JP2003111150A - Remote control device and water supply system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a remote control device and a water supply system, where the remaining capacity of a battery built in a remote control device is stably detected, the detection result is incorporated into communication data, and a reduction in the remaining capacity of the battery is displayed on the main body having a receiving unit. SOLUTION: A remote control device is composed of a power supply means having a battery as a power supply, an operating means which outputs operating signals as actuated by a user, a battery voltage detecting unit which detects the voltage of the battery and outputs detection signals, a communication data generating unit which encodes the control signals and the detection signals into continuous binary codes, and a control unit which controls the operating means, the battery voltage detecting unit, and the communication data generating unit. The control unit turns the battery voltage detecting unit valid only while the communication data generating unit continues to keep a prescribed output power, by which a voltage detecting operation is executed only when a load current is kept constant under the condition that a voltage reduction in the battery is stable.

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 and a water supply device which use a battery as an input power source, have a battery voltage drop monitoring function, and incorporate the monitoring result into communication data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a remote control device using a battery as a power source, a technique for monitoring the battery voltage in order to guarantee the operation and displaying the fact when the battery voltage drops is well known. Further, there is also known a technology in which the display unit is removed for the downsizing of the remote controller, the battery voltage drop information is included in the communication data, and the battery voltage drop is displayed on the main body side of the remote control system that has received the battery voltage information. There is. In addition, since the battery voltage generally changes depending on the time during which the load continues to operate, there is a problem that the battery voltage monitoring unit may misjudge the remaining battery amount due to inconsistent monitoring timing. A technology that solves this problem by using the time until the output of the battery voltage monitoring unit switches as a judgment material,
It is described in detail in Japanese Patent No. 3083124.

[0003]

The battery voltage has a characteristic that the voltage drop is large when the current consumption of the load is large, and changes small when the current consumption is small. However, if the judgment value of the battery voltage monitoring unit is fixed and the battery voltage is monitored when the load current changes, the monitoring result is inverted according to the change in the load current, and the remaining battery capacity is correctly determined. There was a problem that I could not do it.

[0004]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention has the following constitution. First, the remote control device includes a power supply unit that uses a battery as a power source, an operation unit that receives an operation of a user and outputs an operation signal, and a battery voltage detection unit that detects the voltage of the battery and outputs a detection signal. A communication data generation unit that encodes the operation signal and the detection signal into a binary continuous code, and a control unit that controls the operation unit, the battery voltage detection unit, and the communication data generation unit. In the remote control device, the control unit enables the battery voltage detection unit only while the communication data generation unit continues to output a predetermined value. It is the configuration according to claim 1.

In a remote control device that transmits a radio wave by superimposing a digital signal wave on a carrier wave, the load current differs between when the digital signal is 0 and 1, and the battery voltage drop value also changes. Therefore, stable battery voltage detection can be realized by operating the battery voltage detection unit only when the digital signal is constant.

Next, in the remote controller according to claim 1, the power source means, the battery voltage detection unit, the communication data generation unit and the control unit are provided while the communication data generation unit continues to output a predetermined value. The remote control device is characterized in that the time constant is larger than the time constant determined by the load composed of the parts. It has the configuration according to claim 2.

When a load is connected to the battery, the battery voltage gradually drops with a predetermined time constant due to the internal resistance of the battery and the combined impedance of the load, and stabilizes at a certain point. Therefore, the communication data generation unit continues the predetermined output,
In addition, by making the time for enabling the battery voltage detection unit longer than the time constant generated by the battery and the load, stable battery voltage detection can be realized.

Next, in the remote control device according to any one of claims 1 and 2, the control unit changes the data length of the communication data generation unit according to a detection signal of the battery voltage detection unit. Remote control device. It is the configuration according to claim 3.

By varying the data length of the communication data generator according to the detection signal of the battery voltage detector, the receiver can recognize the detection result of the battery voltage detector. Specifically, the number of bits of the data part in the transmission frame is increased or decreased. Also, 0
In the communication method in which the signal length is changed corresponding to data and one data, according to the detection signal of the battery voltage detection unit,
The data of the corresponding bit may be changed to 0 or 1. Since the time when the battery voltage does not decrease is dominant during the use time, it is desirable to set the data length shorter when the battery voltage does not decrease from the viewpoint of suppressing the battery consumption.

Next, in the remote control device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, the battery voltage detecting unit outputs the voltage drop signal of the battery even once during the time when the communication data generating unit continues to output a predetermined value. When the above is detected, the control unit sets a state in which there is no remaining power supply inside, so that the remote control device is characterized. It is the configuration according to claim 4.

Conventionally, when the voltage is monitored in the state where the battery voltage is unstable, in order to improve the accuracy of the monitoring, the control is devised so that the result is validated only when the monitoring results match a plurality of times. It was This time, since the voltage is monitored while the battery voltage is stable, if the battery voltage detection unit detects the voltage drop signal even once while monitoring the battery voltage, the control unit can determine that the battery capacity is low. The control is simplified and the reliability of the operation guarantee of the remote control device is improved.

Next, in the remote control device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, when the control unit recognizes a decrease in the capacity of the battery, the communication data generation unit does not encode the operation signal. And the remote control device.
It is the configuration according to claim 5.

When the battery capacity of the remote controller is low,
In order to communicate more accurately to the receiver, the communication data is transmitted without encoding the operation signal. Since the reception unit has no operation signal in the reception data, the reception error rate such as a bit error decreases, so that the data can be received more reliably.

Next, in the remote controller according to any one of claims 1 to 5, the control unit enables the battery voltage detection unit while the communication data generation unit is outputting a read-on signal for communication data recognition. The remote control device is characterized by that. It has the configuration according to claim 6.

Further, in the remote controller according to any one of claims 1 to 5, the control unit enables the battery voltage detection unit while the communication data generation unit is outputting a lead-off signal for recognizing communication data. The remote control device is characterized by that. It has the configuration according to claim 7.

In the case of wireless communication, it is general to provide a lead-on part and a lead-off part at the beginning of the communication data so that the reception side can correctly recognize the communication data sent from the sending side as regular data. Since the lead-on part and the lead-off part are associated with 0 and 1 of the digital signal, the current consumption of this function is stable. In claim 6, the battery voltage detection unit is operated at the time of lead-on, and in claim 7, the battery voltage detection unit is operated at the time of read-off.

Furthermore, a water supply device comprising the remote control device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, which discharges or stops water in response to an operation command from the remote control device, wherein the battery voltage detecting section The water supply device is characterized in that, when a voltage drop is detected and the operation command instructs the water discharge, the water supply device stops the water supply after a predetermined time has elapsed after the water discharge is performed. The configuration is in claim 8.

In a water supply device having a remote control device,
By displaying the remaining battery level of the remote control with a special operation on the water supply device side, the user can clearly indicate the battery life of the remote control. Here, the special action is to stop the water immediately after spouting.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described based on embodiments. FIG. 1 is a basic block diagram of an embodiment according to the present invention. In the figure, 1 is battery means for powering the remote controller, 2 is a battery voltage detecting section for monitoring the voltage drop of the power source means, 3 is a control section for controlling the operation of the remote controller, and 4 is communication for generating remote controller transmission data. A data generation unit, 5 is an operation unit for inputting a user's operation, 6 is a transmission antenna for transmitting the carrier wave and signal wave generated in the communication data unit 4 to the air,
Reference numeral 7 is a radio wave in the air.

The control unit 3 inputs the operation command from the operation means 5 and the signal from the battery voltage detection unit 2,
The transmission data is output to the communication data generation unit 4. The detailed movement will be described in detail in the description of FIG.

Reference numeral 8 is a receiving antenna for receiving a transmission signal from the remote controller, 9 is a receiving section for receiving the receiving signal from the receiving antenna 8 and extracting transmission data from the remote controller, and 10 is a signal for receiving the signal from the receiving section 9. A CPU, 11 for recognizing the content of the transmission data is a faucet drive unit for executing water discharge and water stoppage of the faucet, and a receiving antenna 8, a receiving unit 9, a CPU 10,
The faucet drive unit 11 constitutes a main body corresponding to the remote control device.

FIG. 2 is a circuit block diagram showing the remote control unit of FIG. 1 in more detail. Reference numeral 1a is a battery which constitutes the power supply means 1, and 3a is a microcomputer which is provided with a ROM, a RAM and the like and plays a central role in the control section 3. The battery 1 is connected to the power supply terminals VDD and GND of the microcomputer 3a.
a and the battery voltage detection unit 4 are connected in parallel. The oscillator 1 is connected to the Xin and Xout terminals of the microcomputer 3a.
2 is connected to generate an operation clock for the microcomputer 3a. The clocking according to claim 1 is performed based on this operation clock. Input port P of microcomputer 3a
I1 is connected to the output terminal of the battery voltage detection unit 4 to input a detection signal, and the input port PI2 inputs the output signal of the operation switch 5a which is a constituent factor of the operation means 5 to recognize the operation command of the user. To do. The output port PO1 of the microcomputer 3a is connected to the switching transistor 13, and when the PO1 is turned on, the switching transistor 13 is also turned on and power is applied to the communication data generating unit. Further, the output port PO2 outputs the transmission data to the communication data generating unit 4. Regarding transmission data, the transmission frame will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

FIG. 3 is a time chart diagram of the battery voltage drop of the embodiment according to the present invention. In the upper diagram of FIG. 3, the vertical axis represents the battery voltage, the horizontal axis represents time, and the lower diagram represents the on / off timing of the output port PO1 of the microcomputer 3a in FIG. 2 synchronized with the time in the upper diagram. . When the PO1 is switched from off to on, the switching transistor 13 in FIG. 2 is turned on, the battery 1a and the communication data generation unit 4 become a closed circuit, a load current is generated, and the battery 1a starts the voltage drop. This behavior is shown in the upper diagram of FIG. 3, and when the output port PO1 is turned on, the battery voltage gradually drops from the VDD value and becomes a stable voltage value after the elapse of T time. This T time is a time constant determined by the battery 1a and the load composed of the battery voltage detection unit 2, the control unit 3, and the communication data generation unit 4, and the battery voltage is detected at the time after T time. By doing so, stable detection becomes possible.

FIG. 4 shows a transmission frame according to the embodiment of the present invention. (1) is a transmission frame when there is a battery remaining amount, and (2) is a transmission frame when there is no battery remaining amount. One frame length is composed of a lead-on portion at the beginning, a lead-off portion next, and a data portion consisting of n bits at the end. n represents a natural number, and here, the time for forming a bit is changed according to 0 data or 1 data. As described above, the state of the lead-on part or the lead-off part is constant, and by setting the lead-on part or the lead-off part longer than the time constant T in FIG. The battery voltage detection unit 2 can perform correct detection. Further, the number of bits of the data part may be increased by 1 bit as shown in (2) according to the detection signal of the battery voltage detection part 2, or the data length may be changed by inverting the data to 0 or 1. Is also good.

Next, the control unit 3 of the remote control device of this embodiment
The contents of control performed in 1 will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the control unit 3 according to claims 4 and 6 of the present invention.

In FIG. 5, first, in S501, the operation unit 5
It is determined whether or not the operation SW of is pressed. S501
If not, return to the start again. If the result in S501 is affirmative, the output port PO1 is turned on in S502, the read-on timer is started in S503, the signal of the battery voltage detection unit 2 is input in S504, and the battery voltage is lowered. Determine whether If negative in S504, jump to S506, and if positive in S504, S5.
A flag is set at 05 and it progresses to S506. In S506, it is determined whether the read-on timer has expired. S
If negative in 506, the process jumps to S504 to detect the battery voltage again, and if positive in S506, the read-on is ended in S507, the read-off timer is started in S508, and then in S505 in S505. Determine if there is no flag set. If the result in S509 is affirmative, in S511, the battery remaining data is set and S
If the result of S509 is NO, the process goes to S512, in which the remaining battery level data is set and the process proceeds to S512. Here, the battery residual amount data indicates data determined by the battery voltage detection unit 2 to be low, and the battery residual amount data is determined by the battery voltage detection unit 2 to be high. It represents the data. Next, in S512, the operation signal is set, and in S513, the process waits until the read-off timer ends, and if the result in S513 is affirmative, the read-off is ended in S514 and the process jumps to the next routine.

As described above, if the battery voltage drop signal is detected even once during the read-on from S503 to S506, the control unit 3 determines that the battery capacity has dropped.

Next, FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the operation of the control unit 3 according to claims 4, 5, and 6 of the present invention. The operation up to S608 is the same as that of S508 in FIG. In S609, it is determined whether or not the flag set in S605 exists. If the result in S609 is affirmative, the battery level data is set in S611, the operation signal data is set in S612, and the process proceeds to S613. If the result in S609 is negative, the battery level data is set in S610 and the process proceeds to S613. Here, the battery remaining amount data indicates data that the battery voltage detecting unit 2 has determined that the battery remaining amount is low, and the battery remaining amount data indicates that the battery voltage detecting unit 2 determines that the battery remaining amount is large. It represents the data. Next, in S613, the process waits until the lead-off timer expires, and if the result in S613 is affirmative, S
At 614, the read-off is ended and the process jumps to the next routine.

In this way, when the battery capacity decrease is recognized in the determination of S609, the control unit 3 does not set the operation signal data, and consequently the communication data generation unit does not encode the operation signal.

[0030]

According to the first, sixth and seventh inventions, in a remote control device using a battery as a power source, when the battery voltage is monitored in order to guarantee the operation, the consumption current of a load which causes a voltage drop fluctuation. The battery voltage monitor was activated only when the change was small. This allows the battery voltage monitoring unit to correctly detect the remaining battery level. In the second invention, the case where the change in the consumption current of the load in the first invention is small is the case where the time for monitoring the battery voltage is longer than the time constant determined by the battery and the load. This makes it possible to keep the change in current consumption of the load small. Third, fourth,
A fifth aspect of the invention is to change the operation signal when it is determined by the detection signal of the battery voltage monitoring unit that the battery level is low,
I did not include it in the transmitted data. As a result, the data reception determination performance is improved, and the reception unit can more reliably receive the transmission data. In the eighth invention, when it is determined by the detection signal of the battery voltage monitoring unit that the battery level is low, the content is included in the communication data, and the water supply device having the receiving unit is made to recognize it. As a result, the water supply device can recognize that the remaining battery level of the remote control is low, and when the spouting operation command comes from the remote control, it will stop the water after a predetermined time, so it is possible to easily notify the user of the abnormality. , It became possible to suggest the battery replacement of the remote control.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a circuit block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a time chart diagram of a battery voltage drop showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a transmission frame diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the control unit 3 according to claims 4 and 6 of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart diagram showing the operation of the control unit 3 in claims 4, 5, and 6 of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Power supply means 1a ... Battery 2 ... Battery voltage detector 3 ... Control unit 3a ... Microcomputer 4 ... Communication data generation unit 5 ... Operation part 5a ... Operation switch 6 ... Transmission antenna 7 ... radio wave 8 ... Receiving antenna 9 ... Receiver 10 ... CPU 11 ... Faucet drive unit 12 ... Oscillator 13 ... Transistor for switch

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A power supply unit that uses a battery as a power source, an operation unit that receives an operation of a user and outputs an operation signal, a battery voltage detection unit that detects a voltage of the battery and outputs a detection signal, A remote controller including a communication data generation unit that encodes the operation signal and the detection signal into a binary continuous code, and a control unit that controls the operation unit, the battery voltage detection unit, and the communication data generation unit. In the device, the control unit enables the battery voltage detection unit only while the communication data generation unit continues to output a predetermined output. 2. The remote control device according to claim 1,
The time during which the communication data generation unit continues to output a predetermined value is based on a time constant determined by the load configured by the power supply unit, the battery voltage detection unit, the communication data generation unit and the control unit. A remote control device characterized by being large. 3. The remote controller according to claim 1, wherein the control unit varies the data length of the communication data generation unit according to a detection signal of the battery voltage detection unit. Remote control device. 4. The remote control device according to claim 1, wherein the battery voltage detection unit once detects a voltage drop signal of the battery within a period in which the communication data generation unit continues to output a predetermined value. In this case, the control unit internally sets a state in which there is no remaining power source, the remote control device. 5. The remote control device according to claim 1, wherein the communication data generation unit does not encode the operation signal when the control unit recognizes a decrease in the capacity of the battery. Remote control device. 6. The remote control device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit enables the battery voltage detection unit while the communication data generation unit is outputting a read-on signal for communication data recognition. Remote control device characterized by. 7. The remote control device according to claim 1, wherein the controller activates the battery voltage detector while the communication data generator is outputting a lead-off signal for recognizing communication data. A remote control device characterized in that 8. A water supply device comprising the remote control device according to claim 1 and discharging water or stopping water in response to an operation command from the remote control device, wherein the battery voltage detection unit The water supply apparatus, wherein when the voltage drop is detected and the operation command instructs the water discharge, the water supply apparatus stops the water supply after a predetermined time after the water discharge is executed.