Appliance Communication Link Termination for Energy Savings
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Solution Overview
Problem
Household appliances consume excessive energy due to active communication connections with mobile devices, preventing them from entering standby mode, even when not in use, leading to inefficiencies in energy usage.
Innovation Solution
A method that establishes a communication connection between a household appliance and an external operating facility, which terminates the connection after a predetermined time of user inactivity, allowing the appliance to enter an energy-saving mode and reducing energy consumption by switching off unnecessary components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If an active communications connection is maintained between the household appliance and the mobile device, then the user can conveniently access and control the appliance remotely, but the energy consumption of the appliance increases and it cannot enter standby mode
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic connection management where the communications connection is automatically established when the application is started and automatically terminated after a predetermined time interval of user inactivity. This dynamic adjustment allows the system to adapt between maintaining connectivity for user convenience and terminating connectivity to save energy, resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and energy consumption.
2Use of energy by moving object
If the communications connection is terminated to save energy, then the appliance can enter standby mode, but the user cannot easily maintain or restore the connection
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service automation where the system automatically manages the communications connection lifecycle. The connection is automatically established when the application starts and automatically terminated after the time interval expires without user interaction. This eliminates the need for manual connection management by the user, making the system easy to operate while achieving energy savings through automatic disconnection.
Data Source
AI summary
In a method for operating a household appliance, a communications connection is established between an external operating facility and the household appliance. An application is executed on the external operating facility and configured so as to receive data from and/or to transmit data to the household appliance via the communications connection. An interaction of a user with the application of the external operating facility is detected and the communications connection between the external operating facility and the household appliance is terminated in dependence upon an expiration of a predetermined time interval since a last detected interaction of the user with the application of the external operating facility.