Home Appliance Control via Smartphone Position Reclassification
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for controlling home appliances based on user position are unreliable due to inaccurate smartphone position determination, particularly when using cellular network connections, leading to false assumptions about the user's presence in the home zone.
Innovation Solution
The method modifies the determined position by reclassifying it as within the home zone if it falls into a predefined 'problematic zone', using previous trusted positions to generate control signals, and ignoring or reclassifying determined positions only if the preceding position was within the home zone, thus reducing false assumptions of user absence.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If smartphone position is determined using cellular network connection information, then the position can be obtained, but the measurement precision deteriorates leading to false position determination
Solution Approach 1:
A remote server acts as an intermediary between the smartphone and the home appliance control system. The server receives position information from the smartphone, processes it by comparing with home zone boundaries, and generates control signals. This intermediary layer adds validation logic that prevents false position determinations from triggering incorrect appliance control, thereby improving reliability while maintaining the use of cellular network positioning.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors the smartphone's position and compares it against the predefined home zone boundaries. When the smartphone enters or leaves the home zone, the system provides feedback by generating appropriate control signals to the home appliance. This continuous feedback loop ensures that control actions are taken only when position changes are verified, reducing false assumptions about user presence or absence.
2Loss of energy
If the home appliance is controlled to operate only when user is detected at home, then energy costs are reduced, but false position determination causes incorrect control activation
Solution Approach 1:
The remote server serves as a mediator that validates position information before triggering energy-saving control actions. By processing position data and comparing it with home zone boundaries, the server ensures that heating or cooling is adjusted only when the user's absence is confidently determined, preventing false energy-saving activation while still achieving energy cost reduction when the user is truly away.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary validation of position information by comparing smartphone coordinates with predefined home zone boundaries before generating control signals. This preliminary check ensures that energy-saving modes are activated only after verifying that the user has genuinely left the home zone, preventing premature or false control activation while maintaining energy efficiency.
3Measurement precision
If GPS and WiFi positioning methods are used, then measurement precision improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The remote server is designed to handle multiple positioning methods (GPS, WiFi, cellular network) through a universal interface. The server receives position information regardless of the source method and processes it using the same validation logic and home zone comparison mechanism. This multi-functional design allows the system to utilize high-precision positioning methods when available without increasing the complexity of the core control logic, as the server handles all positioning methods through a unified processing framework.
Data Source
Figure 1
AI summary
The invention relates to a method for controlling a home appliance (5) depending on a user position. The method comprises the steps of: determining a position of a smartphone (10) of a user; transmitting positional information on the determined position (P1, P2, P3) from the smartphone (10) to a remote server; judging from the positional information whether the determined position (P1, P2, P3) is within or outside a predefined home zone (1) surrounding the home appliance (5); generating a control signal dependent on whether the determined position (P1, P2, P3) is judged to be within or outside the home zone (1); transmitting the control signal to a control device (7) configured to control the home appliance (5); judging from the positional information whether the determined position (P1, P2, P3) is within a predefined problematic zone (3) which is outside the home zone (1); and reclassifying the determined position (P3) to be within the home zone (1 ) or ignoring the determined position (P3) depending on at least whether or not the determined position (P3) is judged to be within the problematic zone (3). A corresponding system for controlling a home appliance (5) is also disclosed.