Laundry Machine WiFi Onboarding for Remote Appliance Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional laundry machines and home appliances face challenges in extending their functionality without requiring hardware modifications or additional user interface components, which limits their ability to communicate externally for remote management and control, making it difficult to provide users with convenient and efficient operation.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a WiFi communication module and a separate display controller into the appliance, allowing for remote management services through an external terminal, enabling communication with a server for extended functions like remote control, diagnosis, and firmware updates without altering the existing control panel.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If additional user interface components are added to extend functionality, then adaptability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an external terminal as an intermediary device that provides the additional user interface components. The external terminal communicates with the laundry machine via WiFi, allowing functionality extension without modifying the laundry machine's hardware. The external terminal acts as a mediator that bridges the user and the laundry machine, enabling features like remote control, monitoring, and firmware updates through a smartphone or tablet application.
2Adaptability or versatility
If communication modules are integrated into the appliance, then adaptability is improved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of integrating expensive WiFi communication modules into every laundry machine, the patent uses the user's existing smartphone or tablet as an intermediary communication device. This approach leverages the communication capabilities already present in the user's device, eliminating the need for additional communication hardware in the laundry machine and significantly reducing manufacturing costs.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent makes the user's smartphone or tablet serve multiple functions: it acts as a remote control, a monitoring station, a firmware update device, and a communication bridge. By utilizing the universal communication capabilities of the user's existing device, the system avoids the need for dedicated communication hardware in the laundry machine, thereby reducing production costs while maintaining remote communication functionality.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the control panel is modified to enable remote management, then adaptability is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The external terminal serves as an intermediary that handles all the complexity of remote management operations. Users interact with a simplified application interface on their smartphone or tablet, while the external terminal manages the complex communication protocols, authentication, and control signal transmission to the laundry machine. This separates the user interface complexity from the user, maintaining ease of operation.
Data Source
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AI summary
A home appliance provided to enable communication with a server comprising: a WiFi communication module mounted or connected to the home appliance for supporting a setting mode for making communication connection and a use mode for enabling communication; and wherein the home appliance is configured to be changed to the use mode and registered to the server upon reception of (i) SSID, Service Set Identifier; a name of a wireless LAN, information of an access point AP through an external terminal provided separate from the home appliance, and (ii) user information required for registration of the home appliance to the server through the external terminal after access to the setting mode through the external terminal, and wherein the use mode is a state in which the home appliance can communicate with the server through the AP and is registered to the server.