JP2006108927A - Equipment supervisory control system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an equipment supervisory control system being improved in convenience, in the equipment supervisory control system which supervises and controls equipment by using electronic mail. <P>SOLUTION: The equipment supervisory control system 1 is equipped with a conversion table in which operation states of equipment 2 and arbitrary character strings for reading and converting the operation states are registered while made to correspond to each other, a function for controlling the equipment to be controlled 2 into an operation state judged the operation state of equipment 2 made to correspond to a character string from the conversion table, when electronic mail wherein control information is described by the character string is received, and a function for describing supervision information by the character string corresponding to the operation state registered the operation state of the equipment to be supervised into the conversion table, when reply electronic mail containing the supervision information is sent in response to electronic mail requesting the supervision information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a device monitoring control device that monitors and controls a target device by electronic mail transmitted and received from a terminal device.

A remote monitoring control system that transmits monitoring information and control information using electronic mail when monitoring and controlling a device is conventionally provided as disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 1.
JP 2002-101473 A (paragraph numbers 0043 to 0046, FIG. 5)

  By the way, when monitoring control and control information are sent using conventional e-mail, since the mail protocol is used, it is sent in the form of describing the control contents and status in plain text, so there is a risk that the contents may be seen in open networks such as the Internet. There was.

  Moreover, electric locks and the like that are required to have security due to security problems have been removed from the target devices.

  Furthermore, since the arrival time of the e-mail cannot be guaranteed, there is a problem that the control request e-mail arrives at a deviated timing and the real-time control cannot be performed.

  In addition, in order to register the mail address of the user (sender) who can send the control request e-mail in the device monitoring control apparatus, the user must input the e-mail address to be registered from the Web screen of the personal computer connected on the network. It was common to do and the work was complicated.

  In other words, there is a problem that the convenience of performing the monitoring control of the device by using the electronic mail cannot be utilized.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a device monitoring control device that improves convenience in a device monitoring control device that performs device monitoring control using electronic mail. The purpose is to provide.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a monitoring / controlling mail server for managing transmission / reception of electronic mail in which monitoring information relating to the operating state of equipment and / or control information for controlling the operating state is described. In a device monitoring and control device having a processing unit that monitors and controls one or more devices by transmitting and receiving the e-mail via, the correspondence between the operation state of the device and an arbitrary character string that reads and converts the operation state A conversion table that is added and registered, and when the electronic mail in which the control information is described by the character string is received in the processing unit, the operation state of the device associated with the character string is obtained from the conversion table. The monitoring information is sent by response e-mail in response to the function to control the control target device in the determined operation state and the e-mail requesting the monitoring information. Characterized in that it includes a function that describes the monitoring information the operating status of the monitored device by the character string corresponding to the operation status registered in the conversion table at the time of.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the control information and the monitoring information described in the electronic mail transmitted / received to / from the mail terminal on the user side are described in an arbitrary character string previously associated with the operation state of the device. Character string that can secure security against eavesdropping of e-mail and is easy to understand and remember for the user compared to the description of commands, etc., because control information and monitoring information are described in any registered character string Can be used, and convenience is improved.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, a security device is provided as a device to be monitored / controlled, and when the processing unit receives an e-mail requesting monitoring information for the security device, the security device When the device is in a non-operating state, control for operating is executed, and the execution result of the operation control is returned by a response e-mail.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, when there is a request for monitoring information to the security device, the security can be improved by controlling the security device to operate if the security device is not in operation. The monitoring information sent by e-mail becomes information indicating the operating status of the security device. As a result, information indicating the non-operating status of the security device is not flowed on the network, and the safety of flowing information on the network is improved. In addition, even if the user forgets to operate the security device, it can be automatically activated when monitoring information is requested, which improves convenience.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the e-mail is transmitted / received via a monitoring / control mail server that manages the transmission / reception of an e-mail in which monitoring information relating to the operation state of the device and / or control information for controlling the operation state is described. In the device monitoring and control apparatus having a processing unit that monitors and controls one or more devices, the processing unit receives an incoming call allowable time setting table and a control request e-mail in which control information is described. And a function of performing control based on the control information only when the time difference between the mail transmission time and the mail arrival time indicated by the header information of the electronic mail is within the allowable incoming time specified in the allowable incoming time setting table. It is characterized by.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, it is possible to eliminate the control of the device by the e-mail of the control request received outside the allowable time from the outgoing time, and to prevent the control timing from being confused due to the uncertainty of the incoming time. Since time management is performed by the header information, there is no need for an information description for preventing control due to a delay in incoming time for the user, and convenience is improved.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the e-mail is transmitted / received via a monitoring / control mail server that manages transmission / reception of an e-mail in which monitoring information relating to an operation state of the device and / or control information for controlling the operation state is described. In the device monitoring control apparatus having a processing unit for monitoring and controlling one or a plurality of devices, the processing unit receives an e-mail in which the specified control start time is described as control information together with the control content. The function of storing the designated time and the control content and performing control based on the control content when the designated time comes is provided.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the device to be controlled can be operated at the specified time only by describing the specified time in the e-mail together with the control content from the user side, so that the schedule control is possible, and the specified time Even if mail arrival is delayed within a range that does not exceed, the device can be surely operated at the specified time, and it is easy for the user to write the specified time in the e-mail in addition to the control contents. , Improve convenience.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the e-mail is transmitted / received via a monitoring / control mail server that manages transmission / reception of an e-mail in which monitoring information relating to an operation state of the device and / or control information for controlling the operation state is described. In the device monitoring control apparatus having a processing unit for monitoring and controlling one or more devices, a dummy e-mail is issued and transmitted to the self-email address and the received dummy e-mail header is sent to the processing unit. It has a function of acquiring time information from information.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the time setting operation on the device monitoring control device side is not required, so that convenience is improved, and the cost of the device can be reduced because the timepiece IC or the like is unnecessary.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the e-mail is transmitted / received via a monitoring / control mail server that manages the transmission / reception of the e-mail describing the monitoring information relating to the operation state of the device and / or the control information for controlling the operation state. In the device monitoring control apparatus having a processing unit that monitors and controls one or a plurality of devices, the processing unit has a setting mode for storing and registering the transmission address of the received e-mail as the user's mail address as the operation mode. It is characterized by having.

  According to the invention of claim 6, under the setting mode, the user's e-mail address can be automatically registered by sending the e-mail from the user to the device, so that a personal computer or the like can be used. This eliminates the need for manual input, and as a result, the user's e-mail address registration process is facilitated, improving convenience.

  The present invention eliminates security, e-mail arrival delay, schedule control, e-mail delay arrival, time management, user e-mail address registration, etc., which were problems in device monitoring control using e-mail, It is possible to provide a device monitoring control device with improved convenience.

  The present invention will be described below with reference to an embodiment.

  FIG. 2 shows a system configuration diagram using the device monitoring control apparatus 1 (see FIG. 1) of the present invention. In the figure, the device monitoring control system A includes a plurality (or one) of devices 2, A device monitoring control device 1 that controls or monitors the operating state of the device 2, a monitoring / control mail server 3, and one or a plurality of (or one) terminal devices 4 that can send and receive electronic mail; The device monitoring control device 1 is configured to be able to communicate with the monitoring / control mail server 3 and the terminal device 4 via the router device 5 and the network 6.

  In order to monitor and control the operating state of the device 2, the terminal device 4 describes monitoring / control that describes monitoring information regarding the operating state of the device 2 and / or control information for controlling the operating state of the device 2. In order to send and receive electronic mail to and from the equipment monitoring and control device 1, a function to send and receive electronic mail for monitoring and control with the monitoring and control mail server 3 via the network 6, such as a mailer, etc. Mobile communication terminals such as mobile phones, PDAs, portable and desktop personal computers, etc. having the above functions by software and communication interfaces.

  The monitoring / control mail server 3 is a mail server that manages the transmission / reception of monitoring / control e-mails from the terminal device 4. In this embodiment, the communication protocol is POP3 (Post Office Protocol Ver.3). ), And a SMTP server that manages transmission of e-mail using SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) as a communication protocol.

  The network 6 uses a transmission path such as a telephone network, a digital communication network, and a wireless communication network, for example, and constitutes the Internet using an Internet protocol such as HTTP, FTP, SMTP, POP3, and TCP / IP as a communication protocol. To do.

  The router device 5 is a device that connects the network 6 and the device monitoring control device 1 so that they can communicate with each other, and routes a communication signal to a communication destination according to its destination based on a routing table.

  The device monitoring and control device 1 monitors and controls the device 2 by transmitting and receiving monitoring and control e-mails via the monitoring and control mail server 3, and as shown in FIG. , A storage unit 11, a communication interface unit (hereinafter referred to as a communication I / F unit) 12, and a device monitoring / control unit 13.

  The communication I / F unit 12 is an interface for communicating with the network 6. The communication I / F unit 12 generates a communication signal according to the communication protocol of the network 6 from the data from the processing unit 10, and transmits the communication signal from the network 6. The data is converted into a format that can be processed by the processing unit 10.

  The processing unit 10 includes, for example, a CPU and the like. The processing unit 10 includes a mail processing function unit 10a that performs processing of monitoring / control emails transmitted / received via the communication I / F unit 12 and the network 6, and monitoring / control emails. And a monitoring / control processing function unit 10b for monitoring and controlling the device 2 based on it, and controlling the storage unit 11, the communication I / F unit 12 and the device monitoring / control unit 13 by a program according to each function. It has a function.

  The device monitoring / control unit 13 controls the operation state of the device 2 connected to the connection port based on the output from the monitoring / control processing function unit 10 b of the processing unit 10, and the operation state of each device 2. It has a function of checking and outputting it to the monitoring / control processing function unit 10b. For example, the operation state of the device 2 connected to each switch means (not shown) such as a relay contact of a relay is turned on / off. While controlling by control, the operation state of each apparatus 2 connected to the switch means is monitored by referring to the state of the switch means.

  Of course, it is also possible to control and monitor the operation state of the device by transmitting and receiving communication signals to and from a device connected to a communication interface using a communication system such as power line carrier communication or Ethernet (registered trademark).

  The equipment 2 to be monitored and controlled here includes, for example, office environments such as lighting equipment and air conditioning equipment, devices that adjust the dwelling environment, surveillance cameras, intercoms, housing information panels, dwelling equipment such as electric locks, security sensors, fire It consists of sensors such as sensors, metering devices such as wattmeters and gas meters, home appliances, information processing devices such as computers, communication devices such as telephones, various medical devices such as pulse meters, and notification devices for making emergency calls.

  The storage unit 11 provided in the device monitoring control device 1 includes a user name / password storage unit 11a, a conversion table storage unit 11b, a user information storage unit 11c, an outgoing mail storage unit 11d, a monitoring / control target storage unit 11e, and the device. A storage unit (not shown) for storing a program for operating the monitoring control device 1, a storage unit (not shown) for temporarily storing data during program execution and data after each program execution, A volatile memory such as RAM is used as a storage unit for temporary storage, and a non-volatile memory such as a ROM or a rewritable EEPROM is used as a storage unit for storing an unmodified program. In the storage unit that needs to be rewritten and the data needs to be saved Using the rewritable nonvolatile memory such as EPROM.

  The user name / password storage unit 11 a is a storage unit that stores a user name and a password necessary for the device monitoring control device 1 to log in to the monitoring / control mail server 3.

  The conversion table storage unit 11b includes an operation state of the device to be monitored / controlled, and any one or more character strings (character strings including various symbols and numbers that can be described by an e-mail) for rereading and converting the operation state. It is a memory | storage part which stores the conversion table which matched.

  The user information storage unit 11c uses the terminal device 4 to send a character string to the mail address of the user permitted to control the device and monitor the device by the monitoring / control e-mail with the device monitoring control device 1 and the conversion table. Is a storage unit that stores a user list in which a password for logging in to a Web page (to be described later) is registered for each mail address of each user.

  The transmitted mail storage unit 11d is a storage unit that temporarily stores an electronic mail that the device monitoring control device 1 transmits to the monitoring / control mail server 3.

  The monitoring / control target storage unit 11e is connected to the name of a connected device (for example, a character string such as “lighting” for a lighting fixture or “air conditioner” for an air conditioning device) and a device / monitor that connects the device. It is a memory | storage part which memorize | stores the relationship with the connection port number of a control part.

  The user can freely register a character string for conversion conversion (consisting of one character or a plurality of characters composed of characters, numbers, and symbols that can be used for the description of the e-mail) stored in the conversion table storage unit 11b. For example, the processing unit of the device monitoring control device 1 by a Web browser of a network terminal device such as a personal computer connected to a LAN provided in the network 6 or the place where the device monitoring control device 1 is installed. 10 is accessed to call a registration page, and a character string is registered / changed through the registration page. In this case, first, before logging in to the registration page, the user is required to input a password as an ID on the top page, and the processing unit 10 of the device monitoring control device 1 determines whether or not the input password is registered. If you are registered, you can log in to the registration page. Although a password is used as an ID, an e-mail address may be used together.

  In the registration page, the operation status of the device 2 to be monitored and controlled by the device monitoring control device 1 and the input window for the corresponding conversion conversion character string are displayed. The user remembers the input window in the input window. Any character string that can be easily entered can be entered and registered. Here, with respect to the same operation state, a character string that can be easily remembered by each user can be registered in association with the operation state, thereby improving convenience. Therefore, the conversion table storage unit In 11b, a conversion table is stored for each mail address of each user.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of the conversion table. In this example, for example, one kanji character “Umi” is registered as a character string for transliteration conversion corresponding to the ON state of the device. In addition, one kanji character “yama” is registered as a character string for transliteration conversion corresponding to the off state.

  Of course, if there is an operation state other than ON / OFF as an operation state that can be handled, an arbitrary character string can be registered in the operation state.

  Next, the operation of the device monitoring control apparatus 1 of the present embodiment will be described based on the flowchart shown in FIG.

  First, when the operation starts in step S1 of FIG. 5, the mail processing function unit 10a of the device monitoring control apparatus 1 performs initialization such as clearing the transmitted mail storage unit 11d (step S2). After this initialization, the mail processing function unit 10a accesses the monitoring / control mail server 3, and uses the user name and password stored in the user name / password storage unit 11a to send the mail in the device monitoring control device 1 The box authentication is requested from the monitoring / control mail server 3 (step S3).

  Here, if the authentication in the monitoring / control mail server 3 fails (No), it enters a standby state until the next execution time (step S4), but if the authentication is successful (Yes), the device monitoring control device 1 performs monitoring / control. The mail processing function unit 10a obtains the number of e-mails received from the monitoring / control mail server 3 by transmitting, for example, a “STAT” command of the POP3. In step S5), it is checked whether or not the number of received e-mails is 0 (step S6). If the number is not 0 (No), it is received by the “RETE” command of POP3. The specified e-mail is specified and acquired including the header information (step S7). Then, the mail processing function unit 10a checks the header information of the acquired electronic mail (Step S7). Since the sender's mail address is described in the From field of this header information, it is checked whether or not this mail address is appropriate (step S8), and the user whose mail address is registered in the user information storage unit 11c is checked. If it is not in the list, it is judged as inappropriate, and if it is registered in the user list, it is judged as an email for monitoring / control from a proper authorized user. This check is performed by collating character strings.

  As a result of the check, if it is determined that the e-mail is not an e-mail for monitoring / control from a legitimate user, that is, it is determined that the e-mail is inappropriate, the e-mail processing function unit 10a designates the e-mail, A “DELE” command is transmitted to the server 3, and the received mail is deleted from the monitoring / control mail server 3 (step S9).

  On the other hand, when it is determined that the e-mail for monitoring / control is from a legitimate user, that is, when it is appropriate, the mail processing function unit 10a determines whether the format of the body of the e-mail is described in a predetermined format. Is checked in step S10.

  If it is determined by this check that the text is described in an appropriate format, the necessary information of the header information and the text string of the text are read.

  Here, the monitoring / control e-mail transmitted / received between the user terminal device 4 and the device monitoring control device 1 via the monitoring / control mail server 3 is transmitted from the user side to the device monitoring control device 1. In the monitoring / control email, the control request mail M1 describing the control information for requesting the control of the operation state of the device shown in FIG. 4A and the operation state of the device 2 as shown in FIG. There is a control request mail M2 for requesting monitoring information for confirmation, and the monitoring / control e-mail transmitted from the device monitoring control apparatus 1 to the user side shows the current operation state as shown in FIG. There is a control result mail M3 in which monitoring information indicating the above is described and a response electronic mail (hereinafter referred to as a response mail).

  Here, the header information H of each mail M1 to M4 includes the mail address of the sender, the date and time of passage at the mail passage point, the date and time of reception at the final mail server, the mail address of the destination, the mail transmission date and time, The subject of the email is described. And in the text of the control request and control result, it is described in the format (character string of target device name: replacement conversion character string). This series of descriptions is performed with a line feed for each target device name. In the body of the monitoring request, it is described in the format (character string of target device name: character string for replacement conversion). This description is also made in a new line for each target device name.

  Thus, in the mail processing function unit 10a, when the description of the text is not described in an appropriate format, the process proceeds to step S9 in order to delete the electronic mail, and is described in the appropriate format. In this case, monitoring / control corresponding to the subject is executed (step S11).

  Here, first, the mail processing function unit 10a reads the character string indicating the subject content from the Subject field of the header information and reads the character string in the text, and notifies the monitoring / control processing function unit 10b of the read character string. To do. The monitoring / control processing function unit 10b determines whether the request is a control request or a monitoring request from the character string of the subject. If it is determined from the character string of the subject that the case is the control request mail M1 shown in FIG. 4A, the device 2 is connected after determining the device 2 from the character string of the target device name in the text. The connection port number of the device monitoring / control unit 13 is read from the storage table of the monitoring / control target storage unit 11e, and the operation state corresponding to the character string for the replacement conversion is stored in the conversion table storage unit 11b. Read from the table. The read control port data of the device 2 to be controlled and the control data including the controlled operation state are output to the device monitoring / control unit 13, and the device monitoring / control unit 13 controls the device 2 based on the control data. Control to the operating state according to the request.

  At the same time, the device monitoring / control unit 13 indicates a control result and outputs monitoring data to the monitoring / control processing function unit 10b. The monitoring / control processing function unit 10b determines the operation state of the device 2 to be controlled from the contents of the monitoring data, and then reads the replacement conversion character string corresponding to the operation state from the conversion table storage unit 11b. The replacement conversion character string and the device name character string are described in the text in the above-mentioned format (target device name character string: replacement conversion character string), and the sender's name described in the control request mail M1 A control result mail M3 (see FIG. 4C) addressed to the mail address is created and stored in the transmitted mail storage unit 11c.

  The above monitoring / control operation was performed when the received mail from the authorized user is the control request mail M1, but when the subject is the monitoring request mail M2 shown in FIG. 4B, the mail processing of the processing unit 10 is performed. When the monitoring / control processing function unit 11b receives the character string of the subject name and the target device name from the function unit 10a and determines that the monitoring request mail M2 is based on the character string of the subject name, the monitoring target described in the text is next. After determining the device 2 from the device name character string, the connection port number of the device monitoring / control unit 13 to which the device 2 is connected is read from the storage table of the monitoring / control target storage unit 11e. Then, the monitoring request data including the connection port number and the monitoring request of the read target device is output to the device monitoring / control unit 13. The device monitoring / control unit 13 takes in the current operation state of the device 2 based on the monitoring request control data and outputs it as monitoring data to the monitoring / control processing function unit 10b. The monitoring / control processing function unit 10b determines the operation state of the monitoring target device 2 from the contents of the monitoring data, reads the replacement conversion character string corresponding to the operation state from the conversion table storage unit 11b, and reads the read replacement The conversion character string and the character string indicating the device name are described in the text in the format (character string of target device name: replacement conversion character string) in the same manner as the control result mail M3 described above, and the monitoring request mail M2 A response mail having the described sender's mail address as the destination is created and stored in the outgoing mail storage unit 11c. The response mail is an electronic mail in the same format as the control result mail M3 except that the subject is different from the control result mail.

  When the execution of monitoring / control corresponding to one received e-mail is thus completed, the mail processing function unit 10a checks whether or not there is an unchecked e-mail (step S12), and the unchecked e-mail is checked. If there is an e-mail, the process returns to step S8 and the above-described processing is repeated. If there is no unchecked e-mail, the e-mail receiving process is terminated (step S13). After the reception is completed, the mail processing function unit 10a performs a process of transmitting the control result mail M3 and the response mail stored in the transmission mail storage unit 11c to the monitoring / control mail server 3 (step S14). After the end, the apparatus enters a state of waiting for a predetermined time until the next mail reception processing operation (step S4).

  In this way, the device monitoring control apparatus 1 repeats the mail receiving process and the monitoring / control execution based on the received monitoring / control e-mail.

  Now, as described above, the user who has transmitted the control request mail M1 and the monitoring request mail M2 to the device monitoring control apparatus 1 can receive the control result mail M3 and the response mail through the terminal device 4, and thereby the control request target object can be received. The control result of the device 2 and the current operation state of the device 2 to be monitored can be confirmed from the device name in the text and the operation state indicated by the replacement conversion character string.

  If there are a plurality of devices of the same type as the connected device 2, for example, a number corresponding to the connection port number is attached to each device, and the device name is identified by describing, for example, “lighting 1”. You may make it do.

  As described above, in response to the monitoring request mail M2, the device monitoring control apparatus 1 sends a response mail indicating the operation state of the device 2 to be monitored as a replacement conversion character string to the user side. Even if an e-mail is stolen by a character other than the user, the actual operating state is not known. For example, an electric lock that is one of the security devices is connected as the device 2 When requesting monitoring information of the operating status of the electric lock, a response mail indicating the unlocked (non-operating) status of the electric lock may be sent. In this case, the content indicated by the replacement conversion character string from the device name There is a risk of analogy.

  Therefore, when the monitored device 2 is an electric lock, the monitoring / control processing function unit 10b has the following function.

  That is, when the received electronic mail is the monitoring request mail M2 and the monitored device name is “electric lock”, the monitoring / control processing function unit 10b responds to the monitoring request in step S11 of monitoring / control. The state of the electric lock is determined from the monitoring data received from the unit 13 as shown in FIG. 6 (step S113), and if it is locked (operating state), for example, a character string (for example, “sea”) corresponding to the locked state is converted. Read from the table storage unit 11b, and based on this read-out, create a response e-mail with the text “Electric lock: Sea” (step S112). If the unlocked (non-operating) state, device monitoring / locking Control data for instructing the locking (operation control) process to the unit 13 is output (step S113), and the electric lock is locked (operated) and the monitoring data indicating the result of the locking (operation) is displayed. Is read from the conversion table storage unit 11b indicating that the text of the response mail has changed from the unlocked state to the locked state from the conversion table storage unit 11b. A process of creating a response mail described in the text as “electric lock: sea A” is performed (step S114).

  This makes it possible for users to know that they have been locked even if they have forgotten to lock, and emails indicating the unlocked state do not flow on the network, and security is particularly required for crime prevention. Safety against leakage of state information regarding the electric lock can be ensured. Furthermore, even if there is forgetting to lock, it is automatically locked by the monitoring request, so the convenience can be improved.

  The above-mentioned monitoring request processing for an electric lock is forgotten to forget to lock an electric lock even if it is applied to a device monitoring control device that sends the operation status in a direct statement such as "locked state" or "locking process executed" By automatically locking, not only the information of “unlocking” flows on the network but also the safety against information leakage on the network can be improved.

  Needless to say, the security and convenience can be improved by performing similar monitoring and control in the case of security devices other than electric locks.

  By the way, in general, an incoming e-mail may be delayed, and for example, the time from when the user sends the control request mail M1 to when the device monitoring control device 1 receives the control request mail M1 becomes longer. In some cases, the execution based on the previous control request may be meaningless due to a change in the situation.

  Therefore, the following incoming call delay countermeasure function may be provided. That is, when checking whether the header information is appropriate in step S8 in FIG. 5, the mail processing function unit 10 acquires the mail arrival time in the Received field as shown in FIG. 7 (step S81) and at the same time, the Date field of the header information Is acquired (step S82). Then, the time difference between the two times is calculated in step S83, and the calculated time difference is compared with the preset allowable incoming time. If it exceeds the limit, a determination process is performed to determine that it is inappropriate, and the monitoring / control e-mail that has received an incoming delay is invalidated, so that the countermeasure against the incoming delay is aimed at.

  Although the execution of the control described above is executed immediately upon receipt of the control request mail M1, the device name and the time of the operation state (read conversion character) are shown in the text as shown in FIG. A function that enables schedule control by the described schedule request mail M4 may be added.

  That is, when the monitoring / control processing function unit 10b receives the character string of the monitoring / control email whose subject is the schedule request mail from the mail processing function unit 10a, the monitoring / control processing function unit 10b controls the text without executing monitoring / control after the appropriateness check. A process of storing the data of the target device name, the operation state to be controlled, and the control time in a control data storage unit (not shown) added to the storage unit 11 is performed. When the current time indicated by the built-in clock IC (not shown) coincides with the stored control time, the monitoring / control processing function unit 10 controls the control target device name and the control data based on the operation state to be controlled. Is output to the device monitoring / control unit 13 to instruct control of the corresponding device 2. This control result is sent to the user by the control result mail M3 as in the case described above.

   Since schedule control is possible in this way, it is not necessary to consider some delays in incoming e-mails, and device control can be performed at a time desired by the user, further improving convenience.

  Of course, the configuration relating to the current time management using the schedule request mail M4 can also be applied to the device monitoring control apparatus 1 in the case where the above-described character string for conversion conversion is not used.

  By the way, in order to obtain the current time for schedule control, a clock IC may be used as described above. However, as shown in FIG. 8, a dummy e-mail addressed to its own address periodically is sent to the mail processing function unit 10a. A function for sending (empty mail) to the SMTP server is provided, and when this blank mail is received from the monitoring / control mail server 3 in the received mail polling process to the POP3 mail server, it is monitored through the mail processing function unit 10a. The monitoring / control processing function unit 10 may acquire the information on the mail arrival time described in the Received field of the header information by the control mail server 3, and this acquisition time may be set as the current time. In this case, the current time can be managed without a clock IC by correcting the current time by periodically sending / receiving empty mails. During the correction process, the time management is performed by the timer process to interpolate the passage of time between the correction processes.

  As described above, the current time management is performed using the incoming time information of the empty mail, so that the clock IC is not required, and the cost of the device monitoring control device 1 can be reduced. Of course, the configuration relating to the current time management using the empty mail can be applied to the device monitoring control apparatus 1 which does not use the above-described replacement conversion character string.

  By the way, as a method for registering the user's mail address in the user information storage unit 11c, a method is adopted in which a personal computer or the like is connected to the device monitoring control device 1 using the network 6 or the like and is manually input from a Web screen or the like. However, in the present embodiment, the function of the device monitoring control apparatus 1 is set to a setting mode for setting the user's mail address in addition to the operation mode for monitoring and control described above. That is, in this setting mode, the user sends a blank mail to the device monitoring control device 1 using the terminal device 4, and the monitoring / control mail in the reception processing by the mail processing function unit 10 a of the device monitoring control device 1. A process is performed for extracting the sender mail address of the received mail consisting of the empty mail acquired from the server 3 and registering the acquired mail address in the user list of the user information storage unit 11c. As a result, it is possible to improve the convenience by eliminating the need for manual input one by one.

 It goes without saying that this e-mail address registration method can also be applied to the device monitoring control apparatus 1 that does not use the above-described replacement conversion character string.

It is a block diagram of the apparatus monitoring control apparatus of one Embodiment. 1 is a system configuration diagram using a device monitoring control apparatus according to an embodiment. It is a description example figure of the conversion table used for one Embodiment. It is an example figure of the electronic mail for monitoring and control used for one Embodiment. It is a flowchart for operation | movement description of one Embodiment. It is a flowchart for process operation | movement description with respect to the electric lock of one Embodiment. It is a flowchart for explaining the processing operation for incoming delay of one embodiment. It is a processing operation explanation transition diagram of current time management of one embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

1 device monitoring control device 2 device 5 router device 10 processing unit 10a mail processing function unit 10b monitoring / control processing function unit 11 storage unit 11a user name / password storage unit 11b conversion table storage unit 11c user information storage unit 11d outgoing mail storage unit 11e Monitoring / control target storage unit 12 Communication I / F unit 13 Equipment monitoring / control unit

Claims (6)

One or a plurality of devices by transmitting / receiving the e-mail via a monitoring / control mail server that manages the transmission / reception of the e-mail describing the monitoring information relating to the operating state of the device and / or the control information for controlling the operating state In a device monitoring control apparatus having a processing unit for monitoring and controlling
A conversion table in which the operation state of the device and an arbitrary character string to read and convert the operation state are associated and registered, and the processing unit receives an e-mail in which control information is described by the character string A function that controls the device to be controlled to the operation state determined from the conversion table when the operation state of the device associated with the character string is determined, and monitoring information corresponding to an e-mail requesting the monitoring information. And a function of describing the monitoring information by a character string corresponding to the operation state registered in the conversion table when the device is transmitted by response e-mail. Equipment monitoring and control device. A security device is provided as a device to be monitored and controlled, and when the processing unit receives an e-mail requesting monitoring information for the security device, it executes control to operate if the security device is not in operation. The apparatus monitoring control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an operation control execution result is returned by a response e-mail. One or a plurality of devices by transmitting / receiving the e-mail via a monitoring / control mail server that manages the transmission / reception of the e-mail describing the monitoring information relating to the operating state of the device and / or the control information for controlling the operating state In a device monitoring control apparatus having a processing unit for monitoring and controlling
In the processing unit, when a control request e-mail in which control information is described is received, a time difference between a mail transmission time and a mail reception time indicated by the header information of the e-mail is received in the processing unit. A device monitoring control device comprising a function of performing control based on control information only when it is within the allowable incoming time specified in the time setting table. One or more by sending / receiving the e-mail via a monitoring / control mail server that manages sending / receiving of e-mail in which monitoring information related to the operating state of the device and / or control information for controlling the operating state is described In a device monitoring control apparatus having a processing unit for monitoring and controlling a device,
The processing unit stores the specified time and the control content when receiving an e-mail in which the control start specified time is described as control information together with the control content, and based on the control content when the specified time comes A device monitoring control device having a function of performing control. One or more devices by transmitting / receiving the e-mail via a monitoring / control mail server that manages the transmission / reception of the e-mail describing the monitoring information relating to the operating state of the device and / or the control information for controlling the operating state In a device monitoring control apparatus having a processing unit for monitoring and controlling
The apparatus monitoring and control apparatus, wherein the processing unit has a function of issuing and transmitting a dummy e-mail addressed to a self-email address and acquiring time information from header information of the received dummy e-mail. One or more devices by transmitting / receiving the e-mail via a monitoring / control mail server that manages the transmission / reception of the e-mail describing the monitoring information relating to the operating state of the device and / or the control information for controlling the operating state In a device monitoring control apparatus having a processing unit for monitoring and controlling
The apparatus monitoring control apparatus, wherein the processing unit includes a setting mode for storing and registering a transmission address of a received electronic mail as a user mail address as an operation mode.

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