JP2002243272A - Remote controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that a signal line for calling needs to be buried in a wall and a laying construction becomes complex although the signal line for call needs to be laid separately in addition to a signal line 11 for call between a kitchen remote controller 2 and a bath remote controller 3. SOLUTION: A voice signal converted by microphones 41 and 51 is superposed on the signal line 11 for calling between the kitchen remote controller 2 and the bath remote controller 3 without laying a signal line newly.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a remote control device comprising a plurality of remote control units connected to a hot water supply device via signal lines.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, a hot water supply device for supplying hot water to a faucet of a kitchen or a lavatory and for supplying hot water to a bathtub and reheating is installed outdoors, and the operation of the hot water supply device is controlled by a remote control unit installed indoors. Done through. In general,
Remote controls are attached to the kitchen and the bathroom, respectively. Then, operation control such as setting of hot water supply temperature and turning on / off of power is performed from both remote control units.

A control unit containing a microcomputer is provided in the water heater, and each remote control unit is connected to the control unit via a signal line. The signal line is laid in a house wall or the like so as not to be exposed to the outside.

[0004]

Since the locations where the remote control units are set are separated from each other, it is almost impossible to directly talk with each other at the locations where the remote control units are installed. In particular, those who are in the bathroom have to leave the bathroom if they want to talk to a family in the kitchen or the like. Therefore, it is desirable to add a call function to each remote control unit so that the remote control units can talk with each other.

[0005] Even if a call function is added to each remote control unit, an audio signal cannot be sent to another remote control unit unless the remote controls are connected to each other. However, the work of laying a new signal line for communication and connecting the remote controllers to each other is complicated because the signal line must be buried in a wall or the like.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a remote control device capable of making a call between remote control units without newly connecting remote control units to each other.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided a remote control device comprising a plurality of remote control units connected to a hot water supply device via a signal line. A communication unit comprising a speaker and a transmission unit for superimposing an audio signal output from a microphone on the signal line, and a reception unit for separating and amplifying the audio signal superimposed on the signal line and sounding the speaker. Is incorporated in each remote control unit.

According to the above configuration, since the voice signal is superimposed on the signal line, it is not necessary to separately arrange a dedicated signal line for communicating between the remote control units, and a communication means is added in each remote control unit. Only with this, a call can be made between the remote control units.

By the way, if a remote control unit is erroneously operated or a message prompting the user to perform the next operation is generated from the remote control unit, even a person unfamiliar with the operation of the remote control unit can easily perform the operation. .
To this end, each of the remote control units may include a message creating unit that creates a message prompting an operation to the remote control unit and other messages, and the message created by the message creating unit may be sounded from the speaker. .

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a water heater, which is usually mounted on an outdoor wall in the case of a detached house and mounted in an outdoor piping space in the case of an apartment house. ing. The hot water supply apparatus 1 supplies hot water to a kitchen or a washroom. In addition, hot water is supplied to the bathroom, but in addition, hot water is supplied to the bathtub in the bathroom to perform automatic hot water filling, and the hot water in the bathtub is circulated for reheating (reheating). The operation of the hot water supply device 1 is performed by a kitchen remote control 2 which is a remote control unit installed in a kitchen and a bath remote control 3 which is a remote control unit installed in a bathtub.

The water heater 1 and the kitchen remote controller 2 and the bath remote controller 3 are connected to each other via a signal line 11.
The kitchen remote controller 2 is provided with a display 21 for displaying the set hot water supply temperature and time, a power switch 22, and other various operation switches 23. In addition, kitchen remote control 2
Is provided with a call switch 4. When the user presses the call switch 4 and speaks to the microphone 41, an audio signal is transmitted to the bath remote controller 3.
In addition, as described later, the audio signal transmitted from the bath remote controller 3 is sounded as sound from the speaker 42.

On the other hand, the bath remote controller 3 has a display unit 31 for displaying the set hot water supply temperature and the set hot water temperature in the bathtub.
And various operation switches 32 are provided. A call switch 5 is provided similarly to the kitchen remote controller 2. When the user presses the call switch 5 and speaks toward the microphone 51, an audio signal is transmitted to the kitchen remote controller 2,
Further, the audio signal transmitted from the kitchen remote controller 2 is received and the speaker 52 emits a sound. Incidentally, reference numeral 6 denotes an emergency switch, and there is a case where a conversation cannot be made, for example, when the user feels bad while taking a bath. Therefore, when the emergency button 6 is pressed, an alarm signal is transmitted to the kitchen remote controller 2 instead of a voice signal. Then, an alarm sound is emitted from the speaker 42 of the kitchen remote controller 2.

Referring to FIG. 2, a main part of the structure of the control device built in the hot water supply device 1, and the structures of the kitchen remote controller 2 and the bath remote controller 3 will be described. In the figure, reference numeral 12 denotes a control device built in the hot water supply device 1. Each of 7 and 73 is a main control unit, and has a built-in microcomputer. The main control unit 7 of both remote control units 2 and 3 is the operation button 2
When 3.32 is pressed, a signal corresponding to the type of the pressed operation button is generated, and a modem 71 modulates a carrier wave of a predetermined frequency to generate a control signal. Then, the control signal is transmitted to the signal line 11 via the band pass filter 72.

The control signal transmitted to the signal line 11 is received by the modem 74 via the band-pass filter 75 of the control device 12, demodulated, and then input to the main control unit 73. For example, when a control signal for turning on the power is transmitted from the kitchen remote controller 2, the main control unit 73 receives the control signal and turns on the power of the water heater 1. Also,
When an abnormality occurs in the hot water supply device 1 or the like, the fact is transmitted from the control device 12 to the kitchen remote control 2 and the bath remote control 3,
That is displayed on the display units 21 and 31.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a codec, and the microphones 41 and 51
A coder unit for converting an analog signal output from a digital audio signal into a digital audio signal;
And a decoder for decoding the analog signal to make the 52 sound. The voice signal output from the codec 8 is modulated by the modem 81 and transmitted from the bandpass filter 82 to the signal line 11 via the mixer 83.
Here, since the frequencies of the carrier waves are set to be different between the modem 71 and the modem 81, the audio signal is blocked by the band-pass filters 72 and 75 and does not interfere with the main control units 7 and 73. Accordingly, for example, the audio signal output from the kitchen remote controller 2 is received by the modem 81 through the band pass filter 82 of the bath remote controller 3, demodulated, output to the codec 8, and emitted from the speaker 52 of the bath remote controller 3. .

In the above embodiment, the call switch 4
While the user can make a call between the kitchen remote controller 2 and the bath remote controller 3 only while pressing the button 5, the call cannot be made when the finger is released from the call button 4.5.
After pressing and releasing the finger, the user may be allowed to talk for a certain period of time (about one minute). Alternatively, the user may press the call buttons 4 and 5 to enter a call-enabled state, and press the call buttons 4.5 again to release the call state.

[0017]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, a voice signal is superimposed on a signal line connecting the hot water supply device and each remote control unit, so that a call can be made between the remote control units. There is no need to separately lay signal lines for calls between remote control units.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a remote control unit and a control device of a hot water supply device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Hot water supply apparatus 2 Kitchen remote control 3 Bath remote control 11 Signal line 4 Talk button 5 Talk button

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A remote control device comprising a plurality of remote control units connected to a hot water supply device via signal lines, wherein each remote control unit is provided with a microphone and a speaker, and an audio signal output from the microphone is superimposed on the signal line. A remote control unit, wherein each remote control unit includes communication means having transmission means for causing the signal to be transmitted and receiving means for separating and amplifying an audio signal superimposed on a signal line to sound a speaker. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein each of the remote control units includes a message creating unit that creates a message prompting an operation to the remote control unit and other messages, and causes the message created by the message creating unit to sound from the speaker. The remote control device according to claim 1.