JP2007278598A - Water heater remote control - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To control the volume of a bathroom monitor function using an interphone function such that it is audible even when it is low, and not noisy when it is high. <P>SOLUTION: By providing an automatic amplification factor control circuit 3 in a microphone circuit 9 of a bath remote control 1, if sound inputted in a microphone 2 of the bath remote control 1 is small, an amplification factor of a microphone input signal is increased, and sound heard by a kitchen remote control can be reasonably raised. If the sound inputted in the microphone 2 of the bath remote control 1 is large, the amplification factor of the microphone input signal is reduced, and the sound heard by the kitchen remote control 11 can be reasonably lowered. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a remote controller for a water heater having a bathroom monitor 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, see Patent Document 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. This function is called a bathroom monitor function.
JP 2001-208422 A

  However, the remote controller of the conventional water heater grasps the state of the bathroom by always listening to the sound of the bathroom on the kitchen remote controller side. The volume of the bathroom monitor at that time can be adjusted with the kitchen remote control. However, there are various sounds in the bathroom, such as a shower sound and a basin sound during bathing, but a small sound while using the bath.

  Therefore, it is necessary to set the volume of the bathroom monitor to a high level so that the bathroom monitor function can be used to confirm an accident in the bathroom, such as losing consciousness and calling for help with a small voice. there were. However, when the volume of the bathroom monitor is increased, there is a problem that the sound of the shower generated during normal bathing is loud, and the kitchen remote control is noisy and the usability is poor.

  The present invention solves the above-described conventional problems, and aims to improve the usability of the bathroom monitor function and improve the original function of the bathroom monitor.

  In order to solve the above-described conventional problems, the hot water remote controller of the present invention has a bathroom monitor function for inputting sound in the bathroom with the microphone of the bath remote controller of the water heater and outputting it with the speaker of the kitchen remote controller. An automatic gain control circuit is provided in the microphone circuit. As a result, if the sound input to the remote control microphone is low, you can increase the amplification factor of the microphone input signal to increase the sound heard by the kitchen remote control, and if the sound input to the remote control microphone is high, The amplification factor of the microphone input signal can be reduced, and the sound heard with the kitchen remote control can be reduced.

The water heater remote control of the present invention has a bathroom monitor function for inputting sound in the bathroom with the microphone of the remote controller of the water heater and outputting it with the speaker of the kitchen remote controller, and the automatic gain control circuit in the speaker circuit of the kitchen remote controller Is provided. As a result, when the sound signal input to the speaker circuit of the kitchen remote control is small, the amplification factor of the speaker circuit can be increased, the sound heard by the kitchen remote control can be increased, and the sound signal input to the speaker circuit of the kitchen remote control is large. In this case, the amplification factor of the speaker circuit can be reduced, and the sound heard with the kitchen remote control can be reduced.

  The water heater remote control of the present invention can be heard with the bathroom monitor function, even when the sound in the bathroom is low, even when the sound is high in the kitchen remote control, and when the sound in the bathroom is high Sounds very small. Therefore, it becomes easy to hear even a small sound, and it becomes easy to notice an accident in the bathroom. Also, since loud sounds can be heard at a low level, they are not bothersome and easy to use.

  The first aspect of the present invention is a water heater remote controller equipped with a bathroom monitor function for inputting sound in the bathroom with the microphone of the bathroom remote controller and outputting it with the speaker of the kitchen remote controller. By providing a circuit, if the sound input to the remote control microphone is low, you can increase the amplification factor of the microphone input signal and increase the sound heard by the kitchen remote control. If it is large, the gain of the microphone input signal can be reduced, and the sound heard with the kitchen remote control can be increased. Therefore, it becomes easy to hear even a small sound, and it becomes easy to notice an accident in the bathroom. Also, since loud sounds can be heard at a low level, they are not bothersome and easy to use.

  The second aspect of the invention is a water heater remote controller having a bathroom monitor function for inputting sound in the bathroom with a microphone of the remote controller of the water heater and outputting it with a speaker of the kitchen remote controller. When the sound signal input to the speaker circuit of the kitchen remote control is small due to the provision of the circuit, the amplification factor of the speaker circuit can be increased to increase the sound heard by the kitchen remote control and input to the speaker circuit of the kitchen remote control When the sound signal is large, the amplification factor of the speaker circuit can be reduced and the sound heard with the kitchen remote control can be reduced. Therefore, it becomes easy to hear even a small sound, and it becomes easy to notice an accident in the bathroom. Also, since loud sounds can be heard at a low level, they are not bothersome and easy to use.

  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 water heater remote controller according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, in the remote controller 1, a microphone 2, a microphone automatic gain control circuit 3, a speaker 4, a speaker amplification circuit 5, and a communication means 6 constitute an interphone function. The microphone circuit 9 includes a microphone 2 and a microphone automatic gain control circuit 3, and the speaker circuit 10 includes a speaker 4 and a speaker amplifier circuit 5. Further, the microcomputer 7 inputs the call switch 8 and activates / stops the communication means 6.

In the kitchen remote controller 11, the microphone 12, the microphone amplification circuit 13, the speaker 14, the speaker amplification circuit 15, and the communication means 16 constitute an interphone function. The microphone circuit 19 includes a microphone 12 and a microphone amplifier circuit 13, and the speaker circuit 20 includes a speaker 14 and a speaker amplifier circuit 15. Further, the microcomputer 17 inputs the call switch 18 and activates / stops the communication means 16. The timer means 19 is connected to the microcomputer 17. The water heater 21 is connected to the bath remote controller 1 and the kitchen remote controller 11.

  The operation and action of the water heater remote controller configured as described above will be described below.

  First, when trying to grasp the situation of the bathroom, the call switch 18 of the kitchen remote controller 11 is operated or the call switch 8 of the remote controller 1 is operated. When the call switch 18 of the kitchen remote controller 9 is operated, the microcomputer 17 receives the operation input of the call switch 18 and activates the communication means 16. The communication means 16 transmits bathroom monitor request data. The bathroom monitor request data is received by the communication means 6 of the remote controller 1, and the bathroom monitor request data is transmitted to the microcomputer 7. Since the microcomputer 7 receives the bathroom monitor request data, the microcomputer 7 activates the communication means 6 and transmits the sound data obtained by amplifying the sound in the bathroom picked up by the microphone 2 by the automatic amplification factor control circuit 3 from the communication means 6. The sound data of the bathroom is received by the communication means 16 of the kitchen remote controller 11, and the sound data is amplified by the amplifier circuit 15 and output from the speaker 14. Thereby, in the kitchen remote control 11, the state of the bathroom can be confirmed by sound. A bathroom condition confirmation function using such an intercom function is a bathroom monitor function.

  The automatic gain control circuit 3 is called AGC (Automatic Gain Control) and is generally used. This function will be described below. When the signal input from the microphone 2 to the automatic gain control circuit 3 is small, the gain is increased, and the signal output from the automatic gain control circuit 3 is appropriately increased. Conversely, when the signal input from the microphone 2 to the automatic gain control circuit 3 is large, the gain is decreased and the signal output from the automatic gain control circuit 3 is appropriately reduced. As a result, the signal output from the automatic gain control circuit 3 can be kept at a certain level to some extent regardless of the magnitude of the sound picked up by the microphone 2.

  Therefore, the volume of the bathroom monitor heard by the kitchen remote controller 11 can be heard to increase to an appropriate level with the kitchen remote controller 11 even when the sound in the bathroom is low, and to an appropriate level when the sound in the bathroom is high. Sounds smaller. Therefore, it becomes easy to hear even a small sound, and it becomes easy to notice an accident in the bathroom. Also, since loud sounds can be heard at a low level, they are not bothersome and easy to use.

(Embodiment 2)
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a water heater provided with a water heater remote controller according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  2 that are the same as those in FIG. 1 are given the same reference numerals. The difference from FIG. 1 is that the microphone circuit 23 of the remote controller 1 is not an automatic gain control circuit, but an amplifier circuit 22, and the speaker circuit 25 of the kitchen remote control 11 includes an automatic gain control circuit 24. It is a point.

  In the water heater remote control configured as described above, the sound in the bathroom picked up by the microphone 2 is amplified by the amplifier circuit 22 and the sound data is transmitted from the communication means 6. The sound data of the bathroom is received by the communication means 16 of the kitchen remote controller 11, and the sound data is amplified by the automatic gain control circuit 24 and output from the speaker 14. Thereby, in the kitchen remote control 11, the state of the bathroom can be confirmed by sound.

The operation of the automatic gain control circuit 24 will be described below. When the signal input from the communication means 16 to the automatic amplification factor control circuit 24 is small, the amplification factor is increased, the signal output from the automatic amplification factor control circuit 24 is moderately large, and is moderately large from the speaker 14. The sound is heard. On the contrary, when the signal input from the communication means 16 to the automatic gain control circuit 24 is large, the gain is decreased, the signal output from the automatic gain control circuit 24 is moderately small, and the signal from the speaker 14 is moderate. A small sound appears.

  Thus, the signal output from the automatic amplification factor control circuit 24 can be set to a certain level regardless of the magnitude of the sound picked up by the microphone 2.

  Therefore, the volume of the bathroom monitor heard by the kitchen remote controller 11 can be heard to increase to an appropriate level with the kitchen remote controller 11 even when the sound in the bathroom is low, and to an appropriate level when the sound in the bathroom is high. Sounds smaller. Therefore, it becomes easy to hear even a small sound, and it becomes easy to notice an accident in the bathroom. Also, since loud sounds can be heard at a low level, they are not bothersome and easy to use.

  As described above, the water heater remote control according to the present invention can make the volume easy to hear even in the bathroom with a small sound when monitoring the bathroom, and the loud sound in the bathroom is reduced to an appropriate volume, which improves usability. In addition to hot water heaters, intercom equipment that connects the inside and outside of the bathroom with an interphone and grasps the state of the bathroom, and a monitoring function can be developed.

Block diagram of a water heater provided with a water heater remote controller in Embodiment 1 of the present invention The block diagram of the water heater provided with the water heater remote control in Embodiment 2 of this invention

Explanation of symbols

1 bath remote control 3 automatic gain control circuit 9 microphone circuit 11 kitchen remote control 20 speaker circuit

Claims (2)

The hot water remote controller with bathroom monitor function that inputs the sound in the bathroom with the microphone of the bathroom remote controller and outputs it with the speaker of the kitchen remote controller. The water heater has an automatic gain control circuit in the microphone circuit of the bathroom remote controller. Remote controller. The water heater remote controller has a bathroom monitor function that inputs the sound in the bathroom with the microphone of the remote controller of the water heater and outputs it with the speaker of the kitchen remote controller. The water heater has an automatic gain control circuit in the speaker circuit of the kitchen remote controller. Remote controller.

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