JP2006170554A - Water heater remote control - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make an interphone function hands-free with one frequency of carrier wave. <P>SOLUTION: A carrier wave detecting means 14 for voice signals is provided, and when the carrier wave detecting means 14 detects carrier wave, a receiving means 7 is started, and a transmitting means 4 is stopped. Hands-free talk is thereby attained only by using one carrier wave for voice communication, which makes constitution simple and low in cost. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a remote controller for a water heater having an interphone function between remote controllers inside and outside the bathroom.

  In recent years, more than 10,000 people die every year while taking a bath in the bathroom. In view of such a situation, the spread of equipment for preventing accidents in the bathroom, such as bathroom heating, has been promoted. However, devices that detect accidents that occur in the bathroom are either expensive or have their installation involved, or are not readily available.

  Under such circumstances, a conventional remote controller for a water heater is known that uses an intercom function provided in a remote controller for a water heater, monitors sounds in the bathroom, and checks the state of the bather (for example, Patent Documents). 1).

  In such a remote control for a water heater, the sound of the bathroom is picked up by the microphone of the remote controller and transmitted to the kitchen remote controller, so that the sound of the bathroom can always be heard by the speaker of the kitchen remote controller.

  In addition, the intercom function provided in the remote control of the water heater has changed from a press talk system that allows you to talk while pressing the call switch to a hands-free system that allows you to talk without having to press the call switch. It is shifting.

  The hands-free system is often used over the phone. In order to realize the hands-free, a voice switching method is generally used in which the volume level of the transmission and reception is compared and the transmission and reception are switched (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

In this voice switching method, since it is necessary to compare the volume levels of incoming and outgoing voices, simultaneous bidirectional (full duplex) communication of audio signals is always required. For this reason, transmission and reception of voice signals can be performed simultaneously and bidirectionally (full duplex) by time division multiplexing, and simultaneous bidirectional (full duplex) can be achieved by changing the carrier frequency for transmission and reception. (For example, refer to Patent Document 3).
JP 2001-208422 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-205436 Japanese Patent No. 3359213

  However, in the conventional remote controller of the hot water heater, simultaneous bidirectional (full duplex) audio signals are necessary to realize hands-free operation.

  In addition, the remote controller of the water heater also requires data communication other than voice, such as temperature setting data using the remote controller.

  Therefore, in order to perform transmission and reception of voice signals and data communication, it has been necessary to perform time division, time division, or three carrier frequencies and frequency multiplexing. In order to perform time division, it is necessary to have a function of compressing and sending audio data and expanding it on the receiving side. Further, in order to configure with frequency multiplexing, a circuit for communicating three frequencies is required.

  As described above, the conventional remote control has problems such as a complicated configuration due to hands-free operation and an increase in cost.

  The present invention solves the above-described conventional problems, and an object thereof is to realize hands-free with a simple circuit configuration.

  In order to solve the above-described conventional problems, the remote controller of the water heater of the present invention is configured to multiplex data communication and audio signals at two frequencies, and to realize hands-free with the configuration.

  First, the remote controller on the transmission side receives sound with a microphone. If the sound received by the microphone is determined by the sound pressure determination means to be a sound pressure equal to or higher than the set level, the microcomputer activates the transmission means. The voice signal is modulated to the carrier wave by the transmitting means, and is sent to the communication line by the voice communication means. In the remote controller on the receiver side, the voice communication means selects the voice communication frequency. The carrier wave detection means detects the presence or absence of the carrier wave of the audio signal, and if there is a carrier wave, issues a carrier wave detection signal to the microcomputer. When there is a carrier wave detection signal, the microcomputer activates the receiving means, demodulates the audio signal, and outputs the audio from the speaker. At the same time, the transmission means is stopped while the carrier wave detection signal is present. When the talk is finished with the remote controller on the transmission side, the sound pressure determination means determines that the sound pressure of the microphone is less than the set level, and the microcomputer stops the transmission means. Thereby, the voice communication ends. Even in the remote controller on the receiver side, the carrier detection means detects the absence of the carrier wave, so the microcomputer stops the receiver means and there is no sound from the speaker.

  Next, when a reply is made by voice with the remote controller on the opposite side, the remote controller now becomes the transmission side, and a reply is issued from the speaker of the partner remote controller by the same action by the above means.

  As described above, hands-free communication can be performed by alternately performing voice communication for both transmission and reception with one voice communication means, that is, one carrier wave.

  The remote controller of the hot water heater of the present invention can be used for hands-free communication by using only one carrier wave for voice communication, and can be configured simply and inexpensively.

  In a first aspect of the present invention, in the water heater remote controller having an interphone function capable of making a call between the bathroom remote controller of the water heater and the kitchen remote controller, a carrier wave detecting means for audio signals is provided, and the carrier wave detecting means detects the carrier wave. By starting the receiving means and stopping the transmitting means, it is possible to start voice communication without performing data communication. Hands-free can be realized with heavy communication (the carrier wave is one frequency), and can be configured easily and inexpensively.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a water heater provided with a remote controller for a water heater in the first embodiment of the present invention. Blocks having the same function in the bathroom remote controller and the kitchen remote controller are assigned the same reference numerals, and the bathroom remote controller side is a and the kitchen remote controller side is b. In the following description, in the case of the description that does not require the classification of the bathroom remote control or the kitchen remote control, the description of the classification of a or b is omitted.

  In FIG. 1, in the remote controller 1, the voice during a call passes from the microphone 2a through the sound pressure determination means 3a, is modulated by a carrier wave in the transmission means 4a, and is transmitted from the voice communication means 5a to the communication line 6. The voice signal sent from the communication line 6 passes through the voice communication means 5a, is demodulated by the receiving means 7a, and becomes voice by the speaker 8a. A carrier wave detection unit 14a is provided between the voice communication unit 5a and the reception unit 7a. When a carrier wave of 125 kHz for voice communication is detected, a carrier wave detection signal is output to the microcomputer 9a.

  When the remote controller 1 is used to change the temperature setting of the water heater (the temperature setting switch is not shown), the temperature setting data is sent from the microcomputer 9a to the data communication means 10a, and the data communication means 10a sends the data to the communication line 6. Is sent out. The communication data sent to the communication line 6 is received by the kitchen remote controller 12 and the water heater 13.

  The data communication means 10a places the digital signal (1 or 0 data string) output from the microcomputer 9a on a carrier wave having a frequency of 250 kHz. The voice communication means 5a passes only a carrier wave having a frequency of 125 kHz.

  The microcomputer 9a is connected to the sound pressure determination means 3a, the transmission means 4a, the reception means 7a, the data communication means 10a, the call switch 11a, and the carrier wave detection means 14a.

  The circuit configuration of the kitchen remote control 12 is the same as that of the full remote control 1 and will not be described.

  A description will be given of how a hands-free call can be made with the remote controller of the water heater configured as described above.

  First, when the user wants to start a call (for example, when he / she wants to talk to a person who is taking a bath in the bath, he / she presses the call switch 11a of the bath remote 1). The microcomputer 9a detects that the call switch 11a is turned on, and sends call start data to the data communication means 10a. The data communication unit 10a performs data communication on the communication line 6 on a carrier wave of 250 kHz. The kitchen remote controller 12 receives the call start data by the data communication means 10b and transmits the call start data to the microcomputer 9b. The microcomputer 9b receives the call start data and sounds a ringing tone (for example, a melody such as ping-pong pampong) from the speaker 8b.

  In the remote controller 1, the microphone 2 a receives a speaking voice. If the sound received by the microphone 2a is determined by the sound pressure determination means 3a to have a sound pressure higher than the set value, the microcomputer 9a activates the transmission means 4a, modulates it with a carrier wave of 125 kHz, and transmits the voice communication means 5a. The voice signal is transmitted to the communication line 6. At the same time, the microcomputer 9a stops the receiving means 7a.

  In the kitchen remote control 12, the audio signal sent to the communication line 6 passes through the audio communication means 5b. The carrier wave detection means 14b detects a 125 kHz carrier wave. If the 125 kHz carrier wave can be detected, the microcomputer 9b activates the receiving means 7b, demodulates the voice signal, and outputs the voice sent from the remote controller 1 from the speaker 8b. At the same time, the microcomputer 9b stops the transmission means 4b even if the sound pressure determination means 3b detects a sound pressure above the set level by the microphone 2b of the kitchen remote control 12. Thereby, the microphone 2b picks up the sound emitted from the speaker 8b, and the howling phenomenon that is reproduced again by the receiving means 7b and the speaker 8b via the sound pressure determination means 3b, the transmission means 4b, and the voice communication means 5b. It can be avoided. Howling, which is a problem that occurs in hands-free, can be avoided in this way.

  When the talk from the bather is over, the microphone 2a of the remote controller 1 does not receive audio. Therefore, the sound pressure determination means 3a determines that the sound pressure is equal to or lower than the set level, and the microcomputer 9a stops the transmission means 4a. The transmission means 4a stops the transmission of the 125 kHz carrier wave.

  In the kitchen remote controller 12, the carrier wave detection means 14b determines that there is no 125 kHz carrier wave. The microcomputer 9b stops the reception circuit 7b. At the same time, the stop of the transmission means 4b is released.

  When the conversation from the bath side is over and the reply is made from the kitchen side, the user talks directly to the microphone 2b without pressing the call switch 11b. If the microphone 2b receives the voice of the kitchen side and the sound pressure determination means 3b determines that there is a sound pressure higher than the set value, the microcomputer 9b activates the transmission means 4b, modulates with a carrier wave of 125 kHz, and performs voice communication. The data is transmitted from the means 5b to the communication line 6. At the same time, the microcomputer 9b stops the receiving means 7b.

  The reception operation on the bath side at this time is the same as the reception operation on the kitchen side when speaking from the bath side. By repeating this transmission and reception movement, a hands-free call becomes possible.

  FIG. 2 shows a timing chart of a hands-free call. FIG. 2A shows a timing chart of the voice communication of the present invention. The sound pressure of the sound received by the microphone 2 is determined by the sound pressure determining means 3, and if it is determined that there is sound, the transmitting means 4 immediately modulates 125 kHz, and the sound communication means 5 sends out the sound signal. To do. For comparison, a timing chart of conventional data communication and voice communication is shown in FIG. Conventionally, when sending a voice signal, the microcomputer 9 on the transmission side sends the data “transmission” by the data communication means 10 to the data communication means 10 of the remote control on the reception side via the communication line 6, and the data The “transmission” data demodulated by the communication means 10 is recognized by the microcomputer 9 and then the reception means 7 is activated. In the remote controller on the transmission side, after the data communication, the transmission means 4 is activated, the voice is modulated at 125 kHz, and the voice communication means 5 sends a voice signal to the communication line 6.

  Thus, in contrast to the conventional transmission procedure, the transmission procedure of the present invention omits data communication. Thus, conventionally, even if the microphone of the transmitting remote controller receives sound for the time required for data communication, it is possible to avoid cutting off the head portion. For example, if it takes 200 ms for data communication, it can be avoided that “Moshi” is spoken when “Moshi” is spoken. That is, the user who has switched from the transmitting side to the receiving side can receive the speech from the head of the transmitting side. This is because the reception side is provided with the carrier wave detection circuit 14, so that it is possible to recognize that voice communication has been started without performing data communication.

In this manner, hands-free communication can be realized with one carrier frequency used for voice communication, that is, with half-duplex communication, so that the circuit is simple and can be configured at low cost.
In the first embodiment, the frequency of the carrier wave for voice communication is set to 125 kHz and the frequency of the carrier wave for data communication is set to 250 kHz. However, the frequency setting is not particularly limited.

  For example, when the audio signal is AM-modulated, the carrier wave detection means 14 demodulates the reception means 7 with a diode detection circuit or the like. However, the demodulation level at that time may be detected.

  As described above, the remote controller of the water heater according to the present invention can realize a hands-free call with a simple configuration. Therefore, the interphone is not limited to a water heater and can be connected to the inside and outside of the bathroom with an interphone to grasp the bathroom situation. It is possible to expand to equipment and watching functions.

Block diagram of a water heater provided with a remote controller for the water heater in Embodiment 1 of the present invention (A) Timing chart of voice communication of remote controller of water heater in Embodiment 1 of the present invention (b) Timing chart of voice communication of remote controller of conventional water heater

Explanation of symbols

1 bath remote control 4a, 4b transmission means 7a, 7b reception means 12 kitchen remote control 14a, 14b carrier detection means

Claims (1)

In the water heater remote controller equipped with an intercom function that enables communication between the bath remote controller of the water heater and the kitchen remote controller, a carrier wave detecting means for audio signals is provided, and when the carrier wave detecting means detects the carrier wave, the receiving means is activated. At the same time, a water heater remote control that stops the transmission means.

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