Communication system, electric appliance, and portable terminal device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10455017-B2
Application number	US-201214380654-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 26, 2012
Priority date	Feb 28, 2012
Publication date	Oct 22, 2019
Grant date	Oct 22, 2019

Abstract

A portable terminal device transmits a read request specifying a specific address that is an address shared among a plurality of electric appliances and acquires fixed data from a fixed data storage unit disposed at a specific address of an electric appliance. The fixed data includes setting address information that indicates an address of a setting storage area in which is stored object data that is data to be transmitted to a server device. The portable terminal device acquires setting address information included in the fixed data, and by specifying a read address on the basis of the setting address information and issuing a read request with respect to a variable data storage unit, the portable terminal causes the electric appliance to transmit the object data as read data, acquires the object data from the transmitted read data, and transmits the object data to a server.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An electric appliance capable of communicating with a portable terminal device, where the electric appliance is one of a group of different type electric appliances, each electric appliance comprising:
a variable data storage unit including a setting storage area for storing object data configured to provide a service related to the electric appliance, the object data being stored at addresses that differ from each other among the group of electric appliances;
a fixed data storage unit configured to store fixed data at least including setting address information that indicates an address of the setting storage area at a specific address of a non-volatile memory shared with other electric appliances, the specific address being stored in a memory of the portable terminal device in advance;
an apparatus communication unit configured to perform near-field wireless communication with the portable terminal device;
an access control unit configured to:
read the fixed data stored at the specific address from the fixed data storage unit and to cause the apparatus communication unit to transmit the fixed data to the portable terminal device, when receiving, from the potable terminal device, a read request for reading the fixed data to specify the specific address in response to a touch of the portable terminal device to the electric appliance;
read the object data stored at the address indicated by the setting address information from the variable data storage unit, and cause the apparatus communication unit to transmit the object data to the portable terminal device, when receiving, from the portable terminal device, a read request for reading the object data to specify the setting address information included in the fixed data; and
an apparatus control unit, wherein the fixed data includes a control instruction write address,
the access control unit issues a request to the apparatus control unit to write a control instruction at the control instruction write address when a write request with respect to the control instruction is transmitted from the portable terminal device, and
the apparatus control unit stores the control instruction at the control instruction write address, and sets an operation of the electric appliance in accordance with the control instruction stored at the control instruction write address.

2. The electric appliance according to claim 1 , wherein the apparatus control unit configured to cause the variable data storage unit to store the object data, and the apparatus control unit is configured to cause the fixed storage unit to store information indicating an address of a storage area, in the variable data storage unit, where the object data is stored as the setting address information.

3. The electric appliance according to claim 2 , wherein the variable data storage unit further includes a first variable data storage unit and a second variable data storage unit,
wherein a read request with respect to the variable data storage unit is a read request with respect to the first variable data storage unit or a read request with respect to the second variable data storage unit,
the apparatus control unit is further configured to cause the first variable data storage unit to store the object data, and
the access control unit is further configured to determine whether or not the read request with respect to the variable data storage unit that is received by the apparatus communication unit is a read request with respect to the first variable data storage unit, and
when the read request is a read request with respect to the first variable data storage unit, the access control unit is further configured to specify an address specified by the read request and to issue a request to the apparatus control unit to read the first variable data storage unit, and to indirectly read the object data from the first variable data storage unit by acquiring data read by the apparatus control unit.

4. The electric appliance according to claim 3 , wherein the access control unit is further configured to determine whether or not the read request with respect to the variable data storage unit received by the apparatus communication unit is a read request with respect to the second variable data storage unit, and when the read request is a read request with respect to the second variable data storage unit, the access control unit is further configured to directly read the object data stored in the second variable data storage unit from the second variable data storage unit.

5. The electric appliance according to claim 1 , wherein the variable data storage unit includes an instruction acceptance area configured to accept writing of a control instruction for instructing an operation to the electric appliance.

6. The electric appliance according to claim 1 , wherein the communication performed by the apparatus communication unit with the portable terminal device comprises short-range wireless communication.

7. A portable terminal device that includes a memory and a processor, and is capable of communicating with an electric appliance, where the electric appliance is one of a group of different type electric appliances that store object data at addresses that differ from each other among the group of electric appliances, the portable terminal device comprising:
a portable communication unit configured to perform near-field wireless communication with an apparatus communication unit of the electric appliance,
wherein the memory includes a specific address storage unit configured to store a specific address of a non-volatile memory shared by a plurality of electric appliances, and
the processor includes:
a fixed data acquisition unit configured to acquire, from the apparatus communication unit, the fixed data stored at the specific address in a storage unit of the electric appliance by causing the portable communication unit to transmit a read request to the apparatus communication unit for reading the fixed data by specifying the specific address in response to a touch of the portable terminal device to the electric appliance; and
an object data acquisition unit configured to acquire, from the apparatus communication unit, the object data stored at an address corresponding to setting address information included in the fixed data acquired by the fixed data acquisition unit in the storage unit of the electric appliance by transmitting a read request for reading the object data utilized to provide a service related to the electric appliance by specifying the address corresponding to the setting address information,
the fixed data includes a control instruction write address; and
the portable communication unit transmits a write request with respect to a control instruction, thereby causing the electric appliance to store the control instruction at the control instruction write address and set an operation of the electric appliance in accordance with the control instruction.

8. The portable terminal device according to claim 7 , wherein a format information storage unit configured to store, in advance, a plurality of pieces of format information respectively indicating a meaning of one or a plurality of pieces of information represented by the fixed data and positions, in the fixed data, where the one or the plurality of pieces of information are disposed in association with format identification information that identifies each of the pieces of format information,
the fixed data includes the format identification information corresponding to the fixed data itself, and
the object data acquisition unit is further configured to acquire the setting address information from the fixed data acquired by the fixed data acquisition unit on the ba

Assignees

• Kuroyama Kazuhiro
• Kurimoto Kazunori
• Matsumoto Michihiro
• Panasonic Ip Man Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kuroyama Kazuhiro
• Kurimoto Kazunori
• Matsumoto Michihiro

Classifications

• H04L2012/2841

  Wireless · CPC title

• H04L2012/285

  Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators · CPC title

• H04L67/1097 Primary

  for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS] · CPC title

• H04W4/80

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title

• H04L12/2818 Primary

  from a device located outside both the home and the home network (access arrangements H04L12/2856; for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025; arrangements for transmitting signals characterised by the use of a wireless eletrical link G08C17/00; telephonic communication systems adapted for combination with remote control systems H04M11/007) · CPC title