System and method for controlling home appliances

• US 7,256,704 B2
• Filed: 07/12/2002
• Issued: 08/14/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Yoon, Sang Chul, Jeon, Duck Goo
• Primary Examiner(s): Knight; Anthony
• Assistant Examiner(s): Norton; Jennifer L.
• Application Number:
  US10/193,100
• Publication Number:
  US 20030018776A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,859 Days
• Field of Search: 709223-225, 709/245, 709/249, 700/110, 700/9, 700/19, 700/20, 700/174, 340/3.1, 340/825, 340/853
• US Class Current: 340/12.31
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A system and method for controlling a plurality of home appliances provided in a building, wherein home appliance built-in communication modules are each adapted to convert information in an Ethernet standard format into that of a home appliance standard format and adapters are provided to connect the home appliance built-in communication modules to a phoneline network alliance (PNA) provided in the building to transmit and receive information therebetween. The home appliances can be controlled over a network using an existing telephone line. The adapters allow interconnection of the plurality of home appliances with no distance limitations.

Claims

1. A home appliance control system comprising:

a plurality of home appliances provided in a building and controlled in response to control information transmitted over an Internet, said home appliances generating information about their controlled status and transmitting the generated status information over the Internet;

a phoneline network alliance provided in the building;

an external Internet network provided outside of the building;

a phoneline network alliance connector that connects said home appliances to said phoneline network alliance such that said home appliances transmit and receive said status information and control information via said phoneline network alliance,

wherein said phoneline network alliance connector comprises;

a computer that assigns a private Internet protocol (IP) address to said home appliances;

a first adapter that converts formats of information transmitted from said phoneline network alliance to said computer into an Ethernet standard format, and that converts formats of information received from said computer to said phoneline network alliance into a standard format of the phoneline network alliance;

a second adapter that converts formats of information transmitted from said home appliances to said phoneline network alliance into a standard format of said phoneline network alliance, and that converts formats of information received from said phoneline network alliance to said home appliances into an Ethernet standard format; and

a home appliance built-in communication module that stores said private IP address assigned by said computer, said home appliance built in communication module connecting said second adapter to said home appliances and converting data of said Ethernet standard format from said second adapter into that of a standard format of said home appliances; and

a network that connects said phoneline network alliance connector to said external Internet network and controlling the connection such that said phoneline network alliance is connected to said external Internet network;

wherein each of said home appliances connected to said home appliance control system receives data in an Ethernet standard format; and

wherein said second adapter is connected to said built-in communication module to connect said home appliances to said phoneline network alliance so as to enable transmission and reception of data of said Ethernet standard format between said home appliances and said phoneline network alliance.

2. The home appliance control system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said first adapter is configured to connect said computer to said network and said phoneline network alliance, respectively, and to convert formats of data transmitted and received between said computer and said network into said Ethernet standard format, a format of data transmitted from said computer to said phoneline network alliance into said phoneline network alliance standard format, and a format of data transmitted from said phoneline network alliance to said computer into said Ethernet standard format, respectively.

3. The home appliance control system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said computer has a public IP address such that it is accessible by said external Internet network.

4. The home appliance control system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said home appliance built-in communication module is configured to receive said control information through said second adapter, to convert a format of the received control information into said home appliance standard format only when it contains information regarding the same private IP address as that stored therein, and to transfer the resulting control information to said home appliances.

5. The home appliance control system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said network includes:

a gateway acting as an ingress that connects said external Internet network to said phoneline network alliance; and

a hub that transfers data from said gateway to said phoneline network alliance connector.

6. A method for controlling a plurality of home appliances provided in a building, comprising:

converting a format of information sent from an external Internet network provided outside of the building into a standard format of a phoneline network alliance provided in the building;

connecting said home appliances to said phoneline network alliance, via a phoneline network alliance connector, such that said home appliances transmit and receive said status information and control information via said phoneline network alliance, said phoneline network alliance connector comprising;

a computer that assigns a private Internet protocol (IP) address to said home appliances;

a first adapter that converts formats of information transmitted from the phoneline network alliance to the computer into an Ethernet standard format, and that converts formats of information received from the computer to the phoneline network alliance into a standard format of the phoneline network alliance;

a second adapter that converts formats of information transmitted from said home appliances to said phoneline network alliance into a standard format of said phoneline network alliance, and that converts formats of information received from said phoneline network alliance to said home appliances into an Ethernet standard format; and

a home appliance built-in communication module that stores the private IP address assigned by the computer, said home appliance built-in communication module connecting the second adapter to said home appliances and converting data of the Ethernet standard format from said second adapter into that of a standard format of said home appliances;

transmitting said information converted into the standard format of said phoneline network alliance over said phoneline network alliance;

converting the information transmitted over said phoneline network alliance into an Ethernet standard format;

controlling said home appliances according to said information converted into the Ethernet standard format;

configuring each of the home appliances, connected to said home appliance control system, to receive data in an Ethernet standard format; and

connecting said second adapter to said built-in communication module such that said home appliances are connected to said phoneline network alliance so to enable transmission and reception of data of said Ethernet standard format, between said home appliances and said phoneline network alliance.

7. The method as set forth in claim 6, further comprising:

converting the phoneline network alliance standard format into an Ethernet standard format, after converting the Ethernet standard format of said information converted into a standard format of said home appliances such that said converted information is processable by said home appliances.

8. The method as set forth in claim 6, further comprising:

assigning a private Internet protocol (IP) address to said home appliances; and

storing the assigned private IP address in said home appliances;

whereby said information converted from the phoneline network alliance standard into an Ethernet standard format contains information regarding the same private IP address as that stored in said home appliances.

9. A home appliance control system comprising:

a plurality of home appliances provided in a building and controlled in response to control information transmitted over an Internet, said home appliances generating information about their controlled status and transmitting the generated status information over the Internet;

a phoneline network alliance provided in the building;

an external Internet network provided outside of the building;

phoneline network alliance connection equipment that connects said home appliances to said phoneline network alliance such that said home appliances transmit and receive, respectively, said status information and control information via said phoneline network alliance, wherein said phoneline network alliance connection equipment comprises;

a computer that assigns a private Internet protocol (IP) address to said home appliances;

a first adapter that converts formats of information transmitted from said phoneline network alliance to said computer into an Ethernet standard format, and that converts formats of information received from said computer to said phoneline network alliance into a standard format of the phoneline network alliance;

a second adapter that converts formats of information transmitted from said home appliances to said phoneline network alliance into a standard format of said phoneline network alliance, and that converts formats of information received from said phoneline network alliance to said home appliances into an Ethernet standard format; and

a home appliance built-in communication module that stores said private IP address assigned by said computer, said home appliance built in communication module connecting said second adapter to said home appliances and converting data of said Ethernet standard format from said second adapter into that of a standard format of said home appliances; and

networking equipment that connects said phoneline network alliance connection equipment to said external Internet network and controls the connection such that said phoneline network alliance is connected to said external Internet network;

wherein each home appliance connected to said home appliance control system receives data in an Ethernet standard format; and

wherein said second adapter is connected to said built-in communication module to connect said home appliances to said phoneline network alliance so as to enable transmission and reception of data of said Ethernet standard format between said home appliances and said phoneline network alliance.

10. The home appliance control system as set forth in claim 9, wherein said first adapter connects said computer to said networking equipment and said phoneline network alliance and converts the format of data transmitted between said computer and said networking equipment into said Ethernet standard format, converts the format of data transmitted from said computer to said phoneline network alliance into said phoneline network alliance standard format, and converts the format of data transmitted from said phoneline network alliance to said computer into said Ethernet standard format, respectively.

11. The home appliance control system as set forth in claim 9, wherein said computer has a public IP address such that it is accessible by said external Internet network.

12. The home appliance control system as set forth in claim 9, wherein said home appliance built-in communication module is configured to receive said control information through said second adapter, to convert a format of said control information into said home appliance standard format only when it contains information regarding the same private IP address as that stored therein, and to transfer the resulting control information to said home appliances.

13. The home appliance control system as set forth in claim 9, wherein said networking equipment includes:

a gateway configured to act as an ingress to connect said external Internet network to said phoneline network alliance; and

a hub configured to transfer data from said gateway to said phoneline network alliance connection equipment.

14. A method comprising:

providing a plurality of home appliances and a phoneline network alliance in a building;

converting a format of information sent from an external Internet network provided outside of the building into a standard format of the phoneline network alliance;

connecting said home appliances to said phoneline network alliance, via a phoneline network alliance connector, such that said home appliances transmit and receive said status information and control information via said phoneline network alliance, said phoneline network alliance connector comprising;

a computer that assigns a private Internet protocol (IP) address to said home appliances;

a first adapter that converts formats of information transmitted from the phoneline network alliance to the computer into an Ethernet standard format, and that converts formats of information received from the computer to the phoneline network alliance into a standard format of the phoneline network alliance;

a second adapter that converts formats of information transmitted from said home appliances to said phoneline network alliance into a standard format of said phoneline network alliance, and that converts formats of information received from said phoneline network alliance to said home appliances into an Ethernet standard format; and

a home appliance built-in communication module that stores the private IP address assigned by the computer, said home appliance built-in communication module connecting the second adapter to said home appliances and converting data of the Ethernet standard format from said second adapter into that of a standard format of said home appliance;

transmitting said information converted into the standard format of said phoneline network alliance over said phoneline network alliance;

converting the information transmitted over said phoneline network alliance into an Ethernet standard format;

controlling said home appliances according to said information converted into the Ethernet standard format;

configuring each of said home appliances, connected to said home appliance control system, to receive data in an Ethernet standard format; and

connecting said second adapter to said built-in communication module such that said home appliances are connected to said phoneline network alliance so to enable transmission and reception of data of said Ethernet standard format, between said home appliances and said phoneline network alliance.

15. The method as set forth in claim 14, further comprising:

converting the phoneline network alliance standard format into an Ethernet standard format, after converting the Ethernet standard format of said information converted into a standard format of said home appliances such that said converted information is processable by said home appliances.

16. The method as set forth in claim 14, further comprising:

assigning a private Internet protocol (IP) address to said home appliances; and

storing the assigned private IP address in said home appliance;

whereby said information converted from the phoneline network alliance standard into an Ethernet standard format contains information regarding the same private IP address as that stored in said home appliances.

17. A home appliance control system comprising:

a plurality of home appliances provided in a building and controlled in response to control information transmitted over an Internet, said home appliances generating information about their controlled status and transmitting the generated status information over the Internet;

communicators provided in each one of the plurality of home appliances;

a plurality of adapters which interconnect the computer to the plurality of home appliances;

a phoneline network alliance provided in the building;

an external Internet network provided outside of the building;

a phoneline network alliance connector that connects said home appliance to said phoneline network alliance such that said home appliances transmit and receive said status information and control information via said phoneline network alliance,

wherein said phoneline network alliance connector comprises;

a computer that assigns a private Internet protocol (IP) address to said home appliances;

a first adapter that converts formats of information transmitted from said phoneline network alliance to said computer into an Ethernet standard format, and that converts formats of information received from said computer to said phoneline network alliance into a standard format of the phoneline network alliance;

a second adapter that converts formats of information transmitted from said home appliances to said phoneline network alliance into a standard format of said phoneline network alliance, and that converts formats of information received from said phoneline network alliance to said home appliances into an Ethernet standard format; and

a home appliance built-in communication module that stores said private IP address assigned by said computer, said home appliance built in communication module connecting said second adapter to said home appliances and converting data of said Ethernet standard format from said second adapter into that of a standard format of said home appliances; and

a network that connects said phoneline network alliance connector to said external Internet network and controlling the connection such that said phoneline network alliance is connected to said external Internet network;

wherein each of said home appliances connected to said home appliance control system receives data in an Ethernet standard format; and

wherein said second adapter is connected to said built-in communication module to connect said home appliances to said phoneline network alliance so as to enable transmission and reception of data of said Ethernet standard format between said home appliances and said phoneline network alliance.