Abstract:
A method and system for networking a plurality of appliances. The method and system include providing an appliance on a network, controlling operation of the appliance with a microcontroller, storing on a memory coupled with the microcontroller, computer executable instructions for operating the appliance, sensing the operation of the appliance, displaying information regarding the operation of the appliance, and communicating the operational data on a network. Network connectivity includes communication directly with a network, and with another appliance. A host system is connected to the network and adapted to receive the usage data and to transmit data to the appliance to influence operation of the appliance.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a non-provisional application claiming priority from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/407,989, filed Oct. 29, 2010, entitled “Systems and Methods for Providing Smart Appliances” and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The subject invention generally relates to systems and methods for a networking appliances, and more particularly, to systems and methods for providing smart appliances. 
     BACKGROUND OF RELATED ART 
     Appliances adapted to provide remote diagnostic data are generally known in the art. By way of example, U.S. Published Application No. 2011/0060553 describes a home appliance that functions to output product information as a sound signal. A service center remotely performs fault diagnosis of the home appliance by receiving the sound signal, detecting the product information from the sound signal, and checking the state of the home appliance using diagnostic data that is also included in the product information. 
     In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 7,340,414 describes a refrigerator capable of transmitting and receiving information over a network and having an automatic food ordering function. Residual amounts of food articles stored in containers of the refrigerator are measured through sensors installed in the containers and then displayed on a screen of a display unit, thereby enabling a user to easily recognize the residual amounts of the food articles stored in the refrigerator without opening the door of the refrigerator. The measured residual amounts of the food articles are compared with minimum proper amounts of the food articles preset by the user. In the case where the measured residual amount of a specific one of the food articles is smaller than the minimum proper amount of the specific food article, the specific food article is automatically ordered and delivered. 
     Still further, U.S. Pat. No. 7,136,940 describes an Internet refrigerator and a Web pad for operating the same. The Web pad is detachably mounted on the Internet refrigerator, and transmits and receives data to/from the Internet refrigerator on the basis of a remote display protocol. The Web pad is a client Web pad detachably mounted on an outer surface of the Internet refrigerator. The client Web pad is adapted to receive a display signal transmitted from the Internet refrigerator and output the received display signal externally. A server control unit is provided to transmit the display signals to the client Web pad on the basis of the remote display protocol such that data processed in the Internet refrigerator is displayed through the client Web pad. Application programs and multimedia data are driven on the basis of the server control unit, resulting in a reduction in work-load on the client Web pad. 
     Yet further, U.S. Pat. No. 6,549,818 describes a cooking appliance, such as a stove or oven, which has the ability to download cooking recipes from the Internet. The recipes include a food list and pre-cooking directions which are displayed to a user. The recipes also include a cooking temperature schedule which is used by the temperature controller of the food-heating unit to automatically assist in heating the appliance in accordance with the recipes. 
     While such exemplary appliances work for the described purposes, a need exists for improved networked appliances which provide a multitude of advantages not yet seen in the art. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       For a better understanding of the present disclosure, reference may be had to various examples shown in the attached drawings. 
         FIG. 1  is a system diagram of an example appliance with network capabilities in accordance with the teachings of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is an example network diagram showing an example appliance network system including an appliance of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a component diagram of an example appliance suitable for use in the example system of  FIG. 2 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The following description of example methods and apparatus is not intended to limit the scope of the description to the precise form or forms detailed herein. Instead the following description is intended to be illustrative so that others may follow its teachings. 
     Example methods and systems for providing interoperability with household appliances is disclosed herein. The example systems allow for interoperability with different manufacturers of smart household appliances for the development of energy efficiency, smart grid capability, and/or internet connected services. In general, the disclosed features will connect consumers with their home appliances in meaningful and productive ways. Through interactive digital connectivity, a manufacturer may be able to provide a consumer with control over their appliances as well as enhanced efficiencies, effectiveness, enjoyment, and overall productivity of the household activity to which these appliances relate. 
     In one example, the system provides the use of commodity hardware, off the shelf software, OS independent applications, form factor independent devices (PC, tablets, smart phones etc), media independent (voice, text, video) and cloud based infrastructure to run all functionalities of the appliance connectivity. This is in contrast to the specialized hardware, proprietary software and/or dedicated, non-interconnected processors that typically run current appliances. In the context of a consumer environment, such as, for example, a residence, the disclosed methods and systems are particularly useful for providing enhanced services as will be described in detail herein. 
     With reference to the figures, the following discloses various example systems and methods for providing distributed mobile video call centers on a computer network. To this end, a processing device  20 ″, illustrated in the exemplary form of a mobile communication device, a processing device  20 ′, illustrated in the exemplary form of a computer system, and a processing device  20  illustrated in schematic form, such as for example, an appliance, are provided with executable instructions to, for example, provide a means for a customer, e.g., a user, consumer, etc., to interact with the device  20  and/or to access a host system server  68 . Generally, the computer executable instructions reside in program modules which may include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the processing devices  20 ,  20 ′,  20 ″ illustrated in  FIG. 1  may be embodied in any device having the ability to execute instructions such as, by way of example, an appliance, a personal computer, mainframe computer, personal-digital assistant (“PDA”), cellular telephone, tablet, ereader, or the like. Furthermore, while described and illustrated in the context of a single processing device  20 ,  20 ′,  20 ″ those of ordinary skill in the art will also appreciate that the various tasks described hereinafter may be practiced in a distributed environment having multiple processing devices linked via a local or wide-area network whereby the executable instructions may be associated with and/or executed by one or more of multiple processing devices. 
     For performing the various tasks in accordance with the executable instructions, the example processing device  20  includes a processing unit  22  and a system memory  24  which may be linked via a bus  26 . Without limitation, the bus  26  may be a memory bus, a peripheral bus, and/or a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. As needed for any particular purpose, the system memory  24  may include read only memory (ROM)  28  and/or random access memory (RAM)  30 . Additional memory devices may also be made accessible to the processing device  20  by means of, for example, a hard disk drive interface  32 , a magnetic disk drive interface  34 , and/or an optical disk drive interface  36 . As will be understood, these devices, which would be linked to the system bus  26 , respectively allow for reading from and writing to a hard disk  38 , reading from or writing to a removable magnetic disk  40 , and for reading from or writing to a removable optical disk  42 , such as a CD/DVD ROM or other optical media. The drive interfaces and their associated computer-readable media allow for the nonvolatile storage of computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules and other data for the processing device  20 . Those of ordinary skill in the art will further appreciate that other types of non-transitory computer readable media that can store data and/or instructions may be used for this same purpose. Examples of such media devices include, but are not limited to, magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital videodisks, Bernoulli cartridges, random access memories, nano-drives, memory sticks, and other read/write and/or read-only memories. 
     A number of program modules may be stored in one or more of the memory/media devices. For example, a basic input/output system (BIOS)  44 , containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within the processing device  20 , such as during start-up, may be stored in ROM  28 . Similarly, the RAM  30 , hard drive  38 , and/or peripheral memory devices may be used to store computer executable instructions comprising an operating system  46 , one or more applications programs  48  (such as a Web browser), other program modules  50 , and/or program data  52 . Still further, computer-executable instructions may be downloaded to one or more of the computing devices as needed, for example via a network connection. 
     To allow a user to enter commands and information into the processing device  20 , input devices such as a keyboard  54  and/or a pointing device  56  are provided. While not illustrated, other input devices may include a microphone, a joystick, a game pad, a scanner, a camera, touchpad, touch screen, etc. These and other input devices would typically be connected to the processing unit  22  by means of an interface  58  which, in turn, would be coupled to the bus  26 . Input devices may be connected to the processor  22  using interfaces such as, for example, a parallel port, game port, firewire, or a universal serial bus (USB). To view information from the processing device  20 , a monitor  60  or other type of display device may also be connected to the bus  26  via an interface, such as a video adapter  62 . In addition to the monitor  60 , the processing device  20  may also include other peripheral output devices, not shown, such as, for example, speakers, cameras, printers, or other suitable device. 
     As noted, the processing device  20  may also utilize logical connections to one or more remote processing devices, such as the host system server  68  having associated data repository  68 A. In this regard, while the host system server  68  has been illustrated in the exemplary form of a computer, it will be appreciated that the host system server  68  may, like processing device  20 , be any type of device having processing capabilities. Again, it will be appreciated that the host system server  68  need not be implemented as a single device but may be implemented in a manner such that the tasks performed by the host system server  68  are distributed amongst a plurality of processing devices/databases located at different geographical locations and linked through a communication network. Additionally, the host system server  68  may have logical connections to other third party systems via a network  12 , such as, for example, the Internet, LAN, MAN, WAN, cellular network, cloud network, enterprise network, virtual private network, wired and/or wireless network, or other suitable network, and via such connections, will be associated with data repositories that are associated with such other third party systems. Such third party systems may include, without limitation, systems of banking, credit, or other financial institutions, systems of third party providers of goods and/or services, systems of shipping/delivery companies, etc. 
     For performing tasks as needed, the host system server  68  may include many or all of the elements described above relative to the processing device  20 . In addition, the host system server  68  would generally include executable instructions for, among other things, receiving a request for a service call center connection, routing the request via a distributed mobile video call center, and providing a service call infrastructure for providing the requestor with a distributed customer service experience. 
     Communications between the processing device  20  and the host system server  68  may be exchanged via a further processing device, such as a network router (not shown), that is responsible for network routing. Communications with the network router may be performed via a network interface component  73 . Thus, within such a networked environment, e.g., the Internet, World Wide Web, LAN, cloud, or other like type of wired or wireless network, it will be appreciated that program modules depicted relative to the processing device  20 , or portions thereof, may be stored in the non-transitory memory storage device(s) of the host system server  68 . 
       FIG. 2  illustrates an example system  100  for providing a network of smart appliances. The system comprises a plurality of appliances  110  connected to a local network  112  and in some instances, ultimately connected to the network  12 . In this example, each appliance  110  may be any suitable device, including any home appliance typical of a residence and/or corporate setting. These appliances may include, for example, a dishwasher, refrigerator, freezer, microwave, trash disposer, trash compactor, small kitchen appliance, specialty appliance, range, cooktop, oven, washer, dryer, and/or the like. It will be understood that there are many other appliances and/or pieces of equipment that may be used with the system  100  without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure. Furthermore, the present disclosure may take advantage of current trends to provide appliances with microprocessors and/or sensors to monitor and/or program functionality. 
     In the example system  100 , the example appliances  110  include a communication protocol to allow the appliances to connect to the local network  112  through a wireless and/or a wired connection. Additionally, the example appliances  110  may be capable of proprietary and/or standard communication between appliances as illustrated. The example appliances are configured to measure the internal functions and/or status of the appliance, as provide network and/or communication capability to a user. The appliance  110  may also be configured to store historical data regarding the usage and/or operation of the appliance for diagnostic, statistical, and/or other usage. 
     For example, as illustrated in  FIG. 3 , an example appliance  110  includes a flash memory  210  and/or a random access memory (RAM)  212  to store the collected operational and/or other data relevant to the appliance  110 . The appliance  110  may use other types of memory in addition to, or in lieu of, flash memory  210  and RAM  212  to store data relevant to the operation, wellbeing, history, and/or the like. The data is, in turn, transmitted to the host system  68  (see  FIG. 1 ) such as, for example, a personal computer (PC), terminal, router, smartphone, tablet, or other suitable device) via a communicator  214  such as a wireless connection using the local area network with WiFi, ZigBee®, Bluetooth, USB, Ethernet, infrared, or the like. While the connection between the appliance  110  and the host system  68  is illustrated as being a network connection, a person of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the data connection may be any suitable connection including any wireless and/or wired connection as desired. For example, in at least one embodiment, the system  100  allows for communication between the appliance  110  and the host system  68  through a modem connection, such as over the public switched telephone network (PSTN), Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), etc, including a dedicated modem or through transmission of data during a service call. Software, firmware, and/or hardware executing and/or contained within appliance  110  processes the data generated by the appliance  110 . The appliance  110  is adapted to at least one of displays the data on an integrated and/or external display having a user interface  216 , and/or transmit the data to the host system  68 , such as a company-operated customer service server through an Internet, cloud, cellular, wireless, wired, LAN, tethered, and/or any other suitable connection. 
     In one example, a user may call a traditional customer service line to connect (via voice) to a customer service agent having access to the host system  68 . The customer service agent may prompt the user to activate the communicator  214 , such as for example, by pressing an external activation button. The communicator  214 , once activated, may transmit data by modulating an analog carrier signal to encode digital information to transmit the relevant data over the phone line to host system  68  for use by the customer service agent. Once the data is transmitted to the host system  68 , the voice conversation between the customer service agent and the user may continue. To provide service to the appliance  110 , the customer service agent may instruct the user to perform certain steps, may give advice and/or recommendations regarding usage, may transmit data back to the appliance  110  through a modem connection via the communicator  214 , and/or may schedule a service call if necessary. 
     Referring again to  FIG. 2 , in the illustrated example, the transmitted appliance data is segregated and/or targeted for different services and/or servers. In this example, the data segmentation includes an application server  120 , an upgrade server  122 , a web server  124 , and a service server  126 . While the data is segregated in the illustrated example, the data need not be divided or alternatively may be divided even further as desired. 
     The example application server  120  may provide the appliance  110  with custom, semi-custom, and/or generic application specific to the appliance  110 , and/or providing generic capabilities to the appliance  110 . For example, the application server may provide the appliance with any type of application including a graphical user interface, weather, web-browser, news, sports, gaming, productivity, etc. The application server may be coupled to an external application store to provide additional applications, such as for example an application market. The example upgrade server  122  may provide system software, firmware, middleware, software, and/or other updates for the appliance  110 . The upgrades may be pushed and/or pulled from the server  122  to the appliance  110  as needed. The example web server  124  may provide the appliance with a portal to the Internet, cloud, web, network, etc. Access to the network services may also be provided through the network  12 . Finally, the example service server  126  may provide customer service including diagnostic code interpretation, error code interpretation, operational suggestions, maintenance reminders, etc. 
     The appliance  110  may also transmit energy use data to a smart meter  140 , via a wireless connection using ZigBee® or the like. In this example, the smart meter  140  is a typical electrical meter that records consumption of electric energy in predefined intervals, such as intervals of an hour or less and communicates consumption information back to a utility company  142  for monitoring and/or billing purposes. Typically, the smart meter  140  enables two-way communication between the meter and a central system. Accordingly, the utility company  142  providing the power to the appliances  110  and/or other equipment via a power line can access the energy use data stored on the smart meter  180  for further review. Additionally, in at least one example, the appliance  110  can access the smart meter  180  to retrive data regarding the power grid. For example, the appliance  110  may access the smart meter  180  to inquire as to the best time to operate a schedulable batch process, such as a washing and/or drying cycle, by determining when the electrical costs are minimized. In this instance, the appliances  110  may coordinate with the smart grid to produce savings to the operator. 
     Returning to  FIG. 3 , the example appliance  110  comprises a line interface  217  and a power supply  218  which is electrically coupled to the utilities  142  to rectify and provide line powered voltage to a microcontroller  220 , the memories  210 ,  212 , the communicator  214 , sensors, such as a monitoring sensor  222 , a diagnostic sensor  224 , and the user interface  216 . A common access port (CAP)  226  and the user interface  216  may be coupled to the microcontroller through a secure protocol  230 , such as an encryption routine, a firewall, a password protected protocol, and/or the like. The common access port  226  provides for a common access point for technicians, service individuals, etc., independent of the appliance&#39;s connection with the networks  112  and/or  12 . 
     It will be appreciated that the monitoring sensor  222  and the diagnostic sensor  224  provide the microcontroller with data regarding the operation and/or health of the appliance  110 . It will be further appreciated that any number of sensors  222 ,  224  may be used and/or removed as necessary. 
     The example appliances  110  may be connected such that the appliances  110  are able to communicate with one another. Thus, each appliance  110  may be able to provide information relevant to the operation of another appliance  110  within the network as desired. The appliances may be able to coordinate operations (e.g., cycle times, optimization of electrical rates, etc.), may be able to provide information regarding operation (e.g., recipe ingredients and cook times), may provide diagnostic codes, updates, etc. Additionally, each of the appliances may be better able to communicate with the smart grid to provide added energy usage benefits. 
     As noted above, the example appliances  110  may be able to connect to internet through the communicator  214  and the user interface  216 . The appliance may include open and/or closed access to content on the Internet as desired. For example, the appliance may be able to be updated through the Internet or other network, by a connection to the upgrade server  122 , and/or may be updated through access through the common access port  226 . Each example appliance  110  includes the capability to operate as a traditional appliance if desired without access to the Internet or other network if desired. 
     The example system  100  supports the remote monitoring, control, and diagnosis of each appliance  110  integrated into the system by the service server  126 . In this instance, the appliance  110  and the sensors  222 ,  224  provide monitoring capabilities for all major systems within the appliance  110  and for all monitorable failure modes. The example appliances  110  can communicate through the system  100  reliable information regarding the operation of the appliance including self diagnostic information, usage, predicted life remaining, etc. The service server  126  may remotely program the microcontroller  220  to alter operational parameters as desired to circumvent and/or avoid a monitored and/or predicted failure. 
     The example system  100  further allows for a “plug-and-play” setup features that allows for an appliance to be integrated into the system  100  with minimal setup and/or configuration required. In particular, in one instance, a new appliance  110  may be added to the system by locating the appliance within range of the network  112 , and allowing the appliance to configure itself through inquiry of adjacent appliance  110 , and/or through interaction with the identified network  112 . In one example, the appliance  110  may identify the network  112 , may present configuration questions on the interface  216 , and based upon the answers provided to the configuration questions, configure itself to operate on the system  100 . In another example, the appliance  110  may poll appliances within range of the appliance  110  and obtain configuration information from the local appliances  110 . In any instance, however, the appliance  110  may allow for an advanced user and/or a service technician (either locally or through the system  100 ) to access network configurations to allow the appliance to be specifically configured. 
     In one example embodiment, the appliance  110  is adapted to download an execute application from the application server  120 . As previously described, the downloaded application also known as an “app”, may be a computer executable software program designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. The applications may be bundled with the appliance  110  and its system software, or may be published and downloaded separately through the application server  120  and/or other publishing means. In this example, the applications may be executable separately from the system software necessary for operation of the appliance  110 , or may be integrated into the system software as desired. For instance, the applications may comprise various application programming interfaces (APIs) for different development communities, and the developers of applications may place their apps in various locations on the application server  120 . 
     In yet another example, each the appliance  110  may monitor operation through the sensors  222 ,  224  and query the service server  126  to ensure the appliance is operating within certain efficiency guidelines, such as for example, Energy Star, or the like. Thus, the networked appliance  110  in the system  100  may communicate to ensure an eco-system that incentivizes the manufacturer and/or the user to operate the appliance  110  within acceptable energy management parameters. 
     The example secure protocol  230  includes executable instructions which cause the secure protocol  230  to present the user with options regarding operational choices as well as options regarding privacy. For instance, the user of the appliance  110  may decide to opt-out of any intelligent gathering of data due to privacy concerns, and therefore, operate the appliance  110  without any networking capability. Additionally, the secure protocol  230  may allow the user to elect to block and/or restrict access to the networks  112 ,  12  as desired. 
     In still another example, the appliance  110  may allow a user to access the status and/or operation of the appliance through a separate processing device  20 ′,  20 ″, such as a personal computer, tablet, mobile device, etc. In this instance, the user may be provided with a user interface that allows the user to view and/or control such information as the power state of the appliance  110 , the current operation of the appliance, the contents of the appliance (if equipped with a video device), the diagnostic status of the appliance, etc. The user may be able to remotely program and control the appliance  110  through the processing device as desired. 
     Specifically, in at least one example, the appliance  110  may be include a maintenance and/or failure detection routine that when executed on the microprocessor  220 , allows the appliance  110  to detect a repair and/or preventable maintenance situation through the sensors  222 ,  224 . In this example, the microprocessor  220  may communicate through the user interface  216  the detected situation, and/or may communicate through the networks  112 ,  12 , to the host server  68  and/or to various other devices  20 ′,  20 ″. Still further, the host server  69  may actively push out a maintenance and/or service reminder regarding the appliance  110  based upon the history of the appliance  110  and without the input of the sensors  222 ,  224 . 
     The maintenance/repair alerts and reminders may include specific instructions to repair and/or effect the service directly by the user. In particular, one example alert may be provided to the user which includes an alert to stay up to date on the required maintenance by alerting the user to when it is needed to provide simple maintenance on the appliance  110 . The alert may provide such details as an identified clog in the appliance (such as a dryer vent), a part that needs to be cleaned, such as a direct shelf, a dirty air filter, dirty coils, etc. The alerts may also include inventory notifications, such as the amount of an item in inventory within the appliance  110 , and a suggestion for reordering such inventory. In still other instances, the alert may include a step-by-step instruction to perform the maintenance/repair and including optional text and/or videos to ensure proper execution of the repair. By providing the system  100 , the appliances  110  may be optimally monitored to ensure better operation and longer lifespan, while minimizing the long-term cost of repairs. 
     Although certain example systems and methods have been described herein, the scope of coverage of this patent is not limited thereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture fairly falling within the scope of the appended claims either literally or under the doctrine of equivalents.