Patent Application
20180218594
The invention relates to electronic systems, and, in particular, to a depth-control method for home appliances in an indoor space and associated electronic system.
With advances in technology, wearable devices such as smart watches, smart bracelets, and fitness bands have become more and more popular. With the help of a smart wearable device supporting various wireless protocols such as infrared ray (IR), Wifi, Bluetooth, etc., a user may use his or her hand to intuitively and naturally interact with home appliances within an indoor space. For example, the user may use his or her smart wearable device to turn power to home appliances on and off, switch channels on a smart TV, change the sound volume on a speaker, activate a washlet, etc.
However, home appliances can be arranged in different locations in the indoor space. When the user uses his or her smart wearable device to aim in the direction (e.g. a line of sight) of a certain home appliance, there might be several other home appliances having a remote control function that lie along the line of the direction aimed at. Thus, it is difficult for the user to select a home appliance to be controlled using his or her smart wearable device.
Accordingly, there is demand for a control method for home appliances in an indoor space and an associated electronic system to solve the aforementioned problem.
A detailed description is given in the following embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.
In an exemplary embodiment, a depth-control method for home appliances in an indoor space is provided. The method includes the steps of: connecting the home appliances to a portable electronic device via one or more wireless channels; obtaining identity information of the home appliances using the portable electronic device via the one or more wireless channels; detecting sensor data associated with the portable electronic device; selecting one among a first set of the home appliances according to the sensor data; and controlling the selected home appliance using the portable electronic device.
In another exemplary embodiment, an electronic system is provided. The electronic system includes a portable electronic device and a plurality of home appliances. The home appliances are connected to the portable electronic device via one or more wireless channels. The portable electronic device further selects one among a first set of the home appliances according to sensor data associated with the portable electronic device, and controls the selected home appliance.
The invention can be more fully understood by reading the subsequent detailed description and examples with references made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The following description is of the best-contemplated mode of carrying out the invention. This description is made for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention and should not be taken in a limiting sense. The scope of the invention is best determined by reference to the appended claims.
Each of the home appliances 120-1˜120-N supports one or more wireless communication protocols such as IR, Bluetooth, Wifi, etc, and is connected to the portable electronic device 110 via one of the above-mentioned wireless communication protocols. Specifically, the portable electronic device 110 may obtain pre-defined location information for each home appliance in the indoor space 150 upon establishing a connection between the portable electronic device 110 and the home appliance.
For example, there are one or more sensors deployed in the portable electronic device 110, and there are various sensor modes for performing the specific operation for determining which home appliance is to be controlled among the home appliances that overlap on the line. For example, the portable electronic device 110 may comprise at least one of an accelerometer, a magnetometer, a gyroscope, a proximity sensor, an action-potential sensor, etc. In an embodiment, the aforementioned sensors can be integrated into a sensor hub of the portable electronic device 110. Accordingly, the user may utilize the portable electronic device 110 to perform the corresponding specific operation according to the sensor being activated.
The wireless communication module 340 may include at least one of a Wifi module 341, a Bluetooth module 342, and an infrared ray data associated (IrDA) module 343 that provide a wireless connection between the portable electronic device 110 and each home appliance. Each home appliance in the indoor space 150 is equipped with at least one wireless transceiver, and so each home appliance may connect to one of the Wifi module 341, the Bluetooth module 342, and the IrDA module 343 depending on the wireless communication protocol supported by each home appliance.
In an embodiment, the portable electronic device 110 and the home appliances may connect to a wireless access point (AP) via the Wifi protocol, and the portable electronic device 110 may obtain the IP address of each home appliance as identity information through the wireless AP. When the user utilizes the portable electronic device 110 to perform a specific operation to select one of the home appliances that overlap on the aimed line, the portable electronic device may send commands to the selected home appliance through the wireless AP. In an alternative embodiment, the Wifi module 341 of the portable electronic device 110 may act as a hotspot or a wireless access point, so that the home appliances may directly connect to the portable electronic device through the Wifi module 341.
In an embodiment, when the portable electronic device 110 serves as a Bluetooth host via the Bluetooth module 342, the home appliances may directly connect to the portable electronic device 110 via the Bluetooth or Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) protocol as Bluetooth clients, and each home appliance may have an individual address and name as its unique identity information. Accordingly, the portable electronic device 110 may obtain the identity information from each home appliance via the Bluetooth module 342 after the Bluetooth connection between the portable electronic device 110 and each home appliance has been established. Accordingly, after the specific operation has been performed for selecting one of the home appliances, the portable electronic device 110 may send commands directly to the selected Bluetooth client via the Bluetooth module 342.
In an embodiment, since the portable electronic device 110 may identify different IR codes via the IrDA module 343, the portable electronic device 110 may obtain a respective unique IR code emitted from each home appliance via the IrDA module 343. Accordingly, after the specific operation has been performed for selecting one of the home appliances, the portable electronic device 110 may directly send commands to the selected home appliance via the IrDA module 343.
It should be noted that one or more wireless communication protocols can be simultaneously used by the portable electronic device 110 to obtain identity information for the home appliances.
In an embodiment, the computing device 310 may render a user interface showing the valid home appliances in the indoor space. Specifically, the valid home appliances indicate the home appliances that have successfully built connections with the portable electronic device 110. In some embodiments, the icons of the valid home appliances are rendered on the display 350, so that the user may see which home appliance is currently being selected on the aimed line. In some other embodiments, the computing device 310 may analyze the home-appliance-usage history and determine the most frequently used home appliances. Then, the icons of the most frequently used home appliances can be rendered on the display 350.
In step S404, the portable electronic device 110 obtains the identity information of the home appliances nearby via one or more wireless channels. For example, the obtained identity information may include the pre-defined indoor location of each home appliance.
In step S406, when the portable electronic device 110 is used for depth control of home appliances, the portable electronic device 110 determines which home appliances are overlapping on the line being aimed by the user.
In step S408, the activated specific sensor detects sensor data associated with the portable electronic device.
For example, when the activated sensor is an accelerometer, the sensor data may indicate the direction of the user's gesture. If the user's hand is moving fast in the aimed direction, the next home appliance farther away from the portable electronic device 110 on the aimed line will be selected. Conversely, if the user's hand is moving fast toward the user's body, the next home appliance closer to the portable electronic device 110 will be selected.
In another example, when the activated sensor is a magnetometer, the sensor data may indicate the cardinal direction of the gesture. Specifically, the portable electronic device 110 may act as a compass that is placed horizontally, and the user may rotate the compass to different points of the compass to select the home appliance on the aimed line.
In yet another example, when the activated sensor is a gyroscope, the predetermined sensor data may indicate the rotation angle of the user's arm that holds the portable electronic device 110. Accordingly, the portable electronic device 110 may determine which home appliance is currently being selected according to the rotation angle.
In yet another example, when the activated sensor is a proximity sensor, the sensor data may indicate the distance between the portable electronic device 110 and the user's arm or hand that holds the portable electronic device 110. Accordingly, the portable electronic device 110 may determine which home appliance is currently being selected according to the distance between the portable electronic device 110 and the arm or hand.
In yet another example, when the activated sensor is an action-potential sensor, the sensor data may indicate the electromyography generated from the muscle contractions involved in arm waving. For example, a specific electromyography may indicate to select a home appliance farther down the aimed line, and another specific electromyography may indicate to select a home appliance closer on the aimed line. Accordingly, the portable electronic device 110 may determine which home appliance is currently being selected according to the electromyography.
In some embodiments, each home appliance may be equipped with an indicator light such as a light-emitting diode. When the user selects one of the home appliances on the aimed line via one of the aforementioned methods utilizing different sensors, the indicator light of the currently selected home appliance is turned on and the indicator lights of other home appliances are turned off. When the user selects the home appliance from near to far one by one, the indicator light of the selected home appliance is also turned on sequentially.
Attention now is directed back to
In step S412, the status and the icon of the selected home appliance is rendered (or highlighted) on the display 350. In some embodiments, step S412 can be omitted.
In step S412, the control command for the selected home appliance is determined by a pre-defined gesture. For example, the pre-defined gesture may have a different motion type compared with the sensor data detected by the currently activated sensor for selecting one of the home appliances. If the currently activated sensor is an accelerometer, the rotation angle could be the pre-defined gesture for controlling the selected home appliance. For example, when a speaker is currently selected, the user may rotate the portable electronic device 110 clockwise to increase the volume of the speaker, and rotate the portable electronic device 110 counterclockwise to decrease the volume of the speaker. One having ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that appropriate gestures can be designed for different home appliances.
In step S414, the control command is sent to the selected home appliance through a corresponding wireless channel. It should be noted that the home appliances may connect to the portable electronic device 110 through different wireless protocols, and thus the control command that is sent to the selected home appliance should be transmitted through the corresponding wireless channel of the selected home appliance.
In step S416, the selected home appliance performs an associated operation according to the control command, and reports its status back to the portable electronic device 110 through the corresponding wireless channel.
In step S418, the status of the selected home appliance is updated on the user interface rendered on the display 350 of the portable electronic device 110.
In view of the above, a depth-control method for home appliances and an associated electronic system are provided. With the help of the depth-control method, the user may easily select one of the home appliances from among those that are overlapping on the same line being aimed at, and control the selected home appliance using the portable electronic device.
While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of the preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements (as would be apparent to those skilled in the art). Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.
