| 摘要 |
Systems, methods, and apparatus are disclosed for monitoring appliances at a site, such as a household, business office, etc. The appliances can include, for example but not limited to, an electric oven, dishwasher, refrigerator, laundry washer, freezer, pool controller, light bulb, microwave oven, computer, motor vehicle, television, telephone, etc. In many of the embodiments, the appliance has a computer based architecture or a controller that enables communication of data concerning the electronic appliance. In some embodiments the appliance is an apparatus with a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag or other passive device that can be interrogated for information concerning the appliance. |
| 主权项 |
1. A computer system communicatively coupled to one or more appliances at a site, the computer system comprising:
means for monitoring health data concerning an appliance or an appliance part; means for determining that the appliance or appliance part exhibits a maintenance issue based upon the health data; means for accessing a remote computer system over the Internet; means for receiving one or more suggestions on where to order, purchase, or seek repair for the appliance or appliance part from the remote computer system; means for producing a notification regarding the maintenance issue, the notification including the one or more suggestions and price information pertaining to each of the suggestions; and means for enabling a user to select and purchase the one or more suggestions, based at least in part upon the price. |
