Household electric appliance and household electric system

Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional remote control systems for household electric appliances do not effectively handle overlapped reservations made from remote controllers and mobile terminals, leading to inefficiencies and potential wasteful operation due to prioritizing later stop times over earlier ones.

Innovation Solution

A household electric system that prioritizes the earlier start and stop times when overlapped reservations are set from both remote controllers and mobile terminals, ensuring operations align with user intent and reducing unnecessary energy consumption.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of energy

If the conventional remote control system processes overlapped reservations by prioritizing later stop times, then the system maintains simple processing logic, but the appliance operates unnecessarily longer causing energy wastage

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveenergy wastageVSAvoidprocessing logic complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of energyVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The control unit performs preliminary comparison of operation time zones before executing the reservation, checking for overlaps between remote controller and mobile terminal settings in advance. This preliminary action prevents unnecessary energy consumption by identifying conflicts before they result in extended operation periods.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

Instead of prioritizing the later stop time as in conventional systems, the invention inverts the logic by selecting the earlier stop time when overlaps are detected. This inversion resolves the contradiction by reducing energy wastage while maintaining reasonable processing complexity through a clear decision rule.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #13The other way round (Inversion)

2Ease of operation

If the system selects the earlier start time in case of overlapped reservations, then the operation aligns better with user intent and reduces energy consumption, but the system complexity increases due to overlap detection and comparison logic

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveuser convenienceVSAvoidcontrol logic complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The control unit performs preliminary comparison of operation time zones before executing the reservation, checking for overlaps between remote controller and mobile terminal settings in advance. This preliminary action prevents unnecessary energy consumption by identifying conflicts before they result in extended operation periods.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

Instead of prioritizing the later stop time as in conventional systems, the invention inverts the logic by selecting the earlier stop time when overlaps are detected. This inversion resolves the contradiction by reducing energy wastage while maintaining reasonable processing complexity through a clear decision rule.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #13The other way round (Inversion)

3Productivity

If the system processes reservations from multiple devices without overlap detection, then the processing is simple and fast, but the operation timing may not align with user intent leading to inefficient operation

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveoperation efficiencyVSAvoidreservation accuracy

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The control unit performs preliminary comparison of operation time zones before executing the reservation, checking for overlaps between remote controller and mobile terminal settings in advance. This preliminary action prevents unnecessary energy consumption by identifying conflicts before they result in extended operation periods.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system implements a feedback mechanism where the control unit compares reservation settings from different devices and adjusts the operation timing based on the comparison result. When an overlap is detected, the system feedbacks to select the earlier time, ensuring both efficiency and accuracy in reservation execution.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Data Source

PatentEP2884760B1Household electric appliance and household electric system

Publication Date: 2020.12.30 PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO LTD

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AI summary

Provide are a household electric appliance, household electric system and server apparatus that perform operation start or stop at reserved set times and that are convenient with regard to reserving operation. A household electric appliance capable of a reserved operation of performing an operation start or stop at a set time comprises: a receiving unit that receives a setting signal indicative of an operation start time in the reserved operation of the household electric appliance from each of a remote controller and a mobile terminal; a storage unit that stores the setting signal; and a control unit that controls operation of the household electric appliance. The control unit, in the case of overlapping of an operation time zone defined by the setting signal from the remote controller and the operation time zone defined by the setting signal from the mobile terminal, selects the earlier time and performs the operation start.