JP2002242251A - Automatic water supplying method and automatic water supplying mechanism for washer using artificial retina sensor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic water supplying method and an automatic water supplying mechanism for a washer using an artificial retina sensor capable of reliably grasping the user of the washer. SOLUTION: The user of the washer 1 such as a flush toilet stool or a washhand basin is visually recognized by the artificial retina sensor 2 to control the water supplying action of the washer 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for automatically supplying water to a flusher using a novel artificial retinal sensor in which water is supplied to a flusher such as a faucet toilet or a hand-washing device, and an artificial retinal sensor. The present invention relates to an automatic water supply mechanism in a water washer using a water heater.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 19 shows a conventional hand washer 102 for automatically supplying water using a light reflection method. In FIG. 19, a sensor unit 103 includes light (for example, infrared light or near infrared light) L
Comprising a light projecting means for irradiating toward _one to the user U (not shown), receiving means for receiving the reflected light L ₂ generated by reflection from the user U and a (not shown) ing. Then, making it possible to supply water from the water discharge pipe 102a of the reflected light L ₂ reflected from the user U is placed on the mounting surface portion 101 of the washbasin 100 the hand washer 102 by being received by said light receiving means I have.

[0003]

[SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Incidentally, since the light emitting means so that light L ₁ is directed to a wash ball 104 wash basin 100 is set, for example, washbasin with metal shallow wash ball 104, such as stainless steel In 100,
If the equivalent light from the other reflected light L ₂ reflected from the user U enters the light receiving means, it may be sensed by mistake.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned circumstances, and has as its object to provide an automatic water supply method and an artificial retinal sensor in a flusher using an artificial retinal sensor capable of reliably capturing a user of the flusher. An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic water supply mechanism in a water washer using the same.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an artificial retinal sensor for visually recognizing a user of a flusher such as a faucet toilet or a handwasher to supply water to the flusher. The operation is controlled. According to another aspect of the present invention, an artificial retinal sensor visually recognizes a user of a flusher such as a faucet toilet or a handwasher, and controls a water supply operation of the flusher. An automatic water supply method in a flusher using an artificial retinal sensor, characterized in that a visual field region of the retinal sensor includes only a water discharge region where water is discharged from the flusher. In other words, by setting the field of view of the artificial retinal sensor so that the input image captured by the artificial retinal sensor does not include an area where water does not come from the washing machine, unnecessary information is omitted,
The recognition target image (acquired image) obtained by the retinal prosthesis can be sharpened accordingly, the movement of the hand located on the line from which the water is discharged from the flusher can be accurately determined, and the malfunction can be reliably prevented. .

Further, the present invention provides a flushing device such as a faucet toilet or a hand-washing device, an artificial retinal sensor for visually recognizing a user of the flushing device, and A control unit for controlling a water supply operation. Further, from another viewpoint, the present invention provides a flusher such as a faucet toilet or a handwasher, an artificial retinal sensor for visually recognizing a user of the flusher, and the flusher based on an output of the artificial retinal sensor. And a control unit for controlling the water supply operation of the vessel,
The present invention provides an automatic water supply mechanism in a flusher using an artificial retinal sensor, wherein a visual field region of the artificial retinal sensor includes only a water discharge region where water is discharged from the flusher. Also in this case, by omitting useless information, the recognition target image (acquired image) can be sharpened, and the movement of the hand located on the line from which water is discharged can be accurately determined. As a result, it helps to prevent malfunction.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. 1 to 14 show a first embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, an automatic water supply mechanism includes a hand washer 1, one artificial retinal sensor 2, and a controller 3 for controlling the water supply operation of the hand washer 1 based on the output of the artificial retinal sensor 2. And more mainly.

Further, the hand washing machine 1 comprises a wash basin 1a comprising a wash bowl 4 and a horizontal mounting surface 5, and a faucet body provided with a water discharge pipe 6 installed on the horizontal mounting surface 5. The wash ball 4 is a white one. The water discharge pipe 6 is installed at a predetermined angle θ (θ is an acute angle) from the vertical surface N perpendicular to the horizontal plane of the horizontal mounting surface 5 toward the wash ball 4 so as to face the wash ball 4. 6b is a spout.

On the other hand, the artificial retinal sensor 2 has a camera function, and an input image captured by the artificial retinal sensor 2 through a sensing window 9 (described later) is as shown in FIGS. It is attached to the front part 6a of the water discharge pipe 6 so as to be from the visual field region m. 2, 3, and 4 show the visual field region m of the retinal prosthesis 2, and FIGS.
Shows the range along the height direction (T direction) from the bottom g of the wash basin 4 of the wash basin 1a, and FIG. 4 shows the width of the wash basin 1a in the left and right directions (W direction). The range along the T direction of the visual field region m is the height h from the bottom g of the basin ball 4.
Up to the position. Further, in FIG. 4, M ₁ is a water discharge area, the user in this area M ₁ is close as possible to spout 6b while holding out a hand, the water from the water discharge port 6b to the water discharge. M ₂ and M ₃ each represent a non-water discharge area. In this embodiment, the retinal prosthesis sensor 2 has 1024 (32 × 32) pixels (dots).

As shown in FIG. 2, the artificial retinal sensor 2 has a circular wide-angle lens 7 as viewed from the front, which forms the visual field region m, and a light-receiving element array 8 located immediately below the wide-angle lens.
And a sensing window 9 having a circular shape as viewed from the front, which is located immediately above the wide-angle lens. The light receiving element array 8 has a square shape when viewed from the front and is formed on the surface of the circuit board 11 mounted on the base 10. In this embodiment, for example, 1024 light receiving elements correspond to a 32 × 32 image plane. Is the circuit board 1
1. That is, in this embodiment,
The light receiving element array 8, the circuit board 11, and the base 10 constitute the 32 × 32 image plane. Also, 12
Is a cover body that covers the periphery of the sensing window 9, and 13 is a ring-shaped waterproof packing.

That is, in order to widen the field of view of the retinal prosthesis sensor 2 as much as possible, the wide-angle lens 7 is provided above the light receiving element array 8 in this embodiment. Non water discharge area M not this the wide-angle lens 7 water discharge area M ₁ only
_2, M ₃ field area m is set to include also.

FIGS. 6 to 9 show input images captured by the retinal prosthesis sensor 2.

FIG. 6 is an input image of the front surface 4a of the basin ball 4, in which a drain hole 4c of the basin ball 4 is shown. Also,
FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 are input images when the user U of the washing machine 1 as the sensing target is washing his or her hands. Also,
FIG. 9 is an input image of the front surface 4a of the wash ball 4 in which a foreign substance Z other than the hand of the user U is shown.

As shown in FIG. 1, the control unit 3 includes a microcomputer 15 and two memory units 16a and 16a.
b, a solenoid valve 17 for controlling the water discharge / water stopping operation of the water discharge pipe 6, an electromagnetic valve drive circuit 18 for controlling the drive of the solenoid valve 17, a drive power supply 21 for the control unit 3, and a drive power supply An alarm display circuit 19 for displaying a decrease in the power supply voltage of the power supply 21 and a low-voltage circuit / voltage monitoring circuit 20 are provided.

Hereinafter, a process of processing an input image captured by the retinal prosthesis sensor 2 will be described. The input video A in FIG. 7 will be described as an example of the input video.

In FIG. 10, (1) an input video A is input to the microcomputer 15 as an output image A ′ from the retinal prosthesis sensor 2.

(2) In the microcomputer 15, the output image A 'is optimized, and as a result, an image to be recognized is obtained. When, for example, a binarization process (black and white process) is performed as the optimization process, a recognition target image A ″ (see FIG. 12) as shown in FIG. 10 is obtained.
As described later, black display indicates that an object is present, and white display indicates that no object is present.

(3) The image to be recognized (hereinafter referred to as an acquired image) A ″ is stored in the memory 16 from the microcomputer 15.

Similarly, the input video B of FIG. 6 is processed by the microcomputer 15 as an acquired image B ″ (see FIG. 11). Similarly, the input video C in FIG. 8 is also processed into the acquired image C ″. Further, the input video D in FIG. 9 is also processed into the acquired image D ″.

Next, the acquired images A ″, B ″,
C ″, D ″, etc. are processed by the recognition algorithm using the memory 16. The input images A, B,
C, D, etc. are obtained in a 32 × 32 image version.

Here, the procedure of the processing by the recognition algorithm will be described using the obtained image B ″, the obtained image A ″ and the obtained image C ″ as an example.

As described above, FIGS. 11 and 10 (FIG. 12) show the acquired images B ″ and A ″ of the input video B and the input video A, respectively.

In FIG. 5, the user U goes to the water washer 1 for hand washing (see step 100). First, in step 101, the acquired image B ″ when the user U is not washing his / her hands is stored in the memory unit 16a.

Subsequently, an acquired image A ″ obtained by the user U placing his hand on the washbasin 4 for hand washing is acquired, and the acquired image A ″ is stored in the memory unit 16b (see step 102). ).

Subsequently, in step 103, the number of changes a of the dots constituting the image is extracted by referring to the memory sections 16a and 16b. That is, in the memory 16, the acquired image B ″ stored earlier in time and the acquired image A ″ stored later are compared, and only the image at the position where there is a dot change (difference) is extracted. as a result, obtaining a change image S ₁ indicating a dot change as shown in FIG. 13.

For example, in FIG. 11, the dot d ₁ displayed in black in the previously obtained image B ″ is
The position p where the dot d ₁ was present (see FIG. 13) is displayed in white in the changed image S ₁ because it is also shown in the acquired image A ″ (see FIG. 12) acquired later. It can be seen that there was no change.

On the other hand, the dot d ₂ displayed in black in the acquired image A ″ (see FIG. 12) was not at the corresponding position in the acquired image B ″ (see FIG. 11). , in the change image S _1, the dot d ₂
Remains black.

[0029] In the present invention, the number of dot changes (a) that is recognized by the change image S ₁ is judged whether or not within a predetermined range is configured (step 104 see) as. For example, the upper limit of the dot change number a is set to 960, and the lower limit is set to 128.

That is, when it is determined in step 104 that the dot change number a is within this range, the microcomputer 15 sends a valve opening signal for opening the solenoid valve 17 to the solenoid valve driving circuit 18. Water is discharged from the water discharge pipe 6 (see step 105).

(1) In this case, the acquired image A '' is deleted from the memory unit 16b in the empty memory unit 16a by deleting the acquired image B '' stored earlier than the acquired image A ''. It is moved (see step 106).

Subsequently, the acquired image C '' acquired temporally later than the acquired image A '' is stored in the empty memory unit 16b (see step 107).

Subsequently, as in step 103,
The memory units 16a and 16b are referenced to extract the change number a of the dots forming the image (see step 108). That is, in the memory 16, as a result of comparing the acquired image A ″ stored earlier in time and the acquired image C ″ stored later in time, extracting only those at the position where the dot has changed, obtaining a change image S ₂ showing a dot change as shown in FIG. 14.

That is, FIG. 14 shows a comparison between the two acquired images A ″ and C ″ to be detected during use of the hand-washing machine. shows the change image S ₂ excised by what was.

In this embodiment, the extracted change image S ₂
If the number of dot changes a is 64 or more, it is determined that the image is in use (see step 109), and the image subsequent to the obtained image C ″ is obtained. When the dot change number a is smaller than 64, the microcomputer 15 sends a valve closing signal for closing the solenoid valve 17 to the solenoid valve driving circuit 18.
(See step 110). Then, the process returns to step 105.

(2) If it is determined in step 104 that the number of dot changes a is out of the range, the acquired image B '' stored earlier than the acquired image A '' is deleted and the empty image B '' is deleted. The acquired image A ″ is moved from the memory unit 16b to the memory unit 16a that has become (see step 111). Then, the process returns to step 102.

As described above, the change in the number of dots of two consecutive images B ″, A ″ and A ″, C ″ is calculated, and the movement of the sensing object is captured by the difference. Thus, it is possible to provide a sensing method that is not affected by the color of the basin 1.

In step 104, it is determined whether water can be discharged from the non-use state (the closed state of the solenoid valve 17). That is, when the solenoid valve 17 is in the closed state, the opening signal is sent to the solenoid valve 17 when the dot change number a is a ≧ 128, but the upper limit value of the dot change number a is 960. The reason is that the sensing control is performed visually. In other words, in the usage environment,
This is because the surrounding brightness greatly affects, for example, in the case of indoors, it is necessary to give an upper limit to the recognition value based on the number of dot changes a in consideration of the fact that the illumination has been extinguished. This allows
A malfunction due to turning on / off of the lighting can be avoided.

It is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the use of 1024 light receiving elements.

[0040] FIGS. 15 to 18 show a second embodiment of the present invention set the viewing area m 'to include only the water discharge area M ₁ by using a converging lens 30. Figure 1
5 to 18, the same reference numerals as those used in FIGS. 1 to 14 denote the same or corresponding persons.

15 to 18, the retinal prosthesis sensor 2 'has a converging lens 30 between the narrow-angle lens 7' and the light receiving element array 8.

The converging lens 30 narrows the width in the W direction in the viewing area m of the first embodiment so as to include only the water discharge area M ₁ , and furthermore, increases the height in the T direction in the viewing area m ′. Viewing area m of the first embodiment
It has a function to make it higher. The range along the T direction of the visual field region m 'is the height H (> h) from the bottom g of the basin ball 4.
Up to the position. The width direction of the left and right viewing area m '(W direction) contains only water discharge area M _1. Thus, the image I of the visual field region m ′ seen from the sensing window 9 is obtained.
Is as shown in FIG. That is, the converging lens 30 narrow-angle lens 7 'and by installing between the light receiving element array 8, the viewing area m' together with possible to increase the height direction (T direction) to include only the water discharge area M ₁ The viewing area m 'is vertically elongated.

On the other hand, the narrow-angle lens 7 'is provided to make the viewing area m' of the retinal prosthesis sensor 2 'as narrow as possible. Then, the narrow-angle lens 7 'and the result of combining the convergent lens 30, the artificial retina sensor 2 through the sensing window 9' becomes the input video A ₁ capture is showed in Figure 18.

In FIG. 18, (1) the input video A ₁ is input to the microcomputer 15 as an output image A ₁ ′ from the retinal prosthesis sensor 2 ′. (2) In the microcomputer 15, the output image A ₁ ′ is subjected to optimization processing, and as a result, a recognition target image A ₁ ″ is obtained.

[0045] In this embodiment, the so do not include non-water discharge area M _2, M _3, omitting unnecessary information from the non-water discharge area M _2, M ₃ in the 'viewing area m of' artificial retina sensor 2 Can be. Therefore, the recognition target image (acquired image) A ₁ ″ obtained by the retinal prosthesis sensor 2 ′ can be sharpened, and the movement of the hand of the user U in the water discharge area M ₁ can be accurately determined, thereby causing a malfunction. Can be reliably prevented.

The present invention can be applied not only to a hand-washing device but also to other washing devices such as a faucet toilet.

[0047]

According to the present invention, an automatic water supply method in a flusher using an artificial retinal sensor and an automatic water supply mechanism in a flusher using an artificial retinal sensor that can reliably catch a user of the flusher are provided. Can be.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of an overall configuration showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of an artificial retinal sensor in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a configuration explanatory diagram showing a range in a height direction of a visual field region of the retinal prosthesis sensor in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a configuration explanatory view showing a width in a left-right direction of a visual field region of the retinal prosthesis sensor in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an automatic water supply step in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an input image of a surface of a wash ball in the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an input image when a user of the water washing machine in the embodiment is washing his / her hands.

FIG. 8 is a view showing an input image when a user of the water washing machine in the embodiment is washing his / her hands.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an input image of a surface of a wash ball in which foreign matter other than a user's hand is shown in the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a configuration explanatory view showing a process of processing an input video in the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an acquired image in the embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an acquired image in the same embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a changed image obtained by extracting the number of dot changes in two consecutive acquired images when shifting from the non-use state to the use state.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a changed image in which the number of dot changes in two consecutive acquired images in use is extracted.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a retinal prosthesis sensor according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a configuration explanatory diagram showing a range in a height direction of a visual field region of the retinal prosthesis sensor according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a configuration explanatory view showing the width in the left-right direction of a visual field region of the retinal prosthesis sensor according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a configuration explanatory view showing a process of processing an input video in the second embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a view showing a water supply operation of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1. Hand basin, 2. Artificial retinal sensor, 3. Control unit.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An artificial retinal sensor characterized in that a user of a flusher such as a faucet toilet or a handwasher is visually recognized by an artificial retinal sensor to control a water supply operation of the flusher. Automatic water supply method in the used washer. 2. An artificial retinal sensor for visually recognizing a user of a lavatory device such as a faucet toilet or a hand basin to control a water supply operation of the lavatory device. The method for automatically supplying water in a washing machine using an artificial retinal sensor, wherein the method includes only a spouting area where water is spouted from the washing machine. 3. A flusher such as a faucet toilet or a hand-washer, an artificial retinal sensor for visually recognizing a user of the flusher, and controlling a water supply operation of the flusher based on an output of the artificial retinal sensor. An automatic water supply mechanism in a flusher using an artificial retinal sensor, comprising: 4. A flusher such as a faucet toilet or a handwasher, an artificial retinal sensor for visually recognizing a user of the flusher, and controlling a water supply operation of the flusher based on an output of the artificial retinal sensor. An automatic water supply mechanism in a flusher using an artificial retinal sensor, wherein the visual field region of the artificial retinal sensor is configured to include only a water discharge region where water is discharged from the flusher. .