Communication system, electric appliance, and portable terminal device

• US 10,455,017 B2
• Filed: 07/26/2012
• Issued: 10/22/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Kuroyama, Kazuhiro, Kurimoto, Kazunori, Matsumoto, Michihiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Louie, Oscar A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gebre, Messeret F
• Application Number:
  US14/380,654
• Publication Number:
  US 20150172385A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,644 Days
• Field of Search: 709219
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2807 Exchanging configuration information on appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving network analysis for automatically determining the actual topology of a network H04L41/12; hardware or software tools for network management using graphical user interfaces H04L41/22; address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2818 from a device located outside both the home and the home network access arrangements H04L12/2856; for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025; arrangements for transmitting signals characterised by the use of a wireless eletrical link G08C17/00; telephonic communication systems adapted for combination with remote control systems H04M11/007
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A portable terminal device transmits a read request specifying a specific address that is an address shared among a plurality of electric appliances and acquires fixed data from a fixed data storage unit disposed at a specific address of an electric appliance. The fixed data includes setting address information that indicates an address of a setting storage area in which is stored object data that is data to be transmitted to a server device. The portable terminal device acquires setting address information included in the fixed data, and by specifying a read address on the basis of the setting address information and issuing a read request with respect to a variable data storage unit, the portable terminal causes the electric appliance to transmit the object data as read data, acquires the object data from the transmitted read data, and transmits the object data to a server.

Claims

1. An electric appliance capable of communicating with a portable terminal device, where the electric appliance is one of a group of different type electric appliances, each electric appliance comprising:

a variable data storage unit including a setting storage area for storing object data configured to provide a service related to the electric appliance, the object data being stored at addresses that differ from each other among the group of electric appliances;

a fixed data storage unit configured to store fixed data at least including setting address information that indicates an address of the setting storage area at a specific address of a non-volatile memory shared with other electric appliances, the specific address being stored in a memory of the portable terminal device in advance;

an apparatus communication unit configured to perform near-field wireless communication with the portable terminal device;

an access control unit configured to;

read the fixed data stored at the specific address from the fixed data storage unit and to cause the apparatus communication unit to transmit the fixed data to the portable terminal device, when receiving, from the potable terminal device, a read request for reading the fixed data to specify the specific address in response to a touch of the portable terminal device to the electric appliance;

read the object data stored at the address indicated by the setting address information from the variable data storage unit, and cause the apparatus communication unit to transmit the object data to the portable terminal device, when receiving, from the portable terminal device, a read request for reading the object data to specify the setting address information included in the fixed data; and

an apparatus control unit, wherein the fixed data includes a control instruction write address,

the access control unit issues a request to the apparatus control unit to write a control instruction at the control instruction write address when a write request with respect to the control instruction is transmitted from the portable terminal device, and

the apparatus control unit stores the control instruction at the control instruction write address, and sets an operation of the electric appliance in accordance with the control instruction stored at the control instruction write address.

2. The electric appliance according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus control unit configured to cause the variable data storage unit to store the object data, and the apparatus control unit is configured to cause the fixed storage unit to store information indicating an address of a storage area, in the variable data storage unit, where the object data is stored as the setting address information.

3. The electric appliance according to claim 2, wherein the variable data storage unit further includes a first variable data storage unit and a second variable data storage unit,

wherein a read request with respect to the variable data storage unit is a read request with respect to the first variable data storage unit or a read request with respect to the second variable data storage unit,

the apparatus control unit is further configured to cause the first variable data storage unit to store the object data, and

the access control unit is further configured to determine whether or not the read request with respect to the variable data storage unit that is received by the apparatus communication unit is a read request with respect to the first variable data storage unit, and

when the read request is a read request with respect to the first variable data storage unit, the access control unit is further configured to specify an address specified by the read request and to issue a request to the apparatus control unit to read the first variable data storage unit, and to indirectly read the object data from the first variable data storage unit by acquiring data read by the apparatus control unit.

4. The electric appliance according to claim 3, wherein the access control unit is further configured to determine whether or not the read request with respect to the variable data storage unit received by the apparatus communication unit is a read request with respect to the second variable data storage unit, and when the read request is a read request with respect to the second variable data storage unit, the access control unit is further configured to directly read the object data stored in the second variable data storage unit from the second variable data storage unit.

5. The electric appliance according to claim 1, wherein the variable data storage unit includes an instruction acceptance area configured to accept writing of a control instruction for instructing an operation to the electric appliance.

6. The electric appliance according to claim 1, wherein the communication performed by the apparatus communication unit with the portable terminal device comprises short-range wireless communication.

7. A portable terminal device that includes a memory and a processor, and is capable of communicating with an electric appliance, where the electric appliance is one of a group of different type electric appliances that store object data at addresses that differ from each other among the group of electric appliances, the portable terminal device comprising:

a portable communication unit configured to perform near-field wireless communication with an apparatus communication unit of the electric appliance,

wherein the memory includes a specific address storage unit configured to store a specific address of a non-volatile memory shared by a plurality of electric appliances, and

the processor includes;

a fixed data acquisition unit configured to acquire, from the apparatus communication unit, the fixed data stored at the specific address in a storage unit of the electric appliance by causing the portable communication unit to transmit a read request to the apparatus communication unit for reading the fixed data by specifying the specific address in response to a touch of the portable terminal device to the electric appliance; and

an object data acquisition unit configured to acquire, from the apparatus communication unit, the object data stored at an address corresponding to setting address information included in the fixed data acquired by the fixed data acquisition unit in the storage unit of the electric appliance by transmitting a read request for reading the object data utilized to provide a service related to the electric appliance by specifying the address corresponding to the setting address information,

the fixed data includes a control instruction write address; and

the portable communication unit transmits a write request with respect to a control instruction, thereby causing the electric appliance to store the control instruction at the control instruction write address and set an operation of the electric appliance in accordance with the control instruction.

8. The portable terminal device according to claim 7, wherein a format information storage unit configured to store, in advance, a plurality of pieces of format information respectively indicating a meaning of one or a plurality of pieces of information represented by the fixed data and positions, in the fixed data, where the one or the plurality of pieces of information are disposed in association with format identification information that identifies each of the pieces of format information,

the fixed data includes the format identification information corresponding to the fixed data itself, and

the object data acquisition unit is further configured to acquire the setting address information from the fixed data acquired by the fixed data acquisition unit on the basis of format information stored in the format information storage unit in association with the format identification information included in the fixed data.

9. The portable terminal device according to claim 7, wherein the fixed data includes an error detection code for confirming whether or not the fixed data itself is normal, and the fixed data acquisition unit is further configured to determine whether or not the acquired fixed data is normal on the basis of the error detection code included in the fixed data.

10. A communication method of acquiring data from an electric appliance through near-field wireless communication between the electric appliance and a portable terminal device, where the electric appliance is one of a group of different type electric appliances that store object data at addresses that differ from each other among the group of electric appliances, the communication method comprising:

transmitting a read request to the electric appliance for reading fixed data stored at the specific address in a storage unit of the electric appliance by specifying a specific address of a non-volatile memory shared by a plurality of electric appliances in response to a touch of the portable terminal device to the electric appliance;

receiving, from the electric appliance, the fixed data read by the electric appliance in response to the read request;

transmitting a read request for reading the object data stored at an address corresponding to setting address information included in the fixed data in the storage unit of the electric appliance utilized to provide a service related to the electric appliance by specifying the address corresponding to the setting address information;

receiving, from the electric appliance, the object data read by the electric appliance in response to the read request,

the fixed data including a control instruction write address; and

transmitting a write request with respect to a control instruction from the portable terminal device, thereby causing the electric appliance to store the control instruction at the control instruction write address and set an operation of the electric appliance in accordance with the control instruction.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium in which is recorded a computer program to be executed by a portable terminal device that performs near field wireless communication with an electric appliance, where the electric appliance is one of a group of different type electric appliances that store object data at addresses that differ from each other among the group of electric appliances, the recording medium causing the portable terminal device to function as the steps of:

transmitting a read request to the electric appliance for reading fixed data stored at a specific address in a storage unit of the electric appliance by specifying a specific address of a non-volatile memory shared by a plurality of electric appliances in response to a touch of the portable terminal device to the electric appliance;

receiving, from the electric appliance, the fixed data read by the electric appliance in response to the read request;

transmitting a read request for reading the object data stored at an address corresponding to setting address information included in the fixed data in the storage unit of the electric appliance and utilized to provide a service related to the electric appliance by specifying the address corresponding to the setting address information; and

receiving, from the electric appliance, the object data read by the electric appliance in response to the read request,

the fixed data including a control instruction write address; and

transmitting a write request with respect to a control instruction from the portable terminal device, thereby causing the electric appliance to store the control instruction at the control instruction write address and set an operation of the electric appliance in accordance with the control instruction.

12. A communication system comprising:

an electric appliance where the electric appliance is one of a group of different type electric appliances; and

a portable terminal device that includes a memory and a processor, and is configured to communicate with the electric appliance,

wherein the electric appliance includes;

a variable data storage unit that includes a setting storage area for storing object data utilized to provide a service related to the electric appliance, the object data being stored at addresses that differ from each other among the group of electric appliances;

a fixed data storage unit configured to store fixed data at least including setting address information that indicates an address of the setting storage area at a specific address of a non-volatile memory where the fixed data is shared with other electric appliances, the specific address being stored in a memory of the portable terminal device in advance;

an apparatus communication unit configured to perform near field wireless communication with the portable terminal device; and

an access control unit configured to;

read the fixed data stored at the specified address from the fixed data storage unit, and to cause the apparatus communication unit to transmit the fixed data to the portable terminal device, when receiving, from the potable terminal device, a read request for reading the fixed data to specify the specific address in response to a touch of the portable terminal device to the electric appliance; and

read the object data stored at the address indicated by the setting address information from the variable data storage unit, and cause the apparatus communication unit to transmit the object data to the portable terminal device, when receiving, from the portable terminal device, a read request for reading the object data to specify the setting address information included in the fixed data, and

an apparatus control unit, wherein the fixed data includes a control instruction write address,

the access control unit issues a request to the apparatus control unit to write a control instruction at the control instruction write address when a write request with respect to the control instruction is transmitted from the portable terminal device, and

the apparatus control unit stores the control instruction at the control instruction write address, and sets an operation of the electric appliance in accordance with the control instruction stored at the instruction write address, and

the portable terminal device includes;

a portable communication unit configured to perform near-field wireless communication with the apparatus communication unit,

wherein the memory of the portable terminal device includes a specific address storage unit configured to store the specific address, and

the processor of the portable terminal device includes;

a fixed data acquisition unit configured to acquire, from the apparatus communication unit, the fixed data stored at the specific address in the fixed data storage unit, by causing the portable communication unit to transmit, to the apparatus communication unit, a read request for reading the fixed data by specifying the specific address in response to a touch of the portable terminal device to the electric appliance; and

an object data acquisition unit configured to acquire, from the apparatus communication unit, the object data stored at an address corresponding to the setting address information included in the fixed data acquired by the fixed data acquisition unit and in the variable data storage unit by transmitting a read request for reading the object data by specifying the address corresponding to the setting address information, and

the portable communication unit transmits a write request with respect to a control instruction, thereby causing the electric appliance to store the control instruction at the control instruction write address and set an operation of the electric appliance in accordance with the control instruction.

13. The communication system according to claim 12, wherein the electric appliance further includes an apparatus encryption unit configured to encrypt the object data, when a read request with respect to the variable data storage unit is received by the apparatus communication unit, the access control unit is configured to cause the encryption unit to encrypt read data that is read from a read address specified by the received read request and to cause the apparatus communication unit to transmit the encrypted read data to the portable terminal device, the object data acquisition unit is further configured to acquire the encrypted object data, and the communication control unit is further configured to acquire the encrypted object data.