A home appliance

Abstract

The present specification provides a kind of household electrical appliances.The communication module integrates near field communication NFC chip, NFC antenna, wireless fidelity Wi-Fi chip and Wi-Fi antenna, which is equivalent to configuring NFC function for Wi-Fi chip, and Wi-Fi chip can directly obtain network configuration information from NFC chip, instead of transmitting network configuration information received by NFC to Wi-Fi chip by household electrical appliance control module, which improves the efficiency and reliability of network configuration information transmission.In addition, the user establishes NFC connection between the NFC function of the user mobile device and the NFC chip of the household electrical appliance, and the user needs to install the product application on the mobile device to start and determine that the user mobile device has accessed the network through its own Wi-Fi module before writing network configuration information into the NFC chip.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This manual relates to the field of smart home appliance technology, and in particular to a home appliance product. Background Technology

[0002] Currently, some home appliances on the market can connect to the network via a built-in Wi-Fi module. When users use a home appliance with network connectivity for the first time, they usually need to transmit the network configuration information used for network access to the appliance's Wi-Fi module to complete the network configuration.

[0003] The existing network configuration method involves the user triggering the home appliance to switch its built-in Wi-Fi module from Station mode to Access Point (AP) mode. The Wi-Fi module then receives the network configuration information transmitted by the user in AP mode. After the user completes the network configuration, the Wi-Fi module needs to switch back to Station mode and connect to the network based on the configuration information.

[0004] However, the process from when a user starts configuring the network to when home appliances are connected to the network takes a long time, resulting in a poor user experience. Summary of the Invention

[0005] To address the aforementioned technical problems, this specification proposes the following technical solutions:

[0006] In a first aspect, a home appliance product is provided, comprising a home appliance control module and a communication module, wherein the communication module integrates a near-field communication (NFC) chip, an NFC antenna, a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) chip, and a Wi-Fi antenna; the home appliance control module and the communication module are connected via an interface;

[0007] The communication module establishes an NFC connection between the NFC chip and the NFC module of the user's mobile device through the NFC antenna, so that when the product application installed on the user's mobile device determines that the user's mobile device has accessed the network through its own Wi-Fi module, it writes the network configuration information used by the user's mobile device and the IP address of the product server into the NFC chip.

[0008] In Station mode, the Wi-Fi chip reads network configuration information and IP address from the NFC chip to access the network via the Wi-Fi antenna and connects to the product server based on the IP address.

[0009] Through the first aspect of the technical solution, the communication module integrates a near-field communication (NFC) chip, an NFC antenna, a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) chip, and a Wi-Fi antenna. This is equivalent to equipping the Wi-Fi chip with NFC functionality. The Wi-Fi chip can directly obtain network distribution information from the NFC chip, instead of the home appliance control module transmitting the network distribution information received by the NFC to the Wi-Fi chip, thus improving the efficiency and reliability of network distribution information transmission.

[0010] In addition, users can establish an NFC connection with the NFC chip of home appliances by using the NFC function of their mobile devices. Furthermore, the user needs to have the product application installed on the mobile device launched and confirm that the mobile device has been connected to the network through its own Wi-Fi module before the network configuration information can be written to the NFC chip.

[0011] When a user's mobile device provides network configuration information to home appliances via NFC, it means that the appliances and the device are in the same home environment. Since the mobile device is already connected to the network via its own Wi-Fi module, it means it's connected to the router in that home environment, which implies that the appliances can also connect to that router. Therefore, in this situation, the network configuration information transmitted from the mobile device to the appliances doesn't need further verification. This means the appliances' Wi-Fi chips don't need to switch to AP mode and can remain in Station mode.

[0012] Throughout the entire network distribution process, the Wi-Fi chips of home appliances do not need to switch modes, and the network distribution information does not need to go through the home appliance control module to be transmitted to the Wi-Fi chip. For users, the waiting time during the entire network distribution process is short, resulting in a good user experience.

[0013] Furthermore, the product application will also write the product server's IP address into the NFC of the home appliance. In this way, the product server does not need to access the product server based on a domain name, thus eliminating the need for DNS resolution and reducing latency when the home appliance connects to the product server.

[0014] Furthermore:

[0015] The home appliance control module and the communication module are connected via an asynchronous transceiver UART serial port. The interface between the modules can be a UART serial port, a serial port using other protocols, or a parallel port.

[0016] Furthermore:

[0017] The network configuration information includes: wireless network identifier and wireless network password. When home appliances need to connect to a router and then access the network through the router, the network configuration information can be the wireless network identifier and wireless network password.

[0018] Furthermore:

[0019] The data area of ​​the NFC chip includes a first NFC record, which has an NFC data exchange format of URL type; before the product application writes network configuration information to the NFC chip, the operating system of the user's mobile device reads all the data in the data area of ​​the NFC chip; the product application includes: a product client program or a product lightweight application;

[0020] The first NFC record contains a URL that triggers the mobile device's operating system to execute: if the product client program is installed, open the product client program; if the product client program is not installed, open the product mini-app.

[0021] This provides a way to launch product applications: users can launch the product application by touching the NFC sensing area of ​​the home appliance with their mobile device, without having to manually search for and open the product application in the application list.

[0022] Furthermore:

[0023] The first NFC record also includes at least one of the following:

[0024] The anti-counterfeiting codes corresponding to the home appliance products;

[0025] The unique identifier corresponding to the WIFI chip;

[0026] Communication fault flag; wherein, when the home appliance control module detects a Wi-Fi chip fault in the home appliance, it modifies the communication fault flag to indicate a fault; when it detects that the Wi-Fi chip fault has been repaired, it modifies the communication fault flag to indicate no fault.

[0027] The cumulative number of times the NFC chip is triggered; wherein, the Wi-Fi chip increments the cumulative number by 1 each time it detects that the NFC chip has established an NFC connection;

[0028] Network-related flags; wherein, the Wi-Fi chip sets the network flag to a flag indicating network status whenever it connects to the network, and sets the network flag to a flag indicating non-network status whenever it disconnects from the network.

[0029] The first NFC record can also carry some product-related information, which can be passed to the product application and then uploaded to the product server.

[0030] Among them, for the anti-counterfeiting codes of home appliances, the product service terminal can count the counterfeit status of home appliances on the market.

[0031] The unique identifier for a Wi-Fi chip can serve as a unique identifier for home appliances. The product server can explicitly upload the user identifier bound to the product application using this unique identifier, thereby clearly identifying the user currently using the home appliance corresponding to that unique identifier.

[0032] For communication fault indicators, product applications can determine whether home appliances can currently be configured for network distribution based on the read communication fault indicators.

[0033] Based on the cumulative number of times the NFC chip has been triggered, the product server can analyze the usage of the NFC function of home appliances.

[0034] For network-related indicators, product applications can determine whether it is necessary to configure the network for home appliances based on the communication fault indicators they read.

[0035] Furthermore:

[0036] The data area of ​​the NFC chip also includes a second NFC record; the second NFC record uses an Android application-type NFC data exchange format.

[0037] The second NFC record contains an Android application identifier, which is used to trigger the operating system to perform the following when the mobile device's operating system is Android: if the product client program is not installed, enter the download path associated with the Android system to download the product client program, or open the product mini-app supported by the Android system.

[0038] Furthermore:

[0039] The NFC chip has a standard data area and a custom data area. The standard data area is configured to use the NFC data exchange format, and the custom data area is configured to use a non-NFC data exchange format.

[0040] The product application writes the network distribution information and the IP address into the custom data area.

[0041] The user's mobile device only has permission to write data to the custom data area, while the product application has the ability to write network configuration information and the IP address of the product server to the custom data area.

[0042] Secondly, a method for home appliances to access a network is provided, applied to a system including a user mobile device and a home appliance; the user mobile device has a product application installed; the home appliance has a home appliance control module and a communication module, the communication module integrating a near-field communication (NFC) chip, an NFC antenna, a Wi-Fi chip, and a Wi-Fi antenna; the home appliance control module and the communication module are connected via an interface;

[0043] The method includes:

[0044] After the product application is started, if it is determined that the user's mobile device has accessed the network through its own Wi-Fi module, the network configuration information used by the user's mobile device is determined; and the IP address of the product server is obtained.

[0045] The user mobile device establishes an NFC connection with the NFC chip through its own NFC module;

[0046] The product application uses the NFC connection to write the determined network configuration information and the obtained IP address into the NFC chip;

[0047] In Station mode, the Wi-Fi chip of the home appliance reads the network configuration information and IP address from the NFC chip, accesses the network according to the network configuration information, and connects to the product server according to the IP address.

[0048] Furthermore:

[0049] The product application determines the network configuration information used by the user's mobile device, including:

[0050] The product application obtains the wireless network identifier of the wireless network connected to the user's mobile device from the operating system, and receives the wireless network password entered by the user, and uses the obtained wireless network identifier and the received wireless network password as network configuration information.

[0051] Thirdly, a method for home appliances to access a network is provided, which is applied to product applications installed on user mobile devices in the system. The system also includes home appliances. The home appliances have a home appliance control module and a communication module. The communication module integrates a near-field communication (NFC) chip, an NFC antenna, a Wi-Fi chip, and a Wi-Fi antenna. The home appliance control module and the communication module are connected through an interface.

[0052] The user mobile device establishes an NFC connection with the NFC chip via its own NFC module; the method includes:

[0053] After the product application is started, if it is determined that the user's mobile device has accessed the network through its own Wi-Fi module, the network configuration information used by the user's mobile device is determined, the IP address of the product server is obtained, and the determined network configuration information and the obtained IP address are written into the NFC chip through the NFC connection; so that the Wi-Fi chip of the home appliance can read the network configuration information from the NFC chip in Station mode, access the network according to the network configuration information, and connect to the product server according to the IP address.

[0054] Fourthly, a device for connecting home appliances to a network is provided, which is applied to product applications installed on user mobile devices in the system. The system also includes home appliances. The home appliances have a home appliance control module and a communication module. The communication module integrates a near-field communication (NFC) chip, an NFC antenna, a Wi-Fi chip, and a Wi-Fi antenna. The home appliance control module and the communication module are connected via an interface.

[0055] The user mobile device establishes an NFC connection with the NFC antenna and the NFC chip via its own NFC module; the device includes:

[0056] The determination module, after the product application is started, determines the network configuration information used by the user mobile device if it has already accessed the network through its own Wi-Fi module, obtains the IP address of the product server, and writes the determined network configuration information into the NFC chip through the NFC connection; so that the Wi-Fi chip of the home appliance can read the network configuration information and IP address from the NFC chip in Station mode, access the network according to the network configuration information, and access the network according to the IP address.

[0057] Fifthly, a computer device is provided, including a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the processor executes the program to implement the method of the third aspect.

[0058] It should be understood that the above general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only, and are not intended to limit this specification. Attached Figure Description

[0059] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of this specification or the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments recorded in the embodiments of this specification. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings.

[0060] Figure 1 This is a flowchart illustrating a current network distribution method provided in this manual;

[0061] Figure 2 This is a structural diagram of a type A household appliance provided in this instruction manual;

[0062] Figure 3 This is a flowchart illustrating one type of network distribution method provided in this manual;

[0063] Figure 4 This is a structural diagram of a type B household appliance provided in this instruction manual;

[0064] Figure 5 This is a flowchart illustrating a method for connecting a Type B home appliance to a network, as provided in this manual.

[0065] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the NFC data area;

[0066] Figure 7 This is a more specific structural diagram of the NFC data area provided in this manual;

[0067] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the changes in the sensing signal level of different specifications of NFC modules provided in this manual;

[0068] Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of the computer device described in this specification. Detailed Implementation

[0069] This specification describes several technical solutions with different concepts. Each concept has one or more embodiments, and different concepts can be combined to form more embodiments. Those skilled in the art, after reading this specification, can combine different concepts to obtain new technical solutions, and these new technical solutions should also fall within the scope of this specification.

[0070] The technical solutions of these different concepts will be introduced in turn below. Some concepts may appear in multiple technical solutions of different concepts. For these concepts, this article will explain them when they first appear and will not repeat them in the following text.

[0071] The home appliances mentioned in this article generally refer to electrical appliances used in the home environment for various purposes. Specifically, they can be cooking appliances with a certain cooking function, such as electric pressure cookers and electric frying pans. In addition, cooking appliances can also be multifunctional cooking appliances with various cooking functions.

[0072] The home appliances described in this manual have the conventional structure and functions of home appliances currently on the market (such as product casing, power interface, basic home appliance functions, etc.), and will not be described in detail here.

[0073] Currently, some home appliances on the market can connect to the network via built-in Wi-Fi modules. When users use a home appliance with network connectivity for the first time, they usually need to transmit the network configuration information used for network access to the appliance's Wi-Fi module to complete the network configuration. The network configuration information mentioned in this article usually refers to the authentication information used to connect the Wi-Fi module to the router, which is usually the router's corresponding wireless network identifier (SSID) and wireless network password.

[0074] like Figure 1 As shown, one current network configuration method involves the user switching the appliance's Wi-Fi module from the factory default Station mode to AP mode when configuring the network. With the appliance in AP mode, the user can use their mobile device, such as a smartphone, to search for the appliance's Wi-Fi hotspot and connect to it. This establishes an information transmission channel between the user's mobile device and the appliance's Wi-Fi module, allowing the user's mobile device to transmit network configuration information to the appliance's Wi-Fi module.

[0075] It should be noted here that the way a user's mobile device obtains network configuration information can be provided by the user to the user's mobile device. For example, the user can input the network configuration information into the interface of the product application corresponding to the home appliance installed on the user's mobile device.

[0076] Furthermore, in practical applications, user mobile devices have often already been configured with network settings, meaning they are already connected to the user's home router. In this case, the user's mobile device has already obtained the network configuration information corresponding to the router. If the user's mobile device's operating system grants the product application permission to access network configuration information, then the product application can obtain the network configuration information directly from the operating system without requiring the user to input it.

[0077] See also Figure 1After receiving the network configuration information, the Wi-Fi module needs to remain in AP mode to verify the network configuration information in order to ensure that the received network configuration information corresponds to the network hotspot of the router in the surrounding environment. This involves checking the list of hotspot identifiers in the surrounding environment and determining whether the wireless network identifier contained in the received network configuration information is in the list of hotspots. If it exists, the Wi-Fi module will switch back to Station mode and can then act as a Station to connect to the router according to the network configuration information. If it does not exist, it means that the network configuration has failed.

[0078] See also Figure 1 After a home appliance's Wi-Fi module is connected to a router, the router assigns the appliance an internal IP address. The appliance can then use this IP address to connect to the external network through the router. Typically, the purpose of connecting to the external network is to communicate with the appliance's server to upload data (such as usage records) and receive data (such as control commands) from the server.

[0079] In the above process, the user needs to trigger the home appliance to start AP mode in order for the network configuration information to be transmitted to the home appliance. After the transmission is completed, the home appliance's Wi-Fi module needs to restart and switch from AP mode back to Station mode before it can access the network based on the configuration information. The whole process requires the user to manually switch the home appliance's Wi-Fi module from Station mode to AP mode first, and then the home appliance's Wi-Fi module will switch modes again (from AP mode back to Station mode) after obtaining the network configuration information, which takes a certain amount of time. For users, the waiting time for the network configuration to complete is relatively long. In addition, during the above process, users often need to temporarily disconnect their mobile devices from the router's hotspot and temporarily connect to the home appliance's Wi-Fi module's hotspot (in order to transmit network configuration information), which is also quite inconvenient for users.

[0080] To enhance user experience, this specification provides a network configuration method applied to an improved home appliance product. For ease of description, this home appliance product is referred to as Type A home appliance product. Type A home appliance product includes an appliance control module, a Near Field Communication (NFC) module, and a Wi-Fi module; the appliance control module and the NFC module are connected via an interface, and the appliance control module and the Wi-Fi module are also connected via an interface.

[0081] It should be noted that the appliance control module and the NFC module (Wi-Fi module) can be connected via either a serial interface or a parallel interface. On one hand, the appliance control module supplies power to the NFC and Wi-Fi modules through the interface; on the other hand, the modules can also exchange data through the interface.

[0082] Figure 2 This is a structural diagram of a type A household appliance provided in this instruction manual. (For example...) Figure 1 As shown, a home appliance control module can be built based on the electronic control board and the control chip on the electronic control board. The NFC module (Wi-Fi module) and the electronic control board are connected through a Universal Asynchronous Receiver / Transmitter (UART) serial port.

[0083] The network distribution method based on Type A home appliances can be as follows: Figure 3 As shown. First, when a user needs to configure a home appliance for network pairing, they must switch the appliance's Wi-Fi module from the factory default Station mode to AP mode. Specifically, the user can bring an NFC-enabled mobile device close to the appliance's NFC module, sending a control command to the NFC module to trigger it to enter network pairing mode. Upon receiving the command, the NFC module transmits it to the control board via UART serial port, and the control board then transmits it to the Wi-Fi module via UART serial port. This allows the Wi-Fi module to enter network pairing mode, i.e., switch from Station mode to AP mode, and send the result back to the control board, which in turn sends the result to the mobile device.

[0084] See also Figure 3 After the user confirms that the Wi-Fi module of the home appliance has switched to AP mode, they can transmit the network configuration information to the NFC module of the home appliance via a mobile device. The NFC module then transmits the network configuration information to the MCU on the control board via a UART serial port. The MCU on the control board then transmits this configuration information to the Wi-Fi module via a UART serial port. After receiving the network configuration information, the Wi-Fi module remains in AP mode and verifies the network configuration information (and...). Figure 1 The verification method shown is the same (and will not be repeated here), so that if the verification passes, the connection to the router is established.

[0085] Figure 3The method shown avoids users manually switching the Wi-Fi module of home appliances from the default Station mode to AP mode, and also avoids users temporarily disconnecting the router and establishing a temporary connection with the home appliance's Wi-Fi module for network configuration information transmission via their mobile devices. Users can use their mobile devices to sense the NFC module of the home appliance (tap-to-connect method) to trigger the Wi-Fi module to switch from the default Station mode to AP mode, and then transmit network configuration information to the home appliance's Wi-Fi module via NFC. However, Figure 3 As shown, the Wi-Fi module of the home appliance still needs to check the network configuration information in AP mode. This means that mode switching is still required, and users still need to wait for a long time during the network configuration process.

[0086] and, Figure 3 The network distribution method shown uses the path from the NFC module of the home appliance to the MCU of the control board to the Wi-Fi module to transmit network distribution information. The path is too long, which has the problems of long transmission time and unreliable transmission (for example, the MCU may transmit incorrect network distribution information to the Wi-Fi module).

[0087] In summary, regardless of Figure 1 The distribution network method shown is still Figure 3 The network configuration methods shown all require home appliances to switch modes. The reason why the Wi-Fi modules in these appliances need to switch modes during network configuration is to ensure product reliability. The Wi-Fi module must be within the router's hotspot coverage area to guarantee a successful connection based on the router's network configuration information (otherwise, the connection will fail, and the product's functionality will be unreliable). Therefore, before connecting to the router, the Wi-Fi module needs to switch to AP mode to check the list of connectable hotspots in the surrounding environment. If the router hotspot corresponding to the network configuration information is in the list, a successful connection is guaranteed, and then it switches to Station mode for connection. Therefore, the networking logic of existing Wi-Fi modules is generally configured to require mode switching and network configuration information verification.

[0088] In order to solve Figure 1 The distribution network method shown is the same as Figure 3 To address the technical problems with the existing power distribution method, this specification proposes another power distribution method applicable to a different type of improved home appliance, referred to as Type B home appliance. Type B home appliance is a further improvement upon Type A home appliance.

[0089] Type B home appliance products: have a home appliance control module and a communication module. The communication module integrates an NFC chip, an NFC antenna, a Wi-Fi chip, and a Wi-Fi antenna. The home appliance control module and the communication module are connected through an interface.

[0090] It should be noted that the appliance control module and the communication module can be connected via either a serial interface or a parallel interface. On one hand, the appliance control module supplies power to the communication module through the interface; on the other hand, the modules can also exchange data through the interface.

[0091] The communication module integrates an NFC chip, an NFC antenna, a Wi-Fi chip, and a Wi-Fi antenna. Essentially, it integrates these components onto a single circuit board. The Wi-Fi antenna can be either onboard or external. This circuit board serves as the communication module, exposing one interface to the appliance control board. The circuit board layout is designed to minimize interference between the NFC and Wi-Fi antennas and to optimize their performance within the given circuit board dimensions.

[0092] The NFC chip in the communication module can be an active NFC chip or a dual-interface passive NFC chip.

[0093] Figure 4 This is a structural diagram of a type B household appliance provided in this instruction manual. Figure 2 As shown, the structure retains the appliance control module of the Type A home appliance product, and the communication module is connected to the control board via a UART serial port.

[0094] Furthermore, it is worth emphasizing that an NFC module can refer to a module mainly composed of an NFC chip and an NFC antenna, and a Wi-Fi module can refer to a module mainly composed of a Wi-Fi chip and a Wi-Fi antenna. In this description, reading and writing to the NFC module of a home appliance actually refers to reading and writing to the NFC chip within that module. For ease of description, when stating "NFC in home appliances," this does not distinguish between Type A and Type B home appliances; when stating "NFC module in home appliances," it refers to Type A home appliances; and when stating "NFC chip in the communication module" or simply "NFC chip," it refers to Type B home appliances.

[0095] For Type B home appliances, the reason for integrating the NFC and Wi-Fi functions into the same module is to enable the Wi-Fi chip to directly obtain network configuration information from the NFC chip in the same module, avoiding intermediate paths, reducing the time for transmitting network configuration information to the Wi-Fi chip, and improving the reliability of transmitting network configuration information to the Wi-Fi chip.

[0096] Figure 5 This is a flowchart illustrating a method for a type B home appliance to access a network, as provided in the embodiments of this specification. Figure 5 The method shown is applied to a system that includes user mobile devices and home appliances; the user mobile devices have the product application installed.

[0097] Figure 5 The method shown includes the following steps:

[0098] S500: After the product application is started, if it is determined that the mobile device has accessed the network through its own Wi-Fi module, the network configuration information used by the user's mobile device is determined.

[0099] The user mobile devices used in the embodiments provided in this specification need to have an NFC module. The user's NFC module is typically controlled by the user mobile device's operating system. When the user brings their mobile device close to the NFC sensing area of ​​a home appliance (i.e., the area that the NFC chip in the home appliance can sense), it triggers the NFC module of the user mobile device to establish an NFC connection with the NFC chip of the home appliance. After the NFC connection is established, the operating system of the user mobile device can control the NFC module of the user mobile device to act as a card reader, reading and writing data to the data area of ​​the NFC chip of the home appliance.

[0100] It should be noted that after an NFC connection is established, the operating system of the user's mobile device will usually read all the data in the data area of ​​the NFC chip of the home appliance. Whether data is subsequently written to the NFC chip depends on whether the operating system executes the preset writing logic or whether the operating system receives a write command sent by an installed application.

[0101] The applications described in this article are installed on the operating system of the user's mobile device (describing the application as installed on the user's mobile device is also unambiguous). An application can be a client program (such as an app installed on a mobile phone) or a lightweight application (such as a web application, Android quick app, etc.). A lightweight application can be understood as a lightweight program that does not require downloading a client.

[0102] The product applications mentioned in this article refer to applications developed by home appliance manufacturers to provide users with services related to home appliances on their mobile devices.

[0103] The product server mentioned in this article refers to the server maintained by the home appliance manufacturer. On one hand, product applications can interact with the product server via the network. For example, after a user launches a product application on their mobile device, they can log in to the product server through the application. In this case, the product application and the user's user identity are essentially bound together. On the other hand, when the home appliance is connected to the network, the product server can interact with it. The product server can monitor the operation of the home appliance by obtaining the operating parameters uploaded by the appliance, and can also issue control commands to the appliance to perform corresponding operations.

[0104] The product server can be a single server or a server cluster. Furthermore, the product server can be functionally divided into a server for monitoring product operational status and a server for the business layer. For example, the server for monitoring product operational status could be an M2M platform, which needs to maintain a persistent connection with the home appliance, and the home appliance reports its status changes to the M2M platform. The business layer server, on the other hand, could be an IoT platform, communicating with the home appliance via a short-lived connection, and responsible for account management, account binding, command issuance, and push message delivery.

[0105] In some embodiments, users can manually open the product application installed on their mobile device's operating system. Specifically, if the user's mobile device has the product client program installed, the user typically opens the product client program manually. If the product application is not installed, the user can choose to manually download and install the product client program, or manually open the product mini-app.

[0106] After the product application is launched, it needs to determine whether the user's mobile device has connected to the network through its own Wi-Fi module. Specifically, the product application can determine whether the user's mobile device's Wi-Fi module is enabled, whether the user's mobile device's Wi-Fi module is connected to the router, and whether the router is connected to the Internet.

[0107] In some embodiments, after the product application starts, it needs to determine whether the user's mobile device's Wi-Fi module is enabled and whether the user's mobile device's Wi-Fi module is connected to the router. If the result is yes, it uses the network capabilities of the user's mobile device to request a connection to the product server. If the product application successfully connects to the product server, it indicates that the router connected to the user's mobile device has accessed the Internet. Given that the user's mobile device has accessed the network through its own Wi-Fi module, the network configuration information used by the user's mobile device can be obtained.

[0108] If the product application detects that the user's mobile device is connected to the network through a carrier's base station, the product application can prompt the user to connect the user's mobile device to the router.

[0109] In one or more embodiments, the product application can obtain the wireless network identifier of the wireless network connected to the user's mobile device from the operating system, and receive the wireless network password entered by the user, and use the obtained wireless network identifier and the received wireless network password as network configuration information.

[0110] S502: The user mobile device establishes an NFC connection with the NFC chip through its own NFC module.

[0111] S504: The product application writes the determined network configuration information into the NFC chip through the NFC connection.

[0112] S506: In Station mode, the Wi-Fi chip of the home appliance reads the network configuration information from the NFC chip and accesses the network according to the network configuration information.

[0113] Through the first aspect of the technical solution, the communication module integrates a near-field communication (NFC) chip, an NFC antenna, a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) chip, and a Wi-Fi antenna. This is equivalent to equipping the Wi-Fi chip with NFC functionality. The Wi-Fi chip can directly obtain network distribution information from the NFC chip, instead of the home appliance control module transmitting the network distribution information received by the NFC to the Wi-Fi chip, thus improving the efficiency and reliability of network distribution information transmission.

[0114] In addition, users can establish an NFC connection with the NFC chip of home appliances by using the NFC function of their mobile devices. Furthermore, the user needs to have the product application installed on the mobile device launched and confirm that the mobile device has been connected to the network through its own Wi-Fi module before the network configuration information can be written to the NFC chip.

[0115] When a user's mobile device provides network configuration information to home appliances via NFC, it means that the appliances and the device are in the same home environment. If the application installed on the mobile device launches and confirms that the device is connected to the network via its Wi-Fi module, it means the device is currently connected to a router in that environment, which implies that the appliances can also connect to that router. Therefore, in this case, the network configuration information transmitted from the mobile device to the appliances does not need further verification. This means the appliances' Wi-Fi chips do not need to switch to AP mode and can remain in Station mode.

[0116] Throughout the entire network distribution process, the Wi-Fi chips of home appliances do not need to switch modes, and the network distribution information does not need to go through the home appliance control module to be transmitted to the Wi-Fi chip. For users, the waiting time during the entire network distribution process is short, resulting in a good user experience.

[0117] In some embodiments, the product application can also write the IP address of the product server into the NFC. The Wi-Fi chip can read the network configuration information and IP address from the NFC. After successful network configuration, it can access the product server through the network.

[0118] It should be noted that in practical applications, the mapping between the domain name and IP address of the product server is not fixed. The DNS server may update the IP address for the product server's domain name. Therefore, it is difficult to pre-configure the IP address of the product server for the manufactured home appliances. In the above embodiment, when the product application configures the home appliance for network connection, it can obtain the IP address of the product server at that time, and then write the IP address into the product's NFC. This allows the product to connect to the product server directly without DNS resolution after successful network configuration.

[0119] In summary, this solution reduces waiting time for users throughout the entire process of connecting home appliances to the product server. Firstly, it saves time on Wi-Fi mode switching during network configuration, and secondly, it reduces the time required for DNS resolution when the appliances access the product server after successful network configuration.

[0120] In practical applications, NFC in home appliances is typically implemented in card mode. The NFC in home appliances can establish an NFC connection with any user mobile device equipped with an NFC module. The permissions associated with the NFC on home appliances are usually set so that the appliance itself can read and write data.

[0121] In some embodiments, if data security in the NFC of home appliances is not a concern, the permissions corresponding to the NFC of home appliances can typically be set to allow read and write access on the user's mobile device side (at the software level, this is the user's mobile device's operating system). Any user mobile device can write its user identifier into the NFC data area of ​​the home appliance. In this case, the product application does not need to be installed on the user mobile device; the user mobile device only needs to be able to obtain the user identifier of the user holding the mobile device.

[0122] It should also be noted that existing NFC data areas typically include several NFC records. NFC records are data structures defined by the NFC protocol and use the NFC data exchange format, NDEF. The existing NFC protocol specifies several common NFC data exchange formats (such as URLs and images), and also allows device manufacturers to define other types of NFC data exchange formats.

[0123] Generally, NFC-enabled devices support the NFC protocol by default and can recognize NFC records in the NFC data area that have a common NFC data exchange format. If the device manufacturer defines other types of NFC data exchange formats, the operating system of the device will also have built-in logic for recognizing NFC records in those other NFC data exchange formats.

[0124] However, in practical applications, home appliance NFC devices may need to store some important business data. For security reasons, home appliance manufacturers sometimes want the user's mobile device operating system (maintained by the user's mobile device manufacturer) to be read-only, not write-only, to the data in the NFC without permission. In other words, it is necessary for the user's mobile device operating system to not be able to rewrite the data in the home appliance's NFC by default, but it is also necessary for the user's mobile device operating system to write data to the home appliance's NFC when required by the home appliance manufacturer, such as user identifiers and user-provided network configuration information.

[0125] To address this, a data area that cannot be recognized by the user's mobile device's operating system can be added to the NFC data area of ​​home appliances. For ease of description, this added data area will be referred to as the (home appliance manufacturer's) custom data area. The custom data area uses a non-NFC data exchange format (a data exchange format agreed upon by the home appliance manufacturer's proprietary protocol, which can also be called a proprietary data exchange format). Furthermore, the data area in the NFC data area of ​​the home appliance, excluding the custom data area, will be referred to as the standard data area. As mentioned earlier, the standard data area contains at least one NFC record.

[0126] Meanwhile, the standard data area can only be read by the user's mobile device's operating system, not written to; the custom data area can be read and written by the user's mobile device's operating system. Because the custom data area uses a different data exchange format than the NFC data exchange format specified in the NFC protocol, even if the user's mobile device's operating system can read the data in the custom data area through the NFC module, it cannot recognize the data within the custom data area.

[0127] Correspondingly, for important business data in the custom data area, only the software developed by the product manufacturer (product server system, product application, firmware in the home appliance) can recognize it. Therefore, when the NFC of a home appliance has a custom data area, the user's mobile device needs to install the product application. After the product application is launched, it recognizes the data in the custom data area read by the NFC module of the user's mobile device. In addition, the product application can also instruct the user's mobile operating system to write data to the custom data area.

[0128] Thus, through the above series of technical settings, all data that user mobile devices need to write to the product's NFC is written to a custom data area. This ensures that the user mobile device's operating system cannot rewrite the data in the appliance's NFC by default, but can still write data to the appliance's NFC under the control of the installed product application. For example, in Figure 5 The method shown allows network configuration information to be written into a custom data area in the product's NFC.

[0129] In some embodiments, the data area of ​​the NFC chip may include a first NFC record having an NFC data exchange format of type URL. Before the product application writes network configuration information to the NFC chip, the operating system of the user's mobile device reads all data in the data area of ​​the NFC chip. The first NFC record contains a URL that triggers the mobile device's operating system to execute: if the product client program is installed, open the product client program; if the product client program is not installed, open the product mini-application.

[0130] Furthermore, the data area of ​​the NFC chip also includes a second NFC record; the second NFC record uses the NFC data exchange format of Android Application Type (Android PKG). The second NFC record contains an Android application identifier, used to trigger the operating system to execute, when the mobile device's operating system is Android, either by accessing the download path associated with the Android system to download the product client program, or by opening a product mini-application supported by the Android system, even if the product client program is not installed.

[0131] In other words, in this embodiment, before step S500, before the user has launched the product application, they can bring their mobile device close to the NFC sensing area of ​​the home appliance to read all data from the NFC data area of ​​the home appliance, including the first NFC record. This can trigger the launch of the product application. It should be noted that if the NFC chip's data area does not include a custom data area, it may also include the first NFC record, the second NFC record, and more NFC records.

[0132] It should also be noted that, for ease of description, when the data area of ​​the NFC chip does not include a custom data area, the data area containing several NFC records is referred to as the standard data area.

[0133] Furthermore, if the user triggers the product application launch via NFC before step S500, then two scenarios exist:

[0134] Step S502 is executed before step S500. After the user's mobile device establishes an NFC connection with the home appliance, it first reads data from the home appliance's NFC sensor. After triggering the launch of the product application, the product application writes the network configuration information into the NFC sensor. During this process, the user's mobile device cannot leave the NFC sensing area of ​​the home appliance; otherwise, the connection will be interrupted.

[0135] Second, in step S502, the user actually moves the user's mobile device for the second time. The user first brings the user's mobile device close to the NFC sensing area of ​​the product to read the data in the NFC. Then, the user's mobile device leaves the sensing area. After the product application starts and confirms that the network configuration information has been obtained, the user brings the user's mobile device close to the NFC sensing area of ​​the home appliance to complete step S502.

[0136] In addition, in some embodiments, the first NFC record also includes at least one of the following:

[0137] The anti-counterfeiting codes corresponding to the home appliance products;

[0138] The unique identifier corresponding to the WIFI chip;

[0139] Communication fault flag; wherein, when the home appliance control module detects a Wi-Fi chip fault in the home appliance, it modifies the communication fault flag to indicate a fault; when it detects that the Wi-Fi chip fault has been repaired, it modifies the communication fault flag to indicate no fault.

[0140] The cumulative number of times the NFC chip is triggered; wherein, the Wi-Fi chip increments the cumulative number by 1 each time it detects that the NFC chip has established an NFC connection;

[0141] Network-related flags; wherein, the Wi-Fi chip sets the network flag to a flag indicating network status whenever it connects to the network, and sets the network flag to a flag indicating non-network status whenever it disconnects from the network.

[0142] The first NFC record can also carry some product-related information, which can be passed to the product application and then uploaded to the product server.

[0143] Among them, for the anti-counterfeiting codes of home appliances, the product service terminal can count the counterfeit status of home appliances on the market.

[0144] The unique identifier for a Wi-Fi chip can serve as a unique identifier for home appliances. The product server can explicitly upload the user identifier bound to the product application using this unique identifier, thereby clearly identifying the user currently using the home appliance corresponding to that unique identifier.

[0145] For communication fault indicators, product applications can determine whether home appliances can currently be configured for network distribution based on the read communication fault indicators.

[0146] Based on the cumulative number of times the NFC chip has been triggered, the product server can analyze the usage of the NFC function of home appliances.

[0147] For network-related indicators, product applications can determine whether it is necessary to configure the network for home appliances based on the communication fault indicators they read.

[0148] Furthermore, it should be noted that the technical means of "after the product application is started, if it is determined that the user's mobile device has accessed the network through its own Wi-Fi module, the network configuration information used by the user's mobile device is determined, and the network configuration information is written to the NFC of the home appliance through the NFC connection between the user's mobile device and the home appliance" can be applied to Type A home appliances. In this way, the Wi-Fi module of Type A home appliances does not need to switch modes during the network configuration process.

[0149] The structure of the NFC data area is explained in more detail here. Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the NFC data area.

[0150] like Figure 6 As shown, the NFC data area includes an NFC header data area, a standard data area, and a custom data area. The standard data area may include multiple NFC records (record1-N). It should be noted that in some embodiments, if the data security requirements of the product manufacturer are not considered, the NFC data area may not include the custom data area.

[0151] The NFC header data area typically stores the NFC chip's identification information and data lock flags. These data lock flags can be statically locked or dynamically locked. The purpose of the lock flags is to lock the data in the standard data area, ensuring that the user's mobile device can only read and not write, thus guaranteeing data security. It also allows the user's mobile device to access custom data areas, enabling read and write access. Furthermore, it should be noted that home appliance devices (home appliance control modules and Wi-Fi chips in Type B home appliances) can have both read and write permissions to the NFC data area.

[0152] The standard data area refers to the data area that uses the data exchange format (NDEF format) agreed upon by the NFC protocol. Since the operating system of user mobile devices with NFC functionality usually has the NFC protocol built in, it can recognize the data in the standard data area. Therefore, for data security, it is necessary not to grant write permissions to the standard data area on the user mobile device side.

[0153] The standard data area includes one or more NFC records. For ease of description, the NFC records in the standard data area are referred to sequentially as the first NFC record, the second NFC record, etc. If the standard data area contains more NFC records in addition to the first and second NFC records, they are referred to as other NFC records. The standard data area may contain the first NFC record, the second NFC record, and at least one other NFC record.

[0154] The custom data area uses a non-NDEF format and employs the proprietary protocol of the appliance manufacturer. Because the operating system of a user's mobile device with NFC functionality does not have the appliance manufacturer's proprietary protocol built-in, even if the operating system has permission to write to the data in the custom data area, it is not actually capable of doing so. However, the product applications installed on the user's mobile device are developed by the appliance manufacturer and therefore have built-in proprietary protocols, enabling them to recognize the custom data area and perform write operations. Data in the custom data area can be stored in plaintext or encrypted.

[0155] Figure 7 This is a more specific structural diagram of the NFC data area provided in this specification.

[0156] In addition, Table 1 below provides an example of the internal structure of a custom data area.

[0157]

[0158] Table 1

[0159] SSID and PWD represent the wireless network identifier and password, respectively, together forming the network configuration information. The network configuration flag indicates whether the network configuration information in the custom data area has been read by the Wi-Fi chip. Specifically, the network configuration flag can be a first flag (e.g., 0) or a second flag (e.g., 1). After writing the network configuration information into the custom data area, the product application modifies the first flag to the second flag; after reading the network configuration information from the NFC chip, the Wi-Fi chip modifies the second flag back to the first flag. The Wi-Fi chip will only read the network configuration information from the custom data area if the second flag is present, thus avoiding the reading of dirty data.

[0160] In addition, the IP address is the IP address of the home appliance product server. The product application writes the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the product server into the custom data area; the Wi-Fi chip obtains the IP address of the product server from the custom data area, and after accessing the network, sends a connection request to the product server based on the obtained IP address.

[0161] SSID, PWD, and IP are all operated using KLV, where K (key) is the identifier, L is the byte length (total length of key and value), and V is the value. N1 and N2 can be set according to actual needs.

[0162] In other embodiments, the custom data area can also be written with the user identifier bound to the product application (the user identifier most recently written to the custom data area represents the main user currently using the product), and the custom data area can also be written with the BSSID of the 5GHz access point connected to the user's mobile device corresponding to the product application, see Table 2.

[0163]

[0164] Table 1

[0165] Among them, N3 and N4 can be set according to actual needs.

[0166] This section introduces a user-friendly method for launching the product application. This method can be implemented using the Type A and Type B home appliances described in this manual, or it can be combined with other NFC-enabled home appliances.

[0167] Specifically, the home appliance has an NFC module; the data area of ​​the NFC module of the home appliance includes a first NFC record and at least one other NFC record; the first NFC record has an NFC data exchange format of URL type, and the different other NFC records have different NFC data exchange formats specific to the mobile device operating system.

[0168] Each of the other NFC records corresponds to a different Category 1 product lightweight application; for each other NFC record, the record contains an identification identifier of the corresponding Category 1 product lightweight application; the first NFC record contains a URL.

[0169] When it is necessary to launch a product application installed on a user's mobile device, the NFC module of the user's mobile device is brought close to the NFC module of the home appliance, so that the NFC module of the user's mobile device and the NFC module of the home appliance establish an NFC connection.

[0170] Thus, the operating system of the user's mobile device can perform the following steps:

[0171] 1. Read all data in the data area of ​​the NFC module of the home appliance through the NFC connection;

[0172] 2. For each other NFC record, if it is determined that no product client program is installed, determine whether the identification mark in the record has the NFC data exchange format specific to the operating system. If so, start the corresponding first type of product light application.

[0173] 3. Based on the URL in the first NFC record, if it is determined that the product client program is installed, start the product client program; if the product client program is not installed and no identification mark with the NFC data exchange format specific to the operating system is identified from the at least one other NFC record, start the second type of product light application developed based on the general development protocol.

[0174] Considering that in practical applications, different mobile device manufacturers develop their own lightweight applications (Type 1 product lightweight applications) and define NFC data exchange formats specific to their own operating systems for launching these lightweight applications, the NFC data area of ​​home appliances stores at least one other NFC record in addition to the first NFC record used to launch the product client program and the general product lightweight application (Type 2 product lightweight application). Different NFC records correspond to different NFC data exchange formats specific to different mobile device operating systems, and thus correspond to different Type 1 product lightweight applications.

[0175] Thus, if the operating system has a dedicated NFC data exchange format, the mobile device manufacturer can prioritize launching its own dedicated Category 1 product lightweight applications (which often provide a better user experience).

[0176] Furthermore, the home appliance can specifically be a Type A home appliance. In this case, each other NFC record is initialized to contain noise information, which makes it impossible for an operating system using a proprietary data exchange format (CA) to recognize the identification identifier contained in the record. The Wi-Fi module can receive a first configuration command from the product server and send it to the home appliance control module. The home appliance control module can then delete the noise information in at least one other NFC record in the NFC module according to the first configuration command.

[0177] Considering that some users may prefer to use general product applications, namely the second type of product light applications, when home appliances leave the factory, the identification mark in each other NFC record can be made noisy, so that the operating system cannot recognize its own special identification mark.

[0178] Furthermore, the Wi-Fi module can receive a second configuration command from the product server and send it to the home appliance control module. The home appliance control module can then add noise information to at least one other NFC record in the NFC module according to the second configuration command.

[0179] If a user wants to use a lightweight application developed by the manufacturer of their mobile device, they can request the product server to remove the noise information added to another NFC record.

[0180] In addition, the data area of ​​the NFC module in home appliances also includes a second NFC record;

[0181] The second NFC record may contain an Android identification identifier, which, when the mobile device's operating system is Android, triggers the operating system to perform either: downloading the product client program from the download path associated with the Android system, or opening a product mini-application supported by the Android system, if the product client program is not installed.

[0182] The NFC data area may also include a second NFC record, which is used to provide an official download channel for the Android operating system, or to open a general product light application for the Android operating system.

[0183] The above-described product application startup method is applied to the embodiment of type B home appliances and follows the above technical principles, so it will not be described again.

[0184] This specification presents a method for writing information into the NFC of a product with a high success rate.

[0185] Currently, the specifications of NFC modules in various user mobile devices on the market differ. Some mobile devices with different NFC module specifications exhibit varying fluctuations in the level of the sensing signal after establishing an NFC connection with home appliances. Furthermore, if a mobile device wants to write information to the NFC sensor of a home appliance, it needs to do so when the sensing signal is stable; otherwise, the writing process is likely to fail, disturbing the user and forcing them to remove the mobile device from the NFC sensing area and retry establishing an NFC connection.

[0186] This means that if a mobile device starts writing information to the product's NFC shortly after establishing an NFC connection, the level of the sensing signal may be unstable, making writing prone to failure.

[0187] Specifically, to prevent issues where unstable sensing signals from the NFC modules of some user mobile devices after establishing a connection with the NFC of home appliances lead to failures in writing network configuration information, the following technical measures are adopted: The Wi-Fi chip on the home appliance side can modify the write control flag in the NFC chip. When a user mobile device is detected entering the field (when the acquired sensing signal first changes from a high level to a low level), the write control flag is set to the first flag, causing the product application to temporarily refrain from writing network configuration information upon reading the first flag. After a first specified delay, the Wi-Fi chip modifies the flag to the second flag, causing the product application to begin writing network configuration information upon reading the second flag. This delays the timing of the product application writing network configuration information, allowing the writing to proceed only when the signal level is more stable, thus improving the write success rate and reducing user disruption.

[0188] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the changes in the sensing signal level of different specifications of NFC modules provided in this manual. For example... Figure 8 As shown, when an Apple phone's NFC module enters the field (establishing an NFC connection with the product), the voltage level drops once from high to low and then remains stable for a relatively long time. Therefore, for Apple phones, after establishing an NFC connection, product applications can successfully write information to the product's NFC with a high success rate. However, for the other two types of Android phones, the voltage level fluctuates repeatedly from high to low after entering the field before remaining stable. Especially for the last type of Android phone, the success rate of product applications writing information to the product's NFC after establishing an NFC connection is very low.

[0189] Therefore, in order to be compatible with the specifications of NFC modules of different mobile devices, a write control flag is deployed in the NFC of the product. At the same time, the logic is deployed in the product application: if the write control flag is the first flag, writing is not allowed; if the write control flag is the second flag, writing is allowed.

[0190] After detecting the arrival of a mobile device, the product side sets the write control flag as the first flag. This prevents the product application from writing information and avoids write failure. After the mobile device arrives, the product side applies a delay (which can be a specified duration). After the delay, the write control flag is changed to the second flag. The product application then reads the second flag through the mobile device's NFC module and begins writing information to the product's NFC.

[0191] The first specified duration is N*10 milliseconds, where N is an integer, 2≤N≤5. Experiments show that although the specifications of NFC modules in various mobile devices differ, the time from signal entry to level stabilization is typically between 20 and 50 milliseconds, and in many cases does not exceed 40 milliseconds.

[0192] Furthermore, if the product side needs to obtain information written to the NFC by the product application, it can obtain the network allocation information from the NFC chip after a second specified time period, starting from the time point when the write control flag is modified to the second flag.

[0193] The product side can wait for a second specified time after the time point when the product application writes the network configuration information before reading the network configuration information from the NFC chip, thereby improving the success rate of reading.

[0194] Furthermore, the second specified duration is an estimate of the time required for the product application to write distribution network information to the NFC chip via the NFC connection.

[0195] In addition, after modifying the write control flag to the second flag, the product can also obtain the network allocation information from the NFC chip when the acquired sensing signal changes from low level to high level.

[0196] That is, the product side can read the network configuration information only after it is determined that the user's mobile device has left the site (proving that the writing is complete).

[0197] It should be noted that the above-described method for writing information to the product's NFC can be applied to either Type A or Type B home appliances. When applied to Type A home appliances, the appliance control module is involved in the implementation; when applied to Type B home appliances, either the appliance control module or the Wi-Fi chip can be involved.

[0198] In addition, in real life, users' home appliances may malfunction. In such cases, the appliance's control module will usually alert the user to the fault type identifier. Users can then consult the product manual for more details about the fault.

[0199] However, this method of understanding the details of home appliance malfunctions is rather cumbersome for users.

[0200] This specification presents a method for obtaining fault details information of home appliances. This method is applied to a product application installed on a user's mobile device. The home appliance in this method can be a home appliance with an appliance control module and an NFC module, or it can be a type A or type B home appliance.

[0201] Specifically, when the home appliance control module detects a malfunction in the home appliance, it obtains the corresponding malfunction type identifier and writes the malfunction type identifier into the NFC chip via the interface. Furthermore, the identifier can be written into a custom data area of ​​the NFC chip.

[0202] The product application can read the fault type identifier from the NFC of the home appliance through the NFC module of the user's mobile device; upload the read fault type identifier to the product server; and receive the fault details information corresponding to the fault type identifier sent by the product server.

[0203] The aforementioned method for obtaining fault details utilizes NFC, enabling home appliances to send a fault type identifier to a product application on the user's mobile device. The product application on the user's mobile device then retrieves and displays the fault details, eliminating the need for the user to consult the product manual based on the fault type identifier, thus improving the user experience. Furthermore, this technical solution can also be applied to home appliances that lack internet connectivity or have internet connectivity but are not connected to the network, as well as home appliances with relatively simple display functions.

[0204] In some embodiments, the fault details information includes: information describing the cause of the fault, and / or information describing the fault solution.

[0205] In some embodiments, the fault details information includes fault details information in multimedia format.

[0206] In addition, this manual also proposes a technical solution for connecting home appliances to a router, as detailed below:

[0207] In practical applications, the product application obtains the SSID and Wi-Fi password of the router currently connected to the user's mobile device. Then, through the communication connection between the user's mobile device and the home appliance, it transmits the SSID and Wi-Fi password to the home appliance for network configuration. This communication connection can be the Wi-Fi connection between the user's mobile device's Wi-Fi module and the home appliance's Wi-Fi (AP mode) as mentioned earlier, or it can be the NFC connection mentioned earlier.

[0208] Most routers on the market currently support dual-band channels (2.4GHz and 5GHz). Some routers will set a unified SSID for the 2.4GHz and 5GHz channels. In this case, the SSID and password are transmitted to the Wi-Fi of home appliances, and the home appliances' Wi-Fi can successfully connect to the router's 2.4GHz access point through the 2.4GHz channel.

[0209] Some routers assign different SSIDs to the 2.4GHz and 5GHz channels respectively. For example, the SSID for the 2.4GHz channel might be "XXY," and the SSID for the 5GHz channel might be "XXY-5G." In this case, user mobile devices often connect to the router's 5GHz access point. Therefore, the SSID obtained by the product application is not the SSID for the 2.4GHz channel, but rather the SSID for the 5GHz channel. Due to cost considerations, home appliances often only support connecting to the router's 2.4GHz access point via the 2.4GHz channel. Therefore, home appliances cannot successfully connect using the SSID for the 5GHz channel.

[0210] To address the aforementioned issues, one solution is that when a home appliance's Wi-Fi fails to connect based on the SSID transmitted by the application, it means the router it needs to connect to uses different SSIDs for its 2.4GHz and 5GHz channels. Therefore, the appliance's Wi-Fi can scan its surroundings to obtain a list of SSIDs. This list includes not only the SSIDs for the 2.4GHz and 5GHz channels of the router it needs to connect to (the user's home router), but also the SSIDs of other routers in the vicinity (such as neighbors' routers). In many cases, the two SSIDs of the same router are similar. Therefore, the appliance can identify SSIDs similar to the one transmitted by the application from the scanned list, recognizing them as the SSIDs for the 2.4GHz channel of the same router. Thus, the appliance's Wi-Fi can connect to the router based on these similar SSIDs.

[0211] However, the success rate of this method for network configuration is not high. This is because, in practical applications, the naming rules for the two SSIDs of different dual-band routers are often uncertain, and the two SSIDs of the same router are not necessarily similar. Furthermore, users can freely modify the two SSIDs of their routers, making it even more difficult to successfully configure home appliances using this method.

[0212] Therefore, this manual provides an alternative solution. For home appliances that only support connecting to routers via 2.4GHz signals, during network configuration, the product application can transmit the BSSID of the 5GHz access point of the router connected to the user's mobile device and the corresponding wireless network password of the router to the home appliance. The target module of the home appliance with Wi-Fi capability can scan and obtain the BSSIDs of multiple 2.4GHz access points in the surrounding environment, determine the BSSID of the 2.4GHz access point that is similar to the BSSID of the router's 5GHz access point from the scan results, and then connect to the router through the determined BSSID of the 2.4GHz access point.

[0213] The principle behind the above solution is that while the SSID naming rules for various dual-band routers on the market are uncertain and users can modify the SSID, the naming rules for the physical addresses (BSSIDs) of the router's wireless access points are relatively uniform, and users cannot modify the BSSIDs. In practical applications, even if a dual-band router sets different access points for the 2.4GHz and 5GHz channels respectively, the BSSIDs of different access points are often very similar. This ensures successful network configuration for home appliances.

[0214] Specifically, this specification provides a method for connecting a home appliance to a router, wherein a user's mobile device connects to the router's 5GHz access point via a 5GHz channel, and the user's mobile device has a product application installed. The method includes:

[0215] The product application obtains the physical address (BSSID) of the 5GHz access point connected to the user's mobile device and the wireless network password corresponding to the router.

[0216] The product application transmits the BSSID of the 5GHz access point and the password to the target module of the home appliance through the communication connection between the user's mobile device and the home appliance; the target module has Wi-Fi functionality and only supports the 2.4GHz channel;

[0217] When the specified conditions are met, the target module uses Wi-Fi to scan and obtain the BSSIDs of multiple 2.4GHz access points in the surrounding environment, and determines the BSSIDs that are similar to the BSSID of the 5GHz access point from the scanned BSSIDs.

[0218] The target module connects to the router's 2.4GHz access point via the 2.4GHz channel, based on the determined BSSID of the 2.4GHz access point and the wireless network password.

[0219] It should be noted that the home appliance in the above method of connecting to the router can be any home appliance with Wi-Fi functionality, such as type A or type B home appliances. When it is a type A home appliance, the target module of the home appliance is a standalone Wi-Fi module; when it is a type B home appliance, the target module of the home appliance is the integrated communication module that combines NFC and Wi-Fi functions as described above.

[0220] In some embodiments, the aforementioned communication connection may be a communication connection between the Wi-Fi module of the user mobile device and the target module when the Wi-Fi function of the target module of the home appliance is set to AP mode. Alternatively, the aforementioned communication connection may also be a near-field communication (NFC) connection between the home appliance and the user mobile device.

[0221] In some embodiments, the format of any BSSID is: a 48-bit binary identifier; the BSSID of a 5GHz access point on the same router and the BSSID of a 2.4GHz access point share at least the first 40 bits of their binary identifiers. Thus, the target module can determine, from the BSSIDs obtained through scanning, that at least the first 40 bits of the binary identifier match the BSSID of the 5GHz access point and the BSSID of the 2.4GHz access point.

[0222] Currently, the BSSIDs of the 5GHz and 2.4GHz access points of dual-band channel routers from various brands on the market are identical for at least the first 40 bits. Therefore, using this standard to determine "similarity" can accurately match the BSSIDs of the 2.4GHz access points that belong to the same router as the 5GHz access point used in the product's application transmission.

[0223] Of course, other rules can also be used to determine whether the BSSID of a 5GHz access point is similar to that of a 2.4GHz access point, but these will not be elaborated on in this article.

[0224] In some embodiments, the target module may identify more than one similar 2.4GHz access point BSSID. Thus, it can sequentially connect via the 2.4GHz channel based on the identified BSSID of each 2.4GHz access point and the wireless network password, until it connects to the router's 2.4GHz access point.

[0225] In some embodiments, the product application can also obtain the wireless network identifier (SSID) corresponding to the router to which the user's mobile device is connected, and transmit the SSID to the target module through the communication connection.

[0226] Some dual-band routers connect both the 5GHz and 2.4GHz access points using a unified SSID. In this case, home appliances can directly connect to the router's 2.4GHz access point using the SSID, without needing to scan the surrounding environment's 2.4GHz BSSID list, thus improving network configuration speed. If SSID-based network configuration fails, scanning the BSSID list and connecting using similar BSSIDs ensures successful network configuration.

[0227] In some embodiments, before scanning and acquiring the BSSIDs of multiple 2.4GHz access points in the surrounding environment, the target module connects to the router based on the SSID and the wireless network password; if the connection fails, it is determined that a specified condition is met.

[0228] Home appliances can first connect to the router using the SSID. If the connection fails, scan for the BSSID of 2.4GHz access points in the surrounding environment and connect to the router using a similar BSSID.

[0229] In some embodiments, before scanning and acquiring the BSSIDs of multiple 2.4GHz access points in the surrounding environment, the target module can determine whether the SSID contains only ASCII encoding. If the determination result is yes, then based on the SSID and the wireless network password, it connects to the router; if the connection fails, then a specified condition is met. If the determination result is no, then a specified condition is also met.

[0230] In practical applications, target modules of home appliances can often parse ASCII encoding, but may not be able to parse other encodings successfully. Furthermore, some router SSIDs may not be in pure ASCII encoding, making it easy for home appliances to fail to parse the SSID and thus unable to connect to the router. Therefore, target modules of home appliances can first determine whether the SSID contains only ASCII encoding to decide whether to prioritize connecting to the router based on the SSID.

[0231] It should also be noted that the methods for connecting home appliances to a router described above can be used in conjunction with... Figure 5 The methods shown are combined. In this way, product applications can also write the BSSID into the product's NFC; in some embodiments, it can be written into a custom data area of ​​the product's NFC.

[0232] This manual also provides a user identification method that can be applied to home appliances with NFC functionality. Details are as follows:

[0233] Sometimes, the product service side of home appliances needs to identify the current user of the appliance in order to perform certain business processing for that user.

[0234] However, in practical applications, the same home appliance may be used by more than one user in turn (for example, multiple family members may share a home appliance). Therefore, it is difficult for the product server to distinguish the identities of different users currently using the home appliance.

[0235] To this end, a cumulative value can be stored in the NFC data area of ​​the home appliance to record the number of times the appliance has established an NFC connection. This is equivalent to the number of times a user triggers the NFC function of the appliance using their mobile device. When any user wants to use the appliance, they trigger the NFC function of the appliance using their mobile device. The user can then read the latest cumulative value from the appliance's NFC data area and send a master user confirmation notification containing the read cumulative value and the user's identifier to the product server via their mobile device. For the product server, the master user confirmation notification with the largest cumulative value is the one sent by the mobile device of the user currently using the appliance. The user identifier in this master user confirmation notification represents the user currently using the appliance.

[0236] In this way, by utilizing the near-field properties of NFC connections and the unidirectional incrementing nature of cumulative values, the product server can determine the identity of the user currently using the product at any time.

[0237] The user identification method described above is applied to a system that includes NFC-enabled home appliances, a product server, and at least two NFC-enabled user mobile devices, with different user mobile devices belonging to different users.

[0238] The NFC data area of ​​the home appliance stores a cumulative value. Whenever the home appliance detects an NFC connection being established, it increments the cumulative value by M, where M is a natural number greater than 0. Alternatively, M can be set to 1.

[0239] When any user needs to use the home appliance, they can bring their mobile device close to the home appliance. This means bringing the NFC sensing area of ​​the mobile device close to the NFC sensing area of ​​the home appliance.

[0240] Specifically, the user identification method described above may include the following steps:

[0241] 1. After any user's mobile device establishes an NFC connection with the home appliance, the accumulated value in the NFC data area of ​​the home appliance is read through the established NFC connection.

[0242] 2. Any user's mobile device will send the main user confirmation notification to the product server.

[0243] 3. The product server confirms the main user with the largest cumulative value and notifies the included user identifiers of the confirmed main user, which is then identified as the user identifier currently using the home appliance.

[0244] In some embodiments, the NFC data area includes a standard data area using the NFC data exchange format, the standard data area including at least one NFC record for triggering the operating system of a user's mobile device to launch an installed product application upon reading the at least one NFC record; the accumulated value is stored in an NFC record.

[0245] Before any user's mobile device sends the main user confirmation notification to the product server, the process may further include: the operating system of any user's mobile device launching the installed product application based on the at least one NFC record, and providing the accumulated value read to the product application. Thus, after the product application launches, it receives the accumulated value provided by the operating system, obtains the user identifier bound to the product application, and then constructs the main user confirmation notification and sends it to the product server.

[0246] In some embodiments, the product server can count the number of main user confirmation notifications received for any user identifier; based on the counted number, the product server analyzes the product usage frequency corresponding to any user identifier.

[0247] In this way, we can count the frequency of each user's use of home appliances and conduct marketing and promotion based on each user's usage frequency.

[0248] In some embodiments, during the use of the home appliance, a product usage record is determined and sent to the product server; when the product server receives the product usage record, it establishes a correspondence between the product usage record and the user identifier currently using the home appliance.

[0249] In this way, the product server can distinguish the product usage records generated by different users on the same home appliance, so as to accurately analyze the user's product usage habits based on each user's product usage records.

[0250] Furthermore, in some embodiments, the product server can determine the product usage records corresponding to any user identifier. Based on the determined product usage records, the product usage habits corresponding to that user identifier are analyzed. For example, if the home appliance is a cooking appliance, the product usage records generated by the appliance are cooking records. The product server can analyze the cooking habits corresponding to that user identifier based on the determined cooking records, and then push recipes to the user according to those cooking habits.

[0251] Furthermore, the product service provider can push messages to the product bound to the user identifier or send service information to the home appliance product based on the user's product usage habits corresponding to the user identifier.

[0252] This manual also provides a message push method, which can be implemented by either type A or type B home appliances. The method for displaying service information is explained below:

[0253] Currently, some home appliances on the market have message reminder functions. For example, when a user is cooking with a home appliance, the appliance can remind the user through an audio announcement when cooking is complete.

[0254] However, the current method of pushing messages to users relies too heavily on home appliances, which is not convenient enough for users.

[0255] Therefore, the above message push method can push messages to the user currently using the home appliance. This not only eliminates the dependence of message push on the product and eliminates the need for the user to be next to the product, but also ensures that the message is accurately pushed to the main user of the home appliance in a household where multiple users may use the product.

[0256] Specifically, the above-mentioned message push method includes the following steps:

[0257] 1. Any product application can write the user identifier bound to the product application to the NFC of the home appliance through the NFC module of the user's mobile device that has the product application installed.

[0258] For ease of description, NFC in home appliances can refer to either the NFC module (Type A home appliances) or the NFC chip within the communication module (Type B home appliances). Similarly, Wi-Fi in home appliances can refer to either the Wi-Fi module (Type A home appliances) or the Wi-Fi chip within the communication module.

[0259] For ease of description, a user mobile device that has installed any of the aforementioned product applications will be referred to as any user mobile device.

[0260] After the application on any user's mobile device is launched, it can obtain the bound user identifier. It should be noted that if the application is launched for the first time on the operating system of any user's mobile device, the user usually needs to enter the user identifier into the application. The application then interacts with the product server to complete the identity authentication of the user identifier. After successful authentication, the user identifier is confirmed to be logged in, thus completing the binding between the application and the user identifier. If the application is not launched for the first time on the operating system of any user's mobile device, the user identifier has usually already been bound.

[0261] The product application can provide the bound user identifier to the operating system of any user mobile device, provided that the writing conditions are met. The writing conditions may include the home appliance's NFC not containing the user identifier bound to the product application. In this way, the operating system of any user mobile device writes the user identifier provided by the product application to the home appliance's NFC via the NFC module of that user mobile device.

[0262] In some embodiments, any of the above-described product applications can write the user identifier into the standard data area of ​​the home appliance's NFC. In other embodiments, any of the above-described product applications can write the user identifier into a custom data area of ​​the home appliance's NFC.

[0263] It is understandable that the user identifier recently written into the NFC of home appliances can be regarded as the user identifier of the user currently located next to the home appliance, that is, representing the user currently using the home appliance.

[0264] Furthermore, if the custom data area contains a user identifier other than the user identifier provided by the product application, the operating system of any user mobile device replaces the other user identifier in the custom data area with the user identifier provided by the product application through the NFC module of the user mobile device. In this way, the custom data area contains only one user identifier, which is always the user identifier of the user currently using the home appliance.

[0265] 2. The home appliance control module obtains the most recently written user identifier from the NFC of the home appliance.

[0266] In an embodiment where the NFC of a home appliance has a custom data area containing only a user identifier, the home appliance control module can directly read the user identifier from the NFC of the home appliance and thus obtain the most recently written user identifier.

[0267] In other embodiments, the appliance control module needs to determine which user identifier was most recently written.

[0268] 3. The home appliance control module sends a master user confirmation notification containing the acquired user identifier to the Wi-Fi of the home appliance.

[0269] 4. The Wi-Fi of home appliances will upload the received confirmation notification from the main user to the product server.

[0270] The user identifier recently written into the NFC of a home appliance represents the current user of the appliance. Generally speaking, any user who has transmitted their user identifier to the home appliance through their mobile device can be considered a user bound to the home appliance, and the current user of the home appliance is the primary user among all the users bound to the home appliance.

[0271] The home appliance product side notifies the product server of the current main user's user identifier so that the product server can clearly identify the user currently using the home appliance product.

[0272] 5. When the home appliance control module determines that a message push is needed, it sends the push request to the Wi-Fi of the home appliance.

[0273] 6. The Wi-Fi of the home appliance will upload the received push request to the product server.

[0274] 7. When the product server receives any push request sent by the Wi-Fi of home appliances, it will execute the message push.

[0275] When the product server receives any push request sent by the Wi-Fi network of a home appliance, it will execute the following at that specific time:

[0276] Identify the relevant push notification and, based on the user identifier in the most recent main user confirmation notification received from the home appliance's Wi-Fi, push the identified push notification to the corresponding product application.

[0277] In some embodiments, the product server may add the user identifier received from each main user confirmation request notification to the user list corresponding to the home appliance product; and push a specific message to be pushed to the product application bound to at least one other user identifier in the user list other than the most recently received user identifier.

[0278] This allows messages to be pushed to users who share the same home appliance. For example, messages can be pushed to all family members in the same household simultaneously.

[0279] In some embodiments, the product server can receive a list configuration instruction sent by the product application to which the permission user identifier is bound, and delete the user identifier from the user list according to the list configuration instruction; the permission user identifier is the user identifier of a user with configuration permissions.

[0280] This allows authorized users to update the user list. For example, if an authorized user prevents a user in the user list from using home appliances, that user can be removed from the user list.

[0281] In addition, the product server can also remove each user from the user list if it detects that the user has not used home appliances for a certain period of time.

[0282] Furthermore, authorized users can be either the user who purchased the appliance or the user who uses it most frequently. In practice, each time a user uses the appliance, they can use the NFC function of their mobile device to trigger a switch of the main user account linked to the appliance to themselves. The product server then counts the number of main user confirmation notifications received for each user identifier, and identifies the user with the most notifications as the authorized user.

[0283] In some embodiments, the product server can receive a policy configuration instruction sent by the product application bound to the authorized user identifier, determine a message push policy according to the policy configuration instruction, and push messages based on the determined message push policy; the authorized user identifier is the user identifier of a user with configuration permissions.

[0284] This allows authorized users to configure the product server's message push strategy.

[0285] One implementation involves the product server determining, based on the message push strategy, a sublist of users included in the user list and corresponding push conditions for that sublist. Upon receiving a push request, it checks whether the push conditions are met; if so, it pushes the message to the product application bound to each user identifier in the sublist. This allows for conditional message pushes to a subset of users in the user list.

[0286] For example, you can set up a list of children in a family as sub-users, and set the corresponding push notification condition to be 8-10 AM every day, based on the cooking appliance's completion status. This way, a breakfast completion notification can be pushed to the product app on the mobile device of the child in the family every morning between 8-10 AM, reminding the child to eat breakfast.

[0287] In some embodiments, the home appliance control module can determine that a message needs to be pushed to remind the user that the network configuration has been successful when it detects that the home appliance's Wi-Fi is connected to the network.

[0288] When the appliance is a cooking appliance, the appliance control module can determine whether to push a message when it detects that the appliance has started cooking, to remind the user that cooking has begun and how long until it is finished. It can also determine whether to push a message when it detects that cooking has ended, to remind the user that cooking is complete and what dish has been cooked. It should be noted that, to prevent accidental activation by the user, the appliance control module may determine that the cooking appliance has started cooking only after detecting that it has been operating for a certain period of time (e.g., half the time of the first cooking step in a recipe).

[0289] In some embodiments, the home appliance control module can use the sound broadcast function of the home appliance to push messages when it is determined that a message push is needed.

[0290] The messages to be pushed in this article may include: multimedia messages, and / or text messages.

[0291] In some embodiments, any product application can acquire environmental information collected by the corresponding user's mobile device and send the acquired environmental information to the product server; the environmental information includes at least one of geographical location information, weather information, and time information. The product server can then determine a recipe that matches the received environmental information and push the determined recipe to the product application.

[0292] Among them, recipes that match environmental information can be recipes that, from a nutritional perspective, are suitable for consumption in the environment corresponding to that environmental information.

[0293] In addition, the product service can also analyze each user's eating habits based on the cooking records uploaded by each user from the cooking appliances, and recommend recipes that each user may be interested in.

[0294] In addition, this manual provides a method for creating improved recipes. Specific instructions are as follows:

[0295] Currently, users can often obtain recipes online and cook using cooking appliances according to the recipes. During the cooking process, users often modify the cooking methods based on their own preferences.

[0296] However, when users want to reproduce the previously improved dishes in the future, they often forget the details of the improvements, making it difficult to reproduce the improved dishes.

[0297] To address this, an automatic cooking appliance (which can have the structure of a type A or type B household appliance) is provided. This appliance receives recipes and a set of control parameters from a server to implement those recipes. Users can intervene in the cooking process to modify the dishes according to their preferences. The appliance can detect user adjustments to the control parameters, record the changes, and upload them to the server. The server then creates an improved recipe based on the user's adjusted parameters and establishes a correspondence between the improved recipe and the user.

[0298] In this way, cooking appliances can promptly capture culinary inspirations that users generate during cooking, recording these inspirations that are difficult for users to recall later, and feeding them back to the product service provider to create improved recipes. Users can then directly request the product service provider to push these historically generated improved recipes to them, allowing them to easily reproduce the modified dishes.

[0299] The above method for creating improved recipes includes the following steps:

[0300] 1. The product server sends the recipe and a set of control parameters for controlling the cooking appliance to implement the recipe to the cooking appliance.

[0301] The aforementioned method for improving recipes is applied to a cooking system. The cooking system includes cooking appliances and corresponding server-side components. The cooking appliances can display a list of recipes for users to browse. Users can select the desired recipe from the list displayed by the cooking appliances.

[0302] In some embodiments, the cooking system may also include a product application corresponding to the cooking appliance. The product application is installed on the user's mobile device, and the user can interact with the product server through the product application and select the desired recipe from the recipes pushed by the product server.

[0303] In practical applications, recipes are usually presented as a sequence of pages, with one page corresponding to one cooking step. Among the cooking steps in a recipe, some steps may not require the participation of cooking appliances, such as steps that prompt the user to prepare which ingredients, while other cooking steps may require the participation of cooking appliances, such as steps involving frying, stir-frying, boiling, and deep-frying.

[0304] The set of control parameters used to implement a recipe refers to the control parameters corresponding to each cooking step that needs to be performed by the cooking appliance. The cooking appliance executes the cooking steps based on these control parameters.

[0305] The set of control parameters used to control the cooking appliance to realize the recipe includes at least one of the following types of parameters: temperature, power, speed, and duration.

[0306] For heating-type cooking appliances, temperature is a crucial control parameter. Generally, the power of a cooking appliance determines its operating range (such as the stirring range of an electric frying pan), which in turn affects the taste and texture of the dish. Some cooking appliances have rotating components, such as a stirring head for mixing, and the speed of these components also affects the taste and texture of the dish. The duration of a cooking step (such as simmering or stewing time) also influences the taste and texture of the dish.

[0307] In some embodiments, the product server pre-delivers the recipe and a set of control parameters for controlling the cooking appliance to implement the recipe to the cooking appliance. In other words, many recipes can be pre-stored locally in the cooking appliance, eliminating the need to send them to the appliance only when the user wants them.

[0308] Furthermore, the cooking appliance can display a list of recommended recipes to the user. Upon detecting a cooking request input by the user for the recipe, the cooking appliance determines that the user has requested to execute the recipe.

[0309] In practical applications, cooking appliances can have a recipe display function, recommending recipes to users. Users can interact with the cooking appliance to select recipes from the recommendations and start cooking.

[0310] In other embodiments, where the cooking system includes a product application, the product application can display a list of recommended recipes containing the recipe to the user, and upon detecting a cooking request input by the user for the recipe, send the cooking request to a product server. The product server can then send the cooking request to the cooking appliance. Furthermore, upon receiving the cooking request for the recipe, the cooking appliance can determine that the user requests to implement the recipe. Further, the product server can also temporarily send the recipe and a set of control parameters for controlling the cooking appliance to implement the recipe to the cooking appliance based on the cooking request.

[0311] 2. After determining that the user requests to implement the recipe, the cooking appliance sequentially performs each cooking step that needs to be executed by the cooking appliance according to the control parameters used to implement the cooking step.

[0312] 3. If the cooking appliance detects that the user has adjusted the control parameters for any cooking step during the process of implementing the recipe, it records the adjusted control parameters corresponding to that cooking step.

[0313] For example, users can turn the knob on a cooking appliance to set the duration of the cooking steps, such as boiling or stewing.

[0314] 4. The cooking appliance will upload the adjusted control parameters recorded during the cooking process to the product server.

[0315] 5. The product server creates an improved recipe based on the adjusted control parameters recorded by the cooking appliance during the cooking process of the recipe, and establishes a correspondence between the improved recipe and the user.

[0316] In some embodiments, user attempts at improvement may sometimes fail, in which case the user may not want to retain the improved recipe. Therefore, the product server can obtain the user's evaluation of the dish after the cooking appliance implements the recipe. If the product server determines that the evaluation indicates a positive review, it can create an improved recipe based on the original recipe.

[0317] Specifically, users can provide feedback on dishes to the product service provider through product applications or cooking appliances.

[0318] In some embodiments, the product server sends the improved recipe and a set of control parameters for implementing the improved recipe to the cooking appliance so that the user can call the improved recipe when using the cooking appliance.

[0319] In some embodiments, the product application may, in response to a user's request, retrieve the improved recipe from the product server and display it to the user.

[0320] In addition, users may consider certain cooking steps in a recipe unnecessary based on their own preferences, and / or want to add cooking steps. In such cases, the cooking appliance will record and provide feedback to the product service provider to help build and improve the recipe.

[0321] Specifically, if the cooking appliance detects that the user has skipped or added any cooking step in the process of creating the recipe, it can record the skipped or added cooking step. The cooking appliance can then feed back the recorded skipped and / or added cooking steps to the product server.

[0322] The product server creates an improved recipe based on the adjusted control parameters and target cooking steps recorded by the cooking appliance during the cooking process. The target cooking steps include: skipped and / or added cooking steps.

[0323] Furthermore, users may, based on their preferences, omit certain ingredients and / or seasonings, or change them. The cooking appliance can record these changes and provide feedback to the product service provider to help create improved recipes. In this context, the ingredients and / or seasonings are referred to as cooking objects.

[0324] Specifically, if the cooking appliance detects that the user has modified the cooking objects and / or the quantities of the cooking objects specified in the recipe during the cooking process, it can record the modified cooking objects and / or the quantities of the cooking objects. Then, the cooking appliance can feed back the modified cooking objects and / or the quantities of the cooking objects recorded during the cooking process to the product server.

[0325] The product server creates an improved recipe based on the adjusted control parameters and modified cooking objects and / or cooking object quantities recorded by the cooking appliance during the cooking process of the recipe.

[0326] This specification also provides a computer device, which includes at least a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the processor executes the program to implement the functions of a product application or a product server.

[0327] Figure 9 This diagram illustrates a more specific hardware structure of a computing device provided in an embodiment of this specification. The device may include a processor 1010, a memory 1020, an input / output interface 1030, a communication interface 1040, and a bus 1050. The processor 1010, memory 1020, input / output interface 1030, and communication interface 1040 are interconnected internally via the bus 1050.

[0328] The processor 1010 can be implemented using a general-purpose CPU (Central Processing Unit), microprocessor, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits, and is used to execute relevant programs to implement the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this specification.

[0329] The memory 1020 can be implemented in the form of ROM (Read Only Memory), RAM (Random Access Memory), static storage device, dynamic storage device, etc. The memory 1020 can store the operating system and other applications. When the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this specification are implemented by software or firmware, the relevant program code is stored in the memory 1020 and is called and executed by the processor 1010.

[0330] The input / output interface 1030 is used to connect input / output modules to realize information input and output. Input / output modules can be configured as components within the device (not shown in the figure) or externally connected to the device to provide corresponding functions. Input devices may include keyboards, mice, touchscreens, microphones, various sensors, etc., while output devices may include displays, speakers, vibrators, indicator lights, etc.

[0331] The communication interface 1040 is used to connect a communication module (not shown in the figure) to enable communication between this device and other devices. The communication module can communicate via wired means (such as USB, Ethernet cable, etc.) or wireless means (such as mobile network, WIFI, Bluetooth, etc.).

[0332] Bus 1050 includes a pathway for transmitting information between various components of the device, such as processor 1010, memory 1020, input / output interface 1030, and communication interface 1040.

[0333] It should be noted that although the above-described device only shows the processor 1010, memory 1020, input / output interface 1030, communication interface 1040, and bus 1050, in specific implementations, the device may also include other components necessary for normal operation. Furthermore, those skilled in the art will understand that the above-described device may only include the components necessary for implementing the embodiments of this specification, and not necessarily all the components shown in the figures.

[0334] This specification also provides a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, implements the functions of a product application or a product server.

[0335] Computer-readable media includes both permanent and non-permanent, removable and non-removable media that can store information using any method or technology. Information can be computer-readable instructions, data structures, modules of programs, or other data. Examples of computer storage media include, but are not limited to, phase-change memory (PRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), other types of random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technologies, CD-ROM, digital versatile optical disc (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic tape, disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other non-transferable medium that can be used to store information accessible by a computing device. As defined herein, computer-readable media does not include transient computer-readable media, such as modulated data signals and carrier waves.

[0336] As can be seen from the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the embodiments of this specification can be implemented by means of software plus necessary general-purpose hardware platforms. Based on this understanding, the technical solutions of the embodiments of this specification, or the parts that contribute to the prior art, can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product can be stored in a storage medium, such as ROM / RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk, etc., and includes several instructions to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute the methods described in various embodiments or some parts of the embodiments of this specification.

[0337] The systems, devices, modules, or units described in the above embodiments can be implemented by computer chips or entities, or by products with certain functions. A typical implementation device is a computer, which can take the form of a personal computer, laptop computer, cellular phone, camera phone, smartphone, personal digital assistant, media player, navigation device, email sending and receiving device, game console, tablet computer, wearable device, or any combination of these devices.

[0338] The various embodiments in this specification are described in a progressive manner. Similar or identical parts between embodiments can be referred to mutually. Each embodiment focuses on its differences from other embodiments. In particular, the device embodiments are basically similar to the method embodiments, so the description is relatively simple; relevant parts can be referred to the descriptions in the method embodiments. The device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. The modules described as separate components may or may not be physically separate. When implementing the embodiments of this specification, the functions of each module can be implemented in one or more software and / or hardware. Alternatively, some or all of the modules can be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs. Those skilled in the art can understand and implement this without creative effort.

[0339] The above description is merely a specific implementation of the embodiments of this specification. It should be noted that for those skilled in the art, several improvements and modifications can be made without departing from the principles of the embodiments of this specification, and these improvements and modifications should also be considered within the protection scope of the embodiments of this specification.

Claims

1. A household appliance, characterized in that, It has a home appliance control module and a communication module. The communication module integrates a near-field communication (NFC) chip, an NFC antenna, a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) chip, and a Wi-Fi antenna. The home appliance control module and the communication module are connected via an interface. The communication module establishes an NFC connection between the NFC chip and the NFC module of the user's mobile device through the NFC antenna, so that when the product application installed on the user's mobile device determines that the user's mobile device has accessed the network through its own Wi-Fi module, it writes the network configuration information used by the user's mobile device and the IP address of the product server into the NFC chip. In Station mode, the Wi-Fi chip reads network configuration information and IP address from the NFC chip to access the network via the Wi-Fi antenna and connects to the product server based on the IP address; wherein: The data area of ​​the NFC chip includes a first NFC record, which has an NFC data exchange format of type URL. Before the product application writes network configuration information to the NFC chip, the operating system of the user's mobile device reads all the data in the data area of ​​the NFC chip. The product application includes a product client program or a product mini-application. The first NFC record contains a URL, which is used to trigger the operating system of the mobile device to execute: if the product client program is installed, open the product client program; if the product client program is not installed, open the product mini-application.

2. The household appliance product as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The home appliance control module and the communication module are connected via an asynchronous transceiver UART serial port.

3. The household appliance product as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The network configuration information includes: wireless network identifier and wireless network password.

4. The household appliance product as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The first NFC record also includes at least one of the following: The anti-counterfeiting codes corresponding to the home appliance products; The unique identifier corresponding to the Wi-Fi chip; Communication fault flag; wherein, when the home appliance control module detects a Wi-Fi chip fault in the home appliance, it modifies the communication fault flag to indicate a fault; when it detects that the Wi-Fi chip fault has been repaired, it modifies the communication fault flag to indicate no fault. The cumulative number of times the NFC chip is triggered; wherein, the Wi-Fi chip increments the cumulative number by 1 each time it detects that the NFC chip has established an NFC connection; The network-related flag; wherein, whenever the Wi-Fi chip connects to the network, it sets the network-related flag to a flag indicating the network connection status, and whenever the network is disconnected, it sets the network-related flag to a flag indicating the non-network connection status.

5. The household appliance product as described in claim 4, characterized in that, The data area of ​​the NFC chip also includes a second NFC record; the second NFC record uses an Android application-type NFC data exchange format. The second NFC record contains an Android application identifier, which is used to trigger the operating system to perform the following when the mobile device's operating system is Android: if the product client program is not installed, enter the download path associated with the Android system to download the product client program, or open the product mini-app supported by the Android system.

6. The household appliance product as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The NFC chip has a standard data area and a custom data area. The standard data area is configured to use the NFC data exchange format, and the custom data area is configured to use a non-NFC data exchange format. The product application writes the network distribution information and the IP address into the custom data area.

7. A method for connecting home appliances to a network, characterized in that, The system is applied to a combination of user mobile devices and home appliances; the user mobile devices are equipped with the product application; the home appliances have an appliance control module and a communication module, the communication module integrating a near-field communication (NFC) chip, an NFC antenna, a Wi-Fi chip, and a Wi-Fi antenna; The home appliance control module and the communication module are connected via an interface; The method includes: After the product application is started, if it is determined that the user's mobile device has accessed the network through its own Wi-Fi module, the network configuration information used by the user's mobile device is determined; and the IP address of the product server is obtained. The user mobile device establishes an NFC connection with the NFC chip through its own NFC module; The product application uses the NFC connection to write the determined network configuration information and the obtained IP address into the NFC chip; In Station mode, the Wi-Fi chip of the home appliance reads the network configuration information and IP address from the NFC chip, accesses the network according to the network configuration information, and connects to the product server according to the IP address; wherein: The data area of ​​the NFC chip includes a first NFC record, which has an NFC data exchange format of type URL. Before the product application writes network configuration information to the NFC chip, the operating system of the user's mobile device reads all the data in the data area of ​​the NFC chip. The product application includes a product client program or a product mini-application. The first NFC record contains a URL, which is used to trigger the operating system of the mobile device to execute: if the product client program is installed, open the product client program; if the product client program is not installed, open the product mini-application.

8. The method as described in claim 7, characterized in that, The product application determines the network configuration information used by the user's mobile device, including: If the user's mobile device is running an Android system, the product application obtains the network configuration information used by the user's mobile device from the operating system. If the user's mobile device is operating system iOS, the product application obtains the wireless network identifier of the wireless network to which the user's mobile device is connected from the operating system, receives the wireless network password entered by the user, and uses the obtained wireless network identifier and the received wireless network password as network configuration information.

9. A method for connecting home appliances to a network, characterized in that, The system includes product applications installed on user mobile devices within the system, and the system also includes home appliances; the home appliances have a home appliance control module and a communication module, and the communication module integrates a near-field communication (NFC) chip, an NFC antenna, a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) chip, and a Wi-Fi antenna; The home appliance control module and the communication module are connected via an interface; The user mobile device establishes an NFC connection with the NFC chip via its own NFC module; the method includes: After the product application is launched, if it is determined that the user's mobile device has accessed the network through its own Wi-Fi module, the network configuration information used by the user's mobile device is determined, the IP address of the product server is obtained, and the determined network configuration information and the obtained IP address are written into the NFC chip through the NFC connection; so that the Wi-Fi chip of the home appliance can read the network configuration information from the NFC chip in Station mode, access the network according to the network configuration information, and connect to the product server according to the IP address; wherein: The data area of ​​the NFC chip includes a first NFC record, which has an NFC data exchange format of type URL. Before the product application writes network configuration information to the NFC chip, the operating system of the user's mobile device reads all the data in the data area of ​​the NFC chip. The product application includes a product client program or a product mini-application. The first NFC record contains a URL, which is used to trigger the operating system of the mobile device to execute: if the product client program is installed, open the product client program; if the product client program is not installed, open the product mini-application.

10. A device for connecting home appliances to a network, characterized in that, The system includes product applications installed on user mobile devices within the system, and the system also includes home appliances; the home appliances have a home appliance control module and a communication module, and the communication module integrates a near-field communication (NFC) chip, an NFC antenna, a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) chip, and a Wi-Fi antenna; The home appliance control module and the communication module are connected via an interface; The user mobile device establishes an NFC connection with the NFC antenna and the NFC chip via its own NFC module; the device includes: The module determines the network configuration information used by the user's mobile device after the product application is launched, and if it is determined that the user's mobile device has already accessed the network through its own Wi-Fi module, it obtains the IP address of the product server, and writes the determined network configuration information and the obtained IP address into the NFC chip via the NFC connection; so that the Wi-Fi chip of the home appliance can read the network configuration information and IP address from the NFC chip in Station mode, access the network according to the network configuration information, and access the network according to the IP address; wherein: The data area of ​​the NFC chip includes a first NFC record, which has an NFC data exchange format of type URL. Before the product application writes network configuration information to the NFC chip, the operating system of the user's mobile device reads all the data in the data area of ​​the NFC chip. The product application includes a product client program or a product mini-application. The first NFC record contains a URL, which is used to trigger the operating system of the mobile device to execute: if the product client program is installed, open the product client program; if the product client program is not installed, open the product mini-application.

11. A computer device, characterized in that, It includes a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the processor, when executing the program, implements the method as described in claim 9.

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