Diagnostic apparatus and method for home appliance

• US 9,979,560 B2
• Filed: 08/17/2012
• Issued: 05/22/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Kim, Deoghyeon, Lee, Keunhyung, Kim, Hyunsang, Kim, Moonhyun
• Primary Examiner(s): Bloss, Stephanie
• Application Number:
  US13/588,164
• Publication Number:
  US 20130066593A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,104 Days
• Field of Search: 702182, 702185
• 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 12/2836 Protocol conversion between an external network and a home network controlling appliance services of a home automation network from a device located outside the home and the home network H04L12/2818; protocol conversion H04L69/08; adaptation of digital video signals for transport over a specific home network H04N7/24

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to diagnostic apparatus and method for home appliance which make it easy to diagnose a breakdown of a home appliance, using a signal including product information and outputted from the home appliance, in which a signal is converted in accordance with signal distortion generated in the process of transmitting the output signal or in a terminal, so that the product information of the home appliance is easily extracted, accuracy of a diagnosis result is improved, an after-sales service for a breakdown of the home appliance is easily provided, and reliability of the product is improved by the improvement of accuracy of the diagnosis result.

Claims

1. A diagnostic apparatus for diagnosing a home appliance in response to a signal, comprising a plurality of frequencies, received from the home appliance, the diagnostic apparatus comprising:

a microphone through which the signal is input, the signal having been output in the form of a sound signal having the plurality of frequencies by the home appliance and transmitted to the diagnostic apparatus via a communication network;

a signal processor that sets a symbol time and extracts product information from the signal by converting the signal based on the symbol time defining times for determining a value associated with the signal;

a diagnosing device that diagnoses the home appliance by analyzing the product information and outputs a status of the home appliance;

a processor that outputs a plurality of explanations for the diagnosis of the home appliance and a diagnosis result;

a data storage device that stores diagnosis data and the diagnosis result; and

an output that displays a variety of information including a diagnosing status, the plurality of explanations, and the diagnosis result for the home appliance, wherein the signal processor sets the symbol time to a first symbol time as a predetermined time and determines that an error occurred due to noise or distortion of a frequency shift generated during transfer of the signal from the home appliance to the diagnostic apparatus, wherein when an error occurs with an error check result on a resultant signal generated after signal conversion at the first symbol time, the signal processor changes and sets the symbol time to a second symbol time, repeats changing the symbol time by increasing or decreasing the symbol time, until the error check result is normal, extracts the product information from the signal using the symbol time when the error check result is normal, wherein the first symbol time is set and stored as information for a signal output by the home appliance when the signal is outputted, and wherein the signal processor sets the symbol time with respect to a frame time of one frame in a plurality of frames constituting the signal, and divides the frame time by a number of symbols per frame in the signal.

2. The diagnostic apparatus of claim 1, wherein the product information of the home appliance includes at least one of identification information, setting-up information, operation information, or malfunction information, and wherein the status of the home appliance includes at least one selected from the group comprising whether there is a breakdown, a cause of the breakdown, and a solution as the diagnosis result.

3. The diagnostic apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor counts a number of times of change of the symbol time when the symbol time is changed, and when the error check result is not normal, determines whether the number of times of change of the symbol time is a threshold number of times or more, and outputs an error and requests re-output of the signal when the threshold number of times is reached.

4. The diagnostic apparatus of claim 1, wherein the signal processor divides the signal into a plurality of sections, with symbols of the symbol time, determines a bit value associated with each section of the plurality of sections, determines a start position of the signal from which the signal starts, and generates a resultant signal by combining the bit values determined for each of the plurality of sections.

5. The diagnostic apparatus of claim 1, wherein the signal processor performs signal conversion using the first symbol time for a first frame in a plurality of frames constituting the product information, signal conversion for the other frames when the symbol time is determined, and then generates the product information by combining resultant signals generated for each of the plurality of frames.

6. The diagnostic apparatus of claim 1, wherein the diagnostic apparatus is any one of a portable terminal, in which a diagnosis program and diagnosis data are locally installed, or a diagnostic server connected to a service center for the home appliance.

7. The diagnostic apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a recorder that records the signal received through the microphone.

8. The diagnostic apparatus of claim 7, wherein the recorder records the signal received through the microphone in a wave file in a wave file format, and wherein the signal processor extracts the product information by demodulating and decoding the wave file.

9. The diagnostic apparatus of claim 8, wherein the recorder includes a Random Access Memory (RAM), a hard disk, or a NAND Flash Memory in which the signal is recorded.

10. The diagnostic apparatus of claim 1, wherein the data storage device that includes a diagnosis data storage device that stores the diagnosis data including a diagnosis logic and reference data to diagnose the home appliance;

a product information storage device that stores the product information extracted by the signal processor; and

a diagnosis result data storage device that stores the diagnosis result diagnosed by the diagnosing device.

11. A diagnostic method for a home appliance, comprising:

receiving via a microphone of a diagnostic apparatus a signal, comprising a plurality of frequencies, from a home appliance, the signal having been output in the form of a sound signal having the plurality of frequencies by the home appliance and transmitted to the diagnostic apparatus via a communication network;

generating via a signal processor of the diagnostic apparatus a first resultant signal by converting the signal based on a first symbol time, which is set by the home appliance, defining times for determining a value associated with the signal;

determining via a diagnosing device of the diagnostic apparatus whether the first resultant signal is normal by performing an error check;

when the error check result indicates that the first resultant signal is not normal, changing via the signal processor the symbol time to a second symbol time defining times for determining a value associated with the signal;

performing signal conversion again, via the signal processor, to generate a second resultant signal based on the second symbol time; and

via a processor of the diagnostic apparatus, extracting product information from the second resultant signal when the error check result of the second resultant signal is normal, diagnosing the home appliance on the basis of diagnosis data and the product information, and outputting a diagnosis result, wherein when it is determined that the signal conversion has failed due to noise or distortion of a frequency shift generated during transfer of the signal from the home appliance, the signal conversion is performed again by increasing or decreasing the symbol time by a predetermined level until the error check result is normal, wherein the first symbol time is stored as information for a signal output from the home appliance, and wherein the first symbol time is set by dividing a frame time by a number of symbols per frame in the signal with respect to the frame time of one frame of a plurality of frames constituting the product information.

12. The diagnostic method of claim 11 wherein the diagnostic result includes a cause of a breakdown and a solution.

13. The diagnostic method of claim 11, wherein the signal conversion using the first symbol time is performed on a first frame in a plurality of frames constituting the product information, wherein the signal conversion is performed on a second frame of the plurality of frames based on the second symbol time, and wherein the product information is extracted by combining resultant signals generated from each of the plurality of frames.

14. The diagnostic method of claim 11, further comprising:

counting a number of times of change of the symbol time when the symbol time is changed; and

when the error check result is not normal, determining whether the number of times of change of the symbol time is a threshold number of times or more, and outputting an error and request re-output of the signal by the home appliance, when the number of times of change of the symbol time is the threshold number of times or more.

15. A diagnostic system for diagnosing a home appliance, comprising:

a home appliance that outputs product information required for fault diagnosis as a sound signal comprising a plurality of frequencies, and

a diagnostic apparatus that receives the sound signal and extracts the product information from the sound signal, diagnoses the home appliance on the basis of the product information, and outputs a diagnosis result, wherein the diagnostic apparatus, comprising;

a microphone through which the sound signal is input, the signal having been output in the form of the sound signal having the plurality of frequencies by the home appliance and transmitted to the diagnostic apparatus via a communication network;

a signal processor that sets a symbol time and extracts product information from the sound signal by converting the sound signal based on the symbol time defining times for determining a value associated with the signal;

a diagnosing device that diagnoses the home appliance by analyzing the product information and outputs a status of the home appliance;

a processor that outputs a plurality of explanations for the diagnosis of the home appliance and a diagnosis result;

a data storage device that stores the diagnosis result; and

an output that displays a variety of information including a diagnosing status, the plurality of explanations, and the diagnosis result for the home appliance, wherein the signal processor sets the symbol time to a first symbol time as a predetermined time and determines that an error has occurred due to noise or distortion of a frequency shift generated during transfer of the sound signal from the home appliance to the diagnostic apparatus, wherein when an error occurs with an error check result on a resultant signal generated after signal conversion at the first symbol time, the signal processor changes and sets the symbol time to a second symbol time, repeats changing the symbol time by increasing or decreasing the symbol time, until the error check result is normal, extracts the product information from the sound signal using the symbol time when the error check result is normal, wherein the first symbol time is set and stored as information for a signal output by the home appliance when the sound signal is output, and wherein the signal processor sets the symbol time with respect to a frame time of one frame in a plurality of frames constituting the signal, and divides the frame time by a number of symbols per frame in the signal.

16. The diagnostic system of claim 15, wherein the signal processor divides the sound signal into a plurality of sections, with symbols of the symbol time, determines a bit value associated with each section of the plurality of sections, determines a start position of the sound signal from which the sound signal starts, and generates a resultant signal by combining the bit values determined for each of the plurality of sections.

17. The diagnostic system of claim 15, wherein the signal processor performs signal conversion using the first symbol time for a first frame in a plurality of frames constituting the product information, signal conversion for the other frames when the symbol time is determined, and then generates the product information by combining resultant signals generated for each of the plurality of frames.

18. A diagnostic method for a diagnostic system, the method comprising:

outputting via a home appliance a product information as a sound signal;

receiving via a microphone of a diagnostic apparatus the sound signal, comprising a plurality of frequencies, from the home appliance, the signal having been output in the form of the sound signal having the plurality of frequencies by the home appliance and transmitted to the diagnostic apparatus via a communication network;

generating via a signal processor of the diagnostic apparatus a first resultant signal by converting the sound signal based on a first symbol time, which is set by the home appliance, defining times for determining a value associated with the sound signal;

determining via a diagnosing device of the diagnostic apparatus whether the first resultant signal is normal by performing an error check;

when the error check result indicates that the first resultant signal is not normal, changing via the signal processor the symbol time to a second symbol time defining times for determining a value associated with the signal;

performing signal conversion again, via the signal processor, to generate a second resultant signal based on the second symbol time; and

via a processor of the diagnostic apparatus, extracting product information from the second resultant signal when the error check result of the second resultant signal is normal, diagnosing the home appliance, and outputting a diagnosis result, wherein when it is determined that the signal conversion has failed due to noise or distortion of a frequency shift generated during transfer of the sound signal from the home appliance, the signal conversion is performed again by increasing or decreasing the symbol time by a predetermined level until the error check result is normal, wherein the first symbol time is stored as information for a signal output from the home appliance, and wherein the first symbol time is set by dividing a frame time by a number of symbols per frame in the signal with respect to the frame time of one frame of a plurality of frames constituting the product information.