JP2006287409A - Remote operation terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a remote operation terminal capable of confirming communication by reproducing a state being the same as a lowered internal power supply voltage to facilitate operation works. <P>SOLUTION: The remote operation terminal 2 is provided: with a signal generating section 4 capable of continuously changing a duty ratio of a control signal for controlling a terminal device; a transmission section 3 for outputting a signal generated by the signal generating section 4; and an internal power supply 6. Thus, the duty ratio of the control signal can be varied, and the state being the same as the lowered voltage of the internal power supply 6 is reproduced by the internal processing of the remote operation terminal to confirm the communication and facilitate the operation work. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a remote operation terminal for remotely controlling a terminal device such as various electric devices.

  Conventionally, in this type of remote control terminal, the communicable distance with the terminal device decreases as the internal power source decreases. Therefore, when the remote control terminal and the terminal device are fixed, the remote control terminal may be operable but cannot communicate.

Therefore, with the signal attenuation film attached to the transmitter of the remote control terminal, the communication distance is lowered, or the test mode is entered, the circuit current is reduced by a certain amount, and the communication distance is lowered to construct and communicate. Confirmation was performed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-15772

  However, in the conventional configuration, when performing communication confirmation between the terminal device and the remote control terminal, it is necessary to attach a signal attenuation film separately from a state in which normal communication is performed. Therefore, every time the communication is confirmed, an operation different from the operation of the terminal device is added and the convenience is lacking.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-described conventional problems, and an object thereof is to provide a remote operation terminal that reproduces a state equivalent to that when an internal power supply is reduced, can perform communication confirmation, and facilitates work.

  In order to solve the conventional problems, a remote control terminal according to the present invention is made up of a signal generator capable of continuously changing a duty ratio of a control signal for controlling a terminal device, and the signal generator. A transmission unit for outputting the received signal and an internal power supply.

  As a result, the duty ratio of the control signal can be varied, and the communication can be confirmed by reproducing the same state as when the internal power supply is reduced by the internal processing of the remote control terminal, thus facilitating the work.

  The remote operation terminal according to the present invention reproduces the same state as when the internal power supply is reduced by the internal processing of the remote operation terminal, and can confirm the communication, thereby facilitating the work.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a signal generator capable of continuously changing a duty ratio of a control signal for controlling a terminal device, a transmitter for outputting a signal generated by the signal generator, an internal power supply, By using a remote control terminal equipped with a remote control terminal, the duty ratio of the control signal can be varied, and the same operation as when the internal power supply is reduced due to internal processing of the remote control terminal can be performed to confirm communication and work. It becomes easy.

  In particular, the second invention includes a reception detection confirmation unit that detects that the terminal device has received a signal in the first invention, and a signal is generated when the reception detection confirmation unit detects reception of the terminal device. By controlling the duty ratio of the control signal to be increased, the unit can output a signal in which the efficiency of the output signal is reduced every time reception is confirmed.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in particular, in the second aspect of the invention, the reception detection confirmation unit includes a calculation unit that calculates communicable information based on the maximum duty ratio with which reception of the terminal device can be detected. It is possible to convert from a lowered communication state to other information.

  In a fourth aspect of the invention, in particular, in the third aspect of the invention, the calculation unit converts the maximum duty ratio into the maximum communicable distance with the terminal device, so that the power supply state is changed from the communication state in which the communication efficiency is lowered to the minimum condition. The communication distance can be output.

  In a fifth aspect of the invention, in particular, in the third aspect of the invention, the arithmetic unit converts the maximum duty ratio into a limit voltage of an internal power source capable of communication with the terminal device, so that the minimum voltage that can be communicated in this installation situation. Is obtained.

  In the sixth invention, in particular, in the fifth invention, the voltage of the internal power supply coincides with a limit voltage value at which communication with the terminal device is possible, or has become a predetermined value with respect to the limit voltage of the internal power supply. By providing the notifying unit for notifying that, it is possible to notify when approaching the communication incompetent voltage in an arbitrary installation situation.

  According to a seventh aspect of the invention, in particular, in the third aspect of the invention, the calculation unit estimates the state of the internal power supply of the remote control terminal by converting the maximum duty ratio into a limit capacity of the internal power supply capable of communication with the terminal device. Is possible.

  In the eighth aspect of the invention, in particular, in the third aspect of the invention, the arithmetic unit converts the maximum duty ratio into the replacement time of the internal power supply when communication with the terminal device cannot be performed. It is possible to obtain information on the replacement timing of the internal power supply before the communication power is lowered and communication becomes impossible.

  In the ninth invention, in particular, in any one of the third to eighth inventions, a display unit for displaying communicable information is provided, so that in this installation situation, a communicable distance, a change in battery capacity, an internal The power supply replacement time, internal power supply voltage, and the like can be displayed, and the state of the internal power supply can be known before communication becomes impossible.

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

(Embodiment 1)
1 to 4 show a remote control terminal according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the terminal device 1 is controlled in response to a control signal from a remote operation terminal 2 that is separated by a distance d. Here, the terminal device 1 refers to a lighting device including a receiving unit, an air conditioning / ventilating device, a hot water supply system, a hot water toilet seat, an audio device, a television, an image recording device, and the like. The remote control terminal 2 refers to a remote controller that communicates with infrared rays, and is of a type that is installed on a wall during construction.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the remote operation terminal 2 includes a signal generation unit 4 that generates a control signal or a test signal for the terminal device 1, a transmission unit 3 that transmits a signal to the terminal device 1, and the terminal device 1 that transmits the signal to the transmission unit 3. A reception detection confirmation unit 5 for confirming that a signal is received, an internal power supply 6 such as a battery, and a switch 11 for switching to a test mode used when the remote operation terminal 2 is installed. The transmission unit 3, the signal generation unit 4, and the reception detection confirmation unit 5 are supplied with power from an internal power supply 6.

  About the remote control terminal 2 comprised as mentioned above, the operation | movement and an effect | action are demonstrated below.

  When the terminal device 1 and the remote operation terminal 2 are installed, it is necessary to confirm communication. Therefore, the remote control terminal 2 is switched to the test mode by the changeover switch 11. When switched to the test mode, the signal generator 4 generates a test signal and confirms communication. The test signal is, for example, as shown in FIG. The test signal is a rectangular pulse wave composed of High and Low, and in FIG. 3, the High time is t and the period is T. The duty ratio is represented by t / T. Since the communication efficiency decreases as the value of the duty ratio increases, in the present embodiment, the signal generator 4 increases the high time t or shortens the cycle T of the control signal to increase the duty ratio.

  Next, the reception detection confirmation unit 5 detects that the test signal transmitted from the transmission unit 3 has been received by the terminal device 1. The reception detection confirmation unit 5 is, for example, a button type that can be operated by a person. If it can be confirmed that the terminal device 1 has received the signal, the reception detection confirmation unit 5 may detect it by pressing a button or automatically detect it. Such a configuration may be used.

  When the reception detection confirmation unit 5 confirms communication between the terminal device 1 and the remote operation terminal 2, the signal generation unit 4 further increases the duty ratio of the carrier wave of the signal transmitted last time.

  The duty ratio is sequentially increased until it is detected by the reception detection confirmation unit 5 that the terminal device 1 has been received, and is continued until the reception detection confirmation unit 5 cannot detect that the terminal device 1 has been received.

  FIG. 4 is an example of a flowchart for finding the maximum duty ratio with which the remote control terminal 2 can communicate. First, the test mode is entered by operating the changeover switch 11 from the normal communication state (step 1).

  Next, when performing this step for the first time, a normal control signal is generated by the signal generator 4 and a signal is output from the transmitter 3. From the second time onward, the signal is generated and transmitted by increasing the duty ratio of the carrier wave of the control signal by a certain value from the time when the signal was generated in the previous step 1 (step 2).

  Then, the reception detection confirmation unit 5 confirms that the terminal device 2 has received the signal transmitted in the previous step. If it can be confirmed, the process proceeds to the previous step 2. If the reception cannot be confirmed, the process proceeds to step 4 (step 3).

  If step 2 is performed once, the process proceeds to step 6; if it is performed twice or more, the process proceeds to step 5 (step 4). The duty ratio changed from the last in step 2 is set to the maximum duty ratio, and the test mode is terminated (step 5).

  In step 6, since step 2 was performed only once, communication between the remote control terminal 2 and the terminal device 1 has never been established. For this reason, an instruction to change the installation location again and perform a communication test is issued, and the test mode is terminated.

  From the above, the maximum duty ratio capable of communication can be found.

  In step 2 and step 3, the duty ratio of the signal generated by the signal generator 4 is discretely changed by a certain value which is the signal generator 4 or is continuously changed instead of discretely. May be. Here, “continuous” also means a method of changing by a minimum unit that can be changed.

  In step 3, the signal generation unit 4 searches for the maximum duty ratio that can be communicated by reducing the amount of change for each number of trials instead of every fixed value, and the reception detection confirmation unit 5 receives the signal. A method may be used in which the duty ratio is changed so that the signal level (for example, the arrival time or the SN ratio) is close to an arbitrary value.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to easily confirm the communication by reducing the transmission efficiency of the remote operation terminal 2. It is also possible to obtain detailed data such as the minimum communicable distance and voltage.

(Embodiment 2)
FIG. 5 shows a remote control terminal according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. The same elements as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.

  In the present embodiment, the difference from the first embodiment is that information obtained from the reception detection confirmation unit 5 includes the voltage information of the internal power supply 6, the capacity information of the internal power supply 6, the replacement time of the internal power supply 6, the terminal equipment 1 and the remote control terminal 2 are converted into information such as a communicable distance, a power monitor 8 that detects the state of the internal power source 6 such as a battery, information on the calculator 7 and the power monitor 8 And a display unit 9 for displaying information.

  A method for converting the information obtained from the reception detection confirmation unit 5 into the above information is performed using, for example, a conversion function shown in FIG. In FIG. 6, the communicable distance D is obtained from a function f (drate_max) using the maximum duty ratio drate_max obtained from the reception detection monitoring unit 5.

  Further, data (correspondence table) as shown in FIG. 7 is prepared in advance in the calculation unit 7, and if calculation is performed based on the data, it can also be obtained by converting the maximum duty ratio into communicable information. For example, when the duty ratio is changed and it is found that the maximum duty ratio at which communication is possible is 50%, using the data in FIG. 7, the maximum distance that can be communicated is 20 m, the limit voltage is 2.2 V, and the limit capacity Can be estimated to be 70%, and the power supply replacement period is 10 months after the start of use.

  About the remote control terminal 2 comprised as mentioned above, the operation | movement and an effect | action are demonstrated below. Note that the process of finding the maximum duty ratio at which communication is possible has already been described in the first embodiment and will be omitted, and the subsequent operation and action will be described in detail.

  After the maximum value of the duty ratio that can be communicated between the terminal device 1 and the remote control terminal 2 is found, the voltage value at which the internal power source 6 such as a battery is lowered and equivalent communication efficiency is obtained by using the maximum value in the calculation unit 7 Ask for.

  If the terminal device 1 and the remote terminal device 2 are in normal use, the power supply monitoring unit 8 that monitors the internal power supply 6 such as a battery matches the limit voltage value at which communication with the terminal device 1 is possible, or the internal power supply 6 becomes a predetermined value with respect to the limit voltage of 6, the display unit 9 displays or reports information such as the replacement time or the content of the voltage drop. Can also be done).

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the communication efficiency is reduced between the terminal device 1 and the remote operation terminal 2 at the time of installation to confirm the communication, and the communication efficiency of the remote operation terminal 2 is equal to the internal power source 6 such as a battery. It is possible to display or notify in advance that communication cannot be performed due to a decrease in the communication speed.

(Embodiment 3)
FIG. 8 shows a state in which the remote control terminal according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention is systemized. The same elements as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.

  In the present embodiment, there are a plurality of terminal devices 1 and remote operation terminals 2. The remote operation terminal 2 is wirelessly connected to the central management terminal 10. The central management terminal 10 is connected to an external network 12 via a telephone line or the like. The remote control terminal 2 performs communication confirmation by increasing the duty ratio of the carrier wave of the test signal output from the transmission unit 3 by the method of the first and second embodiments to reduce the communication efficiency. Find the voltage value at which the communication efficiency will be equivalent to the drop.

  When the power supply monitoring unit 8 approaches a predetermined voltage value during normal use, a transmission unit different from the transmission unit 3, for example, a transmission unit for a wireless network such as a specific low power radio or wireless LAN is used, and the central management terminal 10 Information indicating that the internal power supply 6 of the remote control terminal 2 is lowered is transmitted. In addition, the central management terminal 10 notifies the management center, a specific telephone number, or an e-mail address of the information that the internal power supply 6 of the remote operation terminal 2 is lowered through the external network 12 via a telephone line or the like.

  As described above, if the communication efficiency is reduced between the terminal device 1 and the remote operation terminal 2 at the time of installation and communication is confirmed, the communication efficiency of the remote operation terminal 2 cannot be communicated due to the decrease in the internal power supply 6 in advance. Notification can be made to the central management terminal 10 and the external network 12.

  As described above, the remote operation terminal according to the present invention reproduces the same state as when the internal power supply is reduced by the internal processing of the remote operation terminal, can perform communication confirmation, and the work becomes easy. Not only can it be applied at the time of equipment installation, but it can also be applied to the detection of a drop in the internal power supply according to the installation location, and the display / calling of the battery replacement time.

System diagram of remote operation terminal and terminal device in Embodiment 1 of the present invention Block diagram showing the internal configuration of the remote control terminal The figure which shows the control signal example of the same remote operation terminal Flow chart for finding the maximum duty ratio with which the remote control terminal can communicate The block diagram which shows the internal structure of the remote control terminal in Embodiment 2 of this invention The figure which shows the function which calculates the communicable distance from the maximum duty ratio in the same remote control terminal The figure which shows the data of the maximum duty ratio and the communicable information in the same remote operation terminal The figure which shows the state which systemized the remote control terminal in Embodiment 3 of this invention

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Terminal device 2 Remote operation terminal 3 Transmission part 4 Signal generation part 5 Reception detection confirmation part 6 Internal power supply 7 Calculation part 8 Power supply monitoring part 9 Display part

Claims (9)

A remote control terminal comprising a signal generator capable of continuously changing a duty ratio of a control signal for controlling a terminal device, a transmitter for outputting a signal generated by the signal generator, and an internal power source . A reception detection confirmation unit that detects that the terminal device has received a signal is provided, and when the reception detection confirmation unit detects reception of the terminal device, the signal generation unit controls the duty ratio of the control signal to be increased. The remote control terminal according to claim 1. The remote control terminal according to claim 2, further comprising a computing unit that computes communicable information based on a maximum duty ratio at which the reception detection confirmation unit can detect reception of the terminal device. The remote control terminal according to claim 3, wherein the calculation unit converts the maximum duty ratio into a maximum communicable distance with the terminal device. The remote control terminal according to claim 3, wherein the arithmetic unit converts the maximum duty ratio into a limit voltage of an internal power source capable of communication with the terminal device. 6. The notification unit according to claim 5, further comprising: a notification unit that notifies that the voltage of the internal power supply matches a limit voltage value at which communication with the terminal device is possible, or that the internal power supply voltage has reached a predetermined value with respect to the limit voltage of the internal power supply. Remote control terminal. The remote control terminal according to claim 3, wherein the arithmetic unit converts the maximum duty ratio into a limit capacity of an internal power source capable of communication with the terminal device. The remote control terminal according to claim 3, wherein the calculation unit converts the maximum duty ratio into a replacement time of the internal power supply when communication with the terminal device cannot be performed. The remote control terminal according to claim 3, further comprising a display unit that displays communicable information.

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