Control method for smart home appliance function reservation

Abstract

The control method for function reservation of smart home appliances of the present invention is that the mobile terminal sends a reservation control instruction to the controlled smart home appliance only when the reservation setting is completed in the user control interface. Until the next time the user updates the reservation setting, the controlled smart home appliance, upon receiving the reservation control instruction sent by the mobile terminal, uses the function start counter and function duration counter of the single-chip microcomputer to count down respectively, and cooperates with the cyclic shift "N working flag bits for indicating whether the function is started or not" to realize function reservation cyclic control. The single-chip microcomputer does not need to be configured with a clock module, which not only reduces the cost, but also does not require regular clock calibration, thereby improving the accuracy of reservation control, reducing the dependence of the controlled smart home appliance on the mobile terminal, and reducing the number of communication interactions between the mobile terminal and the controlled smart home appliance.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention belongs to the field of intelligent control, and in particular relates to a control method for function reservation of intelligent home appliances. Background Art

[0002] Smart home appliances primarily utilize wired, wireless, and a combination of both. With the development of wireless technologies such as WLAN, IrDA, Bluetooth, ZigBee, and HomeRF, wireless technology is increasingly being applied to smart home appliances. Compared to wired systems, wireless technologies offer lower wiring costs and significant advantages in stability, energy efficiency, and future expansion. Consequently, smart home appliances utilizing wireless sensor networks and wireless controllers have become a hot topic. With the widespread use of mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, controlling smart home appliances via wireless networks like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth has become increasingly popular among manufacturers and users due to its convenience, speed, and flexibility.

[0003] Currently, smart home appliances are controlled via mobile devices, mostly through user-friendly apps installed on the devices. Users enter control parameters through the app's control interface, and control commands are sent to the smart home appliances via wireless networks such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. For example, it is possible to send scheduling commands to smart home appliances, for example, to set the jacuzzi heating function to start at 5 pm every other day of the week, or to set the swimming pool filtration and disinfection function to start at 10 am every Saturday. Such periodic reservation instructions require timing control, which is either completed in the APP of the mobile terminal or sent to the smart home appliance. The control end of the smart home appliance sets one or more timing control instructions according to the reservation instruction to implement single or cyclic functional control of the smart home appliance. In the first approach, the APP of the mobile terminal and the smart home appliance need to interact with each other on a regular basis. Not only does the smart home appliance rely too much on the APP of the mobile terminal, resulting in a poor user experience, but the APP of the mobile terminal is often started and kept running in the background, which increases the burden on the mobile terminal. In the second approach, the control end of the smart home appliance needs a timing module with a clock, and for precise control, the clock needs to be calibrated regularly, which increases the configuration requirements for the control end for smart home appliances, thereby increasing the cost of the product. Summary of the Invention

[0004] In order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention provides a control method for smart home appliance function reservation. After receiving the function reservation instruction from the mobile terminal, the function reservation of the smart home appliance can be realized without the need for regular interaction or regular calibration of the clock of the smart home appliance.

[0005] The present invention provides a method for controlling function reservations of smart home appliances, comprising at least one mobile terminal providing a user control interface and at least one smart home appliance capable of communicating with the mobile terminal, wherein the control module of the smart home appliance is a single-chip microcomputer having a function start counter and a function duration counter, and comprises the following steps:

[0006] Step 1: The mobile terminal and the controlled smart home appliance are located in the same wireless communication network, or via a common remote server, so that the mobile terminal and the controlled smart home appliance can communicate and interact;

[0007] Step 2: Define the communication protocol between the mobile terminal and the controlled smart appliance. The data structure of a single function reservation sent by the mobile terminal is: the controlled smart appliance ID + the countdown value of the function start counter + the countdown value of the function duration counter + the corresponding function ID + function control parameters + a flag indicating whether to perform cyclic control + N working flags indicating whether the function is enabled or not + a shift control bit.

[0008] The shift control bit is used to control the value of the first bit of the "N working flag bits for indicating whether the function is started or not" to move to the last bit, and the values ​​of the other bits are all shifted one bit to the left;

[0009] Step 3: The user control interface provided by the mobile terminal includes the following input items and / or options: a list of authenticated controlled smart appliances, a list of functions corresponding to the controlled smart appliances, a parameter input and / or selection list corresponding to each function, a time point for scheduled activation of the function, a duration for the function activation, and a periodic list of selectable function activations, wherein the periodic list provides N options for scheduled activation, with a time interval T1 between each option. The mobile terminal sends a reservation control instruction to the controlled smart appliance only after the reservation setting is completed on the user control interface, until the next update of the reservation setting.

[0010] Step 4: After the user completes the reservation setting, the mobile terminal calculates the countdown value of the function activation counter based on the interval from the current time at the time of setting to the "time point of function reservation activation", and calculates the countdown value of the function duration counter based on the "duration of function activation". At the same time, based on the current time, the time point of function reservation activation, the duration of function activation and the reservation options in the periodic list, N working flags are generated to indicate whether the function is activated or not. The working flag is 0 for not operating and 1 for operating. Finally, a reservation control instruction including at least one function is generated and sent to the controlled smart home appliance.

[0011] Step 5. After the controlled smart home appliance receives the reservation control instruction, only when the ID of the controlled smart home appliance matches, the MCU of the controlled smart home appliance obtains the countdown value of the function start counter, the countdown value of the function duration counter, the corresponding function ID, the function control parameters, the flag of whether to perform cyclic control, N working flags for indicating whether the function is started or not, and the shift control bit from the reservation control instruction, and uses the function start counter and function duration counter of the microcontroller to count down respectively, and cooperates with the cyclic shift "N working flags for indicating whether the function is started or not", so as to periodically control the cyclic start and shutdown of specific functions of the controlled smart home appliance at the time of the function reservation start.

[0012] The flag bit for whether to perform cyclic control is 0 for no reservation or a single reservation task, and 1 for a cyclic reservation task.

[0013] The method of periodically controlling the controlled smart home appliance to cyclically start and shut down a specific function at the time of function scheduled start includes the following steps:

[0014] (1) The function start counter starts counting down until the countdown value reaches zero, and the corresponding function is started according to the function control parameters. The function duration counter starts counting down until the countdown value of the function duration counter reaches zero, and then the function is turned off;

[0015] (2) When the function duration counter starts counting down, it is determined that the "flag bit of loop control" is 1, and the countdown value of the function start counter is set according to T1, and the countdown starts, and the process goes to step (3);

[0016] (3) When the countdown value of the function start counter is zero, the countdown value of the duration counter is determined. If it is not zero, the process proceeds to step (4). Otherwise, the value of the first bit of the "N working flag bits for indicating whether the function is started or not" is further determined. If it is 0, the process proceeds to step (4). If it is 1, the corresponding function is started according to the function control parameter, and the function duration counter starts to count down. When it reaches zero, the function is turned off, and the process proceeds to step (4) while the function is started.

[0017] (4) The "N working flag bits for indicating whether the function is started or not" are shifted by one position under the action of the shift control bit; the countdown value of the function start counter is set according to T1, and the countdown begins. When it reaches zero, the process returns to step (3), and the control cycle continues.

[0018] The present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0019] (1) The mobile terminal sends a reservation control instruction to the controlled smart home appliance only when the reservation setting is completed in the user control interface. The mobile terminal does not send a reservation control instruction to the controlled smart home appliance again until the next time the user updates the reservation setting, so as to update the reservation control of the controlled smart home appliance, thereby minimizing the dependence of the controlled smart home appliance on the mobile terminal and reducing the number of communication interactions between the mobile terminal and the controlled smart home appliance;

[0020] (2) When the controlled smart home appliance receives the reservation control instruction sent by the mobile terminal, it uses the function start counter and function duration counter of the single-chip microcomputer to count down respectively, and cooperates with the circular shift "N working flag bits used to indicate whether the function is started or not" to realize the function reservation cycle control. The single-chip microcomputer does not need to be configured with a clock module, which not only reduces the cost, but also does not require regular clock calibration, thereby improving the accuracy of the reservation control. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0021] The present invention provides a method for controlling function reservations for smart home appliances, comprising at least one mobile terminal providing a user control interface and at least one smart home appliance capable of communicating with the mobile terminal. The control module of the smart home appliance is a single-chip microcomputer (MCU) having a function start counter and a function duration counter. The method comprises the following steps:

[0022] Step 1: The mobile terminal and the controlled smart home appliance are located in the same wireless communication network, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc., or through a common remote server, so that the mobile terminal and the controlled smart home appliance can communicate and interact;

[0023] Step 2: Define the communication protocol between the mobile terminal and the controlled smart appliance. The data structure of a single function reservation sent by the mobile terminal is: the controlled smart appliance ID + the countdown value of the function start counter + the countdown value of the function duration counter + the corresponding function ID + function control parameters + a flag indicating whether to perform cyclic control + N working flags indicating whether the function is enabled or not + a shift control bit.

[0024] The flag bit for whether to perform cyclic control, 0 represents no reservation or a single reservation task, 1 represents a cyclic reservation task;

[0025] Shift control bit: used to control the value of the first bit of the "N working flag bits used to indicate whether the function is started or not" to move to the last bit, and the values ​​of other bits are all shifted one bit to the left;

[0026] Step 3. The user control interface provided by the mobile terminal includes the following input items and / or options: a list of authenticated controlled smart appliances, a list of functions corresponding to the controlled smart appliances, a parameter input and / or selection list corresponding to each function, a time point for scheduled activation of the function, a duration for the function activation, and a periodic list of selectable function activations, wherein the periodic list provides N options for scheduled activation, and the interval between any two options is T1. For example, the periodic list includes seven options from Monday to Sunday, where N=7 and T1 is 24 hours. If the time point for scheduled activation of the function is set to 15:00 and the periodic list selects Wednesday and Saturday, it means that the selected function of the controlled smart appliance will be activated at 15:00 every Wednesday and Saturday. The mobile terminal will send a scheduled control instruction to the controlled smart appliance only after the reservation setting is completed on the user control interface until the next update of the reservation setting.

[0027] Step 4: After the user completes the reservation setting, the mobile terminal calculates the countdown value of the function activation counter based on the interval from the current time at the time of setting to the "time point of function reservation activation", and calculates the countdown value of the function duration counter based on the "duration of function activation". At the same time, based on the current time, the time point of function reservation activation, the duration of function activation and the reservation options in the periodic list, N working flags are generated to indicate whether the function is activated or not. The working flag is 0 for not operating and 1 for operating. Finally, a reservation control instruction including at least one function is generated and sent to the controlled smart home appliance.

[0028] Step 5. After the controlled smart home appliance receives the reservation control instruction, only when the controlled smart home appliance ID matches, the MCU of the controlled smart home appliance obtains the countdown value of the function start counter, the countdown value of the function duration counter, the corresponding function ID, the function control parameters, the flag bit for whether to control the loop, N working flag bits used to indicate whether the function is started or not, and the shift control bit from the reservation control instruction, and starts the following operations:

[0029] (1) The function start counter starts counting down until the countdown value reaches zero, and the corresponding function is started according to the function control parameters. The function duration counter starts counting down until the countdown value of the function duration counter reaches zero, and then the function is turned off;

[0030] (2) When the function duration counter starts counting down, it is determined that the "flag bit of loop control" is 1, and the countdown value of the function start counter is set according to T1, and the countdown starts, and the process goes to step (3);

[0031] (3) When the countdown value of the function start counter is zero, the countdown value of the duration counter is determined. If it is not zero, the process proceeds to step (4). Otherwise, the value of the first bit of the "N working flag bits for indicating whether the function is started or not" is further determined. If it is 0, the process proceeds to step (4). If it is 1, the corresponding function is started according to the function control parameter, and the function duration counter starts to count down. When it reaches zero, the function is turned off, and the process proceeds to step (4) while the function is started.

[0032] (4) The "N working flag bits for indicating whether the function is started or not" are shifted by one position under the action of the shift control bit; the countdown value of the function start counter is set according to T1, and the countdown begins. When it reaches zero, the process returns to step (3), and the control cycle continues.

[0033] The emphasis of the present invention is:

[0034] (1) The mobile terminal sends a reservation control instruction to the controlled smart home appliance only when the reservation setting is completed in the user control interface. The mobile terminal does not send a reservation control instruction to the controlled smart home appliance again until the next time the user updates the reservation setting, so as to update the reservation control of the controlled smart home appliance, thereby minimizing the dependence of the controlled smart home appliance on the mobile terminal and reducing the number of communication interactions between the mobile terminal and the controlled smart home appliance;

[0035] (2) When the controlled smart home appliance receives the reservation control instruction sent by the mobile terminal, it uses the function start counter and function duration counter of the single-chip microcomputer to count down respectively, and cooperates with the circular shift "N working flag bits used to indicate whether the function is started or not" to realize the function reservation cycle control. The single-chip microcomputer does not need to be configured with a clock module, which not only reduces the cost, but also does not require regular clock calibration, thereby improving the accuracy of the reservation control.

[0036] The above description does not limit the technical scope of the present invention. Therefore, any slight modifications, equivalent changes and modifications made to the above embodiments based on the technical essence of the present invention are still within the scope of the technical solution of the present invention.

Claims

1. A control method for smart home appliance function reservation, characterized in that The system comprises at least one mobile terminal providing a user control interface and at least one smart home appliance capable of communicating with the mobile terminal. The control module of the smart home appliance is a single chip microcomputer with a function start counter and a function duration counter. The system comprises the following steps: Step 1: The mobile terminal and the controlled smart home appliance are located in the same wireless communication network, or via a common remote server, so that the mobile terminal and the controlled smart home appliance can communicate and interact; Step 2: Define the communication protocol between the mobile terminal and the controlled smart appliance. The data structure of a single function reservation sent by the mobile terminal is: the controlled smart appliance ID + the countdown value of the function start counter + the countdown value of the function duration counter + the corresponding function ID + function control parameters + a flag indicating whether to perform cyclic control + N working flags indicating whether the function is enabled or not + a shift control bit. The shift control bit is used to control the value of the first bit of the "N working flag bits for indicating whether the function is started or not" to move to the last bit, and the values ​​of the other bits are all shifted one bit to the left; Step 3: The user control interface provided by the mobile terminal includes the following input items and / or options: a list of authenticated controlled smart appliances, a list of functions corresponding to the controlled smart appliances, a list of parameter inputs and / or selections corresponding to each function, a time point for scheduled activation of the function, a duration for the function activation, and a periodic list of selectable function activations, wherein the periodic list provides N options for scheduled activation, with the interval between each option being T1; The mobile terminal sends a reservation control instruction to the controlled smart home appliance only when the reservation setting is completed in the user control interface until the next update of the reservation setting; Step 4: After the user completes the reservation setting, the mobile terminal calculates the countdown value of the function activation counter based on the interval from the current time at the time of setting to the "time point of function reservation activation", and calculates the countdown value of the function duration counter based on the "duration of function activation". At the same time, based on the current time, the time point of function reservation activation, the duration of function activation, and the reservation options in the periodic list, it generates N working flags to indicate whether the function is activated or not. The working flag is 0 for not operating and 1 for operating. Finally, a reservation control instruction including at least one function is generated and sent to the controlled smart home appliance. Step 5. After the controlled smart home appliance receives the scheduled control instruction, only when the controlled smart home appliance ID matches, the MCU of the controlled smart home appliance obtains the countdown value of the function start counter, the countdown value of the function duration counter, the corresponding function ID, the function control parameter, the flag bit for whether to perform cyclic control, N working flag bits for indicating whether the function is started or not, and the shift control bit from the scheduled control instruction. The MCU uses the function start counter and function duration counter of the MCU to count down respectively, and cooperates with the cyclic shift "N working flag bits for indicating whether the function is started or not" to periodically control the cyclic start and stop of the specific function of the controlled smart home appliance at the time of the scheduled start of the function, including the following steps: (1) The function start counter starts counting down until the countdown value reaches zero, and the corresponding function is started according to the function control parameters. The function duration counter starts counting down until the countdown value of the function duration counter reaches zero, and then the function is turned off; (2) When the function duration counter starts counting down, it is determined that the "flag bit of whether loop control is on" is "there is a loop reservation task", and the countdown value of the function start counter is set according to T1, and the countdown starts, and the process goes to step (3); (3) When the countdown value of the function start counter is zero, the countdown value of the duration counter is determined. If it is not zero, the process proceeds to step (4). Otherwise, the value of the first bit of the "N working flag bits for indicating whether the function is started or not" is further determined. If it is 0, the process proceeds to step (4). If it is 1, the corresponding function is started according to the function control parameter, and the function duration counter starts to count down. When it reaches zero, the function is turned off, and the process proceeds to step (4) while the function is started. (4) The "N working flag bits for indicating whether the function is started or not" are shifted by one position under the action of the shift control bit; the countdown value of the function start counter is set according to T1, and the countdown begins. When it reaches zero, the process returns to step (3), and the control cycle continues.

2. The control method for smart home appliance function reservation according to claim 1, characterized in that The flag bit for whether to perform cyclic control is 0 for no reservation or a single reservation task, and 1 for a cyclic reservation task.