JP2000339575A - Radio sensor device and sensor system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a radio sensor device which enables plural sensors to share a circuit part that is used for the radio transmission and also has high expandability to cope with increase of the number of types of sensors. SOLUTION: A sensor unit 10 generates the output from an output terminal 13 in response to the information that is detected by a sensor 11. A radio transmission unit 20 is removably attached to the unit 10 and has an input terminal 21 which is electrically connected to the terminal 13 when the unit 21 is attached to the unit 10. The output of the unit 10 which is in accordance with the detection information of the sensor 11 is transmitted to the outside from the unit 20 as a radio signal.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wireless sensor device and a sensor system for wirelessly transmitting information detected by a sensor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, various types of information have been detected by sensors.
2. Description of the Related Art A sensor system that transmits detected information to a place different from a place where a sensor is arranged by wireless (radio wave) has been used. In this type of sensor system, the information detected by the sensor is transmitted wirelessly from the wireless sensor device, and wiring between the device that manages the sensor information and the wireless sensor device is unnecessary. It has the advantage of being easier. Sensors used in this type of sensor system include an infrared sensor, a voice sensor, a temperature sensor, a conduction sensor, and the like.
By using these sensors, it is possible to detect visitors, crying of infants, temperature, rainfall, bath water level, or various information for crime prevention and disaster prevention.

As this type of sensor system, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-14099, a sensor is connected to a transmitter for transmitting a radio signal, and a receiver receives a radio signal from the transmitter. Then, what operates a security device via a computer is known.

[0004]

By the way, a sensor used in a wireless sensor device and a circuit for processing information detected by the sensor into a desired format can be constructed relatively inexpensively, but are used for wireless transmission. Since the circuit portion must satisfy the characteristics defined by the regulations, it tends to be more expensive than other portions.

In the technique described in the above publication, a plurality of sensors are connected to the transmitter, so that the number of transmitters can be reduced with respect to the number of sensors. Because the connection is fixed,
Extensibility with respect to the type of sensor is low.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to reduce the cost in the case of using a plurality of sensors by allowing a circuit portion used for wireless transmission to be shared by the plurality of sensors. Another object of the present invention is to provide a highly expandable wireless sensor device and a sensor system that can easily cope with an increase in the types of sensors.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sensor unit having an output terminal for generating an output corresponding to information detected by a sensor, the sensor unit being detachably mounted on the sensor unit, and providing the output when mounted. A wireless transmission unit having an input terminal electrically connected to the terminal and transmitting an output from the sensor unit using a wireless signal.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the wireless transmission unit is a digital portable telephone terminal, and the sensor unit uses input means capable of inputting a telephone number and input means. A memory for storing the input telephone number, and control means for calling the digital mobile phone terminal using the telephone number stored in the memory when a predetermined change occurs in the information detected by the sensor. It is provided.

A third aspect of the present invention is the PHS terminal according to the first aspect, wherein the wireless transmission unit is used as a slave unit capable of making an extension call with a private base unit,
The sensor unit includes a control unit that causes the PHS terminal to call the private parent device when a predetermined change occurs in the information detected by the sensor.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a wireless sensor device according to the second or third aspect, and a telephone having a calling number identification function and having a telephone number of the digital mobile phone terminal registered as a calling number. It consists of

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS (First Embodiment) A wireless sensor device according to the present invention basically comprises a sensor unit 10 having a sensor 11 and a sensor unit 10 as shown in FIG. And a wireless transmission unit 20 which is detachably attached to the wireless communication unit.

As shown in FIG. 1B, the sensor unit 10 monitors information detected by a sensor 11 by a control unit (control means) 12 comprising a microcomputer.
In 2, the output of the sensor 11 is converted into, for example, a digital value that is serial data or converted into binary information. Although this type of conversion is performed in accordance with the type of the sensor 11, in the present embodiment, when the output value of the sensor 11 exceeds a set threshold, the control unit 12 determines that a change has occurred in the information detected by the sensor 11. Judgment and binary information (that is,
ON / OFF information). Further, the type of the sensor 11 is registered in the control unit 12 by a number, and information relating to the type of the sensor 11 along with the above-described binary information and a command for instructing transmission of a wireless signal are also included in the control unit 12. 12 and sent out. These information or commands are transmitted from the control unit 12 in the form of serial data. An output terminal 13 is connected to the control unit 12.
Information or commands sent from the control unit 12 are taken out of the sensor unit 10 from the output terminal 13.
The output terminal 13 includes a power supply (Vcc) contact portion 13a,
Three contact portions 13a to 1 including a signal (TX) contact portion 13b to be transmitted and a ground (GND) contact portion 13c.
3c. The sensor unit 10 includes a power supply circuit 14 for supplying a constant voltage to an internal circuit, and a power supply circuit 14 can use either a battery or a commercial power supply.

As shown in FIG. 1A, a slot 32 in which the wireless transmission unit 20 can be detachably mounted is formed in the body 31 of the sensor unit 10. The actuator of the microswitch 15 projects. The microswitch 15 is provided to detect whether or not the wireless transmission unit 20 is installed in the slot 32.
4, a voltage is applied to the contact portion 13a.

On the other hand, the wireless transmission unit 20 has an input terminal 21 electrically connected to the output terminal 13 of the sensor unit 10.
Three contact portions 21a to 21 for power, signal, and ground
c. That is, power is supplied to the wireless transmission unit 20 from the sensor unit 10 via the contact portions 21a and 21c. The wireless transmission unit 20 is provided with a control unit 22 composed of a microcomputer. The control unit 22 supplies power to an internal circuit of the wireless transmission unit 20 when the sensor unit 10 is connected and power is supplied. When the output of the sensor 11 changes in the sensor unit 10,
When the value signal is input to the control unit 22, the control unit 22 selects a transmission frequency channel (frequency band) based on a command instructing the sensor unit 10 to transmit a wireless signal, and changes the output of the sensor 11. And the transmission data according to the type of the sensor 11.

The selected channel is supplied to a PLL circuit 23. The PLL circuit 23 changes the output frequency of the VCO circuit 25 to the channel based on the constant frequency output from the reference oscillation circuit 24 and the channel instruction from the control unit 22. The VCO circuit 25 is controlled so as to have a corresponding predetermined frequency. The transmission data from the control unit 22 is transmitted to the VCO circuit 25
, And is frequency-modulated using the output of the VCO circuit 25 as a carrier, amplified by an amplifier circuit 26, and
Is transmitted to the space as a radio signal.

The contact portions 13a of the output terminal 13
As shown in FIG. 2, each of the contacts 13 to 13c includes a contact 33 protruding from the body 31 of the sensor unit 10 so as to be able to advance and retreat, and a contact pressure spring 34 for urging the contact 33. That is, a circuit board 35 formed of a printed wiring board is housed in the body 31 of the sensor unit 10, and the electrodes 36 corresponding to the respective contacts 33 are formed on the circuit board 35. The contact 33 is arranged via a spring 34. Each contact 33 is formed in a hemispherical shape at the upper end in the figure and is formed in a shape having a flange 33a at the lower end. An insertion hole 37 through which the contact 33 is inserted
Is formed, and the flange 33 a is locked to the periphery of the insertion hole 37, so that the contact 33 urged by the contact pressure spring 34 is prevented from coming off from the body 10. Therefore, the wireless transmission unit 20 is connected to the sensor unit 10
Is inserted into the slot 32, the input terminal 21 of the wireless transmission unit 20 comes into contact with the tip of the contact 33, and the contact 33 is pushed into the body 31 against the spring force of the contact pressure spring 34. . In this way, the reliability of the electrical connection between the output terminal 13 and the input terminal 21 is ensured.

Incidentally, as the sensor unit 10,
Various types of usage as shown in FIG. 3 are conceivable depending on the type of the sensor 11. FIG. 3A shows an example in which the sensor unit 10 detects that a predetermined amount of water has been reached using the sensor 11 when supplying water to the bath. For this purpose, a sensor 11a for detecting a conduction state by water or a pressure sensor for detecting a water pressure can be used as the sensor 11.
FIG. 3B shows an example of detecting whether there is any abnormality in an infant or an elderly person. For this purpose, a microphone 11 b or a human sensor can be used as the sensor 11. That is, an infant may be detected as abnormal when the cry is loud, and an elderly person may be detected as abnormal when the motion of the human sensor is not detected. FIG. 3C shows an example in which a gas sensor 11c for detecting a gas leak of fuel gas or carbon monoxide is provided in the sensor unit 10 as the sensor 11. FIG. 3D shows an example of detecting an intruder from the window. By attaching the vibration sensor 11d to the window glass as the sensor 11, the sensor unit 10 is configured to detect that the window glass is broken. It is composed. further,
As shown in FIG. 3 (e), in order to detect a visitor in a store, a human sensor 1 as a sensor 11 is provided in the sensor unit 10.
By providing the temperature sensor 11f for measuring outdoor air temperature as the sensor 11 as shown in FIG. In addition, it can be used for various purposes depending on the type of the sensor 11.

For such various purposes, if a wireless transmission function is provided for each sensor 11, a large number of channels are required, and many expensive radio circuits are required. Increases cost. here,
Generally, it is rare to use a large number of sensor units 10 at the same time, and in most cases, one of the sensor units 10 is usually used. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the wireless transmission unit 20 can be detachably attached to the sensor unit 10 as described above. If the configuration of the present embodiment is adopted, a large number of sensor units 10 exist. In this case, the wireless transmission unit 20 may be attached only to the required sensor unit 10, and as a result, the cost can be reduced as a whole. Moreover, since the wireless transmission unit 20 can be used in combination with the various sensor units 10,
A highly expandable sensor system can be constructed.

(Second Embodiment) In this embodiment, a digital portable telephone terminal that has been widely used is used as the wireless transmission unit 20. As shown in FIG. 4, when using the digital mobile phone terminal 20 ', the sensor unit 10 must be capable of electrical connection with the existing digital mobile phone terminal 20'. The digital mobile phone terminal 20 'has an interface for connecting to an external device, and this type of interface has been unified or advanced for each business operator. For example, NTT DOCOMO uses a connector corresponding to DH01 or MQ138-M16 (13) S, and 12 out of 16 pins.
The pin No. 13 and the pin No. 13 are assigned to the portable device operation unit control signal. By using these pins, it is possible to set a destination telephone number in the digital portable telephone terminal 20 'and issue a call according to an instruction from an external device.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, the slot 32 in the sensor unit 10 is
0 'is formed in a shape that allows it to be attached, and a connector having a shape that can be connected to the interface (that is, input terminal) 21 of the digital mobile phone terminal 20' is used as the output terminal 13. In addition, the sensor unit 10 is provided with input means 16 composed of ten keys for inputting a destination telephone number to the digital mobile phone terminal 20 ′,
The telephone number input using the input unit 16 is stored in a memory provided in the control unit 12.

In the state where the destination telephone number is stored in the memory as described above, when the information detected by the sensor 11 changes and binary information is generated from the control unit 12, the digital mobile telephone is output through the output terminal 13. Terminal 20 '
In response to this, the transmission destination telephone number stored in the memory is transmitted and the destination is called. At this time, the digital mobile phone terminal 2
By the normal operation as 0 ', as shown in FIG.
From the digital mobile phone terminal 20 'to the mobile phone base station 41,
Mobile phone carrier exchange 42, subscriber phone carrier exchange 4
The called telephone 44 is called via the terminal 3 (an example in which the telephone 44 is connected via the terminal adapter 45 is shown in the figure). Following this operation, the information detected by the sensor 11 is transmitted to the digital mobile phone terminal 20 '. That is, by using the digital mobile phone terminal 20 ′ as the wireless transmission unit 20, it is possible to notify the desired destination stored in the sensor unit 10 that the information detected by the sensor 11 has changed. For example, by registering the telephone numbers of telephones in homes and offices as destination telephone numbers, information detected by the sensor 11 can be known in homes and offices. Also,
If another mobile phone terminal is specified as the destination telephone number, the detection information of the sensor 11 can be received regardless of the location, so that a highly convenient sensor system can be constructed.

If a telephone having a calling number identification function is used as a destination telephone and the telephone number of the digital mobile phone terminal 20 'is registered as a calling number, the digital mobile phone connected to the sensor unit 10 can be used. Since it is possible to distinguish an incoming call from the telephone terminal 20 ′ from an incoming call from another telephone, it is possible not to answer the incoming call from the digital mobile phone terminal 20 ′ connected to the sensor unit 10. is there. That is,
Even if the sensor unit 10 does not transmit the information detected by the sensor 11, the destination telephone knows that the information detected by the sensor 11 has changed. The detection result of the sensor 11 provided in the sensor unit 10 can be known.
Other configurations and operations are the same as those of the first embodiment.

(Third Embodiment) In this embodiment, the PH
The S terminal is used as the wireless transmission unit 20. When using the PHS terminal 20 ″ as shown in FIG. 6, the sensor unit 10 must be capable of electrical connection with the existing PHS terminal 20 ″. PHS terminal 2
“0” is provided with an interface for connecting to an external device like the digital cellular phone terminal 20 ′, and is attached to the “RCR STD-28” which is a standard of the second generation cordless telephone system (ie, PHS). A
In G, the shapes of the connectors of the 12-core dedicated interface and the 16-core dedicated interface are described. This type of interface has been unified or advanced for each carrier. The PHS terminal 20 "can be called by an instruction from an external device using this interface. In the present embodiment, the PHS terminal 20" is used as a child device for the parent device 28, and The parent device 28 can identify which PHS terminal 20 "is called from the child device number. In short, the PHS terminal 20" is used for an extension call.

In this embodiment, as in the second embodiment, the slot 32 in the sensor unit 10 is
The HS terminal 20 "is formed in a shape that can be mounted,
Further, a connector having a shape connectable to the interface (that is, input terminal) 21 of the PHS terminal 20 ″ is used as the output terminal 13. However, the information detected by the sensor 11 changes and the When the information is generated, an instruction is given to the PHS terminal 20 ″ through the output terminal 13 so as to call the private parent device 28. Here, the P connected to the sensor unit 10
If the ring tone for the call from the HS terminal 20 ″ is different from the other ring tones, it is possible to know that the detection information of the sensor 11 has changed due to the difference in the ring tone. The configuration and operation are the same as in the first embodiment.

[0025]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sensor unit having an output terminal for generating an output corresponding to information detected by a sensor, and a detachably mounted to the sensor unit and electrically connected to the output terminal when mounted. A wireless transmission unit having an input terminal to be connected and transmitting an output from the sensor unit using a wireless signal, since the wireless transmission unit is detachable from the sensor unit having the sensor. By providing the wireless transmission unit with a circuit portion used for wireless transmission, the wireless transmission unit can be shared by a plurality of sensor units, and the cost can be reduced when a plurality of sensors are used. Has the advantage of becoming In addition, since the wireless transmission unit is detachable from the sensor unit, the wireless transmission unit can be shared even when the types of sensors increase, and high expandability can be obtained.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, a digital portable telephone terminal is used as the wireless transmission unit, and a telephone number is input to the sensor unit using the input means capable of inputting a telephone number and the input means. A memory for storing a telephone number, and control means for calling the digital mobile phone terminal using the telephone number stored in the memory when a predetermined change occurs in information detected by the sensor. Since an off-the-shelf digital mobile phone terminal is used for the wireless transmission unit, information detected by the sensor can be transmitted using the telephone network of the digital mobile phone. That is, only the sensor unit needs to be designed, and the design cost can be significantly reduced.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the PHS terminal according to the first aspect, wherein the wireless transmission unit is used as a slave unit capable of making an extension call with a private base unit, and the sensor unit is a sensor unit. Is equipped with a control means for calling the self-main unit from the PHS terminal when a predetermined change occurs in the information detected by, and the design of the wireless transmission unit is unnecessary because an off-the-shelf PHS terminal is used for the wireless transmission unit Therefore, only the sensor unit needs to be designed,
Design costs are greatly reduced. In addition, since an extension call is performed with the parent device, there is no need for a telephone charge when the detection information is transmitted and received by the sensor, and communication costs are reduced as compared with the case of using a digital mobile phone terminal.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the wireless sensor device according to the second or third aspect, and a telephone having a calling number identification function and having a telephone number of the digital portable telephone terminal registered as the calling number. If the telephone number of the digital mobile phone terminal connected to the sensor unit is registered as a calling number in the telephone, it can be distinguished from other incoming calls on the telephone, and the digital mobile phone connected to the sensor unit Since no incoming call processing is performed when a call is made from the terminal, no telephone fee is charged, and information detected by the sensor can be transmitted at low cost.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIGS. 1A and 1B show a first embodiment of the present invention, wherein FIG. 1A is an overall configuration diagram and FIG. 1B is a block diagram.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing an output terminal used in the above.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a usage example of the above.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the same system.

FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Sensor unit 11 Sensor 12 Control part 13 Output terminal 16 Input means 20 Wireless transmission unit 20 'Digital mobile telephone terminal 20 "PHS terminal 21 Input terminal 28 Self-maintenance base unit 44 Telephone

Continued on front page F term (reference) 2F073 AA01 AA22 AB02 AB11 AB12 BB01 BC02 CC01 CC11 DE12 GG01 GG04 5K048 BA21 DB01 DC01 DC07 EB10 HA04 5K101 KK12 LL01 LL11

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A sensor unit having an output terminal for generating an output corresponding to information detected by a sensor, and an input terminal detachably mounted on the sensor unit and electrically connected to the output terminal when mounted. And a wireless transmission unit for transmitting an output from the sensor unit using a wireless signal. 2. The wireless transmission unit is a digital mobile phone terminal, wherein the sensor unit has an input unit capable of inputting a telephone number, a memory storing a telephone number input using the input unit, 2. The wireless communication system according to claim 1, further comprising control means for calling a digital mobile phone terminal using a telephone number stored in the memory when a predetermined change occurs in information detected by the sensor. Type sensor device. 3. A PHS terminal in which the wireless transmission unit is used as a slave unit capable of making an extension call with a private base unit, wherein the sensor unit causes a predetermined change in information detected by the sensor. 2. The wireless sensor device according to claim 1, further comprising control means for causing the PHS terminal to call the parent device when the condition occurs. 4. The wireless sensor device according to claim 2, further comprising: a telephone having a calling number identification function, wherein the telephone number of the digital mobile phone terminal is registered as a calling number. Sensor system.