Home appliance networking system and method for controlling the same

Abstract

A home appliance networking system and a method for controlling the same. At least one home appliance is connected to a network and controlled in response to control information received over the network and transmits its state information and self-information over the network. An agent is connected to the home appliance to recognize the self-information transmitted from the home appliance and manage transmission and reception of all data over the network by the appliance on the basis of the recognized information. A service provider provides additional information regarding the home appliance, not included in the self-information of the appliance, to the agent. If a new home appliance is connected to the network to which other home appliances remain connected, the agent recognizes all information of the new home appliance and manages transmission and reception of all data over the network by the appliance on the basis of the recognized information. As a result, whenever a new home appliance is connected to the network, it need not exchange data with other home appliances connected to the network, thereby enabling data to be efficiently transmitted and received over the network.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.