JP2010056613A - Load control system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reliably open and close a load even under environment having in-band noise in a load control system for performing unilateral communication. <P>SOLUTION: A lighting control system includes: a transmitter for transmitting a lighting signal as a transmission frame accordingly when detecting a human body by a human detection sensor; and a switch for controlling a lighting load according to the lighting signal by receiving the transmission frame. The transmitter transmits the transmission frame for a total of three times for the same transmission frame using three radio channels having mutually different frequencies when transmitting the transmission frame. The switch can receive signals by switching the three channels, and changes the channel to another channel automatically when a signal concerned is in-band noise when receiving the signal, for example, by a first channel. The transmission frame can be received reliability by a channel having small in-band noise. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a load control system that performs unidirectional communication in which a signal transmitted from a transmitter by radio waves is received by a receiver and controls a load according to the signal.

  In recent years, unidirectional communication has been performed in which a wireless signal transmitted from a transmitter is received by a switch disposed on a construction surface such as a wall surface, and a load such as a lighting device is opened and closed based on the signal received by the switch. A load control system configured as described above is used. By using wireless communication, for example, a highly functional switch can be easily arranged in place of a new switch or newly, without performing wiring work with other parts of the load control system. be able to. In such a load control system using wireless communication, depending on the application, it may be more desirable to transmit and receive signals between the transmitter and the switch by wireless communication using radio waves than to transmit and receive by infrared light. This is because wireless communication has advantages such as a wider transmitter area that allows signals to be transmitted to the switch due to radio wave transmission and diffraction than with infrared light. . However, even in the case of wireless communication using radio waves as described above, communication may not be performed properly between the transmitter and the switch. In this case, for example, even if the user operates the transmitter, the user's intention As you can see, the load is no longer opened or closed.

  Such a problem may occur, for example, when there is in-band noise. That is, an electronic device that emits radio waves in the same frequency band as the channel that performs communication between the transmitter and the switch is close to the switch, or another load control system that performs similar wireless communication is close to the switch. In this case, it becomes difficult to receive a signal transmitted from the transmitter due to the influence of the noise. In that case, in order to enable communication, it is necessary for the user to take measures such as changing the settings of the transmitter and receiver and changing the channel for communication to another channel. The problem that increases.

  Here, Patent Literature 1 discloses that in a lighting device using a remote control device, a channel is periodically changed between a transmission side and a reception side and a control signal is received. However, this lighting device has a problem that power consumption is relatively large on the receiving side because the receiving side frequently switches channels.

Patent Document 2 discloses that in a communication control system for performing a locking / unlocking operation for a vehicle, as a countermeasure against noise, transmission frequency change control is performed by bidirectional communication so that the locking / unlocking operation can be performed reliably. Has been. However, since such a communication method requires complicated control in order to perform bidirectional communication, a load control system having a simple configuration that only needs to perform unidirectional communication as described above. Employing increases the manufacturing cost.
JP 2006-278060 A JP 2008-60941 A

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and can easily open and close a load by reliably performing unidirectional communication from a transmitter to a receiver even in an environment with in-band noise. It is an object to provide a load control system in which the power consumption of the receiver is small.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 has a transmitter for transmitting a signal by radio waves and a function for receiving radio waves, and is connected to a load to control at least on / off of the load. The transmitter includes an antenna, a radio transmission circuit unit that transmits a signal from the antenna, trigger detection means that outputs a trigger signal when a predetermined state is detected, and the transmitter A control unit that controls the wireless transmission circuit unit based on a trigger signal and includes a predetermined signal in a transmission frame and transmits the signal, and the receiver receives an electric wave using the antenna and receives the signal. A radio reception circuit unit to be extracted; a load control circuit unit that opens and closes a power supply path from a power supply to the load; and a control unit that controls the operation of the load control circuit according to a signal received by the radio reception circuit unit; The In the load control system configured to operate the load in response to detection of a predetermined state by the trigger detection unit, the wireless transmission circuit unit transmits the transmission frame when transmitting the transmission frame. Is configured to be able to transmit for each of the plurality of radio channels while switching a plurality of radio channels having different frequencies, and the radio reception circuit unit is configured to be able to receive signals by switching the plurality of radio channels. Among the plurality of radio channels, the signal is received by a radio channel selected by the control unit of the receiver and having a lower in-band noise than at least one other radio channel. It is configured to be possible.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the control unit of the receiver is configured such that the level of the signal received by the wireless reception circuit unit is greater than a predetermined value and the signal is synchronized by a bit synchronization method. If the radio channel cannot be received, the radio channel received by the radio receiver circuit unit is changed to a radio channel different from the current radio channel among the plurality of radio channels.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the transmission frame includes at least predetermined reception data that can be verified by the control unit of the receiver in addition to the predetermined signal, and the control unit of the receiver If the level of the signal received by the wireless receiving circuit unit is greater than a predetermined value and the signal is synchronized by the bit synchronization method but the predetermined received data cannot be verified, the wireless receiving circuit The radio channel received by the unit is changed to a radio channel different from the current radio channel among the plurality of radio channels.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the receiver stands by on a radio channel having a low inband noise among a plurality of radio channels, and the transmitter transmits a transmission frame on each radio channel. Even when simple unidirectional communication is performed in an environment where there is in-band noise in the channel, the transmission frame can be reliably received. Since the change of the radio channel is automatically performed by the control unit of the receiver, it is possible to easily and surely communicate without burdening the user with the task of changing the radio channel. Since the receiver does not perform an operation of frequently switching a plurality of radio channels in preparation for signal reception, power consumption can be suppressed as compared with a conventional receiver.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, the radio channel on the receiver side can be changed when bit synchronization cannot be obtained for the signal received by the receiver. Therefore, especially when there is in-band noise that occurs in other electric appliances or the like, the radio channel for communication can be changed to a radio channel with low in-band noise to enable reliable communication. .

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, the radio channel on the receiver side can be changed when predetermined received data cannot be collated with respect to the signal received by the receiver. Therefore, especially when there is a load control system that performs similar communication on the same wireless channel and there is in-band noise due to radio waves from the system, the wireless channel for communication is determined to be in-band noise. The wireless channel can be changed to a smaller one so that communication can be ensured.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a lighting control system as an example of a load control system according to the present embodiment. The lighting control system 1 includes a lighting device 150 as a load, a transmitter 151 that transmits a radio signal by radio waves, a power source (shown in FIG. 2) 50 that is, for example, a commercial AC power source, and a lighting device 150 in series via electric wires. It is composed of a connected switch (receiver) 152 and the like. The transmitter 151 and the switch 152 are, for example, formed in two module sizes of a wide handle type continuous switch (see JIS C 8304) having a rectangular box-shaped body made of synthetic resin, and a mounting frame conforming to the standard Is mounted in a switch box embedded in the wall surface and disposed.

  The transmitter 151 is provided with a human sensor (trigger detection means) 151a, an illuminance sensor 151b, and the like, for example. In addition, the switch 152 turns on or off the lighting device 150 in accordance with a wireless signal transmitted and received from the transmitter 151 as will be described later. That is, the lighting control system 1 employs a unidirectional communication method from the transmitter 151 to the switch 152. In the present embodiment, the illumination device 150 made of an incandescent lamp is exemplified as the load. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and other illumination devices such as a fluorescent lamp and a fluorescent light electronic ballast, as well as the illumination device. Other loads may be used. The switch 152 has an operation handle that can be operated by the user from the outside, for example, and is configured so that the lighting device 150 can be turned on or off by directly operating the operation handle. May be. Furthermore, the transmitter 151 and the switch 152 are not limited to those embedded in the wall surface as described above, and may be attached to, for example, a wall surface or a ceiling.

  FIG. 2 shows a block configuration of the transmitter 151 and the switch 152. In addition to the human sensor 151a and the illuminance sensor 151b, the transmitter 151 includes, for example, an antenna 11 that is a small loop antenna having a large gain, a wireless transmission circuit unit 12 that transmits a signal from the antenna 11, and an operation of the transmitter 151. A control unit 13 for controlling, a battery 14 for supplying electric power to these electric circuits, and the like are provided. For example, the transmitter 151 is configured such that each part is housed in a housing embedded in a wall surface.

  The human sensor 151a is, for example, a sensor using a pyroelectric element, and can detect a predetermined state, that is, a state where the human body H is within a predetermined range by detecting a change in infrared rays received from the predetermined range. It is configured. The human sensor 151 a is configured to output a trigger signal to the control unit 13 when the human body H is detected. The illuminance sensor 151b is, for example, a photodiode, and is configured to output a signal to the control unit 13 according to ambient brightness. The control unit 13 is configured by a microcomputer or the like, and controls the wireless transmission circuit unit 12 and the like. When the trigger signal is input, the control unit 13 generates a lighting signal for lighting the lighting device 150 according to the trigger signal. The lighting signal is included in a predetermined transmission frame and input to the wireless transmission circuit unit 12 as will be described later. Here, based on the signal input from the illuminance sensor 151b, the control unit 13 is configured not to generate a lighting signal when the surroundings are sufficiently bright. As a result, when it is not necessary to turn on the lighting device 150, the lighting device 150 is not turned on to achieve power saving. Note that the transmitter 151 may not be provided with the illuminance sensor 151b, and the control according to the ambient brightness as described above may not be performed.

  When a transmission frame including a lighting signal is input from the control unit 13, the wireless transmission circuit unit 12 modulates and amplifies the transmission frame, and a radio wave of a predetermined frequency channel (hereinafter referred to as a channel) from the antenna 11. Send by. Thus, the transmitter 151 transmits the transmission frame including the lighting signal superimposed on the carrier wave based on the pressing operation applied to the human sensor 151a. In addition to the human sensor 151a, the transmitter 151 is provided with other sensors, operation buttons, and the like, and the control unit 13 detects a detection signal from the sensor or an operation signal from the operation button to which an operation is applied. The control signal for controlling the illumination device 150 may be generated in accordance with the above. With this configuration, the operation of the illumination device 150 can be controlled in various ways or remotely operated.

  The switch 152 is connected to the lighting device 150 connected to the lighting device 150, for example, the antenna 21 such as a loop antenna, the wireless reception circuit unit 22 that receives radio waves by the antenna 21, the control unit 23 that controls the operation of the switch 152. A load control circuit unit 24 that opens and closes the power supply path and a power supply circuit 25 that supplies power to the lighting device 150 from a power supply 50 of 100 V, for example, are provided.

  The radio reception circuit unit 22 receives radio waves of a channel having a predetermined frequency under the control of the control unit 23. The load control circuit unit 24 includes a switching element (for example, a triac) that opens and closes a power supply path from the power supply circuit 25 to the lighting device 150. The control unit 23 is configured by a microcomputer or the like, and performs switching control of the switching element of the load control circuit unit 24 in accordance with the signal received by the wireless reception circuit unit 22. For example, when the transmission frame including the lighting signal is received by the wireless reception circuit unit 22, the control unit 23 performs switching control so as to supply power to the lighting device 150. In addition, for example, when a predetermined time has elapsed without receiving a transmission frame including a new lighting signal after performing the switching control as described above, the control unit 23 performs the switching control and does not supply power to the lighting device 150. State. The power supply circuit 25 supplies operating power to the control unit 23 and the like. In the switch 152, when the load control circuit unit 24 opens a power supply path to the lighting device 150, the power supply circuit 25 charges the capacitor to generate an operating power supply for the switch 152. On the other hand, when the load control circuit unit 24 closes the power supply path from the power supply circuit 25 to the lighting device 150, the power supply path is periodically set for a predetermined time within a range that does not affect the lighting state of the lighting device 150. The capacitor is opened and charged to the capacitor, and when closed outside a predetermined time, the capacitor is discharged to generate an operating power supply. Thereby, the switch 152 can connect the power supply circuit 25 and the illumination device 150 in series by two lines. Since this type of power supply circuit 25 is conventionally known (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-357443, etc.), illustration and description of a detailed configuration and operation are omitted. The configuration of the power supply circuit 25 is not limited to this, and power may be constantly supplied from the power supply 50 to the switch 152.

  FIG. 3 shows a configuration of a transmission frame transmitted from the transmitter 151 and receivable by the switch 152. The transmission frame has, for example, blocks of bit synchronization, unique word (UW), ID, data signal (DATA), and error correction code (CRC) in order from the top. The lighting signal is included in the data signal block in the transmission frame. In the switch 152, the control unit 23 detects a transmission frame by synchronizing the signal with the bit synchronization block from the signal extracted from the received radio wave, reads the unique word block and the ID block thereafter, and sets the predetermined value. Verify (data verification). When a predetermined value of the unique word block and the ID block can be collated, it is determined that the transmission frame is transmitted from the transmitter 151, and the data signal is interpreted. The transmission frame is not necessarily limited to the above configuration.

  In the illumination control system 1, when the human body H is detected by the human sensor 151a of the transmitter 151, the control unit 23 of the switch 152 turns on the power supply to the illumination device 150 accordingly. That is, each time the presence sensor is detected by the human sensor 151a and a transmission frame including a lighting signal is transmitted from the transmitter 151, the load control circuit by the control unit 23 of the switch 152 that has received the transmission frame. The unit 24 is controlled. Thereby, switching of the switching element of the load control circuit unit 24 is performed and the lighting device 150 is turned on, or the lighting state of the lighting device 150 is maintained. As described above, the lighting control system 1 automatically turns on the lighting device 150 when the human body H such as a user is in a predetermined range.

  Here, the wireless transmission circuit unit 12 of the transmitter 151 includes, for example, a PLL synthesizer. The wireless transmission circuit unit 12 can select one channel from three channels having different frequencies, for example, a first channel, a second channel, and a third channel, and can transmit a signal by radio waves on the channel. The wireless reception circuit unit 22 of the switch 152 includes, for example, a PLL synthesizer, and can receive radio waves of three channels that can be transmitted from the transmitter 151 as described above. The selection of a channel when transmitting a signal from the wireless transmission circuit unit 12 is performed based on the control of the control unit 13, for example. The selection of the channel received by the wireless reception circuit unit 22 is performed based on the control of the control unit 23, for example.

  In the present embodiment, when transmitting a transmission frame, the wireless transmission circuit unit 12 transmits the transmission frame for each of the three channels while switching the three channels. In addition, the wireless reception circuit unit 22 is configured to receive a signal through a channel in which in-band noise is smaller than at least one of the three channels. Below, the communication system performed in the illumination control system 1 accompanied by the channel change operation by the switch 152 will be described.

  FIG. 4 shows a mode of a communication system performed in the present embodiment. First, when the human sensor 151a outputs a trigger signal and transmits a transmission frame, the transmitter 151 transmits the transmission frame to the first channel (CH1), the second channel (CH2), and the third channel. Transmit three times in total on the three channels (CH3). At that time, under the control of the control unit 13, the wireless transmission circuit unit 12 transmits the transmission frame on the first channel, then switches the channel and transmits it on the second channel, and then switches the channel and switches the third channel. Three transmissions are performed substantially continuously, such as transmission on a channel.

  On the other hand, the wireless reception circuit unit 22 of the switch 152 stands by in preparation for signal transmission on, for example, one channel selected by the control unit 23 among the three channels. In the figure, CHx (x = 1, 2, 3) means that the switch 152 selects one of the first channel (CH1), the second channel (CH2), and the third channel (CH3). It is shown that it is configured to be receivable. Here, when receiving a signal considered to be in-band noise at a signal level equal to or higher than a predetermined value during standby as described above, the control unit 23 controls the radio reception circuit unit 22 to receive a signal. Change the channel from the current channel to another channel. For example, when the operation of the switch 152 is started, the wireless reception circuit unit 22 first receives a signal on the first channel among the three channels, and changes the channel every time the channel change operation is performed as described above. The first channel, the second channel, the third channel, the first channel, the second channel, and so on are changed. Note that the channel change order is not limited to this.

  In the present embodiment, for example, when the received signal cannot be synchronized by the bid synchronization method, the control unit 23 determines that the signal is in-band noise. In addition, the control unit 23, when the received signal is originally a transmission frame from the transmitter 151, should be able to be verified, but when the unique word part and the ID part cannot be verified, the control unit 23 inputs the signal. Judged as band noise. When the control unit 23 determines that there is in-band noise with respect to the signal received in this way, if the level of the signal is equal to or higher than the predetermined value as described above, the signal from the transmitter 151 is affected by the influence of the in-band noise. Since there is a high possibility that the transmission frame cannot be received, channel change operation is performed, and reception is attempted on a channel with smaller in-band noise.

  FIG. 5 is a table summarizing the sources and characteristics of in-band noise that can be considered in the illumination control system 1. As shown in the figure, as a signal that does not have the possibility of achieving bit synchronization as described above, for example, a line spectrum interference wave can be considered. In addition, even if the bit synchronization is established, the signal that cannot be verified and the reception cannot be determined is a signal of an equivalent control system used in the vicinity of the lighting control system 1 or the same channel of another control system. Examples include signals and broadband noise radiated from motors. That is, the control unit 23 determines whether or not the received signal is in-band noise as described above, so that the same channel wave or line spectrum of the equivalent system or another system is obtained for the channel currently received. It is possible to reliably determine the presence or absence of in-band radio waves other than the desired wave on which the transmission frame is superimposed, such as interference waves or broadband noise.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the switch 152 stands by in a channel with low in-band noise among a plurality of channels, and the transmitter 151 transmits a transmission frame in each channel. Even in the case where simple unidirectional communication is performed in an environment with in-band noise, a transmission frame can be reliably received. Since the channel change is automatically performed by the control unit 23, it is possible to easily and surely communicate without burdening the user with a channel change operation or the like. Since the switch 152 does not perform an operation of frequently switching a plurality of channels in preparation for signal reception, power consumption can be suppressed as compared with the conventional case. In addition, as described above, since it is possible to reliably determine the presence of in-band radio waves other than the desired wave for the channel being received, it is more reliable that the channel for communication is a channel with low in-band noise. Can be made communicable.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the structure of the said embodiment, A various deformation | transformation is possible suitably in the range which does not change the meaning of invention. For example, the number of channels that can be transmitted by the wireless transmission circuit unit 12 and that can be received by the wireless reception circuit unit 22 is not limited to three, and may be two or four or more. . Even when the number of channels is large in this way, similarly, the channels can be automatically changed to enable reliable communication. In addition, for example, the transmitter 151 may be replaced with the human sensor 151a as described above, an operation button that detects a predetermined state in which the user has performed a pressing operation, and outputs a trigger signal in response thereto, For example, a sensor that detects a predetermined state and outputs a trigger signal, such as a sensor that detects temperature and time and outputs a trigger signal according to the temperature and time, can be used as the trigger detection means. For example, the transmitter 151 may not include the illuminance sensor 151b, but may include an illuminance sensor using a photodiode or the like as a trigger detection unit instead of the human sensor 151a. That is, the present invention is configured such that when the illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor becomes smaller than a predetermined value, the illuminance sensor outputs a trigger signal and accordingly transmits and receives a transmission frame. For example, when the room is dark The present invention can be similarly applied to an illumination control system that turns on illumination. Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the illumination control system 1 using the transmitter 151 disposed on the wall surface or the like as described above, and illumination control using a remote controller type transmitter that can be held and operated by the user. It is also applicable to the system. Even in such a configuration, in the switch 152, by avoiding a channel with in-band noise and performing signal reception through a channel that allows more reliable communication, the lighting device 150 can be reliably turned on and off. Can be controlled.

  In addition to the illumination control system that controls on / off of the illumination device as described above, the present invention provides an air conditioning system, a hot water supply system, or a transmitter that turns on / off the operation according to a signal transmitted from the transmitter. It can also be used in a load control system used for other purposes, such as a security system that receives a predetermined signal transmitted from the terminal and performs a notification operation. That is, in a transmitter that is used to remotely control the operation of the load control system by transmitting a signal by radio waves, the signal on the receiving side is automatically changed in the manner described above. By being configured to receive, communication failure can be prevented and load control can be performed easily and reliably even in an environment with in-band noise.

The figure which shows an example of the illumination control system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. The block diagram which shows the structure of the transmitter and switch of the said illumination control system. The figure which shows the structure of the transmission frame transmitted / received in the said illumination control system. The figure which shows the outline | summary of the communication system of the said illumination control system. The table | surface which shows the kind of radio wave which the switch of the said illumination control system can receive, and the receivability about each radio wave.

1 Lighting control system (load control system)
11 (transmitter) antenna 12 wireless transmission circuit unit 13 (transmitter) control unit 21 (receiver) antenna 22 radio reception circuit unit 23 (receiver) control unit 24 load control circuit unit 25 power supply circuit 50 power supply 150 Lighting device (load)
151 Transmitter 151a Human sensor (trigger detection means)
152 switch (receiver)

Claims (3)

A transmitter that transmits a signal by radio waves, and a receiver that has a function of receiving radio waves and that is connected to a load and has a control function of controlling at least on / off of the load,
The transmitter includes an antenna, a radio transmission circuit unit that transmits a signal from the antenna, trigger detection means that outputs a trigger signal when a predetermined state is detected, and the radio transmission circuit unit based on the trigger signal And a control unit that transmits a predetermined signal included in a transmission frame,
The receiver includes an antenna, a radio reception circuit unit that receives a radio wave using the antenna and extracts a signal, a load control circuit unit that opens and closes a power feeding path from a power source to the load, and the radio reception circuit unit A control unit for controlling the operation of the load control circuit according to the received signal,
In a load control system configured to operate the load accordingly when a predetermined state is detected by the trigger detection means,
The radio transmission circuit unit is configured to transmit the transmission frame for each of the plurality of radio channels while switching the plurality of radio channels having different frequencies when transmitting the transmission frame,
The radio reception circuit unit is configured to be able to receive a signal by switching the plurality of radio channels, and at least one other radio selected by the control unit of the receiver from the plurality of radio channels. A load control system configured to be able to receive a signal on a wireless channel in which in-band noise is smaller than that of the channel.   The control unit of the receiver receives the signal when the level of the signal received by the radio reception circuit unit is higher than a predetermined value and the signal cannot be synchronized by the bit synchronization method. The load control system according to claim 1, wherein a wireless channel to be changed is changed to a wireless channel different from a current wireless channel among the plurality of wireless channels. The transmission frame includes, in addition to the predetermined signal, at least predetermined reception data that can be verified by the control unit of the receiver,
The control unit of the receiver, when the level of the signal received by the wireless reception circuit unit is larger than a predetermined value, and the signal can be synchronized by the bit synchronization method, but the predetermined received data cannot be verified. 2. The load control system according to claim 1, wherein a radio channel received by the radio reception circuit unit is changed to a radio channel different from a current radio channel among the plurality of radio channels.

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