WO2019038980A1 - Wireless connection method and household electrical appliance - Google Patents

Abstract

A wireless connection method for establishing wireless connection between a household electrical appliance and a master unit that communicate with each other by a wireless LAN communication standard, using a setting terminal wirelessly connected to the household electrical appliance. The method comprises: a master unit search step wherein the household electrical appliance searches for a wirelessly communicable master unit by a slave unit function; a list creation step wherein a radio wave intensity list in which identification information of the master unit searched for in the master unit search step, and the radio wave intensity of a radio wave received from the master unit by the household electrical appliance are associated is created; and a list transmission step wherein the household electrical appliance transmits the radio wave intensity list to the setting terminal by a master unit function.

Description

Wireless connection method and home appliance

The present disclosure relates to a wireless connection method for establishing wireless connection between a home appliance and a parent device that communicate according to a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) communication standard, using a setting terminal wirelessly connected to the home appliance, It relates to the equipment.

An apparatus (for example, a printing apparatus) having a wireless communication function is connected to a communication network, and remote control of the apparatus or confirmation of the state of the apparatus is performed via the communication network. Patent Document 1 discloses a method of easily setting for connecting a device that does not have a sufficient input interface to a communication network (specifically, wirelessly communicating with a parent device).

JP 2003-143156 A

In recent years, with the development of the Internet, development of home appliances (so-called smart home appliances) having a wireless communication function has been performed. Such a home appliance can be installed in a different place from a device having a conventional wireless communication function (for example, if the home appliance is a washing machine, it is installed in the dismantling area), the radio wave of the parent machine can not reach There is sex.

However, in the method of Patent Document 1, it is not considered that the device is installed in a place where there is a possibility that a radio wave from a desired master device can not reach.

Therefore, the present disclosure aims to provide a wireless connection method and a home electric appliance that can easily determine whether the home electric appliance can wirelessly communicate with a desired parent device.

A wireless connection method according to an aspect of the present disclosure uses a setting terminal wirelessly connected to a home electric device by wireless connection establishment between a home electric device and a parent device that communicate according to a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) communication standard. A wireless connection method, wherein the home device searches for a master capable of wireless communication with a slave function by using a slave function, and identification information of the master searched for in the master search step; A list creation step of creating a field strength list in which the home appliance is associated with the field strength of the radio wave received from the parent device, the home appliance performs the field strength list by the base device function, and the setting terminal Sending the list to the

Further, a home electric appliance according to an aspect of the present disclosure is a home electric appliance including a wireless communication unit that communicates according to a wireless LAN communication standard, and the wireless communication unit communicates with a parent device and a setting terminal; A communication control unit configured to control communication with the base unit and the setting terminal via the communication unit, the communication control unit performing, as the control, the base unit capable of wireless communication by a handset function; A radio wave strength list is created in which the identification information of the parent machine searched and searched and the radio wave strength of the radio wave received from the parent machine by the communication unit are created, and the radio wave strength list is It transmits to the said setting terminal via a communication part.

According to the wireless connection method and the home electric appliance according to one aspect of the present disclosure, it can be easily determined whether the home electric appliance can communicate with a desired parent device.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an entire configuration of a wireless communication system according to a first embodiment. FIG. 2A is a sequence diagram showing a first process performed by the home electric appliance according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2B is a sequence diagram showing processing after the first processing in the wireless communication system according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3A is a flowchart showing a first process performed by the home appliance according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3B is a flowchart showing processing performed by the setting terminal according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3C is a sequence diagram showing a second process performed by the home electric appliance according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an installation example of the home electric appliance according to the first embodiment. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a radio wave strength list displayed on the setting terminal according to the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a screen for inputting parent device information connected in the setting terminal according to the first embodiment. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a first process performed by the home appliance according to the second embodiment.

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings as appropriate. However, the detailed description may be omitted if necessary. For example, detailed description of already well-known matters and redundant description of substantially the same configuration may be omitted. This is to avoid unnecessary redundancy in the following description and to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

Further, each drawing is a schematic view, and is not necessarily illustrated exactly. Further, in the drawings, substantially the same configurations are denoted by the same reference numerals, and overlapping descriptions may be omitted or simplified.

The inventor of the present invention provides the attached drawings and the following description so that those skilled in the art can fully understand the present disclosure, and is intended to limit the claimed subject matter by these Absent.

Embodiment 1
The radio communication system according to the present embodiment will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6.

[1. Wireless communication system]
First, a wireless communication system 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an entire configuration of a wireless communication system 1 according to the present embodiment.

The wireless communication system 1 according to the present embodiment includes a home electric appliance 10 having a wireless communication function, two wireless routers 20a and 20b (an example of a parent device), and a setting terminal 30. The number of parent devices provided in the wireless communication system 1 is not particularly limited. For example, three or more masters may be used. Further, wireless communication is wireless communication between devices including a master unit and a slave unit, and as an example, wireless communication using a communication standard such as a wireless LAN (for example, Wi-Fi (registered trademark)) . Further, the master is, for example, an apparatus for relaying the received wireless communication, and the slave is, for example, an apparatus for communicating with the master.

[1-1. Home Appliances]
The home appliance 10 is a home appliance that communicates according to a wireless local area network (LAN) communication standard. The home appliances 10 are also described as the wireless routers 20a and 20b (hereinafter, also referred to as the wireless router 20a etc. Also, one of the wireless routers 20a and 20b is also referred to as a first wireless router, and the other is also referred to as a second wireless router. Wirelessly communicate with The home appliance 10 also performs wireless communication with the setting terminal 30 when establishing wireless connection between the home appliance 10 and the wireless router 20a or the like.

As shown in FIG. 1, the home appliance 10 has a wireless communication unit 11 and a home appliance main unit 12. The home appliance 10 is not a home appliance carried and used by a user, for example, but is a device that is usually installed and used at a predetermined place in a house or the like. The home appliance 10 is, for example, a washing machine, a refrigerator, an air conditioner, a microwave, and a television.

The wireless communication unit 11 is a wireless communication module (wireless LAN module) that wirelessly communicates with both the wireless router 20 a and the like and the setting terminal 30 according to the wireless LAN communication standard. The wireless communication unit 11 is built in the home appliance 10 in advance. The wireless communication unit 11 includes a communication unit 11a, a communication control unit 11b, and a storage unit 11c.

The communication unit 11 a is a wireless communication interface for the wireless communication between the home appliance 10 and both the wireless router 20 a and the like and the setting terminal 30. The communication unit 11a wirelessly communicates with the wireless router 20a or the like and the setting terminal 30 by wireless communication in accordance with communication standards such as IEEE 802.11a, b, g, n, for example. The communication unit 11a has a child device function that operates as a child device and a parent device function that operates as a parent device. Under the control of the communication control unit 11b, the communication unit 11a operates only one of the slave function (function as a slave) and the master function (function as a master), and It is possible to operate both the slave unit function and the master unit function in parallel.

In addition, the arrow of a broken line in FIG. 1 indicates wireless communication performed by the wireless communication unit 11 as a slave, that is, wireless communication performed by the slave function. Moreover, the solid-line arrow in FIG. 1 indicates wireless communication performed by the wireless communication unit 11 as a parent device, that is, wireless communication performed by the parent device function. The same applies to the subsequent drawings.

The communication control unit 11 b is a control device that controls each component of the wireless communication unit 11. For example, the communication control unit 11 b controls wireless communication with the wireless router 20 a and the like and the setting terminal 30 via the communication unit 11 a. The communication control unit 11 b creates a radio wave strength list in which the radio wave strength (reception strength) of radio waves received by the communication unit 11 a from the wireless router 20 a and the like is associated with identification information of the wireless router 20 a and the like. The communication control unit 11 b transmits the radio wave strength list to the setting terminal 30 via the communication unit 11 a. Further, when a predetermined operation is acquired from the setting terminal 30, the communication control unit 11b performs control according to the operation. For example, when the communication control unit 11b acquires an operation of starting wireless connection with the wireless router 20a via the setting terminal 30, the communication control unit 11b controls the communication unit 11a to perform wireless connection with the wireless router 20a.

The communication control unit 11 b is also connected to the home appliance control unit 12 b of the home appliance main unit 12. The communication control unit 11 b may control each component of the wireless communication unit 11 in accordance with the user's operation acquired by the home appliance main unit 12. In addition, the home appliance control unit 12 b outputs an operation on the home appliance main body 12 acquired via the parent device (for example, the wireless router 20 a). As a result, the home electric appliance main unit 12 operates in accordance with the operation acquired through the parent device.

The communication control unit 11b is a processor that executes the control program stored in the storage unit 11c, but may be realized by a dedicated circuit or the like.

The storage unit 11 c is a storage device in which a control program or the like executed by the communication control unit 11 b is stored. In addition, the storage unit 11 c may store identification information (for example, a service set identifier (SSID)) of a parent device that establishes a wireless connection, and security information (for example, a password). The storage unit 11 c is realized by a non-volatile memory such as a flash memory.

The home electric appliance main body 12 is a part that realizes the original function of the home electric appliance. For example, when the home electric appliance 10 is a washing machine, the home electric appliance main body 12 is a part that performs washing of clothes or the like of the home electric appliance 10. In the following, an example in which the home appliance 10 is a washing machine will be described.

The home appliance main unit 12 includes an acquisition unit 12a, a home appliance control unit 12b, a storage unit 12c, and a display unit 12d.

The acquisition unit 12a is a user interface that receives an operation from a user. The acquisition unit 12a is realized by, for example, a push button or a touch panel.

The home appliance control unit 12 b is a control device that controls an operation (for example, washing or the like) of the home appliance main body 12 based on an operation from the user acquired via the acquisition unit 12 a. The home appliance control unit 12b acquires control information stored in the storage unit 12c based on the operation acquired from the acquisition unit 12a, and controls the operation of the household electrical appliance 10 based on the acquired control information. When the home appliance 10 is a washing machine, for example, when the home appliance control unit 12b acquires a user's selection operation such as a standard course or a hand-washing course, the home appliance control unit 12b reads control information corresponding to the course from the storage unit 12c and executes it.

The home appliance control unit 12b is a processor that executes the control program stored in the storage unit 12c, but may be realized by a dedicated circuit or the like.

The storage unit 12c is a storage device in which a control program or the like executed by the home appliance control unit 12b is stored. The storage unit 12 c is realized by a non-volatile memory such as a flash memory.

The display unit 12d is a display device that performs simple display such as the operation state of the home appliance 10 under the control of the home appliance control unit 12b, and is, for example, a liquid crystal display (for example, a liquid crystal display that performs segment display). In addition, the display unit 12d may be a display lamp or the like. When the home appliance 10 is a washing machine, the display 12 d displays the washing course that the home appliance 10 is executing, the remaining time, and the like.

[1-2. Wireless router]
The wireless routers 20a and 20b are communication devices that operate as master devices and relay wireless communication from a slave device (for example, the home appliance 10). For example, the wireless router 20 a or the like is an access point that relays communication between an external network (not shown) and the home appliance 10. The number of wireless routers (masters) included in the wireless communication system 1 is not particularly limited. Also, the first wireless router may be a relay that relays wireless communication between the second wireless router and the home appliance 10. That is, the first wireless router (for example, the wireless router 20b), which is a relay, connects as a slave to the second wireless router (for example, the wireless router 20a), which is a parent device, and performs wireless communication. Further, the first wireless router (relay device) is connected to the home electric appliance 10 as a parent device and performs wireless communication. The first wireless router communicates with the home appliance 10 using the identification information received from the second wireless router (master device).

[1-3. Setting terminal]
The setting terminal 30 is a portable terminal device carried by the user, and is, for example, a smartphone or a tablet terminal.

The setting terminal 30 wirelessly communicates with the home appliance 10, and is connected to the home appliance 10 as a slave of the home appliance 10 (wireless communication unit 11) operating as a master.

As shown in FIG. 1, the setting terminal 30 includes a communication unit 31, a control unit 32, a storage unit 33, a display unit 34, and an acquisition unit 35.

The communication unit 31 is a wireless communication interface for the setting terminal 30 to wirelessly communicate with the home appliance 10. The communication unit 31 is connected to the home appliance 10 operating as a master by wireless communication in accordance with communication standards such as IEEE 802.11a, b, g, n, for example.

The control unit 32 is a control device that controls each component of the setting terminal 30. For example, when the control unit 32 receives the radio wave strength list transmitted from the home appliance 10 via the communication unit 31, the control unit 32 causes the display unit 34 to display the received radio wave strength list. In addition, the control unit 32 may store the received radio field strength list in the storage unit 33.

The control unit 32 is a processor that executes the control program stored in the storage unit 33, but may be realized by a dedicated circuit or the like.

The storage unit 33 is a storage device in which control programs and the like executed by the control unit 32 are stored. The storage unit 33 is realized by a non-volatile memory such as a flash memory.

The display unit 34 is a display device that displays a predetermined image or the like under the control of the control unit 32, and is, for example, a liquid crystal display. Under the control of the control unit 32, the display unit 34 displays the radio wave intensity list and the like acquired via the communication unit 31.

The acquisition unit 35 is a user interface that receives an operation (instruction) from the user, and is, for example, a touch panel, a push button, a keyboard, or the like. When the acquisition unit 35 is a touch panel, it is adhered to the display unit 34 and configured. The operation from the user acquired by the acquisition unit 35 is transmitted to the communication unit 11 a through the communication unit 31 under the control of the control unit 32.

[2. Flow of setting up wireless communication]
Subsequently, in the wireless communication system 1, a method for the home electric device 10 to establish a wireless connection with an appropriate parent device will be described with reference to FIGS. 2A to 6. Here, an example in which the home appliance 10 establishes a wireless connection with the wireless router 20a (an example of a parent device) will be described.

First, in home appliance 10 according to the present embodiment, a flow of creating a radio wave strength list which is a list of wirelessly communicable masters will be described with reference to FIGS. 2A and 3A. Although the details will be described later, the present disclosure is characterized in that the home electric appliance 10 creates a radio wave strength list and transmits the radio wave strength list to an external device (in the present embodiment, the setting terminal 30).

FIG. 2A is a sequence diagram showing a first process performed by home appliance 10 according to the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 2A, the home appliance 10 acquires an operation to start establishment of wireless connection with a parent device (that is, an instruction to start wireless connection) (S11). For example, the home appliance main unit 12 of the home appliance 10 acquires an operation from the user via the acquisition unit 12a. At this time, wireless connection between the home appliance 10 and the wireless router 20a or the like, and between the home appliance 10 and the setting terminal 30 has not been established. That is, wireless communication is not performed between the home appliance 10 and the wireless router 20 a and the like, and between the home appliance 10 and the setting terminal 30. Further, at the time when step S11 is performed, it is assumed that the home electric device 10 is performing the operation of the child device function.

When the home appliance control unit 12b acquires an operation to establish a wireless connection from the user in step S11, the home appliance control unit 12b outputs the acquisition of the operation to the communication control unit 11b. Then, when the communication control unit 11b acquires that the operation has been acquired from the home appliance control unit 12b, the communication control unit 11b controls the communication unit 11a to start the operation of the base device function (S12). Then, the communication control unit 11b establishes a wireless connection with the setting terminal 30 as a parent device (S13). Specifically, at the user's operation, the setting terminal 30 transmits the identification information of the wireless communication unit 11 operating as a parent device and the security information to the wireless communication unit 11 so that the electric home appliance 10 (wireless communication A wireless connection between the unit 11) and the setting terminal 30 is established. As a result, it is possible to realize a wireless communication network in which the home appliance 10 is a parent device and the setting terminal 30 is a child device.

When the wireless connection between the home appliance 10 and the setting terminal 30 is established in step S13, the setting terminal 30 identifies the identification information of the parent machine from which the home appliance 10 can receive radio waves, and the radio wave intensity of radio waves received from the parent machine And a list request, which is a request for creating a radio field strength list, to the electric home appliance 10 (S30). For example, when the setting terminal 30 acquires an operation of transmitting the list request to the home appliance 10 from the user via the acquisition unit 35, the control unit 32 transmits the list request to the home appliance 10 through the communication unit 31. Do. The setting terminal 30 operating as a slave transmits a list request to the home appliance 10 (specifically, the wireless communication unit 11) operating as a master.

When the list request is received from the setting terminal 30 (step S14), the home appliance 10 searches for a master as a slave (S15). That is, a parent device search step is performed in which the home appliance 10 searches for a wireless router 20a or the like capable of wireless communication by the child device function. Specifically, the communication control unit 11b controls the communication unit 11a to search for a wireless router 20a or the like that can perform wireless communication by using the handset function. The communication control unit 11b may cause the display unit 12d to display information indicating that the list request has been received, via the home appliance control unit 12b. For example, when the display unit 12 d is a display lamp, the display lamp may be blinked to indicate that the list request has been received. Thereby, the user can easily know that the home appliance 10 has received the list request. In addition, the communication control unit 11b may cause the display unit 12d to display information indicating that the parent device search step is being performed via the home appliance control unit 12b.

Then, when the communication unit 11a receives a radio wave from the wireless router 20a or the like, the communication control unit 11b receives the radio wave intensity of the radio wave received by the communication unit 11a from the wireless router 20a or the like and identification information of the wireless router 20a or the like. The associated radio wave intensity list (for example, the list shown in FIG. 5) is created (S17). That is, a list creation step is performed in which the communication control unit 11b creates the radio wave strength list. The generated radio wave strength list is transmitted to the setting terminal 30 via the communication unit 11a (S18). That is, the transmitting step is performed in which the home appliance 10 (wireless communication unit 11) transmits the radio wave strength list to the setting terminal 30 operating as a child device by the parent device function of the communication unit 11a.

Here, the first process performed by the home appliance 10 will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 3A.

FIG. 3A is a flowchart showing a first process performed by the home appliance 10 (specifically, the wireless communication unit 11) according to the present embodiment. The steps S11 to S13 are the same as the contents described above, and the description thereof is omitted.

When the wireless connection with the setting terminal 30 is established in step S13, the wireless communication unit 11 determines whether a list request has been received from the setting terminal 30 (S14). Then, when the home appliance 10 receives the list request from the setting terminal 30 (Yes in S14), the home device 10 searches for a master as a slave (S15). When the list request is not received from the setting terminal 30 (No in S14), the communication control unit 11b stands by until the communication unit 11a receives the list request. If the communication control unit 11 b does not receive the list request after the wireless connection with the setting terminal 30 is established in step S 13 even if a predetermined period has passed, the communication control unit 11 b ends the wireless connection with the setting terminal 30. It is also good. That is, the communication control unit 11b may control the communication unit 11a to stop the operation of the base device function.

When the communication unit 11a receives a radio wave from the wireless router 20a or the like, that is, when there is a wireless router 20a or the like to which the communication unit 11a can connect (Yes in S16), the communication control unit 11b creates a radio wave strength list (S17). And send the created list as a parent device to the setting terminal 30 (S18). That is, the transmission step is performed in which the home electric device 10 transmits the radio wave intensity list to the setting terminal 30 by the parent device function.

In the following description, the communication unit 11a receives radio waves from the two wireless routers of the wireless routers 20a and 20b, and in the field strength list, identification information of the wireless routers 20a and 20b and the respective routers are received. It is assumed that the radio wave intensity of the radio wave is associated.

If there is no wireless router 20a or the like capable of wireless communication in step S15 (No in S16), the communication control unit 11b may control the communication unit 11a to start searching for the wireless router 20a or the like again. For example, when it is No at step S16, it progresses to step S19 and determination of whether it is re-searching is performed. If the search has not been completed (No in step S19), the process returns to step S15 to search for the wireless router 20a and the like. This re-search may be performed only once or may be performed multiple times. For example, the re-search may be repeated a predetermined number of times or time.

If re-searching has been completed (Yes in step S19), the communication control unit 11b transmits information indicating that there is no connectable wireless router 20a to the setting terminal 30 (S20). When step S20 is performed, the processes (S31 to S37) in the setting terminal 30 and the processes (S40 to S44) in the home appliance 10 described below are not performed.

As described above, the home appliance 10 according to the present embodiment creates a radio wave strength list in which the radio wave strength (reception strength) is associated with the wireless router 20 a and the like, and transmits the radio wave strength list to the setting terminal 30. Thus, the user can easily determine whether the home appliance 10 is within the communication range of the desired wireless router 20a or the like by displaying the radio wave intensity list on the setting terminal 30. When there is no connectable wireless router 20a or the like, the setting terminal 30 receives information indicating that. Thus, the user can easily determine that the home appliance 10 is not within the communication range of the desired wireless router 20a or the like. Then, the communication state such as the movement of the installation place of the home appliance 10 or the installation place of the wireless router 20a can be improved.

Subsequently, the flow of processing after the first processing according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 2B, 3B, and 3C.

FIG. 2B is a sequence diagram showing processing after the first processing in the wireless communication system according to the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 2B, the setting terminal 30 receives the radio wave strength list transmitted by the home appliance 10 in step S18 via the communication unit 31 (S31). When the control unit 32 receives the radio wave strength list, the control unit 32 causes the display unit 34 to display the radio wave strength list (S32). For example, as the radio wave strength list, identification information of the wireless router 20a etc. and the received radio wave strength are displayed (for an example of the radio wave strength list, see FIG. 5 described later).

Then, a desired wireless router (for example, the wireless router 20a) is selected by the user from the field strength list displayed on the display unit 34. For example, a plurality of wireless routers exist, and among them, the wireless router with the highest radio field strength may be selected as the wireless router that wirelessly communicates with the home appliance 10. Then, a password for performing wireless communication with the wireless router 20a selected by the user is input via the acquisition unit 35. That is, the setting terminal 30 includes information (an example of parent device information to be connected) including identification information of the wireless router 20a wirelessly connected to the home appliance 10 from the user and a password for wireless connection with the wireless router 20a. Acquire (S33). The setting terminal 30 transmits the parent device information to be connected to the home appliance 10 via the communication unit 31 (S34). The wireless router selected from the field strength list by the user is an example of the wireless router specified by the setting terminal 30.

The communication control unit 11b receives the connected parent device information transmitted in step S34 via the communication unit 11a (S40). Then, the communication control unit 11 b performs connection processing with the wireless router 20 a from the identification information of the wireless router 20 a included in the acquired parent device information to be connected and the password for wireless connection with the wireless router 20 a ( S41). That is, the second connection step of establishing wireless connection with the wireless router 20a specified by the setting terminal 30 is performed by the home appliance 10 using the handset function. For example, when the wireless connection with the wireless router 20a fails, the communication control unit 11b may perform connection processing with the wireless router 20a multiple times. The wireless connection with the wireless router 20 a using the connected parent device information received from the setting terminal 30 by the home appliance 10 is an example of a wireless connection method performed using the setting terminal 30.

Then, the communication control unit 11b transmits the result of the connection process with the wireless router 20a performed in step S41 to the setting terminal 30 (S43). The communication control unit 11 b controls the communication unit 11 a to transmit the result of the connection process to the setting terminal 30 using the parent device function. That is, the connection result transmission step is performed in which the home appliance 10 transmits the wireless connection result between the home appliance 10 and the specified wireless router 20a in the second connection step to the setting terminal 30 by the parent device function.

The setting terminal 30 receives the connection result transmitted in the connection result transmission step (S35), and displays the received connection result (S36). Specifically, the control unit 32 causes the display unit 34 to display the connection result received via the communication unit 31. Thereby, the user can confirm the result of the wireless connection between the desired wireless router 20 a and the home appliance 10.

Then, when the wireless connection with the wireless router 20a is established, the home appliance 10 stops the parent device function (S44). That is, in the second connection step, when the wireless connection between the home appliance 10 and the wireless router 20a is established, after the connection result transmission step, the stop step of stopping the parent device function of the home appliance 10 is performed.

Specifically, the communication control unit 11 b controls the communication unit 11 a to stop the operation of the parent device function. As a result, the home appliance 10 can perform wireless communication with the desired wireless router 20a. For example, the user can remotely operate the home electric appliance 10 from outside or the like via the wireless router 20a, or can acquire the operation state of the home electric appliance 10. For example, when the home appliance 10 is a washing machine, the user can instruct the start of washing, obtain the remaining time of the washing operation, or the like through the wireless router 20a. In step S44, the communication control unit 11b does not stop the operation of the handset function. That is, after step S44 (specifically, when the wireless communication unit 11 and the wireless router 20a are performing wireless communication), the wireless communication unit 11 operates only with the slave unit function, and the wireless router 20a Perform wireless communication. Note that, in steps S12 to S18 and steps S40 to S43 in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the home electric device 10 is operating both the master function and the slave function.

Here, the process performed by the setting terminal 30 will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 3B.

FIG. 3B is a flowchart showing processing performed by the setting terminal 30 according to the present embodiment. When performing wireless communication with home appliance 10 in steps S30 to S37 described below, setting terminal 30 operates as a slave. That is, the setting terminal 30 performs wireless communication with the home electric device 10 as a parent device.

First, after the wireless connection with the home appliance 10 is established, the setting terminal 30 makes a list request for creating a field strength list including the strength of radio waves that can be received by the home appliance 10 and the identification information of the parent device. It transmits to the apparatus 10 (S30). Step S30 is the operation of the setting terminal 30 shown in FIG. 2A.

When the setting terminal 30 receives the radio wave strength list from the home appliance 10 (Yes in S31), the setting terminal 30 causes the display unit 34 to display the radio wave strength list (see, for example, FIG. 5) (S32). Specifically, when the radio wave strength list is received from the home appliance 10 via the communication unit 31, the control unit 32 causes the display unit 34 to display the radio wave strength list. When the setting terminal 30 does not receive the radio wave strength list from the home appliance 10 (No in S31), the setting terminal 30 stands by until the radio wave strength list is received. Also, for example, when the radio wave strength list has not been received from the home appliance 10 even after a predetermined period has elapsed, the setting terminal 30 may transmit the list request to the home appliance 10 again. That is, step S30 may be performed again.

When the radio wave strength list is displayed on the display unit 34 in step S32, the identification information of the master (desired master) to which the home electric appliance 10 wirelessly connects is selected from the radio wave strength list displayed on the display 34 by the user. And, a password for wireless communication with the parent device is input through the acquisition unit 35. When the control unit 32 acquires, from the user via the acquisition unit 35, identification information and a password (hereinafter referred to as parent device information to be connected) of the parent device with which the home electric appliance 10 wirelessly communicates (Yes in S33) The parent device information to be transmitted is transmitted to the home appliance 10 via the communication unit 31 (S34). Thus, when the home device 10 receives the connected parent device information, the home device 10 can wirelessly connect to the parent device having the identification information included in the information. When the control unit 32 does not acquire the parent device information to be connected even after the predetermined period has elapsed (No in S33), for example, the process returns to step S30, and the control unit 32 transmits the list request to the home appliance 10 again. It is also good. In addition, when the control unit 32 does not acquire the connected base unit information in step S33, the case where the user's desired base unit is not included in the radio wave intensity list is also included. That is, the acquisition unit 35 acquires, from the user, a selection indicating that the desired base unit is not included in the radio wave intensity list displayed on the display unit 34, and the home appliance 10 receives the selection result. The case is also included. In that case, the process returns to step S30, and the home appliance 10 executes the re-search (S15 shown in FIG. 2A) by sending the list request to the home appliance 10 again.

When the setting terminal 30 receives the result of the wireless connection with the desired parent device based on the parent device information to which the home electric appliance 10 is connected (Yes in S35), the display unit 34 displays the connection result. (S36). When the connection result is not received in step S35 (No in S35), the control unit 32 stands by until the connection result is received from the home appliance 10. In addition, for example, when the connection result is not received from the home appliance 10 even after the predetermined period has elapsed, the setting terminal 30 may transmit the connected parent device information transmitted in step S34 to the home appliance 10 again.

If the connection result received in step S35 indicates that the wireless connection with the desired parent device has been established (Yes in S37), the processing of the setting terminal 30 ends. For example, the control unit 32 may determine to end the process of the setting terminal 30 when acquiring the selection indicating the completion of the wireless connection between the home electric device 10 and the parent device from the user.

On the other hand, if the connection result received in step S35 indicates that the desired parent device could not be connected (No in S37), the setting terminal 30 returns to step S34, and connects again to the home appliance 10 Send parent device information. At this time, the control unit 32 acquires parent device information to be connected again from the user (S38). Specifically, the control unit 32 acquires, from the user, identification information of a base unit to which the home electric appliance 10 is connected and a password for wireless connection with the base unit. Then, the process returns to step S34, and the control unit 32 transmits the connected parent device information newly acquired in step S38 to the home appliance 10. Step S38 may not be performed.

Subsequently, the second process performed by the home appliance 10 will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 3C. The second process is a process in which the home appliance 10 establishes a wireless connection with a desired parent device selected by the setting terminal 30.

FIG. 3C is a flowchart showing processing performed by the home appliance 10 according to the present embodiment. In steps S40 to S46 described below, the home electric device 10 performs wireless communication by the slave function when performing wireless communication with the wireless router 20a, and performs wireless communication by the master function when performing wireless communication with the setting terminal 30.

First, when the parent device information to be connected is received from the setting terminal 30 (Yes in S40), connection processing for wireless connection with the parent device (here, the wireless router 20a) included in the parent device information to be connected is performed ( S41). The connection process is executed from the identification information and password of the parent device included in the parent device information to be connected. When the wireless connection with the wireless router 20a is established (Yes in S42), the home appliance 10 transmits information indicating that the wireless connection has been established (the wireless connection is successful) to the setting terminal 30 (S43) . Specifically, the communication control unit 11b transmits, to the setting terminal 30, a connection result indicating that the wireless connection has been established through the communication unit 11a. Then, the communication control unit 11 b controls the communication unit 11 a to stop the operation of the parent device function (S 44). That is, the communication control unit 11 b disconnects the wireless connection with the setting terminal 30. Thereby, the setting of the wireless connection between the home appliance 10 and the wireless router 20a (an example of the parent device) is completed.

In step S42, when the wireless connection with the wireless router 20a can not be established (No in S42), the home electric appliance 10 can not establish the wireless connection (information indicating that the wireless connection has failed) the setting terminal Send to 30 (S45). For example, the wireless connection fails if the password included in the connected parent device information acquired in step S40 is incorrect (that is, the user inputs an incorrect password to the setting terminal). When the communication control unit 11 b re-receives the connected parent device information from the setting terminal 30 (Yes in S 46), the communication control unit 11 b executes Step S 41 again using the re-received parent device information. Here, when the parent device information to be connected is re-received is No in step S37 shown in FIG. 3B, the parent device information to be re-transmitted from the setting terminal 30 (for example, in step S38) It includes the fact that the information on the connecting parent device acquired from the user is received again. Furthermore, that the parent device information to be connected has been received again is transmitted from the setting terminal 30 when the connection result has not been received from the home electric appliance 10 even after the predetermined period of time has elapsed as described above. Information on the parent device to be connected (for example, the same information as the parent device information transmitted in step S34).

If the parent device information to be connected is not received again even after the predetermined period has elapsed (No in S46), the process proceeds to step S44, and the parent device function is stopped.

Here, specific installation examples of home electric appliances will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6.

FIG. 4: is a figure which shows the example of installation of the household appliances 10, 10a, and 10b which concern on this Embodiment.

FIG. 4 shows an example in which there are houses 200 to 203 and wireless routers (wireless routers 20a to 20e) are installed in each of the houses 200 to 203. The house 200 includes a living room 200a, a kitchen 200b, and a dressing room 200c, in which a home appliance 10 (for example, a personal computer), a home appliance 10a (for example, a refrigerator), and a home appliance 10b (for example, a washing machine) are installed. . Further, in the house 200, two wireless routers of wireless routers 20a and 20b are installed. Further, home appliances 10c to 10e are installed in the houses 201 to 203, respectively.

A so-called household appliance such as a refrigerator or a washing machine is placed in a place different from the device to which the conventional wireless LAN was connected, so it can be installed in a place where the radio wave of the base unit (here, the wireless router) can not reach There is sex. In addition, white goods may not have sufficient display devices (for example, only predetermined display can be performed). Whether such a home appliance is within the communication range of the desired master unit by creating a field strength list according to the method described above and transmitting the field strength list to the setting terminal. The user can easily make the determination.

The case where the radio wave intensity list is created by the above method will be described for the home appliance 10b shown in FIG.

The home appliance 10b receives radio waves from the wireless routers 20a and 20b in the house 200. The home appliance 10b also receives radio waves from each of the nearby homes 201-203. That is, the home appliance 10b receives radio waves from each of the wireless routers 20a to 20e.

As shown in FIG. 2A, when the list request is received from the setting terminal 30 (not shown in FIG. 4) (S14), the home electric appliance 10b executes a search step of searching for a master as a slave (S15) . Here, five wireless routers 20a to 20e are searched as master devices capable of wireless communication. The home appliance 10b creates a field strength list in which the identification information of each of the wireless routers 20a to 20e is associated with the field strength of the received field (S17), and transmits the field strength list to the setting terminal 30 (S18) .

Subsequently, the field intensity list displayed on the setting terminal 30 will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the field intensity list displayed on the setting terminal 30 according to the present embodiment.

In FIG. 5, identification information of the wireless routers 20a to 20e is indicated by SSID1 to SSID5, respectively, and the radio wave intensity is indicated by four antenna bars. By displaying the radio wave intensity list as shown in FIG. 5, the user can easily determine whether the home appliance 10 b is within the communication range of the desired master unit. The radio wave strength list is not limited to the form shown in FIG. 5 and may be displayed by any method. For example, the radio wave intensity may be displayed in order of strong or weak radio wave intensity, and the radio wave intensity may be displayed not by an antenna bar but by a numerical value or the like.

Here, it is assumed that the user is installed in the house 200 and selects the wireless router 20a (SSID1) with the strongest radio wave intensity. Then, a password for wireless connection with the wireless router 20 a is input by the user via the acquisition unit 35.

FIG. 6 is a view showing an example of a screen for inputting parent device information connected in the setting terminal 30 according to the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 6, the wireless router 20a whose identification information is SSID1 is displayed as a parent device, and a password input field is displayed below it. The user inputs a password for wireless connection with the wireless router 20 a via the acquisition unit 35. Then, the setting terminal 30 transmits the identification information of the parent device and the password to the home appliance 10b as the parent device information to be connected. The parent device information to be connected may include information other than the identification information and the password.

If the home appliance 10b is not within the communication range of the desired base unit (for example, even if the radio wave strength list is repeatedly created, the desired base unit is not searched), movement or extension of the base unit location, etc. There is a time to do it. After moving the location of the base unit, etc., the user can easily check whether the home appliance is within the desired base unit communication range by creating the radio wave strength list again by the above method. it can.

As described above, the home appliance 10 creates a radio wave strength list indicating the relationship between the identification information of the parent device capable of wireless communication and the radio wave strength, and transmits the radio wave strength list to the setting terminal 30 which is an apparatus different from the home appliance 10. The user can select a desired parent device from the radio wave intensity list displayed on the setting terminal 30. The home appliance 10 can perform wireless connection with the parent device specified by the setting terminal 30.

[3. Effect etc]
As described above, in the wireless connection method according to the present embodiment, establishment of wireless connection between the home appliance 10 communicating with the wireless LAN communication standard and the parent device (for example, the wireless router 20a) is wirelessly connected to the home appliance 10 Wireless communication method using the setting terminal 30, and the home device search step (S15) for searching for a base device capable of wireless communication by the child device function, and the base device search step List creation step (S17) for creating a radio wave intensity list in which the identification information of the master device and the radio wave intensity of radio waves received by the home device 10 from the master device are correlated; And a list transmission step (S18) of transmitting the radio wave strength list to the setting terminal 30.

As a result, the radio wave strength list created by the home appliance 10 is transmitted to the setting terminal 30, so that the user can check the radio wave strength list using the setting terminal 30. For example, even when the home appliance 10 does not have a sufficient display function, the user can check the radio wave strength list by using the setting terminal 30. Therefore, the user can easily determine whether the home appliance 10 can communicate with a desired base unit.

Furthermore, after the list transmission step, the connection step (second step) for establishing a connection with the parent device (for example, the wireless router 20a) specified by the setting terminal 30 by the child device function by the child device function An example of the connection step), and a connection result transmission step in which the home electric device 10 transmits the connection result between the home electric appliance 10 and the specified parent machine in the second connection step to the setting terminal 30 by the parent machine function. Including.

Thereby, the user can confirm with the setting terminal 30 whether the wireless connection between the home electric device 10 and the parent device has been established. That is, the user can confirm that the wireless connection has failed. Therefore, when the wireless connection fails, the user can easily take measures such as re-input of the password.

Further, in the second connection step, when the connection between the home electric device 10 and the parent device is established, the connection result transmitting step further includes a stop step for stopping the parent device function of the home electric device 10.

As a result, after the wireless connection between the home appliance 10 and the parent device is established, the wireless connection between the home appliance 10 and the setting terminal 30 can be disconnected automatically.

Further, as described above, the home appliance 10 according to the present embodiment is the home appliance 10 including the wireless communication unit 11 that communicates according to the wireless LAN communication standard, and the wireless communication unit 11 is a parent device (for example, wireless A communication unit 11a that communicates with the router 20a) and the setting terminal 30, and a communication control unit 11b that controls communication with the parent device and the setting terminal 30 via the communication unit 11a. The communication control unit 11b searches for a master capable of wireless communication using the slave function, and the radio wave intensity in which the identification information of the searched master and the radio wave intensity of the radio wave received from the master by the communication unit 11a are associated. A list is created, and the radio wave strength list is transmitted to the setting terminal 30 via the communication unit 11a by the parent device function.

Thereby, the same effect as the wireless connection method of the home appliance 10 is obtained.

Second Embodiment
Hereinafter, the radio communication system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the present embodiment, points different from the first embodiment will be described.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a first process performed by home appliance 110 according to the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 7, the home appliance 110 obtains an operation to start establishment of a wireless connection with the wireless router 20 a (S111). This is similar to step S11 shown in FIG. 2A.

When the home appliance 110 according to the present embodiment acquires an operation to start establishment of wireless connection in step S111, the home device 110 searches for a master as a slave (S112). That is, even if the list request has not been received from the setting terminal 30, the parent device search step is performed in which the home appliance 10 searches for a wireless router 20a or the like capable of wireless communication by the child device function. The communication control unit 11 b controls the communication unit 11 a to search for a wireless router 20 a or the like that can perform wireless communication by using the handset function. The difference from the first embodiment is that the search step is executed triggered by the acquisition of the start of the wireless connection setting in step S111. That is, home electric appliance 110 according to the present embodiment is characterized in that the search step is performed before the operation of the parent device function is started.

Next, when the communication unit 11a receives a radio wave, the communication control unit 11b associates the radio wave intensity of the radio wave received by the communication unit 11a from the wireless router 20a or the like with the identification information of the wireless router 20a or the like. A radio field strength list is created (S113). Then, the communication control unit 11 b controls the communication unit 11 a to start the operation of the parent device function (S 114). This is similar to steps S17 and S12 shown in FIG. 2A. Steps S113 and S114 may not be performed in this order, as long as step S114 is performed after step S112 and before step S115 described later. For example, after step S114 is performed, step S113 may be performed, or steps S113 and S114 may be performed in parallel.

Then, the communication control unit 11b establishes a wireless connection with the setting terminal 30 as a master unit (S115), receives a list request from the setting terminal 30 (S116), and sets the setting terminal 30 via the communication unit 11a. The radio wave strength list is sent to (S117). This is the same as steps S13, S14 and S18 shown in FIG. 2A.

As described above, in the wireless connection method according to the present embodiment, the home appliance 110 further establishes a connection with the setting terminal 30 by the parent device function between the parent device search step and the list transmission step. Connection step (an example of a first connection step).

In the master search step, the radio wave intensity is measured while changing the radio channel. Further, the wireless channel used for communication with the master by the slave function and the wireless channel used for communication with the setting terminal 30 which is the slave by the master function are the same wireless channel. That is, when one of the wireless channels (for example, the wireless channel used for communication with the parent device) is changed, the other wireless channel (for example, the wireless channel used for communication with the setting terminal 30) It is necessary to change in accordance with the change.

In the case of the wireless connection method according to the present embodiment, the wireless connection between the communication control unit 11 b and the setting terminal 30 is not established at the time of performing the master device search step. That is, the communication control unit 11b does not have to change the radio channel used for communication with the setting terminal 30 in the parent device search step. That is, the processing of the communication control unit can be simplified.

(Other embodiments)
As described above, the embodiment has been described as an example of the technology disclosed in the present application. However, the technology in the present disclosure is not limited to these, and can be applied to embodiments in which changes, replacements, additions, omissions, and the like are appropriately made. Moreover, it is also possible to combine each component demonstrated by the said embodiment, and to set it as a new embodiment. Therefore, other embodiments will be exemplified below.

For example, in the above embodiment, the setting terminal 30 has been described as an example of a portable terminal device. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The setting terminal 30 may be a device that operates as a slave in wireless communication, and has a display unit that displays a list received from the home appliance 10, an acquisition unit that receives a selection from the user, and the like. The setting terminal 30 may be realized by a PC (Personal Computer) or the like.

Further, the order of the plurality of processes in the operation (the operation of establishing the wireless communication connection) of the home appliance 10 and the setting terminal 30 described in the above embodiment is an example. The order of the plurality of processes may be changed, or the plurality of processes may be performed in parallel. For example, although the above-mentioned embodiment explained the example which household appliance 10 operates a child machine function at the time of Step S11 of Drawing 2A and 3A, it is not limited to this. In step S15 shown in FIGS. 2A and 3A, the child device function only needs to be operating before the home appliance 10 searches for the wireless routers 20a and 20b as the child device. For example, the operation of the child device function may be started in parallel with the timing of starting the operation of the parent device function of step S12, or the child device function after receiving the list request from the setting terminal 30 of step S14. May be operated.

Moreover, a part of processes may be omitted among the plurality of processes in the operation of the home appliance 10 and the setting terminal 30 described in the above-described embodiment. For example, step S19 shown in FIG. 3A may be omitted. That is, when there is no connectable wireless router 20a or the like in step S16, the communication control unit 11b may proceed to step S20.

Moreover, although the radio | wireless communication part 11 demonstrated the example incorporated in the household appliances 10 in the said embodiment, it is not limited to this. For example, the wireless communication unit 11 may be a wireless LAN adapter externally attached to the home appliance 10.

Further, in the above embodiment, each component may be configured by dedicated hardware or implemented by executing a software program suitable for each component. Each component may be realized by a program execution unit such as a processor reading and executing a software program recorded on a recording medium such as a hard disk or a semiconductor memory. The processor is configured of one or more electronic circuits including a semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) or a large scale integration (LSI). The plurality of electronic circuits may be integrated on one chip or may be provided on a plurality of chips. The plurality of chips may be integrated into one device or may be provided to a plurality of devices.

In addition, general or specific aspects of the present disclosure may be realized by a system, an apparatus, a method, an integrated circuit, a computer program or a computer readable or non-transitory recording medium such as a CD-ROM or an optical disc. . The program may be stored in advance in a recording medium, or may be supplied to the recording medium via a wide area communication network including the Internet and the like. Also, the present invention may be realized as any combination of a system, an apparatus, a method, an integrated circuit, a computer program, and a recording medium.

In addition, the present invention can be realized by arbitrarily combining components and functions in each embodiment without departing from the scope obtained by applying various modifications that those skilled in the art would think to each embodiment, and the scope of the present disclosure. Forms are also included in the present disclosure.

The present disclosure is applicable to wireless connection between a home appliance and a parent device used in a house or the like.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Wireless communication system 10, 10a-10e, 110 Home appliance 11 Radio communication part 11a, 31 Communication part 11b Communication control part 11c, 12c, 33 Storage part 12 Household appliance main part 12a, 35 Acquisition part 12b Home appliance control part 12d, 34 Display Section 20a to 20e Wireless router (master unit)
32 control unit 200-203 house 200a living room 200b kitchen 200c dressing room

Claims (5)

A wireless connection method for establishing a wireless connection between a home appliance and a parent device communicating according to a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) communication standard, using a setting terminal wirelessly connected to the home appliance,
A parent device search step of searching for the parent device capable of wireless communication with the home electric device by a child device function;
A list creation step of creating a field strength list in which identification information of the base unit searched in the base unit search step and the field strengths of radio waves received by the home device from the base unit are associated;
A wireless connection method including: a list transmission step in which the home appliance transmits the radio wave strength list to the setting terminal by a parent device function. Furthermore, the home appliance includes a first connection step for establishing a connection with the setting terminal by the parent device function between the parent device search step and the list transmission step. Wireless connection method described. Furthermore, after the step of sending the list,
A second connection step for establishing a connection with the parent device specified by the setting terminal by the child device function of the home appliance;
A connection result transmission step in which the home electric device transmits the connection result between the home electric appliance and the specified parent device in the second connection step to the setting terminal by the parent machine function. Or the wireless connection method according to 2. Furthermore, in the second connection step, when the connection between the home electric device and the parent device is established, the connection result transmission step includes a stopping step of stopping the parent device function of the home electric device. The wireless connection method described in. A home electric appliance comprising a wireless communication unit that communicates according to a wireless LAN communication standard,
The wireless communication unit is
A communication unit that communicates with the parent device and the setting terminal;
A communication control unit configured to control communication with the parent device and the setting terminal via the communication unit;
As the control, the communication control unit
Search for the master that can communicate wirelessly with the handset function,
Creating a radio wave strength list in which identification information of the searched parent machine and the radio wave strength of radio waves received from the parent machine by the communication unit are associated;
A home electric appliance which transmits the radio wave strength list to the setting terminal via the communication unit by a parent device function.

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