UPDATE APPLIANCE COMMUNICATION SETTINGS TO COMPENSATE FOR TEMPERATURE FLUCTUATIONS

• US 20150236928A1
• Filed: 02/17/2014
• Published: 08/20/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Haier US Appliance Solutions, Inc. DBA GE Appliances (Haier Group Company)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Drake, Jeff Donald
• Granted Patent: US 9,647,886 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0829 Packet loss

Abstract

Systems and methods for updating appliance communication settings to compensate for temperature fluctuations are provided. In particular, an appliance that includes one or more data communication components that provide wireless communication functionality can monitor one or more characteristics describing data communication failures experienced by the one or more data communication components. When the monitored characteristics indicate that the appliance is experiencing an increased rate of communication failure, the appliance can log the temperature conditions at the data communication components. Periodically, the appliance can analyze the logged temperatures to identify one or more temperature ranges associated with increased communication failure. The appliance can then update one or more communication settings associated with such temperature ranges so as to compensate for anticipated temperature fluctuations.

Claims

1. A method for updating appliance communication settings to compensate for temperature fluctuations, the method comprising:

monitoring, by an appliance over a period of time, temperature conditions at one or more data communication components included in the appliance;

monitoring, by the appliance over the period of time, one or more characteristics describing data communication failures experienced by the one or more data communication components;

determining, by the appliance based at least in part on the monitored temperature conditions and the monitored characteristics describing data communication failures, at least one range of temperatures at which the data communication components experience increased data communication failures; and

adjusting, by the appliance, one or more data communication settings associated with the at least one range of temperatures.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, by the appliance based at least in part on the monitored temperature conditions and the monitored characteristics describing data communication failures, at least one range of temperatures at which the data communication components experience increased data communication failures comprises:

determining, by the appliance, when the one or more characteristics describing data communication failures exceed a threshold value; and

when it is determined that the one or more characteristics describing data communication failures exceed the threshold value, logging, by the appliance, the temperature conditions.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining, by the appliance based at least in part on the monitored temperature conditions and the monitored characteristics describing data communication failures, at least one range of temperatures at which the data communication components experience increased data communication failures further comprises analyzing, by the appliance, the logged temperature conditions to determine the at least one range of temperatures.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising, after adjusting the one or more data communication settings associated with the at least one range of temperatures:

determining, by the appliance, that the temperature conditions at the one or more data communication components is within the at least one range of temperatures; and

operating, by the appliance, the one or more data communication components according to the one or more adjusted communication settings.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the appliance periodically performs the steps of determining the at least one range of temperatures and adjusting the one or more data communication settings; and

the period of time comprises a moving window of time associated with the periodic performance of the steps of determining the at least one range of temperatures and adjusting the one or more data communication settings.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more characteristics describing data communication failures experienced by the one or more data communication components comprises a rate of packet loss associated with the one or more data communication components.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more characteristics describing data communication failures experienced by the one or more data communication components comprises a quantity of packets lost.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more characteristics describing data communication failures experienced by the one or more data communication components comprises an average number of retries necessary to successfully send or receive a packet.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more characteristics describing data communication failures experienced by the one or more data communication components comprises a communication retry rate.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more data communication settings comprises a length of a retry period.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more data communication settings comprises a maximum number of retries.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more data communication settings comprises a retry rate.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the appliance comprises a cooking product.

14. A method for updating appliance communication settings to compensate for temperature fluctuations, the method comprising:

determining, by an appliance, when a packet loss rate or a number of communication retries exceeds a threshold value;

logging, by the appliance, a temperature associated with one or more data communication components included in the appliance when it is determined that the packet loss rate or the number of communication retries exceeds the threshold value;

analyzing, by the appliance, the logged temperatures to identify at least one temperature range associated with increased packet loss rate or increased number of communication retries; and

adjusting, by the appliance, one or more data communication settings associated with the at least one range of temperatures.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

determining, by the appliance, when the temperature associated with the one or more data communication components is above a first temperature value or below a second temperature value; and

logging, by the appliance, the current packet loss rate or the current number of communication retries when it is determined that the temperature associated with the one or more data communication components is above the first temperature value or below the second temperature value;

wherein analyzing, by the appliance, the logged temperatures to identify at least one temperature range associated with increased packet loss rate or increased number of communication retries comprises analyzing, by the appliance, the logged temperatures and the logged packet loss rate or number of communication retries to identify at least one temperature range correlated with increased packet loss rate or increased number of communication retries.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more data communication settings comprises one or more of a length of a retry period, a maximum number of retries, or a retry rate.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein:

adjusting, by the appliance, the one or more data communication settings comprises periodically adjusting, by the appliance, the one or more data communication settings; and

analyzing, by the appliance, the logged temperatures to identify at least one temperature range associated with increased packet loss rate or increased number of communication retries comprises periodically analyzing, by the appliance, only those temperatures associated with a moving window of time to identify the at least one temperature range, such that the one or more data communication settings are dynamically updated to compensate for appliance data communication performance parameters that change over the lifetime of the appliance.

18. An appliance comprising:

one or more data communication components;

a temperature sensor positioned adjacent to the one or more data communication components and configured to provide data indicating a temperature at the one or more data communication components;

wherein the appliance is configured to perform operations, the operations comprising;

determining when a packet loss rate or a number of communication retries exceeds a threshold value;

logging the temperature at the one or more data communication components when it is determined that the packet loss rate or the number of communication retries exceeds the threshold value;

analyzing the logged temperatures to identify at least one temperature range associated with increased packet loss rate or increased number of communication retries; and

adjusting one or more data communication settings associated with the at least one range of temperatures.

19. The appliance of claim 18, wherein the one or more data communication settings comprises one or more of a length of a retry period, a maximum number of retries, or a retry rate.

20. The appliance of claim 18, wherein the appliance is configured to perform further operations comprising:

determining when the temperature at the one or more data communication components is above a first temperature value or below a second temperature value; and

logging, by the appliance, the current packet loss rate or the current number of communication retries when it is determined that the temperature associated with the one or more data communication components is above the first temperature value or below the second temperature value;

wherein analyzing the logged temperatures to identify at least one temperature range associated with increased packet loss rate or increased number of communication retries comprises identifying at least one correlation between temperature and packet loss rate or number of communication retries.