China’s first set of group standards on home appliance interconnectivity was unveiled on March 9, 2017. The interconnectivity of brands was exhibited at a specially set zone at AWE 2017 through joint efforts of China Household Electrical Appliances Association (CHEAA) and seven members of the Interconnectivity Work Group-Haier, Midea, BSH, Hisense, Changhong, TCL and Skyworth.
The expansion of the Internet and Internet of Things speeds up the development of smart appliances. However, services from different brands are isolated and fragmented, which not only stands in consumers’ way of getting better services, but also hinders the development of smart home appliances.
To address this issue, CHEAA initiated a work group with Haier, Midea, BSH, TCL, Changhong, Hisense and Skyworth in 2015 and established a set of standards in 2016. According to these standards, interconnectivity can be achieved through a cloud-to-cloud approach based on individual cloud platforms of seven members of the work group. Under a unified conversion protocol, they open interfaces of their cloud platforms to allow interconnectivity.
It is learned that, these standards cover user and device access, service interface, device function model, information safety, etc. They define the application types of multi smart appliance groups, set out safety requirements of the overall program, and specify issues concerning safety certification of user and device access, access control of interaction functions, and confidentiality of data transmission.
At AWE 2017, a special zone was set to showcase the interconnectivity of products from 7 member enterprises, spanning refrigerators, washers, air conditioners, air purifiers, water heaters, range hoods, coffee makers, dishwashers, electric ovens, TVs, etc. Users can add any interconnectivity enabled products to the interface, and run the appliances through the interface. The cloud platforms involved are Haier’s U+, Midea’s M-Smart, BSH’s Home Connect, Hisense’s Juhaolian, Changhong’s UP, TCL’s Dazhi and Skyworth’s V+.
CHEAA will continue its efforts in this area, and expand the portfolio to include more brands and platforms.