JP2001313987A - Remote monitoring and controlling system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a remote monitoring and controlling system easy in operation at a low cost by using the Internet. SOLUTION: The system is composed of a plurality of apparatuses, a control part to perform monitoring and control, an integrated control part to monitor and control the apparatuses individually through the control part, a server having a function for mediating the connection of the integrated control part to the Internet and a homepage, and a general-purpose terminal capable of accessing the homepage through the Internet.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a remote monitoring control system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recent homes are equipped with a large number of household appliances, disaster prevention and crime prevention equipment, equipment necessary for daily life, and the like, and bring comfort and convenience to life. These products, equipment, and facilities can be freely operated by performing necessary operations when needed while at home,
Alternatively, the operating state can be easily monitored, the function can be fully exhibited, and an abnormal situation can be immediately dealt with. These products, equipment, and facilities include, for example, video tape recorders (VTRs), air conditioners, crime prevention and disaster prevention detectors, bathing facilities, and the like. If it can be done, there are many things that are more convenient. For example, according to the above example, if it is possible to record on a VTR from whereabouts, there is no need to lose the opportunity to record even if you are not at home,
It would be advantageous if the air conditioner and bathing facilities could be turned on in advance according to the scheduled return time. Furthermore, in the case of a crime prevention / prevention detector, it is more important to monitor while away from home than when staying at home. If you can take full advantage of the crime prevention and disaster prevention function. For this reason, a remote monitoring control system using a telephone has already been put to practical use.

[0003]

However, the remote monitoring and control system using the telephone uses an acoustic coupler for converting the signal into voice because the telephone intended for the telephone call is used as a signal transmitting means. Or
Special circuits for monitoring and controlling equipment are required, and expensive equipment is required on the transmitting and receiving sides, which makes remote monitoring and control systems expensive. And it was difficult to introduce it in the home. In addition, the operation was different for each individual system because it was a dedicated device, making it difficult to use.

By the way, the remote monitoring and control system performs operation control commands and status monitoring of devices and the like via communication from a place away from the installation location of the devices and the like. Significant development has been achieved mainly on the Internet and mobile phones. As a result, the spread of the Internet, mobile phones, and the like has become remarkable due to the low price of facilities and equipment brought by the technological innovation and the convenience thereof. Therefore,
The terminal devices and the like used for these devices are general-purpose terminals including personal computers and the like, and as described above, the price of these general-purpose terminals has been reduced. This reduction in price extends not only to hardware such as mobile phones and personal computers, but also to software. Internet browsers and e-mail software are preinstalled on general-purpose terminals such as mobile phones and personal computers. In addition to being attached to an OS and being available at a low price, low-cost servers using a freeware Linux OS have also appeared. Also, the operation procedure of a general-purpose terminal using these hardware and software has been almost standardized, and anyone can easily operate the terminal. Therefore, realization of a remote monitoring and control system using a low-cost and easy-to-operate general-purpose terminal composed of these hardware and software, that is, a remote monitoring and control system using the Internet has been desired. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to address this need, and has as its object to provide a low-cost, easy-to-operate remote monitoring control system using the Internet.

[0005]

Specifically, the system of the present invention is as follows. That is, by transmitting and receiving information between a plurality of devices, a control unit for controlling and / or monitoring the status of the devices, and the control unit, individually controlling and / or monitoring the status of the devices via the control unit An integrated control unit, and a server machine having a homepage and a function for mediating a connection to the Internet for the integrated control unit, and are constructed on a storage medium of the server machine, In addition, the content of the home page displaying information on the state of the device obtained via the integrated control unit is browsed by accessing the server machine from a general-purpose terminal via the Internet, and based on the browse, An operation command to the device transmitted from the general-purpose terminal is transmitted to the server via the Internet, and is updated from the server. Remote monitoring control having a function of notifying the information about the state of the device obtained through the integrated control unit and being transmitted to the integrated control unit to the general-purpose terminal by the server device by e-mail. System.

The remote monitoring and control system of the present invention performs remote monitoring and control using the Internet. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of this system.
In FIG. 1, 1 is a device, 2 is a control unit, 3 is an integrated control unit, 4 is a server machine, 5 is the Internet, and 6 is a general-purpose terminal.

Next, the functions of these components will be described. The device 1 is a target of remote monitoring control, for example, an air conditioner or a VT installed in a home.
R means a bath water heater or a fire detector as a bathing facility. The control unit 2 is provided for each device 1 described above, controls the device 1, and monitors the state thereof. However, when the device 1 is detectors such as a fire detector, the control function is not required, and the output of the device 1 itself becomes the monitoring information, so that the control unit 2 can be omitted. Integrated control unit 3
Transmits a control command for the device 1 to the control unit 2 and
The monitoring information indicating the state of the device 1 is received. Server machine 4
Performs posting of a homepage and transmission / reception of e-mail via the Internet 5, and requires a WWW server, a mail server, and a domain name system (DN).
S) It has a function such as a server. Internet 5
Has a network function in which a plurality of computers are connected as hosts. The general-purpose terminal 6 is composed of general-purpose terminal devices, has a function of browsing home pages via the Internet 5 and transmitting and receiving e-mails, and is software necessary for accessing the WWW server. It has a browser and e-mail software. The general-purpose terminal 6 includes, for example, a personal computer, a handy terminal, and a mobile phone.

Next, the operation of the remote monitoring control system of the present invention will be described. For example, devices 1 such as an air conditioner and a VTR installed in the home, a bathroom water heater as a bathing facility, and a fire detector are provided with the control unit 2 corresponding to each device 1 as described above. The control unit 2 monitors the state of the corresponding device 1. The monitoring information transmitted by the control unit 2 is received by the integrated control unit 3, and the received monitoring information is further taken into the server machine 4, and the homepage of the WWW server of the server machine 4 (hereinafter referred to as monitoring control information) Website).

On the other hand, general-purpose terminals 6 such as personal computers and mobile phones
As described above, the W connected to the Internet 5
A browser for using the WWW server is mounted, and the browser can access the WWW server of the server device 4 via the Internet 5 to browse the monitoring control information homepage. As a result of browsing this homepage, if it is determined that an operation command to the specific device 1 is necessary, the operation command is input to the monitoring control information homepage displayed on the general-purpose terminal 6 so that the operation command is input. Is transmitted to the WWW server of the server machine 4 via the Internet 5, and further transmitted to the integrated control unit 3. Then, the integrated control unit 3 transmits the specified operation command to the control unit 2 corresponding to the specific device 1, and as a result, the control unit 2 specifies the specific device 1. Operate based on operation commands. For example, the power of the air conditioner is turned on.

If the device 1 is a security detector such as a fire detector, if the monitoring information indicates the occurrence of an emergency such as a fire, the monitoring information is naturally stored on the monitoring control information homepage of the WWW server of the server device 4. Will be posted. However, since waiting for access from the general-purpose terminal 6 to the server machine 4 for which time is unknown, the timely posting of monitoring information and the execution of emergency measures may not be in time depending on the timing of browsing. And cannot respond to emergencies. Therefore, in this case, when the monitoring information indicating such an emergency is transmitted and received by the integrated control unit 3, the emergency mail is sent to the pre-registered general-purpose terminal 6 by the mail server function of the server machine 4. Send an e-mail to report the situation. Therefore, even in the event of an emergency, prompt response is possible.

As described above, the server 4 used in the remote monitoring control system of the present invention has a function necessary for posting a home page and transmitting / receiving electronic mail via the Internet 5. Therefore, various server functions such as a WWW server, a mail server, and a domain name system (DNS) server which are generally required are provided. Hardware and software necessary for the configuration of these various server functions have been reduced in price due to the remarkable spread of the Internet. Also, the price of the general-purpose terminal 6 used for browsing the monitoring control information homepage and receiving e-mails for reporting emergency situations has been reduced in price than the various servers described above. Handy terminals, mobile phones, etc. can be used. The operation procedures of these general-purpose terminals are almost standardized, and anyone can easily operate them. Therefore, according to the remote monitoring control system of the present invention, a remote monitoring control system that is inexpensive and easy to operate can be realized.

In the remote monitoring control system of the present invention described above, the general-purpose terminal 6 may be any personal computer, a handy terminal, a mobile phone, etc. as long as it can be connected to the Internet 5. However, it is recommended that the general-purpose terminal 6 be a mobile phone. This is because it is the most convenient to carry among the above-mentioned general-purpose terminals, and the monitoring and control can be performed regardless of the place and time.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The remote monitoring and control system of the present invention performs remote monitoring and control using the Internet. In the present embodiment, a home server is installed in a home, and similarly, a controlled device installed in the home is controlled. Perform monitoring control. Air conditioners, VTRs,
Using a fire sensor and a bathroom water heater, specific monitoring and control contents include powering on / off the air conditioner and bathroom water heater.
It controls off and monitors the state, controls the start / stop of recording of the VTR and monitors the state, and monitors the state of the fire sensor. In this embodiment, this monitoring and control is performed from a mobile phone or a personal computer at a location away from home through the Internet.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the remote monitoring control system of the present embodiment. In FIG. 2, home 1
In 0, a home server 11, a controlled device, and a control unit for monitoring and controlling the controlled device are installed integrally with the controlled device. An Internet 31 is provided outside the home 10. The Internet 31 includes a home server 11 installed in the home 10.
In addition, a mobile phone 41 and a personal computer 42 used at a location away from the home 10 are connected. The mobile phone 41 and the personal computer 42 are provided with a browser, which is software for browsing a homepage, and e-mail software for transmitting and receiving e-mail.

The controlled devices installed in the home 10 include an air conditioner 21a, a VTR 22a, a fire sensor 23, and a bathroom water heater 24a. The controlled devices are used for monitoring and controlling the controlled devices. An air conditioner power on / off control unit 21b for performing power on / off control of the air conditioner 21a and a VTR recording start / stop control unit 2 for performing recording start / stop control of the VTR 22a are provided integrally with the control unit.
2b, and a bathroom water heater power on / off control unit 24b for performing power on / off control of the bathroom water heater 24a. The fire sensor 23 is merely a detector, and does not require a control function.
In addition, since the output of the fire sensor 23 itself becomes the monitoring information, the fire sensor 23 is not provided with a dedicated control unit.

The hardware of the home server 11 is a CP
U13 and the memory 12 connected to the CPU 13
, An I / O control unit 14, a keyboard 15, a display 16, a two-wire I / O bus control unit 17, and a router 18 connected to the I / O control unit 14. Are housed in two housings. The router 18 is used for mediating the connection between the home server 11 and the Internet 31. Further, the memory 12 has software necessary for the home server 11 to realize the Internet connection function and the monitoring control function of the controlled device. FIG. 3 shows the configuration of this software.

A two-wire I provided in the home server 11
The / O bus control unit 17 is connected to a two-wire bus line, and controls the air conditioner power on / off control unit 21b, VTR power on / off control unit 22b, fire sensor 23, and bathroom water heater power on / off control. The off control unit 24b uses this bus line to
It is connected in the longline type. The two-wire I / O bus control unit 17 receives the monitoring information of the controlled device transmitted from each of the above-described control units, and receives the monitoring information via the I / O control unit 14.
It has a function of transmitting to the PU 13. Further, it has a function of transmitting a control command of the controlled device transmitted from the CPU 13 via the I / O control unit 14 to the control unit of the controlled device.

The control unit of the controlled equipment in the home and the fire sensor 23 using the longline connection described above are connected to the two-wire I / O.
The connection control method with the O bus control unit 17 is referred to as two-wire I / O bus control. In this connection control method, a bus line composed of two lines, a signal line and a ground line, is used as a half-duplex transmission line, and this bus line extending from the two-wire I / O bus control unit 17 is used. The control unit of each controlled device is connected to this bus line, branching from the middle. That is, the control unit of each controlled device is configured to hang from the bus line. Also,
In this connection control method, the initiative of transmission control is controlled by a two-wire I / O
The O-bus control unit 17 holds the downlink transmission period from the two-wire I / O bus control unit 17 to the control unit of the controlled device, and the two-wire I / O bus control unit from the control unit of the controlled device. 17 is provided alternately with the upstream transmission period. At the time of the downlink transmission and the uplink transmission, the transmission destination of the downlink transmission and the transmission source of the uplink transmission are determined by the two-wire I / O bus control unit 17 and the control of the transmission destination or the controlled device of the transmission source is performed. By sequentially switching the units and performing downlink transmission or uplink transmission, communication with the control units of all controlled devices can be performed. Specifically, for example, a master device IC for Dallas Semiconductor's MicroLAN is connected to a two-wire I / O
The slave device IC for MicroLAN is used as the bus control unit 17 and the control unit of the controlled device. The input of the slave device IC is used for the input of the status display signal of the controlled device, the output of the slave device IC is used for the output of the control signal of the controlled device, and the master device IC is connected to the RS232C adapter for MicroLAN. Via the RS232C provided in the I / O control unit 14
This can be achieved by connecting to an interface. In this case, the capacitor built in the slave device IC is periodically charged from the master device IC so that the power supply of the slave device IC is
It is also possible to supply from C. That is, the power of the control unit of the controlled device can be supplied from the two-wire I / O bus control unit 17.

In the above-mentioned longline connection, since only two communication lines, ie, a signal line and a ground line, are used, the number of wiring lines is reduced, and there is an advantage that wiring in a home can be performed very easily. . In addition, adopting a system in which the power supply of the control unit of the controlled device is supplied from the two-wire I / O bus control unit 17 also has an advantage that the power supply of the control unit of the controlled device can be saved.

Next, the software of the home server 11 will be described. As described above, the memory 12 has software for realizing functions necessary for the home server 11. FIG. 3 shows the configuration of this software, which is composed of an OS 51, DNS
Server program 52, WWW server program 53,
It is composed of a mail server program 54 and a device monitoring control program 55. The OS 51 is an operating system of the home server 11 and uses freeware Linux and the like. The DNS server program 52 is software for using a domain name system (DNS), which is an Internet communication destination address system. WWW server program 53
Is software for setting up a homepage on the Internet. The mail server program 54 is software for using electronic mail. The device monitoring control program 55 is software for monitoring and controlling the controlled devices, that is, the air conditioner 21a, the VTR 22a, the fire sensor 23, and the bathroom water heater 24a. The functions required as the home server 11 are realized by the CPU 13 performing processing based on these pieces of software.

Next, the operation of the remote monitoring control system of the present embodiment will be described. As described above, the home server 11
The control unit of the controlled device is connected to the two-wire I / O bus control unit 17 provided therein in a long-line manner. The two-wire I / O bus control unit 17 The monitoring information of the controlled device transmitted from the control unit is received and transmitted to the CPU 13 via the I / O control unit 14. On the CPU 13, the various software described above is operating, and among them, the monitoring information received by the two-wire I / O bus control unit 17 by the device monitoring control program 55 is displayed on the display 16. And stored in the memory 12. Then, the WWW server formed by the WWW server program 53 takes in the monitoring information and
This monitoring information is posted on a homepage of the WW server (hereinafter, referred to as home monitoring control information homepage). On the other hand, the personal computer 42 and the mobile phone 41 are equipped with a browser for using the WWW server connected to the Internet 31 as described above.
By accessing the WWW server of the home monitoring control information homepage, the user can browse the homepage. By this browsing, the state of the controlled device can be known from a place away from home.

If it is determined from the browsing of the home monitoring control information homepage that an operation command for a specific controlled device is necessary, the personal computer 42 or the cellular phone 41 is required.
An operation command can be input to the home monitoring control information home page displayed by. For example, on the home monitoring control information homepage, "air conditioner power on", "air conditioner power off" for operation of air conditioner 21a, "VTR recording start", "VTR recording stop", "2ch", "2ch", "VTR 22a" for operation of VTR 22a Place a channel number such as "4ch" or a text or icon such as "bathroom hot water supply" for operation of the bathroom water heater 24a, click them with the mouse, or move the cursor to these and press the keys. Thus, an operation command can be input. When an operation command is input to the home monitoring control information homepage in this way, the operation command is transmitted to the WWW server of the home server 11 via the Internet 31 and stored in the memory 12. Then, the device monitoring control program 55
Fetches this operation command and transmits it to the two-wire I / O bus control unit 17.
Transmits this command to the control unit of the specified controlled device, and the control unit performs the specified operation on the specified controlled device. For example, when the power of the air conditioner 21a is turned on from the mobile phone 41, the cursor is moved to the “air conditioner power on” icon on the home monitoring control information home page, which is displayed on the display screen of the mobile phone 41, and the key is pressed. When an operation such as pressing is performed, the air conditioner power-on command is transmitted as described above, and the operation of turning on the power of the air conditioner 21a is performed by the air-conditioner power on / off control unit 21b.

When the controlled device is a security detector such as a fire detector, the monitoring information indicating the occurrence of an emergency such as a fire is
Posted on the home monitoring control information homepage. For this homepage, a mobile phone 41 or a personal computer 42
You can always access and browse from, however, you do not know when to browse. For this reason, waiting for access from the mobile phone 41 or the personal computer 42 may require timely posting of monitoring information, or depending on the timing of browsing, the implementation of emergency measures may not be in time. Can not. Then, monitoring information indicating such an emergency is transmitted, and the two-wire I / O
When the O-bus control unit 17 receives this, the mail server formed by the mail server program 54 of the home server 11 sends an emergency to the mobile phone 41 and / or the personal computer 42 registered in advance. Send an e-mail to report. Thus, the transmitted monitoring information can be viewed on the mobile phone 41 or the personal computer 42 to which the e-mail has been transmitted, and prompt response to the occurrence of an emergency is possible.

As described above, in the remote monitoring and control system according to the present embodiment, the controlled device can be monitored and controlled from the portable telephone 41 or the personal computer 42 at a location remote from the home. These can be monitored and controlled by the keyboard 15 and the display 16 provided in the computer. That is, the monitoring information received by the two-wire I / O bus control unit 17 is the device monitoring control program 5
5 is displayed on the display 16. By operating the keyboard 15, the controlled device can be controlled. For example, by operating the keyboard 15, the power of the air conditioner 21a is turned on or the VT
For example, the recording of the R22a can be started.

As described above, the home server 11 used in the remote monitoring control system of this embodiment has functions necessary for posting a home page and transmitting / receiving electronic mail via the Internet 31. Therefore, it has various server functions such as a WWW server, a mail server, and a domain name system (DNS) server which are generally required. Hardware and software required for the configuration of these various server functions have been reduced in price due to the remarkable spread of the Internet, as described above. In addition, general-purpose terminals such as the mobile phone 41 and the personal computer 42 used for browsing home monitoring control information homepages and receiving e-mails for reporting emergency situations are becoming cheaper than the various servers described above. Therefore, according to the remote monitoring and control system of this embodiment, a low-cost remote monitoring and control system can be realized by using these low-cost general-purpose terminals and hardware and software for various servers. Also, the operation procedures of these general-purpose terminals such as the mobile phone 41 and the personal computer 42 are almost standardized, and anyone can easily operate them. Therefore, according to the remote monitoring and control system of this embodiment, a remote monitoring and control system that is easy to operate can be realized.

Generally, in a computer system, a RAM used for work of a CPU and an HDD used for storing programs and data are used as memories. However, in the remote monitoring control system of the present embodiment, since the function of the home server 11 is limited to the remote monitoring control, the amount of necessary software can be reduced. Therefore, the HDD is not used and the RAM disk is used. Therefore, the size and price of the home server 11 can be reduced. However, a commonly used HDD may be used. Further, although a two-wire bus line is used for connecting the home server 11 and the control unit of the controlled device, the present invention is not limited to this, and any transmission line capable of transmitting and receiving signals is used. Good. In the remote monitoring and control system of the present embodiment, the air conditioners 21a, V
TR 22a, fire sensor 23, and bathroom water heater 24
Although a is used, the invention is not limited to this, and any electric appliance, disaster prevention and crime prevention equipment, equipment, and the like used in the home can be used as controlled equipment. For example, as a disaster prevention and crime prevention device, a gas leak detector, an intrusion detector from a door, a window, or the like can be considered. It is also possible to monitor and control a plurality of similar controlled devices, and since the screen configuration of the homepage that displays the contents of monitoring and control can be easily configured by software, even the same controlled devices can be confused. Can be described in detail so as not to cause a problem. In addition, as the content of the operation command, not only the power is turned on / off, but also complicated control is possible by digitizing the control content. For example, a method of setting the temperature of the air conditioner by inputting the set temperature of the air conditioner as a numerical value on a homepage can be considered. In addition, as a device used for monitoring and control at a place away from home, a mobile phone 4
1 and the personal computer 42 are used, but the present invention is not limited to this, and any device that can connect to the Internet may be used.

In the remote monitoring and control system of this embodiment, the controlled devices are limited to those installed in the home. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and remote monitoring and control are generally required. Is anything,
It can be an object of the system construction of the present invention.

[0028]

According to the remote monitoring control system of the first aspect, since the Internet is used as the communication means, hardware for low-cost general-purpose terminals and various servers for using the Internet, Since software and the like can be used, and these operation methods are standardized and simplified, a remote monitoring and control system which is inexpensive and easy to operate can be realized.

According to the remote monitoring control system of the second aspect, since the general-purpose terminal 6 is a portable telephone, it is most convenient to carry, and can perform monitoring control regardless of place and time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a remote monitoring control system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a remote monitoring control system according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a reference diagram showing a software configuration of a home server according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Device 2 Control part 3 Integrated control part 4 Server 5 Internet 6 General-purpose terminal 10 Home 11 Home server 12 Memory 13 CPU 14 I / O control part 15 Keyboard 16 Display 17 Two-wire I / O bus control part 18 Router 21a Air conditioner 21b Air conditioner power on / off control unit 22a VTR 22b VTR recording start / stop control unit 23 Fire detector 24a Bathroom water heater 24b Bathroom water heater power on / off control unit 31 Internet 41 Mobile phone 42 Personal computer 51 OS 52 DNS server program 53 WWW server program 54 Mail server program 55 Device monitoring control program

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of devices, a control unit for controlling and / or monitoring the status of the devices, and exchanging information with the control unit to individually control the devices through the control unit and Or a server having a function and a homepage for mediating a connection to the Internet with respect to the integrated control unit. The contents of the home page constructed and displaying the information on the state of the device obtained via the integrated control unit are browsed by accessing the server machine from the general-purpose terminal via the Internet. An operation command to the device transmitted from the general-purpose terminal is transmitted to the server via the Internet based on the A function to be transmitted to the general-purpose terminal by the server device from the server device, the information on the state of the device obtained through the integrated control unit being further transmitted to the integrated control unit. Remote monitoring and control system. 2. The remote monitoring control system according to claim 1, wherein the general-purpose terminal is a mobile phone.