HOME APPLIANCE AND SIGNAL OUTPUT METHOD THEREOF

• US 20110018729A1
• Filed: 07/23/2010
• Published: 01/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/24/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Kim, Hyunsang, Kwon, Euihyeok, Lee, Koonseok, KIM, Yongtae, Kang, Haeyong
• Granted Patent: US 8,325,054 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/679
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/06 Management of faults, events, alarms or notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5061 characterised by the interaction between service providers and their network customers, e.g. customer relationship management
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/002 with telemetering systems telemetering in general G08C

Abstract

A home appliance and a signal output method thereof are disclosed. The home appliance outputs product information in the form of a sound signal, which is transmitted to a service center at a remote site over a communication network so that the service center can readily check the state of the home appliance. A digital signal including product information of the home appliance is converted into a sound signal based on a plurality of frequency signals. Therefore, a larger amount of data can be rapidly transmitted for a fault diagnosis, so as to improve fault diagnosis accuracy.

Claims

1. A home appliance comprising:

a selector for inputting a command for execution of a fault diagnosis of the home appliance;

a memory for storing product information of the home appliance for the fault diagnosis;

a controller for, when the fault diagnosis execution command is input by the selector, changing an operating mode of the home appliance to a smart diagnosis mode and encoding the product information stored in the memory to generate a digital signal including at least one frame;

a modulator for modulating the digital signal using a plurality of frequencies such that any one of signals of the frequencies corresponds to at least one bit of the digital signal; and

a sound output device for outputting a sound signal corresponding to the frequency signals applied from the modulator.

2. The home appliance according to claim 1, wherein the controller controls the modulator such that the number of bits of the digital signal corresponding to one frequency signal is changed according to the number of the frequencies used in the modulator.

3. The home appliance according to claim 2, wherein the modulator applies one of the frequency signals corresponding to a logic value of the digital signal to the sound output device for a predetermined output time according to the number of the bits of the digital signal corresponding to the one frequency signal.

4. The home appliance according to claim 3, wherein the modulator outputs the corresponding frequency signal per 2 bits of the digital signal through the sound output device using four frequencies.

5. The home appliance according to claim 3, wherein the modulator outputs the corresponding frequency signal per 3 bits of the digital signal through the sound output device using eight frequencies.

6. The home appliance according to claim 3, wherein the modulator outputs the corresponding frequency signal per 4 bits of the digital signal through the sound output device using sixteen frequencies.

7. The home appliance according to claim 3, wherein the modulator outputs the corresponding frequency signal per n bits of the digital signal through the sound output device using frequencies of a number corresponding to 2ⁿ.

8. The home appliance according to claim 2, wherein the modulator includes frequency oscillators for generating frequency signals of a number corresponding to the number of the frequencies used, the modulator controlling the sound output device to output the frequency signal from a specified one of the frequency oscillators corresponding to the logic value of the digital signal through the sound output device for the output time.

9. The home appliance according to claim 7, wherein the sound output device is a speaker.

10. A signal output method of a home appliance comprising:

encoding pre-stored product information to generate a digital signal of a predetermined format, upon entry of a smart diagnosis mode;

setting the number of bits of the digital signal corresponding to one frequency signal according to the number of available frequencies;

generating any one of a plurality of frequency signals corresponding to a logic value of the digital signal according to the setting to convert the digital signal into a combination of the frequency signals; and

outputting a sound signal corresponding to the frequency signals through a sound output device.

11. The signal output method according to claim 10, wherein the setting the number of bits comprises setting the number of the bits of the digital signal corresponding to the one frequency signal such that, when the number of the frequencies available in a modulator is 2ⁿ, the digital signal is converted into the corresponding frequency signal per n bits of the digital signal.

12. The signal output method according to claim 10, wherein the outputting comprises outputting the sound signal corresponding to the one frequency signal through the sound output device for a predetermined output time.

13. The signal output method according to claim 11, wherein the converting comprises applying the frequency signal corresponding to the digital signal per 2 bits of the digital signal to the sound output device using four frequencies.

14. The signal output method according to claim 11, wherein the converting comprises applying the frequency signal corresponding to the digital signal per 3 bits of the digital signal to the sound output device using eight frequencies.

15. The signal output method according to claim 11, wherein the converting comprises applying the frequency signal corresponding to the digital signal per 4 bits of the digital signal to the sound output device using sixteen frequencies.