Home applicance with smart grid interface

• US 10,230,536 B2
• Filed: 06/05/2015
• Issued: 03/12/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Lee, Koonseok
• Primary Examiner(s): Ali, Mohammad
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lindsay, Bernard G
• Application Number:
  US14/731,506
• Publication Number:
  US 20150358175A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,376 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2613 Household appliance in general
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2816 Controlling appliance services of a home automation network by calling their functionalities arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station; in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom H04Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2834 Switching of information between an external network and a home network access arrangements H04L12/2856
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/30 Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for improving the carbon footprint of the management of residential or tertiary loads, i.e. smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the buildings sector, including also the last stages of power distribution and the control, monitoring or operating management systems at local level
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/20 End-user application control systems

Abstract

A communication apparatus is disclosed. A home appliance includes a driving unit to drive a component of the home appliance, a controller configured to control the driving unit, a display to display a network connection related indicator and a smart grid related indicator, and a communication unit to connect to an access point apparatus, the communication unit to connect to a server via the connected access point apparatus, and the communication unit to receive a power information signal from the server, wherein the controller to control operation of the driving unit based on the received power information signal. Accordingly, it is possible to conveniently recognize a smart grid mode.

Claims

1. A home appliance comprising:

a driving unit to drive a component of the home appliance;

a controller configured to control the driving unit;

a display to display a network connection related indicator and a smart grid related indicator;

a communication unit to connect to an access point apparatus, the communication unit to connect to a server via the connected access point apparatus, and the communication unit to receive a power information from the server via the connected access point apparatus; and

a memory configured to store network related information received from the access point apparatus, and

wherein the controller is configured to pause the driving unit at a time corresponding to a peak time in demand response (DR) mode data of the power information and to re-operate the driving unit after the peak time such that the home appliance operates in a smart grid mode,

wherein when the smart grid related indicator is pressed for a first time in a state in which the home appliance is connected to the server and the home appliance is connected to the access point apparatus, a first reset mode is performed,

wherein, in the first reset mode, the controller controls the communication unit to break the connection with the access point apparatus and controls deletion of the network related information received from the access point apparatus and stored in the memory,

wherein when the smart grid related indicator is pressed for a second time, longer than the first time, in a state in which the home appliance is connected to the server and the home appliance is connected to the access point apparatus, a second reset mode is performed,

wherein, in the second reset mode, the communication unit transmits a deletion request signal to the server and receives a deletion completion message from the server, and then the controller controls the communication unit to break the connection with the access point apparatus and controls deletion of the network related information received from the access point apparatus and stored in the memory when the deletion completion message is received from the server,

wherein in response to receiving a touch input at the smart grid related indicator that is displayed in an off state while the home appliance is connected to the server and the home appliance is connected to the access point apparatus, the controller to control the display to display the smart grid related indicator to have an on state.

2. The home appliance according to claim 1, wherein in response to receiving a signal for entering the smart grid mode while the driving unit is operating, the controller to control the display to display the smart grid related indicator to have an on state.

3. The home appliance according to claim 1, wherein:

the controller to control the display to provide the network connection related indicator to have an on state while the home appliance is connected to the server, and

the controller to control the display to display the smart grid related indicator to have an on state while the home appliance is connected to the access point apparatus.

4. The home appliance according to claim 3, wherein the controller to control the display to display the network connection related indicator to have a first blinking display while the home appliance is connected to the access point apparatus and the home appliance is not connected to the server.

5. The home appliance according to claim 4, wherein:

the controller to control the display to display the network connection related indicator to have a second blinking display while the home appliance is disconnected from the access point apparatus and then the home appliance is reconnected to the access point apparatus, and

wherein on and off timings of the first blinking display are different than on and off timings of the second blinking display.

6. The home appliance according to claim 1, wherein in response to setting an override mode of the home appliance, the controller to control the display to display the grid mode indicator to have an off state and the controller to display the smart grid related indicator to have an on state.

7. The home appliance according to claim 1, wherein in response to setting an override mode of the home appliance, the controller to control performance of the override mode prior to operating in the smart grid mode.

8. The home appliance according to claim 1, wherein in response to receiving a touch input at the smart grid related indicator that is displayed in an off state while the home appliance is connected to the server and the home appliance is connected to the access point apparatus, the communication unit to provide a smart grid related data packet to the server.

9. The home appliance according to claim 1, wherein when refresh request data is received from the server, the communication unit transmits a refresh data packet as a single packet in response to the refresh request data.

10. An appliance comprising:

a driving unit to drive a component of the appliance;

a controller configured to control the driving unit;

a display to display a network connection related indicator and a smart grid related indicator;

a communication unit to connect the appliance to an access point, the communication unit to connect the appliance to an external device via the connected access point, and the communication unit to receive power information from a server via the connected access point; and

a memory configured to store network related information received from the access point, and

wherein the controller is configured to pause the driving unit at a time corresponding to a peak time in demand response (DR) mode data of the power information and to re-operate the driving unit after the peak time such that the appliance operates in a smart grid mode,

wherein when the smart grid related indicator is pressed for a first time in a state in which the appliance is connected to the server and the appliance is connected to the access point, a first reset mode is performed,

wherein, in the first reset mode, the controller controls the communication unit to break the connection with the access point and controls deletion of the network related information received from the access point and stored in the memory,

wherein when the smart grid related indicator is pressed for a second time, longer than the first time, in a state in which the appliance is connected to the server and the appliance is connected to the access point, a second reset mode is performed,

wherein, in the second reset mode, the communication unit transmits a deletion request signal to the server and receives a deletion completion message from the server, and then the controller controls the communication unit to break the connection with the access point and controls deletion of the network related information received from the access point and stored in the memory when the deletion completion message is received from the server,

wherein in response to a touch input at the smart grid related indicator that is displayed to have an off indication while the appliance is connected to the server and the appliance is connected to the access point, the controller to control the display to display the smart grid related indicator to have an on indication.

11. The appliance according to claim 10, wherein in response to receiving information for entering the smart grid mode while the driving unit is operating, the controller to control the display to display the smart grid related indicator to have an on indication.

12. The appliance according to claim 10, wherein:

the controller to control the display to display the network connection related indicator to have an on indication while the appliance is connected to the server, and

the controller to control the display to display the smart grid related indicator to have an on indication while the appliance is connected to the access point.

13. The appliance according to claim 12, wherein the controller to control the display to display the network connection related indicator to have a first blinking display while the appliance is connected to the access point and the appliance is not connected to the server,

the controller to control the display to display the network connection related indicator to have a second blinking display while the appliance is disconnected from the access point and then the appliance is reconnected to the access point, and

wherein on and off timings of the first blinking display are different than on and off timings of the second blinking display.