JP7554662B2 - Home Appliance Systems - Google Patents

Description

An embodiment of the present invention relates to a home appliance system.

A home electrical appliance has been proposed that erases personal information and connection information stored in the connection information storage means within the home electrical appliance when it detects that the appliance has been moved. This is expected to lead to further improvements in the security of home electrical appliance systems.

JP 2019-75023 A

The problem that this invention aims to solve is to provide a home appliance system that can improve security.

The home appliance system of the embodiment has a registration management unit, a storage unit, and an information deletion unit. The registration management unit accepts the registration of a home appliance. The storage unit is provided outside the home appliance, and stores information regarding the home appliance for which the registration has been accepted, obtained when the home appliance is used. The information deletion unit is capable of deleting at least a part of the information stored in the storage unit. The information deletion unit retains at least a part of the information stored in the storage unit even if the registration of the home appliance is deleted, and deletes at least a part of the information stored in the storage unit if a predetermined condition is not satisfied when the registration management unit accepts re-registration of the home appliance after the registration of the home appliance has been deleted once.

1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a home appliance system according to a first embodiment; FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a home electric appliance according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a server device according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a user DB according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a home appliance DB according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of accumulated information according to the first embodiment. 5 is a flowchart showing a control flow of the server device according to the first embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a home appliance system according to a second embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a home appliance DB according to the second embodiment. FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a server device according to a third embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a home appliance system according to a fourth embodiment. FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a server device according to a fourth embodiment. FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a server device according to a fifth embodiment.

Hereinafter, the home appliance system of the embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. In this specification, "based on XX" means "based on at least XX" and may include cases where it is based on other elements in addition to XX. Furthermore, "based on XX" is not limited to cases where XX is used directly, but may also include cases where it is based on XX that has been calculated or processed. In this specification, "XX or YY" is not limited to cases where only "XX" or only "YY" is used, but may also include cases where both "XX" and "YY" are used. This also applies to cases where there are three or more selective elements. "XX" and "YY" are any element (for example, any information). Furthermore, in the following description, "database" is abbreviated as "DB."

First Embodiment
The first embodiment is an example in which, when the registration of a home appliance 100 managed by a server device 200 is cancelled, the accumulated information 430 associated with the home appliance 100 and stored in the server device 200 is deleted at the time the registration of the home appliance 100 is cancelled.

<1. Overall configuration of home appliance system>
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a home appliance system (information processing system) 1 of the first embodiment. The home appliance system 1 includes, for example, one or more home appliances 100, a server device 200, and a terminal device 300. One or both of the home appliances 100 and the terminal device 300 may be provided as external components of the home appliance system 1. That is, the home appliance system 1 may be configured only by the server device 200. The network NW described later may be, for example, the Internet, a cellular network, a Wi-Fi network, a low power wide area (LPWA), a wide area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), or other public lines or dedicated lines, depending on the situation. In this embodiment, a home LAN 5 is provided in the user U's home by a wireless router R and a modem M arranged in the user U's home.

The home appliance 100 is placed in the residence of the user U. The home appliance 100 is connected to the network NW, for example, via a wireless router R and a modem M placed in the residence of the user U. The home appliance 100 can communicate with the server device 200 via the network NW. The home appliance 100 is, for example, a refrigerator, a washing machine, a vacuum cleaner, an air conditioner, a microwave oven, a rice cooker, an iron, etc., but is not limited to these. The home appliance 100 will be described in detail later.

The server device 200 is composed of one or more devices (e.g., cloud servers). The server device 200 may be referred to as a "server system." The server device 200 is capable of communicating with the home appliance 100 and the terminal device 300 via the network NW. The server device 200 is a management server that manages the home appliance 100. For example, the server device 200 remotely controls the home appliance 100 based on the user U's operation on the terminal device 300, or obtains information indicating the setting state and operation state of the home appliance 100 from the home appliance 100 based on the user U's operation on the terminal device 300. However, the server device 200 is not limited to a cloud server or the like provided outside the residence of the user U. The server device 200 may be a server device provided in the residence of the user U and connected to the residential LAN 5. The server device 200 will be described in detail later.

The terminal device 300 is, for example, a mobile terminal device such as a smartphone or a tablet terminal device. An application program for managing or operating the home appliance 100 is installed in the terminal device 300. However, the terminal device 300 is not limited to a mobile terminal device and may be a personal computer or the like.

2. Configuration of home appliances
2 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the home appliance 100. The home appliance 100 includes, for example, a home appliance main body 110, a camera 120, a sensor 130, a communication module 140, and a control unit 150.

The home appliance main body 110 includes electrical components 111 that operate the home appliance 100, and an operation unit 112 that is operated by the user U. If the home appliance 100 is a refrigerator, the electrical components 111 include a compressor that compresses a refrigerant and a fan that circulates cool air inside the refrigerator. If the home appliance 100 is a washing machine, the electrical components 111 include a motor that rotates the washing tub. The operation unit 112 includes buttons and switches. The operation unit 112 may be a touch sensor that is integrated with the display screen of the display device. The user U can change the operation settings of the home appliance 100 by operating the operation unit 112.

The camera 120 is provided in the home appliance body 110 and photographs the home appliance body 110. If the home appliance 100 is a refrigerator, the camera 120 is an interior camera that photographs the inside of a storage compartment. If the home appliance 100 is a washing machine, the camera 120 is a camera that photographs the inside of a washing tub.

The sensor 130 is provided in the home appliance main body 110 and detects the state of the home appliance main body 110 and the situation around the home appliance main body 110. The sensor 130 is, for example, a sensor that detects information that directly or indirectly indicates the presence of a user U near the home appliance 100 (for example, in the same residence). If the home appliance 100 is a refrigerator, the sensor 130 is, for example, a door switch that detects whether the refrigerator door is open or closed, or a human presence sensor that detects the user U. If the home appliance 100 is a washing machine, the sensor 130 is, for example, a switch that detects whether the door (lid) is open or closed.

The communication module 140 is a communication module capable of communicating with the server device 200. For example, the communication module 140 is capable of communicating with the server device 200 via a wireless router R, a modem M, and a network NW. The communication module 140 is a communication module compatible with a wireless LAN communication standard such as Wi-Fi (registered trademark). The communication module 140 is an example of a "communication unit."

The control unit 150 includes, for example, a setting registration unit 151, a control unit 152, an information transmission unit 153, and a storage unit 154. The setting registration unit 151, the control unit 152, and the information transmission unit 153 are realized by a hardware processor such as a CPU (Central Processing unit) mounted on the home appliance 100 executing a program (software). However, all or part of these functional units may be realized by hardware (including circuitry) such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), a PLD (Programmable Logic Device), or an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or may be realized by cooperation between software and hardware. The storage unit 154 is realized by one or a combination of RAM (Random Access Memory), ROM (Read Only Memory), and EEPROM (Electrical Erasable ROM).

The setting registration unit 151 updates the operation setting information 154a stored in the storage unit 154 based on the content of the operation performed by the user U on the operation unit 112. The operation setting information 154a is information indicating the content of the operation setting of the home appliance 100. The operation setting may also include settings that are arbitrarily set according to the preferences of the user U, such as the setting of the washing operation when the home appliance 100 is a washing machine.

The control unit 152 performs overall control of the home appliance 100. For example, the control unit 152 controls the operation of the home appliance main body 110, the camera 120, the communication module 140, and the control unit 150 based on the operation setting information 154a.

The information transmission unit 153 transmits information obtained during the use of the home appliance 100 to the server device 200 at a predetermined cycle. The information obtained during the use of the home appliance 100 includes, for example, one or more of the following: the operation content of the user U on the operation unit 112, the image captured by the camera 120, the detection result of the sensor 130, the control command output from the control unit 152, and the latest operation setting information 154a stored in the memory unit 154. This information indicates the usage history of the home appliance 100 by the user U.

3. Configuration of Server Device
3 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the server device 200. The server device 200 includes, for example, a communication module 210, a registration management unit 220, an information acquisition unit 230, a control unit 240, an information deletion unit 250, and a storage unit 260. The registration management unit 220, the information acquisition unit 230, the control unit 240, and the information deletion unit 250 are realized by a hardware processor such as a CPU mounted on the server device 200 executing a program (software). However, all or part of these functional units may be realized by hardware (including circuitry) such as an ASIC, PLD, or FPGA, or may be realized by cooperation between software and hardware. This also applies to the determination unit 270 and the time stamp assignment unit 280 described later. The storage unit 260 is realized by one or a combination of a random access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), an electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), a solid state drive (SSD), a hard disk drive (HDD), etc. The storage unit 260 is an example of a storage unit (external storage unit) provided outside the home appliance 100.

The communication module 210 is capable of communicating with the home appliance 100 and the terminal device 300 via the network NW. The communication module 210 is an example of a "communication unit."

The registration management unit 220 includes a user management unit 221 and a home appliance management unit 222 .
The user management unit 221 manages the registration, modification, and deletion (deletion) of identification information (user ID, hereinafter referred to as "user account") for identifying the user U. For example, the user management unit 221 issues a user account for each user U based on information input by the user U to the terminal device 300, and registers the user account in association with a password. The registration of the user account and password is stored in the storage unit 260 as a part of the user DB 410. The user U can log in to the home appliance system 1 by, for example, inputting the user account and password into a predetermined screen displayed on the terminal device 300.

Figure 4 is a diagram showing an example of user DB 410. In user DB 410, a user account, a user name, a password, and the like are associated and registered for each user U.

The home appliance management unit 222 manages the registration, modification, and deletion (deletion) of the home appliance 100 set as a managed object in the home appliance system 1. For example, the home appliance management unit 222 registers the home appliance 100 to be managed in association with the user account of the user U based on an operation performed on the terminal device 300 by the user U who has logged in to the home appliance system 1. For example, the home appliance management unit 222 identifies the home appliance 100 to be managed in association with the user account of the user U based on the identification information of the home appliance 100 input by the user U to the terminal device 300, issues a home appliance ID, and registers it. The identification information of the home appliance 100 may be, but is not limited to, the serial number of the home appliance 100 or an image of a two-dimensional barcode attached to the home appliance 100. The registration of the home appliance 100 is stored in the storage unit 260 as part of the home appliance DB 420.

Figure 5 is a diagram showing an example of the home appliance DB 420. In the home appliance DB 420, for each home appliance 100, the home appliance ID assigned to the home appliance 100, the user account of the user U who registered the home appliance 100, and a pointer indicating the storage location of the accumulated information 430 (described later) of the home appliance 100 are registered in association with each other. The user account is an example of "registration of a user associated with a home appliance." As shown in Figure 5, the accumulated information 430 of the home appliance 100 is not directly associated with the user account, but is directly associated with the home appliance ID.

The information acquisition unit 230 acquires information transmitted from the information transmission unit 153 of the home appliance 100 when the home appliance 100 is in use. For example, the information acquisition unit 230 acquires one or more of the following: the operation content of the user U on the operation unit 112 of the home appliance 100, an image captured by the camera 120 of the home appliance 100, the detection result of the sensor 130 of the home appliance 100, a control command output from the control unit 152 of the home appliance 100, the latest operation setting information 154a of the home appliance 100, etc. The information acquisition unit 230 stores this acquired information in the memory unit 260 as part of the accumulated information 430 corresponding to the home appliance 100 from which the information was acquired.

Figure 6 is a diagram showing an example of the accumulated information 430. The accumulated information 430 is provided for each home appliance 100 whose registration has been accepted by the registration management unit 220. Each accumulated information 430 is managed in association with a home appliance ID. The accumulated information 430 accumulates a history of the operation contents of the user U on the operation unit 112 of the home appliance 100, a history of images taken by the camera 120 of the home appliance 100, a history of the detection results of the sensor 130 of the home appliance 100, a history of control commands output from the control unit 152 of the home appliance 100, and the latest operation setting information 154a of the home appliance 100. The accumulated information 430 is an example of information obtained from the home appliance 100 when the home appliance 100 is used.

The control unit 240 performs a predetermined process on the home appliance 100 registered by the registration management unit 220 based on the operation of the user U performed on the terminal device 300. For example, the control unit 240 performs remote control of the home appliance 100 (turning the power on/off, changing the set temperature, changing the operation mode, etc.) based on the operation of the user U performed on the terminal device 300. In addition, the control unit 240 outputs information included in the accumulated information 430 (images taken by the camera 120 of the home appliance 100, detection results of the sensor 130 of the home appliance 100, information indicating a control command output from the control unit 152 of the home appliance 100, or the latest operation setting information 154a of the home appliance 100) to the terminal device 300 based on the operation of the user U performed on the terminal device 300. This allows the user U to remotely control the home appliance 100 and check the status of the home appliance 100 with respect to the home appliance 100 registered by the registration management unit 220.

When the registration of a home appliance 100 is deleted in the home appliance system 1, the information deletion unit 250 deletes the accumulated information 430 corresponding to the home appliance 100 from the storage unit 260. "Deleting the registration of a home appliance" means, for example, deleting (removing) the registration of the home appliance 100 from the home appliance DB 420. For example, the user U can delete the registration of the home appliance 100 from the home appliance DB 420 based on an operation on the terminal device 300. When the registration of the home appliance 100 is deleted, the information deletion unit 250 deletes the accumulated information 430 corresponding to the home appliance 100 (i.e., the accumulated information 430 managed in association with the home appliance ID of the home appliance 100 to be deleted) from the storage unit 260.

In this embodiment, when the registration of the home appliance 100 is cancelled, the information deletion unit 250 deletes the stored information 430 corresponding to the home appliance 100 at the time the registration of the home appliance 100 is cancelled. That is, the history of the operation contents of the user U on the operation unit 112 of the home appliance 100, the history of the images taken by the camera 120 of the home appliance 100, the history of the detection results of the sensor 130 of the home appliance 100, the history of the control command output from the control unit 152 of the home appliance 100, the operation setting information 154a of the home appliance 100, and the like are deleted from the storage unit 260 of the server device 200. Note that "deleting the stored information 430" is not limited to deleting all of the stored information 430 corresponding to the home appliance 100 whose registration is cancelled, and information that has no or small security risk, such as information that cannot be used to identify the lifestyle pattern of the user U, may be retained without being deleted. This definition of deletion is also applicable to the following description.

In the present embodiment, when a user account of user U is deleted in the home appliance system 1, the information deletion unit 250 deletes the accumulated information 430 corresponding to the home appliance 100 associated with the user account from the storage unit 260. "Deleting a user account" means, for example, that the user account of user U is deleted from the user DB 410. For example, the user U can delete his/her own user account from the user DB 410 based on an operation on the terminal device 300. In the present embodiment, when a user account is deleted, the registration management unit 220 deletes the registration of the home appliance 100 associated with the user account. As a result, the accumulated information 430 and the like associated with the home appliance 100 are deleted from the storage unit 260.

In this embodiment, when a user account is deleted, the information deletion unit 250 deletes the stored information 430 corresponding to the home appliance 100 associated with the user account at the time the user account is deleted. That is, the history of the operation contents of the user U on the operation unit 112 of the home appliance 100, the history of the images captured by the camera 120 of the home appliance 100, the history of the detection results of the sensor 130 of the home appliance 100, the history of the control commands output from the control unit 152 of the home appliance 100, and the operation setting information 154a of the home appliance 100 are deleted from the storage unit 260 of the server device 200.

4. Control Flow
7 is a flowchart showing the flow of control of the server device 200. First, the registration management unit 220 determines whether or not the user U has operated the terminal device 300 to delete the registration of the home appliance 100 based on the information received from the terminal device 300 (S101). When the user U has operated the terminal device 300 to delete the registration of the home appliance 100 (S101: YES), the registration management unit 220 deletes the registration of the home appliance 100 (S102). In this case, the information deletion unit 250 deletes the accumulated information 430 corresponding to the home appliance 100 whose registration has been deleted from the storage unit 260 (S103).

On the other hand, if the user U has not operated the terminal device 300 to delete the registration of the home appliance 100 (S101: NO), the registration management unit 220 determines whether the user U has operated the terminal device 300 to delete the user account based on the information received from the terminal device 300 (S201). If the user U has operated the terminal device 300 to delete the user account (S201: YES), the registration management unit 220 deletes the user account (S202). In this case, the information deletion unit 250 deletes the accumulated information 430 corresponding to the home appliance 100 that was associated with the deleted user account from the storage unit 260 (S203).

If the user U has not performed an operation on the terminal device 300 to delete the user account (S201: NO), the server device 200 ends the series of processes shown in FIG. 7. The server device 200 repeats the above process at a predetermined interval.

5. Advantages
In recent years, the number of IoT (Internet of Things) home appliances has been increasing. Such home appliances store various data in server devices to provide convenience to users. Such information may include information that can identify individuals and information that can be used for crimes if maliciously intended. For example, if a user's face is captured in a camera image, it may be published on a social networking service (SNS), or the time when the user is away from home may be estimated from the operation history of the home appliance. For this reason, it is necessary to protect such information from misuse.

Here, we consider a situation in which information is leaked. It is possible to invade the server device 200 and steal information, but it is difficult to identify the server device 200, which is located anywhere on the Internet, and to get through various authentication measures that are implemented to ensure security, making it difficult to steal information. In addition, since the data is encrypted, it is difficult to decrypt it even if it is stolen. On the other hand, the risk of information leaking is relatively high when the owner of the home appliance 100 changes from the old user to the new user. This is because the owner of the home appliance 100 has the authority to access the information. If information management is not appropriate, the new user will be able to access the information of the old user. The owner of the home appliance 100 may change when it is transferred to an acquaintance, sold at a recycle shop or an auction site, or disposed of as garbage. It is expected that the new user will not be able to access the information of the old user in these everyday actions.

The easiest method is to provide the home appliance system 1 with a function for requesting the deletion of information. However, it is difficult to expect the user U to request the deletion of information before giving up ownership of the home appliance 100. This is because the user U is not aware that various pieces of information are stored in the server device 200. In order to provide convenience, the home appliance system 1 also tries to make the user U as unaware as possible. Therefore, it is possible that the user U does not think of requesting the deletion of information. Even if the user U is aware of it, he or she may forget to request the deletion. When the home appliance 100 is handed over to a new user, the home appliance system 1 side cannot know this. In other words, it is not possible to determine which user to provide the service to based on the information stored in the server device 200 from the home appliance 100. Providing the service to the wrong user U may lead to information leakage.

In this embodiment, the home appliance system 1 has a registration management unit 220 that accepts the registration of the home appliance 100, a storage unit 260 that is provided outside the home appliance 100 and stores accumulated information 430 obtained when the home appliance 100 is used, and an information deletion unit 250 that deletes at least a part of the accumulated information 430 stored in the storage unit 260 when the registration of the home appliance 100 or the registration (user account) of a user associated with the home appliance 100 is deleted. With this configuration, when the registration of the home appliance 100 or the registration (user account) of a user associated with the home appliance 100 is deleted, at least a part of the accumulated information 430 stored in the storage unit 260 is automatically deleted. As a result, the accumulated information 430 is automatically deleted at an appropriate time even if the user U does not apply for deletion. Therefore, the new user cannot access the information of the old user without the user being particularly aware of it. This improves security.

Here, it is generally difficult to directly add information for identifying which user the data is for to the stored information 430 stored in the server device 200 directly from the home appliance 100. This is because it can be complicated to deal with cases where the home appliance 100 can be shared by multiple users, such as family members, and the system load can increase if a user check is performed each time a large amount of data is read.

In this embodiment, the information deletion unit 250 deletes at least a portion of the stored information 430 stored in the storage unit 260 when the registration of the home appliance 100 is cancelled. With this configuration, even if multiple user accounts are linked to the stored information 430, it is possible to automatically delete the stored information 430 at an appropriate time while avoiding complex processing.

In this specification, "deleting the stored information when the registration of the home appliance or the registration of the user associated with the home appliance is cancelled" means that the information deletion unit 250 corresponds to any one of the following cases: (a) a function to delete the stored information 430 only when the registration of the home appliance 100 is cancelled, (b) a function to delete the stored information 430 only when the user account is deleted, or (c) a function to delete the stored information 430 when the registration of the home appliance 100 is cancelled and also to delete the stored information 430 when the user account is deleted.

Second Embodiment
Next, a second embodiment will be described. The second embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that the home appliance 100 is shared by a plurality of users U (users U1 and U2). Note that the configuration other than that described below is the same as that of the first embodiment.

Figure 8 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of the home appliance system 1 of the second embodiment. In the home appliance system 1 of this embodiment, the user accounts of multiple users U1 and U2, who are, for example, a family, are associated with the home appliance 100 and registered. In the following, when the multiple users U1 and U2 are not to be distinguished from each other, they will be referred to as "user U."

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of the home appliance DB 430A of this embodiment. In the home appliance DB 430A of this embodiment, for each home appliance 100, a home appliance ID for identifying the home appliance 100, user accounts of one or more (e.g., multiple) users U associated with the home appliance 100, and a pointer indicating a storage location of accumulated information 430 (described later) of the home appliance 100 are registered in association with each other. In this embodiment, when user accounts of multiple users U are associated with one home appliance 100 and registered, a main user (hereinafter, for convenience of explanation, referred to as a "representative user") is set.

In this embodiment, when the user account of the representative user is deleted, the information deletion unit 250 deletes the accumulated information 430 corresponding to the home appliance 100 associated with the user account from the storage unit 260. On the other hand, even when the user account of a user U other than the representative user is deleted, the information deletion unit 250 retains the accumulated information 430 without deleting it.

With this configuration, the stored information 430 can be automatically deleted at an appropriate time. This makes it possible to improve security while avoiding complex processing.

(First Modification of the Second Embodiment)
In a first modified example of the second embodiment, when there are user accounts of multiple users U associated with one home appliance 100, and all of the user accounts are deleted, the information deletion unit 250 deletes the accumulated information 430 corresponding to the home appliance 100 associated with those user accounts from the storage unit 260. On the other hand, when the user accounts of some users U associated with a certain home appliance 100 are deleted but at least one user account of the user U associated with the home appliance 100 remains, the information deletion unit 250 retains the accumulated information 430 corresponding to the home appliance 100 without deleting it.

With this configuration, even if the user accounts of some users U are deleted, the remaining users U can use the stored information 430. This improves security while also enhancing convenience for users U.

(Second Modification of the Second Embodiment)
In a second variant of the second embodiment, when there are multiple user accounts associated with the home appliance 100 and the registration of one of the multiple users U is to be deleted, the information deletion unit 250 inquires of at least one of the one user U or the remaining users U as to whether or not to delete the accumulated information 430 accumulated in the memory unit 260.

For example, the information deletion unit 250 inquires of the user U whether or not the accumulated information 430 can be deleted by displaying the above content on the display screen of the terminal device 300. Then, the information deletion unit 250 determines whether or not the accumulated information 430 can be deleted, for example, based on the response of the user U to the terminal device 300. For example, when the information deletion unit 250 receives responses indicating that the accumulated information 430 can be deleted from all the inquired users U, the information deletion unit 250 deletes the accumulated information 430 from the storage unit 260. With this configuration, even if the user accounts of some users U are deleted, the remaining users U who wish to use the accumulated information 430 can continue to use the accumulated information 430. This makes it possible to improve security while increasing convenience for users U.

Third Embodiment
Next, a third embodiment will be described. The third embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that when a home appliance 100 whose registration has been once deleted is re-registered, the stored information 430 corresponding to the home appliance 100 is deleted. Note that the configuration other than that described below is the same as that of the first embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the server device 200 of the third embodiment. In this embodiment, the server device 200 includes an information deletion unit 250B. As in the first embodiment, when the registration of a home appliance 100 is deleted, the information deletion unit 250B deletes the accumulated information 430 corresponding to the home appliance 100 from the storage unit 260.

Furthermore, in the case where re-registration of the home appliance 100 is accepted and accumulated information 430 corresponding to the home appliance 100 remains in the storage unit 260 without being deleted, the information deletion unit 250B in this embodiment deletes the accumulated information 430 remaining in the storage unit 260. In other words, in the case where re-registration of the home appliance 100 is accepted by the registration management unit 220 without deleting the registration of the home appliance 100, the information deletion unit 250B deletes the accumulated information 430 corresponding to the home appliance 100 from the storage unit 260.

With this configuration, even if the previous user forgets to delete the registration of the home appliance 100 and hands it over to the new user, the accumulated information 430 of the previous user is deleted when the new user attempts to register the home appliance 100. This can further improve security.

Fourth Embodiment
Next, a fourth embodiment will be described. The fourth embodiment is different from the third embodiment in that, when the registration of the home appliance 100 is cancelled, the accumulated information 430 is not deleted (at least a part of the accumulated information 430 is retained) even if the registration of the home appliance 100 is cancelled, but when the home appliance 100 whose registration has been cancelled is re-registered, if a predetermined condition is not satisfied, the accumulated information 430 corresponding to the home appliance 100 is deleted from the storage unit 260. Note that the configuration other than that described below is the same as that of the third embodiment.

Fig. 11 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of the home appliance system 1 of the fourth embodiment. In this embodiment, the home appliance 100 has a position detection unit 501. The position detection unit 501 detects the position of the home appliance 100 at a predetermined period based on, for example, a signal from a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) satellite. Information indicating the position of the home appliance 100 detected by the position detection unit 501 is transmitted to the server device 200 by the information transmission unit 153.

In this embodiment, the terminal device 300 has a position detection unit 502. The position detection unit 502 detects the position of the terminal device 300 at a predetermined period based on, for example, a signal from a GNSS satellite. Information indicating the position of the terminal device 300 detected by the position detection unit 502 is transmitted to the server device 200.

Figure 12 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the server device 200 of the fourth embodiment. In this embodiment, the server device 200 includes an information deletion unit 250C and a determination unit 270.

In this embodiment, unlike the third embodiment, when the registration of the home appliance 100 is deleted, the information deletion unit 250C does not delete the accumulated information 430 but retains it at the time when the registration of the home appliance 100 is deleted. If a predetermined condition is not satisfied when the home appliance 100 whose registration has been deleted is re-registered, the information deletion unit 250C deletes the accumulated information 430 corresponding to the home appliance 100 from the storage unit 260 at the time when the home appliance 100 is re-registered. On the other hand, if a predetermined condition is satisfied when the home appliance 100 whose registration has been deleted is re-registered, the information deletion unit 250C suppresses the deletion of the accumulated information 430. "Suppressing deletion" means, for example, "not deleting", but is not limited to this, and may also apply to the case of deleting some information that is relatively less important.

When the home appliance 100 is re-registered, the determination unit 270 determines whether the above-mentioned predetermined conditions are satisfied. In this embodiment, the determination unit 270 determines that the above-mentioned predetermined conditions are satisfied when any one of the first to fifth conditions shown below is satisfied. However, the server device 200 may only have a function for determining any one of the first to fifth conditions. For ease of explanation, the above-mentioned predetermined conditions are referred to below as "continuous use determination conditions."

<First condition>
When the location of the home appliance 100 at the time when the registration management unit 220 accepts the re-registration of the home appliance 100 satisfies a predetermined condition, the determination unit 270 determines that the above-mentioned continuous use determination condition is satisfied. The predetermined condition regarding the location of the home appliance 100 is, for example, when the location of the home appliance 100 at the time of the previous registration of the home appliance 100 and the location of the home appliance 100 at the time of the re-registration of the home appliance 100 are within a predetermined distance (within a predetermined range). The location of the home appliance 100 is, for example, a location detected by a location detection unit 501 provided in the home appliance 100. "Within a predetermined distance" is a distance meaning that the home appliance 100 is within the same residence of the user U, for example, within 20 m.

<Second condition>
If the location of the terminal device 300 at the time when the re-registration of the home appliance 100 is accepted by the registration management unit 220 satisfies a predetermined condition, the determination unit 270 determines that the above-mentioned continuous use determination condition is satisfied. The predetermined condition regarding the location of the terminal device 300 is, for example, a case where the location of the terminal device 300 at the time of the previous registration of the home appliance 100 (for example, at the time when the registration process is performed) and the location of the terminal device 300 at the time of re-registration of the home appliance 100 (for example, at the time when the registration process for re-registration is performed) are within a predetermined distance (within a predetermined range). The location of the terminal device 300 is, for example, a location detected by a location detection unit 502 provided in the terminal device 300. "Within a predetermined distance" is a distance that means that the terminal device 300 is within the same residence of the user U, for example, within 20 m.

<Third Condition>
The determination unit 270 determines that the above-mentioned continuous use determination condition is satisfied when the user account satisfies a predetermined condition when the re-registration of the home appliance 100 is accepted by the registration management unit 220. The predetermined condition related to the user account is, for example, when the user account associated with the home appliance 100 at the time of the previous registration of the home appliance 100 and the user account associated with the home appliance 100 at the time of the re-registration of the home appliance 100 are the same or there is a setting indicating that they are included in the same specific group (for example, family).

<Fourth condition>
The determination unit 270 determines that the above-mentioned continuous use determination condition is satisfied when the LAN to which the home appliance 100 is connected when the re-registration of the home appliance 100 is accepted by the registration management unit 220 is the same as the LAN to which the home appliance 100 was previously registered. The LAN to which the home appliance 100 is connected is the same as the LAN to which the home appliance 100 was previously registered, for example, when the LAN 5 in the residence to which the home appliance 100 was connected when the previous registration of the home appliance 100 was accepted is the same as the LAN 5 in the residence to which the home appliance 100 was connected when the re-registration of the home appliance 100 was accepted.

The determination unit 270 determines whether the LAN is the same based on an IP (Internet Protocol) address included in the signal received from the home appliance 100. When the home appliance 100 is re-registered within the same LAN, the accumulated information 430 is not deleted because there is a high possibility that the re-registered user is the same user U or a close user U such as a family member. Note that the determination unit 270 may determine whether the LAN is the same based on device-specific information such as the MAC address of the wireless router R included in the signal received from the home appliance 100 instead of the IP address.

<Fifth Condition>
The determination unit 270 determines that the above-mentioned continuous use determination condition is satisfied when the same terminal device 300 as when the home appliance 100 was previously registered is connected to the LAN to which the home appliance 100 is connected when the re-registration of the home appliance 100 is accepted by the registration management unit 220. The same terminal device 300 is connected to the LAN when, for example, the home appliance 100 and the terminal device 300 are connected to the same LAN (first LAN) when the previous registration of the home appliance 100 is accepted, and when the re-registration of the home appliance 100 is accepted, the home appliance 100 and the terminal device 300 are connected to the same LAN (second LAN). The first LAN and the second LAN may be the same LAN or different LANs (for example, LANs in a residence before and after moving). The determination unit 270 determines the identity based on the MAC address included in the signal received from the home appliance 100 and the MAC address included in the signal received from the terminal device 300. The first LAN and the second LAN are, for example, the LAN 5 in the residence.

With this configuration, even if the registration of the home appliance 100 is cancelled once, the same user U or users U who are close to the user U, such as family members, can continue to use the accumulated information 430 that was accumulated before the registration of the home appliance 100 was cancelled. This makes it possible to improve convenience while improving security.

Fifth Embodiment
Next, a fifth embodiment will be described. The fifth embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that a timestamp is added to information stored in the storage unit 260, and information is deleted after a predetermined time has elapsed since the timestamp was added. Note that the configuration other than that described below is the same as that of the first embodiment.

Figure 13 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the server device 200 of the fifth embodiment. In this embodiment, the server device 200 includes a time stamp assignment unit 280 and an information deletion unit 250D.

When information transmitted from the information transmission unit 153 of the home appliance 100 is received by the information acquisition unit 230, the time stamp assignment unit 280 assigns a time stamp indicating the time of reception to the received information. The information acquisition unit 230 then stores the information with the time stamp assigned as part of the accumulated information 430. The time stamp is an example of "time information". The time stamp assignment unit 280 is an example of a "time information assignment unit".

The information deletion unit 250D sequentially deletes information from the stored information 430 for which a predetermined time period shorter than two life pattern cycles of the user has elapsed since the timestamp was added. In the example of a user who follows the same lifestyle pattern every week, "a predetermined time period shorter than two weeks (two life pattern cycles)," e.g., one week. If there is no specific input from the user U to the terminal device 300, the "user's life pattern cycle" is set to the default of one week, and if there is an input from the user U to the terminal device 300, the period input by the user U takes precedence.

With this configuration, even if the home appliance 100 is handed over from the old user to the new user while the accumulated information 430 remains in the server device 200, it becomes difficult for the new user to trace from the history what kind of lifestyle pattern the old user used the home appliance 100 in. This makes it possible to improve security.

Although several embodiments and variations have been described above, the embodiments and variations are not limited to the above examples. For example, the above-described embodiments and variations may be realized in combination with each other.

According to at least one of the embodiments described above, the home appliance system includes a registration management unit that accepts the registration of a home appliance, a storage unit that is provided outside the home appliance and stores information obtained when the home appliance is used, and an information deletion unit that deletes at least a portion of the information stored in the storage unit when the registration of the home appliance or the registration of a user associated with the home appliance is deleted. With this configuration, security can be improved.

Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the invention. These embodiments and their modifications are within the scope of the invention and its equivalents as set forth in the claims, as well as the scope and gist of the invention.

1... Home appliance system, 100... Home appliance, 200... Server device, 220... Registration management unit, 250, 250C, 250D... Information deletion unit, 260... Storage unit, 270... Determination unit, 280... Timestamp assignment unit (time information assignment unit).

Claims (9)

a registration management unit that accepts registrations of home appliances;
a storage unit that is provided outside the home appliance and that accumulates information regarding the home appliance that has been registered and that is obtained when the home appliance is used;
an information deleting unit capable of deleting at least a part of the information stored in the storage unit;
Equipped with
the information deletion unit retains at least a part of the information stored in the storage unit even if the registration of the home appliance is deleted, and deletes at least a part of the information stored in the storage unit if a predetermined condition is not satisfied in a case where the registration management unit accepts re-registration of the home appliance after the registration of the home appliance has been deleted once.
Home appliances system. a registration management unit that accepts registrations of home appliances;
a storage unit that is provided outside the home appliance and that accumulates information regarding the home appliance that has been registered and that is obtained when the home appliance is used;
an information deletion unit that deletes at least a part of the information stored in the storage unit when at least re-registration of the home appliance is accepted by the registration management unit;
Equipped with
the information deletion unit suppresses the deletion of the information stored in the storage unit when a location of the home appliance at the time when the registration management unit accepts the re-registration of the home appliance satisfies a predetermined condition.
Home appliances system. a registration management unit that accepts registrations of home appliances;
a storage unit that is provided outside the home appliance and that accumulates information regarding the home appliance that has been registered and that is obtained when the home appliance is used;
an information deletion unit that deletes at least a part of the information stored in the storage unit when at least re-registration of the home appliance is accepted by the registration management unit;
Equipped with
the information deletion unit suppresses the deletion of the information stored in the storage unit when a location of a terminal device of a user of the home appliance when the re-registration of the home appliance is accepted by the registration management unit satisfies a predetermined condition.
Home appliances system. a registration management unit that accepts registrations of home appliances;
a storage unit that is provided outside the home appliance and that accumulates information regarding the home appliance that has been registered and that is obtained when the home appliance is used;
an information deletion unit that deletes at least a part of the information stored in the storage unit when at least re-registration of the home appliance is accepted by the registration management unit;
Equipped with
the information deletion unit suppresses the deletion of the information stored in the storage unit when registration of a user associated with the home appliance at the time when the registration management unit accepts the re-registration of the home appliance satisfies a predetermined condition.
Home appliances system. a registration management unit that accepts registrations of home appliances;
a storage unit that is provided outside the home appliance and that accumulates information obtained when the home appliance is used, regarding the home appliance for which the registration has been accepted;
an information deletion unit that deletes at least a part of the information stored in the storage unit when at least re-registration of the home appliance is accepted by the registration management unit;
Equipped with
the information deletion unit suppresses the deletion of the information stored in the storage unit when a local area network to which the home appliance is connected satisfies a predetermined condition when the re-registration of the home appliance is accepted by the registration management unit.
Home appliances system. a registration management unit that accepts registrations of home appliances;
a storage unit that is provided outside the home appliance and that accumulates information obtained when the home appliance is used, regarding the home appliance for which the registration has been accepted;
an information deletion unit that deletes at least a part of the information stored in the storage unit when at least re-registration of the home appliance is accepted by the registration management unit;
Equipped with
the information deletion unit suppresses the deletion of the information stored in the storage unit when a terminal device connected to a local area network to which the home appliance is connected satisfies a predetermined condition when the re-registration of the home appliance is accepted by the registration management unit.
Home appliances system. the information deletion unit deletes at least a part of the information stored in the storage unit when the registration of the home appliance is deleted.
The home appliance system according to any one of claims 1 to 6 . the information deletion unit deletes at least a part of the information stored in the storage unit when a registration of a user associated with the home appliance is deleted.
The home appliance system according to any one of claims 1 to 7 . A time information adding unit that adds time information to the information,
the information deletion unit sequentially deletes the information for which a predetermined time that is shorter than two life pattern cycles of the user has elapsed since the time information was added.
The home appliance system according to any one of claims 1 to 8 .

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