METHOD FOR DISPLAYING STATUS OF POWER CONSUMPTION AND PORTABLE DEVICE THEREOF

• US 20120268286A1
• Filed: 02/14/2012
• Published: 10/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: JIN, Young-kyu, JANG, Young-shil, LEE, Young-ho, CHANG, II-ku
• Granted Patent: US 9,621,368 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/815.4
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 21/133 by using digital technique
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/00 Pattern recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/001 Texturing; Colouring; Generation of texture or colour inpainting G06T5/77
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2200/24 involving graphical user interfaces [GUIs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/20 in augmented reality scenes
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/02 characterised by the way in which colour is displayed details of colour display specific for CRTs G09G1/28; specific for flat matrix panels other than liquid crystal displays G09G3/2003; specific for liquid crystal displays G09G3/3607
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports
• 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: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

Provided is a method for displaying electricity use status and a portable device thereof by identifying at least one electronic appliance in an image on a screen captured through a camera, receiving electricity use information of the at least one electronic appliance, determining the electricity use status of the at least one electronic appliance using the received electricity use information, and displaying one of a plurality of Graphical User Interfaces (GUI), wherein each GUI corresponds to a different stage of the electricity use status of the at least one electronic appliance

Claims

1. A method for displaying electricity use status, comprising the steps of:

identifying at least one electronic appliance in an image on a screen captured through a camera;

receiving electricity use information of the at least one electronic appliance;

determining the electricity use status of the at least one electronic appliance using the received electricity use information; and

displaying one of a plurality of Graphical User Interfaces (GUI), wherein each GUI corresponds to a different stage of the electricity use status of the at least one electronic appliance.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying one of the plurality of GUIs comprises displaying the GUI that corresponds to the electricity use status of the at least one electronic appliance on the screen, so that the GUI matches a location where the at least one electronic appliance is displayed.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing at least one of location information and shape information of the at least one electronic appliance.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein identifying the at least one electronic appliance comprises identifying the at least one electronic appliance using at least one of the stored location and shape information of the at least one electronic appliance.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the GUI attributes one of a plurality of different colors to the electronic appliance, wherein each color corresponds to a different stage of the electricity use status.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the GUI displays the electronic appliance using one of a plurality of icons, wherein each icon corresponds to a different stage of the electricity use status.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the electricity use status comprises determining whether the current electricity use exceeds a target use or whether the current pattern of using electronic appliances would lead to exceeding the target use.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving information about electricity pricing at a current time of day, wherein determining the electricity use status comprises determining whether electricity use at a current moment is relatively high based on electricity pricing at the current time of the day.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising, generating, when the generated GUI is selected, a menu window including information about electricity use of a corresponding electronic appliance and a menu to control the electricity use of the corresponding electronic appliance.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving electricity use information uses one of Wi-fi network, Zigbee network, NFC network and Bluetooth network.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the electricity use information comprises at least one of a total electricity used so far, a current electricity use, and electricity pricing information regarding the at least one electronic appliance.

12. A portable device comprising:

a photographing unit comprising a camera that captures an image of at least one electronic appliance;

a communicating unit that receives electricity use information of the at least one electronic appliance;

a Graphical User Interface (GUI) generating unit that generates a GUI;

a display unit; and

a control unit that identifies the at least one electronic appliances in the image on a screen, determines the electricity use status of the at least one electronic appliance using the received electricity use information, and displays one of a plurality of Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs), wherein each GUI corresponds to a different stage of the electricity use status of the at least one electronic appliance.

13. The portable device of claim 12, wherein the control unit controls the display unit to display the GUI corresponding to the electricity use status of the at least one electronic appliance on the screen, so that the GUI matches a location where the at least one electronic appliance is displayed.

14. The portable device of claim 12, further comprising a storage unit which stores at least one of location information and shape information of the at least one electronic appliance.

15. The portable device of claim 14, wherein the control unit identifies the at least one electronic appliance using at least one of the stored location and shape information of the at least one electronic appliance.

16. The portable device of claim 12, wherein the GUI attributes one of a plurality of different colors to the electronic appliance, wherein each color corresponds to a different stage of the electricity use status.

17. The portable device of claim 12, wherein the GUI displays the electronic appliance by using one of a plurality of different icons, wherein each icon corresponds to a different stage of the electricity use status.

18. The portable device of claim 12, wherein the control unit determines the electricity use status of the at least one electronic appliance by determining whether the current electricity use exceeds a target use or whether the current pattern of using electronic appliances would lead to exceeding the target use.

19. The portable device of claim 12, wherein the communicating unit receives information about electricity pricing at a current time of day, and the control unit determines the electricity use status of the at least one electronic appliance by determining whether electricity use at a current moment is relatively high based on electricity pricing at the current time of the day.

20. The portable device of claim 12, wherein, the control unit controls the GUI generating unit, when the generated GUI is selected, to generate a menu window including information about electricity use of a corresponding electronic appliance and a menu to control the electricity use of the corresponding electronic appliance.

21. The portable device of claim 12, wherein the communicating unit receives the electricity use information of the at least one electronic appliance using one of Wi-fi network, Zigbee network, NFC network and Bluetooth network.

22. The portable device of claim 12, wherein the electricity use information comprises at least one of a total electricity used so far, a current electricity use, and electricity pricing information regarding the at least one electronic appliance.