Patent ID: 7174227

Claim:
A laundry system comprising a terminal device and a laundry apparatus, the terminal device including: a display panel; an input panel; a first short-range communication device; a long-range communication device; and a terminal device controller transmitting information about clothes as laundry and information about a laundry constraint both set on the input panel, to a server connected to a long-range communication network for providing laundry control information, using the long-range communication device, thereby obtaining an operation control program for the laundry apparatus on the basis of the two pieces of information, the terminal device controller transmitting the obtained operation control program via the first short-range communication device to the laundry apparatus, the terminal device controller receiving via the first short-range communication device information about an operating state of the laundry apparatus, displaying the information on the display panel; and the laundry apparatus including: an operation panel; a laundry unit; a second short-range communication device; and a laundry apparatus controller receiving the operation control program via the second short-range communication device from the terminal device to control the laundry unit so that laundry is washed and/or dried, the laundry apparatus controller transmitting to the terminal device the information about the operating state of the laundry apparatus via the second short-range communication device, wherein the terminal device controller obtains from the server a plurality of major groups of clothes to be laundered to display the obtained major groups on the display panel, the terminal device controller obtaining from the server a plurality of minor groups of clothes belonging to a selected one of the major groups, displaying the obtained minor groups on the display panel, the terminal device controller obtains from the server a piece of guide information about laundry of clothes belonging to a selected one of the minor groups to display the obtained information on the display panel, and when two or more minor groups obtained from the server are designated as laundry, the terminal device controller obtains from the server an operation control program for the laundry apparatus in consideration of the two or more selected minor groups thereby to transfer the obtained operation control program to the laundry apparatus.