Reconfigurable appliance control system

• US 20040015570A1
• Filed: 07/18/2002
• Published: 01/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Haier US Appliance Solutions, Inc. DBA GE Appliances (Haier Group Company)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Daum, Wolfgang, Bicknell, William Hull
• Granted Patent: US 7,340,509 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2814 Exchanging control software or macros for controlling appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving configuration of the network and network elements H04L41/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2843 Mains power line
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators

Abstract

A reconfigurable appliance control system includes a dedicated appliance control (DAC) for controlling operation of an appliance. The system further includes an appliance communication control (ACC) for communicating with at least one appliance. The system includes an appliance communication connection for interfacing the ACC to the appliance. The system also includes an external host control (EHC) for communicating with a remote system. The system further includes a host communication connection for interfacing the external host control with the ACC.

Claims

1. A reconfigurable appliance control system, comprising:

a dedicated appliance controller for controlling operation of an appliance;

a appliance communication controller coupled to the appliance over an appliance communication connection; and

an external host controller coupled to the appliance communication controller over a host communication connection, the external host controller communicating an upgrade message for the appliance to the appliance communication controller.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the host communication connection comprises a power line carrier communication connection.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the appliance communication connection comprises a serial appliance communication connection.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the dedicated appliance controller includes reprogrammable appliance control software.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the dedicated appliance controller includes a scheduler.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the dedicated appliance controller includes an external interface to appliance sensors.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the dedicated appliance controller comprises:

a program memory;

reprogrammable main appliance control software; and

a central processing unit.

8. The system of claim 7 further comprising:

an external interface controller;

a communication controller; and

display and user input circuitry.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the appliance communication controller comprises:

a communication processing unit;

an upgrade processing unit;

a command interpreter;

a communication port for communication with the dedicated appliance controller; and

a communication port for communication with the external host controller.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the appliance communication controller interprets commands transmitted from the external host control into a native appliance command set.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the upgrade message is a dedicated appliance controller upgrade message.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the appliance communication controller tracks statistics from the dedicated appliance controller.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein the appliance communication controller is a master appliance communication controller and the dedicated appliance controller is a slave dedicated appliance controller.

14. The system of claim 1 wherein the external host controller comprises:

an encryption authentication module for authenticating data transmissions;

an external communication connection for communicating with a remote system;

a communication connection for communicating with the at least one appliance communication controller;

a communication processing unit; and

an external application layer for transmitting data to the at least one appliance communication controller.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the external application layer comprises remote operation software.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein the external application layer comprises diagnostic software.

17. The system of claim 14 wherein the external application layer comprises upgrade software.

18. The system of claim 14 wherein the external communication connection comprises an Internet connection to a remote system.

19. A method for reconfiguring an appliance control system, the method comprising:

generating an upgrade message from an external host controller;

transmitting the upgrade message to an appliance communication controller; and

reprogramming a dedicated appliance controller using the upgrade message.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein transmitting further comprises transmitting the upgrade message to an appliance communication controller using a power line carrier.

21. The method of claim 19 further comprising transmitting the upgrade message to a dedicated appliance controller.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein transmitting to a dedicated appliance controller further comprises transmitting via a serial communication bus.

23. The method of claim 19 wherein transmitting an upgrade message comprises transmitting a dedicated appliance controller upgrade message.

24. A method for remotely reconfiguring an appliance, the method comprising:

generating an upgrade message at a remote system;

transmitting the upgrade message from the remote system to an external host controller in a building housing the appliance;

transmitting the upgrade message from the external host controller to a dedicated appliance controller via an appliance communication controller; and

upgrading the dedicated appliance controller using the upgrade message.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the upgrade message is transmitted to the appliance communication controller from the external host control using a power line carrier system.

26. The method of claim 24 wherein the upgrade message is transmitted to the dedicated appliance controller from the appliance communication controller using a serial connection.

27. The method of claim 24 wherein the upgrade message is transmitted from the remote system to the external host controller using an Internet connection.