Abstract:
A method of communicating between a first device and at least one second device, includes determining whether the at least one second device includes first individual user interface information and first function information; sending the first function information from the at least one second device to the first device if it is determined that the at least one second device includes the first function information; and performing communication between the first device and the at least one second device based on the received first function information.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a Reissue Application of patent application Ser. No. 10/407,225 filed on 7 Apr. 2003, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,483,954 B1 on 27 Jan. 2009, and which claims the benefit of the Korean Application No. P2002-50597 filed on Aug. 26, 2002, which is hereby incorporated by reference. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a home network system, and more particularly, to a method for controlling a home network system to automatically upload user interface (UI) and function information of slave appliances to a master appliance and a personal video recorder (PVR) to use the uploaded information. 
     2. Discussion of the Related Art 
     In earlier stages of the development of home automation systems that automatically control various kinds of appliances in a home or at a place far away from a home, each appliance was controlled independently through a telephone line or infrared rays. However, such appliances could not be controlled as a group even if they were in some way associated with one another. In more recent years, home network systems have been developed in which a network is constructed among the respective home appliances using a communication means and in which a controller is provided to control and manage the appliances. 
       FIG. 1  is a schematic block diagram of a background art home network system.  FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating a master appliance that uploads UI and function information of a slave appliance in the background art home network system shown in  FIG. 1 . As shown in  FIG. 1 , a home network is constructed by connecting a plurality of home electronic appliances such as, for example, refrigerators, air conditioners, microwave ovens, washing machines, and personal computers (PCs) through a communication bus. 
     The microcomputers included in many home appliances have serial communication capabilities, and they can communicate with other microcomputers or appliances. Memories can be used in the microcomputers having sizes that vary according to the characteristics of the appliances. 
     In a network that includes one or more PCs and their peripheral appliances or multimedia appliances including digital television receivers (DTVs), high-grade hardware specifications are adopted to operate their basic functions. Thus, a standard for a high-speed communication with a large amount of data is required. 
     However, in home appliances such as, for example, refrigerators, washing machines, microwave ovens, electric lamps, gas alarms, desk lamps, and boilers, microcomputers that have relatively low-grade functions of less than 8 bits are generally used in order to perform their storage and other functions. In a home network composed of such home appliances, a remote control that monitors the operating state of the appliances is the main device for managing the appliances in the network. Thus, a standard for communication using relatively small-scale microcomputer resources is required, unlike the network composed of a PC or multimedia-series appliances. 
     A home network control protocol (HNCP) is a communication standard that defines the connection method of signal lines and the order of signal flow for communication among appliances in the home network. Communications with other appliances or the Internet can be performed using a network manager that serves as a bridge between the HNCP and other external protocols to control the home network. 
       FIG. 1  shows a DTV as a master appliance that uses the HNCP standard. The HNCP standard is a home networking standard for performing communications between master appliances such as DTVss and slave appliances through the RS232C standard of a PLC modem using the existing power lines without incurring the cost of installing an additional line. 
     In the background art system, as shown in  FIG. 2 , the UI and function information used in communicating with a slave appliance  22  is basically predefined when a master appliance such as DTVs is developed, and is stored in an internal memory such as a flash ROM  23 . Any additional UI or functions cannot be used without separate measurements. Thus, in order to use them, a separate procedure is used in upgrading the software of the master appliance  21 . 
     As described above, according to the background art system, the UI and functions for communications with the slave appliances are predefined irrespective of the characteristics of the slave appliances. This means that only particular kinds of items and slave appliances can be used, and the independent UI and function information of the slave appliances should be stored in separate memories provided in the respective slave appliances. 
     The background art home network system and the operation method thereof have the following further problems and disadvantages. According to the background art system, since the UI and functions for communications with the slave appliances are predefined irrespective of the characteristics of the slave appliances, non-defined slave appliances cannot be used through the home network. This means that only particular kinds of items and slave appliances can be used, and it is difficult to use appliances in the home network system that may, for example, be a product of a different manufacturer and therefore be incompatible with one another. Also, in the event that the memory capacity of the master appliance is insufficient, the UI cannot be used. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a method for controlling a home network system that substantially obviates one or more problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the background art. 
     An object of the present invention is to provide a method for controlling a home network system that can automatically upload UI and function information of slave appliances associated with the home network system to a master appliance and a personal video recorder (PVR) to use the information. 
     Additional advantages, objects, and features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned from practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings. 
     To achieve this object and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, a method of communicating between a first device and at least one second device is disclosed, including determining whether the at least one second device includes first individual user interface information and first function information; sending the first function information from the at least one second device to the first device if it is determined that the at least one second device includes the first function information; and performing communication between the first device and the at least one second device based on the received first function information. 
     In another aspect of the present invention, a method of communicating between a first device and at least one second device, including determining whether information stored in a memory of the at least one second device corresponds to an updated version of first user interface information and first function information of the at least one second device; sending the first function information from the at least one second device to the first device if it is determined that the at least one second device includes the first function information; and performing communication between the first device and the at least one second device based on the received first function information. 
     In yet another aspect of the present invention, a communication system includes a first device that determines whether at least one second device includes first individual user interface information and first function information, wherein the at least one second device sends the first function information to a storage area of the first device if it is determined that the at least one second device includes the first function information, and communication is performed between the first device and the at least one second device based on the sent first function information. 
     It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description of the present invention are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiment(s) of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principle of the invention. In the drawings: 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic block diagram of a background art home network system; 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating a master appliance that uploads UI and function information from a slave appliance in the background art home network system; 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram illustrating a master appliance that uploads UI and function information from a slave appliance according to a first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating a method of uploading of UI and function information from a slave appliance in a home network system according to a first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  is a block diagram illustrating a master appliance that uploads UI and function information from a slave appliance in a home network system according to a second embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 6  is a flowchart illustrating a method of uploading of UI and function information from a slave appliance according to a second embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts. 
     The present invention discloses a system for uploading user interface (UI) and function (or operation) information stored in one or more respectively associated slave appliances to a storage area of a master appliance for interacting with each slave appliance. The present invention enables a master appliance to use individual UI and function information of the respective slave appliances and to directly interact with each slave appliance without any additional program upgrade process of the master appliance. When a protocol of a basic user interface and a slave user interface is established, an environment for enabling a master appliance to interact with appliances of a different manufacturer is provided. 
       FIG. 3  is a block diagram illustrating a home network system including a master appliance (or device)  31  that uploads UI and function information from a slave appliance  32  according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The home network system shown in  FIG. 1  enables the master appliance  31  to interact with the slave appliance  32  using individual UI and function information of the slave appliance  32  without any additional program or data upgrade process. As shown in  FIG. 3 , the home network system includes a master appliance  31  for managing the communications on a home network. A basic user interface block  33  is provided in the master appliance  31  for storing basic information required for home networking. A slave UI and function storage area  34  stores slave UI and function information. A storage means  35 , which may be a flash ROM for example, is provided in the slave appliance  32  for storing UI and function information of the slave appliance  32  itself and for responding in accordance with a request for the UI and function information of the slave UI and function storage area  34 . Alternatively, one or more storage areas on a database server can replace the user interface block  33 , the slave UI and function storage area  34  and the storage means  35  for storing the respective information. The database server can be connected to and accessible over the Internet. 
     According to the present invention, the master appliance  31  originally has only the basic user interface information, and the independent UI and function information of the respective slave appliance  32  is originally stored in a separate memory such as the flash ROM  35  in the respective appliance  32 . 
     When the power of the master appliance  31  is turned on, it searches for the respective slave appliance  32 , and uploads the UI and function information stored in the memory of the respective slave appliance  32  to the slave UI and function storage area  34  of the master appliance  31 . Next, the master appliance  31  combines the information already stored in the basic user interface block  33  and the uploaded slave UI and function information, and uses the combined data for communicating with the slave appliance  32 . 
     The method for controlling a home network system as constructed above according to a first embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail.  FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating the method of uploading UI and function information from a slave appliance in a home network system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. When the power of the master appliance  31  is turned on in step S 401 , it sets the basic settings such as an OS and HNCP modem activation. When the basic settings are completed, the master appliance  31  confirms the connection of the slave appliances  32  to a HNCP network in step S 402 . The confirmation of the connection can be made over the Internet in one aspect of the present invention. 
     Then, the master appliance  31  checks whether the respective slave appliance  32  connected to the network has individual UI and function information in step S 403 . If it is determined that the slave appliance  32  does not have individual UI and function information, the master appliance  31  selects and stores in the slave UI and function storage area  34  the basic UI and function information previously stored in the master appliance  31 , and then performs communication with the slave appliance  32  using the selected information in steps S 406  and S 407 . 
     On the other hand, if it is determined that the respective slave appliance  32  does have individual UI and function information, the master appliance  31  sends a request to the slave appliance  32  to upload the information in step S 404 , and the respective slave appliance  32  prepares the transmission of the information. Thereafter, the slave appliance  32  transmits the independent UI and function information to the master appliance  31 , and the master appliance  31  receives the information and stores the received information in the slave UI and function storage area  34  in step S 405 . Finally, the master appliance  31  performs communication with the slave appliance  32  through the HNCP network in step S 407 . Accordingly, the user can perform communication with a slave appliance that has its own individual UI and function information using the uploaded UI and function information. Alternatively, the user can perform communication with a slave appliance that does not have independent UI and function information using the basic UI and function information predefined in the master appliance  31 . 
     When the power of the master appliance  31  is turned on again after the entire operation is terminated and then the power is turned off, the master appliance  31  re-performs the above-described procedure since the individual UI and function information stored in the slave UI and function storage area  34  of the master appliance  31  gets deleted. 
     The home network system for communications with slave appliances having large-capacity UI and function information according to a second embodiment of the present invention is described with respect to  FIG. 5 .  FIG. 5  is a block diagram illustrating a master appliance that uploads UI and function information from a slave appliance in a home network system according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The home network system according to the second embodiment of the present invention is for enabling communications with a slave appliance  52  using individual UI and function information of the slave appliance  52  without any additional program or data upgrade. As shown in  FIG. 5 , the home network system includes a master appliance  51  for managing the communications on a home network. A basic UI block  53  is provided in the master appliance  51  for storing basic information required for home networking. An external personal video recorder (PVR)  54  has a slave UI and function storage area  56  for storing slave UI and function information. A storage means, which may be a flash ROM  55  for example, is provided in the slave appliance  52  for storing UI and function information of the slave appliance  52  itself and for responding in accordance with a request for the UI and function information of the slave UI and function storage area  56 . 
     According to the second embodiment of the present invention, the master device  51  originally contains only the basic user interface data, and the individual UI and function information of the respective slave appliance  52  is initially stored in the separate memory such as the flash ROM  55  in the respective appliance  52 . 
     When the power of the master appliance  51  is turned on, it searches for the respective slave appliance  52 , and uploads the UI and function information stored in the memory of the respective slave appliance  52  to the external storage area, that is, to the slave UI and function storage area  56 . Next, the master appliance  51  combines the information in the basic user interface block  53  and the UI and function information in the slave appliance itself  52 , and uses the combined data for communicating with the slave appliance  52 . 
     In the home network system according to the second embodiment of the present invention, it is possible for the slave appliance  52  to perform uploading only once when it is initially installed, and for the master appliance  51  to load again the UI received from the external network to the slave appliance  52 . 
     The method for controlling a home network system as constructed above according to the second embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail.  FIG. 6  is a flowchart illustrating a method of uploading UI and function information from a slave appliance according to the second embodiment of the present invention. When the power of the master appliance  51  is turned on, it sets the basic settings such as an OS and HNCP modem activation in step S 601 . When the basic settings are completed, the master appliance  51  confirms the connection of the slave appliance  52  to a HNCP network in step S 602 . 
     After confirming the connection to the slave appliance  52 , the master appliance  51  checks to determine the existence of the individual UI and function information previously uploaded from the slave appliance and stored in a PVR or a specified area of a built-in hard disc drive (HDD), that is, in the slave UI and function storage area  56 , before the power is turned on in step S 603 . 
     If it is determined that the information is uploaded from the respective slave appliance and stored in the slave UI and function storage area  56  before the power is turned on, the master appliance  51  compares the version of the existing uploaded UI and function information with a version of the individual UI and function information currently stored in the memory areas of the respective slave appliances  52  in step S 604 . If the individual UI and function information stored in the memory areas of the slave appliances  52  corresponds to a new version, the master appliance  51  sends a request to the slave appliance  52  to upload the corresponding UI and function information in step S 607 , and uploads the individual UI and function information stored in the slave appliances  52  itself to the PVR or the master HDD in step S 608 . When the upload to the PVR or the master HDD is completed, the master appliance  51  uploads the uploaded UI and function information to the memory of the master appliance  51  in step S 605 . 
     On the other hand, if the individual UI and function information stored in the memory areas of the slave appliances  52  are determined not to correspond to a new version as a result of comparison at the version comparison step, the master appliance  51  directly performs step S 605 . In addition, if it is determined that there is no individual independent UI and function information uploaded from the respective slave appliance and stored in the slave UI and function storage area  56  before the power is turned on, the master appliance  51  determines whether the slave appliance itself has the UI and function information without performing the version comparison step in step S 606 . 
     If the slave appliance  52  does not have UI and function information, the master appliance  51  performs the communication by selecting and using the basic user interface and function information initially stored in the master appliance  51  in steps S 609  and S 610 . Meanwhile, if the slave appliance  52  does have UI and function information, the master appliance  51  performs steps S 607 , S 608  and S 605 . 
     If the UI and function information is secured through the above-described procedure, the master appliance  51  performs communication with the slave appliance  52  through the HNCP network in step S 610 . At this time, the user performs communication with a slave appliance that has independent UI and function information using the uploaded UI and function information. The user performs communication with a slave appliance that does not have independent UI and function information using the basic UI and function information predefined in the master appliance  51 . As a result, when using the HNCP, the present invention can control appliances, which are not predefined in the master appliance, by uploading the UI and function information defined in the respective associated slave appliances to the DTV and the PVR and use the independent UI of each slave appliance. 
     The home network system and the method for controlling the home network system according to the present invention have the following advantages. In order to use UI and function information of a new slave appliance, the program or application of the master appliance does not need to be externally upgraded by a service man, but the UI and function information held in the respective slave appliances themselves are uploaded to the master appliance at the moment when the slave appliances are connected to the network, so that the control of the home network can easily be achieved. That is, diverse functions and the UI suitable for the respective slave appliances can be used without any separate external upgrading process. Also, even the large-capacity UI and function information can be used in accordance with the capacity of the PVR and the built-in HDD, and in case that only the fixed basic standard is defined, slave appliances of other manufacturers can be connected and used on the network. 
     It will be apparent to those skilled in the art than various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention covers the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.