JP2007116328A - Remote controller, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a remote controller for a household electric appliance which a user can easily seek when it is missing. <P>SOLUTION: The remote controller 1 is configured to include: a remote control slave unit 10 provided with a remote control means 11 for remotely controlling the household electric appliance 30, a slave unit reception means 12 for receiving an acknowledgement signal transmitted from a remote control master unit 20, and a slave unit transmission means 13 for transmitting a response signal to the remote control master unit 20 when the slave unit reception means receives the acknowledgement signal; and the remote control master unit 20 provided with an entry means 21 for receiving the operation of the user, a master unit transmission means 22 for transmitting the acknowledgement signal to the remote control slave unit 10 when the entry means receives the operation of the user, a master unit reception means 23 for receiving the response signal from the remote control slave unit, and a notice means 24 for carrying out a notice according to the reception state of the response signal received by the master unit reception means 23 and the reception contents. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a remote control device for remote operation of home appliances that can be easily searched by a user when lost, and a program.

  In recent years, home appliances often employ a remote control using infrared rays or the like as a user interface for a user to operate home appliances. Such a remote control for home appliances is generally small and portable so that it can be used by the hand. In addition, the remote control for home appliances is used not by a specific family but by the whole family.

  From the above, it may be difficult to know who or where the remote control is placed, and in this case, the user needs to search for the remote control in order to operate the home appliance.

In order to save the trouble of searching for a remote control when the remote control is lost, a remote control is provided with a response function, and when a specific signal is received, the position of the remote control is indicated by sound or light (for example, see Patent Document 1). ).
JP 9-31890 A

  However, even if the remote control responds with sound or light, there is a problem that the user does not notice the presence of the remote control unless the user is near the remote control.

  The present invention solves the above-described conventional problems, and an object thereof is to provide a remote control device that can be easily searched by a user when lost.

  In order to solve the above-described conventional problems, the remote control device and the program according to the present invention transmit a response signal when a remote control slave that operates a home electric appliance receives a confirmation signal transmitted from the remote control master. The remote control master unit notifies the presence of the remote control slave unit according to the reception status of the response signal transmitted by the remote control slave unit and the received content. As a result, the remote control master can notify whether there is a remote control slave nearby, and can provide a remote control device that can be easily searched by the user when lost.

  The remote control device and the program of the present invention can provide information on whether or not there is a remote control slave unit near the remote control master unit, and can provide a remote control device that can be easily searched by the user when lost. Become.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, remote control means for remote-controlling household electrical equipment, slave unit reception means for receiving a confirmation signal transmitted by the remote control master unit, and when the slave unit reception unit receives the confirmation signal, A remote control slave unit having a slave unit transmission means for transmitting a response signal to the machine, an input means for accepting a user operation, and a confirmation signal to the remote control slave unit when the input means accepts a user operation. A base unit transmitting means for transmitting, a base unit receiving means for receiving a response signal from the remote control slave unit, and an informing means for notifying the presence of the remote control slave unit according to the reception status and received content of the response signal received by the base unit reception unit A remote control device is configured from a remote control master device provided with

  Accordingly, it is possible to notify whether or not there is a remote control child device near the remote control parent device, and it is possible to provide a remote control device that can be easily searched by the user when lost.

  According to a second invention, in particular, in the first invention, when the slave unit receiving unit receives the confirmation signal, the slave unit transmitting unit transmits a plurality of response signals having different transmission levels, and the remote unit master unit is notified. Is configured to perform notification according to the reception status of a plurality of response signals.

  As a result, the remote control master unit can notify whether there is a remote control slave unit near the remote control master unit according to the reception status of a plurality of response signals having different transmission levels, and can be easily searched by the user when lost. A remote control device can be provided.

  According to a third aspect of the invention, in particular, in the first aspect of the invention, the slave unit transmitting means transmits the response signal including information indicating the transmission level of the response signal, and the notification unit of the remote control master unit receives the response signal. The notification is performed in accordance with the situation and information indicating the transmission level included in the response signal.

  As a result, the remote control master can notify whether there is a remote control slave near the remote control master according to the transmission level and reception status of the response signal, and a remote control device that can be easily searched by the user when lost It becomes possible to provide.

  In a fourth aspect of the invention, in particular, in the first aspect of the invention, the slave unit transmitting means transmits the response signal including information indicating the reception level of the confirmation signal received by the slave unit receiving unit. The notification means is configured to perform notification according to the reception status of the response signal and information indicating the reception level included in the response signal.

  As a result, the remote control master unit can notify whether the remote control slave unit is near the remote control master unit according to the reception level of the confirmation signal received by the remote control slave unit, and can be easily searched by the user when lost. A remote control device can be provided.

  In a fifth aspect of the invention, in particular, in the first aspect of the invention, the slave unit transmitting means transmits the response signal including operation history information indicating the contents of the remote control unit operated in the past, and notifies the remote control master unit of the notification. The means is configured to perform notification according to the operation history information included in the response signal.

  This makes it possible for the remote control master unit to notify the user of the operation of the remote control slave unit in the past, and helps the user to remember the situation and place where the remote control slave unit was used in the past. It is possible to provide a remote control device that can be searched for.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to fifth aspects of the present invention, each means of the remote control master unit is built in a household electrical appliance operated by the remote control slave unit. When searching for a device, it is possible to search for a remote control device by operating a home electric appliance, so that it is possible to provide a remote control device that can be easily searched by the user when lost.

A seventh invention is a program for causing a computer to function as at least a part of the remote control device according to any one of the first to sixth inventions. Thereby, at least a part of the remote control device can be easily realized by cooperating hardware resources such as electrical / information equipment, a computer, and a server. Also, the program can be distributed and installed easily by storing the program in a storage medium or distributing the program using a communication line.

  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 showing a configuration of a remote control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a remote control device, which includes a remote control slave device 10 and a remote control master device 20 that can communicate with each other by a specific low-power radio.

  The remote control slave device 10 has a function of operating the home appliance 30 by remote control. A user who operates the home appliance operates the home appliance using the remote control unit 11 of the remote controller 10. The remote control means 11 has a function of receiving an operation from the user, a function of displaying the operation content to the user, and a function of transmitting an operation signal 30A to the home appliance. Reference numeral 12 denotes a slave unit receiving means for receiving a confirmation signal 20A transmitted from the remote control master unit 20. Reference numeral 13 denotes a slave unit transmitting unit, which transmits a response signal 10A when the slave unit receiving unit 12 receives the confirmation signal 20A. Each component of the remote controller 10 is connected to the internal communication bus 100 so as to be able to communicate with each other.

  The remote control master device 20 is used when the user searches for the remote control slave device 10. In the remote control parent machine 20, reference numeral 21 denotes an operation means for accepting a user operation. Reference numeral 22 denotes a parent device transmission means, which transmits a confirmation signal 20A to the remote controller child device 10 when the operation means 21 accepts a user operation. Reference numeral 23 denotes a master unit receiving means for receiving a response signal 10A transmitted from the remote control slave unit 10. Reference numeral 24 denotes notification means that performs notification in accordance with the reception status and received content of the response signal 10A received by the master receiver 23. Each component of the remote controller 20 is connected to an internal communication bus 200 so as to be able to communicate with each other.

  Next, a user interface of remote control parent device 20 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the appearance of the remote control master device 20 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 2, reference numeral 21 </ b> A denotes an operation button that is pressed when the user searches for the remote controller 10. The remote control master device 20 whose operation button has been pressed transmits the confirmation signal 20A as described above, and receives the response signal 10A from the remote control slave device 10. Reference numeral 24A denotes a liquid crystal screen, which performs display according to the reception status and received contents of the response signal 10A received from the remote control slave unit 10.

  Next, a first operation sequence in the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  In FIG. 3, when the input means 21 of the remote control base unit 20 accepts a user operation (S301), it is transmitted to the base unit transmission means 22 (S302), and the base unit transmission means 22 sends a confirmation signal 20A. It is transmitted and received by the slave unit receiving means 12 of the remote controller slave unit 10 (S303).

  The transmission level of the confirmation signal 20A transmitted here is 10 mW which is the upper limit of the standard value of the specific low power radio.

  Next, the slave unit receiving means 12 informs the slave unit transmitting means 13 that the confirmation signal 20A has been received and the reception level of the received confirmation signal 20A (S304). The slave unit transmitting unit 13 transmits a response signal 10A including information indicating the reception level of the confirmation signal 20A, and is received by the master unit receiving unit 23 (S305).

  The transmission level of the response signal 10A transmitted here is 10 mW which is the upper limit of the standard value of the specific low power radio.

  Next, the base unit receiving unit 23 notifies the base unit transmitting unit 22 that the response signal 10A has been received (S306). Next, the base unit transmission means 22 lowers the transmission level and transmits the confirmation signal 20A (S307).

  Here, the confirmation signal 20A is transmitted at a transmission level of 1 mW, which is 10 dB lower than the previous transmission level. Each time the remote control master device 20 receives the response signal 10A from the remote control slave device 10, the remote control master device 20 transmits the confirmation signal 20A with the transmission level lowered.

  In the example of FIG. 3, the confirmation signal 20A transmitted in step S307 is received by the remote controller slave unit 10, and the remote controller master unit 20 transmits the next confirmation signal 10A in step S311 through steps S308, S309, and S310 as described above. ing.

  Here, the confirmation signal 20A to be transmitted is transmitted at 0.1 mW, which is 10 dB lower than the previous transmission level. If the confirmation signal 20A is not received by the remote control slave unit 10, the remote control slave unit 10 does not transmit the response signal 10A, so that the master unit receiving means 23 cannot receive it, and a reception timeout occurs (S312). Transmission of the confirmation signal 20A is stopped (S313).

  In addition, the notifying unit 24 is notified of the reception status and contents of the confirmation signal 20A (S314), and the notifying unit 24 notifies the response result (S315).

  The information notified here is that the transmission level of the confirmation signal 20A transmitted by the remote control master device 20, the reception level of the confirmation signal 10A received by the remote control slave device 10, and the response signal 10A transmitted by the remote control slave device 10 are the remote control parent. The reception level received by the machine.

  Based on these signal levels, the user can determine whether or not the remote control slave unit 10 is nearby. Therefore, the user approaches the remote control slave unit 10 by moving inside the dwelling unit and operating the remote control master unit 20. It becomes possible to discover.

  The level of each signal to be notified here may be expressed by transmission output or electric field strength, or converted to an approximate distance calculated from the transmission level and reception level based on the indoor propagation characteristics of a specific low power radio. You may do it.

  Next, a second operation sequence in the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  In FIG. 4, when the input means 21 of the remote control base unit 20 accepts a user operation (S401), it is reported that there has been an operation input to the base unit transmission means 22 (S402), and the base unit transmission means 22 sends a confirmation signal 20A. The data is transmitted and received by the slave unit receiving means 12 of the remote controller slave unit 10 (S403).

  The transmission level of the confirmation signal 20A transmitted here is 10 mW which is the upper limit of the standard value of the specific low power radio.

  Next, when the slave unit receiving unit 12 notifies the slave unit transmitting unit 13 that the confirmation signal 20A has been received (S404), the slave unit transmitting unit 13 changes the transmission level of the response signal 10A to generate a plurality of response signals. The signal 10A is sent continuously.

  In the example of FIG. 4, the transmission level of the response signal 10A is 10 mW, which is the upper limit of the standard value of the specific low power radio (S405), transmitted by 1 mW reduced by 10 dB (S406), and further reduced by 10 dB. It is transmitting at 0.1mW.

  The response signal 10A transmitted here includes information indicating the transmission level of each response signal 10A.

  These response signals are received by the master receiver 23, the reception status and the received contents are transmitted to the notification unit 24 (S408), and the notification unit 24 notifies the response result (S409).

  The contents notified here are the transmission level of the response signal 10A transmitted by the remote controller 10 and the reception level of the response signal 10A received by the remote controller.

  The example in which the remote control device 1 is configured by the remote control slave unit 10 and the remote control master unit 20 has been described above. However, the home appliance 30 operated by the remote control slave unit 10 may incorporate the function of the remote control master unit 20. The user can search for the remote control slave device 10 by operating the home appliance 30 to be operated by the remote control.

  Further, a notification means (not shown) may be provided in the remote control slave unit 10 so that when the remote control slave unit 10 receives the confirmation signal 20A, a notification may be provided to assist in searching for the remote control slave unit.

  Further, by coordinating the remote control unit 11 of the remote control slave unit 10 and the slave unit transmission unit 13, information indicating the operation history of the remote control unit 11 in the response signal 10A (not shown, but the operation unit 11 of the remote control slave unit 11) In addition, a storage unit for storing the operation history may be included.

  By doing so, the remote control master unit 20 can receive and notify the operation history of the remote control, so that it helps to remember the situation and place where the user operated the remote control slave unit 10, so search for the remote control slave unit It can be useful when.

  For example, when watching a TV using a remote control slave unit, the last operation date and time are included as information indicating the operation history by including the last operated channel and the operation time based on the clock built into the remote control. I know the channel. By referring to the program information of the TV broadcast (for example, it is possible to search with the date and channel information by connecting to a TV, a home server, or the Internet), the last watched program can be known.

  As a result, it is possible to estimate the family that was used last, and from the information about what you were looking at, this helps you to remember the situation when you were using it, so it can be useful when searching for the remote control slave unit.

Further, when the remote control master 20 is built in the home appliance 30, the operation history may be stored on the home appliance 30 side. For example, in the case of a television, the time when the operation was last received from the remote control slave unit, the content of the operation, and the operation status (such as receiving a TV broadcast or operating with video input) as information representing the operation history The same effect can be obtained by storing the information and displaying the information when an operation for searching for the remote controller is accepted.

  Note that the means described in this embodiment causes hardware resources such as a CPU (or microcomputer), a RAM, a ROM, a storage / recording device, an electrical / information device including an I / O, a computer, a server, and the like to cooperate. You may implement with the form of a program. In the form of a program, new functions can be easily distributed / updated and installed by recording them on a recording medium such as magnetic media or optical media or distributing them via a communication line such as the Internet.

  In the present embodiment, the remote control device has been described as a remote control device for electric appliances in the home.

  As described above, the remote control device and the program according to the present invention can easily find a user when a remote control device is lost by notifying whether or not there is a remote control slave device near the user who operated the remote control master device. Since a remote control device can be provided, the present invention can be applied to a remote control device that performs remote control operations on home appliances and the like.

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a remote control device in Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The figure which shows an example of the external appearance of the remote control parent machine in Embodiment 1 of this invention The figure which shows the 1st operation | movement sequence in Embodiment 1 of this invention. The figure which shows the 2nd operation | movement sequence in Embodiment 1 of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Remote control device 10 Remote control slave unit 10A Response signal 11 Remote control unit 12 Slave unit reception unit 13 Slave unit transmission unit 20 Remote control master unit 20A Confirmation signal 21 Input unit 22 Base unit transmission unit 23 Base unit reception unit 24 Notification unit 30 Home appliance 30A Operation signal

Claims (7)

Remote control means for operating home electric devices, slave unit receiving means for receiving a confirmation signal transmitted from a remote control master unit, and when the slave unit reception unit receives the confirmation signal, Remote control slave unit comprising a slave unit transmission means for transmitting a response signal in response,
An input unit that receives a user operation, a parent unit transmission unit that transmits a confirmation signal to the remote control slave unit when the input unit receives a user operation, and a response signal from the remote control slave unit A remote control master unit comprising: a master unit reception unit; and a notification unit for notifying the presence of the remote control slave unit according to the reception status of the response signal received by the master unit reception unit and the received content;
A remote control device for home appliances. The slave unit transmitting unit transmits a plurality of response signals having different transmission levels when the slave unit receiving unit receives the confirmation signal, and the notification unit of the remote control master unit reports according to the reception status of the plurality of response signals. The remote control device for home appliances according to claim 1, wherein: The slave unit transmitting means transmits the response signal including information indicating the transmission level of the response signal, and the remote control parent unit notification unit transmits the response signal reception status and the transmission included in the response signal. The remote control device according to claim 1, wherein notification is performed according to information indicating a level. The slave unit transmitting means transmits the response signal including information indicating the reception level of the confirmation signal received by the slave unit receiving unit, and the notification unit of the remote control master unit is configured to receive the response signal, The remote control device according to claim 1, wherein notification is performed in accordance with information indicating a reception level included in the response signal. The slave unit transmitting means transmits the response signal including operation history information indicating the contents of the remote control unit operated in the past, and the notification unit of the remote control master unit is included in the response signal. The remote control device according to claim 1, wherein notification is performed according to the operation history information. 6. The remote control device according to claim 1, wherein each unit of the remote control parent device is built in a household electrical appliance operated by the remote control slave device. 7. The program for functioning a computer as at least one part of the remote control apparatus of any one of Claims 1-6.

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