INFORMATION NOTIFICATION METHOD

• US 20160006576A1
• Filed: 09/11/2014
• Published: 01/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: MATSUZAKI, Natsume, FUTA, Yuichi, OHMORI, Motoji, MAEDA, Manabu, UNAGAMI, Yuji
• Granted Patent: US 9,762,407 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/00 Interconnection of, or transfer of information or other signals between, memories, input/output devices or central processing units interface circuits for specific input/output devices G06F3/00 ; multiprogram control therefor G06F9/46; multiprocessor systems G06F15/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G16Y 10/80 Homes; Buildings
• CPC Class Codes: G16Y 20/20 relating to the thing itself
• CPC Class Codes: G16Y 40/20 Analytics; Diagnosis
• 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 43/065 related to network devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/40 using a wireless architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/86 Performing a diagnostic of the sensing device
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 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

Abstract

When it is determined that a position of the display terminal is within a range of a prescribed distance from the house and when it is determined that the log information and the information indicating the operational state of the one electric home appliance are not consistent with each other, the server provides the display terminal with information on a possibility of a malfunction of the one electric home appliance while the position of the display terminal is still within the range of the prescribed distance from the house.

Claims

1. An information notification method in an information management system which manages information indicating a state of one or more electric home appliances in a house, the information notification method comprising:

receiving log information including an operational state of one electric home appliance among the one or more electric home appliances, from the one electric home appliance via a first network;

receiving information indicating an operational state of the one electric home appliance from another electric home appliance via the first network, the other electric home appliance being capable of monitoring the operational state of the one electric home appliance;

receiving positional information of a display terminal of a user of the electric home appliance from the display terminal; and

when it is determined that a position of the display terminal is within a range of a prescribed distance from the house as a result of a comparison between positional information of the house and the positional information of the display terminal and when it is determined that the log information received from the one electric home appliance and the information indicating the operational state of the one electric home appliance that is received from the other electric home appliance are not consistent with each other,

providing the display terminal with information on a possibility of a malfunction of the one electric home appliance via a second network while the position of the display terminal is still within the range of the prescribed distance from the house.

2. The information notification method according to claim 1, wherein

the first network and the second network are the same network.

3. The information notification method according to claim 1, wherein

the first network and the second network are different networks.

4. The information notification method according to claim 1, wherein

local map information that includes a position indicated by the positional information of the display terminal is acquired using a database that manages map information,

positional information of the display terminal that is periodically received is managed together with reception times,

a travel speed of the display terminal is calculated based on a change in the positional information of the display terminal over time, and

whether or not the position of the display terminal is within the range of the prescribed distance from the house is determined using the calculated travel speed of the display terminal and the local map information.

5. The information notification method according to claim 1, wherein

correspondence information indicating the other one or more electric home appliances that corresponds to the one electric home appliance is managed, and

the other one or more electric home appliances associated with the one electric home appliance is selected based on the correspondence information.

6. The information notification method according to claim 1, wherein

when the position of the display terminal is not coincidence a position of the house and is still within the range of the prescribed distance, information on a possibility of a malfunction of the one electric home appliance is provided to the display terminal via the second network.

7. The information notification method according to claim 1, wherein

when the position of the display terminal is coincidence a position of the house and is still within the range of the prescribed distance, information on a possibility of a malfunction of the one electric home appliance is provided to the display terminal via the second network.

8. The information notification method according to claim 1, wherein

local map information that includes a position indicated by the positional information of the display terminal is acquired using a database that manages map information,

a change in the positional information of the display terminal that is received from the display terminal is tracked on the local map information,

a route to the house on the local map information and a travel speed of the display terminal are determined based on the tracked change in the positional information of the display terminal,

a time required by the user of the display terminal to return to the house is calculated using the determined route and travel speed when providing the information on a possibility of a malfunction of the one electric home appliance to the display terminal, and

information indicating the time required by the user of the display terminal to return to the house is provided based on the calculated time together with the information on a possibility of a malfunction of the one electric home appliance.

9. The information notification method according to claim 1, wherein

an elapsed time from when the display terminal leaves a region corresponding to the house is measured, the measured time is acquired when providing the information on a possibility of a malfunction of the one electric home appliance to the display terminal, and

information indicating a time required by the user of the display terminal to return to the house is provided based on the acquired time together with the information on a possibility of a malfunction of the one electric home appliance.

10. The information notification method according to claim 1, wherein

the positional information of the display terminal is periodically received from the display terminal.

11. The information notification method according to claim 1, wherein

the other electric home appliance is a power meter which is connected to the information management system via the first network and which detects power consumption in the house, and

the information indicating the operational state of the one electric home appliance that is received from the other electric home appliance is information indicating the power consumption received from the power meter via the first network.

12. The information notification method according to claim 1, wherein

the other electric home appliance includes a sound pickup apparatus which is connected to the information management system via the first network and which collects an operating noise of the one electric home appliance, and

the information indicating the operational state of the one electric home appliance that is received from the other electric home appliance is information indicating the operating noise of the one electric home appliance that is received from the other electric home appliance via the first network.

13. The information notification method according to claim 1, wherein

the other electric home appliance includes an electronic thermometer which is connected to the information management system via the first network and which measures temperature inside the house, and

the information indicating the operational state of the one electric home appliance that is received from the other electric home appliance is information indicating the temperature inside the house that is received from the other electric home appliance via the first network.

14. An information notification method in an information management system which manages information indicating a state of one or more electric home appliances in a house, the information notification method comprising:

receiving log information including an operational state of one electric home appliance among the one or more electric home appliances, from the one electric home appliance via a first network;

receiving information indicating an operational state of the one electric home appliance from another electric home appliance via the first network, the other electric home appliance being capable of monitoring the operational state of the one electric home appliance;

receiving positional information of a display terminal of a user of the electric home appliance from the display terminal;

acquiring local map information that includes a position indicated by the positional information of the display terminal, using a database that manages map information;

tracking a change in the positional information of the display terminal that is received from the display terminal, on the local map information;

calculating a travel distance that is traveled by the display terminal from the house on the local map information based on the tracked change in the positional information of the display terminal, and

when it is determined that the log information received from the one electric home appliance and the information indicating the operational state of the one electric home appliance that is received from the other electric home appliance are not consistent with each other, providing the display terminal with information on a possibility of a malfunction of the one electric home appliance via a second network until the travel distance of the display terminal from the house exceeds a prescribed distance.

15. An information notification method in an information management system which manages information indicating a state of one or more electric home appliances in a house, the information notification method comprising:

managing information specifying one electric home appliance among the one or more electric home appliances;

receiving log information including an operational state of the one electric home appliance from the one electric home appliance via a first network;

receiving information indicating the operational state of the one electric home appliance from another electric home appliance via the first network, the other electric home appliance being capable of monitoring the operational state of the one electric home appliance;

determining whether or not the log information received from the one electric home appliance and the information indicating the operational state of the one electric home appliance that is received from the other electric home appliance are consistent with each other;

receiving positional information of a display terminal of a user of the electric home appliance from the display terminal; and

when it is determined that a position of the display terminal is within a range of a prescribed distance from the house as a result of a comparison between positional information of the house and the positional information of the display terminal, providing information indicating a result of the comparison between the log information received from the one electric home appliance and the information indicating the operational state of the one electric home appliance that is received from the other electric home appliance, to the display terminal via a second network while the position of the display terminal is still within the range of the prescribed distance from the house.

16. The information notification method according to claim 15, wherein

correspondence information indicating the other one or more electric home appliances that corresponds to the one electric home appliance is managed, and

the other one or more electric home appliances associated with the one electric home appliance is selected based on the correspondence information.

17. The information notification method according to claim 15, wherein

local map information that includes a position indicated by the positional information of the display terminal is acquired using a database that manages map information, a change in the positional information of the display terminal that is received from the display terminal is tracked on the local map information,

a route to the house on the local map information and a travel speed of the display terminal are determined based on the tracked change in the positional information of the display terminal,

a time required by the user of the display terminal to return to the house is calculated using the determined route and travel speed when providing information indicating the comparison result to the display terminal, and

information indicating the time required by the user of the display terminal to return to the house is provided based on the calculated time together with the information indicating the comparison result.

18. The information notification method according to claim 15, wherein

an elapsed time from when the display terminal leaves a region corresponding to the house is measured,

the measured time is acquired when providing the information indicating the result of the comparison to the display terminal, and

information indicating a time required by the user of the display terminal to return to the house is provided based on the acquired time together with the information indicating the result of the comparison.

19. The information notification method according to claim 15, wherein

the other electric home appliance is a power meter which is connected to the information management system via the first network and which detects power consumption in the house, and

the information indicating the operational state of the one electric home appliance that is received from the other electric home appliance is information indicating the power consumption received from the power meter via the first network.

20. An information notification method in an information management system which manages information indicating a state of one or more electric home appliances in a house, the information notification method comprising:

receiving an operation instruction for operating one electric home appliance among the one or more electric home appliances;

receiving log information including an operational state of the one electric home appliance from the one electric home appliance via a first network;

receiving information indicating the operational state of the one electric home appliance from another electric home appliance via the first network, the other electric home appliance being capable of monitoring the operational state of the one electric home appliance;

collating the operation instruction for operating the one electric home appliance, the log information received from the one electric home appliance, and the information indicating the operational state of the one electric home appliance that is received from the other electric home appliance;

receiving positional information of a display terminal of a user of the electric home appliance from the display terminal; and

when it is determined that a position of the display terminal is within a range of a prescribed distance from the house as a result of a comparison between positional information of the house and the positional information of the display terminal, providing the display terminal with information indicating whether or not the operation instruction to the one electric home appliance is successful based on a result of the collation while the position of the display terminal is still within the range of the prescribed distance from the house.

21. The information notification method according to claim 20, wherein

the information indicating whether or not the operation instruction to the one electric home appliance is successful includes information indicating a possibility of a failure of the one electric home appliance.