CN114500133A - Household appliance and network access method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to the field of smart homes, and in particular to a home appliance and a network access method for the home appliance, comprising: a WIFI module and a micro-control unit MCU, where the WIFI module is used to scan the access signal strength of each access point; The access point includes a router and at least one home appliance that has been connected to the network; the home appliance that has been connected to the network is an access point that configures itself as an extended access point after the connected home appliance is connected to the network through the router; the MCU is used for According to the access signal strength of the router and the comprehensive signal strength of at least one household appliance that has been connected to the network, the access point of the household appliance to be connected to the network is determined. In this way, the networking capability of the home appliance to be connected to the network is improved, and the phenomenon of frequently disconnecting from the router or being disconnected from the server due to poor signal connection with the router is avoided, and the user experience is greatly improved.

Description

A kind of home appliance equipment and home appliance equipment network access method

technical field

The invention relates to the field of smart home, in particular to a home appliance device and a network access method for the home appliance device.

Background technique

The Internet of Things is an extension and expansion network based on the Internet. It is a huge network formed by combining various information sensing devices with the Internet to realize the interconnection of people, machines and things at any time and any place. The vigorous development of Internet of Things technology has spawned more and more home appliances that can be connected to the Internet. By connecting the household appliances to the network, the remote control of the household appliances by the mobile terminal and the communication interconnection between the household appliances can be realized.

Generally speaking, a family is only equipped with one router, and the WIFI signal is extended through the router for the connection of household appliances in the family. However, the router's wall penetration performance is very poor, and some home appliances such as washing machines, water heaters, bedroom air conditioners, etc. are all located in the corners of the home, resulting in poor WIFI signals of the routers that these home appliances can connect to, and the home appliances cannot be very good. In a good access network, disconnection from the router or from the server often occurs, resulting in home appliances offline and poor user experience.

Therefore, there is an urgent need for a network access method to solve the technical problem of weak signal coverage of household appliances, resulting in poor networking capability of household appliances.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention provide a home appliance device and a network access method for the home appliance device, so as to solve the technical problem of weak signal coverage of the home appliance device, resulting in poor networking capability of the home appliance device.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a home appliance, where the home appliance is a home appliance to be connected to a network, including:

WIFI module, used to scan the access signal strength of each access point; each access point includes a router and at least one home appliance that has been connected to the network; the home appliance that has been connected to the network is the home appliance that has been connected to the network. After entering the network through the router, configure itself as an extended access point;

The micro-control unit MCU is used to determine the access point of the household appliance according to the access signal strength of the router and the comprehensive signal strength of at least one household appliance that has been connected to the network; wherein, the comprehensive signal strength of the household appliance that has been connected to the network is The signal strength of the home appliance connected to the network that provides the access service for the home appliance through the router; the comprehensive signal strength of the connected home appliance is based on the access signal strength of the connected home appliance and the connected home appliance The transfer signal strength is determined by the transfer signal strength; the transfer signal strength is the access signal strength of the home appliance connected to the network to the router.

By setting the connected home appliance to the network through the router, it configures itself as an extended access point, so that the WIFI module of the home appliance to be connected to the network can be scanned. In this way, the connected home appliance becomes a function equivalent to the router The access point provides access points other than routers for home appliances to be connected to the network, avoiding the problem that the home appliances to be connected to the network are far away from the router, resulting in the signal strength of the router not covering the home appliances to be connected to the network. Through the WIFI module, the optimized comprehensive signal strength of the home appliances connected to the network is compared with the access signal strength of the router, and the final access point of the home appliances to be connected to the network is determined, which provides a variety of home appliances to be connected to the network. The choice of the access point ensures that the home appliances to be connected to the network can access the access point with better signal strength. Therefore, the networking capability of the home appliance to be connected to the network is improved, and the phenomenon of frequently disconnecting from the router or being disconnected from the server due to poor signal connection with the router is avoided, and the user experience is greatly improved.

In some embodiments, the MCU is specifically configured to acquire, for the at least one home appliance connected to the network, the forwarding of the connected home appliance when it is determined that the access signal strength of the router is less than a first threshold Signal strength; according to the transfer signal strength of the home appliance that has been connected to the network and the access signal strength of the home appliance that has been connected to the network, determine the comprehensive signal strength of the home appliance that has been connected to the network;

The MCU is specifically configured to determine the access point of the household appliance according to the comprehensive signal strength of at least one household appliance that has been connected to the network;

The WIFI module is also used to access the access point of the household appliance.

By setting the MCU to obtain the transfer signal strength of the home appliances that have already connected to the network when it determines that the access signal strength of the router is less than the first threshold, it provides another access point selection for the home appliances to be connected to the network, reducing the number of connected home appliances. The number of times that the home appliance is used as an access point, and at the same time, it also ensures that the home appliance to be connected to the network can select the optimal access point from the home appliances already connected to the network when the access signal of the router is weak, so as to further The networking capability of the home appliances to be connected to the network is improved, and the user experience is greatly improved.

In some embodiments, the MCU is further configured to configure the WIFI module to access the router when it is determined that the access signal strength of the router is not less than the first threshold;

The WIFI module is also used to access the router.

In this way, the home appliance device to be connected to the network is preferentially connected to the router when the access signal strength of the router is relatively high, which ensures the stability and security of the signal.

In some embodiments, the home appliance further includes:

an instruction transceiver, configured to send the first instruction to the cloud server through the access point of the household appliance;

It is further configured to receive the second instruction sent by the cloud server through the access point of the household appliance.

In this way, if the home appliance to be connected to the network determines that the router is the access point, the router will send and receive instructions; if any home appliance that has already been connected to the network is determined to be the access point, the home appliance that has already connected to the network will send and receive instructions. It ensures the timely and efficient transmission of instructions between the home appliance and the cloud server, which is conducive to good communication and interconnection between the two.

An embodiment of the present invention also provides a home appliance, where the home appliance is a home appliance that has been connected to a network, including:

The MCU is configured to configure itself as an extended access point when it is determined that the access signal strength of the router is greater than the second threshold after accessing the router;

The WIFI module is used to provide comprehensive signal strength; the comprehensive signal strength is the signal strength that the household appliance provides access services for the household appliance to be connected to the network through the router; the comprehensive signal strength is based on the connection of the household appliance. The incoming signal strength and the switching signal strength of the household appliance are determined; the switching signal strength is the access signal strength of the household appliance accessing the router.

In this way, when it is determined that the access signal strength of the router is greater than the second threshold, it configures itself as an extended access point for use by other home appliances that are poorly connected to the router to be connected to the network. The home appliances become the access points with the same functions as the routers, providing access points other than the routers for the home appliances to be connected to the network, avoiding the distance between the home appliances to be connected to the router and the router, which leads to the coverage of the signal strength of the router. The problem of less home appliances to be connected to the network provides more and better signal strength for other home appliances to be connected to the network to select access points. Therefore, the networking capability of the home appliance to be connected to the network is improved, and the phenomenon of frequently disconnecting from the router or being disconnected from the server due to poor signal connection with the router is avoided, and the user experience is greatly improved.

In some embodiments, the household appliance further comprises: a Bluetooth module;

The MCU is specifically configured to configure itself as an extended access point through the WIFI module; or configure itself as an extended access point through the Bluetooth module.

By setting up a WIFI module or a Bluetooth module to expand itself as an access point, it avoids that the Bluetooth module can also achieve the same function when the WIFI module does not have the function of extending the access point. Expansion increases the probability of successfully expanding access points, further ensures that other home appliances that are poorly connected to the router to be connected to the network can be connected and used, and provides more options for other home appliances to be connected to the network when selecting access points. excellent signal strength.

In some embodiments, the switching signal strength of the home appliance is broadcast information sent by the home appliance through a WIFI module of the home appliance; or sent by the home appliance through a Bluetooth module of the home appliance broadcast information;

The broadcast information includes the identity of the household appliance, the physical address of the household appliance, and the strength of the switching signal of the household appliance.

In this way, the home appliance configures itself as an access point for expansion, and can send broadcast messages through a WIFI module or a Bluetooth module, so as to adapt to the expansion requirements of different home appliances. If the WIFI module of some household appliances has the SOFTAP function, it can be broadcast through the WIFI module; some household appliances do not have the SOFTAP function in the WIFI module, but can be broadcast through the Bluetooth module; some household appliances have the WIFI module. With SOFTAP function, you can still choose to broadcast through the Bluetooth module. By setting the broadcast information to also include the identifiers of the home appliances that have been connected to the network, it is convenient for the home appliances to be connected to the network to accurately determine whether the home appliances that have been connected to the network are legal and safe access points, thereby improving the security and accuracy of network access; by setting the broadcast information It also includes the physical addresses of the home appliances that have already been connected to the network, which can facilitate the home appliances to be connected to the network to efficiently and quickly obtain the physical addresses of the home appliances that have been connected to the network and perform access, which improves the efficiency and accuracy of access.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a method for accessing a network of household appliances, the method comprising:

The home appliance to be connected to the network scans the access signal strength of each access point; each access point includes a router and at least one home appliance that has been connected to the network; After the router is connected to the network, it configures itself as an extended access point;

The home appliance to be connected to the network determines the access point of the home appliance to be connected to the network according to the access signal strength of the router and the comprehensive signal strength of at least one connected home appliance; The comprehensive signal strength is the signal strength of the home appliance that has been connected to the network to provide access services for the home appliance to be connected to the network through the router; the comprehensive signal strength of the home appliance that has been connected to the network is based on the access of the home appliance The signal strength is determined by the switching signal strength of the home appliance device that has been connected to the network; the switching signal strength is the access signal strength of the home appliance device that has been connected to the network accessing the router.

In some embodiments, the home appliance device to be connected to the network determines the access point of the home appliance device to be connected to the network according to the access signal strength of the router and the comprehensive signal strength of at least one home appliance device already connected to the network, including:

When the home appliance device to be connected to the network determines that the access signal strength of the router is less than the first threshold, for the at least one home appliance device that has been connected to the network, obtain the transfer signal strength of the home appliance device that has been connected to the network; according to the The transfer signal strength of the home appliance that has been connected to the network and the access signal strength of the home appliance that has been connected to the network, to determine the comprehensive signal strength of the home appliance that has been connected to the network;

The home appliance device to be connected to the network determines the access point of the home appliance device to be connected to the network according to the comprehensive signal strength of at least one home appliance device that has been connected to the network;

The home appliance device to be connected to the network is connected to the access point of the home appliance device to be connected to the network.

In some embodiments, the method further includes:

The home appliance device to be connected to the network accesses the router when it is determined that the access signal strength of the router is not less than the first threshold.

In some embodiments, the home appliance device to be connected to the network configures itself as an extended access point when it is determined that the access signal strength of the router is greater than a second threshold after accessing the router.

In some embodiments, after the home appliance device to be connected to the network is connected to the access point of the home appliance device to be connected to the network, the method further includes:

The home appliance device to be connected to the network sends the first instruction to the cloud server through the access point of the home appliance device to be connected to the network;

Or, the home appliance device to be connected to the network receives the second instruction sent by the cloud server through the access point of the home appliance device to be connected to the network.

In some embodiments, the configuring itself as an extended access point includes:

The home appliance device to be connected to the network configures itself as an extended access point through the WIFI module of the home appliance device to be connected to the network or through the Bluetooth module of the home appliance device to be connected to the network.

In some embodiments, the transfer signal strength of the connected home appliance is broadcast information sent by the connected home appliance through the WIFI module of the connected home appliance; The broadcast information sent by the Bluetooth module of the home appliance that has been connected to the network;

The broadcast information includes the identification of the home appliance that has entered the network, the physical address of the home appliance that has entered the network, and the switching signal strength of the home appliance that has entered the network.

An embodiment of the present invention also provides a computing device, including:

memory for storing computer programs;

The processor is configured to call the computer program stored in the memory, and execute the method for accessing the network of the household electrical appliance listed in any of the above manners according to the obtained program.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer-readable storage medium, where the computer-readable storage medium stores a computer-executable program, and the computer-executable program is used to enable a computer to execute the method for accessing a home appliance network listed in any of the foregoing manners .

Description of drawings

In order to illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention more clearly, the following briefly introduces the accompanying drawings used in the description of the embodiments. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those of ordinary skill in the art, other drawings can also be obtained from these drawings without any creative effort.

FIG. 1 exemplarily shows an application scenario to which an embodiment of the present invention is applicable;

Fig. 2 is a hardware configuration block diagram of a possible household electrical appliance provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a schematic diagram of steps of a possible network access method for household electrical appliances provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of steps of another possible method for accessing a home appliance to a network provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

5 is a block diagram of another possible hardware configuration provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of steps of another possible method for accessing a home appliance to a network provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of another possible hardware configuration provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a network access process flow involved in an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed ways

In order to make the objectives, implementations and advantages of the present application clearer, the exemplary embodiments of the present application will be described clearly and completely below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the exemplary embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the exemplary embodiments described It is only a part of the embodiments of the present application, but not all of the embodiments.

Based on the exemplary embodiments described in this application, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the appended claims of this application. Furthermore, although the disclosures in this application have been presented in terms of illustrative example or instances, it should be understood that various aspects of this disclosure may also constitute a complete embodiment in isolation.

It should be noted that the brief description of the terms in the present application is only for the convenience of understanding the embodiments described below, rather than intended to limit the embodiments of the present application. Unless otherwise specified, these terms are to be understood according to their ordinary and ordinary meanings.

The terms "first", "second", "third", etc. in the description and claims of this application and the above drawings are used to distinguish similar or similar objects or entities, and are not necessarily meant to limit specific Order or sequence, unless otherwise indicated. It should be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances, eg, can be implemented in an order other than those given in the illustration or description of the embodiments of the present application.

Furthermore, the terms "comprising" and "having" and any variations thereof, are intended to cover but not exclusively include, for example, a product or device incorporating a series of components is not necessarily limited to those explicitly listed, but may include No other components are expressly listed or inherent to these products or devices.

Smart home appliances are the embodiment of IoT under the influence of the Internet. Smart home appliances connect various devices in the home (such as audio and video equipment, lighting systems, curtain control, air conditioning control, security systems, digital cinema systems, audio and video servers, video cabinet systems, network appliances, etc.) Home appliance control, lighting control, telephone remote control, indoor and outdoor remote control, anti-theft alarm, environmental monitoring, HVAC control, infrared forwarding and programmable timing control and other functions and means. Compared with ordinary home appliances, smart home appliances not only have traditional living functions, but also have building, network communication, information home appliances, and equipment automation, provide a full range of information interaction functions, and even save money for various energy costs.

FIG. 1 exemplarily shows an application scenario to which the embodiment of the present invention is applicable. As shown in FIG. 1 , it includes a plurality of home appliances (eg, home appliance 101 , home appliance 102 , and home appliance 103 ), router 200 , cloud server 300 , and mobile terminal 400 . Wherein, a plurality of home appliances are connected to the network through the router 200 , for example, the home appliance 101 in FIG. 1 is connected to the network through the router 200 so as to communicate with the cloud server 300 . After the mobile terminal 400 is connected to the network, it can also communicate with the cloud server 300 . In this way, the control and deployment of the home appliance by the mobile terminal and the feedback of the home appliance's own state information to the mobile terminal can be realized.

Home appliances can be connected to the network through built-in chips. In the embodiment of the present invention, the home appliance may be a washing machine, an air conditioner, a refrigerator, an electric cooker, etc., and the communication interconnection with the mobile terminal is realized by accessing the network. For example, the user can remotely control the water volume and mode of the washing machine through the mobile terminal to wash the clothes. , the temperature and mode of the air conditioner, the cooking mode and time of the rice cooker, etc., the home appliance can also feed back its own status information, such as water volume, operating time, temperature and other information to the mobile terminal through the cloud server. All of these transmission control are made simple and easy because the home appliances are connected to the network.

A router is a hardware device that connects two or more networks. It acts as a gateway between the networks. It is a dedicated intelligent network device that reads the address in each data packet and then decides how to transmit. It can understand different protocols, such as the Ethernet protocol used by a local area network, and the TCP/IP protocol used by the Internet. In this way, the router can analyze the destination addresses of data packets from various types of networks, convert the addresses of non-TCP/IP networks into TCP/IP addresses, or vice versa; The best route is sent to the designated location. So routers can connect non-TCP/IP networks to the Internet.

A cloud server, which is often referred to by service providers as a cloud server, is also called a cloud host. It virtualizes multiple parts similar to independent hosts on a group of cluster hosts. Each host in the cluster has an image of the cloud host. Cloud servers are more flexible than traditional servers, and cloud servers can freely choose the type of operating system. It can achieve elastic capacity expansion, without worrying about the shortage of resources caused by the sudden increase of low-profile servers, and it is not downtime to upgrade the bandwidth. Compared with traditional servers, cloud servers are easier to use and easier to manage. The cost of cloud servers is lower than that of traditional servers. Compared with traditional servers, cloud servers have greatly reduced capital and operating expenses such as software and hardware, technical maintenance and personnel support, and facilities.

Mobile terminals refer to computer equipment that can be used on the move. Broadly speaking, it includes mobile phones, notebooks, tablet computers, POS machines, and even car computers. After the mobile terminal is connected to the network, the remote control of the home appliance can be realized without being restricted by the region.

Specifically, the home appliances 101 , 102 and 103 are all connected to the network through the router 200 , thereby connecting the cloud server 300 and the mobile terminal 400 , so that the mobile terminal 400 sends the instruction signal to the cloud server 300 , and the cloud server 300 sends the instruction signal to the The router 200, the router 200 detects the destination address of the identification instruction signal and sends it to the corresponding home appliance 101, 102 or 103; the home appliance 101, 102 and 103 can also feed back their own status information to the mobile terminal 400 through the router 200 and the cloud server 300 .

However, in general, a family is only equipped with one router, and the router's wall penetration performance is very poor, and some home appliances such as washing machines, water heaters, bedroom air conditioners, etc. are located in the corners of the home, resulting in poor WIFI signal, and home appliances cannot be very good. In the access network, it is often disconnected from the router or from the server, resulting in the device being offline and the user experience being poor.

Based on the above problems, the embodiments of the present invention provide a home appliance and a network access method for the home appliance without adding new hardware resources, so as to solve the technical problem of weak signal coverage of the home appliance and poor networking capability of the home appliance.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the hardware configuration of a possible household appliance provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

In some embodiments, the home appliance may be a home appliance to be connected to the network, including a WIFI module and an MCU;

In some embodiments, the WIFI module, also known as the serial port WIFI module, belongs to the Internet of Things transmission layer, and its function is to convert the serial port or TTL level into an embedded module that conforms to the WIFI wireless network communication standard, and has a built-in wireless network protocol IEEE802. 11b.g.n protocol stack and TCP/IP protocol stack. The traditional hardware device embedded in the WIFI module can directly use WIFI to connect to the Internet, which is an important part of realizing the Internet of Things applications such as wireless smart home and M2M. The WIFI module includes two types of topology: basic network (Infra) and ad hoc network (Adhoc). The WIFI module can include the following working modes: 1. AP, that is, the wireless access point, is the creator of a wireless network and the central node of the network. A wireless router used in a general home or office is an AP. 2. STA site, each terminal (such as notebook computer, PDA and other user equipment that can be networked) connected to the wireless network can be called a site. In the embodiment of the present invention, a WIFI module is built in the home appliance, which can access other networks through the STA station function of the WIFI module, or configure itself as an extended access point through the AP function of the WIFI module. other devices to connect to the network.

MCU, also known as Single Chip Microcomputer (Single Chip Microcomputer) or single chip microcomputer, is to appropriately reduce the frequency and specifications of the central processing unit (Central Process Unit; CPU), and integrate the memory, counter (Timer), USB, A/D conversion, UART, PLC, DMA and other peripheral interfaces, and even LCD driver circuits are integrated on a single chip to form a chip-level computer, which can be controlled in different combinations for different applications. In the embodiment of the present invention, the MCU is the control core that enables the home appliance to access the network, and is used to judge the strength of the signal, determine the access point of the home appliance, configure the WIFI module, and the like.

Based on the hardware configuration block diagram of the home appliance shown in FIG. 2 , some embodiments of the present invention further provide a network access method for the home appliance, as shown in FIG. 3 .

Step 301, the home appliance device to be connected to the network scans the access signal strength of each access point;

Each access point includes a router and at least one home appliance that has been connected to the network; the home appliance that has been connected to the network is an access point that configures itself as an extended access point after the home appliance that has been connected to the network is connected to the network through the router;

Step 302: The home appliance to be connected to the network determines the access point of the home appliance to be connected to the network according to the access signal strength of the router and the comprehensive signal strength of at least one home appliance that has already been connected to the network;

Wherein, the comprehensive signal strength of the home appliances that have been connected to the network is the signal strength of the home appliances that have been connected to the network to provide access services for the home appliances to be connected to the network through the router; the comprehensive signal strength of the home appliances that have been connected to the network is based on The access signal strength of the home appliance that has been connected to the network and the switching signal strength of the home appliance that has been connected to the network are determined.

Specifically, a home appliance that has been connected to the network refers to a home appliance that has been connected to the network through a router and configured itself as an extended access point. The point and the access point of the router together constitute the scanning object of the home appliance to be connected to the network. The home appliances that have been connected to the network can be directly connected to the network through the router or indirectly connected to the network through the router, and the indirect access to the network through the router refers to accessing the network through other home appliances that have been connected to the network, and these home appliances that have been connected to the network are also directly or indirectly connected to the router. There is no restriction on the network access method of the home appliances that have been connected to the network. After the home appliances to be connected to the network are scanned, according to the access signal strength of the router and the comprehensive signal strength of at least one connected home appliance, the router and a plurality of connected home appliances are determined according to preset rules. For the access point, the preset rule may be to select the access point with the highest signal strength, or select any one of the access points whose signal strength is greater than a certain strength, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present invention. Among them, the comprehensive signal strength of the household appliances that have been connected to the network can be processed and calculated in various ways, for example, the access signal strength of the household appliances that have been connected to the network and the transfer signal strength of the household appliances that have been connected to the network can be obtained by adding up, etc., This embodiment of the present invention does not limit this.

For example, the household appliances to be connected to the network are washing machines, and the household appliances that have been connected to the network are rice cookers and air conditioners. Rice cookers and air conditioners are connected to the network through routers and configure themselves as extended access points. As shown in Table 1, the washing machine scans the access signal strength of the router, the rice cooker, and the air conditioner, and obtains the signal strength of the rice cooker and the air conditioner connected to the router. The washing machine adds the access signal strength of the rice cooker to the signal strength of the router to obtain the comprehensive signal strength of the rice cooker, and adds the access signal strength of the air conditioner to the signal strength of the router to obtain the comprehensive signal strength of the air conditioner. Compare the access signal strength of the router with the comprehensive signal strength of the rice cooker and the air conditioner. It is judged that the access signal strength of the router is the strongest, which is -60dB, which is greater than the comprehensive signal strength of the rice cooker -70dB and the comprehensive signal strength of the air conditioner -80dB. Therefore, it is determined that the access point of the washing machine is the router. The above is only an example, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present invention.

Table 1

By setting the connected home appliances to the network through the router, it configures itself as an extended access point, so that the WIFI module of the home appliances to be connected to the network can be scanned. The access point provides access points other than routers for home appliances to be connected to the network, avoiding the problem that the home appliances to be connected to the network are far away from the router, resulting in the signal strength of the router not covering the home appliances to be connected to the network. Through the WIFI module, the optimized comprehensive signal strength of the home appliances connected to the network is compared with the access signal strength of the router, and the final access point of the home appliances to be connected to the network is determined, which provides a variety of home appliances to be connected to the network. The choice of the access point ensures that the home appliances to be connected to the network can access the access point with better signal strength. Therefore, the networking capability of the home appliance to be connected to the network is improved, and the phenomenon of frequently disconnecting from the router or being disconnected from the server due to poor signal connection with the router is avoided, and the user experience is greatly improved.

In some embodiments, the MCU is specifically configured to, when determining that the access signal strength of the router is less than the first threshold, acquire, for the at least one home appliance connected to the network, the switching signal strength of the home appliance connected to the network; according to The transfer signal strength of the connected home appliance and the access signal strength of the connected home appliance determine the comprehensive signal strength of the connected home appliance;

In some embodiments, the MCU is specifically configured to determine the access point of the home appliance according to the comprehensive signal strength of at least one home appliance that has been connected to the network;

In some embodiments, the WIFI module is further configured to access the access point of the household appliance.

Based on the hardware configuration block diagram of the home appliance shown in FIG. 2 , an embodiment of the present invention further provides another possible network access method for the home appliance, as shown in FIG. 4 .

The home appliance to be connected to the network determines the access point of the home appliance to be connected to the network according to the access signal strength of the router and the comprehensive signal strength of at least one home appliance that has already been connected to the network, including:

Step 401: When the home appliance device to be connected to the network determines that the access signal strength of the router is less than a first threshold value, for the at least one home appliance device that has been connected to the network, obtain the transfer signal strength of the home appliance device that has been connected to the network;

Step 402: Determine the comprehensive signal strength of the connected home appliance according to the transfer signal strength of the connected home appliance and the connected signal strength of the connected home appliance;

Step 403: The home appliance device to be connected to the network determines the access point of the home appliance device to be connected to the network according to the comprehensive signal strength of at least one home appliance device that has already been connected to the network;

Step 404: The home appliance device to be connected to the network accesses the access point of the home appliance device to be connected to the network.

Specifically, the user first configures the home appliances to be connected to the network, and connects the home appliances to the router, and then judges whether the access signal strength of the router is less than a first threshold, which is that the home appliances can be connected to the router. The minimum signal strength or a range for network signal stability is related to the brand and performance of home appliances and routers, and can be determined based on actual experience, such as -80dB, -90dB, or -90dB--80dB, etc. This is not limited. In the case where it is determined that the access signal strength of the router is less than the first threshold, the final access point is determined according to a preset rule based on the comprehensive signal strength of the household electrical appliances that have been connected to the network. The specific steps of determining the access point have been introduced before, and will not be repeated here.

For example, the household appliances to be connected to the network are washing machines, and the household appliances that have been connected to the network are rice cookers and air conditioners. Rice cookers and air conditioners are connected to the Internet through routers and configure themselves as extended access points. As shown in Table 2, the washing machine determines that the access signal strength of the router -100dB is less than the first threshold -80dB, and then obtains the signal strength of the rice cooker and the air conditioner connected to the router; the access signal strength of the rice cooker is related to the signal strength of the router Add the integrated signal strength of the rice cooker, and add the access signal strength of the air conditioner to the signal strength of the router to obtain the integrated signal strength of the air conditioner. The comprehensive signal strength of the rice cooker and the air conditioner is judged and compared, and it is judged that the comprehensive signal strength of the rice cooker is the strongest, which is -70dB, which is greater than the comprehensive signal strength of the air conditioner -80dB. Therefore, it is determined that the access point of the washing machine is the rice cooker. The above is only an example, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present invention.

Table 2

By setting the MCU to obtain the transfer signal strength of the home appliances that have already connected to the network when it determines that the access signal strength of the router is less than the first threshold, it provides another access point selection for the home appliances to be connected to the network, reducing the number of connected home appliances. The number of times that the home appliance is used as an access point, and at the same time, it also ensures that the home appliance to be connected to the network can select the optimal access point from the home appliances already connected to the network when the access signal of the router is weak, so as to further The networking capability of the home appliances to be connected to the network is improved, and the user experience is greatly improved.

In some embodiments, the MCU is further configured to configure the WIFI module to access the router when it is determined that the access signal strength of the router is not less than the first threshold;

The WIFI module is also used to access the router.

Correspondingly, when the home appliance device to be connected to the network determines that the access signal strength of the router is not less than the first threshold, it accesses the router.

For example, the household appliances to be connected to the network are washing machines, and the household appliances that have been connected to the network are rice cookers and air conditioners. Rice cookers and air conditioners are connected to the network through routers and configure themselves as extended access points. As shown in Table 3, if the washing machine determines that the access signal strength of the router -70dB is greater than the first threshold -80dB, it connects to the router and no longer judges the comprehensive signal strength of the rice cooker and air conditioner. The above is only an example, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present invention.

table 3

In this way, the home appliance device to be connected to the network is preferentially connected to the router when the access signal strength of the router is relatively high, which ensures the stability and security of the signal.

Based on the hardware configuration shown in FIG. 2 , this embodiment of the present invention provides another possible schematic diagram of the hardware configuration. As shown in Figure 5, it also includes:

The instruction transceiver is used to receive and send instructions according to the configuration of the MCU; specifically, if the home appliance to be connected to the network is connected to the router, the instruction transceiver can receive the instruction information sent by the cloud server through the router, and send its own state information to the router. It is sent to the cloud server through the router; if the home appliance to be connected to the network is connected to any home appliance that has been connected to the network, the command transceiver can receive the command information sent by the cloud server through the connected home appliance, and send its own status information through the network. The home appliances that have been connected to the network are sent to the cloud server, and the command transceiver of the home appliances that have been connected to the network can judge the source address and destination address of the command according to the identification of the command, so as to transmit the command to the connected home appliance or router, and then the router sent to the cloud server. Instructions and status information are sent and received between the cloud server and the mobile terminal, thereby realizing the remote control of the home appliances connected to the network by the mobile terminal.

In some embodiments, after the home appliance device to be connected to the network is connected to the access point of the home appliance device to be connected to the network, the following steps are further included, as shown in FIG. 6 :

Step 601: The access point of the household electrical appliance to be connected to the network judges whether the household electrical appliance to be connected to the network is legal, and if it is legal, the access is allowed, and if it is not legal, it is added to a blacklist and access is prohibited;

Specifically, the method for judging whether the device is legal includes but is not limited to the following examples: the home appliance that has already been connected to the network obtains the unique serial number of the home appliance to be connected to the network, and checks with the cloud. access.

Step 602, the home appliance device to be connected to the network sends a first instruction to the cloud server through the access point of the home appliance device to be connected to the network;

Or, the home appliance device to be connected to the network receives the second instruction sent by the cloud server through the access point of the home appliance device to be connected to the network.

In this way, if the home appliance to be connected to the network determines that the router is the access point, the router will send and receive instructions; if any home appliance that has already been connected to the network is determined to be the access point, the home appliance that has already connected to the network will send and receive instructions. It ensures the timely and efficient transmission of instructions between the home appliance and the cloud server, which is conducive to good communication and interconnection between the two.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides another household electrical appliance, the household electrical appliance is a networked household electrical appliance, including an MCU and a WIFI module;

In some embodiments, the MCU is configured to, after accessing the router, configure itself as an extended access point when it is determined that the access signal strength of the router is greater than the second threshold;

The WIFI module is used to provide comprehensive signal strength; the comprehensive signal strength is the signal strength that the household appliance provides access services for the household appliance to be connected to the network through the router; the comprehensive signal strength is based on the connection of the household appliance. The incoming signal strength and the switching signal strength of the household appliance are determined; the switching signal strength is the access signal strength of the household appliance accessing the router.

Correspondingly, after the home appliance device to be connected to the network determines that the access signal strength of the router is greater than the second threshold after accessing the router, it configures itself as an extended access point.

Specifically, the user first distributes the home appliances to be connected to the network, so that the home appliances to be connected to the network are connected to the router to become home appliances that have been connected to the network. Then determine whether the access signal strength of the router is greater than the second threshold. The second threshold is the minimum signal strength or a range at which the home appliance is connected to the router and can stably expand the network signal, which is related to the brand and performance of the home appliance and the router. , which can be determined according to actual experience, such as -30dB, -40dB, or -40dB--30dB, etc., which is not limited in this embodiment of the present invention.

In this way, when it is determined that the access signal strength of the router is greater than the second threshold, it configures itself as an extended access point for use by other home appliances that are poorly connected to the router to be connected to the network. The home appliances become the access points with the same functions as the routers, providing access points other than the routers for the home appliances to be connected to the network, avoiding the distance between the home appliances to be connected to the router and the router, which leads to the coverage of the signal strength of the router. The problem of less home appliances to be connected to the network provides more and better signal strength for other home appliances to be connected to the network to select access points. Therefore, the networking capability of the home appliance to be connected to the network is improved, and the phenomenon of frequently disconnecting from the router or being disconnected from the server due to poor signal connection with the router is avoided, and the user experience is greatly improved.

Based on the hardware configuration shown in FIG. 2 , this embodiment of the present invention provides another possible schematic diagram of the hardware configuration. As shown in Figure 7, it also includes: a Bluetooth module;

In some embodiments, after the home appliance to be connected to the network is connected to the network through a router, it becomes a connected home appliance, and the built-in MCU of the connected home appliance is used to configure itself as an extended WIFI module through the WIFI module. Access point; or, through the Bluetooth module, configure itself as an extended access point.

In some embodiments, the WIFI module or the Bluetooth module, according to the configuration of the MCU, expands the access signal strength of the home appliances that have been connected to the network, so that other home appliances to be connected to the network can be connected; The group or the Bluetooth module will send a broadcast message, and the broadcast message includes the identification of the home appliance that has been connected to the network, the physical address of the home appliance that has been connected to the network, and the transfer signal strength of the home appliance that has been connected to the network.

In some embodiments, the WIFI module of the home appliance to be connected to the network scans the WIFI module or the access point extended by the Bluetooth module of the connected home appliance. If the connected home appliance uses the WIFI module to access the signal If the strength of the home appliance is expanded, the WIFI module of the home appliance to be connected to the network is connected to the WIFI module of the home appliance that has been connected to the network; The WIFI module of the home appliance is connected to the Bluetooth module of the home appliance that has been connected to the network.

By setting up a WIFI module or a Bluetooth module to expand itself as an access point, it avoids that the Bluetooth module can also achieve the same function when the WIFI module does not have the function of extending the access point. Expansion increases the probability of successfully expanding access points, further ensures that other home appliances that are poorly connected to the router to be connected to the network can be connected and used, and provides more options for other home appliances to be connected to the network when selecting access points. excellent signal strength.

In this way, the home appliance configures itself as an access point for expansion, and can send broadcast messages through a WIFI module or a Bluetooth module, so as to adapt to the expansion requirements of different home appliances. If the WIFI module of some household appliances has the SOFTAP function, it can be broadcast through the WIFI module; some household appliances do not have the SOFTAP function in the WIFI module, but can be broadcast through the Bluetooth module; some household appliances have the WIFI module. With SOFTAP function, you can still choose to broadcast through the Bluetooth module. By setting the broadcast information to also include the identifiers of the home appliances that have been connected to the network, it is convenient for the home appliances to be connected to the network to accurately determine whether the home appliances that have been connected to the network are legal and safe access points, thereby improving the security and accuracy of network access; by setting the broadcast information It also includes the physical addresses of the home appliances that have already been connected to the network, which can facilitate the home appliances to be connected to the network to efficiently and quickly obtain the physical addresses of the home appliances that have been connected to the network and perform access, which improves the efficiency and accuracy of access.

In order to more clearly introduce the method for the above-mentioned home appliance device to access the network, an overall description of the network access process involved in the embodiment of the present invention is given below with reference to FIG. 8 . As shown in FIG. 8 , neither the first household appliance nor the second household appliance is connected to the network in the initial state, and the specific network access process may include the following steps:

Step 801, the user distributes the second household electrical appliance to the network;

Specifically, when the second household appliance accesses the network for the first time, the user's mobile terminal is connected through the WIFI module or the Bluetooth module, and the user configures the connected router for the second household appliance through the mobile terminal. After the first configuration, the second home appliance can directly scan the access signal strength of the router without the need for subsequent network configuration.

Step 802, the second household appliance is connected to the router;

Step 803: When the second household appliance determines that the access signal strength of the router is greater than the second threshold, configure itself as an extended access point through the WIFI module or the Bluetooth module;

Step 804, the user distributes the first household electrical appliance to the network;

Specifically, when the first household appliance accesses the network for the first time, the user's mobile terminal is connected through a WIFI module or a Bluetooth module, and the user configures a connected router for the first household appliance through the mobile terminal. After the first configuration, the first home appliance can directly scan the access signal strength of the router without network configuration.

Step 805, the first household appliance is connected to the router;

Step 806: When the first household appliance determines that the access signal strength of the router is less than the first threshold, it determines the comprehensive signal strength of each second household appliance, and determines the second household appliance as the access point from the second household appliances ;

Step 807: The first household appliance sends an access request to the second household appliance;

Step 808: The second household appliance determines whether the first household appliance is legal, and if it is legal, the request is passed; if it is illegal, it is added to a blacklist and access is prohibited;

Step 809: The first household appliance is connected to the network through the second household appliance, so that the first household appliance is connected to the cloud server through the second household appliance, and the status reporting and the control of the first household appliance by the mobile terminal are performed;

An embodiment of the present invention also provides a computing device, including:

memory for storing computer programs;

The processor is configured to call the computer program stored in the memory, and execute the method for accessing the network of the household electrical appliance listed in any of the above manners according to the obtained program.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer-readable storage medium, where the computer-readable storage medium stores a computer-executable program, and the computer-executable program is used to enable a computer to execute the method for accessing a home appliance network listed in any of the foregoing manners .

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the embodiments of the present application may be provided as a method, a system, or a computer program product. Accordingly, the present application may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present application may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.

The present application is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to the present application. It will be understood that each process and/or block in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of processes and/or blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to the processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine such that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device produce Means for implementing the functions specified in a flow or flow of a flowchart and/or a block or blocks of a block diagram.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory capable of directing a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory result in an article of manufacture comprising instruction means, the instructions The apparatus implements the functions specified in the flow or flow of the flowcharts and/or the block or blocks of the block diagrams.

These computer program instructions can also be loaded on a computer or other programmable data processing device to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process such that The instructions provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flow or blocks of the flowcharts and/or the block or blocks of the block diagrams.

Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims (10)

1. A household appliance, characterized in that the household appliance is a household appliance to be connected to a network, comprising: WIFI module, used to scan the access signal strength of each access point; each access point includes a router and at least one home appliance that has been connected to the network; the home appliance that has been connected to the network is the home appliance that has been connected to the network. After entering the network through the router, configure itself as an extended access point; The micro-control unit MCU is used to determine the access point of the household appliance according to the access signal strength of the router and the comprehensive signal strength of at least one household appliance that has been connected to the network; wherein, the comprehensive signal strength of the household appliance that has been connected to the network is The signal strength of the home appliance connected to the network that provides the access service for the home appliance through the router; the comprehensive signal strength of the connected home appliance is based on the access signal strength of the connected home appliance and the connected home appliance The transfer signal strength is determined by the transfer signal strength; the transfer signal strength is the access signal strength of the home appliance connected to the network to the router. 2. The household appliance according to claim 1, characterized in that, The MCU is specifically configured to, when determining that the access signal strength of the router is less than the first threshold, acquire, for the at least one home appliance connected to the network, the switching signal strength of the connected home appliance; according to the The transfer signal strength of the home appliance that has been connected to the network and the access signal strength of the home appliance that has been connected to the network, to determine the comprehensive signal strength of the home appliance that has been connected to the network; The MCU is specifically configured to determine the access point of the household appliance according to the comprehensive signal strength of at least one household appliance that has been connected to the network; The WIFI module is also used to access the access point of the household appliance. 3. The household appliance according to claim 2, characterized in that, The MCU is further configured to configure the WIFI module to access the router when it is determined that the access signal strength of the router is not less than the first threshold; The WIFI module is also used to access the router. 4. The household appliance of claim 2, further comprising: an instruction transceiver, configured to send the first instruction to the cloud server through the access point of the household appliance; It is further configured to receive the second instruction sent by the cloud server through the access point of the household appliance. 5. A household appliance, characterized in that the household appliance is a network-connected household appliance, comprising: The MCU is configured to configure itself as an extended access point when it is determined that the access signal strength of the router is greater than the second threshold after accessing the router; The WIFI module is used to provide comprehensive signal strength; the comprehensive signal strength is the signal strength that the household appliance provides access services for the household appliance to be connected to the network through the router; the comprehensive signal strength is based on the connection of the household appliance. The incoming signal strength and the switching signal strength of the household appliance are determined; the switching signal strength is the access signal strength of the household appliance accessing the router. 6. The household appliance according to claim 5, further comprising: a Bluetooth module; The MCU is specifically configured to configure itself as an extended access point through the WIFI module; or configure itself as an extended access point through the Bluetooth module. 7. The household appliance according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that, The transfer signal strength of the household appliance is broadcast information sent by the household appliance through the WIFI module of the household appliance; or broadcast information sent by the household appliance through the Bluetooth module of the household appliance; The broadcast information includes the identity of the household appliance, the physical address of the household appliance, and the strength of the switching signal of the household appliance. 8. A network access method for household electrical appliances, wherein the method comprises: The home appliance to be connected to the network scans the access signal strength of each access point; each access point includes a router and at least one home appliance that has been connected to the network; After the router is connected to the network, it configures itself as an extended access point; The home appliance to be connected to the network determines the access point of the home appliance to be connected to the network according to the access signal strength of the router and the comprehensive signal strength of at least one connected home appliance; The comprehensive signal strength is the signal strength of the home appliance that has been connected to the network to provide the access service for the home appliance to be connected to the network through the router; the comprehensive signal strength of the home appliance that has been connected to the network is based on the access of the home appliance The signal strength is determined by the switching signal strength of the home appliance device that has been connected to the network; the switching signal strength is the access signal strength of the home appliance device that has been connected to the network accessing the router. 9. A computing device, comprising: memory for storing computer programs; The processor is configured to call the computer program stored in the memory, and execute the method of claim 8 according to the obtained program. 10 . A computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores a computer-executable program, and the computer-executable program is used to cause a computer to execute the method of claim 8 . 11 .

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