Room-Level Appliance Identification Using Environmental Sensing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods for controlling indoor appliances from outdoors do not consider the installation site of appliances, making it difficult to determine which appliance is in which room, especially for mobile or non-circuit-connected devices, leading to user unfriendliness.
Innovation Solution
A communication management method that receives environmental information from appliances via a network to determine which appliances are installed in the same room, using techniques such as light intensity, sound, and temperature detection to identify appliances and their locations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If conventional appliance control methods are used to control indoor appliances from outdoors, then appliance control functionality is achieved, but the system cannot identify which appliance is located in which room, leading to poor user-friendliness
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces environmental information (light intensity, sound, temperature) as an intermediary to indirectly determine appliance locations. Instead of directly tracking appliances, the system uses environmental sensors to detect characteristics of each room and matches appliances to rooms based on these environmental profiles, thereby recovering the lost location information without requiring direct appliance-to-room registration.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual or mechanical registration methods (pre-registering appliance locations) with automated environmental sensing and pattern recognition. The system automatically determines appliance locations by analyzing environmental information patterns (light intensity variations, sound characteristics, temperature profiles) rather than relying on mechanical registration processes, improving user-friendliness while eliminating information loss.
2Measurement precision
If pre-registration of appliance locations is required to identify appliances in specific rooms, then accurate location identification can be achieved, but the system complexity increases and mobile or non-circuit-connected appliances cannot be tracked
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables appliances to self-identify their locations through environmental sensing without requiring external registration. Each appliance or control device automatically captures environmental information (light intensity, sound, temperature) from its surrounding area and uses this information to determine its room location, eliminating the need for complex pre-registration processes while maintaining accurate location identification.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the approach from static registration (fixed appliance locations) to dynamic environmental parameter monitoring. By continuously monitoring environmental parameters (light intensity, sound levels, temperature) and comparing them against known room profiles, the system can dynamically identify appliance locations without requiring complex registration systems, thereby reducing device complexity while maintaining measurement precision.
3Ease of operation
If environmental information sensing is implemented to identify appliance locations, then accurate room identification can be achieved without pre-registration, but additional sensors and processing requirements are introduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies environmental sensors (light intensity sensors, sound sensors, temperature sensors) that can serve multiple functions. These sensors not only help identify appliance locations but can also provide environmental control data for appliance operation optimization. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate dedicated location-tracking systems, thereby minimizing the increase in device complexity while maintaining ease of operation.
Data Source
AI summary
A cloud server (104) receives environmental information of respective installation sites of a plurality of appliances (101a, 101b, 101c, 102a, 102b) via a network (1000), and determines one or more appliances that are installed in a same room among the plurality of appliances (101a, 101b, 101c, 102a, 102b), based on the received environmental information.