HOME APPLIANCE SYSTEM AND OPERATION METHOD THEREOF

• US 20100027770A1
• Filed: 04/29/2009
• Published: 02/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Kim, Hyun Sang, Kim, Young Soo, Kim, Yong Tae, Lee, Koon Seok, Jeon, Si Moon, Kwon, Eui Hyeok, Kang, Hae Yong, PARK, Hyung Jun
• Granted Patent: US 8,705,715 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/106.10
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 11/00 Transmission systems employing sonic, ultrasonic or infrasonic waves
• 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 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators

Abstract

A home appliance system and an operation method thereof are disclosed. The home appliance outputs product information as a predetermined sound and transmits the sound through a connected communication network, thereby making it easier for a service center at a remote place to check a status of the home appliance. Further, the home appliance system and operation method thereof prevents noise or signal error generated in the procedure of converting product information into a signal of a predetermined frequency band in order to output the product information as a sound, thus enabling stable signal conversion and improving the accuracy of information transmission using the output of sound.

Claims

1. A home appliance for a home appliance system that transmits product information to a management device via a communication network for fault diagnosis of the home appliance, the home appliance comprising:

a selection device that receives input of an external command signal for executing a fault diagnosis;

a conversion device that coverts product information into at least one acoustic signal and outputs the at least one acoustic signal;

a storage device that stores the product information of the home appliance;

a controller that obtains the product information from the storage device and provides the product information to the conversion device; and

an output device that receives the at least one acoustic signal from the conversion device and outputs a corresponding sound, wherein the controller enters into a smart diagnosis mode upon receipt of the external command signal by the selection device and controls the conversion device to form the product information into a combination of a plurality of symbols having a given size of symbol time and set a dead time between symbols, and controls the output device to output the at least one acoustic signal.

2. The home appliance of claim 1, wherein the controller controls the conversion device to set the dead time to be less than approximately 20% of the symbol time.

3. The home appliance of claim 1, wherein the controller controls the conversion device to set the dead time between a first symbol and a second symbol and wherein the dead time has a different logic value from the first symbol.

4. The home appliance of claim 1, wherein the controller controls the conversion device to set 1 bit, which is a basic unit in which the product information has a predetermined data value, as one symbol.

5. The home appliance of claim 4, wherein the controller controls the conversion device to set the symbol time within the range of approximately 7 ms to approximately 24 ms.

6. The home appliance of claim 5, wherein the controller controls the conversion device to set the symbol time to approximately 12 ms.

7. The home appliance of claim 4, wherein the controller controls the conversion device to set the symbol time such that 8 to 32 pulses are contained per symbol of the at least one acoustic signal.

8. The home appliance of claim 4, wherein the controller controls the conversion device to set the symbol time such that the sound is transmitted at a transmission rate higher than approximately 20 and at an error rate smaller than an error rate at which 30 errors occur per 1216 bits.

9. The home appliance of claim 1, wherein the conversion device converts the product information into an acoustic signal of a predetermined frequency band, and stops the signal conversion in an interval during which the dead time is set.

10. The home appliance of claim 1, wherein the conversion device converts the control signal into the at least one acoustic signal by generating a resonance frequency according to pulse width modulation, and the resonance frequency is turned off during the dead time interval.

11. The home appliance of claim 9, wherein, at the time of conversion of the product information according to frequency shift keying, the conversion device converts the product information into a signal having a first frequency if a logic value of the control signal is 0, converts the product information into a signal having a second frequency if the logic value of the control signal is 1, and combines the converted signals of the first and second frequencies to output the at least one acoustic signal.

12. The home appliance of claim 9, wherein, at the time of conversion of the product information according to amplitude shift keying, the conversion device converts the product information into a signal having a first amplitude if a logic value of the control signal is 0, converts the product information into a signal having a second amplitude if the logic value of the control signal is 1, and combines the converted signals of the first and second amplitudes to output the at least one acoustic signal.

20. The home appliance of claim 1, wherein the product information contains operation information and fault information of the home appliance.

21. The home appliance of claim 1, wherein the product information contains status information of the home appliance.

22. The home appliance of claim 10, wherein, at the time of conversion of the product information according to frequency shift keying, the conversion device converts the product information into a signal having a first frequency if a logic value of the control signal is 0, converts the product information into a signal having a second frequency if the logic value of the control signal is 1, and combines the converted signals of the first and second frequencies to output the at least one acoustic signal.

23. The home appliance of claim 10, wherein, at the time of conversion of the product information according to amplitude shift keying, the conversion device converts the product information into a signal having a first amplitude if a logic value of the control signal is 0, converts the product information into a signal having a second amplitude if the logic value of the control signal is 1, and combines the converted signals of the first and second amplitudes to output the at least one acoustic signal.

13. A diagnosis method of a home appliance, in a signal outputting method for the home appliance, the method comprising:

storing product information of a home appliance;

when a command for allowing the home appliance to enter into a smart diagnosis mode is input, invoking the product information to set a basic unit of data of the product information as a symbol and generating a control signal by setting a dead time between symbols; and

converting the product information into at least one acoustic signal of a predetermined frequency band and outputting the at least one acoustic signal as a predetermined sound.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving the output predetermined sound by a service center through a communication network;

inversely converting the output predetermined sound and extracting the product information of the home appliance from the output predetermined sound; and

diagnosing a condition of the home appliance by analyzing the product information.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein in the generation of the at least one acoustic signal, signal conversion is stopped during a dead time interval of the control signal.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein, in the generation of the at least one acoustic signal, the product information is converted by using any one of frequency shift keying, amplitude shift keying, and phase shift keying.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising setting the symbol time within the range of approximately 7 ms to approximately 24 ms.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the symbol time is approximately 12 ms.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the symbol time is such that 8 to 32 pulses are contained per symbol of the at least one acoustic signal.

24. The method of claim 13, wherein the product information contains operation information and fault information of the home appliance.

25. The method of claim 13, wherein the product information contains status information of the home appliance.