JP2001320840A - Electrical machinery and apparatus, and network system therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide electrical machinery and apparatus and a network system of electrical machinery and apparatus which make it possible to reduce the stand-by power of a system composed of a plurality of electrical machinery and apparatus units as a whole. SOLUTION: A main switch 40 for connecting an external power source to a circuit 10 which operates on the occasion of usual operation, a sub-switch 50 for connecting the external power source to a circuit which operates on the occasion of stand-by operation when the main switch 40 is turned off, a communication circuit 21 which communicates with other electrical machinery and apparatus through an external bus 3, a main-switch off detector 25 which detects the off-state of the main switch 40, and a control circuit 22 which communicates with other electrical machinery and apparatus by the communication circuit 21 and turns the sub-switch 50 off on the basis of that communication result when the off-state of the main switch 40 is detected by the detector 25, are provided. The control circuit 22 communicates with the other electrical machinery and apparatus about information on stand-by power. When it is learned on the basis of that communication result that the stand-by power of the electrical machinery and apparatus itself is larger than or equal to the stand-by power of another electrical machinery and apparatus, control of opening the contact of the sub-switch 50 is performed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an electric device constituting a system including a plurality of electric devices connected by a bus and a system thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Household appliances (hereinafter referred to as "electric devices") such as televisions, videos, air conditioners, and stereos are used in a state where the power is turned off by a remote controller or a plug is not removed from an outlet (commercial power). Even if the power is not turned on, a certain amount of power is consumed in many cases for the timer function and the remote control function. The power consumed by the electric device when not actually used is generally called “standby power”. In recent years, there has been developed some electrical devices that can reduce standby power to almost zero by simply turning off the power supply, due to the need for energy saving. However, in many electric devices, in order to completely reduce the standby power to zero, it is necessary for a user to unplug a power plug of an unused electric device from an outlet. However, in most electric devices having a timer function or a clock function, when the plug is unplugged from the outlet, it is necessary to set the time each time the plug is attached to the outlet. Therefore, in many cases, the plug is unplugged from the outlet only when the electric device is not used for a long period of time, or the plug is not unplugged from the outlet at all.

On the other hand, as one of the techniques for reducing the standby power on the electric device side, a technology for capturing a plurality of electric devices as a system and reducing the standby power as a whole system is being studied. In a system described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-89116, "Network System", in a home network system in which a plurality of electrical devices are connected by a bus, a specific electrical device can be connected to each other electrical device using a bus wiring. A configuration for supplying standby power has been proposed. In the system described in this publication, a circuit that operates during standby, such as a timer function in each electrical device, is provided by supplying power during standby from a host computer to each electrical device via a bus wiring of a home network system. While operating
The operation of a power supply circuit in each electric device can be stopped, thereby reducing power loss caused by a transformer or the like in the power supply circuit.

[0004]

In the above-mentioned conventional system, a computer supplies standby electric power to each electric device via a bus line of a home network. Therefore, there is no change in that each electric device uses the standby power. In addition, a host computer for supplying standby power was required.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide an electric device capable of reducing standby power in an entire system including a plurality of electric devices. Eliminates the need for a host computer to supply the required standby power, and without burdening the user with additional operations such as time setting.
An object of the present invention is to provide an electric device and an electric device network system that can basically reduce the standby power to zero except for the minimum necessary electric device in the system.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a first contact for connecting an external power supply to a circuit operating normally and a first contact for turning off the first contact are provided. A second contact for connecting an external power supply to a circuit that operates during standby, communication means for communicating with another electric device via an external bus, detection means for detecting an OFF state of the first contact, When the off state of the first contact is detected by the means, the communication means communicates with another electrical device, and the control means turns off the second contact based on the communication result. .

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the control means communicates information on standby power with another electric device by the communication means, and the standby power of the own electric device is reduced based on the communication result. The second contact is turned off when the standby power of the other electric device is larger than or equal to the standby power of the other electric device. According to a third aspect of the present invention, the control means communicates information relating to a reservation process with another electric device by the communication means, and the reservation process is registered in the other electric device based on the communication result. The second contact is turned off when the switch is ON. Further, the invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that the circuit that operates during standby includes a circuit that measures time.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a bus wiring for connecting a plurality of electrical devices, and a plurality of the first to third aspects.
An electrical equipment network system comprising: the electrical equipment according to any one of the above.

According to the above configuration, an apparatus such as a host computer for supplying standby power is not required. In addition, the standby power can be basically reduced to zero except for the minimum necessary equipment.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a configuration of an electric device according to the present invention. An electric device 1 shown in FIG. 1 is an electric device such as a television, a video, an air conditioner, and a stereo, and is connected to an outlet of a commercial power supply (external power supply) (not shown) by a plug 2.
Further, the electric device 1 is a home network standard HAVi.
(Home Audio / Video interoperability) and the like, and are connected to a plurality of other electric appliances (not shown) via a bus wiring 3 constructed based on the above.

The electric device 1 includes a normal operation circuit 10 for performing a normal operation (at the time of use) unique to each electric device, and a normal / standby operation circuit 20 for operating in a normal state and a standby state.
A main switch 40 for connecting the normal operation circuit 10 and the normal / standby operation circuit 20 to an external power supply from the plug 2 via the power supply circuit 30; Normally via the circuit 30
And a sub-switch 50 for connecting the standby operation circuit 20 to an external power supply from the plug 2. When the main switch 1 is on, the normal operation circuit 10
It operates using the power supply PS1 supplied via the power supply 0 as a power supply. The normal / standby operation circuit 20 includes a communication circuit 21 serving as an interface for communicating with other electric devices via the bus wiring 3, a control circuit 22 for controlling each unit,
Under the control of the control circuit 22, a status storage circuit 23 for storing status information indicating an operation mode when the main switch 40 is turned off, and a clock / timer circuit serving as a clock circuit for realizing a clock function and a timer function. 24,
A main switch-off detection circuit 25 for detecting that the main switch 40 has been turned off. This normal time
The standby operation circuit 20 operates using the power supply PS2 supplied from the power supply circuit 30 as a power supply when the main switch 40 or the sub switch 50 is turned on.

When the main switch 40 is turned on, the power supply circuit 30 converts the power of the external power supply supplied from the plug 2 through the main switch 40 as it is or converts it into a predetermined AC or DC voltage. The power supply PS1 is supplied to the normal operation circuit 10 and is converted into a predetermined DC voltage to be supplied to each part of the normal / standby operation circuit 20 by the power supply PS1.
Supplied as 2. When the main switch 40 is off, the control circuit 22 turns on the sub-switch 50 under a predetermined condition, and the power of the external power supplied from the plug 2 through the sub-switch 50 Is converted into a predetermined DC voltage and supplied to the normal / standby operation circuit 20 as the power supply PS2. The main switch 40 is a mechanical switch that is manually turned on and off by a user, and the sub switch 50 is a relay circuit that is turned on and off based on a control signal from the control circuit 22.

Next, a configuration example of the power supply circuit 30 and the main switch-off detection circuit 25 shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 shows a power supply circuit 30a as one configuration example of the power supply circuit 30 and a current detection circuit 2 as one configuration example of the main switch-off detection circuit 25 shown in FIG.
It is a block diagram which shows 5a and its peripheral circuit. In FIG. 2, the switch 40a and the control circuit 22a
The main switch 40 and the control circuit 22 shown in FIG.
The same components as those shown in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

In the configuration shown in FIG. 2, the current detection circuit 25a
Detects the magnitude of the current flowing from the main switch 40a to the power supply circuit 30a or whether a current equal to or greater than a predetermined value is flowing, and the control circuit 22a detects a current smaller than the predetermined value by the current detection circuit 25a. Is determined, the main switch 40a is off. Current detection circuit 25a
Is composed of, for example, a current detecting transformer or a shunt resistor. The power supply circuit 30a includes a constant-voltage power supply 31 that converts an AC voltage supplied from the main switch 40a via the current detection circuit 25a to a predetermined AC voltage or DC voltage and outputs the converted voltage, and a current detection circuit 25a and a rectification circuit 33. A constant-voltage power supply 32 for converting the supplied DC voltage into a predetermined DC voltage and outputting the same, and a rectifier circuit 34 for connecting one contact of the sub-switch 50 to the constant-voltage power supply 32. In this case, the output of the current detection circuit 25a and the output of the constant-voltage power supply 31
And the output of the constant voltage power supply 32 is normal /
Power supply PS2 to standby operation circuit 20. According to the configuration of power supply circuit 30a, power supply PS1 and power supply PS2 are supplied to each circuit when switch 40a is turned on, and only power supply PS2 is turned off when main switch 40a is turned off and sub switch 50 is turned on. Will be supplied. In this example, the rectifier circuits 33 and 34 are shown as half-wave rectifier circuits consisting of one diode, but may be full-wave rectifier circuits consisting of four diodes.

Next, a modification of the configuration shown in FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIG. In the configuration shown in FIG. 3, a voltage detection circuit 25b for detecting the terminal voltage of the main switch 40b corresponding to the main switch 40a is provided instead of the current detection circuit 25a shown in FIG. Then, the control circuit 22b
When the voltage detection circuit 25b detects a voltage lower than a predetermined value, it is determined that the main switch 40b is turned off. The power supply circuit 30b corresponding to the power supply circuit 30a connects between one contact of the switch 40b and one contact of the sub-switch 50 instead of the rectifier circuits 33 and 34, and interlocks with the main switch 40b. An operating switch 35 is provided, and when the main switch 40b is turned off, the switch 35 is turned off.
The circuit on the first side is cut off. According to the configuration of the power supply circuit 30b, when the switch 40b is turned on, the switch 35 is turned on. Therefore, when the power supply PS1 and the power supply PS2 are supplied to each circuit, when the main switch 40b is turned off, the switch 35 is turned on. When the sub switch 50 is on, the power supply PS
2 are supplied, and the same operation as the configuration shown in FIG. 2 can be obtained.

Next, the electric apparatus 1 of the present embodiment shown in FIG.
A configuration example and an operation example in the case where a home network is configured by using a plurality of devices will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a video (VTR) A, a television B, a microwave oven C, an electric rice cooker D, a personal computer E, and a stereo apparatus F, which are electric apparatuses respectively corresponding to the electric apparatus 1 shown in FIG. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the configuration of networks connected to each other. It is assumed that the network structure is constructed based on the home network standard HAVi or the like. In this case, each of the electric devices A to F is a general-purpose serial bus interface (IEEE).
E1394), it is assumed that the devices are connected in a daisy-chain shape or that devices having a plurality of ports are connected in a tree shape.

Each of the electric appliances A to F is shown in FIG.
The clock / timer circuit 24 shown in FIG.
In this case, it is assumed that the electric rice cooker D is in a standby state (standby state), that is, the main switch 40 in FIG. 1 is turned off by the user, and the sub switch 50 is turned on under the control of the control circuit 22. In this state, it is assumed that only the normal / standby operation circuit 20 is operating.
In addition, the other electric devices A to C and the electric devices E and F are all in the power-off state, that is, the main switch 40 is turned off by the user and the sub-switch 50 is also turned off. It is assumed that the operation of all the circuits is in a stopped state.

Here, it is assumed that the main switch 40 of the video A is turned on by the user. The video A is supplied to the power supply circuit 3 by turning on the main switch 40 shown in FIG.
0 operates, and the power supply PS1 and the power supply PS2 are supplied to the normal operation circuit 10 and the normal / standby operation circuit 20, respectively. The control circuit 22 turns on the sub-switch 50 and controls the communication circuit 21 to communicate with the electric rice cooker D in the standby state via the bus wiring 3. The video A communicates with the electric rice cooker D in the standby state through the bus line 3, and information about the date and time of the clock / timer circuit 24 of the electric rice cooker D and information about the standby power of the electric rice cooker D , And obtain other necessary information. Here, the video A is based on the date and time information obtained from the electric rice cooker D, and the date and time are stored in the clock / timer circuit 24 in the own device A whose power has been cut off, that is, in the stopped state. Set the time. Further, the video A and the electric rice cooker D compare each other's standby power, and if the standby power of the video A is small, the electric rice cooker D
Under the control of 2, the sub-switch 50 is turned off and the power is automatically cut off.

Referring now to FIG. 5, the general operation of an electric device such as electric rice cooker D in a standby state (main switch 40 is off and sub-switch 50 is on in FIG. 1). explain. In the electrical device 1 in the standby state, a process as shown in FIG. 5 is repeatedly executed at predetermined intervals. First, it is determined whether another electrical device that is operating (normal operation or standby state) exists in the network by attempting communication by the communication circuit 21 (step SA1). If there is no other electrical device in operation, the standby state is maintained (step SA6). If another electrical device is present, information has already been exchanged with that electrical device, that is, as described above. It is checked whether information on date and time and information on standby power have been exchanged. If information exchange has been completed, the standby state is maintained (step SA6). If not, information exchange is performed (step SA6). Step SA3). When there are a plurality of electric devices, information is exchanged with all the electric devices. Then, based on the result of the information exchange, the standby electric power is compared between the other electric equipment and the own electric equipment (step SA).
4) If the standby power of the own electric device is lower than the standby power of another electric device, the standby state is maintained (step S).
A6). On the other hand, when the standby power of the own electric device is larger than (or higher than) the standby power of the other electric devices, the power from the power supply is cut off by turning off the sub-switch 50 of FIG. (Step SA5). By such a process, the electric device 1 in the standby state shuts off the power when it confirms that the self-standby power is larger than that of the other electric device (video A) like the electric rice cooker D described above, Otherwise, it operates to maintain the standby state. In addition, each electric device 1 in the standby state is configured to be able to start execution of the processing shown in FIG. 5 in a form in which it responds to a communication request from another electric device.

On the other hand, in FIG. 4, video A is turned on,
Assuming that the television B is similarly turned on after the electric rice cooker D is turned off, the television B obtains necessary information from the video A. After setting the date and time in the clock / timer circuit 24 in the device B based on the information obtained from the video A, the television B negotiates the status when the power is turned off (when the main switch 40 is turned off). Here, assuming that the standby power of the television B is larger than the standby power of the video A, the television B negotiates,
Since it is known that the standby power of the own electric device B is larger, the operation that the power of the television B is cut off when the power is turned off is determined. At this time, the television B stores the power-off status as “disconnected” in the status storage circuit 23 shown in FIG. On the other hand, video A
The status when the power is turned off is stored as “standby” in the status storage circuit 23 in the own device.

Next, it is assumed that video A is reserved for recording.
Next, it is assumed that the personal computer E is turned on. The personal computer E has a communication circuit 2
1 to exchange information with the operating video A and television B, and based on the result, the clock /
The date and time are set in the timer circuit 24. Here, the personal computer E exchanges information on standby power with the video A stored in the status storage circuit 23 as the status at power-off as "standby", and negotiates the status for power-off. In this case, it is assumed that the standby power of the personal computer E is smaller than the standby power of the video A. As a result of the negotiation, the personal computer E finds that the self-electrical device E has lower standby power, but at this time, since the video A is reserved for recording, the power of the video A cannot be turned off. The status when the power of the personal computer E is turned off is determined to be “cut off” of the power.

Thereafter, it is assumed that the recording reservation of the video A has been completed. The video A is based on the power-off status “standby” stored in the status storage circuit 23.
Before entering the standby state, the communication circuit 21 negotiates again with the television B and the personal computer E, which are still in the power-on state, to confirm the latest operation state of each device. . In this case, the video A recognizes that the recording reservation has been released, and the personal computer E whose standby power is smaller than that of the own electric device A is still in the ON state. Therefore, as a result of the negotiation, on the one hand, the power-off status of the video A is changed from “standby” to “disconnected”, and on the other hand, the personal computer E
The power-off status is changed from “disconnected” to “standby”. Here, in the video A, the main switch 40 and the sub-switch 50 are turned off, and the power is cut off.

Next, assuming that the main switch 40 of the television B is turned off, the control circuit 22 of the television B turns off the sub-switch 50 in accordance with the status "disconnected" in the status storage circuit 23, and the power of the television B is reduced. Be cut off. Next, it is assumed that the main switch 40 of the personal computer E is turned off. Control circuit 2 of personal computer E
2 is the status “standby” in the status storage circuit 23
, The sub-switch 50 is maintained in the ON state. Therefore, each circuit in the normal / operating circuit 20 of the personal computer E includes the plug 2 and the sub-switch 50.
The power supply PS2 is continuously supplied through the power supply circuit 30 and the personal computer E operates in a standby state (standby state).

Here, with reference to FIG. 6, the general operation of the above-described electric equipment 1 when the power switch (main switch 40) is turned off will be described. For example, when the electric device 1 has a function of performing some kind of reservation processing such as recording reservation as in the case of the video A, when the main switch 40 is turned off, first, it is determined whether or not any reservation processing is reserved for the own device. Is determined (step SB1). here,
Assuming that the recording reservation has been set, the reservation processing (or the reservation standby processing) (step SB2) and the determination processing as to whether or not the reservation processing has been completed (step SB3) are repeatedly performed. If it is determined that the recording reservation has been completed, it is checked whether or not any other reservation processing has been registered (step SB1). It is determined whether or not another electric device exists in the network (step SB)
4).

If there is no other electrical device operating (normal operation or standby state) in the network, the operation of the own device is shifted to the standby state (step SB9). On the other hand, if there is another electric device, information exchange with the electric device on standby power and the like is performed (step SB).
5). Here, when there are a plurality of electric devices, information is exchanged with all the electric devices. Next, based on the exchanged information, it is determined whether or not there is any other electrical device that is processing or waiting for some kind of reservation processing (step SB).
6) If the reservation processing is not registered or being performed in the other device, the standby power is compared between the other electric device and the own electric device based on the information exchange result (step SB7), and When the standby power is smaller than the standby power of the other electric devices, the operation is shifted to the standby state (step SB9). On the other hand, if the reservation processing is being registered or being performed in another device (if the result of the determination in step SB6 is “YES”), or the standby power of the own electric device is higher than the standby power of the other electric device When they are larger or equal (when the result of the determination in step SB7 is "NO"), the power from the power supply is cut off by turning off the sub-switch 50 in FIG. 1 (step SB8).

The electric device 1 whose power (main switch 40) has been turned off by the above-described processing is in a case where any reservation processing is not registered in its own electric apparatus, and the reservation processing is not performed in another electric apparatus. If it has been registered, or if its own standby power is greater than other electrical devices, it operates to shut off the power, otherwise it transitions to the standby state. As a result, in the network, if there are electric devices for which the reservation process is registered, those electric devices are in an operating state (normal operation or reservation process standby operation), and there is no electric device for which the reservation process is registered. In this case, at least one electric device operates or waits, and the electric devices operate in a coordinated manner such that at least one clock / timer circuit 24 operates. In addition, when the power is turned on, time information and the like can be obtained from other electric devices in a normal operation state or a standby state, thereby enabling time adjustment and the like to be performed automatically. You do not have to set the clock every time you turn on the power.

The above embodiment is an example of the configuration of an electric device according to the present invention and a system using the same, and the embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the above. For example, as the main switch 40, a switch that is turned on or off in accordance with the operation of another small-signal switch by changing to a relay-type contact instead of a switch whose contacts are mechanically opened and closed directly by a user's operation. Or an off-operation (interruption operation) in accordance with an instruction from the remote control unit.

The configurations of the main switch 40 and the sub-switch 50 are not limited to those described above, but have the same function, that is, shut off the power from the external power supply to the normal operation circuit in accordance with a user's instruction. A contact having a function of performing
If the contact has a function equivalent to that obtained by a contact having a function of supplying power from an external power supply to a circuit that operates during standby when the contact is interrupted, each contact may have a plurality of parallel or It can be changed as appropriate, for example, by being divided into serial contacts.

Further, the means for detecting the amount of standby power is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, each electric device may have a function of detecting the amount of standby power of another electric device. . In this case, at the time of negotiation, the standby power amount separately detected is compared.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention, a first contact for connecting an external power supply to a circuit which operates normally,
When the first contact is turned off, a second contact for connecting an external power supply to a circuit that operates during standby, and when the off state of the first contact is detected, communication with another electric device is performed by the communication unit. Control means for turning off the second contact based on the communication result, so that the circuit which operates during standby based on the operation of turning off the power by the user and the operation state of the other electric equipment is provided. Since the power supply can be turned off automatically, it is easier to reduce standby power by cooperative operation of each electric device as a whole system consisting of multiple electric devices without burdening the user. It becomes possible to plan.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of an electric device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a power supply circuit 30 and the like shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing another configuration example of the power supply circuit 30 shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a case where a home network system is configured by using a plurality of electric devices 1 shown in FIG.

5 is a flowchart showing an operation of the electric device 1 shown in FIG. 1 in a standby state.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the electric device 1 shown in FIG. 1 when the power is turned off.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Electric equipment, 2 ... Plug, 3 ... Bus wiring, 10 ... Normal operation circuit, 20 ... Normal / standby operation circuit, 21 ... Communication circuit, 22 ... Control circuit, 23 ... Status storage circuit
24: clock / timer circuit, 25: main switch off detection circuit, 30: power supply circuit, 40: main switch, 50: sub switch.

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI Theme coat II (reference) H04Q 9/00 301 H04L 13/00 TF term (reference) 5B011 DA01 DB11 DB21 HH02 MA01 MA02 MA15 5G064 AA04 AC06 AC10 CB12 DA08 5K032 BA01 DB32 5K034 AA15 FF12 TT04 5K048 AA16 BA02 BA08 BA12 DA05 EB11 HA11 HA33

Claims (5)

[Claims] A first contact for connecting an external power supply to a circuit operating in a normal state; a second contact for connecting the external power supply to a circuit operating in a standby state when the first contact is turned off; Communication means for communicating with another electric device via a bus; detecting means for detecting an OFF state of the first contact; and detecting means for detecting an OFF state of the first contact when the detecting means detects the OFF state of the first contact. Control means for performing communication with the electric device and turning off the second contact based on a result of the communication. 2. The control means performs communication of information on standby power with another electric device by the communication means, and based on a communication result, the standby power of the own electric device is made smaller than the standby power of the other electric device. The electric device according to claim 1, wherein the second contact is turned off when the value is larger than or equal to the standby power of another electric device. 3. The control means communicates information about a reservation process with another electric device by the communication means, and based on a result of the communication, when the reservation process is registered in another electric device, 2. The electric device according to claim 1, wherein the second contact is turned off. 4. The electric device according to claim 1, wherein the circuit that operates during standby includes a circuit that measures time. 5. An electrical equipment network system comprising: a bus wiring for connecting a plurality of electrical equipment; and a plurality of the electrical equipment according to claim 1.