Home appliance and method for operating the same

• US 8,547,200 B2
• Filed: 08/04/2010
• Issued: 10/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Han, Jonghye, Cho, Inhaeng, Lee, Phaljin, Jeong, Hoijin
• Primary Examiner(s): Zimmerman, Brian
• Assistant Examiner(s): Khan, Omer S
• Application Number:
  US12/850,240
• Publication Number:
  US 20110032072A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,154 Days
• Field of Search: 340/5.1
• US Class Current: 340/5.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2827 Reporting to a device within the home network; wherein the reception of the information reported automatically triggers the execution of a home appliance functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0663 Performing the actions predefined by failover planning, e.g. switching to standby network elements

Abstract

A home appliance and a method for operating the same are provided. The home appliance outputs product information as a predetermined sound signal and the sound signal is transmitted to a remote service center over a communication network so that the state of the home appliance is easily checked at the service center. Data associated with each operation of the home appliance is stored as product information according to the operation state of the home appliance. The product information is also stored when the operation is suddenly terminated and is then output as a sound signal so that it is possible to correctly check the state of the home appliance and to correctly diagnose an error that has occurred in the home appliance.

Claims

1. A method for operating a home appliance, the method comprising:

comparing, when an operation setting is input and an activation key is input, a post-error operation count with a reference count and maintaining stored diagnostic data included in product information when the post-error operation count is equal to or less than the reference count;

starting operation of the home appliance according to the operation setting and temporarily storing data generated during the operation;

discarding the temporarily stored data and maintaining the diagnostic data when the operation is completed according to the operation setting;

storing, when an error has occurred before the operation is completed, the temporarily stored data as the diagnostic data to update the diagnostic data using data regarding the error;

generating, when a command to perform fault diagnosis is input, the product information using the diagnostic data and encoding and modulating the product information and then outputting the product information as a sound signal through a sound output device;

initializing the diagnostic data excluding count related data when the post-error operation count has exceeded the reference count; and

temporarily storing data generated during the operation according to the operation setting after initializing the diagnostic data and storing the temporarily stored data as the diagnostic data in a memory when an initial operation time has elapsed.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

storing an error code corresponding to the error and data associated with the error code as the diagnostic data and outputting an alert about the error.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the post-error operation count is incremented by one when the activation key is input and is initialized when an error has occurred.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

storing the data temporarily stored during the operation as the diagnostic data and stopping the operation when the operation is terminated as all set operation modes are normally completed without error occurrence.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein, when data having a common attribute is generated or changed during the operation, the data having the common attribute is immediately stored as the diagnostic data.

6. A home appliance comprising:

a selector to input a command to perform fault diagnosis;

a memory to store at least one diagnostic data included in product information of the home appliance for the fault diagnosis;

a controller to store data generated during operation of the home appliance as the diagnostic data in the memory, create the product information using the diagnostic data when a command to perform fault diagnosis is input through the selector, and encode the product information to generate a digital signal including a plurality of frames;

a modulator to generate a frequency signal corresponding to the digital signal; and

a sound output device driven by the modulator to output a sound signal corresponding to the frequency signal, wherein, when an error occurrence history is present, the controller temporarily stores the data generated during the operation and discards the temporarily stored data and maintains the stored diagnostic data when the operation is terminated normally, and stores the temporarily stored data as the diagnostic data when an error has occurred during the operation and wherein, when a command to perform fault diagnosis is input through the selector, the controller controls the modulator and the sound output device to output the product information as a sound signal through the sound output device;

wherein the controller stores information including at least one of temporary data, state information, an error code, option information, and power information as diagnostic data when a sudden operation termination has occurred and generates the product information using the diagnostic data to output the sound signal when the command to perform the fault diagnosis is input;

wherein, when the operation is terminated due to power blackout, power cut, forcible operation termination, the controller stores the state information and the power information as the diagnostic data using a remaining stored current until the remaining current is completely discharged.

7. The home appliance according to claim 6, wherein the controller determines that the error occurrence history is present and maintains the diagnostic data when a post-error operation count included in the diagnostic data is equal to or less than a reference count, and

the controller determines that the error occurrence history is not present and initializes the diagnostic data when the post-error operation count is equal to or less than the reference count.

8. The home appliance according to claim 7, wherein, when an error occurrence history is not present, the controller immediately stores the data generated during the operation as the diagnostic data or stores the data as the diagnostic data when a predetermined operation is completed after temporarily storing the data, depending on an attribute of the data, and

the controller stores the option information, the error code, the state information, and the temporary data associated with a currently performed operation step as the diagnostic data when the operation is terminated in response to an input during the operation.