HOME APPLIANCE

• US 20150358175A1
• Filed: 06/05/2015
• Published: 12/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: LEE, Koonseok
• Granted Patent: US 10,230,536 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2613 Household appliance in general
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2816 Controlling appliance services of a home automation network by calling their functionalities arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station; in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom H04Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2834 Switching of information between an external network and a home network access arrangements H04L12/2856
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/30 Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for improving the carbon footprint of the management of residential or tertiary loads, i.e. smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the buildings sector, including also the last stages of power distribution and the control, monitoring or operating management systems at local level
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/20 End-user application control systems

Abstract

A communication apparatus is disclosed. A home appliance includes a driving unit to drive a component of the home appliance, a controller configured to control the driving unit, a display to display a network connection related indicator and a smart grid related indicator, and a communication unit to connect to an access point apparatus, the communication unit to connect to a server via the connected access point apparatus, and the communication unit to receive a power information signal from the server, wherein the controller to control operation of the driving unit based on the received power information signal. Accordingly, it is possible to conveniently recognize a smart grid mode.

Claims

1. A home appliance comprising:

a driving unit to drive a component of the home appliance;

a controller configured to control the driving unit;

a display to display a network connection related indicator and a smart grid related indicator; and

a communication unit to connect to an access point apparatus, the communication unit to connect to a server via the connected access point apparatus, and the communication unit to receive a power information signal from the server,

wherein the controller to control operation of the driving unit based on the received power information signal.

2. The home appliance according to claim 1, wherein in response to receiving a signal for entering a smart grid mode while the driving unit is operating, the controller to control the display to display the smart grid related indicator to have an on state.

3. The home appliance according to claim 1, wherein in response to receiving a touch input at the smart grid related indicator that is displayed in an off state while the home appliance is connected to the server and the home appliance is connected to the access point apparatus, the controller to control the display to display the smart grid related indicator to have an on state.

4. The home appliance according to claim 1, wherein:

the controller to control the display to provide the network connection related indicator to have an on state while the home appliance is connected to the server, and

the controller to control the display to display the smart grid related indicator to have an on state while the home appliance is connected to the access point apparatus.

5. The home appliance according to claim 4, wherein the controller to control the display to display the network connection related indicator to have a first blinking display while the home appliance is connected to the access point apparatus and the home appliance is not connected to the server.

6. The home appliance according to claim 5, wherein:

the controller to control the display to display the network connection related indicator to have a second blinking display while the home appliance is temporarily disconnected from the access point apparatus and then the home appliance is reconnected to the access point apparatus, and

wherein on and off timings of the first blinking display are different than on and off timings of the second blinking display.

7. The home appliance according to claim 1, wherein the display to further display a grid mode indicator, and the controller to control the display to display the grid mode indicator to have an on state when the power information signal is received.

8. The home appliance according to claim 7, wherein in response to setting an override mode of the home appliance, the controller to control the display to display the grid mode indicator to have an off state and the controller to display the smart grid related indicator to have an on state.

9. The home appliance according to claim 7, wherein in response to setting an override mode of the home appliance, the controller to control performance of the override mode prior to operating in a smart grid mode.

10. The home appliance according to claim 1, wherein in response to receiving a touch input at the smart grid related indicator that is displayed in an off state while the home appliance is connected to the server and the home appliance is connected to the access point apparatus, the communication unit to provide a smart grid related data packet to the server.

11. The home appliance according to claim 1, wherein in response to receiving a first touch input at the smart grid related indicator, the controller to control performance of a first reset mode, and in response to receiving a second touch input, longer than the first touch input, at the smart grid related indicator, the controller to control performance of a second reset mode when the smart grid related indicator is touched a predetermined number of times or more for a second time that is greater than the first time.

12. The home appliance according to claim 11, further comprising a memory configured to store network related information received from the access point apparatus,

wherein the controller to control the communication unit to disconnect from the access point apparatus and to delete the network related information stored in the memory.

13. The home appliance according to claim 12, wherein:

the communication unit to provide a signal for requesting deletion of product related information stored in the server, and the communication unit to receive a deletion completion message from the server, and

the controller to control the communication unit to disconnect from the access point apparatus after receiving the deletion completion message and to control deletion of the network related information stored in the memory.

14. A home appliance comprising:

a driving unit to drive a component of the home appliance;

a controller configured to control the driving unit; and

a communication unit configured to receive a power information signal,

wherein in response to receiving a first power information signal from the communication unit while the driving unit is operating, the controller to control the driving unit to continuously operate, and in response to receiving a second power information signal from the communication unit while the driving unit is operating, the controller to control the driving unit to pause for a predetermined time and then to operate.

15. The home appliance according to claim 14, wherein in response to receiving the first power information signal or the second power information signal while the driving unit is non-operating, the controller to control performance of a saving mode of the home appliance.

16. An appliance comprising:

a driving unit to drive a component of the appliance;

a controller configured to control the driving unit;

a display to display a network connection related indicator and a smart grid related indicator; and

a communication unit to connect the appliance to an access point, the communication unit to connect the appliance to an external device via the connected access point, and the communication unit to receive power information from the server,

wherein the controller to control the driving unit based on the received power information.

17. The appliance according to claim 16, wherein in response to receiving information for entering a smart grid mode while the driving unit is operating, the controller to control the display to display the smart grid related indicator to have an on indication.

18. The appliance according to claim 16, wherein in response to a touch input at the smart grid related indicator that is displayed to have an off indication while the appliance is connected to the server and the appliance is connected to the access point, the controller to control the display to display the smart grid related indicator to have an on indication.

19. The appliance according to claim 16, wherein:

the controller to control the display to display the network connection related indicator to have an on indication while the appliance is connected to the server, and

the controller to control the display to display the smart grid related indicator to have an on indication while the appliance is connected to the access point.

20. The appliance according to claim 19, wherein the controller to control the display to display the network connection related indicator to have a first blinking display while the appliance is connected to the access point and the appliance is not connected to the server,

the controller to control the display to display the network connection related indicator to have a second blinking display while the appliance is temporarily disconnected from the access point and then the appliance is reconnected to the access point, and

wherein on and off timings of the first blinking display are different than on and off timings of the second blinking display.