USB-based home appliance automation

A few years ago, automating home appliances with a personal computer (PC) was a daunting task—it required an Interrupt Request (IRQ), an additional control card to the PC, and a jump. The line configuration is set up appropriately. This tedious process needs to be repeated whenever a device or appliance is added/deleted on the appliance network.

Recently, the use of the Universal Serial Bus (USB) has introduced a simpler implementation path for home appliance automation. Using a simple operation called plug-n-play, when a home appliance is plugged into a USB port on a PC, USB device parameters are exchanged with the PC, eliminating the tedious task of setting up the home appliance interface. The appliance is automatically configured to the "Ready" state based on the appliance descriptor transmitted to the PC via the USB port. In addition, to add or remove new home appliances on the home appliance network, simply plug them in and out.

This article introduces innovative home appliance automation applications based on USB, including USB automatic washing machines, dryers, coffee machines, security systems, and appliance consoles, as shown in Figure 1. In addition, this article also uses USB-based lighting control as an example to explain the basics of USB-based home appliance automation. Finally, this paper compares the similarities and differences between USB and other mainstream wireless technologies for home appliance automation (eg, ZigBee. communication protocol and Bluetooth. wireless communication protocol).

background

With the rapid development of new feature-rich semiconductor devices and their price levels that consumers can afford, we are witnessing an automation storm in the home appliance industry. The evolution of USB on PCs has been included in these technological advancements.

Now, PCs are used in every aspect of our daily lives. Our interaction with the surrounding environment is largely controlled by a PC. Similarly, if there is no PC as its center, future home appliance automation can't be imagined.

In addition, from a PC perspective, USB has revolutionized the initialization of peripherals, eliminating the need for users to interact with PCs or to focus on PCs. The USB protocol is smart enough to automatically detect and drive up to 127 devices connected to its bus. It is foreseeable that USB will eventually be able to control and drive most home appliances.

Since USB can automate home appliances, it is useful for end users. Not only that, but for home appliance manufacturers, USB is also very useful for new product testing.

The evolution of USB has made the plug-and-play of home appliances a reality, which has prompted operating system vendors to support standard USB drivers.

For example, Microsoft. provides USB driver support in various versions of its Windows operating system (OS), such as Human Interface Device (HID) and CommunicaTIon Device Class (CDC). And Mass Storage Device (MSD) drivers.

Another important use of USB is related to prepaid facilities. For example,

The laundromat can issue a laundry card to the customer, which can be read via the USB port to control the washing machine via the USB bus. The USB bus provides ample data rates for recording facility data and recording home appliance power usage details. For home appliances with a USB bus, this type of mass storage USB is especially suitable for data logging and control.

USB can also be used for the safe use of home appliances. For example, parents can lock and unlock appliances through the USB port to prevent children from turning on certain appliances. This can be reassuring that children can't operate potentially dangerous appliances without a guardian.

Now that you have introduced USB and its possible applications, let's explore the details of the USB protocol.