Method for managing internet connection of an electric appliance

Abstract

A method for connecting an electric appliance (100) to an external server (120) connected to the Internet is provided. The method comprises causing the electric appliance (100) to set a first electric appliance access point (AP1) allowing wireless communication with the electric appliance using a first wireless technology and a second electric appliance access point (AP2) allowing wireless communication with the electric appliance using a second wireless technology, said first technology comprising a Wi-Fi technology and said second technology being different from said first technology. The method further comprises causing a wireless link (WL1; WL2) to be set between a mobile device (130) and a selected electric appliance access point located between said first electric appliance access point and said second electric appliance access point (AP1; AP2). The method further comprises causing the mobile device (130) to provide a credential to the electric appliance (100) using said wireless link (WL1; WL2) to allow wireless communication between the electric appliance (100) and an Internet access point (IAP). The method further comprises causing the electric appliance (100) to connect to the Internet access point (IAP) using said credential. The method further comprises causing the electric appliance (100) to connect to the external server (120) through said Internet access point (IAP).

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The solutions according to embodiments of the present invention generally relate to the field of electrical appliances. More specifically, the solutions according to embodiments of the present invention relate to a method for managing the Internet connection of electrical appliances. Background Technology

[0002] Modern appliances (for home or professional use) are typically equipped with communication hardware configured to interface with the Internet so that they can communicate with remote entities such as servers.

[0003] For example, a server may belong to a cloud computing system configured to implement a service environment suitable for providing service functions to improve the functionality of an appliance. For instance, an appliance may receive new firmware updates and additional configurations from the service environment.

[0004] The communication hardware of an appliance may include a communication unit configured to establish communication with the Internet (and therefore with a server) via an Internet access point set up, for example, by a router device.

[0005] To access an internet access point configured by a router, a wireless communication link (e.g., a Wi-Fi link) must be established between the appliance and the router. For this reason, the appliance must be correctly configured and the corresponding wireless credentials must be provided.

[0006] Appliances can be configured using mobile devices (such as smartphones), specifically by providing wireless credentials to the appliances to establish a wireless communication link between the appliances and router devices.

[0007] For this reason, it is necessary to establish a wireless communication link between the appliance and the appliance to enable data communication between the two devices.

[0008] According to solutions known in the art, the wireless communication link between an appliance and a mobile device is a Wi-Fi link between the Wi-Fi communication unit of the mobile device and the Wi-Fi access point of the communication hardware configuration of the appliance. Summary of the Invention

[0009] The applicant has discovered that known solutions for connecting electrical appliances to remote entities (such as servers) all have drawbacks.

[0010] Known solutions provide methods for users of appliances to connect mobile devices to the appliances via a dedicated Wi-Fi link. Configuring the communication hardware of the appliances and mobile devices to establish the dedicated Wi-Fi is not straightforward, and users unfamiliar with configuring network equipment may encounter obstacles that prevent them from achieving the correct operational results.

[0011] Furthermore, known solutions lack flexibility because, according to these solutions, the connection between mobile devices and appliances is entirely based on a single communication technology (Wi-Fi).

[0012] Furthermore, another serious drawback of known solutions based entirely on Wi-Fi technology is that when a user attempts to establish communication between an appliance and a mobile device, if the mobile device is connected to an internet access point set up by a router via a previously established Wi-Fi link, the Wi-Fi link must be temporarily disabled, thus forcing a temporary interruption of the connection between the mobile device and the internet access point.

[0013] In view of the above, the applicant has designed a method for connecting electrical appliances to a remote entity, which is not affected by the aforementioned disadvantages.

[0014] An aspect of the present invention relates to a method for connecting an electrical appliance to an external server connected to the Internet.

[0015] The method includes setting up a first appliance access point and a second appliance access point for an appliance, the first appliance access point allowing wireless communication with the appliance using a first wireless technology, and the second appliance access point allowing wireless communication with the appliance using a second wireless technology.

[0016] The first technology includes Wi-Fi technology.

[0017] The second technology is different from the first technology.

[0018] The method further includes setting a wireless link between the mobile device and a selected appliance access point located between the first appliance access point and the second appliance access point.

[0019] The method further includes enabling a mobile device to provide credentials to an appliance using the wireless link to allow wireless communication between the appliance and an internet access point.

[0020] The method further includes enabling the appliance to connect to an Internet access point using the credentials.

[0021] The method further includes connecting the appliance to an external server via the Internet access point.

[0022] In this way, two different and concurrent access points are enabled to connect to the appliance, each configured to use a different wireless communication technology to communicate with the appliance. Therefore, the data communication between the mobile device and the appliance, required during the connection to the server, can be configured with greater flexibility.

[0023] Furthermore, if the mobile device connects to the appliance via a wireless connection involving a second appliance access point (i.e., using a wireless technology different from Wi-Fi), it is not necessary to temporarily disable the Wi-Fi data connection that the mobile device may have already established with other communication devices.

[0024] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the second technology includes one of the following:

[0025] Bluetooth technology;

[0026] -Near field communication technology;

[0027] -Radio sub Giga technology;

[0028] -ZigBee technology;

[0029] - Optical communication technology.

[0030] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the electrical appliance includes a first wireless communication unit and a second wireless communication unit, the first wireless communication unit being configured to be activated to set the first access point, and the second wireless communication unit being configured to be activated to set the second access point.

[0031] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes activating the first wireless communication unit and the second communication unit of the electrical appliance.

[0032] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes enabling the first wireless communication unit to broadcast first access information for accessing the first access point.

[0033] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes enabling the second wireless communication unit to broadcast second access information for accessing the second access point.

[0034] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes, after establishing a wireless link between the mobile device and the selected appliance access point, disabling the wireless communication unit between the first wireless communication unit and the second wireless communication unit, the second wireless communication unit being different from the wireless communication unit configured to set the selected appliance access point.

[0035] In this way, the management of wireless communication units is advantageously simplified.

[0036] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the electrical appliance further includes a third wireless communication unit.

[0037] According to an embodiment of the present invention, connecting the appliance to the Internet access point includes activating the third wireless communication unit to establish a Wi-Fi link between the appliance and the Internet access point.

[0038] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes disabling both the first wireless communication unit and the second wireless communication unit of the appliance after connecting the appliance to an Internet access point.

[0039] Once a connection is established between the appliance and the internet access point, disabling the first and second wireless communication units can simplify the management of the wireless communication units.

[0040] According to an embodiment of the present invention, setting up a wireless link between a mobile device and a selected appliance access point located between the first appliance access point and the second appliance access point includes:

[0041] - Enables the mobile device to collect access information selected between the first access information and the second access information broadcast;

[0042] - Enables the mobile device to access the selected access point using the selected access information.

[0043] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first access information includes a first name that identifies the first access point.

[0044] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the second access information includes a second name that identifies the second access point.

[0045] According to an embodiment of the present invention, each of the first access information and the second access information further includes the same identifier that clearly identifies the electrical appliance.

[0046] This method makes appliance identification easier, thus greatly improving the user experience.

[0047] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the identifier includes a MAC address associated with an appliance.

[0048] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the Internet access point is set by a router device external to the appliance. Attached Figure Description

[0049] These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of some exemplary and non-limiting embodiments thereof; for a better understanding, the following description should be read with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0050] Figure 1 An exemplary system according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown;

[0051] Figure 2A , 2B An embodiment of the invention is depicted for connecting electrical appliances to... Figure 1 The main stages of the method for external servers of the system. Detailed Implementation

[0052] Figure 1 An exemplary system according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0053] The system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an electrical appliance 100, such as an appliance for household use or an appliance for professional use.

[0054] In the example shown, appliance 100 is a washing machine, such as a laundry machine configured to wash clothes, a clothes dryer configured to dry clothes, or a laundry washing and drying machine configured to wash and dry clothes. However, the concept of the present invention is directly applicable to other types of appliances used for household and professional purposes, such as refrigerators, dishwashers, cooktops, and ovens.

[0055] The system according to an embodiment of the present invention further includes a router device 110 configured to set up an Internet Access Point (IAP) to allow communication with an external network (such as the Internet 115).

[0056] For example, referring to a home scenario, appliance 100 is a household appliance located in the home, and the Internet access point IAP set by router device 110 can also be an access point used by other appliances and electronic devices (e.g., smartphones, televisions, personal computers) located in the home to access the Internet 115.

[0057] According to an embodiment of the invention, appliance 100 is configured to exchange data with an (external) server 120 connected to the Internet 115. For example, server 120 may be configured to implement a service environment SE (e.g., managed by the manufacturer of appliance 100) adapted to provide service functions to improve the functionality of appliance 100. For example, using the service environment SE, appliance 100 can receive new firmware updates and additional configurations. It should be noted that while the service environment SE is implemented by a single unit (i.e., server 120) in the considered example, similar considerations apply if the service environment is implemented by a distributed system (e.g., a cloud computing system distributed across multiple servers).

[0058] According to an embodiment of the present invention, appliance 100 includes a network communication module 122 configured to allow data communication between appliance 100 and an external entity (such as an external server 120) connected to the Internet 115 via an Internet Access Point (IAP) configured by router device 110. For this purpose, according to an embodiment of the present invention, network communication module 122 is configured to establish a Wi-Fi link (WFL) between appliance 100 and the Internet Access Point (IAP).

[0059] In order to allow the Wi-Fi link (WFL) to be set up and access the Internet access point (IAP), the appliance 100 needs to be properly configured and provide corresponding wireless credentials (WC) including, for example, the SSID (Service Set Identifier) ​​and password.

[0060] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the configuration of the appliance 100 is performed by a mobile device 130 (such as a smartphone).

[0061] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the mobile device 130 is configured to manage operations for configuring the appliance 100 using a corresponding service application APP that can be installed on the mobile device 130. For example, the service application APP may be (also) an application configured to allow interaction with a service environment SE implemented by the server 120. For example, the service application APP may be managed by the same entity that manages the service environment SE.

[0062] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the configuration of the appliance 100 on the mobile device 130 enables direct data communication between the appliance 100 and the mobile device 130.

[0063] For this purpose, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the electrical appliance 100 is configured to provide:

[0064] - First access point AP1, to allow wireless communication with appliance 100 using Wi-Fi technology, and

[0065] - Second access point AP2, to allow wireless communication with appliance 100 using wireless technologies different from Wi-Fi.

[0066] According to embodiments of the present invention, the wireless technology different from Wi-Fi technology includes one of Bluetooth technology, near field communication technology, Radio sub Giga technology, ZigBee technology, and optical communication technology.

[0067] According to an embodiment of the present invention, direct data communication between the mobile device 130 and the electrical appliance 100 is achieved by having the mobile device 130 access one of the two access points AP1 and AP2.

[0068] In this manner, according to an embodiment of the present invention, a wireless link is established between the mobile device 130 and an access point selected between access point AP1 and access point AP2. Specifically, a wireless link WL1 is established between the mobile device 130 and access point AP1, or a wireless link WL2 is established between the mobile device 130 and access point AP2.

[0069] It should be noted that, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the appliance 100 is configured to have two access points AP1 and AP2 active at the same time, thereby granting the mobile device 130 the possibility of dual access to the appliance 100.

[0070] Because of the proposed solution, which enables two different and concurrent access points AP1 and AP2, each access point is configured to use different wireless communication technologies to achieve data communication with appliance 100, the data communication between the mobile device 130 and appliance 100 required for the appliance to be configured during connection to server 120 can be set with greater flexibility.

[0071] Furthermore, if the mobile device 130 is connected to the appliance 100 via wireless link WL2 (i.e., using a wireless technology different from Wi-Fi), it is not necessary to temporarily disable the Wi-Fi data connection that the mobile device 130 may have established with other communication devices (such as router device 110), because wireless link WL2 does not involve the use of the Wi-Fi communication module (not shown) of the mobile device 130.

[0072] According to an embodiment of the present invention, access points AP1 and AP2 are configured by network communication module 122.

[0073] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the network communication module 122 includes a first wireless communication unit CU1 configured to be activated to set a first access point AP1. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first wireless communication unit CU1 is a Wi-Fi communication unit.

[0074] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the network communication module 122 further includes a second wireless communication unit CU2 configured to be activated to set the second access point AP2. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the second wireless communication unit CU2 is a Bluetooth communication unit, a near-field communication unit, a Radio sub-Giga communication unit, a ZigBee communication unit, or an optical communication unit.

[0075] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the network communication module 122 further includes a third wireless communication unit CU3 configured to be activated to establish a Wi-Fi link WFL between the appliance 100 and the Internet access point IAP.

[0076] According to an embodiment of the present invention, once a selected wireless link WL1 or WL2 is established between the mobile device 130 and the appliance 100, the mobile device 130 utilizes the selected wireless link to provide the appliance 100 with wireless credentials WC for accessing the Internet Access Point (IAP). For example, providing wireless credentials WC via the selected wireless link WL1 or WL2 can be performed by the mobile device 130 under the control of a service application APP installed thereon.

[0077] According to an embodiment of the present invention, appliance 100 is configured to connect to Internet access point IAP via Wi-Fi link WFL by utilizing the received wireless credentials WC.

[0078] Once appliance 100 can access the Internet 115 via Internet Access Point (IAP), a data connection can be established with external server 120. In this way, appliance 100 can interact with the service environment SE implemented by server 120 to utilize the services provided by the service environment SE. For example, a user of the service application APP (e.g., the owner of appliance 100) who has a personal user account in the service environment SE can register appliance 100 in the service environment SE to bind appliance 100 to his / her personal user account. In this way, appliance 100 can benefit from customized services provided by the service environment SE, such as new firmware updates and / or additional configurations specifically tailored for appliance 100.

[0079] By reference Figures 2A to 2B The main stages of the method for connecting an appliance 100 to an external server 120 according to an embodiment of the present invention are described in the form of functional blocks.

[0080] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the method begins with the appliance 100 activating the first wireless communication unit CU1 and the second wireless communication unit CU2 of the network interface unit 122 to set the first access point AP1 and the second access point AP2 (block 202).

[0081] Then, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the two active access points AP1 and AP2 announce themselves by enabling the first wireless communication unit CU1 and the second wireless communication unit CU2 to broadcast corresponding access information AI1 and AI2 respectively (box 204).

[0082] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the access information AI1 broadcast by the first wireless communication unit CU1 is a non-hidden and unencrypted Wi-Fi SSID. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the Wi-Fi SSID includes a first name that explicitly identifies the appliance 100. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the access information AI1 includes a unique string in a predefined format, which includes at least one of the following: an identifier of the type of appliance 100, the MAC address of appliance 100, the PNC-ELC of appliance 100, and the serial number of appliance 100.

[0083] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the access information AI2 broadcast by the second wireless communication unit CU2 is an identifier message (depending on the wireless communication technology implemented by the second wireless communication unit CU2, such as a Bluetooth message in the case of Bluetooth technology), which preferably includes a first name that clearly identifies the appliance 100. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the access information AI2 includes a unique string in a predefined format, which includes at least one of the following: an identifier of the type of appliance 100, the MAC address of appliance 100, the PNC-ELC of appliance 100, and the serial number of appliance 100.

[0084] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the access information AI1 and the access information AI2 include the same identifier that clearly identifies the appliance 100.

[0085] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the mobile device 130 receives access information AI1 and AI2, and preferably displays information about the availability of the two active access points AP1 and AP2 to the user of the mobile device 130 (box 206). Preferably, this information is provided through a service application APP.

[0086] It should be noted that in order to receive the two access information messages AI1 and AI2, the mobile device 130 needs to enable the corresponding wireless communication hardware module. More specifically, to receive access information AI1, the Wi-Fi communication module (not shown) of the mobile device 130 must be enabled. To receive access information AI2, the wireless communication module (not shown) operating according to the technology of the second wireless communication unit CU2 must be enabled. For example, if the second wireless communication unit CU2 is a Bluetooth communication unit, then the mobile device 130 can only receive access information AI2 when the Bluetooth communication unit of the mobile device 130 is enabled.

[0087] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the mobile device 130 selects an access point among available active access points AP1 and AP2, and connects to the access point by collecting and utilizing the corresponding access information between access information AI1 and AI2, thereby establishing a wireless link (wireless link WL1 or wireless link WL2) between the mobile device 130 and the appliance 100 (block 208). Preferably, the selection of the access point and the activation of the corresponding wireless link are managed by the service application APP itself, so that the user does not need to perform laborious and time-consuming operations. Alternatively, the selection of the access point and the activation of the corresponding wireless link can be performed by the mobile device 130 under the direct control of the user.

[0088] At this time, data communication between the mobile device 130 and the electrical appliance 100 is achieved through the pre-set wireless link WL1 or WL2.

[0089] According to an embodiment of the present invention, once an access point AP1 or AP2 is selected and the corresponding wireless link WL1 or WL2 is set, the communication unit CU2 or CU1 (block 210) that has another (e.g., unselected) access point AP2 or AP1 is deactivated.

[0090] At this time, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the network communication unit 122 of the appliance 100 uses the already set wireless link WL1 or WL2 to send to the mobile device 130 a list (box 212) of Wi-Fi Internet access points (including Internet access points IAP set by the router device 110) seen by the network communication unit 122.

[0091] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the mobile device 130 displays available Wi-Fi Internet access points (including Internet Access Points (IAPs) set up by the router device 110) as seen by the network communication unit 122 of the appliance 100 by using a list received from the network communication unit 122 (box 214).

[0092] At this time, according to an embodiment of the present invention, and preferably using a service application APP, the user of the mobile device 130 can select an Internet access point IAP and cause the wireless credentials WC (e.g., SSID and password) for accessing the Internet access point IAP to the appliance 100 via the already configured wireless link WL1 or WL2 (box 216).

[0093] Then, according to an embodiment of the invention, the network communication unit 122 of the appliance 100 establishes a Wi-Fi link WFL (block 218) between the appliance 100 and the Internet access point IAP by activating the third communication unit CU3 and connecting to the Internet access point IAP using the received wireless credentials WC. In this way, the appliance 100 is now able to access the Internet 115.

[0094] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the appliance 100 advantageously stores the received wireless credentials WC (box 220) for future connection to an Internet access point (IAP).

[0095] According to an embodiment of the present invention, and preferably using a service application APP, the mobile device 130 provides the appliance 100 with a specific pointer PT of the server 120 (box 222) using an already set wireless link WL1 or WL2.

[0096] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the network communication unit 122 of the appliance 100 uses the received pointer PT to determine the Internet address of the server 120, and (via the Internet 115) requests the server access information SAI (e.g., security key) (box 224) for accessing the server 120 from the portal associated with the service environment SE.

[0097] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the network communication unit 122 of the appliance 100 (via the Internet 115) receives the requested server access information SAI (box 226) from the portal website.

[0098] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the network communication unit 122 of the appliance 100 connects to the server 120 (box 228) using the received server access information SAI, and one or more of, for example, the MAC address of the appliance 100, the PNC-ELC of the appliance 100, and the serial number of the appliance 100.

[0099] Then, according to an embodiment of the present invention, and preferably through a service application APP, the mobile device 130 requests to shut down the already set wireless link WL1 or WL2, thereby disabling the first communication unit CU1 and the second communication unit CU2 (box 230).

[0100] Now, appliance 100 connects to server 120 and enables data communication between appliance 100 and server 120. In this way, appliance 100 is able to interact with the service environment SE implemented by server 120.

[0101] For example, a user can register for Appliance100 in the Service Environment SE by linking Appliance100 to his / her personal user account through the service application APP:

[0102] - Identifiers of appliance 100 (e.g., including one or more of appliance 100's MAC address, appliance 100's PNC-ELC, and appliance 100's serial number), and

[0103] - Appliance purchase information data (e.g., the purchase date of appliance 100).

[0104] Once appliance 100 is registered in the service environment SE, appliance 100 can benefit from customized services provided by the service environment SE, such as receiving new firmware updates and / or additional configurations specifically tailored for appliance 100 from server 120.

[0105] Naturally, to meet local and specific requirements, those skilled in the art can apply numerous logical and / or physical modifications and alterations to the above-described solutions. More specifically, while the invention has been described with a degree of specificity toward its preferred embodiments, it should be understood that various omissions, substitutions, and changes in form and detail, as well as other embodiments, are possible. In particular, different embodiments of the invention can be practiced even without the specific details set forth in the foregoing description to provide a more thorough understanding thereof; rather, well-known features may have been omitted or simplified so as not to obscure the description with unnecessary detail. Furthermore, it is expressly desired that specific elements and / or method steps described in connection with any of the disclosed embodiments of the invention can be incorporated into other embodiments.

Claims

1. A method for connecting an electrical appliance (100) to an external server (120) connected to the Internet, the method comprising: A first appliance access point (AP1) is set up using the first wireless communication unit (CU1) of the appliance (100), and a second appliance access point (AP2) is set up using the second wireless communication unit (CU2) of the appliance (100). The first appliance access point (AP1) allows wireless communication with the appliance (100) using a first wireless technology, and the second appliance access point (AP2) allows wireless communication with the appliance (100) using a second wireless technology, so that the first appliance access point (AP1) and the second appliance access point (AP2) are both active at the same time. The first wireless technology includes Wi-Fi technology, and the second wireless technology is different from the first wireless technology. The first wireless communication unit (CU1) broadcasts first access information for accessing the first electrical access point (AP1); The second wireless communication unit (CU2) broadcasts second access information for accessing the second electrical access point (AP2); A wireless link (WL1; WL2) is established between the mobile device (130) and an appliance access point selected from the first appliance access point (AP1) and the second appliance access point (AP2). Using the appliance (100), a credential is received from the mobile device (130) via the wireless link (WL1; WL2), the credential allowing wireless communication between the appliance (100) and an Internet access point (IAP); The appliance (100) connects to the Internet access point (IAP) using the aforementioned credentials; and The appliance (100) is connected to the external server (120) via the Internet Access Point (IAP).

2. The method as described in claim 1, wherein, The second wireless technology includes one of the following: Bluetooth technology; Near field communication technology; Radio sub-Giga technology; ZigBee technology; Optical communication technology.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: Before setting the first appliance access point (AP1) and the second appliance access point (AP2), the first wireless communication unit (CU1) and the second wireless communication unit (CU2) are activated by the appliance (100).

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising: After the wireless link (WL1; WL2) is set between the mobile device (130) and the selected appliance access point, the appliance (100) disables the wireless communication units of the first wireless communication unit (CU1) and the second wireless communication unit (CU2) other than the wireless communication unit that is set with the selected appliance access point.

5. The method as described in claim 3 or 4, wherein, The appliance (100) further includes a third wireless communication unit (CU3), wherein connecting the appliance (100) to the Internet access point (IAP) includes activating the third wireless communication unit (CU3) to establish a Wi-Fi link (WFL) between the appliance (100) and the Internet access point (IAP).

6. The method of claim 3, further comprising: After the appliance (100) is connected to the Internet Access Point (IAP), both the first wireless communication unit (CU1) and the second wireless communication unit (CU2) are deactivated by the appliance (100).

7. The method of claim 3, wherein, Setting up the wireless link (WL1; WL2) between the mobile device (130) and the selected appliance access point includes: The mobile device (130) collects access information selected from the first access information and the second access information; and The mobile device (130) uses the selected access information to access the selected electrical appliance access point.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein: The first access information includes a first name identifying the first appliance access point (AP1); and The second access information includes a second name that identifies the second appliance access point (AP2).

9. The method of claim 8, wherein, Each of the first access information and the second access information further includes the same identifier that explicitly identifies the appliance (100).

10. The method of claim 9, wherein, The identifier includes the MAC address associated with the appliance (100).

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4 and 6 to 10, wherein, The Internet Access Point (IAP) is set by a router device (110) outside the appliance (100).

12. An electrical appliance (100) comprising at least a first wireless communication unit (CU1) and a second wireless communication unit (CU2), the appliance (100) being configured to connect to an external server (120) by the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein, The first wireless communication unit (CU1) is configured to be activated to set the first appliance access point (AP1), and the second wireless communication unit (CU2) is configured to be activated to set the second appliance access point (AP2).

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