APPLIANCE NETWORK FOR A NETWORKED APPLIANCE AND AN AUDIO COMMUNICATION ACCESSORY

• US 20080122648A1
• Filed: 10/31/2007
• Published: 05/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Original Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Inventors: Glotzbach, Mark E., Whipple, Andrew D., Ebrom, Matthew P., McCoy, Richard A., Maynard, Donald E., Nibbelink, Matthew
• Granted Patent: US 7,808,368 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/825.22
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 15/0063 using remote monitoring or controlling of the dishwasher operation, e.g. networking systems
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 34/04 Signal transfer or data transmission arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 34/28 Arrangements for program selection, e.g. control panels therefor; Arrangements for indicating program parameters, e.g. the selected program or its progress
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 7/02 by radio
• CPC Class Codes: G04R 20/26 the radio signal being a near-field communication signal
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• 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 12/2814 Exchanging control software or macros for controlling appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving configuration of the network and network elements H04L41/08
• 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 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2823 Reporting information sensed by appliance or service execution status of appliance services in a home automation network device-related reporting H04L43/065; 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 12/2825 Reporting to a device located outside the home and the home network access arrangements H04L12/2856; for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025; telephonic communication systems adapted for combination with telemetering systems H04M11/002
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2827 Reporting to a device within the home network; wherein the reception of the information reported automatically triggers the execution of a home appliance functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2832 Interconnection of the control functionalities between home networks single bridge functionality H04L12/4625
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/105 Multiple levels of security
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/26 : Special purpose or proprietary protocols or architectures network applications for proprietary or special purpose networking environments H04L67/12
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 6/688 : for thawing
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 40/00 : Technologies aiming at improving the efficiency of home appliances, e.g. induction cooking or efficient technologies for refrigerators, freezers or dish washers
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 : Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

An appliance network comprising an appliance in communication with an audio communication accessory to effect communication therebetween.

Claims

1. An appliance network comprising:

a first networked appliance configured to perform a cycle of operation to complete a physical domestic operation on an article, the first networked appliance having;

a communication network comprising a plurality of interconnected nodes configured to communicate across the communication network;

a plurality of components, each component associated with at least one of the plurality of nodes; and

an audio communication accessory having at least one node in communication with the communication network and configured for audible communication between a user and the first networked appliance; and

a software architecture comprising a plurality of software elements and configured to generate a plurality of messages, with at least one of the software elements residing in each of the components and in the audio communication accessory and configured to enable transmission of at least one of the plurality of messages between the components and between the accessory and the components to effect the audible communication between a user and the first networked appliance.

2. The appliance network of claim 1 wherein the message is a control command that implements the cycle of operation of the first networked appliance.

3. The appliance network of claim 2 wherein the audio communication accessory is configured to convert an audible communication from the user into the control command.

4. The appliance network of claim 1 wherein the physical domestic operation comprises at least one of:

a food preparation operation, a food preservation operation, a fluid treatment operation, a cleaning operation, a personal care operation, a fabric treatment operation, an air treatment operation, and a hard surface treatment operation.

5. The appliance network of claim 1 wherein the first networked appliance further comprises a user interface that visually communicates information and the audio communication accessory audibly communicates to the user at least some of the visually communicated information.

6. The appliance network of claim 5 wherein the user interface visually communicates input and output information and the audio communication accessory audibly communicates the at least one of the input and output information.

7. The appliance network of claim 5 wherein the user interface comprises at least one of a remote keypad, a phone, a personal computer, a voice recognition device, a voice generation device, a sound generation and recognition device, a remote control, a user interface of a home automation system, a user interface of an appliance different from the first networked appliance, a user interface of a component different from the components of the first networked appliance, a television, a device that plays recorded music, a device that plays recorded video, and a personal digital assistant.

8. The appliance network of claim 1 wherein the software element residing on the audio communication accessory comprises a message generator configured for generation of a message usable by the first networked appliance in response to a received audible communication.

9. An appliance network comprising:

a first networked appliance comprising a user interface providing visual communication to a user;

an audio communication accessory providing audible communication to a user; and

a communication network operably coupling the first networked appliance and the audio communication accessory to enable communication therebetween such that at least one of the audible communications from the user can be communicated from the audio communication accessory to the first networked appliance and a visual communication from the user interface can be audibly communicated to the user.

10. The appliance network of claim 9 wherein the audio communication is one of mounted to and physically remote from the first networked appliance.

11. The appliance network of claim 9 further comprises at least one audio device in communication with the audio communication accessory such that the user can effect communication between the audio communication accessory and the first network device through the audio device.

12. The appliance network of claim 11 wherein the audio device comprises at least one of a telephone, a stereo system, a clock radio, and a cellular phone.

13. The appliance network of claim 9 wherein the communication between the first networked device and the audio communication accessory comprises at least one of:

notifications concerning an operational status of the first networked appliance or an operational status of the audio communication accessory.

14. The appliance network of claim 9 wherein the audio communication accessory comprises an audible event reminder.

15. The appliance network of claim 9 wherein the audio communication accessory comprises an audible weather notification.

16. The appliance network of claim 9 further comprising a tracking device that communicates with the audio communication device such that the audio communication accessory can audibly locate the tracking device.

17. The appliance network of claim 9 further comprising multiple audio communication accessories in communication with each other over the communication network to form a voice communication network.

18. The appliance network of claim 9 further comprising multiple networked devices each of which can communication with the audio communication accessory.

19. The appliance network of claim 9 wherein the audio communication accessory can audibly present a use and care guide for the first networked appliance.

20. The appliance network of claim 9 wherein the audio communication accessory further comprises tactile feedback.

21. The appliance network of claim 9 wherein the communication network effects at least one of unidirectional or bidirectional communication between the first networked appliance and the audio communication accessory.