Program and Information Processing System

Abstract

To provide a terminal device and program, which offer improved convenience.SOLUTION: A terminal device according to an embodiment comprises a notification acquisition unit and a display control unit. The notification acquisition unit acquires notifications pertaining to multiple home appliances. The display control unit is capable of extracting a notification pertaining to one home appliance of the multiple home appliances from among the notifications acquired by the notification acquisition unit and displaying the extracted notification.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] An embodiment of the present invention comprises: Program and information processing system Regarding. [Background technology]

[0002] There are known terminal devices that notify users of the operating status of home appliances. However, there are expectations for further improvements in the convenience of such terminal devices. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2021-055947 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The problem to be solved by the present invention is to improve convenience. Program and information processing system The purpose of this project is to provide [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] The program of the embodiment is On the computer, Get notifications for multiple home appliances Let , A notification regarding a service related to one or more home appliances included in the plurality of home appliances is acquired, and as a first display mode, the acquired notifications regarding the plurality of home appliances and the notification regarding the service are displayed side by side, and as a second display mode, a notification regarding one home appliance included in the plurality of home appliances is extracted from the acquired notifications and displayed. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0006] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a home appliance system according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a home electric appliance according to the first embodiment. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a server according to the first embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of a device registration DB according to the first embodiment. [Diagram 5]FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of a monitoring service DB according to the first embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a terminal device according to the first embodiment. [Figure 7] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of notification accumulation information according to the first embodiment. [Figure 8] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of display content displayed on the terminal device of the first embodiment. [Figure 9] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of an individual operation screen on which the home electric appliance of the first embodiment can be operated. [Figure 10] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of an individual operation screen corresponding to a “menu” in the first embodiment. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of an individual operation screen corresponding to a "notification" in the first embodiment. [Figure 12] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state in which the entire pull-down menu related to "Notification" in the first embodiment is displayed. [Figure 13] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of an individual operation screen corresponding to a "notification" in the first embodiment. [Figure 14] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of an individual operation screen corresponding to a "notification" in the first embodiment. [Figure 15] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a screen corresponding to a "notification" in the first embodiment. [Figure 16] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing another example of the individual operation screen corresponding to the "notification" in the first embodiment. [Figure 17] 4 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing flow according to the first embodiment. [Figure 18] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of display content displayed on a terminal device according to the second embodiment. [Figure 19] FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a terminal device according to a third embodiment. [Figure 20] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of notification mode setting information according to the third embodiment. [Figure 21] FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a terminal device according to a fourth embodiment. [Figure 22] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of priority order information according to the fourth embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0007] Hereinafter, the home appliance system, the terminal device, and the program of the embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the same reference numerals are given to configurations having the same or similar functions. Then, the duplicated description of those configurations may be omitted. In this application, "based on XX" means "based on at least XX" and may include a case where it is based on another element in addition to XX. Also, "based on XX" is not limited to the case where XX is directly used, but may also include a case where it is based on XX that has been calculated or processed. In this application, "XX or YY" is not limited to either one of XX and YY, but may include both XX and YY. This also applies to the case where there are three or more selective elements. XX and YY are any element (for example, any information).

[0008] In this application, "remote control" is not limited to controlling a home appliance from outside the residence where the home appliance is located, but may also include controlling the home appliance using a terminal device inside the residence where the home appliance is located. In this application, "operation" broadly means changing the state of a home appliance. In addition, "database" will be abbreviated as "DB" below.

[0009] (First embodiment) <1. Overall configuration of home appliance system> 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a home appliance system 1 according to a first embodiment. The home appliance system 1 includes, for example, one or more home appliances 100, a server 200, and a terminal device 300. Note that one or more of the home appliances 100, the server 200, and the terminal device 300 may be provided as external components of the home appliance system 1. The network NW described below may be, for example, the Internet, a cellular network, a Wi-Fi network, a Low Power Wide Area (LPWA), a Wide Area Network (WAN), a Local Area Network (LAN), or other public lines or dedicated lines, depending on the situation.

[0010] The home appliance 100 is an electric appliance mainly used at home. The home appliance 100 is placed in the residence of a user U. The home appliance 100 is an air conditioner 100A, a refrigerator 100B, a cooking device 100C, a washing machine 100D, a vacuum cleaner, a rice cooker, an iron, etc., but is not limited to these. The home appliance 100 is connected to a network NW via a wireless router WR and a modem M installed in the residence of the user U. The home appliance 100 can communicate with a server 200 or a terminal device 300 via the network NW. In the following, for convenience of explanation, the air conditioner 100A may be referred to as an "air conditioner 100A" and the cooking device 100C may be referred to as an "oven range 100C".

[0011] The server 200 is a management server that manages the home appliance 100. The server 200 is composed of one or more server devices (e.g., cloud servers). The server 200 may be referred to as a "server system." The server 200 is capable of communicating with the home appliance 100 or the terminal device 300 via the network NW. The server 200 may include an information processing unit that performs edge computing or fog computing, such as an information processing unit included in a router in the network NW. The server 200 is not limited to a cloud server, and may be a computer in the residence of the user U, or a home router (e.g., a wireless router WR).

[0012] The terminal device 300 is a terminal device used by a user U of the home appliance 100. The terminal device 300 is, for example, a mobile terminal device such as a smartphone or a tablet terminal device. However, the terminal device 300 is not limited to a mobile terminal device and may be a personal computer or the like. The terminal device 300 has a display device 301 including a display screen 301a capable of displaying various information, and an input device 302 capable of receiving input from the user U. The input device 302 is, for example, a touch panel provided on the display screen 301a of the display device 301. The input device 302 may include a camera, a microphone, and the like provided in the terminal device 300.

[0013] An application program P is installed in the terminal device 300, and the functions described below are supported. The application program P is an application program for managing the home appliance 100. The application program P is used, for example, to remotely control or check the status of the home appliance 100, or to use services related to the home appliance 100. Hereinafter, application software that is started by executing the application program P is referred to as a "home appliance management application APP."

[0014] <2. Home appliances> First, the home appliance 100 will be described in detail. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the home appliance 100. The home appliance 100 includes an actuator 110, an operation unit 120, a state detection unit 130, a control unit 140, and a storage unit 180, for example.

[0015] Actuator 110 is a drive unit that operates the main functions of home appliance 100. For example, if home appliance 100 is a refrigerator, actuator 110 is a compressor that compresses a refrigerant, a blower that circulates cool air inside the refrigerator, etc. If home appliance 100 is a washing machine, actuator 110 is a motor that rotates a washing tub, etc.

[0016] The operation unit 120 is an operation button or a touch panel provided on the home appliance 100. The operation unit 120 accepts an operation by the user U regarding the home appliance 100. For example, the operation unit 120 accepts an operation by the user U to specify or change the setting contents of the home appliance 100. The setting contents of the home appliance 100 include one or more of control amounts related to various controls, target values, threshold values, timer settings, operation modes, and the like. Information indicating the setting contents of the home appliance 100 is stored in the storage unit 180 as setting information 181.

[0017] The state detection unit 130 and the control unit 140 are realized by executing a program by one or more hardware processors such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) mounted on the home appliance 100. However, some or all of these functional units may be realized by hardware such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), a PLD (Programmable Logic Device), or an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or may be realized by a combination of software and hardware.

[0018] The state detection unit 130 detects the state of the home appliance 100 based on the detection results of various sensors provided in the home appliance 100, the operating state of the actuator 110, or the setting information 181. The "state of the home appliance" is, for example, an operation mode during operation, a set value or a target value for operation, a detected value of a physical quantity, or the surrounding environment of the home appliance 100 (ambient temperature, etc.).

[0019] Furthermore, the state detection unit 130 detects a state change of the home appliance 100 based on the detection results of various sensors provided in the home appliance 100, the operating state of the actuator 110, or the like. A "state change of the home appliance" is, for example, the end of a certain operation mode or a movement occurring in the home appliance 100 (such as the opening and closing of the door of the refrigerator 100B). Note that in this application, the terms "state" and "state change" are not used strictly differently. A "state" and a "state change" are concepts that partially overlap. For this reason, an event may correspond to a "state", may correspond to a "state change", or may correspond to both a "state" and a "state change".

[0020] In this embodiment, the status detection unit 130 detects the presence or absence of a malfunction of the home appliance 100 as part of the status of the home appliance 100. In this application, a "malfunction" is not limited to a breakdown of the home appliance 100, and may also include a temporary abnormality that has occurred in the home appliance 100 (such as the door of the refrigerator 100B being open for a long time). The status detection unit 130 stores information indicating the detected malfunction in the storage unit 180 as malfunction information 182. When the malfunction in the home appliance 100 is resolved, the status detection unit 130 updates the malfunction information 182 and deletes the information indicating the malfunction.

[0021] The control unit 140 performs overall control of the home appliance 100. For example, the control unit 140 operates the home appliance 100 by controlling the actuator 110 based on the detection results of various sensors provided in the home appliance 100 and the setting information 181. The control unit 140 also executes various controls in response to requests from the server 200, responses to the server 200, and the like.

[0022] In this embodiment, when the state detection unit 130 detects a state change of the home appliance 100, the control unit 140 transmits a notification indicating the detected state change to the server 200. In addition, when the state detection unit 130 detects a malfunction of the home appliance 100, the control unit 140 transmits a notification indicating the detected malfunction to the server 200.

[0023] Furthermore, when the control unit 140 receives a confirmation request to confirm the status of the home appliance 100 from the server 200, the control unit 140 generates status information indicating the latest status of the home appliance 100 based on the detection result of the status detection unit 130, and transmits the generated status information to the server 200. When malfunction information 182 exists in the storage unit 180, the control unit 140 generates status information including the malfunction information 182, and transmits the generated status information to the server 200.

[0024] The storage unit 180 is a functional unit that stores various information. The storage unit 180 is realized by a combination of a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM), an SSD (Solid State Drive), etc. The storage unit 180 stores setting information 181 and defect information 182.

[0025] <3. Server> Next, the server 200 will be described in detail. 3 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of server 200. Server 200 includes, for example, a device registration unit 210, a home appliance management unit 220, a service provision unit 230, an administrative notice notification unit 240, and a storage unit 280.

[0026] The device registration unit 210, the home appliance management unit 220, the service provision unit 230, and the business notice notification unit 240 are realized by one or more hardware processors, such as a CPU, mounted on the server 200 executing a program. However, some or all of these functional units may be realized by hardware, such as an ASIC, a PLD, or an FPGA, or may be realized by a combination of software and hardware. These functional units may be provided separately in multiple server devices. Furthermore, one or more of these functional units may be provided in the terminal device 300 or the home appliance 100 instead of the server 200.

[0027] <3.1 Device Registration Section> The device registration unit 210 performs device registration of the home appliance 100 in response to a request from the terminal device 300 (i.e., an application from the user U). Device registration means associating a specific user U with the home appliance 100 used by the user U (i.e., the home appliance 100 to be remotely controlled). Device registration is performed, for example, by registering a correspondence between user information (e.g., a user ID) capable of identifying the user U and device information (e.g., a device ID) capable of identifying an individual home appliance 100. In this embodiment, the correspondence is registered in a device registration DB 281 stored in the storage unit 280. The device ID is, for example, a serial number of the home appliance 100. Note that device registration may be performed by associating a specific terminal device 300 used by the user U with the specific home appliance 100 instead of associating a specific user U with the specific home appliance 100.

[0028] 4 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the device registration DB 281. In the device registration DB 281, for example, a user ID, a device ID, a type (home appliance type) of the home appliance 100, a model of the home appliance 100, and a display name on the home appliance management application APP are registered in association with each other.

[0029] When the device registration unit 210 has performed device registration of the home appliance 100 in response to a request from the terminal device 300, the device registration unit 210 transmits information indicating the home appliance 100 for which device registration has been performed to the terminal device 300. The information indicating the home appliance 100 for which device registration has been performed is stored in the storage unit 380 of the terminal device 300 as device registration information 381, which will be described later.

[0030] When device registration of home appliance 100 is performed, when the contents of the device registration of home appliance 100 are changed, or when the device registration of home appliance 100 is deleted, device registration unit 210 transmits a notification indicating the contents to terminal device 300.

[0031] <3.2 Home appliance management department> The home appliance management unit 220 manages the home appliance 100 for which device registration has been performed. For example, when the home appliance management unit 220 receives a remote operation request for remotely controlling the home appliance 100 from the terminal device 300, the home appliance management unit 220 remotely controls the home appliance 100 by notifying the home appliance 100 of a control command corresponding to the received remote operation request.

[0032] Furthermore, when the home appliance management unit 220 receives a confirmation request from the terminal device 300 to confirm the state of the home appliance 100, it notifies the home appliance 100 of a request to transmit state information indicating the state of the home appliance 100. The home appliance management unit 220 transmits the state information received from the home appliance 100 to the terminal device 300. When the state information received from the home appliance 100 includes malfunction information 182 of the home appliance 100, the home appliance management unit 220 transmits the state information including the malfunction information 182 to the terminal device 300.

[0033] In this embodiment, when the home appliance management unit 220 receives a notification indicating a state change of the home appliance 100 from the home appliance 100, the home appliance management unit 220 transmits the notification indicating the state change of the home appliance 100 to the terminal device 300 as a notification related to the home appliance 100. When the home appliance management unit 220 receives a notification indicating a malfunction of the home appliance 100 from the home appliance 100, the home appliance management unit 220 transmits the notification indicating the malfunction of the home appliance 100 to the terminal device 300 as a notification related to the home appliance 100.

[0034] <3.3 Service Provision Department> The service providing unit 230 provides a service related to the home appliance 100 for which device registration has been performed. The service provided by the service providing unit 230 is, for example, a service related to the home appliance 100 and different from the operation (control) of the home appliance 100. In this embodiment, the service providing unit 230 includes an ingredient management unit 231, a recipe providing unit 232, a monitoring service providing unit 233, a reference information providing unit 234, and an advertisement information providing unit 235.

[0035] (Food Management Department) The ingredient management unit 231 provides an ingredient management service. The ingredient management service is a service for managing the inventory of ingredients present in the home of the user U (for example, the refrigerator 100B). In this embodiment, the ingredient management service is a service related to the refrigerator 100B (or the oven range 100C), and becomes available to the user U when the refrigerator 100B is registered. The ingredient management unit 231 accepts input of ingredients present in the home of the user U, and registers and manages the input ingredients in an inventory list DB 282 stored in the memory unit 280.

[0036] When a predetermined status change is detected in the food ingredient management service (for example, when the number of days remaining until the expiration date of a certain food falls below a predetermined number), the food ingredient management unit 231 transmits a notification regarding the food ingredient management service to the terminal device 300, notifying the terminal device 300 that the predetermined status change has been detected in the food ingredient management service. The "intake expiration date" is, for example, a use-by date or a best-before date.

[0037] (Recipe provided by) The recipe providing unit 232 provides a recipe service. The recipe service is a service related to proposing or searching for a recipe. In this embodiment, the recipe service is a service related to the refrigerator 100B or the oven range 100C, and becomes available to the user U when either the refrigerator 100B or the oven range 100C is registered. The recipe providing unit 232 proposes or searches for a recipe based on a recipe DB 283 stored in the storage unit 280.

[0038] (Monitoring Service Department) The watching service providing unit 233 provides a watching service. The watching service is a service for watching over a watching target using a home electric appliance 100 installed in the home of the user U or the home of a family member of the user U. The watching service providing unit 233 registers and manages the home electric appliance 100 used in the watching service, the time period during which the watching service is performed, and the like in a watching service DB 284 stored in the storage unit 280.

[0039] In this embodiment, the monitoring service watches over the person being watched over based on whether the door of the refrigerator 100B is opened or closed during a preset time period. Note that the monitoring service may watch over the person being watched over based on the ambient temperature of the refrigerator 100B, the operating state of the air conditioner 100A, etc., instead of / in addition to whether the door of the refrigerator 100B is opened or closed.

[0040] In this embodiment, when the door opening / closing of refrigerator 100B is detected, information indicating that the door opening / closing has been detected (hereinafter referred to as "door opening / closing information") is transmitted from refrigerator 100B to server 200. Monitoring service providing unit 233 provides a monitoring service based on the presence or absence of door opening / closing information received from refrigerator 100B. For example, when a predetermined state related to the monitoring service is detected (for example, when the door of refrigerator 100B has not been opened / closed during the above-mentioned predetermined time period), monitoring service providing unit 233 transmits to terminal device 300 a notification related to the monitoring service, indicating that the predetermined state related to the monitoring service has been detected.

[0041] 5 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the monitoring service DB 284. In the monitoring service DB 284, for example, whether the door of the refrigerator 100B has been opened or closed during a predetermined time period set in advance is registered in chronological order for the management ID and the device ID. That is, the monitoring service DB 284 includes not only the latest whether the door has been opened or closed, but also a history of whether the door has been opened or closed in the past. The monitoring service providing unit 233 can provide whether the door has been opened or closed in the form of a timeline.

[0042] (Reference Information Department) The reference information providing unit 234 provides a reference information service. The reference information service is information indicating reference information related to the home appliance 100 (for example, recommended ways of using the home appliance 100). The recommended ways of using the home appliance 100 include convenient ways of using the home appliance management application APP, and maintenance methods for making the home appliance 100 last longer. In this embodiment, the reference information providing unit 234 registers and manages the above-mentioned reference information in a reference information DB 285 stored in the storage unit 280.

[0043] (Advertising Information Department) The advertisement information providing unit 235 provides an advertisement information service. The advertisement information service is a service that provides advertisement information introducing the latest home electric appliances 100. In this embodiment, the advertisement information providing unit 235 registers and manages the above-mentioned advertisement information in the advertisement information DB 286 stored in the storage unit 280. The advertisement information providing unit 235 can acquire advertisement information corresponding to the home electric appliance 100 that is the advertisement target based on the advertisement information DB 286.

[0044] <3.4 Administrative Liaison and Notification Department> The administrative notice notification unit 240 transmits administrative notices related to the server 200 or the home appliance management application APP to the terminal device 300. The "administrative notice" is, for example, a notice informing the user of the timing of maintenance of the server 200 or the addition of a new function to the home appliance management application APP, and is different from a notice related to a specific home appliance 100 or a specific service. The administrative notice notification unit 240 is an example of a "notification unit."

[0045] <3.5 Storage section> The storage unit 280 is realized by a combination of a RAM, a ROM, an EEPROM, an SSD, etc. The storage unit 280 stores, for example, a device registration DB 281, an inventory list DB 282, a recipe DB 283, a monitoring service DB 284, a reference information DB 285, and an advertisement information DB 286.

[0046] <4. Terminal device> Next, the terminal device 300 will be described in detail. 6 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the terminal device 300. The terminal device 300 includes, for example, a registration acceptance unit 310, a notification acquisition unit 320, a display control unit 330, an operation acceptance unit 340, and a storage unit 380.

[0047] The registration acceptance unit 310, the notification acquisition unit 320, the display control unit 330, and the operation acceptance unit 340 are realized by one or more hardware processors, such as a CPU, mounted on the terminal device 300 executing the application program P. In other words, the registration acceptance unit 310, the notification acquisition unit 320, the display control unit 330, and the operation acceptance unit 340 are software function units included in the home appliance management application APP.

[0048] <4.1 Registration Reception> The registration acceptance unit 310 accepts an application for device registration of the home appliance 100 based on an operation of the user U on the operation acceptance unit 340. In this application, "accepting an application for registration" or "accepting registration" is not limited to a case where the registration process is completed by the terminal device 300, but may also include a case where an operation of the user U instructing device registration (i.e., an application for registration) is accepted by the terminal device 300 and the actual registration process is performed by the server 200. In this embodiment, the registration acceptance unit 310 accepts an application for registration of the home appliance 100 (hereinafter referred to as the "target home appliance 100") associated with the user ID used for login, when the user ID is used to log in to the home appliance management application APP.

[0049] <4.2 Notification acquisition part> The notification acquisition unit 320 acquires various notifications from the server 200. In this application, "acquire" is not limited to the case of actively acquiring by notifying a transmission request, but may also include the case of acquiring by receiving information transmitted from the server 200 without notifying a transmission request or the like. The notification acquisition unit 320 stores the acquired various notifications in the storage unit 380 as notification accumulation information 382.

[0050] In this embodiment, when an addition, a change in the contents of the device registration, or a deletion of the device registration of the home appliance 100 occurs, the notification acquisition unit 320 receives a notification indicating the addition, the change in the contents of the device registration, or the deletion of the device registration of the home appliance 100 from the server 200. Hereinafter, such a notification may be referred to as a "system notification."

[0051] In this embodiment, the notification acquisition unit 320 receives a notification related to the home appliance 100 from the server 200. For example, when a state change is detected in the home appliance 100, the notification acquisition unit 320 receives a notification indicating the state change of the home appliance 100 (i.e., a notification indicating that a state change has occurred) from the server 200. In addition, when a malfunction is detected in the home appliance 100, the notification acquisition unit 320 receives a notification indicating the malfunction of the home appliance 100 (i.e., a notification indicating that a malfunction has occurred) from the server 200.

[0052] In this embodiment, when there is a service (hereinafter referred to as a "home appliance-related service") related to one or more home appliances 100 for which device registration has been performed, the notification acquisition unit 320 receives a notification related to the home appliance-related service (for example, a notification related to the above-mentioned food management service or a notification related to the monitoring service) from the server 200.

[0053] In the present embodiment, the notification acquisition unit 320 receives, from the server 200, an administrative contact notification related to the server 200 or the home appliance management application APP generated by the administrative contact notification unit 240 of the server 200. Hereinafter, such an administrative contact notification may be simply referred to as a "contact notification" or an "office notification."

[0054] Furthermore, in this embodiment, when a predetermined condition is satisfied (for example, when the display control unit 330 causes a home screen DH, which will be described later, to be displayed), the notification acquisition unit 320 transmits to the server 200 a confirmation request for confirming the state of the home appliance 100. In this case, the notification acquisition unit 320 receives from the server 200 state information indicating the state of the home appliance 100 (state information including the defect information 182 when the home appliance 100 has a defect).

[0055] 7 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the notification accumulation information 382. In the notification accumulation information 382, ​​for each notification, a management ID, a type of related home appliance 100 or home appliance-related service, notification content, acquisition time of the notification (reception time), and information indicating whether the notification is in an unread state or a read state are stored in association with each other.

[0056] <4.3 Display control section> The display control unit 330 controls the display device 301 of the terminal device 300 to control the contents displayed on the display screen 301a of the display device 301. For example, the display control unit 330 causes the display screen 301a to display, in a predetermined manner, one or more first operation units B1 for operating the home appliance 100, one or more second operation units B2 for using home appliance-related services related to the home appliance 100, one or more third operation units B3 for viewing reference information related to the home appliance 100, one or more fourth operation units B4 for viewing recommended recipes, and one or more fifth operation units B5 for viewing advertisement information (see FIG. 8). Hereinafter, when the first to fifth operation units B1, B2, B3, B4, and B5 are not distinguished from each other, they are simply referred to as "operation units B". The display control unit 330 will be described in detail later.

[0057] <4.4 Operation reception section> The operation receiving unit 340 receives an operation by the user U performed on the input device 302 in relation to the home appliance management application APP. For example, the operation receiving unit 340 receives an operation by the user U on the operation unit B (first to fifth operation units B1, B2, B3, B4, B5) displayed on the display screen 301a. The operation receiving unit 340 transmits a signal corresponding to the operation unit B operated by the user U to the server 200. As a result, the server 200 performs a process corresponding to the operation unit B operated by the user U.

[0058] <4.5 Storage section> The storage unit 380 is realized by a combination of a RAM, a ROM, an EEPROM, an SSD, etc. The storage unit 380 stores an application program P, device registration information 381, and notification accumulation information 382. In the device registration information 381, a list of home electric appliances 100 for which device registration has been performed in association with a user ID of a user U who uses the terminal device 300 is registered.

[0059] <5. Display screen contents> Next, the display contents of the terminal device 300 will be described. The display contents described below are realized by the processing of the display control unit 330 unless otherwise specified. In the following description, "operation unit B" refers to an operation unit displayed on the display screen 301a, and is a function key to which a specific function is assigned in order to call that function. Operation unit B is, for example, an icon displayed on the display screen 301a.

[0060] Fig. 8 is a diagram showing an example of display contents displayed on the display screen 301a of the terminal device 300. The screen shown in Fig. 8 is, for example, a home screen (top screen) DH of the home appliance management application APP. The "home screen" is a screen that is displayed first as an operation screen of the home appliance management application APP. Note that the black frame indicated by the reference numeral 301a in Fig. 8 indicates the contents that are displayed on the display screen 301a of the display device 301 at one time.

[0061] In this embodiment, the display control unit 330 displays the first function area R1, the second function area R2, the third function area R3, the fourth function area R4, and the fifth function area R5 on the home screen DH. That is, the display control unit 330 displays the first to fifth function areas R1, R2, R3, R4, and R5 on one screen. In this application, "displaying on one screen" means "displaying on a continuous screen". That is, "displaying on one screen" is not limited to being displayed on a screen that can be viewed at one time (for example, on the display screen 301a), but may also include a case where a part of the screen that can be viewed at one time is hidden and then displayed in order by scrolling.

[0062] <5.1 First functional area> The first functional area R1 is a functional area corresponding to "Home Appliance Control (Home Appliance Operation)". The first functional area R1 includes one or more first operation units B1 for operating the home appliance 100. In this embodiment, a plurality of first operation units B1 for operating different home appliances 100 are displayed in the first functional area R1.

[0063] In the present application, the "operation unit for operating the home appliance 100" is not limited to an operation unit for directly operating the home appliance 100, and may be an operation unit for transitioning to an operation screen capable of operating the home appliance 100. In the present embodiment, when the first operation unit B1 is operated (e.g., tapped) by the user U, transition is made to an individual operation screen (an operation screen separate for each home appliance 100) of the home appliance 100 corresponding to the operated first operation unit B1.

[0064] In this embodiment, when the home appliance 100 is registered, the first operation unit B1 corresponding to the home appliance 100 for which the device registration has been performed is added to the first function area R1. That is, the number of the first operation units B1 corresponds to the number of the home appliances 100 for which the device registration has been performed.

[0065] FIG. 8 shows an example in which an "air conditioner 1," an "air conditioner 2," a "refrigerator," a "microwave oven," and a "washing machine" are registered as multiple home appliances 100, and as a result, multiple first operation units B1 are displayed, including a first operation unit B1a for operating "air conditioner 1," a first operation unit B1b for operating "air conditioner 2," a first operation unit B1c for operating "refrigerator," a first operation unit B1d for operating "microwave oven," and a first operation unit B1e for operating "washing machine."

[0066] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of an individual operation screen 410 on which the home appliance 100 can be operated. On the individual operation screen 410, one or more operation units 411 on which the home appliance 100 can be operated or a display unit 412 on which the state of the home appliance 100 is displayed are displayed. For example, FIG. 9 shows an individual operation screen 410 corresponding to an air conditioner 1. The individual operation screen 410 corresponding to the air conditioner 1 is displayed by transitioning from the home screen DH when, for example, the first operation unit B1a corresponding to "air conditioner 1" on the home screen DH is operated (for example, tapped). Note that FIG. 9 illustrates an example of the individual operation screen 410 corresponding to the air conditioner 1, but on the individual operation screen 410 corresponding to another type of home appliance 100, an operation unit 411 and a display unit 412 according to the type of the home appliance 100 are displayed.

[0067] Next, returning to Fig. 8, the special display M1 displayed in the first function area R1 will be described. In this embodiment, when the display control unit 330 causes the home screen DH to be displayed, the notification acquisition unit 320 transmits a confirmation request to the server 200 to confirm the latest status of the multiple home appliances 100 corresponding to the multiple operation units B1. Then, in response to the confirmation request, the notification acquisition unit 320 receives from the server 200 status information indicating the latest status of each home appliance 100 (status information including failure information 182 when the home appliance 100 has a failure).

[0068] When the display control unit 330 receives status information including malfunction information 182 for a certain home appliance 100 from the server 200 (i.e., when it obtains a notification regarding a malfunction of the home appliance 100), it displays a special display M1 indicating the presence of the malfunction, in association with a first operation unit B1 corresponding to the home appliance 100 having the malfunction among the multiple first operation units B1 displayed in the first functional area R1.

[0069] Fig. 8 shows an example in which a special display M1 is displayed on a first operation unit B1c for operating the refrigerator 100B. The special display M1 is, for example, a ▲ mark displayed in a corner of the first operation unit B1. However, the shape and display position of the special display M1 are not limited to the above example. For example, the special display M1 may be displayed overlapping the first operation unit B1, or may be displayed near the first operation unit B1.

[0070] <5.2 Second functional area> Returning to FIG. 8, the second functional area R2 will be described. The second functional area R2 is a functional area corresponding to home appliance related services. The second functional area R2 includes one or more second operation units B2 for using the home appliance related services. In this embodiment, the second functional area R2 displays a plurality of second operation units B2 each corresponding to a different home appliance related service.

[0071] In this application, the "operation unit for using the service" is not limited to an operation unit for directly using the service, but may be an operation unit for transitioning to an operation screen in which the service can be used. In this embodiment, when the second operation unit B2 is operated (e.g., tapped) by the user U, transition is made to an individual operation screen (an operation screen divided for each home appliance-related service) of the home appliance-related service corresponding to the operated second operation unit B2.

[0072] In this embodiment, when the home appliance 100 is registered and there is a home appliance-related service related to the home appliance 100 for which the device registration has been performed, a second operation unit B2 corresponding to the home appliance-related service is added to the second function area R2. On the other hand, when the home appliance 100 is registered and there is no home appliance-related service related to the home appliance 100 for which the device registration has been performed, the second operation unit B2 is not added. That is, the number of second operation units B2 corresponds to the number of home appliance-related services that become available to the user U by the home appliance 100 being registered.

[0073] FIG. 8 shows an example in which a "food management service," a "recipe service," and a "monitoring service" exist as home appliance-related services related to a registered home appliance 100 (refrigerator and oven range), and as a result, multiple second operation units B2 are displayed, including a second operation unit B2a for using the "food management service," a second operation unit B2b for using the "recipe service," and a second operation unit B2c for using the "monitoring service."

[0074] The "ingredients management service" is a service related to the refrigerator 100B (or the oven range 100C), and is a service provided by the ingredients management unit 231 of the server 200. The second operation unit B2a corresponding to the "ingredients management service" is added when the refrigerator 100B or the oven range 100C is registered as a device. By operating (e.g. tapping) the second operation unit B2a, an individual operation screen in which the "ingredients management service" can be used is displayed, transitioning from the home screen DH.

[0075] The "recipe service" is a service related to the refrigerator 100B or the oven range 100C, and is a service provided by the recipe providing unit 232 of the server 200. The second operation unit B2b corresponding to the "recipe service" is added when the refrigerator 100B or the oven range 100C is registered as a device. By operating (e.g. tapping) the second operation unit B2b, an individual operation screen in which the "recipe service" can be used is transitioned from the home screen DH and displayed.

[0076] The "monitoring service" is, for example, a service related to the refrigerator 100B, and is a service provided by the monitoring service providing unit 233 of the server 200. The second operation unit B2c corresponding to the "monitoring service" is added when the refrigerator 100B is registered as a device. By operating (for example, tapping) the second operation unit B2c, various settings related to the "monitoring service" are possible, and an individual operation screen capable of displaying the monitoring history (for example, the opening and closing of the door of the refrigerator 100B can be displayed in a timeline format) is displayed by transition from the home screen DH.

[0077] <5.3 Third functional area> Next, the third functional area R3 will be described. The third functional area R3 is a functional area corresponding to a "reference information service." The "reference information service" is a service provided by the reference information providing unit 234 of the server 200. The third functional area R3 includes one or more third operation units B3 for viewing reference information related to the home appliance 100. In this embodiment, a plurality of third operation units B3 each corresponding to a different piece of reference information are displayed in the third functional area R3.

[0078] <5.4 Fourth functional area> The fourth functional area R4 is a functional area corresponding to "recommended recipes (picked recipes)." "Recommended recipes" is a service provided by the recipe providing unit 232 of the server 200. The fourth functional area R4 includes one or more fourth operation units B4 for viewing recommended recipes. In this embodiment, the fourth functional area R4 displays multiple fourth operation units B4, each corresponding to a different recommended recipe.

[0079] <5.5 Fifth functional area> Next, the fifth functional area R5 will be described. The fifth functional area R5 is a functional area corresponding to "advertising information service". The "advertising information service" is a service provided by the advertising information providing unit 235 of the server 200. The fifth functional area R5 includes one or more fifth operation units B5 for viewing advertising information. In this embodiment, a plurality of fifth operation units B5 corresponding to different advertising information are displayed in the fifth functional area R5.

[0080] <5.6.Other operation parts> Next, other operation units will be described. An operation unit B6 corresponding to "menu" is displayed on the home screen DH. In this embodiment, when the operation unit B6 is operated (e.g., tapped) by the user U, the screen transitions to an individual operation screen 510 (see FIG. 10) corresponding to "menu."

[0081] In this embodiment, when there is one or more unread notifications among the notifications acquired by the notification acquisition unit 320 based on the notification accumulation information 382, ​​the display control unit 330 displays a special display M2 indicating that there is an unread notification on the home screen DH. The special display M2 is displayed, for example, near the operation unit B6 corresponding to "Menu."

[0082] <6. Notifications> Next, display regarding notifications will be described. 10 is a diagram showing an example of an individual operation screen 510 corresponding to "Menu." On the individual operation screen 510, a plurality of operation sections 511 corresponding to "Account Management," "Edit Home Appliance Settings," "Share Registered Home Appliances," "Notifications," "App Information," and "Demo Mode" are displayed.

[0083] In this embodiment, when there is one or more unread notifications among the notifications acquired by the notification acquisition unit 320, the display control unit 330 also displays a special display M2 indicating that there is an unread notification on the individual operation screen 510. The special display M2 is displayed, for example, near the operation unit 511 corresponding to "Announcement."

[0084] (First display mode of the first display unit) 11 is a diagram showing an example of an individual operation screen 520 corresponding to "Notice", and is a diagram showing a first display mode of the individual operation screen 520. The individual operation screen 520 is displayed by transitioning from the individual operation screen 510, for example, when the operation unit 111 corresponding to "Notice" is operated (for example, tapped) on the individual operation screen 510.

[0085] In this embodiment, the display control unit 330 can display a first display unit (first display screen, first area) S1 that displays notifications related to the home appliance 100 or home appliance-related services, a second display unit (second display screen, second area) S2 that displays business-related contact notifications, and an operation unit 521 for switching between the first display unit S1 and the second display unit S2. In the individual operation screen 520 shown in Fig. 11, the first display unit S1 and an operation unit 521 (hereinafter, for convenience, referred to as "switching operation unit 521") are displayed. The switching operation unit 521 will be described in detail later.

[0086] The first display unit S1 displays notifications N1 related to one or more (e.g., a plurality of) home appliances 100. These notifications N1 are notifications indicating a change in the state of the home appliance 100 acquired by the notification acquisition unit 320, notifications indicating a malfunction of the home appliance 100, and the like. When multiple home appliances 100 of different types are registered, these notifications N1 include notifications related to the multiple home appliances 100 of different types. In the example shown in FIG. 11, as notifications N1 related to the home appliances 100, a notification indicating that washing has been completed in the washing machine 100D, a notification indicating that cooking has stopped in the oven range 100C, or a notification indicating that refrigeration operation has started in the air conditioner 100A is displayed.

[0087] Furthermore, when there are one or more (e.g., multiple) home appliance-related services related to the home appliance 100 for which device registration has been performed, the first display unit S1 displays a notification N2 related to the home appliance-related service. These notifications N2 are notifications acquired by the notification acquisition unit 320, and are notifications indicating that a predetermined state or a predetermined state change has been detected in the home appliance-related service, etc. When there are multiple home appliance-related services of different types related to the one or more home appliances 100 for which device registration has been performed, these notifications N2 include notifications related to these multiple home appliance-related services of different types. In the example shown in FIG. 11, a notification indicating that the door of the refrigerator 100B has not been opened or closed during a time period preset in the monitoring service is displayed as the notification N2 related to the home appliance-related service.

[0088] The first display unit S1 also displays a notification N3 (system notification N3) that indicates addition of a device registration of the home electric appliance 100 acquired by the notification acquisition unit 320, a change in the contents of the device registration, deletion of the device registration, or the like.

[0089] As a first display mode on individual operation screen 520, display control unit 330 does not distinguish between notification N1 related to one or more (e.g., multiple) home appliances 100, notification N2 related to one or more (e.g., multiple) home appliance-related services, and system notification N3, and displays all of these notifications in order of acquisition time on first display unit S1. That is, display control unit 330 displays multiple notifications acquired by notification acquisition unit 320 in order as history list L. In this embodiment, display control unit 330 does not display contact notification N4, which will be described later, on first display unit S1.

[0090] When there is one or more unread notifications among the notifications displayed on the individual operation screen 520, the display control unit 330 makes the text of the unread notification bold and displays a special display M2 indicating the unread state as part of the notification. This is the same in the second display mode, the third display mode, and the second display unit S2 described later.

[0091] (Second display mode of the first display section) In this embodiment, when the operation of the user U to select one home appliance 100 from among the multiple home appliances 100 is accepted by the operation accepting unit 340, the display control unit 330 extracts and displays a notification N1 related to the one home appliance 100 from among the notifications acquired by the notification acquiring unit 320. The details of this will be described below.

[0092] In this embodiment, the display control unit 330 displays, for example, as a part of the first display unit S1, an operation unit 522 (hereinafter, for convenience, referred to as a "selection operation unit 522") for selecting the type of home appliance 100 or the type of home appliance-related service related to the notification to be extracted and displayed. The selection operation unit 522 is, for example, an operation unit having a pull-down menu PM. In FIG. 11, "All," which corresponds to all home appliances 100 and home appliance-related services, is selected on the selection operation unit 522.

[0093] Fig. 12 is a diagram showing a state in Fig. 11 where selection operation unit 522 is operated (e.g., tapped once) and all of pull-down menu PM is displayed. User U operates (e.g., taps) a portion of pull-down menu PM that corresponds to the type of home appliance 100 or the type of home appliance-related service that the user U wishes to extract and display. As a result, operation acceptance unit 340 accepts an operation by user U to select the type of home appliance 100 or the type of home appliance-related service that the user U wishes to extract and display. Note that selection operation unit 522 is not limited to the pull-down menu PM and may be another type of operation unit.

[0094] 13 is a diagram showing an example of individual operation screen 520 corresponding to "Notice", and is a diagram showing a second display mode of individual operation screen 520. When an operation of user U to select the type of home appliance 100 to be extracted and displayed is accepted by operation accepting unit 340, the second display mode is displayed by transition from the first display mode or a third display mode described later.

[0095] In this embodiment, the display control unit 330 has a filtering function for extracting a specific notification that matches a set condition. The display control unit 330 extracts a specific notification based on the contents included in the notification accumulation information 382, ​​for example.

[0096] In this embodiment, the display control unit 330 extracts and displays, as the second display mode on the individual operation screen 520, a notification N1 related to one home appliance 100 selected by an operation of the user U from among notifications N1 related to one or more (e.g., multiple) home appliances 100, notifications N2 related to one or more (e.g., multiple) home appliance-related services, and system notifications N3 displayed in the first display mode. The example shown in FIG. 13 is an example in which the microwave oven 100C is selected as the home appliance 100 to be extracted and displayed, and only notifications related to the microwave oven 100C are extracted and displayed on the first display unit S1. In the second display mode, when there are multiple notifications N1 related to the same home appliance 100, these notifications N1 are displayed in the first display unit S1 in the order of acquisition time.

[0097] (Third display mode of the first display section) In this embodiment, when the operation receiving unit 340 receives an operation by a user U to select one home appliance-related service from one or more (e.g., multiple) home appliances 100 and one or more (e.g., multiple) home appliance-related services, the display control unit 330 extracts and displays a notification N2 related to the home appliance-related service from the notifications acquired by the notification acquiring unit 320.

[0098] 14 is a diagram showing an example of individual operation screen 520 corresponding to "Notice", and is a diagram showing a third display mode of individual operation screen 520. The third display mode is displayed by transition from the first display mode or the second display mode when an operation of user U to select a type of home appliance related service to be extracted and displayed is accepted by operation accepting unit 340.

[0099] The display control unit 330 extracts and displays, as a third display mode on the individual operation screen 520, a notification N2 related to one home appliance-related service selected by an operation of the user U from among the notification N1 related to one or more (e.g., a plurality of) home appliances 100, the notification N2 related to one or more (e.g., a plurality of) home appliance-related services, and the system notification N3 displayed in the first display mode. The example shown in FIG. 15 is an example in which a "monitoring service" is selected as the home appliance-related service to be extracted and displayed, and only the notification related to the "monitoring service" is extracted and displayed on the first display unit S1. In the third display mode, when there are multiple notifications related to the same home appliance-related service, these notifications are arranged and displayed on the first display unit S1 in the order in which they were acquired.

[0100] 15 is a diagram showing an example of a screen 530 corresponding to "Notice." Screen 530 is displayed by transitioning from individual operation screen 520 when, for example, notification N1 related to home appliance 100, notification N2 related to a home appliance-related service, or system notification N3 is selected on individual operation screen 520 (for example, a notification to be displayed is tapped on individual operation screen 520). Screen 530 is a screen showing details of the content of the notification.

[0101] (Second display) 16 is a diagram showing another example of individual operation screen 520 corresponding to "Notice", and is a diagram showing second display unit S2. Display control unit 330 displays administrative contact notifications N4 on second display unit S2 in the order of acquisition time. In this embodiment, display control unit 330 does not display notification N1 related to home appliance 100, notification N2 related to home appliance-related services, and system notification N3 on second display unit S2. That is, display control unit 330 displays notifications N1, N2, N3 related to home appliances and home appliance-related services, etc., and administrative contact notifications N4 in separate areas.

[0102] The switching operation unit 521 is an operation unit that accepts an operation of a user U to select which of the first display unit S1 and the second display unit S2 is to be displayed. The first display unit S1 and the second display unit S2 can be switched to display either one of them based on an operation of the user U on the switching operation unit 521. That is, when the switching operation unit 521 is operated (e.g., tapped) while the first display unit S1 is displayed, the first display unit S1 is switched to the second display unit S2. On the other hand, when the switching operation unit 521 is operated (e.g., tapped) while the second display unit S2 is displayed, the second display unit S2 is switched to the first display unit S1. The switching operation unit 521 is, for example, a switching tab displayed on the individual operation screen 520. Note that the switching operation unit 521 is not limited to a switching tab, and may be an operation unit of another type.

[0103] <7.Other notifications> In this embodiment, when a notification related to the home appliance 100, a notification related to a home appliance-related service, a system notification, or a contact notification is received as a new notification while the home appliance management application APP is running, the display control unit 330 displays a pop-up notification indicating that the notification has been received on the currently displayed screen. Also, when a notification related to the home appliance 100, a notification related to a home appliance-related service, a system notification, or a contact notification is received as a new notification while the home appliance management application APP is not running, the operating system or another program installed in the terminal device 300 displays a push notification indicating that the notification has been received.

[0104] In this embodiment, the display control unit 330 arranges multiple notifications acquired by the notification acquisition unit 320 in chronological order on the first display unit S1 or the second display unit S2. That is, the display control unit 330 arranges and displays multiple notifications acquired by the notification acquisition unit 320 as a history list L. Then, when the upper limit number (e.g., 30) of the history list L is reached, the display control unit 330 deletes the oldest notification from the first display unit S1 or the second display unit S2 (that is, deletes it from the history list L) each time a new notification is acquired thereafter.

[0105] In this embodiment, the display control unit 330 changes the text of an unread notification into bold text and displays a special display M2 indicating that the notification is unread as part of the notification. These modified examples will be described in the third embodiment.

[0106] <8. Processing flow> Fig. 17 is a flowchart showing an example of a process flow. For convenience of explanation, in Fig. 17, a notification related to the home appliance 100 or a notification related to a home appliance-related service, and a system notification are collectively referred to as a "home appliance notification."

[0107] First, the notification acquisition unit 320 acquires a notification from the server 200 (S101). The notification acquisition unit 320 stores the acquired notification in the notification accumulation information 382. Next, the display control unit 330 classifies the acquired notification by filtering based on the notification accumulation information 382 as either a "home appliance notification" or an "office notification" (S102).

[0108] When the acquired notification is a notification related to the home appliance 100, a notification related to a home appliance-related service, or a system notification, the display control unit 330 classifies the notification as a "home appliance notification" (S103). When the first display unit S1 is displayed based on an operation by the user U, the display control unit 330 causes the first display unit S1 to display the notification classified as a "home appliance notification."

[0109] On the other hand, if the acquired notification is a secretariat notification, the display control unit 330 classifies it as a "secretariat notification" (S104). When the second display unit S2 is displayed based on the operation of the user U, the display control unit 330 causes the notification classified as the "secretariat notification" to be displayed on the second display unit S2.

[0110] When the acquired notification is a "home appliance notification," the display control unit 330 accepts an input (selection) from the user U indicating which home appliance 100 or home appliance-related service is to be extracted and displayed (S105). When the user U operates to select a specific home appliance 100 or a specific home appliance-related service, the display control unit 330 extracts the notification related to the selected specific home appliance 100 or specific home appliance-related service and displays it on the first display unit S1 (S106).

[0111] <9. Advantages> As a first comparative example, a case where notifications about each home appliance and administrative contact notifications are displayed on different individual operation screens is considered. In this case, the user U needs to check the notifications on different screens, which may be inconvenient.

[0112] As a second comparative example, consider a case where notifications regarding each home appliance and administrative contact notifications are listed and displayed without distinguishing between types, contents, etc. In this case, the user U needs to find the notification to be confirmed from among many saved notifications, which may be inconvenient.

[0113] Therefore, in this embodiment, the display control unit 330 can extract and display a notification N1 related to one of the home appliances 100 included in the plurality of home appliances 100 from among the notifications acquired by the notification acquisition unit 320. With this configuration, the notification N1 related to the home appliance 100 that the user U wants to check can be found more easily and reliably. This can improve the convenience for the user U.

[0114] In this embodiment, when the operation of the user U to select one home appliance 100 from among the multiple home appliances 100 is received by the operation receiving unit 340, the display control unit 330 extracts and displays a notification related to the one home appliance 100 from the notifications acquired by the notification acquiring unit 320. With this configuration, the user U can select the home appliance 100 for which the user U wants to check notifications, and can more easily and reliably find notifications related to the selected home appliance 100. This can further improve the convenience for the user U.

[0115] In this embodiment, the display control unit 330 displays notifications related to the multiple home appliances 100 acquired by the notification acquisition unit 320 side by side as a first display mode, and displays a notification related to the one home appliance 100 from the notifications acquired by the notification acquisition unit 320 as a second display mode. With this configuration, the user U can check notifications related to the multiple home appliances 100 all at once, which is highly convenient, and when the user U wants to check notifications related to a specific home appliance 100, the user U can check the notifications by narrowing down to notifications related to the specific home appliance 100. This can further improve the convenience for the user U.

[0116] In the present embodiment, the display control unit 330 displays, as the first display mode, notifications related to the multiple home appliances 100 and notifications related to home appliance-related services side by side, which are acquired by the notification acquisition unit 320. With such a configuration, the user U can check the notifications related to the multiple home appliances 100 and the notifications related to home appliance-related services together, which is highly convenient.

[0117] In the present embodiment, the display control unit 330 extracts and displays notifications related to home appliance-related services from notifications acquired by the notification acquisition unit 320 as the third display mode. With this configuration, notifications related to home appliance-related services that the user U wants to check can be found more easily and reliably. This can further improve the convenience for the user U.

[0118] In this embodiment, the notification acquisition unit 320 acquires a contact notification different from a notification related to a specific home appliance or a specific service from the server 200. The display control unit 330 displays the notification related to the multiple home appliances 100 and the contact notification in separate areas. With this configuration, the notification related to the multiple home appliances 100 and the contact notification are displayed in separate areas, making it easier to check each notification. This can further improve the convenience for the user U.

[0119] In this embodiment, the display control unit 330 switchably displays a first display unit S1 that displays notifications related to the multiple home appliances 100 and a second display unit S2 that displays the contact notification. With this configuration, notifications related to the multiple home appliances 100 and the contact notification are displayed in separate areas, and each display area can be made relatively large. This makes it easier to check each notification.

[0120] In this embodiment, when the display control unit 330 displays a plurality of first operation units B1 for operating each of the plurality of home appliances 100, and when a notification is acquired regarding a malfunction of one or more home appliances 100 included in the plurality of home appliances 100, a special display M1 indicating the presence of the malfunction is displayed on the first operation unit B1 corresponding to the home appliance 100 in which the malfunction has occurred among the plurality of first operation units B1. With this configuration, the user U can easily notice the malfunction of the home appliance 100 at an early stage without checking the individual operation screen 910 corresponding to the notice. This can further improve the convenience for the user U.

[0121] Second embodiment Next, a second embodiment will be described. The second embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that a special display indicating a change in the state of the home appliance 100 is displayed instead of / in addition to the special display M1 indicating a malfunction. Note that the configuration other than that described below is the same as that of the first embodiment.

[0122] 18 is a diagram showing an example of display contents displayed on the terminal device 300 of the second embodiment. In this embodiment, when the display control unit 330 displays the first operation unit B1 for operating the home appliance 100 and acquires a notification indicating a predetermined state or a predetermined state change related to a home appliance 100, the display control unit 330 displays a special display M10 indicating the presence of the predetermined state or the predetermined state change in association with the first operation unit B1 corresponding to the home appliance 100 in which the predetermined state or the predetermined state change exists, among the multiple first operation units B1.

[0123] Special display M10 indicating the existence of a specified state or a specified state change is, for example, special display M11 indicating the normal end of operation of home appliance 100 (or the completion of a particular operating mode), or special display M12 indicating the existence of an operation reservation setting for home appliance 100.

[0124] In addition, in this embodiment, when the display control unit 330 displays the second operation unit B2 for using a home appliance related service, if a notification is obtained indicating that a specified state or a specified state change exists regarding the home appliance related service, the display control unit 330 displays a special display M20 indicating the existence of the specified state or a specified state change, in association with the second operation unit B2 among the multiple second operation units B2 that corresponds to the home appliance related service in which the specified state or the specified state change exists.

[0125] The special display M20 indicating the existence of a predetermined state or a predetermined state change is, for example, a special display M21 indicating a state requiring attention at a first level, or a special display M22 indicating a state requiring attention at a second level higher than the first level. For example, in a foodstuff management service, the special display M21 is displayed when the number of days remaining until the expiration date of a certain food falls below a predetermined number. For example, in a monitoring service, the special display M22 is displayed when the door opening or closing of refrigerator 100B is not detected during a predetermined time period.

[0126] According to such a configuration, the user U can easily notice more information at an early stage without checking the individual operation screen 910 corresponding to the notice. This can further improve the convenience for the user U.

[0127] Third embodiment Next, a third embodiment will be described. The third embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that the notification mode of the notification is changed according to the importance of the notification. Note that the configuration other than that described below is the same as the first embodiment.

[0128] 19 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the terminal device 300 of the third embodiment. In the above-mentioned first embodiment, the display control unit 330 outputs a pop-up notification for all notifications acquired by the notification acquisition unit 320, displays the notifications in the history list L, and manages the unread state (for example, changes the display mode between the unread state and the read state). Instead, in this embodiment, the display control unit 330 changes the notification mode of the notification according to the importance of the notification based on the notification mode setting information 383 stored in the storage unit 380.

[0129] 20 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the notification mode setting information 383. In the notification mode setting information 383, for each type of notification, it is set whether or not to display a pop-up notification, whether or not to display in the history list L, and whether or not to manage an unread state (for example, change in the display mode between an unread state and a read state). Depending on a combination of these settings, the notification modes for notifications can be divided into, for example, the following three types (1) to (3).

[0130] (1) A notification with a relatively high level of importance is set as having a pop-up notification, being displayed in the history list L, and having unread status management. A notification with a relatively high level of importance is, for example, a notification related to a monitoring service. A notification related to a monitoring service is, for example, the detection result of the door opening and closing of refrigerator 100B during a specified time period. "With unread status management" means that an unread notification is highlighted or a special display M2 is displayed, for example.

[0131] (2) A notification of relatively medium importance is set as having a pop-up notification, being displayed in the history list L, and having no management of the unread state. A notification of relatively medium importance is, for example, a notification indicating a malfunction of the home appliance 100. "No management of the unread state" means that notifications of an unread state and notifications of a read state are displayed in the same manner.

[0132] (3) A notification with a relatively low level of importance is set as having a pop-up notification, not being displayed in the history list L, and not being managed as an unread state. A notification with a relatively low level of importance is, for example, a notification indicating a change in the status of home appliance 100. An example of a notification indicating a change in the status of home appliance 100 is the completion of washing in washing machine 100D.

[0133] According to this configuration, the notification mode differs depending on the importance of the notification. This makes it easier for the user U to notice important notifications. This can further improve convenience.

[0134] (Fourth embodiment) Next, a fourth embodiment will be described. The fourth embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that the display period in the history list L is changed according to the importance of the notification. Note that the configuration other than that described below is the same as the first embodiment.

[0135] 21 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the terminal device 300 of the fourth embodiment. In the above-mentioned first embodiment, the display control unit 330 deletes all notifications acquired by the notification acquisition unit 320 in order from the oldest notification under the same condition (for example, reaching the upper limit number of the history list L). Instead, in the present embodiment, the display control unit 330 deletes notifications from the history list L in order of decreasing importance based on the priority order information 384 stored in the storage unit 380 so that notifications with a higher importance are preferentially left in the history list L.

[0136] Fig. 22 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of priority order information 384. In priority order information 384, a priority for remaining in history list L is registered for each type of notification. In the example shown in Fig. 22, for example, a notification related to a "monitoring service" has the highest priority, a notification indicating a malfunction of home appliance 100 has the next highest priority, a notification related to a "ingredients management service" has the next highest priority, a system notification has the next highest priority, and a notification indicating a change in the state of home appliance 100 has the lowest priority.

[0137] In this embodiment, when the display control unit 330 acquires a new notification after the upper limit number of the history list L has been reached, the display control unit 330 deletes the oldest notification among the notifications that have been read. When the upper limit number of the history list L has been reached without any read notifications, the display control unit 330 leaves notifications with relatively high priority among the unread notifications based on the priority information 384, and deletes notifications with relatively low priority, starting from the oldest notification.

[0138] The priority order in the priority order information 384 may be set for each type of home appliance 100 or each type of home appliance-related service. That is, a notification regarding a specific home appliance 100 or a notification regarding a specific home appliance service may be given priority.

[0139] According to such a configuration, it is possible to reduce the possibility that an important notification will be overlooked by the user U. This makes it possible to further improve convenience.

[0140] Several embodiments have been described above. However, the embodiments are not limited to the above examples. For example, a plurality of the embodiments can be realized in combination with each other.

[0141] According to at least one of the embodiments described above, the terminal device includes a display control unit capable of extracting and displaying a notification related to one of the plurality of home appliances from notifications acquired by the notification acquisition unit. With such a configuration, it is possible to improve convenience.

[0142] Although some embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. These embodiments and their modifications are included in the scope of the invention and its equivalents described in the claims, as well as in the scope and spirit of the invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0143] 1...home appliance system, 100...home appliance, 200...server, 210...apparatus registration section, 220...home appliance management section, 230...service providing section, 300...terminal device, 310...registration acceptance section, 320...notification acquisition section, 330...display control section, 340...operation acceptance section.

Claims

1. A computer causes acquisition of notifications regarding a plurality of household electrical appliances, acquisition of notifications regarding services related to one or more of the household electrical appliances included in the plurality of household electrical appliances, as a first display mode, to display the acquired notifications regarding the plurality of household electrical appliances and the notifications regarding the services side by side, and as a second display mode, to extract and display a notification regarding one household electrical appliance included in the plurality of household electrical appliances from among the acquired notifications, a program.

2. The computer causes as a third display mode, to extract and display a notification regarding the service from among the acquired notifications, the program according to Claim 1.

3. A computer causes acquisition of notifications regarding a plurality of household electrical appliances, to extract and display a notification regarding one household electrical appliance included in the plurality of household electrical appliances from among the acquired notifications, acquisition of a contact notification different from a notification regarding a specific household electrical appliance or a specific service, to display the notifications regarding the plurality of household electrical appliances and the contact notification in a distinguished area, a program.

4. The computer causes switching between a first display unit for displaying notifications regarding the plurality of household electrical appliances and a second display unit for displaying the contact notification, the program according to Claim 3.

5. A computer causes acquisition of notifications regarding a plurality of household electrical appliances, to extract and display a notification regarding one household electrical appliance included in the plurality of household electrical appliances from among the acquired notifications, in a case where a plurality of operation units for operating each of the plurality of household electrical appliances are to be displayed, and when a notification regarding a malfunction of one or more of the household electrical appliances included in the plurality of household electrical appliances is acquired, to display a special display indicating the presence of the malfunction in association with the operation unit corresponding to the household electrical appliance having the malfunction among the plurality of operation units, a program.

6. A computer causes acquisition of notifications regarding a plurality of household electrical appliances, to extract and display a notification regarding one household electrical appliance included in the plurality of household electrical appliances from among the acquired notifications, In a case where a plurality of operation units for operating each of the plurality of home electric appliances are to be displayed, when a notification indicating the presence of a predetermined state or a predetermined state change regarding one or more home electric appliances included in the plurality of home electric appliances is acquired, a special display indicating the presence of the predetermined state or the predetermined state change is displayed in association with the operation unit corresponding to the home electric appliance in which the predetermined state or the predetermined state change exists among the plurality of operation units. Program.

7. The computer is caused to acquire a notification regarding a specific service related to one or more home electric appliances included in the plurality of home electric appliances, and based on a predetermined priority order, leave the notification regarding the specific service in a history display with priority over one or more notifications regarding the plurality of home electric appliances. The program according to any one of Claims 1 to 6.

8. A notification acquisition unit that acquires a notification regarding a plurality of home electric appliances and a notification regarding a service related to one or more home electric appliances included in the plurality of home electric appliances, as a first display mode, displays the notifications regarding the plurality of home electric appliances and the notifications regarding the service acquired by the notification acquisition unit side by side, and as a second display mode, extracts and displays a notification regarding one home electric appliance included in the plurality of home electric appliances from among the notifications acquired by the notification acquisition unit. Information processing system.

9. A notification acquisition unit that acquires a notification regarding a plurality of home electric appliances, and a display control unit capable of extracting and displaying a notification regarding one home electric appliance included in the plurality of home electric appliances from among the notifications acquired by the notification acquisition unit, comprising: the notification acquisition unit acquires a communication notification different from a notification regarding a specific home electric appliance or a specific service from a management server, and the display control unit displays the notification regarding the plurality of home electric appliances and the communication notification in a distinguishable area. Information processing system.

10. A notification acquisition unit that acquires a notification regarding a plurality of home electric appliances, and a display control unit capable of extracting and displaying a notification regarding one home electric appliance included in the plurality of home electric appliances from among the notifications acquired by the notification acquisition unit, comprising: When the display control unit displays a plurality of operation units for operating each of the plurality of home appliances, and when a notification regarding a defect in one or more home appliances included in the plurality of home appliances is acquired, a special display indicating the presence of the defect is displayed in association with the operation unit corresponding to the home appliance having the defect among the plurality of operation units. An information processing system. **Claim 11**: A notification acquisition unit that acquires notifications regarding a plurality of home appliances, a display control unit that extracts and displays a notification regarding one home appliance included in the plurality of home appliances from the notifications acquired by the notification acquisition unit, comprising: When the display control unit displays a plurality of operation units for operating each of the plurality of home appliances, and when a notification indicating the presence of a predetermined state or a predetermined state change regarding one or more home appliances included in the plurality of home appliances is acquired, a special display indicating the presence of the predetermined state or the predetermined state change is displayed in association with the operation unit corresponding to the home appliance in which the predetermined state or the predetermined state change exists among the plurality of operation units. An information processing system.

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