Patent Description:
Internet of Things is another global informatization wave after computers, Internet, and mobile communication, and is a new stage of global informatization development. With the rising of the concept of Internet of Things, intelligentization of products in the household appliance industry is accelerated, and a series of intelligent refrigerators are launched.

Usually, an APP is disposed on an existing intelligent refrigerator, and the APP may be configured to communicate with the outside to acquire information required by a user, and may further be configured to communicate with the refrigerator to implement intelligentization of the refrigerator. Correspondingly, during a running process of the APP, a problem may occur, for example, a running error, a bug, or a crash. When the problem occurs, the user usually cannot locate the problem immediately. In addition, when a child or an elder uses the refrigerator, he or she usually does not actively resolve the problem. Sometimes, an after-sales service person needs to update the APP on site to resolve the foregoing problem, and as a result, time and energy are wasted, and use costs of the user are increased. <CIT> relates to an intelligent communications device for a smart grid, for managing interconnection of various electrical devices and facilities. <CIT> relates to a control system for a refrigerator. <CIT> relates to remote inspection of an operating state of a refrigerator itself and control of the refrigerator to be inspected. <CIT> relates to utilizing a portable electronic device to interact with a variety of refrigeration appliances including commercial, residential and/or industrial ice makers, refrigerators, and/or freezers.

One of the objectives of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator, and an intelligent detection method and detection system thereof, so as to overcome at least one defect in the prior art.

According to the intelligent detection method and detection system for a refrigerator in the present invention, the APP disposed on the refrigerator actively sends the running monitoring signal to the refrigerator in real time, and the running status of the APP is automatically monitored and adjusted according to the number of times and time of receiving and sending the running monitoring signal, to ensure normal running of the APP, improve running efficiency of the refrigerator, and reduce human resources and costs.

According to the detailed description of specific embodiments of the present invention below with reference to the accompanying drawings, the foregoing and other objectives, advantages, and features will become more apparent to a person skilled in the art.

Some of specific embodiments of the invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings by way of example but not by way of limitation. The same reference signs indicate the same or similar components or parts in the accompanying drawings. It is understood by persons skilled in the art that the accompanying drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. In the accompanying drawings:.

The present invention is described in detail below with reference to specific embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

To implement the foregoing objective of the present invention, as shown in <FIG>, an embodiment of the present invention provides an intelligent detection method for a refrigerator. The method comprises:
S <NUM>. Receive, in real time, a running monitoring signal that is sent by an APP based on a predetermined interval, and acquire a count value of a transmission counter used for recording the number of times of sending the running monitoring signal, a count value of a reception counter used for recording the number of times of receiving the running monitoring signal, and a count value of an exception counter used for recording the number of times of error occurrences of the APP.

Correspondingly, if the APP sends the running monitoring signal within the predetermined interval, the count value of the transmission counter is increased;.

The predetermined interval is a system-preset threshold, and it may be changed according to user needs, and is a time unit. During actual application, a length of the predetermined interval affects, to some extent, the determination of the running status of the APP. When the predetermined interval is excessively short, a frequency of sending and receiving the running monitoring signal is excessively high, leading to an increase in power consumption of the refrigerator. When the predetermined interval is excessively long, it does not help to determine the running status of the APP. Usually, the predetermined interval is in a unit of minute. In this way, running power consumption of the refrigerator can be balanced, and determining of the running status of the APP can be considered.

With the development of intelligent household appliances, an intelligent device is usually disposed on a household appliance such as a refrigerator, and correspondingly, softwares such as an APP may be downloaded on the intelligent device, to meet user needs.

In this embodiment, at the time of factory shipment of the device, monitoring software is embedded into the APP, to establish a communication connection between the APP and the refrigerator, and implement automatic monitoring and adjustment on the APP. Certainly, if a user adds a new APP when using a refrigeration device such as a refrigerator, monitoring software is also correspondingly embedded into the new APP. It may be understood that, usually, multiple APPs are disposed on the refrigerator. Correspondingly, an operating system of the refrigerator may communicate with one of the APPs at the same time, or simultaneously communicate with the multiple APPs.

Correspondingly, the transmission counter, the reception counter, and the exception counter may be disposed on the APP end, or may be disposed on the operating system of the refrigerator.

In the present invention, during a process in which the APP communicates with the refrigerator, data exchange may be implemented by using a bi-directional communication connection, and each connection end is referred to as a socket whose Chinese name is "<IMG>". When the APP communicates with the refrigerator, the APP sends a request to a network or responds to a request of a network by using the "socket". A network connection process is as follows:
A target to which a socket is to connect is searched for according to a connection starting manner. A connection process between sockets may be divided into three steps: monitoring by a server, requesting by a client, and connection acknowledgment. In this example, the server is the operating system of the refrigerator, and the client is the APP.

Monitoring by the server means that a socket of the server end does not specifically locate a socket of the client, but is in a connection-waiting state, and monitors a network status in real time.

Requesting by the client means that a socket of the client sends a connection request, and a to-be-connected target is the socket of the server end. Therefore, the socket of the client needs to first describe the socket of the server to which the socket of the client is to connect, specify an address and a port number of the socket of the server end, and then send the connection request to the socket of the server end.

Connection acknowledgment means that when the socket of the server end obtains through monitoring or receives the connection request of the socket of the client end, the socket of the server end responds to the request of the socket of the client, establishes a new thread, and sends a description of the socket of the server to the client. Once the client acknowledges the description, the connection is established. The socket of the server end remains in a monitoring state, and continues to receive connection requests of sockets of other clients.

Further, the method further comprises:
S2. Determine a running status of the APP according to the count value of the transmission counter, the count value of the reception counter, and the count value of the exception counter.

In a specific example of the present invention, if the running monitoring signals sent by the APP are constantly received when each predetermined interval arrives,
step S2 specifically comprises:.

If the running monitoring signals sent by the APP are not constantly received when each predetermined interval arrives,
step S2 specifically comprises:.

The system-preset threshold of receiving count and the system-preset threshold of exception count both are system-preset thresholds, may be changed according to a user demand, and both are a unit of quantity.

Further, the method further comprises:
S3. Modify the count value of the transmission counter, the count value of the reception counter, and the count value of the exception counter according to the running status of the APP.

In an embodiment of the present invention, step S3 specifically comprises: if it is determined that the APP is in the good running state, restoring the count value of the transmission counter, the count value of the reception counter, and the count value of the exception counter to an initial state;.

For ease of understanding the present invention, a specific example in which the intelligent detection method for a refrigerator in the present invention is used for automatically monitoring the running status of the refrigerator is described below.

In this example,
The following setting is made: a running monitoring signal is sent every three minutes, the system-preset threshold of receiving count is <NUM>, and the system-preset threshold of exception count is <NUM>.

The count value of the transmission counter, the count value of the reception counter, and the count value of the exception counter are acquired in real time.

Assuming that the APP constantly sends the running monitoring signals within <NUM> minutes, and the refrigerator normally receives the running monitoring signals, after <NUM> minutes, the count value of the transmission counter and the count value of the reception counter both are <NUM>, and the count value of the exception counter is zero. In this case, it is determined that the APP is in the good running state, and each of the count value of the transmission counter, the count value of the reception counter, and the count value of the exception counter is restored to the initial state.

Therefore, the transmission counter, the reception counter, and the exception counter all restart counting.

It is assumed that a problem occurs during running of the APP. For example, the APP suddenly restarts automatically, and continues to send the running monitoring signal when a <NUM>-minute predetermined interval arrives. In this case, because the APP restarted automatically, the count value of the transmission counter is restored to <NUM>, and the count value of the reception counter continues to increase. In addition, because the APP restarted automatically, the count value of the exception counter is changed, further, it is necessary to determine whether the count value of the exception counter is greater than <NUM>. If yes, it is determined that the APP is in the abnormal state, the APP is restarted, and the count value of the transmission counter, the count value of the reception counter, and the count value of the exception counter are restored to the initial state, so that the transmission counter, the reception counter, and the exception counter all restart counting.

If not, it is determined that the APP is in the critical normal state, the count value of the exception counter is increased, and each of the count value of the transmission counter and the count value of the reception counter is restored to the initial state.

Subsequently, if the APP keeps running normally over a future time period, when the count value of the reception counter is greater than or equal to the system-preset threshold of receiving count, the APP is restarted, to restart counting.

If errors continually occur on the APP over a future time period, when the count value of the exception counter is greater than or equal to the system-preset threshold of exception count, the APP is restarted, to restart counting.

Embodiment III: it is assumed that a problem occurs during running of the APP. For example, the APP crashes just after being restarted, that is, the count value of the transmission counter and the count value of the reception counter both are zero. In this case, it is determined that the APP is in the abnormal state, the APP is restarted, and each of the count value of the transmission counter, the count value of the reception counter, and the count value of the exception counter is restored to the initial state, so that the transmission counter, the reception counter, and the exception counter all restart counting.

Embodiment IV: it is assumed that a problem occurs during running of the APP. For example, the APP crashes after running for a time period, and the running monitoring signals cannot be constantly sent or received when a <NUM>-minute predetermined interval arrives. In this case, the count value of the transmission counter and the count value of the reception counter are not zero, and it is further determined whether the count value of the exception counter is greater than <NUM>. If yes, it is determined that the APP is in the abnormal state, the APP is restarted, and each of the count value of the transmission counter, the count value of the reception counter, and the count value of the exception counter is restored to the initial state, so that the transmission counter, the reception counter, and the exception counter all restart counting.

As shown in <FIG>, an embodiment of the present invention provides an intelligent detection system. The system comprises: a data acquisition module <NUM>, a data processing module <NUM>, and a storage module <NUM>, wherein the storage module <NUM> comprises: a transmission counter <NUM> used for recording the number of times of sending a running monitoring signal, a reception counter <NUM> used for recording the number of times of receiving a running monitoring signal, and an exception counter <NUM> used for recording the number of times of error occurrences of an APP.

The data acquisition module <NUM> is configured to receive, in real time, a running monitoring signal that is sent by the APP based on a predetermined interval, and acquire a count value of the transmission counter <NUM>, a count value of the reception counter <NUM>, and a count value of the exception counter <NUM>.

Correspondingly, if the APP sends the running monitoring signal within the predetermined interval, the data processing module <NUM> increases the count value of the transmission counter <NUM>.

If the running monitoring signal is received within the predetermined interval, the data processing module <NUM> increases the count value of the reception counter <NUM>.

If an error occurs on the APP, the data processing module <NUM> increases the count value of the exception counter <NUM>.

The predetermined interval is a system-preset threshold, may be changed according to a user demand, and is a time unit. During actual application, a length of the predetermined interval affects, to some extent, determining of the running status of the APP. When the predetermined interval is excessively short, a frequency of sending and receiving the running monitoring signal is excessively high, leading to an increase in power consumption of the refrigerator. When the predetermined interval is excessively long, it does not help to determine the running status of the APP. Usually, the predetermined interval is in a unit of minute. In this way, running power consumption of the refrigerator can be balanced, and determining of the running status of the APP can be considered.

With the development of intelligent household appliances, usually, an intelligent device is disposed on a household appliance such as a refrigerator, and correspondingly, software such as an APP may be downloaded on the intelligent device, to meet a user demand.

In this embodiment, at the time of factory shipment of the device, monitoring software is embedded into the APP, to establish a communication connection between the APP and the refrigerator, and implement automatic monitoring and adjustment on the APP. Certainly, if a user adds a new APP when using a refrigeration device such as a refrigerator, monitoring software is correspondingly also embedded into the new APP. It may be understood that, usually, multiple APPs are disposed on the refrigerator. Correspondingly, an operating system of the refrigerator may communicate with one of the APPs at the same time, or simultaneously communicate with the multiple APPs.

Correspondingly, the transmission counter, the reception counter <NUM>, and the exception counter <NUM> may be disposed on the APP end, or may be disposed on the operating system of the refrigerator.

The data processing module <NUM> determines a running status of the APP according to the count value of the transmission counter <NUM>, the count value of the reception counter <NUM>, and the count value of the exception counter <NUM>.

In a specific example of the present invention, the data acquisition module <NUM> constantly receives the running monitoring signals sent by the APP when each predetermined interval arrives,
then:
the data processing module <NUM> is specifically configured to:.

If the data acquisition module <NUM> does not constantly receive the running monitoring signals sent by the APP when each predetermined interval arrives,
the data processing module <NUM> is specifically configured to:.

The system-preset threshold of receiving count and the system-preset threshold of exception count both are also system-preset thresholds, may be changed according to a user demand, and both are a unit of quantity.

Further, the data processing module <NUM> is configured to modify the count value of the transmission counter <NUM>, the count value of the reception counter <NUM>, and the count value of the exception counter <NUM> according to the running status of the APP.

In an embodiment of the present invention,
the data processing module <NUM> is specifically configured to:.

In conclusion, according to the intelligent detection method and detection system for a refrigerator in the present invention, the APP disposed on the refrigerator actively sends the running monitoring signal to the refrigerator in real time, and the running status of the APP is automatically monitored and adjusted according to the number of times and time of receiving and sending the running monitoring signal, to ensure normal running of the APP, improve running efficiency of the refrigerator, and reduce human resources and costs.

In several embodiments provided in the present invention, it should be understood that the embodiments of the described structure, system, and method are merely exemplary. For example, division of modules is merely logical functional division, and there may be another division manner during actual implementation. For example, multiple modules or components may be combined or integrated into another apparatus, or some features may be ignored or not executed. In addition, the displayed or discussed mutual couplings or direct couplings or communication connections may be implemented by some interfaces. The indirect couplings or communication connections between apparatuses or modules may be implemented in electronic, mechanical, or other forms.

The modules described as separate parts may or may not be physically separated, and parts displayed as modules may or may not be physical modules, that is, it may be located in one position, or may be distributed on a plurality of network modules. Some or all of the modules may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the objectives of the solutions of the embodiments.

Claim 1:
An intelligent detection method performed by an intelligent detection system for a refrigerator, comprising:
receiving (S <NUM>), in real time, a running monitoring signal that is sent by an APP based on a predetermined interval, the APP being disposed on the refrigerator;
acquiring a count value of a transmission counter (<NUM>) used for recording the number of times of sending the running monitoring signal,
a count value of a reception counter (<NUM>) used for recording the number of times of receiving the running monitoring signal, and
a count value of an exception counter (<NUM>) used for recording the number of times of error occurrences of the APP;
determining (S2) a running status of the APP according to the count value of the transmission counter (<NUM>), the count value of the reception counter (<NUM>), and the count value of the exception counter (<NUM>); and
modifying (S3) the count value of the transmission counter (<NUM>), the count value of the reception counter (<NUM>), and the count value of the exception counter (<NUM>) according to the running status of the APP.