Home electrical appliance control device, control method, control program and home electrical appliance

• US 7,081,830 B2
• Filed: 07/01/2003
• Issued: 07/25/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Matsumoto, Norihisa, Nagamitsu, Sachio, Shimba, Noriko
• Primary Examiner(s): Holloway, III, Edwin C.
• Application Number:
  US10/609,579
• Publication Number:
  US 20040002779A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,120 Days
• Field of Search: 340/825.62, 340/825.22, 340/825.24, 340/825.25, 340/3.7, 340/3.71, 700/90
• US Class Current: 340/12.31
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2809 indicating that an appliance service is present in a home automation network monitoring functionality H04L43/0817; discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services, H04L67/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators

Abstract

The present invention provides a control device that controls home electrical appliances via a communication line by using function codes which are set without being specialized for specific home electrical appliances. In particular, the present invention provides a home electrical appliance control device that controls a home electrical appliance connected via a communication line, where the device includes: a memory section for storing a function table for mapping function identifiers, which identify function types allocated with the focus on the function itself to functions with which the home electrical appliance is equipped, with attributes of the functions, and a control section for controlling the home electrical appliance via the communication line based on the function table.

Claims

1. A home electrical appliance control device that controls a home electrical appliance connected via a communication line, said control device comprising:

a memory section for storing a function table for mapping function identifiers, which identify function types allocated to functions of the home electrical appliance based solely on the functions of the home electrical appliance regardless of kinds of home electrical appliances, with attributes of the functions; and

a control section for controlling the home electrical appliance via the communication line on the basis of the function table.

2. The home electrical appliance control device according to claim 1, further comprising a storage section for generating built-in function information that associates the function identifier and the home electrical appliance on the basis of a built-in function notice, which includes a function identifier corresponding to a function of the home electrical appliance, received from the home electrical appliance, and for storing the received built-in function information in said memory section.

3. The home electrical appliance control device according to claim 2, wherein said control section is operable to retrieve the function identifier which corresponds to the function to be controlled from the function table and transmit the retrieved function identifier together with information that an inquiry on the state of the function is to be performed to the home electrical appliance which corresponds to the function identifier retrieved by making reference to the built-in function information.

4. The home electrical appliance control device according to claim 2, wherein said control section is operable to retrieve the function identifier which corresponds to the function to be controlled from the function table and transmit the function identifier together with information including a set value for the function to the home electrical appliance which corresponds to the function identifier retrieved by making reference to the built-in function information.

5. The home electrical appliance control device according to claim 1, wherein the attributes are at least one of:

a function name, which is the name of the function which corresponds to the function identifier;

a function description, which is a description of the function which corresponds to the function identifier;

the data type of a control description that indicates an operating state of the function which corresponds to the function identifier;

a size, which is a data length of the control description of the function which corresponds to the function identifier;

a value range, which is a numerical value range permitting setting of the control description of the function which corresponds to the function identifier; and

access information indicating controllability with respect to the function which corresponds to the function identifier.

6. A control method for a control device for controlling a home electrical appliance connected via a communication line,

wherein said control method performed by the control device comprises:

holding a function table, which includes function identifiers that permit the control device and the home electrical appliance to commonly identify the types of functions with which the home electrical appliance is equipped, and attribute information for the functions, and holding built-in function information tables, which include built-in function information that indicates the functions built into each home electrical appliance and identification information that identifies the home electrical appliance;

specifying the function identifier of a certain function which is a control target from the function table; and

specifying, from the built-in function information tables, home electrical appliance identification information that includes the specified function identifier.

7. The control method according to claim 6, further comprising inquiring a state of a function of a home electrical appliance constituting the control target on the basis of the specified function identifier and the specified home electrical appliance identification information.

8. The control method according to claim 6, further comprising transmitting the specified function identifier and setting information which is to be set for the function to the home electrical appliance which corresponds to the identification information to control the functions of the home electrical appliance.

9. The control method according to claim 8, further comprising:

broadcasting the identification information to all of the home electrical appliances connected to the communication line; and

updating the setting for the function identifier of the home electrical appliance to the received setting information when the home electrical appliance comprises a function which corresponds to the received function identifier.

10. A control program, stored on a computer-readable medium, for a control device for controlling a home electrical appliance connected via a communication line, said control program causing the control device to perform operations comprising:

holding a function table, which includes function identifiers that permit the control device and the home electrical appliance to commonly identify the types of functions with which the home electrical appliance is equipped, and attribute information for the functions, and holding built-in function information tables, which include built-in function information that indicates the functions built into each home electrical appliance and identification information that identifies the home electrical appliance;

specifying the function identifier of a certain function which is a control target from the function table; and

specifying, from the built-in function information tables, home electrical appliance identification information that includes the specified function identifier.

11. A home electrical appliance that is connected via a communication line to a control device, said home electrical appliance comprising:

a memory section for storing a built-in function table which is constituted by selecting a combination of a function identifier and attributes in accordance with the functions of the home electrical appliance from a function table for mapping function identifiers that permit the control device and said home electrical appliance to commonly identify the function types allocated, based solely on the functions of said home electrical appliance, to functions of said home electrical appliance regardless of kinds of home electrical appliances, with attributes of the functions; and

a transmission section for transmitting, to the control device via the communication line, a built-in function notice that includes a function identifier on the basis of the built-in function table, and access information that indicates the ability of the control device to control the function which corresponds to the function identifier.