Information acquisition method, information acquisition system, and information acquisition apparatus

Abstract

Provided is a server device (101) including: a transmitting/receiving section (201) for receiving, from a household electric appliance (102), an identifier for identifying the household electric appliance (102) and an operation status of the household electric appliance (102); an updating section (207) for estimating a consumption status of a consumer good using the received operation status so as to update the consumption status of the consumer good stored in a utilization information accumulating section (205) based on the estimated consumption status of the consumer good; and a determination section (206) for deciding whether or not to transmit a confirmation message for confirming the consumer good being used with the household electric appliance, based on the updated consumption status of the consumer good.

1 - 16 . (canceled) 
     
     
         17 . An information obtaining method comprising:
 receiving information regarding a consumer good used by a user with a household electric appliance;   obtaining a remaining amount of the consumer good used by the user using information received from a sensor;   deciding whether or not the remaining amount of the consumer good used by the user is less than or equal to a predetermined amount; and   when the remaining amount of the consumer good used by the user is decided to be less than or equal to the predetermined amount, (i) generating household electric appliance control information, (ii) transmitting a message including the household electric appliance control information, and (iii) operating the household electric appliance according to the household electric appliance control information.   
     
     
         18 . The information obtaining method according to  claim 17 , wherein the household electric appliance control information represents a new washing course when the household electric appliance is a washing machine. 
     
     
         19 . The information obtaining method according to  claim 17 , wherein the household electric appliance control information represents a new menu or a new function when the household electric appliance is a microwave oven. 
     
     
         20 . The information obtaining method according to  claim 17 , wherein a quantity of the consumer good used by the user at a start of consumption is determined in advance. 
     
     
         21 . An information obtaining system comprising:
 a server device; and   a household electric appliance communicatively connected to the server device,   wherein the server device includes:
 a receiving section for receiving information regarding a consumer good used by a user with the household electric appliance; 
 an obtaining section for obtaining a remaining amount of the consumer good used by the user using information received from a sensor; 
 a decision section for deciding whether or not the remaining amount of the consumer good used by the user is less than or equal to a predetermined amount; 
 a generating section for, when the remaining amount of the consumer good used by the user is decided to be less than or equal to the predetermined amount, generating household electric appliance control information; and 
 a transmitting section for transmitting a message including the household electric appliance control information, and 
   wherein the household electric appliance is operated according to the household electric appliance control information.