JP2002027577A - Mounting table for domestic electric apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable connecting easily a domestic electric apparatus such as a radar range and a rice-cooking jar which are mounted on a mounting table for a domestic electric apparatus and used, by imparting communication function or the like to the mounting table. SOLUTION: A controller part 15 installed on the mounting table for a domestic electric apparatus is provided with a processing unit 21, a modem 23, an internal communication interface 28, etc. A noise filter 30 is interposed in a common path from a power source plug 25 to each bayonet base 17a of a power source receptacle 17. A communication interface 28 is connected with a part between the secondary side of the noise filter 30 and the processing unit 21. Communication using a power line carrier is performed between the processing unit 21 and the domestic electric apparatus connected with each of the bayonet bases 17a. The processing unit 21 is connected with a telephone line via the modem 23, and performs communication with an external network.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mounting table for a home appliance, on which a home appliance such as a microwave oven or a rice cooker is mounted and which has an outlet for supplying power to the home appliance. In particular, the present invention relates to an intelligent home appliance mounting table having a communication function and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, microprocessors are mounted on many electric appliances (home electric appliances) used in homes, and multi-functionalization and intelligentization are progressing. Further, with the spread of the Internet, an environment has been established in which information can be easily exchanged by communication with the outside using a personal computer, a mobile phone, a mobile terminal, or the like in the home.

[0003] It has also been realized that home appliances are connected to each other by communication to exchange information, or that monitoring and control of home appliances installed in each room are centralized at one place. Furthermore, it is also possible to access the centralized controller from the outside via a telephone line or the like to monitor or control the operating state of each household electric appliance.

[0004] With respect to such home automation, many home electric appliance related companies, home appliance related companies, electric power companies and the like are conducting research and development. However, systems for realizing home automation are generally large-scale, and it is likely that the system will not be widely used in general homes.

[0005] Research and development are also being conducted on a method for performing communication between home electric appliances without requiring new indoor wiring for communication. For example, a technique (so-called power line transport) of superposing a data-modulated high-frequency signal on a commercial power supply voltage (AC 100 V) to perform data transmission via indoor wiring of a commercial power supply has been put to practical use. Alternatively, it has been proposed to transmit information between home appliances by wireless communication. Bluetooth, which is being put into practical use as mutual communication between a personal computer and peripheral devices, is also one of the wireless communications.

[0006]

However, in order to perform communication between home appliances as described above or communication between the home appliances and the outside, each home appliance must have a communication interface. Therefore, existing home appliances cannot be directly connected to a communication network. For example, it is not easy to turn on or off the electric pot from outside via a telephone line or the like.

By the way, home electric appliances such as microwave ovens, electronic jars, and electric pots are often used by being mounted on a predetermined place in a kitchen, particularly on a predetermined mounting table. Such a mounting table for home electric appliances is called a microwave oven table or a microwave oven table. Some have doors and double as storage. This mounting table for home appliances usually has a plurality of shelves, a microwave oven (microwave heating cooker) is mounted on the top, and other home appliances such as a rice cooker and an electric pot are mounted on the shelf below. Place cooking equipment.

[0008] The home appliance mounting table is provided with a plurality of outlets (outlets) for connecting power plugs of a plurality of home appliances including a microwave oven, and a power cord with one plug. Thereby, electric power from a commercial power supply (AC100V) can be supplied to a plurality of home electric appliances mounted on the mounting table at a time.

According to the present invention, as described above, a microwave oven and a rice cooker which are used by being placed on a mounting table for home appliances by adding a communication function or the like to the mounting table for home appliances conventionally used. It is an object of the present invention to make it possible to easily connect home electric appliances such as the above to a network.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there is provided a mounting table for a home electric appliance for mounting a home electric appliance such as a microwave oven or a rice cooker, and having an outlet for supplying power to the home electric appliance. A mounting table, comprising: an external communication interface for performing information communication with the outside; and a processing device for processing information transmitted to and received from the outside via the external communication interface. And The external communication interface is, for example, a modem or DSU for connecting to a telephone line.

By using such a mounting table for home electric appliances,
Home appliances such as a microwave oven and a rice cooker used by being placed on the home appliance mounting table can be easily connected to the network. For example, even if a home electric appliance such as a microwave oven or a rice cooker does not have a communication function itself, at least a monitor or control of an energized state can be performed from outside via a telephone line.

That is, the home appliance mounting table further includes an energization detector for detecting an energization state of the home appliance to which electric power is supplied via the outlet, and the processing device is provided with an externally provided external communication interface. In accordance with the command, the process of transmitting the energization state of the home appliance detected by the energization detector to the outside via the external communication interface is executed. Thus, for example, by making a telephone call from the outside, it is possible to check the energized state of the home electric appliance placed on the home electric appliance mounting table. When the current detector detects the current consumption, it is possible to estimate the operating state.

[0013] Alternatively, the home appliance mounting table further includes an energization switch for switching between an energized state and a non-energized state of the electric home appliance to which electric power is supplied via the outlet, and the processing device is connected via an external communication interface. The energization switch is controlled in accordance with an external command given. Thereby, for example, the power of the home electric appliance placed on the electric home appliance mounting base can be turned on / off by making a telephone call from the outside.

[0014] The home appliance mounting table further includes a rice bin and a remaining rice amount sensor for detecting the remaining rice amount in the rice bin, and the processing device is configured to detect the remaining rice amount based on a detection signal from the remaining rice amount sensor. When the amount of rice is low, order processing of rice is automatically executed via the external communication interface. This can save the trouble of checking the amount of remaining rice in the rice bin and ordering rice.

[0015] Further, it is preferable that the home appliance mounting table further includes an internal communication interface for performing information communication with a home appliance to which power is supplied via an outlet. Thereby, the processing device of the mounting table for home electric appliances functions as a centralized controller for a plurality of home electric appliances or as an intermediary for communication between an external network and each home electric appliance.

As the internal communication interface, for example, a communication interface using power line carrier or a wireless communication interface such as Bluetooth can be used.
RS widely used for personal computers
Serial communication such as 232C or RS422, or US
It is also possible to use a new communication interface such as B or IEEE1394. Of course, these home appliances need to be provided with the same kind of communication interface.

Further, the processing device executes at least a part of the function of the home electric appliance to which power is supplied through the outlet via an internal communication interface, and operates and displays a function for setting and monitoring the function. Is preferably provided in the mounting table for home electric appliances. Thereby, for example, the reservation setting of the electric pot or the rice cooker to which electric power is supplied via the outlet of the home appliance mounting table is executed by a common operation using the operation unit and the display unit of the home appliance mounting table. be able to.

The home appliances to be communicated by the processing device need not be limited to home appliances to which power is supplied via outlets (home appliances mounted on a home appliance mounting table). Home appliances installed away from the home appliance mounting table are also subject to communication.

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a mounting table for home electric appliances according to an embodiment of the present invention. The home appliance mounting table 1 includes a top plate 11, a shelf plate 12, a bottom storage 13, a support 14, a controller unit 15, and a rice bin unit 16.

Normally, a microwave oven is placed on the top plate 11 and a rice cooker is placed on the shelf plate 12 and the bottom storage 13.
Home appliances such as electric pots are placed. The power plug of the home electric appliance including the microwave oven is connected to the shelf plate 12 and the bottom storage 1.
Outlet (outlet) 1 provided at the rear end of 3
Plugged into 7. These outlets 17 are connected to a cable with a power plug (not shown) pulled out from the back of the mounting table 1 for home electric appliances.

The rice bin 16 is normally provided on a mounting table (range table) for home electric appliances. The rice stored therein can be taken out by a predetermined amount from the lower take-out part 16b by operating the measuring lever 16a. In addition, the rice bin unit 16 of the present embodiment includes a remaining rice amount sensor that outputs a detection signal when the remaining rice amount is low. The bottom storage 13 is used for storing home appliances not always used such as a hot plate or accessories for a microwave oven.

The controller section 15 includes a display section 15a and an operation section 15b, and internally includes a processing device including a microprocessor, a modem for communicating with the outside via a telephone line, and the like. Thus, it is possible to exchange information by connecting to the Internet.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the controller unit 15. The signal from the remaining rice amount sensor 22 is input to the processing device 21. Rice remaining sensor 22
Is constituted by an optical sensor, and is provided near the bottom in the rice bin 16. When the amount of remaining rice in the rice bin 16 decreases, the processing device 21
Automatically connects to the Internet via the modem 23. Then, the user accesses a site (homepage) of the rice shop to which a contract has been made in advance, and performs a predetermined order processing.

Also, the user can manually connect to the Internet using the display unit 15a and the operation unit 15b. The processing device 21 includes a ROM storing a program for Internet connection, a working RAM, a CPU, and the like. The display unit 15a is configured by a liquid crystal display capable of graphic display. The operation unit 15b
A pointing device such as a simple keyboard and a trackpad is provided. To improve input operability,
A dedicated remote controller (remote controller) may be separately provided.

Each of the outlets 17a of the power supply outlet (outlet) 17 from the power plug 25 of the mounting table 1 for home electric appliances.
Are provided with a current detector 24. The current detector 24 is connected to each of the insertion ports 17.
Approximate current flowing through a home electric appliance whose power plug is inserted into a is detected by electromagnetic induction. This makes it possible to detect the energized state and the operating state of each household electric appliance.

The processing device 21 of the controller section 15 supplies the electric current (or the operating state) of each household electric appliance based on the detection signal of each electric current detector 24 in accordance with a command given from outside via a telephone line and a modem 23. ) Is checked, and the result is transmitted to the outside via the modem 23. For example, by making a call from a place where the user is away, it is possible to check the energized state (or operating state) of the home electric appliance connected to the power outlet 17 of the home electric appliance mounting table 1.
For example, a check result can be displayed using a mobile terminal with a communication function.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a controller section 15 according to another embodiment. In this embodiment, a power supply switch 26 is provided in each power supply path from the power plug 25 of the mounting table 1 for home electric appliances to each insertion port 17a of the power outlet (outlet) 17. Each energization switch 26 is configured by a relay controlled by the processing device 21 and switches between an energized state (power supply state) and a non-energized state (energized state) of the home electric appliance connected to each insertion port 17a. be able to.

The processing unit 21 of the controller unit 15 individually controls each of the energizing switches 26 in accordance with a command given from the outside via the telephone line and the modem 23 to energize any home electric appliance. Or shut off the current. For example, by making a call from a place where the user is away from home, it is possible to remotely switch between the energized state and the non-energized state of the home electric appliance connected to the power outlet 17 of the electric home appliance mounting base 1.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a controller section 15 according to still another embodiment. In this embodiment, each home appliance connected to each insertion port 17a of the power outlet (outlet) 17 of the mounting base 1 for home appliances and the processing device 21 can perform communication by so-called power line transport. For this purpose, a noise filter 30 is interposed in a common path from the power plug 25 to each of the receptacles 17a of the power outlet 17, and a noise filter 30 is provided between the secondary side (outlet 17 side) of the noise filter 30 and the processing device 21. The communication interface 28 is connected.

The communication interface 28 is connected to the processing device 2
1 and modulates a high frequency with a digital signal transmitted from the digital filter 1.
Superimposed on 100V voltage. In addition, AC1
The high-frequency signal transmitted while being superimposed on the 00V voltage is separated, demodulated into a digital signal, and passed to the processing device 21. Each home appliance must have a similar communication interface.

In this manner, information can be exchanged between each home appliance and the processing device 21 of the home appliance mounting table 1 by communication. As a result, for example, it is possible to monitor and operate the state of each home appliance using the display unit 15a and the operation unit 15b of the home appliance mounting table 1. In addition, it is possible to control the operations of a plurality of home electric appliances to be synchronized or exclusively operated. For example, it is possible to control so that the microwave oven, the rice cooker and the electric pot are not energized at the same time, so that the allowable current of the common power supply path is not exceeded. In addition, when the rice cooking operation of the rice cooker is started, it is possible to perform control such that the electric water kettle is stopped to perform a heat retaining operation.

The high frequency signal superimposed on the AC100V voltage used for communication between the home appliance mounting table 1 and each home appliance leaks from the home appliance mounting table 1 to the outside due to the function of the noise filter 30. There is no. However, when performing communication by power line communication with a home appliance other than the home appliance connected to the power outlet 17 of the home appliance mounting table 1, it is necessary to remove the noise filter 30. Moreover, since the mounting table 1 for home electric appliances is made by processing a steel plate, the controller unit 15 including the processing device 21 is electromagnetically shielded by the steel plate, and EMI measures are easy.

The processing device 21 is connected to the power outlet 1
7 can be executed through the communication interface 28. For example, the reservation setting of an electric pot or a rice cooker can be performed by using
And can be executed by a common operation using the operation unit 15b and the display unit 15a.

By combining the embodiments shown in FIGS. 2, 3, and 4, more convenient functions can be realized. For example, if the configuration of FIG. 2 and the configuration of FIG. 3 are combined, the total current consumption of a plurality of home appliances supplied with power via the home appliance mounting base 1 is monitored, and if necessary, a predetermined home appliance Processing such as cutting off the power supply is performed by the processing device 2
1 can be executed. Thus, it is possible to avoid a situation in which the total current consumption exceeds the allowable current of the common power supply path and the breaker operates. In addition, by making a call from a place where the user is away from home, the state of energization (or operation) of each home appliance connected to the power outlet 17 of the mounting base 1 for home appliances is checked, and if necessary, the status of each home appliance is checked. An energized state or a non-energized state can be switched.

By combining the configuration of FIG. 2 with the configuration of FIG. 4, it becomes possible to control the operating state of each household electric appliance so as not to exceed the allowable current of the common power supply path. That is,
Rather than interrupting the energization itself, the processing device 21 can be caused to execute processing for instructing the control means of each device to shift to an operation mode with low power consumption by communication.

In addition, the present invention can be implemented by various combinations or modifications of the above embodiments. Further, the present invention may be implemented in other embodiments. For example, the external communication interface for performing information communication with the outside,
It is not limited to the modem 23 in the above embodiment.
When the telephone line is not an analog line but an ISDN line, it is necessary to use a DSU or the like instead of a modem. Further, a wireless communication interface such as PHS may be used.

The internal communication interface for performing information communication with each home electric appliance is not limited to the communication interface 28 using the power line carrier in the above embodiment. For example, Bluetooth
h) or the like. Alternatively, serial communication such as RS232C or RS422 widely used for communication between a personal computer and a peripheral device, or a new communication interface such as USB or IEEE1394 can be used.

[0039]

As described above, according to the present invention, home electric appliances such as a microwave oven, a rice cooker and the like which are used by being mounted on a home electric appliance mounting table can be easily connected to a network. . Communication with the outside via a telephone line or the like becomes possible, and the construction of a communication environment for a plurality of home appliances becomes easy.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external appearance of a mounting table for home electric appliances according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a controller unit.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a controller unit according to another embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a controller unit according to yet another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 home appliance mounting table 15 controller unit 15a display unit 15b operation unit 17 outlet 21 processing unit 22 remaining rice quantity sensor 23 external communication interface (modem) 24 conduction detector 26 conduction switch 28 internal communication interface

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A mounting table for a home appliance, on which a home appliance such as a microwave oven or a rice cooker is mounted and which has an outlet for supplying power to the home appliance, for performing information communication with the outside. And a processing device for processing information transmitted to and received from the outside via the external communication interface. 2. The mounting table according to claim 1, wherein the external communication interface is a modem or a DSU for connecting to a telephone line. 3. An electric power supply detector for detecting an electric power supply state of a household electric appliance to which electric power is supplied through the outlet, wherein the processing device operates according to an external command given through the external communication interface. 3. The home electric appliance mounting table according to claim 1, wherein a process of transmitting an electric power supply state of the electric home appliance detected by the electric conduction detector to the outside via the external communication interface is executed. 4. An electric power supply switching device for switching between an energized state and a non-energized state of a home electric appliance to which electric power is supplied through the outlet, wherein the processing device is provided with an external power supply through the external communication interface. The mounting table for home electric appliances according to claim 1, wherein the energization switch is controlled in accordance with the instruction. 5. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a rice bin; and a remaining rice amount sensor for detecting an amount of remaining rice in the rice bin, wherein the processing device reduces the remaining rice amount based on a detection signal from the remaining rice amount sensor. 5. The mounting table according to claim 1, wherein the rice order processing is automatically performed via the external communication interface when the rice is placed. 6. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an internal communication interface for performing information communication with a home electric appliance to which power is supplied via said outlet.
The mounting table for home appliance according to 2, 3, 4 or 5. 7. An operation unit for executing at least a part of functions of a home electric appliance to which power is supplied through the outlet through the internal communication interface, and setting and monitoring the function. The mounting table according to claim 6, further comprising a display unit.