Home appliance network system and method for operating the same

• US 7,295,099 B2
• Filed: 07/23/2004
• Issued: 11/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Lee, Sang Kyun, Wang, Dae Sung
• Primary Examiner(s): Hofsass; Jeffery
• Assistant Examiner(s): AU, SCOTT D
• Application Number:
  US10/896,844
• Publication Number:
  US 20050088276A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,208 Days
• Field of Search: 340/3.3, 340/825.52, 340/825.56, 398/106, 700/1
• US Class Current: 340/5.54
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2642 Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0216 Human interface functionality, e.g. monitoring system providing help to the user in the selection of tests or in its configuration
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0264 Control of logging system, e.g. decision on which data to store; time-stamping measurements

Abstract

Disclosed herein are a home appliance network system and a method for operating the same. The home appliance network system comprises a plurality of home appliances connected to a network constructed in a home for transmitting and receiving data over the network, and a home server including a device monitoring module for independently storing and updating state information or product information of a specific one of the home appliances based on an input control command. When a user monitors product information of the home appliances to control the home appliances, the home server more rapidly displays the product information, resulting in an improvement in control speed. Further, the home server uses a smaller amount of network system resources, thereby enabling efficient networking to be made.

Claims

1. A home appliance network system comprising:

a plurality of home appliances connected to said home appliance network system, wherein said home appliances transmit and receive data over the network; and

a home server which controls the operations of said home appliances and monitors states thereof, said home server comprising;

a monitor which independently stores and updates state information or product information of said home appliances, and

a controller which transfers the state information or product information of a specific one of said home appliances stored in said appliance monitor to an user interface, wherein said controller is configured to read the state information or product information of said home appliances in real time without directly communicating with said home appliances.

2. The home appliance network system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said monitor independently stores and updates product information or state information of said specific one of said home appliances based on an input control command.

3. The home appliance network system as set forth in claim 2, wherein said user interface is configured to allow input of said control command and output of the state information of said specific home appliance operated in response to said control command;

and

a home appliance interface module which transmits and receives data transferred between said controller and said home appliances,

wherein the controller sends a control signal to said specific home appliance to control an operation of said specific home appliance in response to said control command inputted through said user interface.

4. The home appliance network system as set forth in claim 3, wherein said monitor includes a monitoring controller which analyzes said control command inputted through said user interface module and transfers the state information or product information of said specific home appliance to said user interface module according to a result of the analysis.

5. The home appliance network system as set forth in claim 4, wherein said monitor further includes:

a state information database which stores the state information of each of said home appliances connected to said network; and

a product information database which stores product information of each of said home appliances.

6. The home appliance network system as set forth in claim 3, wherein said user interface module includes:

an input unit configured to allow input of said control command; and

an output unit which receives and outputs the state information of said specific home appliance operated in response to said control command.

7. A home appliance network system comprising:

a plurality of home appliances connected to a network constructed in a home, which transmits and receives data over the network;

a home server which controls operations of said home appliances and monitors states thereof;

a monitoring server which independently stores and updates state information of said home appliances connected to said network and outputs information of a specific one of said home appliances in response to a control command from said home server;

wherein said home server comprises a controller which transfers the state information or product information of a specific one of said home appliances stored in said appliance monitoring server to an user interface, and wherein said controller is configured to read the state information or product information of said home appliances in real time without directly communicating with said home aipliances.

8. The home appliance network system as set forth in claim 7, wherein said monitoring server includes:

a state information database which stores the state information of each of said home appliances connected to said network;

a product information database which stores product information of each of said home appliances; and

a microcomputer which updates the product information or state information of each of said home appliances connected to said network if a change occurs therein, and sends the state information or product information of said specific home appliance to said home server in response to said control command from said home server.

9. The home appliance network system as set forth in claim 8, wherein said monitoring server further includes a buffer which temporarily stores changed data of the product information or state information of each of said home appliances to update the product information or state information if a change occurs therein.

10. The home appliance network system as set forth in claim 9, wherein said monitoring server further includes a communicator which transmits and receives data to/from said home server and said home appliances.

11. The home appliance network system as set forth in claim 10, wherein said communication module includes a home appliance interface which is configured to allow format-converting of data such that it is transmitted and received over said network.

12. The home appliance network system as set forth in claim 7, wherein said user interface is configured to allow input of said control command and output of the state information of said specific home appliance operated in response to said control command;

a communicator which transmits and receives data to/from said monitoring server and said home appliances; and

wherein said controller sends a control signal to said specific home appliance to control an operation of said specific home appliance in response to said control command inputted through said user interface.

13. A method for operating a home appliance network system, comprising:

a) connecting a plurality of home appliances and a home server to a network constructed in a home;

a-1) storing product information and state information of each of the home appliances connected to the network in a monitor which independently stores and updates state information or product information of the home appliances; and

a-2), if a change occurs in the stored information, receiving changed information from each of the home appliances and updating the information stored in the monitor with the received information;

b) determining whether an external input control command is a command to request product information or state information of a specific one of the home appliances, and providing a controller which transfers the requested product information or state information from the monitor, the controller being configured to read the state information or product information of the home appliances in real time without directly communicating with the home appliances; and

c) externally displaying the product information or state information of the specific home appliance according to a result of the determination.

14. The method as set forth in claim 13, wherein said determining further comprises:

b-1) determining whether the input control command is a command to control an operation of the specific home appliance or a command to monitor a state of the specific home appliance; and

b-2), if the input control command is the monitoring command, determining whether the monitoring command is the command to request the product information or state information of the specific home appliance.