present invention are not conclusive.

In describing the components of the embodiment of the present invention, terms such as first, second, A, B, (a), and (b) may be used. These terms are intended to distinguish the constituent elements from other constituent elements, and the terms do not limit the nature, order or order of the constituent elements. When a component is described as being "connected", "coupled", or "connected" to another component, the component may be directly connected or connected to the other component, Quot; may be "connected," "coupled," or "connected. &Quot;

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a network device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing a household appliance constituting the network device of FIG.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a network device according to an embodiment of the present invention may include an appliance 10 connected via a network.

The household appliance 10 may include various products such as a refrigerator 11, a cooking appliance 12, a washing machine 13, a vacuum cleaner, a water purifier, and an air conditioner. In this specification, Quot;

The household appliance (10) can communicate with other household appliances. The home appliance 10 can communicate with the energy measuring unit 20 when an energy measuring unit 20 (ESI) is installed in a home, a building, or the like, or around a home or a building.

The home appliance 10 receives information related to energy from an external server 50 operated by the manufacturer of the home appliance 10 or a server 30 of a utility company and transmits the information to the home appliance 10 And can communicate with the external server 50 that can deliver it.

The external server 50 may include a server operated by a manufacturer of the home appliance 10 or a company commissioned by a manufacturer, a server for a home appliance service, a web server, and the like.

In this specification, there is no limitation on the type of the external server 50, but, in the case where the household appliance 10 can not communicate with the energy measuring unit 20, Information can be received.

The energy measuring unit 20 can communicate with the server 30 of the power company and when the household appliance 10 directly communicates with the energy measuring unit 20, And the like. That is, the energy measurement unit 20 on the side of the household appliance 10 serves as a gateway for transmitting the information of the server 30 of the power company to the household appliance 10.

The energy measuring unit 20 can measure at least the electric power consumption of the household electric appliances 10 and can transmit energy related information to the household electric appliances 10. [

When the household appliance 10 communicates with the external server 50, the external server 50 communicates with the server 30 of the utility company and receives information about the energy from the server 30 of the utility company , And can transmit information related to the received energy to the household appliance (10).

The home appliance (10) includes a control unit (100) for controlling the function of the home appliance (10), an operation unit (110) for inputting various commands and information such as an operation command of the home appliance (10) A display unit 120 capable of displaying operation information of the household appliance 10, a load 130 operating with power supplied thereto, and a communication unit 140 capable of communicating with an external device.

The communication unit 140 may be a Wi-Fi modem. The energy measurement unit 20 may also have a communication unit for communicating with the communication unit 140 through the same communication method as the communication unit 140 so that the energy measurement unit 20 can communicate with the energy measurement unit 20.

The communication unit 140 may include a Smart Energy Profile (SEP) 2.0 protocol. The communication unit 140 may include a memory and a communication control unit. The SEP2.0 protocol has its own security key, and the communication control unit can extract the security key using the hashing program and store it in the memory.

The communication unit 140 may communicate with either the energy measurement unit 20 or the external server 50 through the wireless router 40. [

The communication unit 140 receives information related to energy from any one of the energy measurement unit 20 and the external server 50. The control unit 100 controls the energy of the energy received by the communication unit 140 The load 130 can be controlled based on the information.

Hereinafter, the communication connection method of the household electric appliances will be described.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a communication connection method of a home appliance according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a home appliance communicates with an energy measurement unit, and FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a home appliance communicates with an external server.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 3 to 5, the electric appliance 1 is powered on for use of the household appliance 1 (S1). When the electrical appliance 1 is powered on, the communication unit 140 is turned on. The communication unit 140 determines whether the energy measurement unit 20 exists through the wireless router 40 (S2). That is, the communication unit 140 searches the energy measurement unit 20 for communicating with the energy measurement unit 20.

The communication unit 140 may search the energy measurement unit 20 using DNS-based service discovery (DNS-SD), for example.

If the communication unit 140 has succeeded in searching for the energy measurement unit 20, the communication unit 140 communicates with the communication unit of the energy measurement unit 20 in step S3.

The communication unit 140 maintains the communication connection state when the communication connection with the energy measurement unit 20 is successful and the communication unit 140 transmits the security key stored in the memory of the communication unit 140 to the energy measurement unit 20 (S4). Then, the communication unit 140 stores the received security key. Therefore, after transmission and reception of the secret key are completed, the communication security between the energy measurement unit 20 and the communication unit 140 can be enhanced.

4, when the communication unit 140 and the energy measurement unit 20 are communicatively connected, the communication unit 140 periodically requests time information from the energy measurement unit 20 and the energy measurement unit 20 May transmit the time information to the communication unit 140. [ Time can be synchronized between the appliances 10 and the energy measuring unit 20 by receiving the time information from the energy measuring unit 20 by the communication unit 140. [

The communication unit 140 may receive energy related information (hereinafter referred to as "energy information") from the energy measurement unit 20. [

The energy information may include electricity bill information according to time, day, week, or month, and energy reduction information for the household appliance 10 to reduce energy.

The communication unit 140 may intermittently receive the electric bill information from the energy measuring unit 20. [ Then, the communication unit 140 can receive the energy reduction information at the same time as the reception of the electricity rate information or irrespective of the information of the electricity rate. That is, when the time zone for energy reduction is determined, the energy measuring unit 20 may transmit the energy reduction information to the communication unit 140 before the time.

The energy reduction information may be stored in the server of the utility company 10 so that the appliance 10 stops operating or the appliance 10 consumes less electric power or the electricity use fee of the appliance 10 is reduced. 30). ≪ / RTI >

The energy reduction information may be transmitted or received as a true or false signal, such as a Boolean, on the network. That is, the home appliance 10 can receive a stop signal (turn off signal) or a lower signal (lower power signal) through the energy measuring unit 20.

When the household appliance 10 recognizes the energy reduction information, the control unit 100 of the home appliance 10 sets the output 130 of the household appliance 10 to 0 (stop operation) Can be controlled.

Alternatively, the energy reduction information may include length information of a time for which energy should be reduced (hereinafter referred to as "reduction time zone information"). The method for reducing energy in the household appliance 10 may be different according to the reduction time zone information.

Illustratively, when the length of time for which the energy is to be reduced is greater than the reference value, the household appliance 10 can operate in the first power saving mode, and when the length of time to reduce the energy is less than the reference value, The product 10 can be operated in the second power saving mode. In this case, each power saving mode is a mode for reducing the power consumption of the household appliance 10 in the abatement time period as compared with the case where the power consumption is not the power saving mode but the normal mode.

If the energy measurement unit 20 is not present or the communication unit 140 is not in communication with the energy measurement unit 20 in step S2, that is, if the communication unit 140 and the energy measurement unit 20 are in communication If not, the communication unit 140 attempts to establish a communication connection with the external server 50 and establishes a communication connection (S5).

The energy measurement unit 20 and the communication unit 140 are not communicatively connected to each other in the case where the energy measurement unit 20 does not have a communication unit. And may use a communication method different from that of the communication unit 140 of the household appliance 10.

The communication unit 140 may transmit the inherent code and security key of the home appliance 10 to the external server 50 during the communication connection process between the communication unit 140 and the external server 50. [

5, when the communication unit 140 and the external server 50 communicate with each other, the communication unit 140 transmits the current location of the home appliance 10 and the home appliance 10 to the external server 50, The power company information providing the electric power to be supplied can be transmitted (S6).

At this time, the installation area and the electric power company information of the household electric appliances 10 can be input through the operation unit 110 of the household appliances 10. [

When the household appliance 10 transmits the use area and the power company information of the household appliance 10 to the external server 50, the external server 50 transmits energy information from the server 30 of the power company . Then, the household appliance 10 can receive the time information and the energy information from the external server 50 (S7).

The communication unit 140 of the household appliance 10 receives the time information from the external server 50 so that the communication between the household appliance 10 and the outside The time between the servers 50 can be synchronized.

Also, the communication unit 140 may intermittently receive energy information from the external server 50. [

According to the present invention, when the household electric appliance (10) is turned on, it can communicate with the energy measuring unit, and can make a communication connection with the energy measuring unit and can be connected to receive energy information from the energy measuring unit. When the communication connection with the energy measurement unit is impossible, a response (demand response) to reduce the energy usage by receiving the energy information is advantageous in accordance with the communication connection with the external server communicating with the server of the power company.

That is, according to the present invention, there is an advantage that the household appliance 10 can receive the energy information provided by the electric power company irrespective of the installation area or position of the electric appliance 10.

6 is a flowchart illustrating a communication object changing process of the communication unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3, when the communication unit 140 can communicate with the energy measurement unit 20 as described above with reference to FIG. 3, the communication unit 140 performs communication with the energy measurement unit 20 (S11 ).

While the communication unit 140 is communicating with the energy measurement unit 20, it is determined whether a communication failure occurs with the energy measurement unit 20 (S12).

If a communication failure occurs between the communication unit 140 and the energy measurement unit 20, the communication unit 140 releases a communication connection with the energy measurement unit 20 and communicates with the external server 50 The connection is attempted (S13).

According to the present invention, even when a communication failure occurs between the communication unit 140 and the energy measurement unit 20, the communication unit 140 can establish a communication connection with the external server 50, It is possible to receive the energy information from the energy source.

Meanwhile, the protocol version of the communication unit 140 may be updated. When the communication protocol of the energy measurement unit 20 is updated, the communication unit 140 communicates with the energy measurement unit 20 through the communication unit 140. In this case, This may not be possible. Also in this case, the communication unit 140 of the present invention can search for and download application protocol information that can be downloaded to the communication unit 140 by connecting with the external server 50. [ At this time, the communication protocol information that can be downloaded to the communication unit 140 may include past communication protocol information that is not stored in the memory of the communication unit 140, or new communication protocol information to be updated.

While the present invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. That is, within the scope of the present invention, all of the components may be selectively coupled to one or more of them. Furthermore, the terms "comprises", "comprising", or "having" described above mean that a component can be implanted unless otherwise specifically stated, But should be construed as including other elements. All terms, including technical and scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs, unless otherwise defined. Commonly used terms, such as predefined terms, should be interpreted to be consistent with the contextual meanings of the related art, and are not to be construed as ideal or overly formal, unless expressly defined to the contrary.

The foregoing description is merely illustrative of the technical idea of the present invention, and various changes and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the essential characteristics of the present invention. Therefore, the embodiments disclosed in the present invention are intended to illustrate rather than limit the scope of the present invention, and the scope of the technical idea of the present invention is not limited by these embodiments. The scope of protection of the present invention should be construed according to the following claims, and all technical ideas within the scope of equivalents should be construed as falling within the scope of the present invention.

10: home appliance 100: control unit
110: Operation section 140:
20: energy measuring unit 50: external server

Claims (10)

A communication unit capable of communicating with any one of an energy measurement unit capable of communicating with a server of a power company and an external server capable of communicating with the server; And
And a control unit capable of controlling a load based on information received from the communication unit,
Wherein the communication unit determines whether or not communication can be established with the energy measurement unit and tries to establish a communication connection with the external server when the communication connection with the energy measurement unit is impossible. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the communication unit includes a Wi-Fi modem. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the communication unit transmits the security key stored in the memory of the communication unit to the energy measurement unit through the energy measurement unit when the energy measurement unit is communicatively connected. The method of claim 3,
Wherein the communication protocol for the communication unit not stored in the memory of the communication unit can be received from the external server and stored in the memory. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the communication unit communicates with an external server, when the communication unit is communicatively connected to the external server, information on an installation area of the appliance and information on a power company to which the appliance is to receive power. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the communication unit attempts to establish a communication connection with the external server when a communication failure occurs with the energy measurement unit while the communication unit is in communication with the energy measurement unit. Determining whether the communication unit of the household appliance is turned on so that the communication unit can communicate with the energy measuring unit capable of communicating with the server of the electric power company; And
And communicating with the energy measurement unit when communication between the communication unit and the energy measurement unit is possible and attempting to establish a communication connection with an external server capable of communicating with the server when communication with the energy measurement unit is impossible A communication connection method of a household appliance. 8. The method of claim 7,
Wherein the communication unit communicates with the energy measuring unit or the external server through a Wi-Fi communication method. 8. The method of claim 7,
Wherein the communication unit transmits the information on the installation area of the household appliances and the information about the power company to which the appliance is to be supplied to the external server when the communication unit and the external server are communicatively connected to each other. 8. The method of claim 7,
When the communication unit is communicatively coupled to the energy measurement unit and is in communication with the energy measurement unit, when the communication failure occurs with the energy measurement unit, the communication unit performs a communication connection method of a home appliance that tries to establish a communication with the external server .
KR1020140191773A 2014-12-29 2014-12-29 Home appliance and communication connecting method thereof KR20160080200A (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
KR1020140191773A KR20160080200A (en) 2014-12-29 2014-12-29 Home appliance and communication connecting method thereof

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
KR1020140191773A KR20160080200A (en) 2014-12-29 2014-12-29 Home appliance and communication connecting method thereof

Publications (1)

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KR20160080200A true KR20160080200A (en) 2016-07-07

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