Home appliance communication terminal, home appliance communication system, home appliance communication method, and program

Abstract

To improve user convenience when operating a plurality of home appliances.SOLUTION: A home appliance communication terminal 6 includes a server communication unit 600 that communicates with a server 2 connected to a wide area network, a data processing unit 601 that converts request data received by the server communication unit 600 into request data in a format compatible with the home appliance 4 when the request data indicates a request for an operation on the home appliance 4, and a home appliance communication unit 602 that is configured to perform synchronous communication with each of the multiple home appliances and transmits the request data converted by the data processing unit 601 to the home appliance 4.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a home appliance communication terminal, a home appliance communication system, a home appliance communication method, and a program. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, a system has become well known in which home appliances are connected to a cloud server via the Internet so that they can communicate with each other, and the home appliances can be remotely controlled using a dedicated application program (hereinafter simply referred to as an "app") installed on an operating device such as a smartphone or tablet (for example, Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2016-111564 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In this type of conventional system, when a user operates multiple home appliances using the above-mentioned app, request messages indicating operation requests for each home appliance are sent sequentially from the operating terminal and delivered sequentially to each home appliance via the cloud server. Each home appliance sends a response message indicating the operation results, etc. in response to the received request message to the cloud server, and the cloud server sends the received response message to the operating terminal. The app on the operating terminal notifies the user by displaying the operation results, etc. indicated in the response message received from each home appliance via the cloud server.

[0005] As described above, in the conventional system, when a user operates multiple home appliances via an app on an operating terminal, a separate request message is sent from the operating terminal for each home appliance. This means that it takes time for all target home appliances to complete receiving the request message, and as a result, it takes time for the user to check the operation results of all the home appliances that the user operated, resulting in a problem of lack of convenience.

[0006] It is also possible to consider a specification in which a message summarizing user operations on multiple home appliances is sent from the operation terminal to the cloud server. However, even with this specification, the cloud server is forced to send a request message to each home appliance individually, which is expected to reduce the time only slightly and does not go far enough to solve the above problem.

[0007] The present disclosure has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a home appliance communication terminal, a home appliance communication system, a home appliance communication method, and a program that can improve user convenience when operating multiple home appliances. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] In order to achieve the above object, a home appliance communication terminal according to the present disclosure includes: A home appliance communication terminal that mediates communication between a plurality of connected home appliances and a server connected to a wide area network, a server communication means for communicating with the server; data processing means for converting the request data received by the server communication means into request data in a format compatible with the home appliance when the request data indicates a request for an operation on the home appliance; The home appliance communication unit is configured to perform synchronous communication with each of the plurality of home appliances, and transmits the request data converted by the data processing unit to the home appliance. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] According to the present disclosure, it is possible to improve the convenience for a user when operating a plurality of home appliances. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a home appliance operation system according to an embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a server according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of an operation terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a home electronics communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 5] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a home electronics communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 6] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of request data stored in a request message in this embodiment. [Figure 7] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of request data in a format compatible with home appliances in this embodiment. [Figure 8] 1 is a flowchart showing the operation of a home electronics communication terminal according to the present embodiment. [Figure 9] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a communication sequence of a home appliance operation system according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a home appliance communication terminal according to a first modification of the present embodiment. [Figure 11] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a batch operation conversion table according to a first modification of the present embodiment. [Figure 12] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a communication sequence of a home appliance operation system according to a first modification of the present embodiment. [Figure 13] FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a home appliance communication terminal according to a second modification of the present embodiment. [Figure 14] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of an operation information table according to a second modification of the present embodiment. [Figure 15] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a communication sequence of a home appliance operation system according to a second modification of the present embodiment. [Figure 16] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a communication sequence of a home appliance operation system according to a third modification of the present embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0011] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0012] (Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a home appliance operation system 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The home appliance operation system 1 is an example of a home appliance communication system according to the present disclosure. The home appliance operation system 1 is a system that provides a user, who is a customer, with a remote control service for home appliances installed in the user's home. As shown in FIG. 1, the home appliance operation system 1 includes a server 2, an operation terminal 3 used by the user, home appliances 4a to 4c installed in home H, which is the user's home, a router 5, and a home appliance communication terminal 6.

[0013] <Server 2> The server 2 is an example of a server according to the present disclosure. The server 2 is a so-called cloud server, and is connected to a wide area network N such as the Internet. As shown in FIG. 2 , the server 2 includes, as its hardware configuration, a communication interface 20, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 21, a ROM (Read-Only Memory) 22, a RAM (Random-Access Memory) 23, and an auxiliary storage device 24. These components are connected to each other via a bus 25. The communication interface 20 is hardware for communicating with other devices via the wide area network N.

[0014] The CPU 21 is a processor that performs overall control of the server 2. The ROM 22 is a storage device that stores non-rewritable programs such as a BIOS (Basic Input / Output System). The RAM 23 is a storage device used as a work area for the CPU 21. The auxiliary storage device 24 is a storage device configured with a readable / writable non-volatile semiconductor memory, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), or the like. Examples of the readable / writable non-volatile semiconductor memory include an EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), and a flash memory. The auxiliary storage device 24 stores a server program including a program for realizing a remote control service, and data used when the server program is executed.

[0015] When the server 2 receives a request message transmitted from the operation terminal 3, indicating an operation request for all or some of the home appliances 4a to 4c or an information acquisition request, the server 2 transmits the received request message to the home appliance communication terminal 6 corresponding to the operation terminal 3. Information linking the information on the operation terminal 3 with the information on the home appliance communication terminal 6 is stored in the auxiliary storage device 24 of the server 2. Furthermore, when the server 2 receives a response message from the home appliance communication terminal 6 indicating a response to the operation request or acquisition request, the server 2 transmits the received response message to the operation terminal 3.

[0016] <Operation terminal 3> The operation terminal 3 is a smart device such as a smartphone or tablet terminal that is owned and used by a user. As shown in Fig. 3, the operation terminal 3 includes a display 30, an operation reception unit 31, a communication interface 32, a CPU 33, a ROM 34, a RAM 35, and an auxiliary storage device 36. These components are connected to each other via a bus 37. The display 30 includes a display device such as a liquid crystal display or an organic EL (Electroluminescence) display. Under the control of the CPU 33, the display 30 displays various screens and the like in response to user operations.

[0017] The operation reception unit 31 includes one or more input devices such as push buttons, a touch panel, a touch pad, etc., receives operation input from a user, and outputs a signal related to the received operation to the CPU 33. The communication interface 32 is hardware for communicating with devices such as the server 2 via the wide area network N. The CPU 33 is a processor that performs overall control of the operation terminal 3. The ROM 34 is a storage device that stores programs such as BIOS that do not need to be rewritten. The RAM 35 is a storage device used as a working area for the CPU 33.

[0018] The auxiliary storage device 36 is a storage device configured with a readable / writable nonvolatile semiconductor memory. Examples of the readable / writable nonvolatile semiconductor memory include an EPROM, an EEPROM, and a flash memory. The auxiliary storage device 36 stores various programs including home appliance operation apps, which are application programs for operating the home appliances 4a to 4c, and data used when these programs are executed.

[0019] The operation terminal 3 can acquire the home appliance operation app or an update program for updating the home appliance operation app via communication from the server 2 or other servers, terminals, etc. (not shown). These programs can also be stored and distributed on a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM, DVD, magneto-optical disk, USB memory, HDD, SSD (Solid-State Drive), or memory card. When such a recording medium is directly or indirectly attached to the operation terminal 3, the operation terminal 3 can read the home appliance operation app or the update program from the recording medium and install it on itself.

[0020] When the operation terminal 3 receives an operation request for the home appliances 4a to 4c from the user via the home appliance operation app, the operation terminal 3 transmits a request message storing request data indicating the operation request to the server 2. Furthermore, when the operation terminal 3 receives a request from the user via the home appliance operation app to acquire operation information, which is information indicating the operation states of the home appliances 4a to 4c, the operation terminal 3 transmits a request message storing request data indicating the acquisition request to the server 2. Furthermore, when the operation terminal 3 receives a response message from the server 2, the operation terminal 3 displays on the display 30 the operation result, operation information, etc., indicated in the received response message.

[0021] <Home appliances 4a~4c> The home appliances 4a to 4c are examples of home appliances according to the present disclosure. The home appliances 4a to 4c are home appliances known as IoT (Internet of Things) home appliances, information appliances, network appliances, smart home appliances, etc., and include, for example, air conditioners, lighting devices, refrigerators, televisions, electric blinds, IH (Induction Heating) cookers, water heaters, and electronic locks. The home appliances 4a to 4c may be the same model or different models. In the following description, when there is no particular need to distinguish between them, the home appliances 4a to 4c will be collectively referred to as home appliance 4 as appropriate.

[0022] <Router 5> The router 5 is a broadband router installed in the residence H. The router 5 transmits a communication message (i.e., a request message) received from the server 2 via the wide area network N to the home appliance communication terminal 6 by wireless communication or wired communication. The router 5 also transmits a communication message (i.e., a response message) received from the home appliance communication terminal 6 via wireless communication or wired communication to the server 2 via the wide area network N.

[0023] <Hardware configuration of home appliance communication terminal 6> The home appliance communication terminal 6 is an example of a home appliance communication terminal according to the present disclosure. The home appliance communication terminal 6 is installed in a house H and is a device that mediates communication between a plurality of home appliances 4 connected thereto and a device (i.e., the server 2) connected to the wide area network N. The home appliance communication terminal 6 converts request data included in a request message received from the server 2 via the router 5 into request data in a format compatible with the home appliance 4, and transmits the converted request data to the home appliance 4. The home appliance communication terminal 6 also converts response data received from the home appliance 4 into response data in a data format written in a human-readable format (in this embodiment, JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) format), and transmits the response message storing the converted data to the server 2 via the router 5.

[0024] As shown in Fig. 4, the home appliance communication terminal 6 has, as its hardware configuration, a first communication interface 60, a second communication interface 61, a CPU 62, a ROM 63, a RAM 64, and an auxiliary storage device 65. These components are connected to each other via a bus 66. The first communication interface 60 is hardware for connecting to the wide area network N via a router 5 and communicating with the server 2. The second communication interface 61 is hardware for wired communication with each home appliance 4. In this embodiment, the second communication interface 61 has 11 ports and can be communicatively connected to a maximum of 11 home appliances 4.

[0025] The CPU 62 is a processor that performs overall control of the home appliance communication terminal 6. The ROM 63 is a storage device that stores programs that do not need to be rewritten, such as a BIOS. The RAM 64 is a storage device used as a work area for the CPU 62. The auxiliary storage device 65 is a storage device that includes a readable / writable nonvolatile semiconductor memory, a HDD, or the like. Examples of the readable / writable nonvolatile semiconductor memory include an EPROM, an EEPROM, and a flash memory. The auxiliary storage device 65 stores a communication intermediation program that is a program for intermediating communication between the server 2 and the plurality of connected home appliances 4, and data that is used when the communication intermediation program is executed.

[0026] The home appliance communication terminal 6 can acquire the communication intermediation program or an update program for updating the communication intermediation program via communication from the server 2 or other servers, terminals, etc. (not shown). These programs can also be stored and distributed on computer-readable recording media such as CD-ROMs, DVDs, magneto-optical disks, USB memories, HDDs, SSDs, memory cards, etc. When such a recording medium is directly or indirectly attached to the home appliance communication terminal 6, the home appliance communication terminal 6 can read the communication intermediation program or update program from the recording medium and install it on itself.

[0027] <Functional configuration of home appliance communication terminal 6> As shown in FIG. 5 , the home appliance communication terminal 6 functionally includes a server communication unit 600, a data processing unit 601, and a home appliance communication unit 602. These functional units are realized by the CPU 62 of the home appliance communication terminal 6 executing the above-mentioned communication intermediation program stored in the auxiliary storage device 65. The server communication unit 600 is an example of a server communication means according to the present disclosure. The server communication unit 600 communicates with the server 2 via the router 5 and transmits and receives communication messages. For example, the server communication unit 600 receives a request message transmitted from the server 2. The server communication unit 600 notifies the data processing unit 601 that the request message has been received from the server 2. The server communication unit 600 also transmits a response message generated by the data processing unit 601 to the server 2.

[0028] The data processing unit 601 is an example of a data processing means according to the present disclosure. The data processing unit 601 extracts request data for the home appliance 4 from the request message received by the server communication unit 600, and converts the extracted request data into request data in a format compatible with the home appliance 4, i.e., request data that can be handled by the home appliance 4, using a data conversion table 650 corresponding to the home appliance 4. The data conversion table 650 is a data table that defines rules for converting request data from the operation terminal 3, which is stored in the request message, into request data in a format compatible with the home appliance 4. The data conversion table 650 is created in advance for each model of the home appliance 4 and stored in the auxiliary storage device 65. FIG. 6 shows an example of the request data (JSON format) stored in the request message, and FIG. 7 shows an example of the request data (binary format) in a format compatible with the home appliance 4.

[0029] The data processing unit 601 requests the home appliance communication unit 602 to transmit the request data converted as described above. Note that a user can request the same operation or different operations for multiple home appliances 4 via a home appliance operation app. For example, a user can request an ON operation for all of the home appliances 4a to 4c. In this case, the request message stores request data requesting an ON operation in a predetermined order for each home appliance 4. When the request message includes multiple pieces of request data in this way, the data processing unit 601 converts the multiple pieces of request data into request data for each home appliance 4 in sequence.

[0030] Furthermore, when response data is received from any one of the home appliances 4 via the home appliance communication unit 602, the data processing unit 601 converts the response data into response data in JSON format using the data conversion table 650 corresponding to the home appliance 4, and generates a response message in which the converted response data is stored. Then, the data processing unit 601 requests the server communication unit 600 to transmit the generated response message. Note that if the request message received from the server 2 includes multiple pieces of request data and the request data is sent to each of the multiple home appliances 4, the data processing unit 601 converts the response data received from each of the multiple home appliances 4 into response data in JSON format, and generates a response message in which the converted response data is stored.

[0031] The home appliance communication unit 602 is an example of a home appliance communication means according to the present disclosure. The home appliance communication unit 602 is configured to perform synchronous communication with each of a plurality of connected home appliances 4 (in this example, home appliances 4a to 4c), transmits request data converted by the data processing unit 601 to the corresponding home appliance 4, and receives response data from the home appliance 4.

[0032] <Operation of home appliance communication terminal 6> Next, the operation of the home appliance communication terminal 6 will be described with reference to FIG.

[0033] (Step S100) The home appliance communication terminal 6 determines whether or not a request message has been received from the server 2. If a request message has been received from the server 2 (Step S100; Yes), the operation of the home appliance communication terminal 6 proceeds to Step S101. If a request message has not been received from the server 2 (Step S100; No), the operation of the home appliance communication terminal 6 proceeds to Step S103.

[0034] (Step S101) The home appliance communication terminal 6 converts the request data stored in the received request message into request data in a format compatible with the home appliance 4, using the data conversion table 650 compatible with the home appliance 4. Thereafter, the operation of the home appliance communication terminal 6 proceeds to step S102.

[0035] (Step S102) The home appliance communication terminal 6 transmits the converted request data to the home appliance 4. After that, the operation of the home appliance communication terminal 6 returns to step S100.

[0036] (Step S103) The home appliance communication terminal 6 determines whether or not response data has been received from any home appliance 4. If response data has been received from any home appliance 4 (Step S103; Yes), the operation of the home appliance communication terminal 6 proceeds to Step S104. If response data has not been received from any home appliance 4 (Step S103; No), the operation of the home appliance communication terminal 6 returns to Step S100.

[0037] (Step S104) The home appliance communication terminal 6 converts the binary response data received from the home appliance 4 into JSON response data using the data conversion table 650 corresponding to the home appliance 4. Thereafter, the operation of the home appliance communication terminal 6 proceeds to step S105.

[0038] (Step S105) The home appliance communication terminal 6 generates a response message in which the converted response data is stored, and transmits the response message to the server 2. After that, the operation of the home appliance communication terminal 6 returns to step S100. As described above, when the request message received from the server 2 includes multiple pieces of request data and the request data is transmitted to multiple home appliances 4, the home appliance communication terminal 6 converts the response data received from each of the multiple home appliances 4 into response data in JSON format, and generates a response message in which each piece of converted response data is stored.

[0039] <Communication sequence of home appliance operation system 1> Next, a communication sequence in the overall operation of the home appliance operation system 1 will be described with reference to Fig. 9. Note that the following description will be given taking as an example a case where a user requests an ON operation for all of the home appliances 4a to 4c.

[0040] (Step S200) Using the home appliance operation app, the operation terminal 3 generates a request message that stores request data requesting an ON operation of the home appliance 4a, request data requesting an ON operation of the home appliance 4b, and request data requesting an ON operation of the home appliance 4c, and transmits the request message to the server 2.

[0041] (Step S201) The server 2 transmits the request message received from the operation terminal 3 to the home appliance communication terminal 6 corresponding to the operation terminal 3 .

[0042] (Step S202) The home appliance communication terminal 6 converts the request data for the home appliance 4a stored in the request message received from the server 2 into request data in a format compatible with the home appliance 4a using a data conversion table 650 corresponding to the home appliance 4a, and transmits the converted request data to the home appliance 4a.

[0043] (Step S203) The home appliance 4a executes an operation (ON operation in this example) according to the request data received from the home appliance communication terminal 6, and transmits response data to the home appliance communication terminal 6 indicating whether the operation has been completed successfully.

[0044] (Step S204) The home appliance communication terminal 6 converts the request data for the home appliance 4b stored in the request message received from the server 2 into request data in a format compatible with the home appliance 4b using a data conversion table 650 corresponding to the home appliance 4b, and transmits the converted request data to the home appliance 4b.

[0045] (Step S205) The home appliance 4b executes an operation (ON operation in this example) according to the request data received from the home appliance communication terminal 6, and transmits response data to the home appliance communication terminal 6 indicating whether the operation has been completed successfully.

[0046] (Step S206) The home appliance communication terminal 6 converts the request data for the home appliance 4c stored in the request message received from the server 2 into request data in a format compatible with the home appliance 4c using a data conversion table 650 corresponding to the home appliance 4c, and transmits the converted request data to the home appliance 4c.

[0047] (Step S207) The home appliance 4c executes an operation (ON operation in this example) according to the request data received from the home appliance communication terminal 6, and transmits response data to the home appliance communication terminal 6 indicating whether the operation has been completed successfully.

[0048] (Step S208) The home appliance communication terminal 6 converts the response data received from the home appliances 4a to 4c into response data in JSON format, and transmits to the server 2 a response message in which each of the converted response data is stored.

[0049] (Step S209) The server 2 transmits the response message received from the home appliance communication terminal 6 to the operation terminal 3 corresponding to the home appliance communication terminal 6 .

[0050] (Step S210) The operation terminal 3 displays on the display 30 the operation results of the home appliances 4a to 4c indicated in the response message received from the server 2.

[0051] As described above, according to the home appliance operation system 1 of the present embodiment, the home appliance communication terminal 6 is configured to be connected to multiple home appliances 4 and to mediate communication between these home appliances 4 and the server 2 connected to the wide area network N, so that request data for multiple home appliances 4 can be delivered by a single request message from the operation terminal 3 to the home appliance communication terminal 6 via the server 2. This improves responsiveness when operating multiple home appliances 4 compared to conventional systems, improving user convenience.

[0052] (Variation 1) A user may use a home appliance operation app to request a collective operation by specifying all home appliances 4, their models, etc., instead of specifying each home appliance 4 individually. FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a home appliance communication terminal 6a in this modification. The functional configuration of the home appliance communication terminal 6a differs from the functional configuration of the home appliance communication terminal 6 (see FIG. 5) in that a data processing unit 601a is provided instead of the data processing unit 601, but in other respects the configurations of the two are similar. The data processing unit 601a performs data processing using a collective operation conversion table 651 in addition to the data conversion table 650.

[0053] 11 , the collective operation conversion table 651 is a data table that associates a home appliance ID (identifier), which is information for identifying a home appliance 4, with the model of the home appliance 4 and the operation content of the home appliance corresponding to the collective operation (in this example, a collective ON / OFF operation), and is stored in the auxiliary storage device 65.

[0054] A communication sequence in the overall operation of the home appliance operation system 1 in this modification will be described with reference to Fig. 12. Note that the following description will be given taking as an example a case where the home appliance 4a is an air conditioner, the home appliance 4b is a lighting device, and the home appliance 4c is a refrigerator, and a user has requested a batch ON operation for all the home appliances 4.

[0055] (Step S300) Using the home appliance operation application, the operation terminal 3 generates a request message that stores request data for requesting a batch ON operation of all the home appliances 4, and transmits the request message to the server 2.

[0056] (Step S301) The server 2 transmits the request message received from the operation terminal 3 to the home appliance communication terminal 6 a corresponding to the operation terminal 3 .

[0057] (Step S302) The home appliance communication terminal 6a refers to the batch operation conversion table 651 to acquire the operation content (in this example, operation ON) corresponding to the home appliance 4a (in this example, an air conditioner), and generates request data in a format corresponding to the home appliance 4a based on the acquired operation content and the data conversion table 650 corresponding to the home appliance 4a, and transmits the request data to the home appliance 4a.

[0058] (Step S303) The home appliance 4a executes an operation (in this example, an operation to turn on the operation) according to the request data received from the home appliance communication terminal 6a, and transmits response data indicating whether the operation has been completed successfully to the home appliance communication terminal 6a.

[0059] (Step S304) The home appliance communication terminal 6a refers to the collective operation conversion table 651 to acquire the operation content (in this example, turning on) corresponding to the home appliance 4b (in this example, a lighting device), and generates request data in a format corresponding to the home appliance 4b based on the acquired operation content and the data conversion table 650 corresponding to the home appliance 4b, and transmits the request data to the home appliance 4b.

[0060] (Step S305) The home appliance 4b executes an operation (a lighting operation in this example) according to the request data received from the home appliance communication terminal 6a, and transmits response data indicating whether the operation has been completed successfully to the home appliance communication terminal 6a.

[0061] (Step S306) The home appliance communication terminal 6a transmits a response message containing the response data received from the home appliances 4a and 4b and converted into JSON format, and data indicating that the home appliance 4c (the refrigerator in this example) does not support the collective operation, to the server 2. Note that the home appliance communication terminal 6a does not transmit request data to the home appliance 4c because the home appliance 4c does not support the collective operation.

[0062] (Step S307) The server 2 transmits the response message received from the home appliance communication terminal 6a to the operation terminal 3 corresponding to the home appliance communication terminal 6a.

[0063] (Step S308) The operation terminal 3 displays on the display 30 the operation results of the home appliances 4a to 4c indicated in the response message received from the server 2.

[0064] As described above, the home appliance operation system 1 according to this modification is configured so that a user can use a home appliance operation app to request a batch operation of all home appliances 4 by specifying their models, etc. This eliminates the need to store individual request data corresponding to each home appliance 4 in a request message, reducing the data size of the request message and improving communication speed. Therefore, compared to conventional systems, responsiveness when operating multiple home appliances 4 is further improved, improving user convenience.

[0065] Note that the collective operation is not limited to the collective ON / OFF operation (see FIG. 11 ), and the home appliance communication terminal 6a can also support various arbitrarily set collective operation patterns. In this case, it is sufficient that a collective operation conversion table 651 corresponding to the collective operation is stored in the auxiliary storage device 65 of the home appliance communication terminal 6a. For example, a user uses a home appliance operation app to transmit information including the name of the collective operation, information indicating the home appliances 4 or models that are the targets of the collective operation, and conversion details for each home appliance 4 or each model from the operation terminal 3 via the server 2 to the home appliance communication terminal 6a. The home appliance communication terminal 6a generates a collective operation conversion table 651 corresponding to the collective operation from the received information and stores the table in the auxiliary storage device 65.

[0066] (Variation 2) 13 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of home appliance communication terminal 6b in Modification 2 of the present embodiment. The functional configuration of home appliance communication terminal 6b in this modification is different from the functional configuration of home appliance communication terminal 6 in the present embodiment (see FIG. 5) in that it includes a data processing unit 601b instead of data processing unit 601, but in other respects the configurations of the two are similar. In addition to performing the same processing as data processing unit 601, home appliance communication terminal 6b periodically (for example, every second) acquires operation information of each home appliance 4 from the home appliance 4 via home appliance communication unit 602 and stores the acquired operation information in operation information table 652.

[0067] The operation information table 652 is an example of an operation information storage means according to the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 14, the operation information table 652 is a data table that associates a home appliance ID, which is information for identifying a home appliance 4, with the model of the home appliance 4 and the latest operation information, and is stored in the auxiliary storage device 65. With reference to Fig. 15, a communication sequence in the overall operation of the home appliance operation system 1 in this modification will be described. Note that the following description will be given taking as an example a case where the home appliance 4a is an air conditioner, the home appliance 4b is a lighting device, and the home appliance 4c is a refrigerator, and the user has requested to obtain operation information of all the home appliances 4.

[0068] (Steps S400 to S406) The home appliance communication terminal 6b periodically transmits request data indicating a request to acquire operation information to each of the home appliances 4a to 4c, and receives response data transmitted from each of the home appliances 4a to 4c in response to the request data, the response data storing the operation information of the home appliance 4. The home appliance communication terminal 6b converts the operation information stored in each response data received from each of the home appliances 4a to 4c into operation information in JSON format using a data conversion table 650 corresponding to the home appliance 4, and stores the converted operation information in the operation information table 652.

[0069] (Step S407) When a user requests the acquisition of operation information of all home appliances 4, the operation terminal 3 uses the home appliance operation app to generate a request message containing request data requesting the acquisition of operation information of all home appliances 4, and transmits the message to the server 2.

[0070] (Step S408) The server 2 transmits the request message received from the operation terminal 3 to the home appliance communication terminal 6b corresponding to the operation terminal 3.

[0071] (Step S409) The home appliance communication terminal 6b reads out the operation information of each home appliance 4 stored in the operation information table 652, and transmits to the server 2 a response message in which the read operation information of each home appliance 4 is stored.

[0072] (Step S410) The server 2 transmits the response message received from the home appliance communication terminal 6b to the operation terminal 3 corresponding to the home appliance communication terminal 6b.

[0073] (Step S411) The operation terminal 3 displays on the display 30 the operation information of each home appliance 4 indicated in the response message received from the server 2.

[0074] As described above, in the home appliance operation system 1 of this modification, the home appliance communication terminal 6b manages the latest operation information of each home appliance 4 in the operation information table 652, and when request data stored in a request message received from the server 2 indicates a request to acquire operation information, the home appliance communication terminal 6b transmits a response message storing the operation information of the home appliance 4 stored in the operation information table 652 to the server 2. As a result, when the home appliance communication terminal 6b receives a request to acquire operation information, communication to acquire the operation information from the home appliance 4 is not necessary, and therefore responsiveness when acquiring operation information is improved compared to conventional methods, improving user convenience.

[0075] In this modification, the home appliance communication terminal 6b requests each home appliance 4 to transmit its own operation information. However, each home appliance 4 may be configured to voluntarily transmit its own operation information periodically (for example, every second) to the home appliance communication terminal 6b. In this case, the home appliance communication terminal 6b may transmit the latest operation information of each home appliance 4 to the operation terminal 3 via the server 2 at regular intervals (for example, every five minutes). In this way, the user can check the operation information of each home appliance 4 without requesting that the operation information of each home appliance 4 be acquired. Furthermore, when the number of connected home appliances 4 increases or decreases, the home appliance communication terminal 6b may notify the operation terminal 3 via the server 2 of this fact.

[0076] (Variation 3) In a configuration in which the home appliance communication terminal 6b periodically acquires operation information of each home appliance 4 and manages the latest acquired operation information of each home appliance 4 in the operation information table 652, as in variant example 2, when a user requests an operation of one of the home appliances 4, if the home appliance 4 is already in the same operating state as the requested operation, the home appliance communication terminal 6b may send a response message to the server 2 without sending request data to the home appliance 4.

[0077] A communication sequence in the overall operation of the home appliance operation system 1 in this modification will be described with reference to Fig. 16. Note that the following description will be given taking as an example a case where the home appliance 4a is an air conditioner, the home appliance 4b is a lighting device, and the home appliance 4c is a refrigerator, the contents of the current operation information table 652 are as shown in Fig. 14, and a user has requested a batch ON operation for all the home appliances 4.

[0078] (Step S500) Using the home appliance operation application, the operation terminal 3 generates a request message that stores request data for requesting a batch ON operation of all the home appliances 4, and transmits the request message to the server 2.

[0079] (Step S501) The server 2 transmits the request message received from the operation terminal 3 to the home appliance communication terminal 6b corresponding to the operation terminal 3.

[0080] (Step S502) The home appliance communication terminal 6b refers to the collective operation conversion table 651 to acquire operation details corresponding to each home appliance 4, and compares each acquired operation detail with the operation information of each home appliance 4 in the operation information table 652. If the two do not match, the home appliance communication terminal 6b transmits request data based on the operation details to the home appliance 4. In this example, the operation detail of the home appliance 4a (i.e., the air conditioner) is "operation ON," which matches the current operation information of the home appliance 4a, and the operation detail of the home appliance 4b (i.e., the lighting device) is "lighting," which matches the current operation information of the home appliance 4b. Furthermore, the home appliance 4c (i.e., the refrigerator) does not support collective operation. Therefore, the home appliance communication terminal 6b does not transmit request data to the home appliances 4a to 4c.

[0081] (Step S503) The home appliance communication terminal 6b transmits to the server 2 a response message that includes response data indicating that the operation of the home appliance 4a has been completed successfully, response data indicating that the operation of the home appliance 4b has been completed successfully, and data indicating that the home appliance 4c does not support batch operations.

[0082] (Step S504) The server 2 transmits the response message received from the home appliance communication terminal 6b to the operation terminal 3 corresponding to the home appliance communication terminal 6b.

[0083] (Step S505) The operation terminal 3 displays on the display 30 the operation results of the home appliances 4a to 4c indicated in the response message received from the server 2.

[0084] As described above, in the home appliance operation system 1 of this modification, the home appliance communication terminal 6b manages the latest operation information of each home appliance 4 in the operation information table 652. When request data stored in a request message received from the server 2 indicates a request for an operation on a home appliance 4, the home appliance communication terminal 6b compares the content of the requested operation with the operation information of the home appliance 4 stored in the operation information table 652. If the request data do not match, the home appliance communication terminal 6b converts the request data into request data in a format compatible with the home appliance 4 and transmits the converted request data to the home appliance 4. In other words, when a user requests an operation on one of the home appliances 4, if the home appliance 4 is already in the same operating state as the requested operation, the home appliance communication terminal 6b does not transmit the request data to the home appliance 4. This is expected to further improve responsiveness when operating the home appliance 4 compared to conventional systems, thereby further improving user convenience.

[0085] (Variation 4) The server 2 may voluntarily transmit a request message storing request data indicating an operation request or a request to acquire operation information to the home appliance communication terminal 6. For example, the server 2 may be configured to acquire operation information of each home appliance 4 via the home appliance communication terminal 6 at regular intervals (for example, every 5 minutes) and store the acquired operation information of each home appliance 4 in the auxiliary storage device 24. Furthermore, the server 2 may perform automatic control on a home appliance 4 designated in advance by a user.

[0086] (Variation 5) The data format of the request data included in the request message sent from the server 2 to the home appliance communication terminal 6 and the response data included in the response message sent from the home appliance communication terminal 6 to the server 2 is not limited to JSON, but may also be XML (Extensible Markup Language), YAML, etc.

[0087] (Variation 6) All or part of the functional units (see FIG. 5) of the home appliance communication terminal 6 may be realized by dedicated hardware, such as a single circuit, a composite circuit, a programmed processor, an ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit), an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), or a combination thereof.

[0088] The technical ideas according to the above-described modifications may be realized independently or in appropriate combination.

[0089] The present disclosure allows various embodiments and modifications without departing from the broad spirit and scope. Furthermore, the above-described embodiments are intended to explain the present disclosure and do not limit the scope of the present disclosure. That is, the scope of the present disclosure is defined by the claims, not the embodiments. Various modifications made within the scope of the claims and the meaning of equivalent disclosures are considered to be within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0090] Aspects of the present disclosure are noted below. (Appendix 1) A home appliance communication terminal that mediates communication between a plurality of connected home appliances and a server connected to a wide area network, a server communication means for communicating with the server; home appliance communication means for communicating with each of the plurality of home appliances; data processing means for converting the request data received by the server communication means into request data in a format compatible with the home appliance when the request data indicates a request for an operation on the home appliance; a home appliance communication means configured to perform synchronous communication with each of the plurality of home appliances and to transmit the request data converted by the data processing means to the home appliance; Consumer electronics communication terminal. (Appendix 2) When the request data indicates a request for a collective operation, the data processing means refers to a collective operation conversion table that associates the collective operation with the home appliances that are targets of the collective operation and operation details for the home appliances, acquires operation details for each home appliance that is the target of the collective operation indicated in the request data, generates request data in a format corresponding to each home appliance based on the acquired operation details for each home appliance, and transmits each generated request data to each home appliance via the home appliance communication means. 2. A consumer electronics communication terminal as set forth in appendix 1. (Appendix 3) further comprising an operation information storage means for storing operation information of each of the plurality of home appliances; The data processing means periodically acquiring operation information from each of the plurality of home appliances, and storing the acquired operation information of each home appliance in the operation information storage means; If the request data indicates a request to acquire operation information, the operation information of the home appliance stored in the operation information storage means is read, and the read operation information is transmitted to the server via the server communication means. 3. A home appliance communication terminal according to claim 1 or 2. (Appendix 4) When the request data indicates a request for an operation on the home appliance, the data processing means compares the content of the requested operation with the operation information of the home appliance stored in the operation information storage means, and when the two do not match, converts the request data into request data in a format compatible with the home appliance, and transmits the converted request data to the home appliance via the home appliance communication means. 4. A consumer electronics communication terminal as set forth in Appendix 3. (Appendix 5) A home appliance communication system comprising: a server connected to a wide area network; and a home appliance communication terminal that mediates communication between a plurality of connected home appliances and the server, The home appliance communication terminal includes: a server communication means for communicating with the server; data processing means for converting the request data received by the server communication means into request data in a format compatible with the home appliance when the request data indicates a request for an operation on the home appliance; a home appliance communication means configured to perform synchronous communication with each of the plurality of home appliances and to transmit the request data converted by the data processing means to the home appliance; Consumer electronics communication systems. (Appendix 6) When the request data indicates a request for a collective operation, the data processing means refers to a collective operation conversion table that associates the collective operation with the home appliances that are targets of the collective operation and operation details for the home appliances, acquires operation details for each home appliance that is the target of the collective operation indicated in the request data, generates request data in a format corresponding to each home appliance based on the acquired operation details for each home appliance, and transmits each generated request data to each home appliance via the home appliance communication means. 6. The home appliance communication system according to claim 5. (Appendix 7) The home appliance communication terminal includes: further comprising an operation information storage means for storing operation information of each of the plurality of home appliances; The data processing means periodically acquiring operation information from each of the plurality of home appliances, and storing the acquired operation information of each home appliance in the operation information storage means; If the request data indicates a request to acquire operation information, the operation information of the home appliance stored in the operation information storage means is read, and the read operation information is transmitted to the server via the server communication means. 7. A home appliance communication system according to claim 5 or 6. (Appendix 8) Each of the plurality of home appliances voluntarily transmits its own operation information to the home appliance communication terminal at a predetermined cycle. 8. The home appliance communication system according to claim 7. (Appendix 9) When the request data indicates a request for an operation on the home appliance, the data processing means compares the content of the requested operation with the operation information of the home appliance stored in the operation information storage means, and when the two do not match, converts the request data into request data in a format compatible with the home appliance, and transmits the converted request data to the home appliance via the home appliance communication means. 9. The home appliance communication system according to claim 7 or 8. (Appendix 10) a home appliance communication terminal connected to a plurality of home appliances and configured to perform synchronous communication with each of the plurality of home appliances, receiving request data from a server connected to a wide area network; If the request data indicates a request for an operation on a home appliance, converting the request data into request data in a format compatible with the home appliance; The converted request data is transmitted to the home appliance. Home appliance communication methods. (Appendix 11) A home appliance communication terminal that mediates communication between a plurality of connected home appliances and a server connected to a wide area network, a server communication means for communicating with the server; data processing means for converting the request data received by the server communication means into request data in a format compatible with the home appliance when the request data indicates a request for an operation on the home appliance; a home appliance communication unit configured to perform synchronous communication with each of the plurality of home appliances and to transmit the request data converted by the data processing unit to the home appliance; program. [Explanation of symbols]

[0091] 1 Home appliance operation system, 2 Server, 3 Operation terminal, 4, 4a to 4c Home appliances, 5 Router, 6, 6a, 6b Home appliance communication terminal, 20, 32 Communication interface, 21, 33, 62 CPU, 22, 34, 63 ROM, 23, 35, 64 RAM, 24, 36, 65 Auxiliary storage device, 25, 37, 66 Bus, 30 Display, 31 Operation reception unit, 60 First communication interface, 61 Second communication interface, 600 Server communication unit, 601, 601a, 601b Data processing unit, 602 Home appliance communication unit, 650 Data conversion table, 651 Batch operation conversion table, 652 Operation information table

Claims

1. A home appliance communication terminal that mediates communication between a plurality of connected home appliances and a server connected to a wide area network, a server communication means for communicating with the server; data processing means for converting the request data received by the server communication means into request data in a format compatible with the home appliance when the request data indicates a request for an operation on the home appliance; a home appliance communication means configured to perform synchronous communication with each of the plurality of home appliances and to transmit the request data converted by the data processing means to the home appliance; Consumer electronics communication terminal.

2. When the request data indicates a request for a collective operation, the data processing means refers to a collective operation conversion table that associates the collective operation with the home appliances that are targets of the collective operation and operation details for the home appliances, acquires operation details for each home appliance that is the target of the collective operation indicated in the request data, generates request data in a format corresponding to each home appliance based on the acquired operation details for each home appliance, and transmits each generated request data to each home appliance via the home appliance communication means. The home electronics communication terminal according to claim 1 .

3. further comprising an operation information storage means for storing operation information of each of the plurality of home appliances; The data processing means periodically acquiring operation information from each of the plurality of home appliances, and storing the acquired operation information of each home appliance in the operation information storage means; If the request data indicates a request to acquire operation information, the operation information of the home appliance stored in the operation information storage means is read, and the read operation information is transmitted to the server via the server communication means. The home electronics communication terminal according to claim 1 or 2.

4. When the request data indicates a request for an operation on the home appliance, the data processing means compares the content of the requested operation with the operation information of the home appliance stored in the operation information storage means, and when the two do not match, converts the request data into request data in a format compatible with the home appliance, and transmits the converted request data to the home appliance via the home appliance communication means. The home electronics communication terminal according to claim 3.

5. A home appliance communication system comprising: a server connected to a wide area network; and a home appliance communication terminal that mediates communication between a plurality of connected home appliances and the server, The home appliance communication terminal includes: a server communication means for communicating with the server; data processing means for converting the request data received by the server communication means into request data in a format compatible with the home appliance when the request data indicates a request for an operation on the home appliance; a home appliance communication means configured to perform synchronous communication with each of the plurality of home appliances and to transmit the request data converted by the data processing means to the home appliance; Consumer electronics communication systems.

6. When the request data indicates a request for a collective operation, the data processing means refers to a collective operation conversion table that associates the collective operation with the home appliances that are targets of the collective operation and operation details for the home appliances, acquires operation details for each home appliance that is the target of the collective operation indicated in the request data, generates request data in a format corresponding to each home appliance based on the acquired operation details for each home appliance, and transmits each generated request data to each home appliance via the home appliance communication means. The home appliance communication system according to claim 5 .

7. The home appliance communication terminal includes: further comprising an operation information storage means for storing operation information of each of the plurality of home appliances; The data processing means periodically acquiring operation information from each of the plurality of home appliances, and storing the acquired operation information of each home appliance in the operation information storage means; If the request data indicates a request to acquire operation information, the operation information of the home appliance stored in the operation information storage means is read, and the read operation information is transmitted to the server via the server communication means. The home appliance communication system according to claim 5 or 6.

8. Each of the plurality of home appliances voluntarily transmits its own operation information to the home appliance communication terminal at a predetermined cycle. The home appliance communication system according to claim 7.

9. When the request data indicates a request for an operation on the home appliance, the data processing means compares the content of the requested operation with the operation information of the home appliance stored in the operation information storage means, and when the two do not match, converts the request data into request data in a format compatible with the home appliance, and transmits the converted request data to the home appliance via the home appliance communication means. The home appliance communication system according to claim 7.

10. a home appliance communication terminal connected to a plurality of home appliances and configured to perform synchronous communication with each of the plurality of home appliances, receiving request data from a server connected to a wide area network; If the request data indicates a request for an operation on a home appliance, converting the request data into request data in a format compatible with the home appliance; The converted request data is transmitted to the home appliance. Home appliance communication methods.

11. A home appliance communication terminal that mediates communication between a plurality of connected home appliances and a server connected to a wide area network, a server communication means for communicating with the server; data processing means for converting, when the request data received by the server communication means indicates a request for an operation on a home appliance, the request data into request data in a format compatible with the home appliance; a home appliance communication unit configured to perform synchronous communication with each of the plurality of home appliances and to transmit the request data converted by the data processing unit to the home appliance; program.

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