Patent Application
20140088779
1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to smart home technology, and particularly to a smart power strip and a smart home system employing the smart power strip.
2. Description of Related Art
Power strip is a block of electrical sockets that attaches to an end of a flexible cable (typically with a mains plug on the other end), allowing multiple electrical devices to be powered from a single electrical socket. Power strips are often used when many electrical devices are in proximity.
Some power strips also include indicator light configured to indicate when power is on. However, that function of the power strip is the only function. Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art.
Many aspects of the embodiments can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.
The disclosure, including the accompanying, is illustrated by way of example and not by way of limitation. It should be noted that references to “an” or “one” embodiment in this disclosure are not necessarily to the same embodiment, and such references mean “at least one.”
Referring to
Referring to
A formula is stored in the first storage 10 for calculating the energy charge. The power detecting unit 30 is configured to detect real-time information of the electronic devices 3 of the smart power strip 100, such as the instantaneous voltage, current or power consumption of the electronic devices 3. The real-time power consumption of the electronic device 3 is equal to the product of the real-time voltage and the real-time current thereof. The power detecting unit 30 further sends the real-time information to the processor unit 40. The screen 20 can be a LCD, an electronic paper display, an LED display, or a touch display. In other embodiments, the smart power strip 100 does not includes the screen 20, the functions of the screen 20 being implemented by a portable electronic device having a display connected to the gateway 200.
The processor unit 40 includes a control module 41 and a calculating module 42. The calculating module 42 calculates the total electrical consumption of the electronic device 3 according to their real-time power consumption. In an embodiment, the calculating module 42 obtains the power consumption P of the electronic device 3 detected by the power detecting unit 30 at a pre-determined interval t, and calculates the electrical consumption of the electronic device 3 in this time period t by the product of the power consumption P and the time period t. The total electrical consumption of the electronic device 3 is equal to the sum of the electrical consumptions of every time period t.
The calculating module 42 further calculates the energy charge of the electronic device 3 according to the formula stored in the first storage 10, an electrovalence, and the total electrical consumption, the control module 41 controls the screen 20 to display the real-time information, the total electrical consumption and the energy charge of the electronic device 3.
The control module 41 further controls the electronic switch 71 to turn on or turn off the power supply of the socket 70 according a command sent by the gateway 200, thereby controlling the power supply to the electronic devices 3 connected on the smart power strip 100.
The smart power strip 100 further includes a data interface 80 connected to the processor unit 40, supporting data interoperability between the smart power strip 100 and another device. In this embodiment, the data interface 80 is a USB interface. The smart power strip 100 further includes a charging unit 81 configured to charge a device via the data interface 80. The control module 41 further controls the screen 20 to display a charging status of the device connected on the data interface 80, such as top-off, charging and rest time.
The smart power strip 100 further includes a button 50 and a number of indicators 60 connected to the processor unit 40. One indicator light 60 corresponds to one socket 70, and is configured to indicate that the power supply of the socket 70 is on or off. In this embodiment, the indicator light 60 emits light to indicate that the power supply of the socket 70 is on, and is dark to indicate that the power supply of the socket 70 is off. The button 50 sends a first signal to the processor unit 40 in response to a first pressing gesture on it, the control module 41 of the processor unit 40 resets the total electrical consumption and the energy charge of the electronic device 3 displayed on the screen 20 in response to the first signal, and the calculating module 42 once again calculates the total electrical consumption and the energy charge of the electronic device 3. The button 50 sends a second signal in response to a second pressing gesture to the processor unit 40, the control module 41 of the processor unit 40 controls the screen 20 to display an input box beside the total electrical consumption for receiving a new electrovalence input by a user. In an embodiment, the first pressing gesture is a short press gesture, such as pressing for 0.5 second; the second pressing gesture is a long press gesture, such as pressing for more than 3 seconds.
In an embodiment, the smart power strip 100 further includes a plug 95 and a flexible cable 90 connecting to the plug 95, the plug and the flexible cable are configured to connect the smart power strip 100 to the power 1, thus connecting the power 1 and the electronic devices 3. The socket 70 can be a three-phase or two-phase socket.
When two or more electronic devices 3 are connected on the smart power strip 100 via the sockets 70, the power detecting unit 30 can detect the real-time information of each electronic devices 3 and send the real-time information to the processor unit 40. The calculating module 42 calculates the total electrical consumption and the energy charge of each electronic device 3, and the control module 41 controls the screen 20 to display the real-time information, the energy charge, and the total electrical consumption of each electronic device 3. The smart power strip 100 includes a number of indicator 60, each of the indicator 60 is related to one socket 70 of the smart power strip 100 and is configured to indicate the power state of the electronic device 3 connected on the related socket 70. Also, the smart power strip 100 includes a number of buttons 50, each of the buttons 50 is related to one socket 70 of the smart power strip 100 and is configured to reset the total electrical consumption and the energy charge of the electronic device 3 connected on the related socket 70. In another embodiment, the smart power strip 100 only includes one button 50, and when the button 50 is pressed, the control module 41 of the processor unit 40 resets the total electrical consumption and the energy charge of all of the electronic devices 3.
Users can obtain the real-time information, the total electrical consumption, and the energy charge of the electronic device 3 from the screen 20, and obtain charging status of the device connected to the data interface 80.
User can use the registration controllers 300 to control the smart power strips 100 in a room in which the registration controller 300 is located, to automatically register on the gateway 200. In detail, the smart power strips 100 send a unique identification code (UID) to the gateway 200, to register on the gateway 200. In the first embodiment, the smart power strip 100 includes a number of sockets, each of the sockets has a UID, the smart power strips 100 further sends the UIDs of the sockets to the gateway 200, thereby the sockets are registered on the gateway 200. Each of the registration controllers 300 also includes an UID stored therein. A registration process of how the smart power stripes 100 register on the gateway 200 is given.
Referring to
The smart power strip 100 further includes a first infrared (IR) receiver 15 configured to receive IR signals sent by the registration controller 300, and a PLC modem unit 16. The PLC modem unit 16 is configured to receive and decode the data transmitted on the power line 2, the PLC modem unit 16 also encodes and forwards the data to the gateway 20 via the power line 2, thereby establishing communication between the smart power strip 100 and the gateway 200. In other embodiments, the first IR receiver 15 can be a receiver employing other wireless communication technologies.
Referring to
The registration controller 300 needs to be connected to the gateway 200, before the smart power strips 100 register on the gateway 200. To connect the registration controller 300, the registration controller 300 is located within the communicating range of the gateway 200, and a coupling program is run on the smart gateway 20. Then, the smart gateway 200 establishes communication with the registration controller 300, and sends its own UID and a secret code to the registration controller 300 wirelessly. The registration controller 300 receives and saves the UID of the gateway 200 and the secret code into the second storage 31. The registration controller 300 further sends its own UID to the gateway 200 wirelessly, the gateway 200 receives and saves the UID of the registration controller 300, to finish the coupling process. In this embodiment, the registration controller 300 receives the UID of the gateway 200 and the secret code via the second IR receiver 36, and sends the UID of the registration controller 300 to the gateway 200 via the IR sender 33. In this embodiment, the secret code is the UID of the gateway 200 or the secret code is input by the user. The secret code is configured to encode or decode the data transmitted between the gateway 200 and the registration controller 300, prevent unauthorized access to the data. In other embodiments, the gateway 200 and the registration controller 300 can communicate via BLUETOOTH, Z-WAVE, NFC, ZIGBEE, WIFI, or other communication technologies.
If user wants to register the smart power strips 100 on the gateway 200, user must locate the connected registration controller 300 in the room containing the smart power strips 100 which need to be registered, and run a registering program on the mart gateway 200.
For example, the connected registration controller B 300 shown in
The smart power strips 100 can be registered to the gateway in different ways. In a driven registration manner, the gateway 200 broadcasts a signal to all of the smart power strips 100 connected on the power line for determining whether the smart power strip 100 had received the IR signal sent by the registration controller 300, in response to the received registration request. The smart power strips 100 which receive the IR signal send an encoded registration code to the gateway 200 through wires or wirelessly, in response to the broadcast signal. In this embodiment, the smart power strips 100 are registered on the gateway 200 in the driven registration manner.
In this example, the smart power strips B and C 100 located in the room B send an encoded registration code to the gateway 200 by wires or wirelessly, in response to the broadcast signal. The smart power stripes B and C 100 can send the encoded registration code to the gateway 200 via the power line. The registration code includes the UID of the smart power strip 100 and the UID of the registration controller 300 stored in the first storage 10. If the smart power strip 100 includes more than one socket, the registration code further includes the UID of each socket.
The gateway 200 decodes the registration code and determines whether or not the UID of the registration controller 300 contained in the registration code matches the UID of the registration controller 300 contained in the registration request, and if yes, the gateway 200 stores the UID of the smart power strip 100. In this way, the smart power strip 100 is registered on the gateway 200, the gateway 200 can send control signals including the UID of the target smart power strip 100, and the smart power strip 100 determines whether the UID of the received control signal matches its own UID, only the matching smart power strip 100 can parse the control signals, thus creating a point-to-point communication between the gateway 200 and the smart power strip 100.
In an embodiment, the converter unit 34 of the registration controller 300 is configured to receive the control signals from the power line 2 sent by the gateway 200 and convert the control signals. The IR sender 33 sends the converted control signals to the smart power strip 100 to control the electronic device 3 connected on the smart power strip 100.
In a forward registration manner, the smart power strip 100 which receives the IR signal sends an encoded registration code to the gateway 200 directly, instead of the utilization of the driven registration manner. The other registration processes in the forward registration manner are the same as those in the driven registration manner, and are not repeated here.
All the signals transmitted between the smart power strips 100, the gateway 200, and the registration controller 300 via the power line 2, include the UID of the device which sends the signals and the UID of the device which is to receive the signals. Furthermore, a secret code is used to encode the signals transmitted between the smart power strips 100, the gateway 200, and the registration controller 300 via the power line 2, and the secret code is stored in smart power strips 100, the gateway 200, and the registration controller 300.
In an embodiment, the registration controller 300 has the same appearance and function of the smart power strips 100, the difference between the registration controller 300 and the smart power strips 100 is that the registration controller 300 further includes a trigger button 32 and an IR sender 33. The registration controller 300 not only serves to control the smart power stripes 100 to automatically register on the gateway 200, but also acts as a smart power strip.
Referring to
The registration controller 300 is connected to the gateway 200, before the smart power strips 100 register on the gateway 200, and the coupling process of the second embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment.
If user wants to register the smart power strips 100 on the gateway 200, user must locate the connected registration controller 300 in the room which contains the smart power stripes 100 which need to be registered, and run a registering program on the smart gateway 200.
For example, the connected registration controller 300 shown in
The processor 35 of the registration controller 300 controls the IR sender 33 to send an IR signal in response to the received serial code, the IR signal includes the serial code, the UID of the registration controller 300, the UID of the gateway 200, and the secret code sent by the gateway 200. The smart power strips B and C 100 can receive the IR signal. The smart power strips B and C 100 store the serial code, the UID of the registration controller 300, and the secret code contained in the IR signal into the first storage 10.
The gateway 200 further broadcasts a signal to all of the smart power strips 100 connected on the power line for determining whether the smart power strip 100 has received the IR signal sent by the registration controller 300. The smart power strips 100 which have received the IR signal send an encoded registration code to the gateway 200 via the power line 2, in response to the broadcast signal. In this embodiment, the smart power strips 100 are registered on the gateway 200 in a driven registration manner
In this embodiment, the smart power strips B and C 100 arranged in room B send the encoded registration code to the gateway 200 in response to the broadcast signal. The registration code includes the serial code, the UID of the smart power strip 100 and the UID of the registration controller 300 stored in the first storage 10. If the smart power strip 100 includes more than one socket, the registration code further includes the UID of each socket.
The gateway 200 decodes the registration code and determines whether the UID of the registration controller 300 contained in the registration code matches the UID of the registration controller 300 contained in the registration request, and if yes, the gateway 200 stores the UID of the registration code. In this way, the smart power strip 100 is registered on the gateway 200, the gateway 200 can send control signals including the UID of the target smart power strip 100, and the smart power strip 100 determines whether the UID of the received control signal matches with its own UID, only the matching smart power strip 100 can parse the control signals, thus creating a point-to-point communication between the gateway 200 and the smart power strip 100.
Also, the smart power strips 100 can be registered on the gateway 200 in a forward registration manner, the smart power strip 100 which receives the IR signal sends an encoded registration code to the gateway 200 directly, and the other registration processes in the forward registration manner are the same as those of the driven registration manner, they are not repeated here.
After registering the smart power strips 100 on the gateway 200, the gateway 200 is capable of sending a controlling signal to the smart power strips 100, to control each of the electronic devices 3 connected to the smart power strip 100.
Moreover, it is to be understood that the disclosure may be embodied in other forms without departing from the spirit thereof. Thus, the present examples and embodiments are to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, and the disclosure is not to be limited to the details given herein.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012103601383 | Sep 2012 | CN | national |
