Household Appliance GUI Optical Data Transfer via Mobile Camera
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Solution Overview
Problem
Household appliances' graphical user interfaces (GUIs) are limited in their ability to provide comprehensive information to users or service technicians, as they can only display a limited amount of information at a time.
Innovation Solution
A method for exchanging information between a household appliance and a mobile device using optical information, where the mobile device captures and processes optical information from the appliance's GUI, allowing for more complex and comprehensive information transfer through alignment markers and error correction schemes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If a limited GUI at the household appliance is used to display information, then the device complexity is reduced, but the quantity of information that can be provided to the user is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a mobile device as an intermediary between the household appliance and the user. The appliance's limited GUI provides optical information (display data), which the mobile device captures via camera, processes, and presents in an enhanced format. This mediator enables comprehensive information transfer without requiring the appliance itself to have complex display capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates an optical copy of the information displayed on the appliance's GUI by capturing it with the mobile device's camera. This optical copy is then processed and reconstructed into a more comprehensive information message on the mobile device's user interface, effectively copying and enhancing the original information without adding complexity to the appliance.
2Loss of information
If optical information is captured by a camera at the mobile device, then comprehensive information can be transferred, but alignment precision is required between the mobile device and household appliance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs markers with distinct visual characteristics (color changes, patterns, or specific optical properties) on the appliance's GUI to facilitate automatic alignment detection. These markers enable the mobile device's camera system to identify and align with the correct viewing area automatically, reducing the manual alignment precision requirement while ensuring accurate information capture.
3Ease of manufacture
If a simple GUI is used at the household appliance, then ease of manufacture is improved, but the ability to provide comprehensive operational information and warnings is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The mobile device serves as an intermediary that compensates for the appliance's simple GUI. The appliance only needs to provide basic optical display capabilities, while the mobile device handles the complex information processing, error correction decoding, and comprehensive information presentation, thereby maintaining manufacturing simplicity while achieving high information capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The mobile device performs multiple functions: capturing optical information from the appliance, processing and decoding error-corrected data, aligning with the appliance's GUI, and presenting comprehensive information to the user. This multi-functional approach allows the appliance to remain simple while the mobile device handles all complex information management tasks.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables the transfer of detailed information such as error codes, warnings, and usage statistics from the appliance to the mobile device, facilitating troubleshooting and improving user understanding of complex data displayed in a coded manner.
Implementation Method 1
receiving optical information at the mobile device by capturing said optical information provided at the household appliance by a camera of the mobile device
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a method for exchanging information between a household appliance (1) and a mobile device (2), the method comprising the steps of: - providing optical information at a graphical user interface (3) of the household appliance (1) (S10); - receiving optical information at the mobile device (2) by capturing said optical information provided at the household appliance (1) by a camera (6) of the mobile device (2) (S12); - processing said received optical information at the mobile device (1) in order to derive an information message included in said received optical information (S13); - providing said information message or information associated with said information message at a user interface of the mobile device (2) (S14), wherein said optical information comprise a sequence of digitally coded information which is provided based on a frame structure comprising multiple time slots in which data segments of the digitally coded information are provided.