Smart Plug Home Appliance Diagnostic System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users face difficulties in accurately diagnosing home appliance malfunctions, leading to unnecessary service visits, as they struggle to explain abnormal states to service centers, and existing diagnostic techniques lack precision.
Innovation Solution
A diagnostic system comprising a home appliance, a smart plug, and an external server that collects and analyzes electric power information to detect abnormal operations, enabling early diagnosis and prevention of malfunctions through self-diagnosis and user-friendly communication of results.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a camera is installed inside the home appliance to take pictures or signal tones are transmitted, then the diagnostic capability is improved, but the device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a smart plug as an intermediary device that measures electric power information and transmits it to an external server for analysis. This mediator handles the complex diagnostic processing externally, allowing the home appliance itself to remain simple while still achieving accurate diagnostics through the smart plug's measurements and the server's analysis capabilities.
2Ease of operation
If the user directly contacts the service center to explain the abnormal state, then the diagnostic process is simplified, but the accuracy of diagnosis decreases due to user's inability to accurately recognize and explain the abnormal state
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements automated feedback by having the smart plug continuously measure electric power information and the external server analyze this data to automatically identify abnormal states. This feedback loop replaces the need for users to manually describe problems, providing accurate diagnostic information directly to the service center without requiring user technical knowledge.
Solution Approach 2:
The home appliance system performs self-diagnosis through the smart plug and external server combination. The system automatically detects and reports abnormal states without requiring user intervention or technical expertise, enabling the appliance to service itself by generating accurate diagnostic information that would otherwise require professional assessment.
3Reliability
If unnecessary service visits are made, then the user receives immediate attention, but the loss of time and resources for both user and service center increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary diagnostic actions by continuously measuring electric power information and automatically analyzing abnormal states before service visits are needed. The smart plug and external server prepare accurate diagnostic information in advance, allowing the service center to pre-assess visit necessity and plan resources efficiently, preventing unnecessary trips while ensuring needed visits occur.
Data Source
AI summary
A diagnostic system for a home appliance, and a method for diagnosing the home appliance, the method according to one aspect including collecting consumed electric power information of the home appliance by a power measuring part; transmitting the collected electric power information to an external server; and receiving operation state information of the home appliance analyzed from the external server by the home appliance.