An air conditioning control system

Abstract

This application provides an air conditioning control system, particularly relating to the field of smart home technology. The air conditioning control system includes a control panel and a first gateway controller. The first gateway controller includes: a communicator for establishing a communication connection with the air conditioner and the control panel; a memory storing a correspondence between user operations and control instructions, where user operations refer to user actions on the control panel, and control instructions instruct the control of home appliances; and a controller configured to: receive a first user operation sent by the control panel via the communicator; retrieve a first control instruction corresponding to the first user operation from the correspondence in the memory; and control a first home appliance indicated by the first control instruction, whereby the first home appliance includes an air conditioner and / or other home appliances.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of smart home technology, and in particular to an air conditioning control system. Background Technology

[0002] Currently, air conditioning control systems, as a component of intelligent control systems, are no longer simple air conditioning control devices, but rather control devices that can integrate multiple subsystems such as lighting, audio, curtains, and thermostats.

[0003] However, in related technologies, the air conditioning control system responds to user operations by obtaining control commands corresponding to the user's actions from a cloud platform, and then controls the home appliances based on these commands. Therefore, every time the home appliances are controlled through the air conditioning control system, communication with the cloud platform is required. This not only results in communication delays, but also means that the air conditioning control system becomes unusable if communication between the air conditioning control system and the cloud platform fails, affecting the user experience. Summary of the Invention

[0004] This application provides an air conditioning control system, which is used to obtain control instructions corresponding to user operations from a memory based on user operations obtained from a control panel, so as to control home appliances including air conditioners.

[0005] To achieve the above objectives, the embodiments of this application adopt the following technical solutions:

[0006] This application provides an air conditioning control system, including a control panel and a first gateway controller, the first gateway controller including:

[0007] A communicator used to establish a communication connection with the air conditioner and control panel;

[0008] The memory stores the correspondence between user operations and control commands. User operations refer to the user's actions on the control panel, while control commands indicate the control of home appliances.

[0009] The controller is configured as follows:

[0010] Receive the first user operation sent from the control panel via the communicator;

[0011] Retrieve the first control instruction corresponding to the first user operation from the correspondence in the memory;

[0012] According to the first control command corresponding to the first user operation, the first home appliance indicated by the first control command is controlled. The first home appliance includes air conditioners and / or other home appliances.

[0013] The technical solution provided in this application provides at least the following beneficial effects: By storing the correspondence between user operations and control commands in the memory of the first gateway controller, upon receiving a first user operation, the first control command corresponding to the first user operation can be determined, thereby enabling the controller to control the first home appliance and meet user needs. In this way, compared to the prior art where the controller obtains the control command corresponding to the user operation from the server, this application embodiment, through such a first gateway controller, avoids control delays caused by communication with the server and prevents control failures due to server communication malfunctions, greatly improving the controller's response speed and success rate to user operations.

[0014] In some embodiments, the communicator of the first gateway controller is further configured to establish a communication connection with the server. The controller is configured to: receive a second user operation and a second control instruction corresponding to the second user operation sent by the server via the communicator, wherein the second control instruction indicates control of a second home appliance; and store the correspondence between the second user operation and the second control instruction in a memory.

[0015] As described in the above embodiments, after the first gateway controller establishes a connection with the server, the server sends the correspondence between the second user operation and the second control command to the first gateway controller. The first gateway controller stores the received correspondence between the second user operation and the second control command in its memory to establish and maintain this correspondence. Thus, when it needs to obtain the control command corresponding to a specific user operation, the first gateway controller can directly retrieve it from its memory, avoiding control delays caused by communication with the server and preventing control failures due to server communication malfunctions. This greatly improves the controller's response speed and success rate to user operations.

[0016] In some embodiments, the communicator of the first gateway controller is also used to establish a communication connection with home appliances, including at least one of the second home appliances.

[0017] Since the first gateway controller can directly control the home appliances connected to it, establishing a connection with these appliances via a communicator allows it to directly retrieve the corresponding control command from its memory when it receives a user operation on a connected appliance, thereby controlling the connected appliance. Specifically, the first gateway controller's communicator is connected to at least one home appliance, enabling it to control at least one appliance.

[0018] In some embodiments, the controller is further configured to: after controlling the first home appliance according to the first control instruction, send the control result of the first home appliance to the server via a communicator.

[0019] As can be seen from the above embodiments, the first gateway controller sends the control result of the first home appliance to the server through the communicator. The control result of the first home appliance can be stored in the server, and then the user can obtain the control result of the first home appliance stored in the server through a mobile terminal device.

[0020] In some embodiments, the number of gateway controllers in the air conditioning control system is multiple; the first gateway controller is any one of the multiple gateway controllers; the communicator of the first gateway controller includes a Bluetooth module; the controller is configured to join a Bluetooth network via the Bluetooth module, and the Bluetooth network includes one or more gateway controllers.

[0021] As can be seen from the above embodiments, the number of gateway controllers in the air conditioning control system can be multiple. When there are multiple gateway controllers, each gateway controller can form a network through its Bluetooth module, thereby realizing fast communication between multiple gateway controllers through Bluetooth networking.

[0022] In some embodiments, the controller sends the control result of the first home appliance to the server via a communicator. Specifically, it is configured such that if there is a communication failure between the first gateway controller and the server, the control result is sent to the second gateway controller in the Bluetooth network via the Bluetooth module, so that the control result is sent to the server via the second gateway controller. The second gateway controller is a gateway controller in the Bluetooth network that does not have a communication failure with the server.

[0023] As can be seen from the above embodiments, when there is a communication failure between the first gateway controller and the server, causing the first gateway controller to be unable to send the control result of the first home appliance to the server, the control result can be sent to the gateway controller in the Bluetooth network that does not have a communication failure with the server. Then, the control result is sent to the server through the gateway controller that does not have a communication failure with the server, thus avoiding the inability to send the control result to the server due to the communication failure between the first gateway controller and the server.

[0024] In some embodiments, the gateway controller includes a first type of gateway controller and a second type of gateway controller; the first type of gateway controller includes an NB-IoT module, and the second type of gateway controller does not include an NB-IoT module; the NB-IoT module is used to establish a communication connection with the server; a communication failure between the first gateway controller and the server includes the first gateway controller being a second type of gateway controller, or the first gateway controller being a first type of gateway controller and the NB-IoT module in the first gateway controller failing.

[0025] As can be seen from the above embodiments, the NB-IoT module is used to establish a communication connection with the server. Therefore, a first-type gateway controller including an NB-IoT module can establish a communication connection with the server, while a second-type gateway controller without an NB-IoT module cannot establish a communication connection with the server. To save costs, some gateway controllers in this air conditioning control system are first-type gateway controllers, while others are second-type gateway controllers. If the first gateway controller is a second-type gateway controller, or if the first gateway controller is a first-type gateway controller and its NB-IoT module malfunctions, preventing it from sending control results to the server, the first gateway controller can send control results to other gateway controllers within the Bluetooth network that include NB-IoT modules and can establish a communication connection with the server, and then those gateway controllers will send the control results to the server.

[0026] In some embodiments, the controller described above controls the first home appliance indicated by the first control instruction according to the first control instruction corresponding to the first user operation, and is configured to: determine a target gateway controller for controlling the first home appliance according to the first control instruction; if the target gateway controller includes a third gateway controller, send the first control instruction to the third gateway controller so that the third gateway controller controls the first home appliance according to the first control instruction; the third gateway controller is a gateway controller other than the first gateway controller among a plurality of gateway controllers.

[0027] As can be seen from the above embodiments, when multiple gateway controllers are needed to control the first home appliance, the first gateway controller can send the first control command to other gateway controllers that can control the first home appliance according to the first control command through a communicator, so as to enable the first home appliance to be controlled accordingly. Attached Figure Description

[0028] The accompanying drawings are provided to further understand the technical solutions of the present invention and constitute a part of the specification. They are used together with the embodiments of this application to explain the technical solutions of the present invention and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions of the present invention.

[0029] Figure 1This application provides a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0030] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the structure of a control panel provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0031] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of another control panel structure provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0032] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of another control panel structure provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0033] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of the hardware structure of a controller provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0034] Figure 6 This is a communication diagram of a gateway controller provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0035] Figure 7 A communication diagram of another gateway controller provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0036] Figure 8 A schematic flowchart illustrating a control method for an air conditioning control system provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0037] Figure 9 A flowchart illustrating another air conditioning control system control method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0038] Figure 10 This is a schematic diagram of the hardware structure of another controller provided in an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0039] The technical solutions of the embodiments of this application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of this application, and not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of this application, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0040] In the description of this invention, it should be understood that the terms "center", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", etc., indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings. They are only for the convenience of describing this invention and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation. Therefore, they should not be construed as limitations on this invention.

[0041] The terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly specifying the number of technical features indicated. Therefore, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature. In the description of this application, unless otherwise stated, "a plurality of" means two or more.

[0042] In this article, the term "and / or" is merely a description of the relationship between related objects, indicating that there can be three relationships. For example, A and / or B can represent three situations: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone.

[0043] In the description of the embodiments of this application, it should be noted that, unless otherwise explicitly specified and limited, the terms "connected" and "connected" should be interpreted broadly. For example, they can refer to a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection. Those skilled in the art can understand the specific meaning of the above terms in this application based on the specific circumstances. Furthermore, when describing pipelines, the terms "connected" and "connected" as used in this application have the meaning of establishing electrical conductivity. The specific meaning needs to be understood in conjunction with the context.

[0044] The terms “comprising” and “having”, and any variations thereof, used in the description of this application are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, system, product, or apparatus that includes a series of steps or units is not limited to the steps or units listed, but may optionally include other steps or units not listed, or may optionally include other steps or units inherent to such process, method, product, or apparatus.

[0045] Furthermore, in the embodiments of this application, the terms "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate that something is an example, illustration, or description. Any embodiment or design that is described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the embodiments of this application should not be construed as being more preferred or advantageous than other embodiments or design. Specifically, the use of terms such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a specific manner.

[0046] As described in the background section, in related technologies, air conditioning control systems respond to user operations by obtaining control commands corresponding to the user's operations from a cloud platform, and then controlling home appliances based on these commands. Therefore, every time a home appliance is controlled through the air conditioning control system, communication with the cloud platform is required. This not only results in communication delays, but also means that the air conditioning control system becomes unusable if communication between the air conditioning control system and the cloud platform fails, impacting the user experience.

[0047] In view of this, embodiments of this application provide an air conditioning control system including a control panel and a gateway controller. The gateway controller is equipped with a memory for storing the correspondence between user operations and control commands. Thus, based on the user's operation on the control panel, the corresponding control command in the memory can be directly retrieved, thereby controlling the home appliances.

[0048] This application provides a communication system, such as Figure 1 As shown, the communication system includes a server, an air conditioning control system, and mobile terminal devices.

[0049] In some embodiments, a control application for an air conditioning control system is installed on the mobile terminal device. On one hand, the mobile terminal device establishes communication with the server by running this control application. On the other hand, the user can create control commands and their corresponding user operations within the control application on the mobile terminal device. The mobile terminal device then sends the created control commands and their corresponding user operations to the server. Optionally, the mobile terminal device can be a mobile phone, tablet computer, or laptop computer, etc.

[0050] In some embodiments, after receiving a control command and its correspondence with a user operation from a mobile terminal device, the server sends it to the air conditioning control system. Upon receiving the user operation, the air conditioning control system obtains the corresponding control command and controls the home appliances accordingly. After controlling the home appliances, the air conditioning control system sends the control results to the server. The user can then access the control results from the server through a control application on the mobile terminal device to view the operating status of the home appliances.

[0051] The server can be a standalone physical server, a server cluster or distributed system composed of multiple physical servers, or a cloud server providing basic cloud computing services such as cloud services, cloud databases, cloud computing, cloud functions, cloud storage, network services, cloud communication, middleware services, domain name services, security services, content delivery networks (CDNs), and big data and artificial intelligence platforms. For example, the server can be a cloud platform, which communicates with air conditioning control systems and mobile terminal devices via base stations.

[0052] This application provides an air conditioning control system, which includes a control panel and a gateway controller.

[0053] In some embodiments, the control panel is used to display the operating status of air conditioners and other home appliances, and can also be used to obtain user operations through buttons on the control panel. The buttons on the control panel may include physical buttons and display interface buttons. Users input user operations into the air conditioning control system by clicking the controls corresponding to the physical buttons or display interface buttons. Optionally, a user operation may be a single click on a physical button or a set of clicks on a display interface button.

[0054] In some embodiments, such as Figure 2 As shown, the control panel 10 includes a housing 101, a display 102, and a human-computer interaction device 103.

[0055] In some embodiments, the housing 101 may be as follows: Figure 2 The shape shown is approximately cuboid, but can also be other shapes, used to accommodate the electrical components of the control panel 10.

[0056] In some embodiments, the display 102 is used to display the operating status of air conditioners and other household appliances.

[0057] For example, in Figure 3 In the display interface of monitor 102, it is shown that air conditioner 1 and air conditioner 2 are in cooling mode, water heater and curtains are open, and television and lights are off.

[0058] In some embodiments, the display interface may show controls corresponding to air conditioners and other home appliances, allowing users to operate on the controls corresponding to the air conditioners and other home appliances.

[0059] For example, in Figure 3 The interface displays a control 1021 corresponding to the curtains. Clicking the control 1021 allows you to open or close the curtains.

[0060] Optionally, the display 102 can be a liquid crystal display panel or an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display panel. The specific type, size, and resolution of the display panel are not limited.

[0061] In some embodiments, the human-computer interaction device 103 is used to enable interaction between the user and the control panel 10. The human-computer interaction device 103 may include one or more of physical buttons or a touch screen display panel. The user can interact with the air conditioner or other home appliances through the human-computer interaction device 103 to control the operating status of the air conditioner and other home appliances.

[0062] For example, in Figure 4In this system, users can select and adjust the operating mode, temperature, and fan speed of the selected air conditioner using the "Function Selection" physical button 1031, "Temperature" physical button 1032, "Fan Speed" physical button 1033, "+" physical button 1034, and "-" physical button 1035 on the human-computer interaction device 103. Users can also control the opening and closing of the curtains by operating the corresponding controls 1021 on the touchscreen display panel.

[0063] In some embodiments, such as Figure 5 As shown, the gateway controller 20 includes a communicator 201, a memory 202, and a controller 203. The communicator 201, memory 202, display 102, and human-computer interaction device 103 are electrically connected to the controller 203. The gateway controller 20 is used to receive and store the correspondence between user operations and control commands sent by the server.

[0064] In some embodiments, the gateway controller 20 is communicatively connected to the home appliance and, upon receiving a user operation, controls the home appliance accordingly based on the control command corresponding to the user operation.

[0065] In some embodiments, a control instruction may involve multiple gateway controllers 20. After receiving the correspondence between a user operation and a control instruction, the multiple gateway controllers store it in a memory 202. Based on the user operation, the controller retrieves the control instruction corresponding to the user operation from the memory and sends the control instruction to the corresponding air conditioner or other home appliance to complete the control of the air conditioner and other home appliances.

[0066] In some embodiments, the memory 202 is used to store the correspondence between user operations and control commands sent by the cloud platform. This allows the corresponding control commands to be directly retrieved from the memory 202 based on the user operations, improving response speed.

[0067] Optionally, after the server in the above communication system sends the correspondence between user operations and control commands to the air conditioning control system, the controller 203 of the air conditioning control system saves the correspondence between the user operations and control commands to the memory 202.

[0068] Optionally, the memory 202 may be a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device capable of storing static information and instructions, random access memory (RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device capable of storing information and instructions, or electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium capable of carrying or storing desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and accessible by a computer, but not limited thereto.

[0069] In some embodiments, the communicator 201 is used to establish a communication connection with air conditioners and other home appliances, thereby enabling it to send control commands to air conditioners and other home appliances, and to obtain control results from air conditioners and other home appliances.

[0070] Optionally, in some embodiments, the communicator 201 may further include a Power Line Communication (PLC) module, electrically connected to a PLC smart switch, for controlling the opening and closing of the smart switch to control the on / off state of home appliances. The home appliances are powered on via the PLC smart switch; PLC is a communication method that uses power lines to transmit data and media signals.

[0071] In some embodiments, the communicator 201 is further configured to establish a communication connection with the server, thereby obtaining control commands sent by the server and the control results of sending control commands to the server.

[0072] For example, after the air conditioner and other home appliances execute control commands, the execution results are sent to the cloud platform via a communicator. Thus, when a user selects to view the control results of the air conditioner and other home appliances on a mobile terminal device's control application, the cloud platform can send the control results to the mobile terminal device according to the user's request, and then display them on the control application's display page.

[0073] In some embodiments, the communicator 201 is also used to establish a communication connection with the control panel 10, thereby obtaining the corresponding control instructions in the memory 202 through the user's operation on the control panel 10.

[0074] Optionally, the communicator 201 includes a Bluetooth module for Bluetooth networking to enable communication between multiple gateway controllers 20 and between the gateway controllers 20 and the cloud platform. For example, multiple Bluetooth modules can form a Bluetooth Mesh network. Bluetooth Mesh networking is a Bluetooth networking communication network based on BLE broadcasting for message passing, enabling multi-point to multi-point networking. Low-power chips supporting Bluetooth 4.0 and above that support BLE all support Bluetooth Mesh networking. There are five types of nodes in a Bluetooth Mesh network: Proxy, Edge, Relay, Friend, and Low-power. Relay nodes act as message relays, forwarding information to other nodes; Edge nodes only support themselves but can also receive information. In this embodiment, the Bluetooth modules of the multiple gateway controllers 20 include at least one relay node.

[0075] For example, such as Figure 6 As shown, there are multiple gateway controllers 20, including edge gateway controllers 21 with edge nodes and relay gateway controllers 22 with relay nodes. Each edge gateway controller 21 and relay gateway controller 22 forms a Bluetooth Mesh network.

[0076] Optionally, the communicator 201 may include a Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) module for WiFi networking, enabling the gateway controller 20 to establish communication with the server via WiFi networking.

[0077] In some embodiments, the communicator 201 is a component for communicating with external devices or external servers according to various communication protocol types. For example, the communication device may include at least one of a Wi-Fi chip, a Bluetooth communication protocol chip, a wired Ethernet communication protocol chip, or other network communication protocol chips or near-field communication protocol chips, as well as an infrared receiver. The controller 203 can transmit control signals and data signals to the air conditioner and other home appliances through the communicator 201. For example, the air conditioner and other home appliances receive on / off commands from the controller 203 through the communicator 201.

[0078] In some embodiments, the gateway controller 20 may further include a narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) module, which is used to establish a communication connection with the cloud platform via a base station. Figure 7As shown, the Bluetooth network includes a first type gateway controller 23 (with an NB-IoT module) and a second type gateway controller 24 (without an NB-IoT module). The first type gateway controller 23 can establish a communication connection with the server through the NB-IoT module, and the second type gateway controller 24 can establish a communication connection with the server through the first type gateway controller 23.

[0079] In some embodiments, the controller 203 can be used to control the operation of various components in the gateway controller 20, so that the various components of the gateway controller 20 operate to realize various predetermined functions of the gateway controller 20.

[0080] Optionally, controller 203 refers to a device that can generate operation control signals based on instruction opcodes and timing signals, instructing gateway controller 20 to execute control instructions. Exemplarily, controller 203 can be a central processing unit (CPU), a network processor (NP), a digital signal processor (DSP), a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a programmable logic device (PLD), or any combination thereof. Controller 203 can also be other devices with processing functions, such as circuits, devices, or software modules; this application embodiment does not impose any limitations on this.

[0081] In some embodiments, the controller 203 can be a microcontroller unit (MCU). An MCU, also known as a single-chip microcomputer, is a chip-level computer that integrates a central processing unit (CPU) with appropriately reduced frequency and specifications, along with peripheral interfaces such as memory, timer, USB, A / D converter, UART, PLC, DMA, and even LCD driver circuitry, all onto a single chip. This allows for different combinations of control for various applications.

[0082] In some embodiments, the gateway controller 20 may further include a wireless signal amplifier for increasing the transmission distance of the Bluetooth module.

[0083] In some embodiments, the gateway controller 20 may further include a computing module, which may be a single computing device or a collective term for multiple computing elements. For example, the computing module may be a processor.

[0084] The specific solution of this application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the execution entity of the control method of the air conditioning control system provided below can be the controller in the gateway controller.

[0085] This application provides a method for controlling household appliances, such as... Figure 8 As shown, the method includes the following steps:

[0086] S101, The controller receives the first user operation sent by the control panel through the communicator.

[0087] For example, when a user wants to open the curtains, they can select the control corresponding to "open the curtains" on the control panel. At this time, the first user operation is "open the curtains", and the communicator can receive the first user operation of "open the curtains" sent by the control panel.

[0088] S102. The controller retrieves the first control instruction corresponding to the first user operation from the correspondence in the memory.

[0089] For example, after receiving the first user operation "open the curtains" sent by the control panel, the communicator retrieves the first control instruction corresponding to "open the curtains" from its memory. For instance, the first control instruction can be an electrical signal, which may include a high-level signal and a low-level signal.

[0090] S103. The controller controls the first home appliance indicated by the first control command according to the first user operation.

[0091] The first household appliance includes air conditioners and / or other household appliances, and the first household appliance may be one or more.

[0092] For example, the first control command corresponding to "open the curtains" is a high-level signal, and the first control command corresponding to "close the curtains" is a low-level signal. When the first user operation is "open the curtains", a high-level signal is sent to the PLC smart switch connected to the curtain controller, so that the curtain controller is connected to the power supply through the PLC smart switch, thereby enabling the curtain controller to control the curtains to open.

[0093] In some embodiments, step S103 may include S1031-S1032.

[0094] S1031. The controller determines the target gateway controller for controlling the first home appliance according to the first control instruction.

[0095] The target gateway controller is a gateway controller that can communicate with the first home appliance, and there can be one or more target gateway controllers.

[0096] S1032. When the target gateway controller includes a third gateway controller, the controller sends a first control instruction to the third gateway controller so that the third gateway controller controls the first home appliance according to the first control instruction.

[0097] The third gateway controller is any gateway controller other than the first gateway controller among the multiple gateway controllers. Thus, when the first home appliance needs to be controlled through multiple gateway controllers, the first gateway controller and the third gateway controller, which is communicatively connected to the first home appliance, can jointly control the first home appliance according to the first control command.

[0098] S104. After controlling the first household appliance according to the first control instruction, the controller sends the control result of the first household appliance to the server through the communicator.

[0099] Figure 8 The illustrated embodiment offers at least the following advantages: By storing the correspondence between user operations and control commands in the memory of the first gateway controller, upon receiving a first user operation, the corresponding first control command can be determined, allowing the controller to control the first home appliance and meet user needs. In this way, compared to the prior art where the controller obtains the control command corresponding to the user operation from the server, the embodiment of this application, through such a first gateway controller, avoids control delays caused by communication with the server and prevents control failures due to server communication malfunctions, greatly improving the controller's response speed and success rate to user operations.

[0100] In some embodiments, such as Figure 9 As shown, the control method of this air conditioning control system further includes the following steps:

[0101] S201, The server sends a second user operation and a second control command corresponding to the second user operation to the first gateway controller.

[0102] The second control command instructs the control of the second household appliance.

[0103] S202, The controller receives the second user operation and the second control command corresponding to the second user operation sent by the server through the communicator.

[0104] S203, The controller stores the correspondence between the second user operation and the second control instruction in the memory.

[0105] S204. Based on the second user's operation, the controller sends the control command corresponding to the second user's operation to the second home appliance via the communicator.

[0106] In some embodiments, the communicator of the first gateway controller is further configured to establish a communication connection with home appliances, including at least one of the second home appliances. Since the first gateway controller can directly control the home appliances connected to it, establishing a connection with the home appliances via the communicator allows the first gateway controller to directly retrieve the control command corresponding to the user operation from its memory when it receives a user operation on the connected home appliance, thereby controlling the connected home appliance. Specifically, since the first gateway controller's communicator establishes a connection with at least one home appliance, the first gateway controller can control at least one home appliance.

[0107] S205. The controller obtains the control result of the second home appliance through the communicator.

[0108] As can be seen from the above embodiments, the first gateway controller sends the control result of the second home appliance to the server through the communicator. The control result of the second home appliance can be stored in the server, and then the user can obtain the control result of the second home appliance stored in the server through a mobile terminal device.

[0109] S206. The controller sends the control results to the server via the communicator.

[0110] As described in the above embodiments, after the first gateway controller establishes a connection with the server, the server sends the correspondence between the second user operation and the second control command to the first gateway controller. The first gateway controller stores the received correspondence between the second user operation and the second control command in its memory to establish and maintain this correspondence. Thus, when it needs to obtain the control command corresponding to a specific user operation, the first gateway controller can directly retrieve it from its memory, avoiding control delays caused by communication with the server and preventing control failures due to server communication malfunctions. This greatly improves the controller's response speed and success rate to user operations.

[0111] In some embodiments, the control method of the air conditioning control system further includes: when there are multiple gateway controllers, joining a Bluetooth network via a Bluetooth module.

[0112] The Bluetooth network includes one or more gateway controllers.

[0113] As can be seen from the above embodiments, the number of gateway controllers in the air conditioning control system can be multiple. When there are multiple gateway controllers, each gateway controller can form a network through its Bluetooth module, thereby realizing fast communication between multiple gateway controllers through Bluetooth networking.

[0114] In some embodiments, the first type of gateway controller includes an NB-IoT module, while the second type of gateway controller does not. The NB-IoT module is used to establish a communication connection with the server. If a communication failure occurs between the first gateway controller and the server, the controller sends the control result to the second gateway controller in the Bluetooth network via the Bluetooth module, so that the second gateway controller can send the control result to the server.

[0115] The second gateway controller is a gateway controller in the Bluetooth network that does not experience communication failures with the server. Communication failures between the first gateway controller and the server include situations where the first gateway controller is a type II gateway controller, or where the first gateway controller is a type I gateway controller and the NB-IoT module within the first gateway controller is faulty.

[0116] For example, a fault in the NB-IoT module in the first type of gateway controller could be due to signal abnormalities caused by voltage instability or insufficient traffic, which would prevent the NB-IoT module from continuing to communicate with the cloud platform.

[0117] As can be seen from the above embodiments, the NB-IoT module is used to establish a communication connection with the server. Therefore, a first-type gateway controller including an NB-IoT module can establish a communication connection with the server, while a second-type gateway controller without an NB-IoT module cannot establish a communication connection with the server. To save costs, some gateway controllers in this air conditioning control system are first-type gateway controllers, while others are second-type gateway controllers. If the first gateway controller is a second-type gateway controller, or if the first gateway controller is a first-type gateway controller and its NB-IoT module malfunctions, preventing it from sending control results to the server, the first gateway controller can send control results to other gateway controllers within the Bluetooth network that include NB-IoT modules and can establish a communication connection with the server, and then those gateway controllers will send the control results to the server.

[0118] In some embodiments, when the first type of gateway controller cannot establish a communication connection with the server, the first type of gateway controller establishes a connection with the server once every preset time interval. If the number of consecutive connection failures exceeds a preset number, the communicator is restarted. If a connection with the server still cannot be established after restarting, the NB-IoT module is considered to have failed.

[0119] For example, the preset duration is 1 minute and the preset number of times is 3.

[0120] In some embodiments, the controller sends the identification information of each gateway controller in the network to the server via a communicator. When there is a communication failure between the first gateway controller and the server, the controller sends a fault signal of the first gateway controller to the server via the communicator, so that the server can communicate with the first type of gateway controller other than the first gateway controller.

[0121] As can be seen, the above mainly describes the solutions provided by the embodiments of this application from a methodological perspective. To achieve the above functions, the embodiments of this application provide corresponding hardware structures and / or software modules for executing each function. Those skilled in the art should readily recognize that, in conjunction with the modules and algorithm steps of the various examples described in the embodiments disclosed herein, the embodiments of this application can be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in a hardware or computer software-driven hardware manner depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this invention.

[0122] This application embodiment can divide the controller into functional modules according to the above method example. For example, each function can be divided into a separate functional module, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing module. The integrated module can be implemented in hardware or as a software functional module. Optionally, the module division in this application embodiment is illustrative and only represents one logical functional division; other division methods may be used in actual implementation.

[0123] This application also provides a hardware structure diagram of a controller, such as... Figure 10 As shown, the controller 203 also includes a processor 2031, and optionally, a memory 2022 and a communication interface 2033 connected to the processor 2031. The processor 2031, memory 2022 and communication interface 2033 are connected via a bus 2034.

[0124] Processor 2031 may be a central processing unit (CPU), a general-purpose processor, a network processor (NP), a digital signal processor (DSP), a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a programmable logic device (PLD), or any combination thereof. Processor 2031 may also be any other device with processing capabilities, such as a circuit, device, or software module. Processor 2031 may also include multiple CPUs, and processor 2031 may be a single-core processor or a multi-core processor. Here, "processor" can refer to one or more devices, circuits, or processing cores used to process data (e.g., computer program instructions).

[0125] The memory 2022 can be a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device capable of storing static information and instructions, random access memory (RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device capable of storing information and instructions. It can also be an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, optical disc storage (including compressed optical discs, laser discs, optical discs, digital universal optical discs, Blu-ray discs, etc.), a magnetic disk storage medium, or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium capable of carrying or storing desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and accessible by a computer. This application embodiment does not impose any limitations on this. The memory 2022 can exist independently or be integrated with the processor 2031. The memory 2022 may contain computer program code. The processor 2031 is used to execute the computer program code stored in the memory 2022, thereby implementing the control method provided in this application embodiment.

[0126] The communication interface 2033 can be used to communicate with other devices or communication networks (such as Ethernet, radio access network (RAN), wireless local area networks (WLAN), etc.). The communication interface 2033 can be a module, circuit, transceiver, or any device capable of enabling communication.

[0127] The 2034 bus can be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus or an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, etc. The 2034 bus can be divided into address bus, data bus, control bus, etc. For ease of representation, Figure 10 The bus is represented by a single thick line, but this does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus.

[0128] This application also provides a computer-readable storage medium including computer-executable instructions, which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to execute any of the control methods of the air conditioning control system provided in the above embodiments.

[0129] This application also provides a computer program product containing computer execution instructions, which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to execute any of the control methods of the air conditioning control system provided in the above embodiments.

[0130] In the above embodiments, implementation can be achieved, in whole or in part, through software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software programs, implementation can be, in whole or in part, in the form of a computer program product. This computer program product includes one or more computer-executable instructions. When these computer-executable instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the flow or function according to the embodiments of this application is generated. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer-executable instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, computer-executable instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another via wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) means. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium accessible to a computer or a data storage device containing one or more servers, data centers, etc., that can be integrated with the medium. The available media can be magnetic media (e.g., floppy disks, hard disks, magnetic tapes), optical media (e.g., DVDs), or semiconductor media (e.g., solid-state disks, SSDs).

[0131] Although this application has been described herein in conjunction with various embodiments, those skilled in the art, by reviewing the accompanying drawings, disclosure, and appended claims, will understand and implement other variations of the disclosed embodiments in carrying out the claimed application. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other components or steps, and "a" or "an" does not exclude multiple instances. A single processor or other unit can implement several functions listed in the claims. While different dependent claims may recite certain measures, this does not mean that these measures cannot be combined to produce good results.

[0132] Although this application has been described in conjunction with specific features and embodiments, it is obvious that various modifications and combinations can be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of this application. Accordingly, this specification and drawings are merely illustrative descriptions of the application as defined by the appended claims, and are considered to cover any and all modifications, variations, combinations, or equivalents within the scope of this application. Clearly, those skilled in the art can make various alterations and modifications to this application without departing from the spirit and scope of this application. Thus, if such modifications and modifications of this application fall within the scope of the claims of this application and their equivalents, this application is also intended to include such modifications and modifications.

[0133] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of this application, but the scope of protection of this application is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in this application should be included within the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. An air conditioning control system, characterized in that, Includes a control panel and multiple gateway controllers; A first gateway controller, wherein the first gateway controller is any one of the plurality of gateway controllers; the first gateway controller includes: A communicator for establishing a communication connection with the air conditioner and the control panel; the communicator includes a Bluetooth module; The memory stores the correspondence between user operations and control instructions, wherein the user operations are the user's operations on the control panel, and the control instructions are instructions for controlling home appliances; The controller is configured to: The Bluetooth module is used to join a Bluetooth network, which includes one or more gateway controllers. The communicator receives the first user operation sent by the control panel. The first control instruction corresponding to the first user operation is retrieved from the correspondence in the memory. Based on the first control instruction, a target gateway controller for controlling the first home appliance is determined; In the case where the target gateway controller includes a third gateway controller, the first control instruction is sent to the third gateway controller so that the third gateway controller controls the first home appliance according to the first control instruction; the third gateway controller is a gateway controller other than the first gateway controller among a plurality of gateway controllers, and the first home appliance includes the air conditioner and / or home appliances other than the air conditioner.

2. The air conditioning control system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The communicator is also used to establish a communication connection with the server; The controller is also configured to: The communicator receives a second user operation and a second control instruction corresponding to the second user operation sent by the server, wherein the second control instruction instructs the control of a second home appliance. The correspondence between the second user operation and the second control instruction is stored in the memory.

3. The air conditioning control system according to claim 2, characterized in that, The communicator is also used to establish a communication connection with home appliances, including at least one of the second home appliances.

4. The air conditioning control system according to claim 2, characterized in that, The controller is also configured to: After controlling the first home appliance according to the first control command, the control result of the first home appliance is sent to the server through the communicator.

5. The air conditioning control system according to claim 4, characterized in that, The controller sends the control result of the first home appliance to the server via the communicator, specifically configured as follows: If there is a communication failure between the first gateway controller and the server, the control result is sent to the second gateway controller in the Bluetooth network through the Bluetooth module, so that the control result is sent to the server through the second gateway controller. The second gateway controller is a gateway controller in the Bluetooth network that does not have a communication failure with the server.

6. The air conditioning control system according to claim 5, characterized in that, The gateway controller includes a first type of gateway controller and a second type of gateway controller; the first type of gateway controller includes an NB-IoT module, while the second type of gateway controller does not include the NB-IoT module; the NB-IoT module is used to establish a communication connection with the server. A communication failure exists between the first gateway controller and the server, including either the first gateway controller being a second type of gateway controller, or the first gateway controller being a first type of gateway controller and the NB-IoT module in the first gateway controller being faulty.

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