Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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HOME APPLIANCE AND HOME APPLIANCE SYSTEM
Technical Field
[1] A home appliance and home appliance system are disclosed herein.
[2]
Background
[3] Home appliances and home appliance systems are known. However, they
suffer from
various disadvantages.
[4]
[5] The present invention may provide a home appliance which can provide
product
information, such as status and/or failure information, to a service center
through a portable
terminal.
[6] A home appliance and home appliance system according to embodiments
disclosed
herein convert product information, which may include appliance operation
information
and/or failure information, into an acoustic signal and add a dead time to the
acoustic
signal, such that a portable terminal may not recognize the acoustic signal as
noise, thus
facilitating inspection and after-sale service of the corresponding household
appliance.
[7] A home appliance according to embodiments disclosed herein may include
a controller
that sets a dead time at a predetermined interval of time with respect to a
signal
corresponding to product information to avoid a noise detection section of a
portable
terminal, a converter that converts the signal into an acoustic signal of a
predetermined
band, and a sound output device that outputs the acoustic signal as sound.
[8] In accordance with one embodiment, there is provided a home appliance.
The home
appliance includes a controller that outputs a digital signal representing
product
information, the digital signal including a plurality of packets including a
plurality of data
frames grouped into groups and each of said groups being separated by a
predetermined
time interval comprising an inter-frame space (IFS). The home appliance
further includes
a converter that receives the digital signal from the controller and converts
the digital
signal into a modulated signal. The home appliance further includes a sound
output device
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that receives the modulated signal from the converter and outputs from the
home appliance
a sound signal, the sound signal being discontinuous due to said IFS
separating said groups
of data frames in the digital before converting the digital signal into the
modulated signal.
[8a] Each of the groups may have a transmission time of approximately 1 to 10
seconds.
[8b] The inter-frame space (IFS) may have a transmission time of approximately
0.1 to 1
second.
[8c] The converter may convert the digital signal into the modulated signal by
frequency shift
keying, amplitude shift keying, or phase shift keying.
[8d] The product information may include status information.
[8e] The product information may include failure information.
[8f] The digital signal representing the product information may be in
packet form.
[8g] A total transmission time of the packet may be approximately 12 to 13
seconds.
[8h] The packet may include approximately 1000 symbols.
[8i] Each of the groups may contain approximately 250 symbols.
[8]] Each of the groups may have a transmission time of approximately 3
seconds.
[8k] The inter-frame space (IFS) may contain approximately 16 symbols.
[81] The inter-frame space (IFS) may have a transmission time of
approximately 192 ms.
[8m] A home appliance system may include the home appliance described above.
Brief Description of Drawings
[9] Embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the following
drawings in
which like reference numerals refer to like elements, and wherein:
[10] FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing a home appliance and home
appliance system in
accordance with an embodiment, illustrating how the home appliance is
connected to a
service center;
[11] FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram illustrating noise cancellation of a
portable terminal;
[12] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a home appliance in accordance with an
embodiment; and
[13] FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing a structure of signal sections
and inter-frame
spaces (IFSs) according to an embodiment.
[14]
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Detailed Description
[15] Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to
the accompanying
drawings,
[16] Embodiments disclosed herein relate to a home appliance and a home
appliance system.
Embodiments of a home appliance and home appliance system will be described
with
reference to a laundry treatment machine and a laundry treatment machine
system as
examples. However, embodiments are not limited to a laundry treatment machine
and a
laundry treatment machine system, but rather, may be employed as other home
appliances
and home appliance systems. Such home appliances may include, for example, a
TV, an
air conditioner, a washing machine, a refrigerator, an electric rice cooker,
or a microwave
or conventional oven,
[17] During an operation, a home appliance may store set values for the
operation,
information generated during the operation, and failure information. In the
event of a
failure, the home appliance may output a predetermined alarm to enable a user
to recognize
the state of the appliance. Such a home appliance may output detailed failure
information
through an output device, such as a display, lamp, etc., as well as operation
completion
information or information indicating an occurrence of failure.
[18] In the event of a failure of the home appliance, the user may contact
a service center to
ask advice on the current state of the home appliance, or request the service
center to
dispatch a repairman to the home, thus receiving after-sale service. In such a
case, failure
information may be output from the home appliance, for example, as a code that
the user
cannot understand, and thus, it is difficult for the user to cope with the
failure. Moreover,
even though the user may be connected to the service center, the user may not
notify the
service center of the exact state of the home appliance. Therefore, in the
case where a
repairman visits the user's house, it may take a lot of time and cost to
repair the
corresponding home appliance, since the repairman does not know in advance of
the visit
the exact state of the home appliance. For example, in the case where the
repairman does
not have parts necessary to repair the home appliance, the repairman must
revisit the
house, which requires further time and effort.
[19] To solve this problem, a home appliance may be connected to a server
of the service
center via a predetermined communication device; however, it is necessary to
set up a
dedicated communication network.
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[20] FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing a home appliance and home
appliance
system in accordance with an embodiment, illustrating how the home appliance
is
connected to a service center. Referring to FIG. 1, a home appliance system
100
including a home appliance 1 is shown. The home appliance 1 may include an
output
device 70 that outputs product information, which may include status and/or
failure in-
formation. The output device 70 may include a display 71 and a sound output
device
72.
[21] The display 71 may be a light emitting device, such as, for example, a
light emitting
diode (LED), a liquid crystal display (LCD), or an organic light emitting
diode
(OLED), which may visually display product information, such as status
information
and/or failure information of the home appliance 1. The sound output device 72
may
audibly output a sound corresponding to the product information, such as
status in-
formation and/or failure information.
[22] When the home appliance 1 is, for example, out of order during an
operation, the
home appliance 1 may notify a user of the occurrence of the failure through
the display
device 71 or the sound output device 72. Then, the user may notify a service
center 90
of the occurrence of the failure and request the service center 90 to provide
a diagnosis.
At this time, the user may notify the service center 90 of product
information,
including, for example, a model number and failure conditions of the home
appliance
1, in the form of an acoustic signal output by the home appliance 1 using a
portable
terminal 5, thus providing the product information of the home appliance to
the service
center 90. Then, the service center 90 may provide necessary and appropriate
after-sale
service to the user.
[23] The home appliance 1 may generate an acoustic signal corresponding to
the product
information, which may include status information and/or failure information,
of the
home appliance 1, the portable terminal 5 may provide the acoustic signal
generated by
the home appliance 1 to the service center 90, and the service center 90 may
analyze
the acoustic signal to take appropriate measures to remedy the failure of the
home
appliance 1 corresponding to the product information that the user provides.
[24] The acoustic signal output from the home appliance 1 to the portable
terminal 5 may
be controlled at a predetermined interval of time. That is, the acoustic
signal output
from the home appliance 1 may be recognized as noise by the portable terminal
5
unlike a voice signal. When an acoustic signal with constant magnitude and
frequency
is continuously applied, the portable terminal 5 may recognize the acoustic
signal as
noise and perform a noise cancellation.
[25] The noise cancellation of the portable terminal will be described
hereinbelow with
reference to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram illustrating noise
cancellation of a
portable terminal.
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[26] Referring to FIG. 2, the portable terminal 5 may recognize a signal A
with a change
as data among signals in an audio frequency band, and may recognize a signal B
with a
constant pattern, even after a time lapse, as noise. The portable terminal 5
may produce
a waveform C by reducing the gain of signal B recognized as noise. Therefore,
beep
sounds and mechanical sounds for representing error codes, which are generated
from
the home appliance 1, may be recognized as noise by the portable terminal 5.
[27] According to embodiments disclosed herein, when an acoustic signal
corresponding
to product information is generated by the home appliance 1 and transmitted to
the
service center 90 through the portable terminal 5, the acoustic signal may be
converted
into an intermittent signal such that the acoustic signal corresponding to the
product in-
formation may not be recognized as noise. The acoustic sound converted into
the in-
termittent signal may not be recognized as noise by the portable terminal 5,
but rather,
may be recognized as an ordinary voice signal, and thus be provided to the
service
center 90.
[28] The user may establish a call connection with the service center 90
using the portable
terminal 5 to provide the product information to the service center 90 through
a
consultant or an automatic response system (ARS). During the connection with
the
service center 90, the user may bring the portable terminal 5 adjacent to the
home
appliance 1 such that the portable terminal 5 may provide the acoustic signal
corre-
sponding to the product information to the service center 90.
[29] The service center 90 may analyze the acoustic signal received through
the portable
terminal 5 and determine the product information, which may include failure
conditions, of the home appliance 1. The service center 90 may determine
necessary
parts needed to repair the home appliance 1 or the kind of service needed
based on the
analyzed results, and may dispatch a repairman 93 to a site where the home
appliance 1
is located, thus providing quick and accurate after-sale service.
[30] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a home appliance in accordance with an
embodiment.
Referring to FIG. 3, the home appliance 1 may include an input device 20, a
detector
30, a driver 40, a storage device 50, a converter 60, an output device 70, and
a micro-
controller or a controller 10 that controls an overall operation of the home
appliance 1.
The output device 70 may include a display 71 and a sound output device 72.
[31] The operation of the driver 40 may be controlled in response to a
control signal
applied from the controller 10, such that the home appliance 1 performs an
operation
corresponding to the control signal. For example, in the case of a laundry
treatment
device, the driver 40 may, for example, drive a motor to rotate a washing tub
or drum,
such that the washing tub or drum rotates to remove dirt from laundry.
Moreover, the
driver 40 may control a valve in response to a control signal to supply or
drain water.
[32] The detector 30 may include at least one sensor to measure data for an
operational
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status of the home appliance 1, and may apply the measured data to the
controller 10
while the home appliance 1 performs an operation specified by the driver 40.
For
example, in the case of a laundry treatment device, the detector 30 may, for
example,
measure a level of water during water supply or during water drainage and
measure a
temperature of the supplied water and a rotational speed of the washing tub or
drum.
[33] The storage device 50 may store, for example, operational status data
generated
during operation of the home appliance 1, operational information such as set-
up data
input by the input device 20, and failure information including a cause of the
failure
and a failure area during failure of the home appliance 1. Moreover, the
storage device
50 may store control data for controlling the operation of the home appliance
1, and
reference data used during the operation control.
[34] The input device 20 may include at least one input mechanism to allow
a user to
input a control signal such that the home appliance 1 performs a function that
a user
wants. In the case where the home appliance 1 is a laundry treatment device,
the input
device 20 may include, for example, a set of keys (or buttons) that allow a
user to set,
for example, a temperature of water to be supplied to the laundry, an amount
of water,
a rotation method of the drum, a rotation time of the drum, and whether the
laundry is
to be dried.
[35] Results input through the input device 20 may be applied to the
controller 10, and the
controller 10 may drive the home appliance 1 with reference to conditions
established
through the input device 20. The input device 20 may be configured, for
example, as a
button, a dome switch, a touch pad (resistive/capacitive), a jog wheel, a jog
switch, a
finger mouse, a rotary switch, a jog dial, or any device capable of generating
prede-
termined input data by operation of a user.
[36] The controller 10 may control the overall operation of the home
appliance 10 based
on a set-up value that the user sets through the input device 20. In the event
of a failure
during operation of the home appliance 1, the controller 10 may process
product in-
formation, which may include failure information, of the corresponding home
appliance 1 and provide the processed packet data to the converter 60. The
controller
may generate the packet data with respect to the product information so as not
to be
recognized as noise by the portable terminal 5.
[37] The controller 10 may include an error determining device 11, a dead
time setting
device 12, and a packet processor 13. The error determining device 11 may
detect an
error of the home appliance 1 through the detector 30 or may determine an
uncon-
trollable part among parts constituting the home appliance 1. After
determining the
type of error generated in the home appliance 1, the error determining device
11 may
select an error code corresponding to the type of error and may provide the
error code
to the dead time setting device 12.
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[38] When converting the error code into an acoustic signal, the dead time
setting device
12 may repeat a signal section of the error code and an inter-frame space
(IFS), such
that the acoustic signal is not recognized as noise by the portable terminal
5. When
detecting an acoustic signal having a same frequency for more than
approximately 2.5
to 3 seconds, most portable terminals may determine such an acoustic signal as
noise,
and when detecting an acoustic signal having the same frequency for more than
a
maximum of approximately 10 seconds, they may determine the acoustic signal as
noise. The dead time setting device 12 may set a signal section of the error
code within
approximately 2.5 to 3 seconds, such that the acoustic signal with respect to
the error
code may not be recognized as noise by the portable terminal 5, and the signal
section
may not exceed a maximum of approximately 10 seconds.
[39] The IFS may be repeatedly inserted into a middle of the acoustic
signal with respect
to the error code. The IFS and the signal section will be described in detail
with respect
to FIG. 4 below.
[40] FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing a structure of signal sections
and inter-frame
spaces (IFSs). Referring to FIG. 4, the dead time setting device 12 may divide
the
acoustic signal with respect to the error code into signal sections (Data) and
the IFS, in
which the IFS is repeated at a predetermined interval of time.
[41] When the IFS is repeated at a predetermined interval of time, the
acoustic signal may
be reproduced in the form of an intermittent sound. Since the intermittent
sound may
not be recognized as noise by the portable terminal 5, it may be possible to
provide the
acoustic signal corresponding to the product information to the service center
90
through the portable terminal 5. The acoustic signal generated by the dead
time setting
device 12 may not be a signal in the audio frequency band, but may correspond
to a
signal to be converted into a signal in the audio frequency band by the
converter 60,
which will be described later, and then reproduced by the sound output device
72.
[42] When the size of the IFS is smaller, an amount of signal capable of
being transmitted
per unit time (for example, approximately 1 second) may be increased; however,
the
signal may be recognized as noise by the portable terminal 5. In contrast,
when a size
of the IFS is larger, the signal may not be recognized as noise by the
portable terminal
5; however, the amount of signal capable of being transmitted per unit time
(for
example, approximately 1 second) may be reduced. Therefore, the IFS may have a
value between approximately 0.1 to 1 second.
[43] The packet processor 13 may convert the acoustic sound having the IFSs
set by the
dead time setting device 12 into a packet form. The packet processor 13 may
convert
the acoustic signal corresponding to the product information into a
combination of a
signal and a cycle redundancy code (CRC). The CRC may be used to correct an
error
of the received acoustic signal by the service center 90.
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[44] The converter 60 may convert the acoustic signal provided by the
controller 10 into
an analog signal in a predetermined frequency band. The converter 60 may
convert the
acoustic signal by, for example, frequency shift keying, amplitude shift
keying, or
phase shift keying. The converter 60 may stop the signal conversion during the
IFS in
which a dead time is set up.
[45] The sound output device 72 may be turned on and off by a control
signal of the
controller 10 and may output a predetermined signal sound by receiving an
acoustic
signal output from the converter 60. Here, the sound output device 72 may be a
means
for outputting a sound, such as, for example, a speaker, buzzer, or similar
device.
[46] When the output operation is completed after the sound output device
72 outputs a
reproduced sound with respect to the acoustic sound, the operation of the
sound output
device 72 may be stopped and, when a signal output command is input by the
input
device 20, the sound output device 72 may be operated again to output a
predetermined
signal sound.
[47] The display 71 may display information input by the input device 20,
such as,
operation status information of the home appliance 1 and/or information on
operation
completion of the home appliance 1, in response to a control signal of the
controller
10. Further, the display 71 may display failure information in the event of a
failure of
the home appliance 1. In this case, the output device 70 may further include a
lighting
or flickering lamp or vibration element in addition to the sound output device
72 and
the display 71; however, a detailed description thereof has been omitted.
[48] As set forth above, the data or acoustic signal output by the sound
output device 72
as sound may be made up of a series of packets. It is noted that each packet
is
configured to be analyzed individually and therefore is designed to contain
all the in-
formation required for its extraction; no information is used from other
packets to
reproduce the original packets from the analog signal.
[49] The packets are compiled by the controller 10 in digital form and then
converted to
an analog signal by the converter 60 to be output as sound by the sound output
device
72.
[50] For example, the packet according one embodiment may include 82 fields
of data
(different types of data) and approximately 1000 symbols. Transmission of the
entire
packet may take approximately 12 to approximately 13 seconds. The dead time
setting
device 12 may divide the data frames into several groups of data frames each
having a
transmission time of under approximately 3 seconds and may insert an IFS
between
each group of data frames. For example, the groups of data frames may each
include,
for example, approximately 250 symbols and may have a transmission time of ap-
proximately 3 seconds. The IFS may contain, for example, approximately 16
symbols
and may have a transmission time of approximately 192 ms. The IFSs force the
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portable terminal 5 to treat the packet as data and not noise.
[51]
[52] Any reference in this specification to "one embodiment," "an
embodiment," "example
embodiment," etc., means that a particular feature, structure, or
characteristic described in
connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the
invention. The
appearances of such phrases in various places in the specification are not
necessarily all referring to =
the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or
characteristic is described in
connection with any embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the purview
of one skilled in the
art to effect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with
other ones of the
embodiments.
[53]
[54] While specific embodiments of the invention have been described and
illustrated, such
embodiments should be.considered illustrative of the invention only and not as
limiting the =
invention as construed in accordance with the accompanying claims.
[55] As described above, the home appliance in accordance with embodiments
disclosed herein may
enable a portable terminal not to recognize a product information signal sound
as noise, and thus,
the product information signal sound may be transmitted to a service center
through the portable
terminal.
[56] =
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