JP2007240082A - Control device of remote control - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a control device of remote control, capable of providing the sense of safety to a user by allowing, in a case such that a certain specific operation switch becomes inoperable by any cause, operation of the operation switch if it is in ON state. <P>SOLUTION: This device comprises one or more operation switches 13 and 14 for instructing inversion of ON/OFF state of various functions of external equipment 1 provided on a remote control 2, a transmitting means 6 for transmitting information of the external equipment 1 provided on the external equipment 1 to the remote control 2, and an operability determination means for individually determining whether the operation switches 13 and 14 are operable or not provided on the remote control 2. The operability determination means 12 determines the operability of each operation switch that is a determination object according to its ON/OFF state. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a control device for a remote controller to which an external device can be connected and which can remotely operate the connected external device.

  Conventionally, the remote control device to which the hot water supply body is connected as an external device does not have the right to change the hot water temperature setting from the remote control, and even if the hot water temperature setting switch is operated, the switch operation is rejected. There is one in which the reason why the setting cannot be changed is notified (for example, see Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-351665 (5th page, FIG. 4)

  On the other hand, some external devices that can be remotely operated from the remote control have many functions, and in that case, the number of operation switches for operating and stopping various functions installed in the remote control also increases in proportion. Therefore, in order to reduce the number of operation switches, a toggle switch that can instruct the inversion of the operation state and the stop state of the function with one operation switch is often used.

Under such circumstances, in the method of Patent Document 1 as shown in the background art above, when the inoperable condition of a specific toggle switch is satisfied, whether the toggle switch is on or off. The toggle switch operation will be rejected. However, usually, when a switch operation for changing the on / off state of a function is rejected, the user often feels that the switch operation is rejected because the function is inoperable.
Therefore, even if some function continues to operate, if the operation to shift the function to the off state is rejected, the user recognizes that the function that should be inoperable is moving and is worried. There was a problem of memorizing the feeling.

Also, for example, when a condition that disables the operation of a specific toggle switch is satisfied, the user notices that the user cannot operate the switch by operating the toggle switch. That is, the user does not realize that the user cannot operate until the toggle switch is operated.
Normally, even if a switch for changing the on / off state of a function is in the on state, if the switch satisfies the inoperable condition, the target function is unnecessary or inoperable There are many. Even in such a case, until the user operates the corresponding toggle switch, the user does not notice that the toggle switch is inoperable, so nothing can be dealt with, and a specific function will continue to perform a useless operation. There was a problem.

  Moreover, in the method of Patent Document 1 as shown in the background art above, for example, when a certain toggle switch inoperability condition is satisfied, the cause of the inoperability when the user operates the toggle switch is Etc. are notified, and it becomes possible to estimate the cause of the inoperability at that time. However, some external devices have many functions, and if a specific function in them becomes inoperable for some reason, the external device must be aware of the cause. It is necessary to operate all the toggle switches corresponding to all the functions of, and there is a problem that it is very inconvenient.

  The present invention solves the above-described problems. Even though a certain function continues to operate, the operation for shifting the function to the off state is not rejected. It is an object of the present invention to provide a control device for a remote control that can give a sense of security to a user without recognizing that a function that should be inoperable is moving.

  In addition, when a function is operating, if the function becomes unnecessary or becomes inoperable due to some reason, the specific function is useless even if the user does not operate the corresponding operation switch. It is an object of the present invention to provide a control device for a remote controller that does not continuously carry out the above.

  In addition, when a function is operating, if the function becomes unnecessary or inoperable due to some cause, the user can select the target function without operating the corresponding operation switch. It is an object of the present invention to provide an easy-to-use remote controller that can easily estimate whether the operation is unnecessary or impossible due to the cause.

  A remote control device according to the present invention includes a remote controller capable of remotely operating an external device, and one or a plurality of operation switches for instructing reversal of on / off states of various functions of the external device provided in the remote controller. The external device provided in the external device is operable to send out information on the external device to the remote controller, and the operation switch provided in the remote controller can be operated based on the information on the external device sent out by the transmitter. An operation enable / disable determining unit that individually determines whether or not the operation is possible, and the operation enable / disable determining unit determines whether or not the operation is possible by determining whether or not the operation is possible based on an on / off state of the operation switch to be determined To do.

  According to the present invention, the operation enable / disable determining means determines whether or not the operation is possible by determining whether or not the operation is possible based on the ON / OFF state of the operation switch to be determined. The operation switch is used to instruct the user, and even though some function continues to operate, the operation to shift the function to the off state is not rejected and the user cannot operate. Therefore, it is possible to give the user a sense of security without recognizing that the function that should be is moving.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a remote control device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  In the figure, a water heater main body 1 as an external device includes a tank unit 4 including a heat exchanger for general hot water supply and a bath heater, various heaters, various valves and the like (all not shown), and a water heater A main body control unit 5 for controlling the overall operation of the main body 1 and a communication unit 6 for performing communication with the remote controller 2 are provided.

  On the other hand, the remote controller 2 can remotely operate the water heater main body 1, an operation display unit 7 for performing various settings and status display of the water heater main body 1 and the remote controller 2 itself, and settings by the operation display unit 7. Communication between the water heater main body 1 and the remote controller control section 8 that performs various processes in response to operations and controls the contents displayed on the operation display section 7 based on information of the water heater main body 1 and the remote controller itself. And a communication unit 9 for performing the above.

The communication line 3 connects the water heater main body 1 and the remote controller 2 and is a two-core wire for supplying power (for example, 12 V) from the water heater main body 1 to the remote controller. The sending means is configured.
Data from the water heater main body 1 is modulated by the communication unit 6 of the water heater main body 1, superimposed on the power supply voltage, and transmitted to the remote controller 2 via the communication line 3. The data signal is demodulated in the communication unit 9 of the remote controller 2 and sent to the remote controller control unit 8 of the remote controller 2. Further, data from the remote controller 2 is modulated by the communication unit 9 of the remote controller 2 and transmitted to the water heater main body 1 through the communication line 3. The data signal is demodulated in the communication unit 6 of the water heater main body 1 and sent to the main body control unit 5 of the water heater main body 1.

  The operation display unit 7 of the remote controller 2 includes a display device 10 and a touch panel 11. The display device 10 includes a liquid crystal display (LCD) or the like, and an operation screen of the water heater main body 1 or the remote controller 2 itself. Is displayed. In addition, a touch panel 11 including touch keys for performing various settings of the water heater body 1 and the remote controller 2 itself is provided on the display device 10, and display data displayed on the display device 10 is a transparent touch panel. 11 is transmitted through.

FIG. 2 is an overview of the remote controller according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 shows an example of the operation screen displayed on the remote controller. Thus, for example, the display device 10 of the remote controller 2 has one of the operation screens of the water heater main body 1 as shown in FIG. Among them, for example, bath heat recovery that collects the heat of hot water accumulated in the bathtub after use, which is one of the functions of the water heater main body 1, and uses it as a heat source for hot water in the hot water storage tank. Bathtub heat recovery toggle switch 13 (operation switch) for instructing operation start and stop of function, automatic bath heat recovery toggle switch 14 (operation switch) for setting a heat recovery function start timer, other screens ( Here, a hot water supply operation switch 15 and a title bar 16 for transition to a hot water supply operation screen) are displayed. At this time, when the user operates the bath heat recovery toggle switch 13 (operation switch) with the touch panel 11 provided on the display device 10, the remote controller 8 uses the communication unit 9 in response to the input signal. The hot water supply body 1 is instructed to start and stop the operation of the bath heat recovery function.

  In addition, the remote control unit 8 includes an operation availability determination unit 12, and the operation availability determination unit 12 acquires information about the water heater main body 1 in advance using the communication unit 9, and the information, for example, Based on the on / off state of the bottom heat recovery toggle switch 13, whether or not the bottom heat recovery toggle switch 13 can be operated is determined. If it is determined by the operation enable / disable determining means 12 that the bottom heat recovery toggle switch 13 cannot be operated, the operation is rejected even if the user tries to operate the bottom heat recovery toggle switch 13.

  Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the control operation of the remote controller showing the first embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 3, the remote control unit 8 of the remote controller 2 of the water heater has previously acquired information on the water heater body 1 via the communication unit 9, and based on this information, the operation availability determination means 12 of the remote controller control unit 8 is determined. For example, it is determined whether or not the bath heat recovery function, which is one of the functions of the water heater main body 1, is operable (step 20).
If the bath heat recovery function is operable in step 20, the bath heat recovery toggle switch 13 is made operable (step 21). If the bath heat recovery function is inoperable, it is then determined whether the bath heat recovery toggle switch 13 is on or off (step 22). The heat recovery toggle switch 13 is disabled (step 23). If the heat recovery toggle switch 13 is on, the bath heat recovery toggle switch is enabled (step 24). The remote controller control unit 8 repeatedly performs the processing up to this point until each toggle switch is operated on the operation display unit 7 for each of the various functions of the water heater main body 1.
Next, when the bath heat recovery toggle switch 13 is operated on the operation display unit 7 (step 25), the remote controller control unit 8 determines in advance whether the operation availability determination means 12 has information on the water heater body 1 and the bath heat recovery toggle switch 13. A determination is made based on the determination as to whether or not the bath heat recovery toggle switch 13 has been determined based on the on / off state (step 26).
If the bottom heat recovery toggle switch 13 is operable at step 26, the bottom heat recovery toggle switch 13 operation is accepted (step 27). If the bottom heat recovery toggle switch 13 cannot be operated, the bottom heat recovery toggle switch 13 operation is rejected (step 28). ).

  As described above, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3, when a certain function is inoperable and the corresponding toggle switch is in the on state, the operation propriety determining means 12 is Because the toggle switch can be operated, the user cannot operate the operation without shifting the function to the off state even though some function continues to operate. It is possible to give a sense of security to the user without recognizing that a supposed function is moving.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
Next, the operation of the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The configuration of the second embodiment is the same as the configuration of the first embodiment, and a description thereof is omitted.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the control operation of the remote controller showing the second embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 4, the remote control unit 8 of the remote controller 2 of the water heater acquires information of the water heater main body 1 in advance via the communication unit 9, and based on this information, the operation availability determination means 12 of the remote controller control unit 8 is For example, it is determined whether or not the bath heat recovery function, which is one of the functions of the water heater main body 1, is operable (step 20).
In step 20, if the bath heat recovery function is operable, the bath heat recovery toggle switch 13 is operable if it is operable (step 21), and if the bath heat recovery function is not operable, the bath heat recovery toggle switch 13 is operated. Disable (step 29). Next, the remote controller 8 determines whether the bath heat recovery toggle switch 13 is on or off (step 22). If the bath heat recovery toggle switch 13 is on, the bath heat recovery toggle switch is automatically turned on. The state is changed to the off state (step 30), and the hot water supply body 1 is instructed to stop the operation of the bath heat recovery function via the communication unit 9 (step 31). The remote controller control unit 8 repeatedly performs the processing up to this point until each toggle switch is operated on the operation display unit 7 for each of the various functions of the water heater main body 1. Hereinafter, since the operation (step 25 to step 28) when the bath heat recovery toggle switch 13 is operated on the operation display unit 7 is the same as that of the first embodiment, the description thereof is omitted.

  As described above, according to the second embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 4, when a certain function is inoperable and the corresponding toggle switch is in the on state, the remote control unit 8 Since the toggle switch is automatically changed to the off state and the hot water heater main body 1 is instructed to stop the operation of the function, when a certain function becomes inoperable for some reason, the user particularly needs to select the corresponding toggle. Even if the switch is not operated, a specific function does not continue to perform a useless operation.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
Next, the operation of the third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The configuration of the third embodiment is the same as that of the first and second embodiments, and a description thereof will be omitted.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the control operation of the remote controller showing the third embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 5, in steps 20, 21, and 29, the operation of the operation availability determination unit 12 determines whether or not to operate the bath heat recovery toggle switch 13 based on the information of the water heater main body 1, as in the second embodiment. It is.
Next, if the bottom heat recovery toggle switch 13 is in the on state (step 22), the remote control control unit 8 automatically changes the bottom heat recovery toggle switch to the off state (step 30), and the communication unit 9 The operation of stopping the bath heat recovery function is instructed to the hot water heater main body 1 (step 31), and the cause of the operation stop of the bath heat recovery function is displayed on the display device 10 or a sound is output for notification. (Step 32). The remote controller control unit 8 repeatedly performs the processing up to this point until each toggle switch is operated on the operation display unit 7 for each of the various functions of the water heater main body 1. Hereinafter, the processing (step 25 to step 28) when the bath heat recovery toggle switch 13 is operated on the operation display unit 7 is the same as in the first and second embodiments, and the description thereof is omitted.

  As described above, according to the third embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 5, when a certain function is inoperable and the corresponding toggle switch is in the on state, the remote control unit 8 The toggle switch is automatically changed to the OFF state, the hot water heater main body 1 is instructed to stop the operation of the function, and the cause of the operation stop is displayed on the display device 2 or a sound is output for notification. Therefore, when a certain function becomes inoperable due to some cause, the user does not continue to perform a useless operation even if the user does not operate the corresponding toggle switch. When a function becomes inoperable, it is possible to easily estimate why the target function has become inoperable even if you are not at the site. Get better.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a remote control device showing Embodiment 1 of the present invention. 1 is a schematic view of a remote control showing Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The flowchart of the control operation of the remote control which shows Embodiment 1 of this invention. The flowchart of the control operation of the remote control which shows Embodiment 2 of this invention. The flowchart of the control operation of the remote control which shows Embodiment 3 of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Water heater main body 2 Remote control 3 Communication line 4 Tank unit 5 Main body control part 6 Communication part (main body side)
7 Operation display section 8 Remote control section 9 Communication section (remote control side)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Display device 11 Touch panel 12 Operation availability determination means 13 Bath heat recovery toggle switch (operation switch)
14 Automatic bath heat recovery toggle switch (operation switch)
15 Hot water operation switch 16 Title bar

Claims (6)

In the remote control that can remotely control external devices,
One or a plurality of operation switches for instructing reversal of on / off states of various functions of the external device provided in the remote control, and sending means for sending information on the external device provided in the external device to the remote control And operation enable / disable determining means for individually determining whether or not the operation switch provided on the remote controller can be operated based on information of an external device sent out by the sending means. The means determines whether or not the operation can be performed by determining whether or not the operation can be performed based on an on / off state of the operation switch to be determined. In the remote control that can remotely control external devices,
One or a plurality of operation switches for instructing reversal of on / off states of various functions of the external device provided in the remote control, and sending means for sending information on the external device provided in the external device to the remote control And operation enable / disable determining means for individually determining whether or not the operation switch provided on the remote controller is operable based on information of an external device sent out by the sending means, A control device for a remote control, wherein when it is determined that the operation is impossible by the operation enable / disable determining means, when it is in the on state, it is automatically changed to the off state. In the remote control that can remotely control the water heater body,
One or a plurality of operation switches for instructing on / off inversion of various functions of the water heater provided in the remote controller, and sending means for sending information on the water heater provided in the water heater to the remote controller And operation enable / disable determining means for individually determining whether or not the operation switch provided on the remote controller is operable based on information on the water heater delivered by the delivery means, The means determines whether or not the operation can be performed by determining whether or not the operation can be performed based on an on / off state of the operation switch to be determined. In the remote control that can remotely control the water heater body,
One or a plurality of operation switches for instructing on / off inversion of various functions of the water heater provided in the remote controller, and sending means for sending information on the water heater provided in the water heater to the remote controller And operation enable / disable determining means for individually determining whether or not the operation switch provided on the remote control is operable based on information of the water heater delivered by the delivery means, A control device for a remote control, wherein when it is determined that the operation is impossible by the operation enable / disable determining means, when it is in the on state, it is automatically changed to the off state. The remote control includes a display unit capable of displaying pictures, characters, etc., and the display unit displays the reason when the operation switch is automatically changed from an on state to a off state. The remote control device according to claim 2 or 4. The remote control device according to claim 1, wherein the operation switch is a toggle switch.

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