Appliance data collecting system

• US 20030131156A1
• Filed: 01/09/2003
• Published: 07/10/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/09/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Shintani, Yasuyuki, Murakami, Takashi, Aizu, Kazuhiro
• Granted Patent: US 6,838,978 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2203/5408 using protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2203/5441 Wireless systems or telephone
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2203/5445 Local network
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2203/5479 using repeaters
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2203/5495 having measurements and testing channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 3/54 Systems for transmission via power distribution lines
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/281 indicating a format for calling an appliance service function in a home automation network for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2843 Mains power line

Abstract

A controller (1) holds appliance data acquired from an appliance (3) regularly and without loss. A display terminal (2) is capable of moving to other rooms through a receptacle and holds the appliance data acquired from the appliance (3). When there is loss in the appliance data for a part of time period because of a move and the like, the display terminal (2) executes acquisition request to the controller (1) to acquire this non-collected data of the appliance. The controller (1) transmits the appliance data to the display terminal (2) in response to the request of the display terminal (2). The display terminal (2) acquires (or complements) the non-collected data from the controller (1) and display the data.

Claims

1. A display terminal device in an appliance data collecting system comprising:

one or more appliances, the display terminal device and a control device that receive power supply from an electric power line and can communicate each other through the electric power line,

wherein the control device collects and holds predetermined data on the appliances from the appliances regularly and without omission through the electric power line, and

the display terminal device includes;

a data acquisition unit that collects regularly and holds the predetermined data from the appliances;

a non-collected data judgment unit that judges whether the non-collected data exists or not in the stored predetermined data;

a non-collected data request unit requests the control device to transmit data on the non-collection when the non-collected data are judged to exist; and

a data complement unit that receives and complements the data on the non-collection from the control device.

2. The display terminal device according to claim 1 further including a time measurement unit that measures passage of time and identifies the time,

wherein the data acquisition unit further includes a collection time decision unit that decides the time to collect the predetermined data at regular intervals based on the time identified by the time measurement unit and collects the predetermined data when the decided time comes.

3. The display terminal device according to claim 2,

wherein plural receptacles that can be connected to a plug are set on the electric power line, and

the display terminal device further includes an detachable plug that can be connected to the receptacles set on the electric power line and receives the power supply through the plug.

4. The display terminal device according to claim 3 further including a screen display unit operable to display the predetermined data on a screen,

wherein the data acquisition unit identifies by the time measurement unit the time when the predetermined data have been collected, associates the time with the collected predetermined data and holds the data associated with the time, and

the screen display unit displays the predetermined data associated with the time on the screen.

5. The display terminal device according to claim 4 further including:

a power supply detection unit operable to detect a start of the power supply; and

a startup processing unit operable to instruct the non-collected data judgment unit to execute the judgment when the start is detected.

6. The display terminal device according to claim 4 further including:

a first regular time detection unit operable to detect predetermined regular time to execute the judgment on the predetermined data based on the time identified by the time measurement unit; and

a regular time processing unit operable to instruct the non-collected data judgment unit to execute the judgment when the predetermined regular time is detected.

7. The display terminal device according to claim 4 further including:

a power supply detection unit operable to detect a start of the power supply;

a first regular time detection unit operable to detect the predetermined regular time to execute the judgment on the predetermined data based on the time identified by the time measurement unit; and

a startup regular time processing unit operable to instruct the non-collected data judgment unit to execute the judgment when the above-mentioned start or the predetermined regular time is detected.

8. The display terminal device according to claim 7 further including:

a first time request unit operable to request the control device to transmit information that represents current time when the start of the power supply is detected;

a time reception unit operable to receive information that represents time from the control device; and

a time correction unit operable to correct the current time of the clock according to the time measurement unit based on the received information.

9. The display terminal device according to claim 7 further including:

a second regular time detection unit operable to detect specified regular time to correct the time of the clock according to the time measurement unit based on the time identified by the time measurement unit;

a second time request unit operable to request the control device to transmit the information that represents the current time when the specified regular time is detected;

a time reception unit operable to receive the information that represents the time from the control device; and

a time correction unit operable to correct the current time of the clock according to the time measurement unit based on the received information.

10. The display terminal device according to claim 7 further including:

a second regular time detection unit operable to detect the specified regular time to correct the time of the clock according to the time measurement unit based on the time identified by the time measurement unit;

a time request unit operable to request the control device to transmit information that represents the current time when the start of the power supply or the specified regular time is detected;

the time reception unit operable to receive the information that represents the time from the control device; and

the time correction unit operable to correct the current time of the clock according to the time measurement unit based on the received information.

11. The display terminal device according to claim 10 further including:

an operation history holding unit operable to receive an operation from a user and hold operation data that represents the received operation; and

an operation data transmission unit operable to transmit the operation data to the control device.

12. A control device in an appliance data collecting system comprising:

one or more appliances, the display terminal device and a control device that receive power supply from an electric power line and can communicate each other through the electric power line,

wherein the display terminal device collects and holds predetermined data on the appliances from the appliances regularly through the electric power line, and

the control device includes;

a data acquisition unit that collects and holds the predetermined data from the appliances regularly and without omission;

a data request reception unit that receives a specified request on the predetermined data from the display terminal device; and

a data transmission unit that transmits the predetermined data that are held to the display terminal device based on the received request.

13. The control device according to claim 12 further including a time measurement unit operable to measure passage of time and identifies the time,

wherein the data acquisition unit includes an acquisition time decision unit that decides the time to acquire the predetermined data at regular intervals based on the time identified by the time measurement unit and acquires the predetermined data when the decided time comes.

14. The control device according to claim 13 further including:

a time request reception unit operable to receive a request to transmit information that represents current time from the display terminal device; and

a time transmission unit operable to identify the current time of the control device based on the time measurement unit, to generate information that represents the time and to transmit the information to the display terminal device.

15. The control device according to claim 14,

wherein the appliance data collection system further comprises a center server device that is connected to the control device through a communication line, and

the control device further includes:

a time transmission unit that transmits information that represents the current time of the control device identified by the time measurement unit;

a time reception unit that receives information that represents time from the center server device; and

a time correction unit that corrects the current time of the clock according to the time measurement unit based on the received information.

16. A center server device in an appliance data collecting system comprising:

one or more appliances, the display terminal device and a control device that receive power supply from an electric power line and can communicate each other through the electric power line,

wherein the control device receives information that represents time from the center server device and corrects the built-in clock of the controller device based on the information, and

the center server device includes;

a time measurement unit that measures passage of time and identifies time;

a time reception unit that receives information that represents time from the control device; and

a time transmission unit that transmits information that represents current time of the center server identified by the time measurement unit.

17. An appliance data collecting system comprising:

one or more appliances, the display terminal device and a control device that receive power supply from an electric power line and can communicate each other through the electric power line,

wherein the display terminal device includes;

a data acquisition unit that collects regularly and holds the predetermined data from the appliances;

a non-collected data judgment unit that judges whether the non-collected data exists or not in the stored predetermined data;

a non-collected data request unit that requests the control device to transmit data on the non-collection when the non-collected data are judged to exist; and

a data complement unit that receives and complements the data on the non-collection from the control device, and

the control device includes;

a data acquisition unit that collects and holds the predetermined data from the appliances regularly and without omission;

a data request reception unit that receives a specified request on the predetermined data from the display terminal device; and

a data transmission unit that transmits the predetermined data that are held to the display terminal device based on the received request.

18. A display method in an appliance data collecting system comprising:

one or more appliances, the display terminal device and a control device that receive power supply from an electric power line and can communicate each other through the electric power line,

wherein the control device collects and holds predetermined data on the appliances from the appliances regularly and without omission through the electric power line, and

the display method includes;

a data acquisition step for collecting regularly and holding the predetermined data from the appliances;

a non-collected data judgment step for judging whether the non-collected data exists or not in the stored predetermined data;

a non-collected data request step for requesting the control device to transmit data on the non-collection when the non-collected data are judged to exist;

a data complement step for receiving and complementing the data on the non-collection from the control device; and

a screen display step for displaying the complemented predetermined data on a screen.

19. A system control method in an appliance data collecting system comprising:

one or more appliances, the display terminal device and a control device that receive power supply from an electric power line and can communicate each other through the electric power line,

wherein the display terminal device collects and holds predetermined data on the appliances from the appliances regularly through the electric power line, and

the system control method includes;

a data acquisition step for collecting regularly and holding the predetermined data from the appliances;

a data request reception for receiving a specified request on the predetermined data from the display terminal device; and

a data transmission for transmitting the predetermined data that are held to the display terminal device based on the received request.

20. A program for a display terminal device in an appliance data collecting system comprising:

one or more appliances, the display terminal device and a control device that receive power supply from an electric power line and can communicate each other through the electric power line,

wherein the control device collects and holds predetermined data on the appliances from the appliances regularly and without omission through the electric power line, and

the program includes;

a data acquisition step for collecting regularly and holding the predetermined data from the appliances;

a non-collected data judgment step for judging whether the non-collected data exists or not in the stored predetermined data;

a non-collected data request step for requesting the control device to transmit data on the non-collection when the non-collected data are judged to exist;

a data complement step for receiving and complementing the data on the non-collection from the control device; and

a screen display step for displaying the complemented predetermined data on a screen.

21. A program for a control device in an appliance data collecting system comprising:

one or more appliances, the display terminal device and a control device that receive power supply from an electric power line and can communicate each other through the electric power line,

wherein the display terminal device collects and holds predetermined data on the appliances from the appliances regularly through the electric power line, and

the program includes;

a data acquisition step for collecting regularly and holding the predetermined data from the appliances;

a data request reception for receiving a specified request on the predetermined data from the display terminal device; and

a data transmission for transmitting the predetermined data that are held to the display terminal device based on the received request.