WO2006123522A1

WO2006123522A1 - Network home electric appliance control system

Info

Publication number: WO2006123522A1
Application number: PCT/JP2006/308750
Authority: WO
Inventors: Naohisa Oosaka; Morio Hirahara; Shuichi Kyuma; Takayuki Yamamoto; Nobuyuki Monma
Original assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba; Toshiba Consumer Marketing Corporation; Toshiba Ha Products Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2005-05-18
Filing date: 2006-04-26
Publication date: 2006-11-23
Also published as: CN101176055A; JP2006323597A; KR20080012975A

Abstract

A network home electric appliance control system enhancing operability regardless of the type of an operating terminal when a network home electric appliance is remote controlled by the operating terminal. When an operating screen is displayed on the operating terminal (6), an operating state diagram (1) different from the current operating state of the network home electric appliance (5) is displayed on the operating screen. If the network home electric appliance (5) is an air conditioner under cooling operation, “OFF” button is selected in advance on the display. Consequently, the network home electric appliance (5) can be switched easily to an operating state different from current operating state through simple operation for the operating terminal (6).

Description

Network home appliance control system

Technical field

The present invention relates to a network home appliance control system that enables remote control of network home appliances connected to a home network by using an operation terminal.

Background art

[0002] In recent years, network home appliance control has been made such that network home appliances are connected to a control device via a home network, and the operation of the network home appliances can be remotely controlled through the control device, and the operation state can be monitored from a remote location. A system is provided. In order to make such network home appliances remotely controllable at home, it is possible to connect an operation terminal to the home network and perform remote control through the control device by operating the operation terminal.

Disclosure of the invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

[0003] By the way, as shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2004-21325, when an operation screen for remotely controlling network home appliances is displayed on an operation terminal, an operation button for the network home appliance to be operated is displayed. Or just display the stop button. For this reason, when using a television as an operation terminal, the operation for selecting buttons is performed with various keys provided on the remote control of the television. It is not possible to perform the operation by selecting and determining the target location above. For this reason, when operating network home appliances with a TV remote control, it is desired that the target button displayed on the operation screen can be operated with as simple an operation as possible.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to improve the operability regardless of the type of the operation terminal when the network home appliance is remotely controlled by the operation terminal. It is to provide a network home appliance control system that can do this.

Means for solving the problem [0005] A network home appliance control system according to the present invention is connected to a network home appliance to be controlled, and connected to the network home appliance via a home network, and outputs control information for controlling the network home appliance. A display unit for displaying an operation screen including a device, an operation terminal for remotely controlling the network home appliance through the control device, and a plurality of buttons for operating the network home appliance on the operation terminal; When the display means displays the operation screen, the display means includes a display control means for displaying the predetermined button determined based on the operating state or operating environment of the network home appliance in a preselected state. It is.

The invention's effect

[0006] According to the network home appliance control system of the present invention, when an operation screen is displayed on the operation terminal, the operation screen displays a predetermined value determined based on the current operating state or operating environment of the network home appliance. Since the button is displayed in a preselected state, the operation state of the network home appliance can be switched by a simple operation on the operation terminal.

Brief Description of Drawings

[0007] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the entire system. (First example)

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of an ASP server.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a personal information database of an ASP server.

[FIG. 4] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an owned server information database of the ASP server.

FIG. 5 shows an ASP server attribute information database.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a skin directory registered in the ASP server.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the TOP screen display operation of the ASP server.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the position of the display area of the operation terminal.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing a TOP screen of a personal computer.

[FIG. 10] FIG. 10 is a schematic view showing a TOP screen of a television.

FIG. 11 is a plan view showing a part of the remote control.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a data flow.

[FIG. 13] FIG. 13 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of data between devices until the operation screen is displayed. It is

[FIG. 14] FIG. 14 is a sequence showing the flow of data between devices until the cursor is selected and displayed.

[FIG. 15] FIG. 15 is a sequence showing a data flow between devices when the air conditioner is out of order.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the cursor movement display operation of the ASP server.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an operation screen on which an “OFF” button is selected and displayed.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an operation screen on which an “ON” button is selected and displayed.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a data flow. (Second embodiment)

FIG. 20 is a sequence showing a data flow between devices.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a home gateway information database of an ASP server.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing a procedure for switching the display of the operation screen.

Explanation of symbols

[0008] In the drawing, 2 is a home network, 3 is a home gateway (control device), 4 is the Internet, 5 is a network home appliance, 5a is an air conditioner (network home appliance), 6 is an operation terminal, and 6a is a personal computer. Computer (operating terminal), 6b TV (operating terminal), 7 ASP server (display means, display control means), 8 Web browser, 12 TOP screen, 12b Home appliance list screen (operating screen) It is.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0009] (first embodiment)

A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. Figure 1 shows an example of a network system configuration. In FIG. 1, a home network 2 is configured in a residence 1, and a home gateway (corresponding to a control device) 3 is connected to the home network 2. The home gateway 3 serves as a contact point between the home network 2 and the Internet 4 that is an external network, and has an interface to the home network 2 and an interface to the Internet 4.

[0010] In addition to the home gateway 3, the home network 2 is connected to a network home appliance (hereinafter referred to as a net home appliance) 5 and an operation terminal 6. In the home network 2, a specific network or a variety of networks are physically mixed among a wireless LAN such as Ethernet (registered trademark), wired LAN such as IEEE1394, BluetootM registered trademark), and 802.11. Can be configured.

[0011] In the present embodiment, Echonet (registered trademark) is used to control the network home appliance 5. This Echonet prescribes commands, protocols, objects, APIs, etc. for controlling equipment (white goods, etc.) on various physical media such as electric wires and twisted pair wires. The home gateway 3 has an echonet server function, and has a function of controlling the internet home appliance 5 based on the echonet protocol. In other words, a function to search home network 2, automatically detect home appliance 5 connected to home network 2, and acquire home appliance information related to the home appliance 5 from the detected home appliance 5 Also have.

On the other hand, an ASP (Application Service Provider) server (corresponding to display means and display control means server) 7 is connected to the Internet 4. The ASP server 7 has a function of collecting and registering information on the home appliance 5 acquired by the home gateway 3 and, as will be described later, the operation of the home appliance 5 according to the operation on the operation terminal 6. It also has a function to control through Tue 3.

[0013] In FIG. 1, the power shown in FIG. 1 is only one for the home appliance 5 and the operation terminal 6. In practice, a plurality of devices are generally connected. In addition, the power that shows only one home network 2 and one ASP server 7 A plurality of home networks 2 and a plurality of ASP servers 7 can exist on the Internet 4.

[0014] The home gateway 3 has a global IP, and communicates directly with the ASP server 7 and the Internet 4 using TCPZIP. In this embodiment, the domain of ASP server 7 is “netkaden.tosWba.co.jp”, and home gateway 3 can acquire the global IP of ASP server 7 by a DNS (Domain Name System) server. Yes. Home gateway 3, home appliance 5, and operation terminal 6 have private IP addresses that belong to the same network address, communicate with TCP / IP through home network 2, and ASP server 7 and TCP through home gateway 3. Communication is started via / IP. [0015] Note that the Internet home appliance 5 and the operation terminal 6 may have a unique global IP address instead of the private IP address and communicate directly with the ASP server 7.

Here, the home gateway 3 has a function as a proxy server. When accessed from the operation terminal 6, the home gateway 3 encrypts data communication with the ASP server 7 according to the access path. It is set to switch the presence or absence of.

[0016] In order to realize such a function of presence / absence of encryption key, the home gateway 3 is set as follows.

Proxy Pass / a / 'https://netkaden.toshiba.co.jp/

Proxy Pass / b / http://netKaden.toshiba.co.jp/

Proxy Pass Reverse / a / "https: / / netkaden.toshiba.co.jp/"

Proxy Pass Reverse / b / "http: / / netkaden.toshiba.co.jp/"

In other words, when access including “/ a /” is received in the access gateway to the home gateway 3, the ASP server 7 is accessed via http s (with encryption using SSL (Secure Socket Layer)) and data communication is performed using encryption. Execute. When an access including “/ b /” is received in the access path, the ASP server 7 is accessed with http (no encryption key) and data communication is executed with non-encryption key. In this embodiment, the control command information is encrypted as will be described later, and the image or html source body is not encrypted. This is because if the control command information is stolen by a third party, there is a risk of unauthorized access by eavesdropping or impersonation.

[0017] The operation terminal 6 connected to the home network 2 functions as a home appliance remote controller for controlling a desired network home appliance 5 via the home gateway 3. For example, a personal computer, a television, a mobile phone Various types of devices such as telephone terminals and PDAs can be used. In this embodiment, an example using a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as PC) 6a and a television 6b as shown in FIG. 2 will be described.

[0018] Also, in this embodiment, a case where a Web browser is used as a remote control screen for controlling Internet home appliances, that is, a case where an interface for controlling Internet home appliances 5 is provided in the form of a Web screen is taken as an example. explain. That is, when the operation terminal 6 is a home appliance remote control, an operation screen for controlling a predetermined network home appliance 5 is displayed on the operation terminal 6 Web browser. 8 (see Fig. 1), and its operation screen is composed of java files and image files for Internet home appliance control.

As a specific example of the Web browser 8, when the operation terminal 6 is a personal computer 6a, Internet Explorer (registered trademark) or Netscape (registered trademark) is typical, and the operation terminal is a television (digital television). In the case of 6b, Netfront (registered trademark) is typical.

Next, the ASP server 7 connected on the Internet 4 will be described.

Figure 2 shows a configuration example of the ASP server 7. In FIG. 2, the ASP server 7 has a Web sano function for providing a screen and interface for home appliance control to the operation terminal 6 having the Web browser 8.

[0021] Also, ASP server 7 is a program for controlling home appliances (for controlling home appliances).

Web page, etc.) is created for the operation terminal 6 and the file is distributed. Necessary for creating the operation screen for the necessary html files, image files, and individual home appliances 5 Holds cgi files, image files, etc.

[0022] By accessing the ASP server 7 via the home gateway 3, the operation terminal 6 can acquire files necessary for creating an operation screen by HTTP or HTTPS as described later.

In order to realize such a function, the ASP server 7 is provided with a personal information database 9, an owned device information database 10, and an attribute information database 11.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the personal information database 9. In FIG. 3, the personal information database 9 is set with a name, a belonging group, and a skin corresponding to the user ID. An affiliated group is a condominium in which a user lives or a developer who develops a condominium, and is a group that receives the same service when receiving services provided by ASP server 7. A skin is a processing layer for display. The web material sent to the operation terminal 6 is the same by changing the skin for each operation terminal 6, but the way it is displayed (screen layout and color) is different. Can be made.

FIG. 4 shows the owned device information database 10. In FIG. 4, in the owned device information database 10, the owned device and installation location are set corresponding to the user ID. ing.

FIG. 5 shows the attribute information database 11 displayed for each group. In FIG. 5, in the attribute information database 11, a display location, an image, and a link URL (Uniform Resource Locator) are set corresponding to the group.

[0025] On the other hand, when the ASP server 7 determines the group to which the user belongs, the display control skin is changed according to the group belonging to the user! /.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the skin directory set in the ASP server 7. In FIG. 6, html and img directories are set under each skin directory, and predetermined files are stored in these directories. In Figure 6, identical parts (such as “titl e.gif” and “Toshiba.gif”) have the same names.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described.

When the user starts up the operation terminal 6, the Web browser 8 of the operation terminal 6 requests the TOP screen from the ASP server 7 through the home gateway 3.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a flow from the ASP server 7 to the TOP screen display on the operation terminal 6. In Fig. 7, when the ASP server 7 receives a request for the TOP screen (S1), it checks the authentication key for identifying the user (S2), and when the check result is NG (S3: NG ), An error page is displayed (S9). If the check result is OK (S3: OK), based on the owned device information !, the owned device for each user is searched (S4) and the group to which it belongs is searched (S5). In the example shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, when the specified user ID is “00001”, for example, “Air Conditioner” is installed in “Liping” as the owned device information, "" Illumination "is installed in the search. Also, it is searched that the belonging group is “A”.

[0027] Next, the ASP server 7 checks the skin (S6). In the example shown in Fig. 4, it is checked that the skin with user ID "00001" is "1".

Next, the ASP server 7 discriminates the Web browser 8 of the operation terminal 6 (S7), and then displays the TOP screen (S8). In the example shown in Fig. 5, the attribute information to be displayed for each group is set to "1", "2", "3" as the display location (display location on PC6a) corresponding to the belonging group "A" (See Fig. 8) and image files corresponding to those display locations. "Title.gif", "cm.gif", "topics.gif" are saved, and the links corresponding to the image file are "http: //AAA/index.htmlJ", "http: // AAA / cm.htmlJ, “http: // AAA / topics .html” is set. Accordingly, the ASP server 7 can display the TOP screen by the Web browser 8 of the PC 6a by transmitting such an html file to the user's PC 6a.

[0028] By the way, on the TOP screen for PC6a, a plurality of display contents for displaying the TOP screen possessed by ASP server 7 (display by one frame formed by Web material power) should be displayed. RU

In the example shown in Fig. 9, the display content on the TOP screen 12 displayed on the PC 6a is the common title screen 12a, the home appliance list screen (operation screen) 12b, and the display content for each group to which the user belongs. It consists of a commercial screen 12c and a topics screen 12d. In addition, an icon 12e indicating the net home appliance 5 is displayed on the home appliance list screen 12b. Display contents for displaying these screens are originally created on the assumption that they are displayed on the PC 6a having a display with a large number of pixels. Therefore, even if a plurality of display contents are displayed on the PC 6a, Everything can be displayed on the PC6a screen without any problems.

However, when the television 6b is used as the operation terminal 6, the number of pixels of the television 6b is smaller than that of the PC 6a (this is the same even if the television 6b has a large screen). Yes, it is not possible to display all of multiple display contents that can be displayed on PC6a.

Therefore, in this embodiment, when the ASP server 7 determines that the Web browser 8 of the operation terminal 6 is, for example, Netfront for television, the operation server 6 determines that the operation terminal 6 is the television 6b, and the title screen 12a. The home appliance list screen 12b is displayed as display content (see Fig. 10). In this case, the web content of the home appliance list screen 12b displayed on the TV 6b is the same as the web content of the home appliance list screen 12b displayed on the PC 6a. It is illustrated.

[0030] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the display content is changed by the skin according to the group to which the user belongs. In other words, any display on the TOP screen 12 for the PC 6a shown in FIG. 9 or the TOP screen 12 for the TV 6b shown in FIG. Screen 12 is switched to blue, and skin 2 is switched to orange. In this case, the Web material (parts) required for display is the same, and the display color is simply changed by the skin. In addition, it is possible to display with a different layout that uses only colors. Therefore, the TOP screen 12 can be displayed on the PC 6a or the television 6b in a display form suitable for the group to which the user belongs only by changing the skin.

In order to realize such a function, a directory is set for each skin in the ASP server 7 as shown in FIG. 6, and the same parts are used. In other words, even if the components that make up the display content are the same, changing the skin changes the way the user belongs to each group.

[0032] Now, as described above, it is possible to remotely control the desired home appliance 5 by operating the TOP screen 12 displayed on the PC 6a or the television 6b. For example, when the user operates, for example, an air conditioner on the PC 6a as the operation terminal 6, the user clicks the air conditioner icon 12e displayed on the PC 6a with the mouse selected. When the air conditioner is operated on the television 6 b as the operation terminal 6, the “OK” key 15 is operated with the “Cross” key 14 of the remote control 13 shown in FIG.

Here, in the icon 12e of each home appliance 5 on the TOP screen 12, a link necessary for creating the operation screen of each home appliance 5 is designated as a link destination at the time of selection. For example, the air conditioner icon 12e has a link to “aircon.html” stored in the ASP server 7.

[0034] When the “OK” key 15 is operated while the air conditioner icon 12e on the TOP screen 12 is selected, it is displayed on the operation terminal 6. When the “OK” key 15 is operated, the icon is displayed as “192.168.1.1/b/ Since the link “aircon.ht ml” is provided, the TV 6b accesses the home gateway 3 with the access path “192.168.1.1/b/aircon.html”.

[0035] When accessed at "192.168.1.1/b/aircon.html", the home gateway 3 includes "/ b /" in the access path. Based on the setting of! /, Access ASP server 7 without encrypting with http and request “aircon.html” (see Fig. 12 and Fig. 13).

[0036] The ASP server 7 is self-serving in response to an HTTP request from the home gateway 3. “Aircon.html” is sent to the operation terminal 6 via the home gateway 3 without encryption. As a result, the operation terminal 6 executes the received “aircon.html”.

An example of “aircon.html” set in the ASP server 7 is shown below.

[aircon.html]

<html>

<Head>

, Meta http— equiv = and ontent— Type content: text / html; charset = EU; JP> ku title> air conditioner <// title>

</ head>

<body>

<img src = '7b / aircon.gif' alt = "" width = l height = l> </ td>; Air conditioner operation screen

</ body>

</ html>

In this program, the control information for specifying the script language is encrypted by including "/ a /" in the access node, and the information for displaying the air conditioner operation screen is accessed by Γ / b / j. By indicating that it is not encrypted,

[0038] It should be noted that when the ASP server 7 transmits the program "aircon.html" to the operation terminal 6, the ASP server 7 is accessed via http from the operation terminal 6. Send the tag itself without encryption.

When the web browser 8 of the operation terminal 6 receives “aircon.html” from the ASP server 7, it executes the “aircon.html”.

That is, it requests the ASP server 7 for control information and an air conditioner operation screen necessary for creating the TOP screen 12 for the ASP server 7. At this time, the home gateway 3 determines whether or not “/ a /” or “/ b /” is included in the access node received from the operation terminal 6 and includes “/ a /”. In this case, that is, in the above program example, the control information “airco 1” ₀ 1 ”is encrypted with 1115 and requested to the ASP server 7. In addition, if “/ b /” is included, that is, in the above program example, “aircon.gif” is encrypted using http without encrypting “aircon.gif”. A request is made to the SP server 7 (see FIGS. 12 and 13).

[0040] Through the operation as described above, the ASP server 7 sends the unencrypted “aircon.html” to the operation terminal 6 via the home gateway 3 and then encrypts it. Since “air control.jsj and unencrypted“ aircon.gif ”are transmitted in order, the TOP screen is displayed on the operation terminal 6 (see FIGS. 12 and 13).

FIG. 14 shows a sequence among the operation terminal 6 (the television 6b in the figure), the ASP server 7, and the Internet home appliance 5 (the aircon 5a in the figure). In FIG. 14, the ASP server 7 confirms the state of the air conditioner 5a in response to the access from the television 6b. When the air conditioner 5a returns the state, the operation screen is displayed on the television 6b based on the acquired information. To do. At this time, when displaying the operation screen on the television 6b, the ASP server 7 switches the display of a cursor for selecting an icon according to the current state of the air conditioner 5a. In other words, as shown in Fig. 16, when the air conditioner 5a is operating (S1: YES), the cursor is stopped (S2), and when the air conditioner is stopped (S1: NO), the cursor is moved. In operation (S3), such an operation screen is created and sent to the TV 6b via the home gateway 3.

With the above operation, the operation screen 16 of the air conditioner 5a as shown in FIG. 17 is displayed on the television 6b. In this operation screen 16, an “ON” button 17 for operating the air conditioner 5a and an “OFF” button 18 for stopping are displayed. At this time, if the air conditioner 5a is operating (in the cooling operation in the figure) on the operation screen 16, the “OFF” button 18 is displayed in a state selected in advance by the cursor (thick line in the figure). Further, when the air conditioner 5a is stopped, the “ON” button 17 is displayed in a state preselected by the cursor as shown in FIG.

[0043] Now, in order to stop the operating air conditioner 5a on the operation screen 16 of the air conditioner 5a, the "OFF" button 18 is displayed in a preselected state, so the remote control 13 of the TV 6b is displayed. Operate “ENTER” key 15 of. As a result, the television 6b transmits a stop command for the air conditioner 5a as a request message including, for example, a CGI parameter to the ASP server 7 via the home gateway 3 as shown in FIG.

[0044] When the ASP server 7 receives this request message, it uses, for example, a CGI parameter. The stop command for the air conditioner 5a is converted into a stop command for the air conditioner 5a in the Echonet protocol, and this is sent to the home gateway 3.

[0045] When the home gateway 3 receives a stop command for the air conditioner 5a by the Echonet protocol, the home gateway 3 transmits a stop command to the air conditioner 5a.

With the above operation, the operated air conditioner 5a can be stopped by remote control by operating the remote controller 13.

[0046] At this time, when the ASP server 7 confirms that the state of the aircon 5a has changed during the stop in response to turning off the air conditioner as shown in FIG. Move the cursor displayed at to the “ON” button 17. Therefore, the user can easily perform an operation for driving the air conditioner 5a by the remote controller 13 by a single operation on the “OK” key 15.

[0047] As described above, in order to move the cursor from the "OFF" button 18 to the "0 N" button 17 on the operation screen 16 of the air conditioner 5a, it is performed between the home gateway 3 and the ASP server 7. Communication is non-SSL communication. This is because the Internet communication from the home gateway 3 to the ASP server 7 is only information necessary for specifying the image of the control result force operation button, and therefore includes information for specifying the device in particular. .

[0048] On the other hand, as shown in the sequence of FIG. 15, the ASP server 7 checks the status of the air conditioner 5a. If the air conditioner 5a is out of order, the ASP server 7 Neither the “ON” button 17 nor the “OFF” button 18 can be selected! As such a control method, for example, the URL of “ku a hre ^ 7cg bin / on.cgi" Ximg src = "off.gir> </a>" This can be done by changing the description to "ku img src =" off.gif ">".

[0049] According to such an embodiment, when the operation screen for operating the internet home appliance 5 is displayed on the operation terminal 6, the operation button for performing an operation different from the current operating state of the internet home appliance 5 is provided. Since the cursor is displayed in a pre-selected state, when the home appliance 5 is switched to a different operating state from the current operation by operating the remote control 13 of the TV 6b, a single operation to the “Enter” key 15 of the remote control 13 is performed once. Can be switched by operation. Therefore, select the desired operation button on the operation screen by operating the various keys on the TV remote control. The operability can be simplified as compared with the case where they are determined.

[0050] (Second embodiment)

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 19 to 22. The same parts as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted. The second embodiment is characterized in that when the device-specific solid identifier information of the home gateway 3 is transmitted, the solid identifier information is encrypted and transmitted to the ASP server 7.

[0051] ASP server 7 stores "monitor.cgi" instead of "aircon.gif" shown in the first embodiment.

In addition, “aircon.html” saved in ASP server 7 is programmed as follows:

[aircon.html]

<html>

<Head>

</ head>

<body>

</ body>

</ html>

This program indicates that the information for displaying the air conditioner operation screen in addition to the control information for specifying the script language is encrypted by including "/ a /" in the access path. .

In addition, as an example of the home gateway information set in the ASP server 7, a home gateway individual identifier is set corresponding to the user ID as shown in FIG. In this example, when the web browser 8 of the operation terminal 6 executes “aircon.html” described above to access “monitor.cgi” with “/ a /”, the home gateway 3 Since identifier information is passed to the ASP server 7, “m _on itor. _C gi” identifies the user based _{on the} individual identifier information, creates an operation screen of the target device, and operates the terminal 6 via the home gateway 3. To send.

[0053] With such an operation, as shown in FIG. 19 and FIG. 20, the ASP server 7 sends unencrypted! / ヽ "aircon.html" to the operation terminal 6 via the home gateway 3. The encrypted “air control. Js” and encrypted “monitor.cgi” are sent.

[0054] Here, when the air conditioner 5a is in operation, the operation screen 16 of the air conditioner 5a displayed on the television 6b displays the "OFF" button 18 in a state selected in advance by the cursor. Therefore, when the user operates the “OK” key 15 on the remote control 13 of the television 6b, the remote control 13 requests the ASP server 7 to execute a stop command via the home gateway 3.

[0055] Since the ASP server 7 outputs a stop command to the home gateway 3, the home gateway 3 executes the stop command to stop the air conditioner 5a, and then requests the ASP server 7 for an OFF screen. . In this case, since the device information is not included in the OFF screen, the OFF screen is requested without encryption.

[0056] By such an operation, as shown in FIG. 22, "Off.gif" is transmitted from the ASP server 7 to the home gateway 3 without encryption, so the operation screen 16 of the television 6b is changed to the stop screen. It can be switched. In this case, “On.gif” for displaying the button on the operation screen with the cursor selected is only switched to “Off.gif”, and other web materials that make up the operation screen are changed. It ’s not possible.

[0057] According to such an embodiment, when the home gateway 3 accesses the ASP server 7 in response to a request from the operation terminal 6 and requests an operation screen, the home gateway 3 encrypts its own solid identifier information. Since he / she sends the message, the ASP server 7 can return the target TOP screen, and can identify the user securely while keeping the user information confidential.

[0058] The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above, and can be implemented with various modifications within the technical scope thereof.

The encryption means between the home gateway 3 and the ASP server 7 is not limited to SSL, but PKI, RSA, S / MINE, or the like may be used. [0059] Display content may be stored in the home gateway 3, and the home gateway 3 may provide the display content to the operation terminal 6!

When displaying the operation screen on the operation terminal 6, the ASP server 7 may display the operation button with the cursor on the most frequently used operation button based on the past operation history.

[0060] When the current month is, for example, from July to September, the ASP server 7 may select and display cooling from among automatic, cooling, heating, and dehumidification.

In this embodiment, the case where the operation terminal 6 is used as a remote controller for home appliance control is described. For example, the home gateway 3 itself includes a Web browser function (and a display function), and the home gateway 3 itself. Of course, it is possible to use as a remote control for home appliance control.

Claims

The scope of the claims

[1] Network home appliances to be controlled (5)

A control device (3) connected to the network home appliance (5) via a home network (2) and outputting control information for controlling the network home appliance (5), and the network home appliance ( An operation terminal (6a, 6b) for remotely controlling 5) through the control device (3),

In the network home appliance control system that enables remote control of the network home appliance (5) by the operation terminal (6a, 6b), the network home appliance (5) is operated by the operation terminal (6a, 6b). Display means (7) for displaying an operation screen including a plurality of buttons for,

When the display means (7) displays the operation screen, a predetermined button determined based on the operating state or operating environment of the network home appliance (5) is displayed in a preselected state. A network home appliance control system comprising display control means (7).

[2] When the button displayed on the operation screen is operated by the display means (7), the display control means (7) is configured so that the network home appliance is in an operation state different from that button. The network home appliance control system according to claim 1, wherein a button for operating (5) is displayed in a preselected state.

[3] The display control means (7) may select only buttons that can be actually controlled with respect to the network home appliance (5) when displaying the operation screen. Item 1 or 2 network home appliance control system.

[4] The display control means (7) has the highest number of operations when displaying the operation screen! 3. The network home appliance control system according to claim 1, wherein the button is displayed in a preselected state.

[5] The display control means (7) is characterized in that when displaying the operation screen, a button determined based on information such as temperature, humidity, season, and time is displayed in a preselected state. The network home appliance control system according to claim 1 or 2.