JP2010146356A - Fire alarm system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a fire alarm system that shortens the time required to receive radio signals including response messages from all the slave units. <P>SOLUTION: A control part 1 of a master unit TR1, when receiving a fire alarm message M1 transmitted from any one of the slave units TR2 etc., transmits the fire alarm message M1 to all the slave units TR2 etc., and periodically transmits a periodic monitoring message M4 to all the slave units TR2 etc. to check whether or not the slave units TR2 etc. function correctly. When receiving the fire alarm message M1 or periodic monitoring message M4 transmitted from the master unit TR1, a control part 1 of each of the slave units TR2 etc. returns a response message ACK notifying the message reception to the master unit TR1 in one of waiting times T1 etc. set in accordance with a corresponding slave unit ID. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a fire alarm system in which a plurality of fire alarm devices transmit and receive radio signals using radio waves as a medium.

  Conventionally, it has been obligatory to install fire alarms in houses to reduce the number of victims of house fires, and multiple fire alarms are linked using wireless signals from the viewpoint of workability in existing houses. A fire alarm system is provided. Such a fire alarm system has a function in which a plurality of fire alarms installed in multiple locations each detect a fire and a function that sounds an alarm sound. When detected, the fire alarm sounds an alarm sound and transmits information notifying the fire detection to other fire alarms by wireless signals, so that not only the fire source fire alarm but also multiple fire alarms By sounding the alarm sound all together, it is possible to quickly and reliably notify the occurrence of a fire.

Here, in the above-described fire alarm system, when a fire is detected, a wireless signal is transmitted between a plurality of fire alarm devices. At that time, each fire alarm device arbitrarily transmits a wireless signal. Then, radio signals may collide. As a means for avoiding such a collision, a fire alarm system in which a plurality of fire alarm devices transmit radio signals by a TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) method is known, and is disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example. Yes. In this conventional example, since each fire alarm device stores and transmits a radio signal in a time slot assigned to itself, the above-described collision can be avoided. However, in the above-described conventional example, when the power source of the fire alarm device is a battery in order to constantly transmit a synchronization signal, the battery is consumed very much, and is not suitable for use without maintenance for a long period of time. Therefore, it is desirable to perform wireless communication by asynchronous communication by intermittent transmission / intermittent reception until a fire is detected and each fire alarm is interlocked, instead of making all wireless communication synchronous by TDMA.
JP 2006-343983 A

  By the way, in the fire alarm system as described above, the system is generally composed of one or a plurality of slave units and a master unit disposed at a position where all the slave units can communicate with each other. is there. In such a configuration, when the master unit receives a radio signal including a fire alarm message transmitted from any slave unit, the master unit transmits a radio signal including a fire alarm message to all the slave units and In order to confirm whether or not the device is operating normally, a radio signal including a periodic monitoring message is periodically transmitted to all the child devices. When each slave unit receives a radio signal including a fire alarm message or a regular monitoring message, it returns a response message notifying that the message has been received to the master unit. By receiving all the radio signals including the response message from each slave unit at the master unit, the normality of the communication path between the master unit and each slave unit is confirmed.

  However, when performing wireless communication by asynchronous transmission by intermittent transmission / intermittent reception as described above, there is a possibility that a wireless signal including a response message returned from each slave unit to the parent unit may collide. Does not receive a wireless signal including a response message, and the parent device must again transmit a wireless signal including a fire alarm message or a periodic monitoring message. For this reason, there is a possibility that it takes a long time to receive radio signals including response messages from all the slave units.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a fire alarm system capable of shortening the time required to receive radio signals including response messages from all slave units. And

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 is provided with a plurality of fire alarms, and the fire is arranged at a position where it can communicate with all other fire alarms among the fire alarms. A fire alarm system that uses an alarm device as a master device and all fire alarm devices except the master device as slave devices, and transmits radio signals using radio waves as a medium between the plurality of fire alarm devices, Each fire alarm has a fire detection means for detecting a fire, a warning means for notifying a fire alarm, a transmission / reception means for transmitting / receiving a wireless signal, and a fire alarm to the alarm means when a fire is detected by the fire detection means. When a fire alarm message is received by receiving a radio signal transmitted from another fire alarm device and transmitting a radio signal including a fire alarm message to let other fire alarm devices notify the fire alarm Means to fire A control means for informing an alarm, a battery for supplying power, and a storage means for storing a unique identification code assigned in advance to each fire alarm. When a wireless signal including the transmitted fire alarm message is received, a wireless signal including a fire alarm message is transmitted to all the slave units, and whether or not each slave unit is operating normally is confirmed. Therefore, a radio signal including a regular monitoring message is periodically transmitted to all the slave units, and the control unit of each slave unit receives a radio signal including a fire alarm message or a regular monitoring message transmitted from the master unit. Then, after a waiting time set according to its own identification code has elapsed, a radio signal including a response message notifying that the message has been received is returned to the master unit.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 2 is provided with a plurality of fire alarms, and the fire is arranged at a position where it can communicate with all other fire alarms among the fire alarms. A fire alarm system that uses an alarm device as a master device and all fire alarm devices except the master device as slave devices, and transmits radio signals using radio waves as a medium between the plurality of fire alarm devices, Each fire alarm has a fire detection means for detecting a fire, a warning means for notifying a fire alarm, a transmission / reception means for transmitting / receiving a wireless signal, and a fire alarm to the alarm means when a fire is detected by the fire detection means. When a fire alarm message is received by receiving a radio signal transmitted from another fire alarm device and transmitting a radio signal including a fire alarm message to let other fire alarm devices notify the fire alarm Means to fire A control means for informing an alarm; a battery for supplying power; and a storage means for storing a unique identification code assigned in advance to each fire alarm. It has a registration function that stores the identification code in the storage means and assigns the device number to each child unit so that there is no duplication, all when receiving a radio signal including a fire alarm message transmitted from any child unit A wireless signal including a fire alarm message is sent to each child unit, and a wireless signal including a periodic monitoring message is periodically sent to all children to check whether each child unit is operating normally. When the control means of each slave unit receives a radio signal including a fire alarm message or a regular monitoring message transmitted from the master unit, the standby time set according to its own device number is received. Characterized in that it sends back a radio signal including a response message notifying that the message was received to the parent device after spent.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the invention, the control unit of the master unit transmits again a radio signal including a fire alarm message to the slave unit for which no response message has been returned. Features.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 4 includes a plurality of fire alarms, and is arranged at a position where communication is possible with all other fire alarms among the fire alarms. A fire alarm system that transmits a radio signal using a radio wave as a medium between a plurality of fire alarm devices, with all the fire alarm devices except the parent device as slave units, The fire alarm is a fire detection means for detecting a fire, an alarm means for notifying a fire alarm, a transmission / reception means for transmitting / receiving a wireless signal, and a fire alarm when the fire detection means detects a fire. In addition, a radio signal including a fire alarm message for notifying other fire alarms of a fire alarm is transmitted, and an alarm means when a radio signal transmitted from another fire alarm is received and a fire alarm message is received To fire Control means for reporting information, and a battery for power supply, the control means of the parent device is a specific set in advance when receiving a radio signal including a fire alarm message transmitted from any of the child devices A radio signal including a fire alarm message is transmitted to the slave unit, and a radio signal including a periodic monitoring message is periodically sent to the specific child to check whether each slave unit is operating normally. A response to notify the master unit that the message has been received when receiving the radio signal including the fire alarm message or the periodic monitoring message transmitted from the master unit. A wireless signal including a message is returned.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the fourth aspect of the present invention, the control means of the master unit applies a received signal strength display signal which is a DC voltage signal proportional to the magnitude of the received signal strength of the radio signal transmitted from each slave unit. Based on this, it is confirmed whether or not a desired radio wave can be received, and the slave unit having the smallest received signal strength display signal is set as the specific slave unit.

  According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, it is possible to shift the timing of sending back a radio signal including a response message to the parent unit in each slave unit, so that collision of radio signals can be avoided, and therefore wireless Compared to the case where a signal collides and a wireless signal including a message is transmitted from the parent device to each child device again, the time required to receive wireless signals including response messages from all the child devices is reduced. can do.

  According to the invention of claim 3, even when a radio signal including a response message from any of the slave units cannot be received by the master unit due to some cause such as generation of a new noise source or sudden failure, the radio signal including the message again. By transmitting, the communication path between the parent device and each child device can be more reliably established.

  According to the invention of claim 4, by returning a radio signal including a response message from only a specific slave unit, the radio signals collide as in the case of returning a radio signal including a response message from a plurality of slave units. In addition, the time required to receive a radio signal including a response message can be reduced.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, by setting the slave unit having the smallest received signal strength display signal, that is, the worst radio environment, as a specific slave unit, a response of a radio signal including a response message from the slave unit is returned. If there is, it can be considered that all the other slave units can receive the radio signal including the fire alarm message or the regular monitoring message.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of a fire alarm system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 2, the present embodiment includes a plurality (two in the figure) of fire alarms TR. In the following description, when the fire alarm devices TR are individually shown, they are expressed as fire alarm devices TR1, TR2,..., TRn, and when collectively shown, they are expressed as fire alarm devices TR.

  The fire alarm device TR transmits a radio signal using radio waves as a medium via the antenna 3 and also receives a radio signal transmitted from another fire alarm device TR via the antenna 3, a buzzer sound, The main components are an alarm unit 5 that notifies a fire alarm (hereinafter referred to as “alarm sound”) by a voice message, etc. from a speaker, and a microcomputer or a rewritable nonvolatile memory (for example, EEPROM). When the fire detection unit 4 detects a fire, the alarm unit 5 sounds an alarm sound and also includes a radio signal including a fire alarm message for notifying other fire alarm devices TR of a fire alarm (hereinafter simply “fire”). The control unit 1 that transmits a “warning message” from the wireless transmission / reception unit 2, the operation input reception unit 6 that receives an operation input for stopping the alarm sound, a dry battery, and the like And comprising a battery power supply unit 7 supplies operation power to each unit of the battery as the power source.

  The operation input receiving unit 6 has a plurality of switches (for example, push button switches), and receives an operation input corresponding to each switch when the switch is operated, and sends an operation signal corresponding to the operation input to the control unit. Output to 1. Each fire alarm device TR1, TR2,... Is assigned a unique identification code at the manufacturing stage and stored in a storage means such as a ROM (not shown).

  The radio transmission / reception unit 2 transmits / receives a radio signal using radio waves as a medium in accordance with “radio station of low power security system” defined in Article 6, Paragraph 4, Item 3 of the Radio Law Enforcement Regulations. In addition, the fire detection unit 4 detects fire by detecting smoke, heat, flames, and the like generated with a fire, for example. In addition, since the radio | wireless transmission / reception part 2 and the fire detection part 4 are conventionally known, detailed description shall be abbreviate | omitted here.

  The control part 1 implement | achieves the various functions mentioned later by running the program stored in memory with a microcomputer. When the fire detection unit 4 detects the occurrence of a fire, the control unit 1 drives a buzzer included in the alarm unit 5 to sound an alarm sound, or an alarm voice message (for example, stored in a memory or the like in advance) , “It is a fire”, etc.) is sent to the speaker by transmitting a radio signal including a fire alarm message from the radio transmitter / receiver 2 in order to notify the fire alarm also in other fire alarm devices TR. Let Even when the wireless transmission / reception unit 2 receives a wireless signal transmitted from another fire alarm device TR, the control unit 1 controls the alarm unit 5 to sound an alarm sound.

  Here, in the radio equipment regulation Article 49-17 “Radio equipment of radio stations of the low power security system” of the Radio Law Enforcement Regulation, the period during which radio signals may be continuously transmitted (transmission period) is 3 seconds or less. In addition, it is stipulated that a period during which a radio signal provided between a transmission period and a transmission period should not be transmitted (pause period) is 2 seconds or more (see No. 5 of the same article). For this reason, in the control part 1 of this embodiment, while transmitting a radio signal in the transmission period which adapts to the said rule, it stops transmission in a dormant period, and is in the state which can be received.

  In order to extend the battery life of the battery power supply unit 7 as much as possible, the control unit 1 repeats a predetermined intermittent reception interval (however, the intermittent reception interval is longer than the transmission period) by a timer built in the microcomputer. In addition to counting, every time the intermittent reception interval is counted, the wireless transmission / reception unit 2 is activated to check whether a desired radio wave (a radio signal transmitted by another fire alarm device TR) can be received. If the signal is not detected, the average power consumption is greatly reduced by immediately stopping the wireless transmission / reception unit 2 and shifting to the standby state. The radio wave reception check is performed by the control unit 1 based on a received signal strength indication signal (Receiving Signal Strength Indication: RSSI signal) that is a DC voltage signal proportional to the magnitude of the received signal strength output from the wireless transmission / reception unit 2. Is going. Since this reception check is well known in the art, a detailed description thereof will be omitted here.

  Further, in the control unit 1 of a specific fire alarm device TR1 (hereinafter referred to as “parent device”), the wireless transmission / reception unit 2 is activated periodically (for example, every 25 hours) and the other fire alarm devices TR2 and TR3 are activated. ,... (Hereinafter referred to as “child unit”) is a radio signal including a periodic monitoring message (hereinafter simply referred to as “periodic monitoring message”) to confirm whether or not it is operating normally (periodic monitoring). To send. The master unit TR1 is disposed at a position where it can communicate with all the slave units TR2,..., And a communication path can be established between the master unit TR1 and all the slave units TR2,. Yes. In the child units TR2,..., The control unit 1 monitors whether the fire detection unit 4 has failed and whether the battery power source unit 7 has run out of battery at a constant cycle (for example, every hour), and stores the monitoring results in a memory. I remember it. When a periodic monitoring message is received from the parent device TR1, a radio signal including a response message for notifying that the periodic monitoring message has been received and for notifying the monitoring result stored in the memory (hereinafter simply referred to as “response message”). ") Is returned to the parent device TR1.

  After transmitting the regular monitoring message, the control unit 1 of the parent device TR1 switches the wireless transmission / reception unit 2 to the reception state and receives wireless signals transmitted from the child devices TR2,. Here, the control unit 1 of the parent device TR1 transmits the periodic monitoring message, when there is a child device TR2,... That does not send a response message within a predetermined time, or any child device TR2,. When the response message that is sent is to notify the monitoring result that there is a failure or the battery has run out, an abnormality occurs in the child units TR2,... It also has a function to notify that it has been done. When the control unit 1 of the parent device TR1 and the child devices TR2,... Determines that a failure or a battery has run out, the alarm unit 5 immediately outputs a warning sound for notifying the occurrence of an abnormality from the speaker of the alarm unit 5. It is supposed to ring from.

  Further, the control unit 1 of the master unit TR1 is configured so that the fire detection unit 4 detects a fire and causes the alarm unit 5 to sound an alarm sound and transmits a fire alarm message to each of the slave units TR2,. After receiving the fire alarm message from TR2,..., The wireless transmission / reception unit 2 is caused to transmit a synchronization signal at a constant period. This synchronization signal is a signal that defines a time slot required for performing TDMA (time division multiple access) wireless communication between a plurality of fire alarms TR, and one period is divided into a plurality of time slots. .., And one different time slot is allocated to each of the slave units TR2,. Then, a message from the parent device TR1 to the child devices TR2,... Is included in the synchronization signal, and a radio signal including a message from the child device TR2,... To the parent device TR1 is assigned to each child device TR2,. Stored in the current time slot and transmitted. Therefore, collision of radio signals transmitted from a plurality of fire alarm devices TR can be reliably avoided. Note that time slots are assigned to each fire alarm device TR at the time of registration of child devices TR2,...

  As shown in FIG. 3, the frame format of the radio signal transmitted and received by the fire alarm TR is one frame with a synchronization bit (preamble: PA), a frame synchronization pattern (unique word: UW), a header HD, data Data, and a CRC code. Is configured. The header HD includes the identification code of the parent device TR1 (hereinafter referred to as “parent device ID”), the count value RC of the registration counter, the transmission source address SA, and the transmission destination address DA.

  Here, if the device number assigned to each fire alarm device TR is designated as the destination address DA, only the fire alarm device TR of the device number receives the radio signal and acquires data (message). By setting a special bit string (for example, a bit string with all bits set to 1) different from any device number as the destination address DA, a wireless signal is broadcast (multicast) and a message is sent to all fire alarms TR. Can be acquired. For example, a fire alarm message is broadcast from the parent device TR1 to all the child devices TR2,. Note that when the wireless signal is transmitted asynchronously, the control unit 1 continuously transmits the wireless signal for one frame from the wireless transmission / reception unit 2 by the number that can be transmitted within one transmission period. When transmitting and receiving in the TDMA system, it is not necessary to store a plurality of frames of radio signals in one time slot.

  Hereinafter, the transmission / reception operation of this embodiment when shifting to the TDMA wireless communication will be described with reference to the time chart of FIG. For example, when the fire detection unit 4 detects a fire in the child unit TR2, the control unit 1 of the child unit TR2 sounds an alarm sound from the alarm unit 5 and activates the wireless transmission / reception unit 2 to send the fire alarm message M1 to all the fires. Transmit to the alarm device TR. At this time, the control unit 1 of the child unit TR2 as the transmission source continuously transmits the radio signal by the number of frames that can be transmitted within the transmission period, and the radio transmission / reception unit 2 during the pause period (reception period) after the transmission period. To the receiving state. Each fire alarm device TR receives asynchronously and intermittently, but the fire alarm message M1 can be received if the transmission period is repeated a certain number of times (for example, three times).

  Here, if low-power radio is used, the wireless communication distance can be sufficiently covered as long as it is within the area of a normal house, so that the child unit TR2 of the fire source sends a message to other fire alarm devices TR. Is possible enough. However, as described above, the parent device TR1 periodically monitors the child devices TR2 to TR5, and the normality of the communication path is confirmed between the parent device TR1 and each of the child devices TR2 to TR5. However, since the communication path between the child units TR3 to TR5 has not been confirmed, for example, the message may not reach any of the child units TR2 to TR5 due to the influence of an obstacle or the like.

  Therefore, the control unit 1 of the parent device TR1 that has received the fire alarm message M1 continuously transmits the fire alarm message M1 a plurality of times to the other child devices TR3 to TR5 excluding the child device TR2 that is the transmission source. When the control unit 1 of the other slave units TR3 to TR5 receives the fire alarm message M1 transmitted from the slave unit TR2 or the master unit TR1, it immediately sounds an alarm sound from the alarm unit 5 and fires from the wireless transmission / reception unit 2 A response message ACK notifying that the message M1 has been received is transmitted by a radio signal. Hereinafter, the fact that all the fire alarms TR notify the fire alarm when the fire is detected by at least one fire alarm TR is referred to as “fire interlocking”.

  When receiving the response message ACK from all the other child devices TR3 to TR5, the control unit 1 of the parent device TR1 causes the wireless transmission / reception unit 2 to transmit a synchronization signal for defining a time slot at a constant period. In this embodiment, the first time slot is assigned to the child device TR2, the second time slot is assigned to the child device TR3, the third time slot is assigned to the child device TR4, and the fourth time slot is assigned to the child device TR5. Assigned.

  Here, the parent device TR1 periodically monitors each child device TR2 to TR5, and the normality of the communication path is confirmed between the parent device TR1 and each child device TR3 to TR5. The communication path between the devices TR2 to TR5 has not been confirmed. Therefore, when a large number of slave units TR2,... Are arranged, the number of communication paths between the slave units TR2,... Becomes very large. As described above, the fire alarm message and other messages are sent from the parent device TR1 to each child device TR2, using the specific fire alarm device TR1 as the parent device and the other fire alarm devices TR2, as child devices. By transmitting, it is possible to reliably link the fire even if there are slave units that cannot establish a communication path with each other.

  When all the fire alarm devices TR start to sound by sounding an alarm sound, a synchronization signal is transmitted from the master device TR1 at a constant cycle as described above, and the operation shifts to TDMA communication. In the control unit 1 of the parent device TR1, the fire alarm message is repeatedly transmitted to all the child devices TR2,. And the control part 1 of each subunit | mobile_unit TR2, ... confirms the state of the alarm part 5 whenever it receives the fire alarm message transmitted from the main | base station TR1, and if the alarm part 5 has stopped temporarily, the alarm part 5 Sound the alarm again. Therefore, after the fire alarm is started to be notified by all the fire alarms TR, all the other fire alarms (children) are set in a plurality of time slots defined by the synchronization signal transmitted by the specific fire alarm (master unit) TR1. A collision can be avoided by assigning TR2,... And performing wireless communication by the TDMA method. Moreover, a fire alarm can be reliably notified by including a fire alarm message in a synchronization signal and periodically transmitting it to all the other sub-units TR2,. As a result, a plurality of fire alarms TR can be effectively interlocked while avoiding collision of radio signals.

  By the way, the periodic monitoring is performed almost once a day. Even if the communication path is normal in the regular monitoring, for some reason (for example, generation of a new noise source or sudden failure) ) May fail to establish a communication path between any of the child devices TR2,... And the parent device TR1. Therefore, in the control unit 1 of the parent device TR1, when the response message ACK is not received from any of the child devices TR3 to TR5 (for example, TR5), the fire alarm message is transmitted again from the wireless transmission / reception unit 2, and the child device TR5 When the response message ACK is received, the wireless transmission / reception unit 2 is caused to transmit a synchronization signal. By comprising in this way, the communication path between a main unit and each sub unit can be established more reliably. However, if the response message ACK is not received from the slave unit TR5 even if the fire alarm message is transmitted a predetermined number of times, the control unit 1 of the master unit TR1 stops the retransmission of the fire alarm message and sends it to the wireless transmission / reception unit 2. Send a sync signal.

  Further, the control unit 1 of the parent device TR1 resends the above-described fire alarm message to the child devices TR2,... That cannot establish a communication path in the periodic monitoring or receive a response message indicating that the battery is dead in the periodic monitoring. May be configured so that the synchronization signal is transmitted regardless of whether or not the number of retransmissions is reduced or the response message ACK is received from the slave units TR2,. However, for the child units TR2,... That have notified only the monitoring result with failure by the response message in the regular monitoring, it is possible that the alarm unit 5 can be sounded in response to the fire alarm message. Therefore, it is desirable that the control unit 1 of the parent device TR1 retransmits the fire alarm message.

  By the way, the fire alarm system of this embodiment is in a state where no fire is detected in any of the fire alarms TR (standby state) and in a state where all the fire alarms TR are sounding an alarm sound (linked sounding) State), as described later, only the fire alarm TR that detects the fire (fire source) sounds the alarm sound, and the fire alarm TR other than the fire source stops the alarm sound (interlocked) The operation state is transited between (stop state). That is, when a fire is detected by at least one of the fire alarm devices TR in the standby state, as described above, the fire unit (eg, TR2) and the parent unit TR1 to all other units TR3, When the fire alarm message is transmitted to ..., the alarm sound is sounded in all the fire alarm devices TR including the parent device TR1 and the child devices TR2,.

  When the operation input for stopping the alarm sound is received by the operation input receiving unit 6 of any of the fire alarm devices TR in the interlocking sounding state, if the fire alarm device TR is the master device TR1, By transmitting a radio signal (hereinafter simply referred to as “alarm stop message”) including an alarm stop message for requesting stop of the alarm sound from the instrument TR1 to all the slave units TR2,. If the device TR is the child device TR2,..., The master device TR1 that has received the alarm stop message from the child device TR2,... Transmits the alarm stop message to the other child devices TR2,. The alarm sound is stopped by the fire alarm device TR and the state is shifted to the interlock stop state. However, when an operation input for stopping the alarm sound is received by the operation input receiving unit 6 of the fire source fire alarm device TR, the alarm sound is also stopped in the fire alarm device TR of the fire source. Here, the control unit 1 of the parent device TR1 keeps the fire detection status of the parent device TR1 and each child device TR2,... Updated as needed in a memory (not shown), and all the fire alarm devices TR as will be described later. When a fire is no longer detected in, transition from the fire-linked state to the standby state.

  Further, when the interlocking sounding state is changed to the interlocking stop state, the control unit 1 of the parent device TR1 starts measuring a predetermined alarm sound stop time (for example, 5 minutes). Then, after the alarm sound stop time has elapsed, the control unit 1 of the parent device TR1 refers to the fire detection status held in the memory, and if all the fire alarm devices TR have not detected a fire, the control signal 1 By transmitting a wireless signal including a recovery notification message for notifying recovery (hereinafter simply referred to as “recovery notification message”), the state is switched from the fire-linked state to the standby state. If a fire is detected by at least one fire alarm device TR, a fire alarm message is transmitted by a synchronization signal, thereby shifting from the interlock stop state to the interlock ringing state. Even when any fire alarm device TR detects a new fire in the interlock stop state, the control unit 1 of the master unit TR1 transmits a fire alarm message by a synchronization signal, so that the interlock ringing state from the interlock stop state. Transition to.

  For example, as shown in the time chart of FIG. 4, in a fire-linked state (linked ringing state) in which the parent device TR1 is a fire source, an operation input for stopping an alarm sound is made by the operation input receiving unit 6 of the child device TR4 that is not a fire source When the alarm stop message M2 is transmitted from the slave unit TR4 by being accepted, the control unit 1 of the master unit TR1 that has received the alarm stop message M2 transmits the alarm stop message M2 by the synchronization signal, Measure time. However, the alarm unit 5 continues to sound an alarm sound in the master unit TR1 that is a fire source. After the warning sound stop time has elapsed, the control unit 1 of the parent device TR1 confirms the fire detection status of its own fire detection unit 4 and the fire detection status of the child devices TR2 to TR4, and at least one of the fires is detected. When the alarm device TR detects a fire, the fire alarm message M1 is transmitted again to each of the slave devices TR2 to TR4 by a synchronization signal, thereby transitioning from the interlock stop state to the interlock ringing state.

  On the other hand, as shown in the time chart of FIG. 5, if the fire is extinguished within the alarm sound stop time and the fire detection unit 4 no longer detects the fire, the control unit 1 of the master unit TR1 will stop the alarm sound stop time. After a lapse of time, a recovery notification message M3 is transmitted to each of the slave units TR2 to TR4 by a synchronization signal, and when a response message ACK returned from all the slave units TR2 to TR4 is received, transition from the interlock stop state to the standby state is performed. By stopping the transmission of the synchronization signal, the wireless communication using the TDMA method (hereinafter referred to as “synchronous communication”) returns to the wireless communication using intermittent transmission and reception (hereinafter referred to as “asynchronous communication”).

  Further, as shown in the time chart of FIG. 6, when the fire of the fire source is extinguished and the fire detection unit 4 of the child device TR4 does not detect the fire in the interlocking ringing state where the child device TR4 is the fire source, A recovery notification message is transmitted from device TR4 to parent device TR1. The control unit 1 of the master unit TR1 that has received the recovery notification message refers to the fire detection status held in the memory, and if no fire is detected by all the fire alarm devices TR, the recovery notification message M3 is sent by a synchronization signal. It transmits to each subunit | mobile_unit TR2, .... When the control unit 1 of the parent device TR1 receives the response message ACK returned from all the child devices TR2,..., The state shifts from the interlocking stop state to the standby state, and the synchronization signal is stopped by stopping the transmission of the synchronization signal. Return to asynchronous communication.

  On the other hand, as shown in the time chart of FIG. 7, when a fire is newly detected by another fire alarm device (for example, the child device TR3), a recovery notification message is received from the child device TR4 which is the first fire source. The control unit 1 of the parent device TR1 refers to the fire detection status held in the memory, and does not transmit the recovery notification message M3 because the child device TR3 is detecting a fire, and continues to transmit the fire alarm message M1. To maintain a fire-linked state.

  Hereinafter, the process performed by the control unit 1 of the parent device TR1 in the fire-linked state will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When a fire alarm message is received from any of the child units TR2,... In the standby state (S1), the control unit 1 of the parent unit TR1 updates the fire detection status held by each of the child units TR2,. (S2), and if a recovery notification message is received from the fire source devices TR2, ... (S3), the fire detection status of the child devices TR2, ... is changed from fire detection to fire non-detection. Update (S4). When an alarm stop message is received from any slave unit TR2,... When no recovery notification message is received from any slave unit TR2,... In the fire interlocking state (S5), the control unit 1 of the master unit TR1 stops the alarm. It decides to do and transmits a warning stop message from the wireless transmission / reception unit 2 (S6). Also, an alarm stop message is periodically transmitted by a synchronization signal from the transition from the interlocking sounding state to the interlocking stop state until the alarm sound stop time elapses (S6, S7, S8). When the time has elapsed (S8), it is determined whether or not there is a fire alarm being detected with reference to the fire detection status stored in the memory (S9). If it remains, fire continuation is determined and a fire alarm message is transmitted from the wireless transmission / reception unit 2 (S10). On the other hand, if all the fire alarms TR are not detected, the fire interlock state is set to the standby state. The recovery notification message is transmitted from the wireless transmission / reception unit 2 (S11).

  Here, when any of the slave units TR2,... Does not return a response message to the recovery notification message, the control unit 1 of the master unit TR1 causes the recovery notification message to be transmitted again from the wireless transmission / reception unit 2, and the corresponding slave unit. It is desirable to stop the radio transmission / reception unit 2 from transmitting a synchronization signal when a response message is received from TR2,..., Or when a predetermined time has elapsed since the restoration notification message was retransmitted a predetermined number of times. Further, when the master unit TR1 fails and the synchronization signal is not transmitted in the interlocking ringing state or the interlocking stop state, the wireless transmission / reception unit 2 of the slave units TR2,... Remains in the reception state in order to receive the synchronization signal. If the control unit 1 of the slave units TR2,... Continues for a predetermined time (for example, a time corresponding to several cycles of the synchronization signal) or longer, the control unit 1 of the slave units TR2,. It is desirable to stop the wireless transmitter / receiver 2 to reduce battery consumption.

  By the way, as already explained, a unique identification code is assigned to the fire alarm device TR in the manufacturing stage without distinction between the parent device TR1 and the child devices TR2,... When an identification code is designated as the SA and the destination address DA, the bit length of the header HD becomes relatively long, so that the radio signal transmission / reception time is increased, so that the battery is consumed quickly. Therefore, the control unit 1 of the parent device TR1 of the present embodiment stores the identification codes (child device IDs) of the child devices TR2,... In the memory, and does not overlap each child device TR2,. It has a registration function to assign numbers. That is, if each child device TR2,... Is registered in advance in the parent device TR1, the identification code (parent device ID) of the parent device TR1 is included in the header HD, and specified in the transmission source address SA and the transmission destination address DA. By combining the device number and the parent device ID, it is possible to identify each fire alarm device TR in the same system and transmit / receive a radio signal without increasing the bit length of the header HD. Therefore, the radio signal transmission / reception time is shortened, and as a result, battery consumption can be suppressed. In this embodiment, slot numbers 1, 2,... Corresponding to the time slot order are used as device numbers, and device numbers (slot numbers) “1” to “4” are assigned to the slave units TR2 to TR5, respectively. At the same time, a device number of “0” is assigned to the parent device TR1. Since the registration function is well known in the art, detailed description thereof will be omitted here.

  By the way, in this embodiment, since it is asynchronous communication by intermittent transmission and reception in the standby state, there is a possibility that the response messages from the slave units TR2,... In the case of a collision, since the response message does not reach the master unit TR1, the master unit TR1 retransmits the message until it receives response messages from all the slave units TR2,. It takes a long time to receive a message. For example, when a fire is detected, the transition from the standby state to the fire-linked state (linked ringing state) may be delayed.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1B, standby times T1 to T3 are set according to the child unit IDs set in advance in the child units TR2,..., And the fire alarm message M1 or the regular monitoring message M4 is received. A response message ACK is transmitted after waiting times T1 to T3 have elapsed. That is, in the example shown in FIG. 1B, the slave unit TR2 returns a response message ACK as soon as the message from the master unit TR1 is received, and the slave unit TR3 receives the message from the master unit TR1 and waits for the waiting time T1. Response message ACK is returned after elapse of time, slave unit TR4 returns a response message ACK after receiving a message from master unit TR1 and waiting time T2 (T2> T1) elapses, and slave unit TR5 returns to master unit A response message ACK is returned after a waiting time T3 (T3> T2) has elapsed after receiving a message from TR1. Thus, it is possible to avoid collision of radio signals by shifting the timing of transmitting the response message ACK from each child unit TR2,... To the parent unit TR1, and as a result, all the child units TR2,. The time required for receiving the message ACK can be shortened. In addition, you may set the waiting time in each subunit | mobile_unit TR2, ... according to the remainder which divided the subunit | mobile_unit ID of each subunit | mobile_unit TR2, ... by arbitrary numbers, for example. Further, the standby time may be set according to the device number assigned when each of the child devices TR2,... Is registered in the parent device TR1.

  By the way, in this embodiment, a fire alarm message or a regular monitoring message is transmitted from the master unit TR1 to all the slave units TR2,... By receiving the message, the normality of the communication path between the parent device TR1 and each child device TR2,... Is confirmed, and the state transitions to the next state (for example, the interlocking ringing state from the standby state). A fire alarm message or a periodic monitoring message is transmitted only to a specific child device set in advance (for example, TR2), and a response message is returned from only the specific child device TR2 to the parent device TR1. It doesn't matter. In this case, radio signals do not collide as in the case where response messages are returned from the plurality of slave units TR2,..., And the time required to receive the response message can be further reduced.

  The specific child device is set when each child device TR2,... Is registered in the parent device TR1. At the time of registration, the received signal strength display signal is the smallest, that is, the child device having the worst wireless environment (for example, , TR3) is preferably set to a specific slave unit TR3. In this case, if a response message is returned from the child unit TR3, it can be considered that all the other child units TR2,.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a figure which shows embodiment of the fire alarm system which concerns on this invention, (a) is a time chart for demonstrating the operation | movement which changes from a standby state to a fire interlocking state, (b) is from each sub unit to a main unit. It is a time chart for demonstrating the reply of a response message. It is a block diagram of a fire alarm same as the above. It is a figure which shows the frame format of a radio signal same as the above. It is a time chart for demonstrating the operation | movement which changes to the interlocking stop state from the interlocking ringing state same as the above. It is a time chart for demonstrating the operation | movement which changes to a interlocking stop state and a standby state from the interlocking ringing state same as the above. It is a time chart for demonstrating the operation | movement which changes to a standby state from a fire interlocking state same as the above. It is a time chart for demonstrating the operation | movement in a fire interlocking state same as the above. It is a flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement of the main unit in a fire interlocking state same as the above.

Explanation of symbols

TR1 Fire alarm (parent device)
TR2-TR5 Fire alarm (child unit)
M1 fire alarm message M4 periodic monitoring message ACK response message T1 to T3 standby time

Claims (5)

  It is equipped with a plurality of fire alarms, and all of the fire alarms except for the master unit are the fire alarms that are arranged at positions where they can communicate with all other fire alarms. The fire alarm system is a fire alarm system that transmits a radio signal using radio waves as a medium between the plurality of fire alarms, and each fire alarm has a fire detection means for detecting a fire, An alarm means for notifying a fire alarm, a transmitting / receiving means for transmitting / receiving a radio signal, and a fire alarm for notifying a fire alarm when a fire is detected by the fire detecting means and for notifying other fire alarms of the fire alarm A control means for transmitting a wireless signal including a fire alarm message and receiving a wireless signal transmitted from another fire alarm and receiving a fire alarm message; Electric And a storage means for storing a unique identification code pre-assigned to each fire alarm, and the control means of the master unit has received a radio signal including a fire alarm message transmitted from any slave unit In this case, radio signals including fire alarm messages are transmitted to all the slave units, and radio signals including periodic monitoring messages are periodically transmitted to confirm whether or not each slave unit is operating normally. When the control means of each slave unit receives a radio signal including a fire alarm message or a regular monitoring message transmitted from the master unit, the standby time set according to its own identification code is transmitted to all the slave units. A fire alarm system that returns a radio signal including a response message notifying that a message has been received to the parent unit after elapse of time.   It is equipped with a plurality of fire alarms, and all of the fire alarms except for the master unit are the fire alarms that are arranged at positions where they can communicate with all other fire alarms. The fire alarm system is a fire alarm system that transmits a radio signal using radio waves as a medium between the plurality of fire alarms, and each fire alarm has a fire detection means for detecting a fire, An alarm means for notifying a fire alarm, a transmitting / receiving means for transmitting / receiving a radio signal, and a fire alarm for notifying a fire alarm when a fire is detected by the fire detecting means and for notifying other fire alarms of the fire alarm A control means for transmitting a wireless signal including a fire alarm message and receiving a wireless signal transmitted from another fire alarm and receiving a fire alarm message; Electric And storage means for storing a unique identification code pre-assigned to each fire alarm, and the control means of the master unit stores the identification code of each slave unit in the storage means and in each slave unit A radio signal containing a fire alarm message for all slave units when a radio signal containing a fire alarm message sent from any slave unit is received. In addition, a radio signal including a periodic monitoring message is periodically transmitted to all the slave units in order to check whether each slave unit is operating normally. Receives a message to the parent unit after the standby time set according to its own device number has elapsed when it receives a wireless signal containing a fire alarm message or periodic monitoring message sent from the parent unit Fire alarm system, characterized in that return a radio signal including a response message informing.   The fire alarm system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the control unit of the parent device again transmits a radio signal including a fire alarm message individually to a child device that has not returned a response message.   It is equipped with a plurality of fire alarms, and all of the fire alarms except for the master unit are the fire alarms that are arranged at positions where they can communicate with all other fire alarms. The fire alarm system is a fire alarm system that transmits a radio signal using radio waves as a medium between the plurality of fire alarms, and each fire alarm has a fire detection means for detecting a fire, An alarm means for notifying a fire alarm, a transmitting / receiving means for transmitting / receiving a radio signal, and a fire alarm for notifying a fire alarm when a fire is detected by the fire detecting means and for notifying other fire alarms of the fire alarm A control means for transmitting a wireless signal including a fire alarm message and receiving a wireless signal transmitted from another fire alarm and receiving a fire alarm message; Electric The control unit of the master unit receives a radio signal including a fire alarm message for a specific slave unit set in advance when a radio signal including a fire alarm message transmitted from any of the slave units is received. A radio signal including a periodic monitoring message is periodically transmitted to the specific slave unit to confirm whether each slave unit is operating normally. When the control means receives a radio signal including a fire alarm message or a periodic monitoring message transmitted from the master unit, the control means returns a radio signal including a response message informing the master unit that the message has been received. Fire alarm system. The control unit of the master unit checks whether or not a desired radio wave can be received based on a received signal strength display signal that is a DC voltage signal proportional to the magnitude of the received signal strength of the radio signal transmitted from each slave unit. The fire alarm system according to claim 4, wherein the slave unit having the smallest received signal strength display signal is set as the specific slave unit.

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