HOME APPLIANCE AND OPERATION METHOD THEREOF

• US 20140188463A1
• Filed: 01/02/2014
• Published: 07/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/02/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: NOH, Seonghwan, HAN, Sungwook, PARK, Sangbae, JEON, Chansung
• Granted Patent: US 9,640,174 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/201
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/00 Speech recognition G10L17/00 takes precedence

Abstract

A home appliance and an operation method thereof are disclosed. The operation method of the home appliance includes entering a voice recognition mode, receiving a voice data through a microphone, recognizing the received voice date, and, in a case in which the recognized voice data contains information related to another home appliance, transmitting the recognized voice data to the corresponding home appliance. Consequently, sharing of voice data between home appliances is achieved.

Claims

1. An operation method of a home appliance comprising:

entering a voice recognition mode;

receiving a voice data through a microphone;

recognizing the received voice data through a controller; and

in a case in which the recognized voice data contains information related to a corresponding home appliance, transmitting the recognized voice data to the corresponding home appliance through the controller.

2. The operation method according to claim 1, wherein the step of transmitting the voice data comprises transmitting the recognized voice data to the corresponding home appliance via an access point device.

3. The operation method according to claim 1, wherein the step of transmitting the voice data comprises transmitting the recognized voice data to the corresponding home appliance via at least one home appliance adjacent thereto.

4. The operation method according to claim 1, further comprising:

in a case in which the recognized voice data contains information related to the corresponding home appliance, determining whether the home appliance can access the corresponding home appliance through the controller, wherein

upon determining that the home appliance can access the corresponding home appliance, the step of transmitting the voice data is performed.

5. The operation method according to claim 1, wherein the step of recognizing the received voice data comprises:

transmitting the received voice data to a server through the controller; and

receiving the voice data related to the transmitted voice from the server.

6. An operation method of a home appliance comprising:

receiving voice data from an external home appliance or a mobile terminal through a controller;

in a case in which the voice data corresponds to an operation control command, perform a corresponding operation through the home appliance; and

in a case in which the voice data corresponds to a voice memo, storing the voice data in a memory.

7. The operation method according to claim 6, further comprising, upon receiving an input to reproduce the voice memo through an input unit, reproducing and outputting the stored voice data.

8. The operation method according to claim 6, further comprising, upon receiving the voice memo, outputting a message indicating reception of the voice memo through the controller.

9. The operation method according to claim 6, wherein the step of receiving the voice data comprises receiving the voice data via an access point device or at least one home appliance adjacent thereto.

10. The operation method according to claim 6, further comprising:

in a case in which the voice data corresponds to a request for telephone conversation, receiving a call; and

performing a telephone conversation.

11. The operation method according to claim 10, wherein the step of performing the telephone conversation comprises:

receiving a voice through a microphone;

transmitting the received voice to the external home appliance or the mobile terminal; and

outputting voice data received from the external home appliance or the mobile terminal.

12. A home appliance comprising:

a microphone;

a wireless communication unit to exchange data with an external device; and

a controller to control the wireless communication unit to receive a voice data through the microphone upon entering a voice recognition mode and to, in a case in which the recognized voice data contains information related to a corresponding home appliance, transmitting the recognized voice data to the corresponding home appliance.

13. The home appliance according to claim 12, wherein the wireless communication unit transmits the recognized voice data to the corresponding home appliance via an access point device or at least one home appliance adjacent thereto.

14. The home appliance according to claim 12, wherein the wireless communication unit transmits the received voice data to a server and receives the voice data related to the transmitted voice from the server.

15. The home appliance according to claim 12, further comprising:

a memory, wherein

the wireless communication unit receives voice data from an external home appliance or a mobile terminal, and

in a case in which the voice data corresponds to an operation control command, the controller controls a corresponding operation to be performed and, in a case in which the voice data corresponds to a voice memo, the controller controls the voice data to be stored in the memory.

16. The home appliance according to claim 15, further comprising an audio output unit to reproduce and output the stored voice data upon receiving an input to reproduce the voice memo.

17. The home appliance according to claim 15, further comprising an audio output unit to output a message indicating reception of the voice memo upon receiving the voice memo.

18. The home appliance according to claim 15, further comprising:

an audio input unit and an audio output unit, wherein

in a case in which the voice data corresponds to a request for telephone conversation, the controller controls a call to be received and telephone conversation to be performed through the audio input unit and the audio output unit.

19. The home appliance according to claim 15, further comprising:

a memory; and

a camera to capture an image, wherein

in a case in which the image captured by the camera contains a quick response (QR) code and the QR code contains voice data, the controller controls the voice data to be extracted from the QR code and the extracted voice data to be stored in the memory.

20. The home appliance according to claim 19, further comprising an audio output unit to reproduce and output the stored voice data upon receiving an input to reproduce the voice data containing the QR code.