Home appliance and online system including the same

A method of using an online system comprising:

• setting remote service activation of a home appliance via a remote service activation unit configured to set or cancel the remote service activation, when power of the home appliance is on, the remote service activation unit provided at the home appliance, the home appliance having a power input unit at the home appliance and being separately provided from the remote service activation unit;
• transmitting user information to a server through an external terminal to log in to the server;
• the server specifying the home appliance for a remote service based on the user information received from the external terminal and determining whether the remote service activation state of the specified home appliance is set;
• upon determining that the remote service activation of the home appliance is set, the server receiving state information of the home appliance from the home appliance and transmitting the received state information of the home appliance to the external terminal;
• and
• receiving and displaying the state information of the home appliance on the external terminal, wherein the home appliance includes a course selection unit at the home appliance and being configured to be deactivated when the remote service activation of the specified home appliance is set by the remote service activation unit such that a course selection by a user via the course selection unit is prevented during the set remote service activation,
• wherein the server specifies operation information corresponding to the home appliance information and the server transmits the specified operation information to the external terminal,
• wherein the operation information is changeable by the external terminal,
• wherein the home appliance comprises a laundry machine, and the operation information comprises a washing course and option information in the washing course, and
• wherein the operation information comprises at least one selected from among a washing degree, the number of times of rinsing, a spin-drying degree, temperature of wash water, and whether or not steam is used.

An online service system comprising:

• a server;
• a home appliance having a Wi-Fi communication module communication connected to the server, a remote service activation input unit provided at the home appliance, a power input unit provided at the home appliance and at least one course selection unit provided at the home appliance, the remote service activation input unit being configured to set or cancel remote service activation when power of the home appliance is on, and the power input unit being separately provided at the home appliance from the remote service activation unit;
• and
• an external terminal configured to receive operation information of the home appliance from the server only in a case in which the remote service activation of the home appliance is set, to set the operation information, and to transmit a command signal to the server such that the home appliance is operated based on the set operation information, thereby remotely controlling the home appliance, wherein the home appliance includes the at least one course selection unit being configured to be deactivated when the remote service activation of the home appliance is set by the remote service activation unit such that a course selection by a user via the at least one course selection unit is prevented during the set remote service activation,
• wherein the operation information is changeable by the external terminal,
• wherein the server specifies operation information corresponding to the home appliance information and transmits the specified operation information to the external terminal,
• wherein the home appliance comprises a laundry machine, and the operation information comprises a washing course and option information in the washing course, and
• wherein the operation information comprises at least one selected from among a washing degree, the number of times of rinsing, a spin-drying degree, temperature of wash water, and whether or not steam is used.