APPLIANCE NETWORK FOR A NETWORKED APPLIANCE AND A CLOCK ACCESSORY

• US 20080140862A1
• Filed: 10/29/2007
• Published: 06/12/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Original Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Inventors: Lieto, Greg S., Whipple, Andrew D., McCoy, Richard A., Horst, Gale R., Voss, Randy A., Nibbelink, Matthew J., Jenkins, Anthony E., Elston, Wallace J., Heilman, Layne E.
• Application Number:
  US11/926,389
• Publication Number:
  US 20080140862A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/248
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 15/0063 using remote monitoring or controlling of the dishwasher operation, e.g. networking systems
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 34/04 Signal transfer or data transmission arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 34/28 Arrangements for program selection, e.g. control panels therefor; Arrangements for indicating program parameters, e.g. the selected program or its progress
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 7/02 by radio
• CPC Class Codes: G04R 20/26 the radio signal being a near-field communication signal
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2807 Exchanging configuration information on appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving network analysis for automatically determining the actual topology of a network H04L41/12; hardware or software tools for network management using graphical user interfaces H04L41/22; address allocation H04L61/50
• 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 12/2818 from a device located outside both the home and the home network access arrangements H04L12/2856; for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025; arrangements for transmitting signals characterised by the use of a wireless eletrical link G08C17/00; telephonic communication systems adapted for combination with remote control systems H04M11/007
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2823 Reporting information sensed by appliance or service execution status of appliance services in a home automation network device-related reporting H04L43/065; arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom H04Q9/00
• 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 12/2827 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 12/2832 Interconnection of the control functionalities between home networks single bridge functionality H04L12/4625
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/105 Multiple levels of security
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/26 : Special purpose or proprietary protocols or architectures network applications for proprietary or special purpose networking environments H04L67/12
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 6/688 : for thawing
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 40/00 : Technologies aiming at improving the efficiency of home appliances, e.g. induction cooking or efficient technologies for refrigerators, freezers or dish washers
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 : Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

An appliance network has a networked appliance and a clock accessory in communication with one another. Optionally, the clock accessory can have or more functionalities, such as time synchronization, appliance control, amplification, wireless access point, and protocol bridging.

Claims

1. An appliance network comprising:

a first networked appliance configured to perform a cycle of operation to complete a physical domestic operation on an article, the first networked appliance having;

a communication network comprising a plurality of interconnected nodes configured to communicate across the communication network; and

a plurality of components, each component associated with at least one of the plurality of nodes;

a clock accessory having at least one node in communication with the communication network; and

a software architecture comprising a plurality of software elements and configured to generate a plurality of messages, with at least one of the software elements residing in each of the components and in the clock accessory and configured to enable transmission of at least one of the plurality of messages between the components and between the clock accessory and the components.

2. The appliance network of claim 1 wherein the message is a control command that implements the cycle of operation of the first networked appliance.

3. The appliance network of claim 1 wherein the physical domestic operation comprises at least one of:

a food preparation operation, a food preservation operation, a fluid treatment operation, a cleaning operation, a personal care operation, a fabric treatment operation, an air treatment operation, and a hard surface treatment operation.

4. The appliance network of claim 1 wherein the first networked appliance further comprises a user interface configured to generate a set of messages, and the plurality of messages generated by the software architecture includes at least one message not included in the set of messages.

5. The appliance network of claim 4 wherein the user interface comprises at least one of a remote keypad, a phone, a personal computer, a voice recognition device, a voice generation device, a sound generation and recognition device, a remote control, a user interface of a home automation system, a user interface of an appliance different from the first networked appliance, a user interface of a component different from the components of the first networked appliance, a television, a device that plays recorded music, a device that plays recorded video, and a personal digital assistant.

6. The appliance network of claim 4 wherein the clock accessory is integrated with the user interface.

7. The appliance network of claim 1 wherein the clock accessory is configured to query the communication network for the identity of the components on the communication network.

8. The appliance network of claim 7 wherein the query is a propagated message.

9. The appliance network of claim 7 wherein the identification of the components comprises identification of the components having a clock.

10. The appliance network of claim 7 wherein the clock accessory is configured to synchronize time with one or more of the identified components having a clock.

11. The appliance network of claim 10 wherein the time synchronization is based on at least one of automatically, a registered event, and a request for the time.

12. The appliance network of claim 10 wherein the clock accessory is an atomic clock configured to acquire official time such that the official time is synchronized with the one or more identified components having a clock.

13. The appliance network of claim 10 wherein the clock accessory is a satellite clock that receives official time from an atomic clock such that the official time is synchronized with the one or more identified components having a clock.

14. The appliance network of claim 1 further comprising a second networked appliance in communication with the first networked appliance and the clock accessory via the software architecture, wherein the clock accessory is configured as at least one of an amplifier, a wireless access point, and a protocol bridge for communication between the first and second networked appliances.

15. The appliance network of claim 1 wherein the clock accessory is configured to receive a control command for controlling the physical domestic operation of the first networked appliance.

16. The appliance network of claim 15 wherein the clock accessory comprises a display configured to receive the control command.

20. The appliance network of claim 1 wherein the clock accessory forms a node on the communication network of the first networked appliance, wherein the node formed by the clock accessory is configured to control at least one other node on the communication network.

21. The appliance network of claim 1 wherein the clock accessory is configured to transmit time to the appliance network based on at least one of automatically, a registered event, and a request for the time.

22. The appliance network of claim 1 wherein the clock accessory is configured to acquire time and transmit the acquired time to the appliance network for time synchronization across the appliance network.

23. The appliance network of claim 22 wherein the clock accessory is an atomic clock configured to acquire official time from a source external to the appliance network.

17. The appliance network of clam 1 wherein the clock accessory comprises a display configured to communicate a status of the first networked appliance.

18. The appliance network of claim 17 wherein the status of the first networked appliance is an alert status.

19. The appliance network of claim 18 wherein the display is configured to input confirmation of receipt of the alert status.

24. An appliance network comprising:

first and second appliances, at least one appliance configured to perform a cycle of operation to complete a physical domestic operation on an article, the first and second appliances having;

a communication network comprising a plurality of interconnected nodes configured to communicate across the communication network; and

a plurality of components, each component associated with at least one of the plurality of nodes; and

a clock,

a software architecture comprising a plurality of software elements and configured to generate a plurality of messages, with at least one of the software elements residing in each of the components and configured to enable transmission of at least one of the plurality of messages between the components, wherein at least one of the messages will synchronize the clocks on the appliances.

25. The appliance network of claim 24

where the at least one of the messages is a propagated message.