JP2003122871A - Equipment maintenance support system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an equipment maintenance support system at a low cost and taking no time and labor for a user by specifying service parts for user's equipment, the replacement timing, and the like for supply from an external information management device. SOLUTION: This equipment maintenance support system is provided with a signal processor 2 provided with a user maintenance signal transmitting means 21 receiving a maintenance signal 111 transmitted form the equipment 1a, adding user address information and transmitting it as a user maintenance signal 121 to an external information management device 3, and the information management device 3 specifying corresponding parts on the basis of the user maintenance signal 121 received from the signal processor 2, and carrying out prescribed processing.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device maintenance support system capable of suitably providing maintenance service for a device requiring maintenance or a device including parts requiring maintenance. is there.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a large number of devices represented by household electric appliances require maintenance. For example, in some air conditioners, an air purifying filter is arranged at the intake port for blowing air to prompt the user to clean or replace the air purifying filter by lighting an LED or the like in accordance with the cumulative operation elapsed time. In addition, from the viewpoint of protecting the machine body, information such as temperature, pressure, and current is detected during operation to automatically perform failure diagnosis, and the user is prompted to confirm the fact through a display device such as a liquid crystal display. There were some that took measures such as requesting the maintenance company to respond via.

However, with the recent development of communication technology represented by the Internet, a system for performing maintenance by information communication with home electric appliances and the like via a network has been proposed. A conventional system of this type is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-154181. In the same invention, in a device that requires external maintenance via a network through failure diagnosis performed by the machine itself, the content of maintenance, replacement parts, replacement timing, etc. are specified by a signal processing device installed in the device,
The specified signal is sent to the information management device outside the home by e-mail, etc., the predetermined information processing is performed in the information management device outside the home, and the corresponding content is transmitted again as information to the terminal device on the user side. The subject invention is disclosed.

[0004]

However, in the configuration of the conventional system described above, the signal processing device in the home must have a lot of means for specifying the replacement parts and the replacement timing of the equipment and data for specifying the replacement parts. Therefore, the cost of the signal processing device becomes high, and it is impossible to provide such a service to the user at low cost. Also, when the number of target devices increases due to the replacement of devices connected to the home network and the replacement of new devices or the purchase of new types of devices, the signal processing device may have replacement parts for the devices or It is necessary to change the means for specifying the exchange timing and rewrite the data for specifying the exchange timing, which imposes an additional burden on the user, and the trouble of obtaining the data and inputting to the signal processing device is troublesome. There was a problem in terms of versatility such as forgetting.

Therefore, the present invention solves such a conventional problem, and specifies the replacement parts and the replacement timing of the device and the user information such as the user's address in the information management device outside the house. Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive and easy equipment maintenance support system to the user.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is configured such that a device requiring maintenance transmits a minimum amount of information required for maintenance, and the device is required on a communication network. And the information management device, the device has a signal processing device for transmitting information to the information management device by attaching at least user information for identifying the user to the maintenance information transmitted from the device, and is required for the user information and maintenance. Based on the minimum information, the database provided in the information management device is referenced to specify the maintenance support content, and the maintenance service is provided to the user.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The invention according to claim 1 is a maintenance signal transmitting means for detecting at least a predetermined condition and transmitting a maintenance signal corresponding to the predetermined condition to the outside of the device via a wired or wireless communication means. A device group consisting of at least one device provided with the device group, connected to the device group by wire or wirelessly, and processing or adding data to received signal information from the maintenance signal transmission means of the device. A maintenance signal processing device having a user maintenance signal transmitting means for transmitting a user maintenance signal, and a user maintenance signal transmitted from the maintenance signal processing device and connected so as to be able to communicate with the maintenance signal processing device in a wired or wireless manner. A database that searches for maintenance support processing for the device based on And a response transmitting unit capable of transmitting information about the search result to a response unit capable of prompting confirmation of a predetermined maintenance person or a user of the device. To do. According to this configuration, when the device installed on the user side needs maintenance, the corresponding information can be retrieved in a timely manner or the fact can be transmitted to a specialized maintenance department, and the device can be connected to the home network. Even when a device is replaced or a new type of device is added, the user does not need to update the settings of the signal processing device and the device.

The present invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the maintenance signal transmitting means transmits a maintenance signal when the device detects a predetermined condition and at every set predetermined time. According to this configuration, the device owned by the user can be managed easily and surely in the information management device, and therefore, the user can be provided with a quick and more detailed service without human labor. be able to.

The present invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that the device has a maintenance signal generating means for communicating by wire or wirelessly and forcibly transmitting the maintenance signal to the maintenance signal transmitting means. According to this configuration, the user can transmit the status of the device to the information management device at any timing to check the current status of the device, and thus can appropriately provide information to the user.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the maintenance signal transmitted from the device indicates at least model recognition information for recognizing the type of machine and signal transmission conditions determined by the maintenance signal transmission means of the device. It is characterized by including maintenance reason information. According to this configuration, information is sequentially transmitted to the information management device outside the home based on the maintenance signal information that is output by the device as little as possible, and the information management device side can make a technical judgment such as a failure, to ensure the accuracy. It is possible to reduce the burden of transmitting information on the device side as much as possible.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the maintenance signal transmitted from the device includes at least model recognition information for recognizing the type of machine body, and cumulative operation time information of the device. To do. Further, according to this configuration, it is possible to determine the maintenance content required by the information management device outside the house with a minimum amount of data and transmit the corresponding process.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the maintenance signal processing device adds at least user information data for specifying a user of the device group to the maintenance signal transmitted from the device. Characterize. According to this configuration, the maintenance signal transmission unit of the in-home device and the user maintenance signal transmission unit of the signal processing device can be constructed with a simple configuration. That is, since information relating to user identification, which is common information when transmitting to the information processing apparatus, can be shared and transmitted by each device, it is not necessary to make settings for each device.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the equipment maintenance support system according to the fourth aspect, the information management device has a first maintenance content information data corresponding to a maintenance signal predetermined according to the equipment. And a processing means for searching the first database from the model recognition information and the maintenance reason information included in the user maintenance signal and transmitting the corresponding maintenance content information. According to this configuration, the devices and signal processing devices in the home can be constructed with a simple structure, and the devices connected to the home network have become old and replaced or new types of devices have increased. Even in this case, it is only necessary to improve the information management device outside the house, and the signal processing device does not need to change the means for specifying the exchange timing and rewrite the data for specifying.

The present invention according to claim 8 is the device maintenance support system according to claim 5, wherein the information management device has a predetermined replacement time information of a predetermined part predetermined according to the device. Database and the model recognition information included in the user maintenance signal, the predetermined replacement time information of the predetermined component used in the device set in advance is retrieved, and the result is accumulated accumulated operating time information included in the user maintenance signal. And a determination result transmitting means for transmitting the maintenance information of the predetermined component based on the determination made by the calculating means. According to this configuration, the devices and signal processing devices in the home can be constructed with a simple structure, and the devices connected to the home network have become old and replaced or new types of devices have increased. Even in this case, it is only necessary to improve the information management device outside the house, and the signal processing device does not need to change the means for specifying the exchange timing and rewrite the data for specifying.

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

(Embodiment 1) First, with reference to FIG. 1, an example of the configuration of a home / outside network of a device maintenance support system according to the present invention will be described. As shown in the figure, an in-home network 4 is laid in the user's house, and when a predetermined condition during operation of the device or a remote controller 50a which is a maintenance signal generating means or a trigger button 50b arranged on the device is used. Maintenance signal transmitting means 11 for transmitting a maintenance signal 111 when a trigger is applied.
Device 1 (1a and 1b) having (11a and 11b)
Are connected via the network 4 so that they can communicate with each other. The first device is, for example, an air conditioner, a refrigerator, an FA.
It is a device that requires parts replacement such as X, regular maintenance work, and maintenance at the time of failure, and its type is not limited in any way. In addition, the home network 4 is wireless, PHS,
Further, it is possible to use a power line or the like so as to network the devices in the home.

On the other hand, for communication from the user's house to the network outside the user's house, the signal processing apparatus 2 having the user maintenance signal transmitting means 21 installed in the user's house,
Also, a gateway 22 for interworking and communicating between networks is connected. Signal processing device 2
Is not limited in its type as long as it receives a signal from an in-home device such as a TV door phone, a FAX, or a telephone and transmits it to an information processing device outside the home.
May have a configuration including the signal processing device 2. The user maintenance signal transmission means 21 is, for example, information for recognizing the user, that is, an ID number registered in advance by the maintenance service provider, a telephone / FAX number, E
A mail address or the like is added to the maintenance signal 111 and can be transmitted as a user maintenance signal 121 to the information processing device 3 via the outside-home network 5. If the information processing device 3 is a device that receives a signal from a device in a house such as a server of a maintenance company and performs processing such as ordering parts for maintenance, arranging parts, extracting / instructing maintenance contents, etc., Is not limited in any way. Further, the type of the out-of-home network 5 is not limited as long as it is a network of out-of-home devices such as a telephone line or an optical fiber.

The operation of the above arrangement will be described below. For example, when the device 1b is a refrigerator and the compressor (not shown) used for freezing causes an excessive temperature rise, and a microcomputer (not shown) provided on the control board detects an abnormal state, the microcomputer 1b The information is transmitted to the maintenance signal transmitting means 11b. Therefore, b receives a signal of an abnormal state occurrence from the microcomputer, and uses the model name information of the machine and the abnormal code information corresponding to the abnormal state due to the excessive temperature rise of the compressor as a maintenance signal 111 via the home network 4. It is transmitted to the maintenance signal processing device 2.

The maintenance signal processing device 2 provides a maintenance support service via the outside network with user information for identifying the owner of the refrigerator, for example, telephone number information added to the received maintenance signal 111. It is transmitted as the user 121 to the information management device 3 (server) owned by the trader. Based on this information, the abnormality code information, and the telephone number information, the information management device 3 first determines whether the user of the device that issued the signal from the telephone number information is a maintenance support service subscriber, and if the result is OK. To access the failure diagnosis database (first database) 31 having countermeasure information corresponding to the abnormal code for each model, give the abnormal code information that matches the received model name information, and extract the countermeasure information. Then, according to the content of the corresponding information, detailed information such as the user's address and contact information, information about the model involved in the failure, the content of the abnormal state, etc. are transmitted to the communication means of the predetermined visiting service provider, and the corresponding content to the user. The information is returned by way of a contact means such as an email or a fax that the user has previously designated and registered. The returned information may be received by FAX or the like, but may be prompted by the user through a display device such as a liquid crystal display installed in the device that transmitted the abnormality information.

On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the abnormal state of the compressor of the refrigerator is detected and transmitted by the control means of the equipment body, but the forced diagnosis button 50b arranged on the equipment 1b is used.
The (maintenance signal transmitting means) may allow the user to transmit a status signal to the system of the maintenance support service at an arbitrary timing so that it can be confirmed whether or not there is a failure. Reference numeral 2b is an air conditioner equipped with a filter (not shown) for cleaning the air, which is a replacement part, and has a timer function for counting an accumulated operation time by a microcomputer (not shown) on a control board. . The accumulated time information in the timer is stored in a non-volatile memory and is retained so that the information is not erased unless it is specially reset. In the air conditioner 1a, the timer transmits the information to a at regular intervals or when the predetermined integrated time period expires, and the timer is transmitted to the maintenance signal processing device 2 including model information and operation integrated time information. Send.

In the maintenance signal processing device 2, the user management ID registered in the database by the maintenance support service company as user information for identifying the owner of the air conditioner for the received maintenance signal 111.
The information to which the number is added is transmitted as the user 121 to the information management device 3 (server) owned by the vendor who provides the maintenance support service via the outside network. Based on this information, driver's seat counting time, ID number information, etc., the information management device 3 first determines whether or not the user of the device that has issued the signal from the ID number is a maintenance support service subscriber, and the OK In this case, the maintenance information corresponding to each model, for example, the failure diagnosis database (second database) 32 having data such as the filter replacement period and the antifungal agent consumption period is accessed and compared with the accumulated operating time information. And maintenance information such as whether it needs to be replaced or how soon it will reach replacement time. Then, according to the content of the correspondence information, detailed information such as the address and contact information of the user is transmitted to the communication means of the predetermined visiting service provider, and the user specifies the correspondence content information in advance by mail or FAX. Information is returned via the contact means registered in.

If the exchange timing signal is information on the exchange timing, such as the operation accumulated time of the device 1 or at least one of the exchange timing results determined by the device 1, the type of the exchange timing signal is as follows. No limitation whatsoever. Further, in the present embodiment, the maintenance signal is transmitted on the basis of the accumulated operating time information of the air conditioner on a regular basis or based on the deadline information set inside the control device. The maintenance information acquisition button 50b (maintenance signal transmission means) may be used to allow the user to send a status signal to the system of the maintenance support service at any timing so that it can be confirmed whether or not there is a failure.

Further, the information returned from the information management device 3 may be received by a mobile device (not shown) carried by the user.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart schematically showing the execution contents of the program. Further, FIG. 3 is a replacement part determination table determined for each model. The outline of this embodiment will be described below with reference to FIGS.

When the operation of the device 1 is started, first, the maintenance signal 111 is periodically transmitted, or the maintenance signal 111 is transmitted according to the instruction of the signal processing device 2. If the determination result is the transmission timing, the maintenance signal 111 is transmitted (step 1. Next, the maintenance signal 111 indicating the model name, the type of replacement part, and the replacement timing of the replacement part is received (step 2), and the telephone number and the mail are sent. The user address information such as the address of (1) is added (step 3), and is transmitted as the user maintenance signal 121 with (step 4) Further, as shown in FIG. Step 5), the part number of the replacement part, for example, "model name is model A,
If the type of replacement part is part C, the part number of the replacement part is CX-
2 ”(step 6). If it is the replacement timing (step 7), and if the user has a device maintenance contract, a predetermined process such as replacement of parts is performed.

[0026]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to determine the part number of the replacement part and specify the replacement timing by the information processing device outside the house, and the device and signal processing device inside the house are simple. It can be constructed with various configurations. In addition, even if the device connected to the home network becomes old and is replaced or a new type of device is added, the signal processing device changes the device replacement parts and means for specifying the replacement timing, and It is not necessary to rewrite the data for specifying, and the device maintenance support system can be provided to the user at low cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a configuration of a device maintenance support system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a procedure of the device maintenance support system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a table diagram showing correspondence between model types and replacement parts in the second database according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1a, 1b equipment 2 Signal processing device 3 Information processing equipment 4 Home network 5 Out-of-home network 11a, 11b Maintenance signal transmission means 21 User maintenance signal transmission means 31 First Database 32 Second database 111 Maintenance signal 121 User maintenance signal

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F-term (reference) 5B089 GA11 GA23 JA35 JB14 KB04                       KC47                 5C087 AA02 AA03 AA10 BB11 BB18                       BB65 BB74 DD08 DD37 DD38                       EE06 EE14 FF01 FF02 FF16                       FF19 GG06 GG36                 5K048 AA05 BA01 EB08 EB10 FB04

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A device comprising at least one device equipped with a maintenance signal transmitting means for detecting at least a predetermined condition and transmitting a maintenance signal according to the condition to the outside of the device via a wired or wireless communication means. A group of
A maintenance signal processing device that is connected to the group of devices in a wired or wireless manner and has a transmitting unit that processes or adds data to the received signal from the maintenance signal transmitting unit of the device and transmits a user maintenance signal. And a database that is connected to the maintenance signal processing device so as to be able to communicate by wire or wirelessly, and that searches for a maintenance support process for the device based on a user maintenance signal transmitted from the maintenance signal processing device and a search result thereof. Device maintenance support, which comprises an information management device having a response transmitting means capable of transmitting information to a response means capable of prompting confirmation of a predetermined maintenance person or a user of the equipment. system. 2. The equipment maintenance support system according to claim 1, wherein the maintenance signal transmitting means emits a maintenance signal when the equipment detects a predetermined condition and at every set predetermined time. 3. The equipment maintenance support system according to claim 1, wherein the equipment has a maintenance signal generation means for communicating by wire or wirelessly and forcibly transmitting the maintenance signal to the maintenance signal transmission means. 4. The maintenance signal transmitted from the device includes at least model recognition information for recognizing the type of machine body and maintenance reason information indicating a signal transmission condition determined by a maintenance signal transmission means of the device. The equipment maintenance support system according to claim 1. 5. The device according to claim 1, wherein the maintenance signal transmitted from the device includes at least model recognition information for recognizing the type of machine body and cumulative operation time information of the device. Maintenance support system. 6. The maintenance signal processing device adds at least user information data for specifying a user of the device group to a maintenance signal transmitted from the device. Equipment maintenance support system. 7. The information management device, based on a first database having maintenance content information data corresponding to a maintenance signal predetermined according to the equipment, model recognition information and maintenance reason information included in the user maintenance signal, 5. A device maintenance support system according to claim 4, further comprising processing means for searching the first database and transmitting the corresponding maintenance content information. 8. The information management device includes a second database having predetermined replacement time information of a predetermined component predetermined according to the device, and the device preset based on the model recognition information included in the user maintenance signal. Calculation means for retrieving predetermined replacement time information of the predetermined part to be used, and comparing the result with the accumulated operation time information included in the user maintenance signal, and maintenance of the predetermined part based on the judgment of the calculation means. The equipment maintenance support system according to claim 5, further comprising a determination result transmission means for transmitting information.