JP2015048666A - Toilet system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a toilet system capable of easily adjusting the signal strength level of an operation signal transmitted from a remote control to a signal reception section of a toilet bowl to an appropriate level according to toilet environment, and thereby elongate the service life of a battery.SOLUTION: A remote control 1 includes: a test signal transmission section that transmits a test signal for checking the signal strength level received by a toilet bowl 2; a test signal reception section that receives a test signal returned by the toilet bowl 2; and a signal level set section that sets the strength level of the operation signal based on a test signal received by the test signal reception section. The toilet bowl 2 has a test signal reception and transmission section that receives the test signal transmitted from the remote control 1 and returns the test signal representing reception of the signal to the remote control to thereby automatically adjust the signal strength level of the operation signal.

Description

  The present invention relates to a toilet system.

  In recent years, toilets having functionality including interior equipment such as a hot water washing function have been used in toilets. As a toilet system of a toilet having the functionality provided with such an interior device, there is one that operates the interior device by operating a remote control installed on a wall surface of the toilet.

  In such a toilet system, a transmission signal from a remote control is transmitted to a receiving unit installed in a toilet using reflections on the wall surface or ceiling surface of the toilet, and various functions of the interior equipment are executed. .

  On the other hand, in the toilet system having such a configuration, the transmission signal from the remote control may be weak or cannot be received by the receiving unit of the toilet depending on the obstacle in the toilet, the ceiling, wall shape, material, etc. of the toilet. In some cases, the interior equipment did not work.

  Therefore, such a case can be dealt with by changing the toilet environment such as the position of the remote controller or the material of the wallpaper, or by installing a remote controller with high transmission intensity in advance.

  However, according to such a response to changing the installation position of the remote control and the material of the wallpaper, there is a problem that costs and labor are involved in changing the toilet design. Also, when installing a remote control with strong transmission strength, depending on the toilet environment, it may be transmitting at a transmission strength that is higher than necessary, so the remote control battery must be exhausted and the battery must be replaced frequently. There was a problem.

  On the other hand, as a system for operating a plurality of remote operation target devices including a toilet, a system in which a plurality of infrared light emitting elements are provided in a remote controller and signals having different intensities set for each remote operation target device are transmitted. It has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

WO99 / 16282

  However, a remote controller having a plurality of infrared light emitting elements in this system has a function of transmitting signals of different strengths to the remote controller itself, but these different strength signals are different for each remote operation target device. Is uniquely determined.

  Therefore, for example, the signal intensity transmitted to the signal receiving unit of the toilet of the toilet cannot be appropriately controlled and changed according to the toilet environment.

  The present invention has been made in view of the circumstances as described above, and easily adjusts the signal strength level of the operation signal transmitted from the remote controller for the signal receiving unit of the toilet to an appropriate level according to the toilet environment. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a toilet system that can extend the battery life.

  The present invention is characterized by the following in order to solve the above problems.

  That is, the toilet system of the present invention receives a remote control for transmitting an operation signal for operating an interior device installed in a toilet, an operation signal transmitted by the remote control, and based on the received operation signal. In the toilet system including the toilet for operating the interior equipment, a test signal transmitting unit that transmits a test signal for confirming a signal strength received by the toilet to the remote controller, and a test signal sent back from the toilet And a signal level setting unit for setting the intensity level of the operation signal based on the test signal received by the test signal receiving unit, and the test signal transmitted from the remote control to the toilet And a test signal receiving / transmitting unit that sends back a test signal indicating reception to the remote controller. Characterized by automatically adjusting the level.

  In this toilet system, it is preferable that the test signal transmission unit of the remote controller starts counting by a timer simultaneously with the transmission of the test signal, and transmits the test signal again after a predetermined time has elapsed.

  According to the toilet system of the present invention, the signal strength level of the operation signal transmitted from the remote controller for the signal receiving unit of the toilet bowl can be easily adjusted to an appropriate level according to the toilet environment, thereby extending the battery life. be able to.

It is a perspective view of the toilet room in which the remote control and the toilet bowl are installed. It is a block diagram which shows the structure which concerns on the operation | movement of the automatic adjustment of the signal strength level of a remote control. It is a block diagram which shows the mechanism of the automatic adjustment of the signal strength level of a remote control.

  The toilet system includes a remote controller for transmitting an operation signal for operating an interior device installed in the toilet, and a toilet that receives the operation signal transmitted by the remote control and operates the interior device based on the received operation signal. It is equipped with.

  In addition, the remote control includes a test signal transmission unit that transmits a test signal for confirming the signal intensity received by the toilet and a test signal reception unit that receives the test signal sent back from the toilet. And the signal level setting part which sets the intensity level of an operation signal based on the test signal which the test signal receiving part received is provided.

  Further, the toilet is provided with a test signal transmission / reception unit that receives a test signal transmitted from the remote controller and sends back a test signal indicating reception to the remote controller, and automatically adjusts the signal strength level of the operation signal.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a toilet room in which a remote controller and a toilet bowl are installed. A remote controller 1 and a toilet bowl 2 held on the wall surface of the toilet room are installed. When the user operates the remote controller 1, an operation signal corresponding to the operation of the interior device installed in the toilet bowl 2 is transmitted. And by receiving this operation signal with the toilet bowl 2, the various functions of the interior equipment installed in the toilet bowl 2 are performed offline.

  Here, as an interior device installed in the toilet bowl 2, various apparatuses, such as a toilet bowl cleaning apparatus, a local cleaning apparatus, a deodorizing apparatus, and a heating toilet seat, can be mentioned.

  In addition to the function of operating the interior device by operating the remote controller 1, an appropriate signal strength level for setting various interior devices installed in the toilet 2 is set when the remote controller 1 is installed. Have an automatic adjustment system.

  The remote controller 1 includes a test signal transmission unit 11, a test signal reception unit 12 and an operation unit 14. In the operation unit 14, push buttons are arranged for instructing various interior devices installed in the toilet 2 to operate. Further, inside the remote controller 1 is housed a control board on which a switching element or the like that receives an operation by pressing a push button is mounted.

  An infrared light emitting device including an infrared LED capable of transmitting an infrared ray of the test signal is provided in the test signal transmission unit 11, and an infrared ray of the test signal from the toilet 2 is provided in the test signal reception unit 12. An infrared receiving device for receiving a light emission signal is provided.

  Here, the test signal transmission unit 11 of the remote controller 1 may be used also as a signal transmission unit that transmits a signal for operating the interior device installed in the toilet 2, or a test only for transmitting a test signal. You may provide the signal transmission part 11 separately.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration relating to the operation of automatic adjustment of the signal intensity level of the remote controller. The remote control 1 is provided with a test signal transmission unit 11, a test signal reception unit 12, and a signal level setting unit 13, and the test signal transmission unit 11 and the test signal reception unit 12 are electrically connected to the signal level setting unit 13. Has been.

  The signal level setting unit 13 includes a reception strength level storage unit 131 that stores reception strength data, a strength comparison unit 132 that compares the received strength data with the strength of the received test signal, and a transmission strength based on the comparison result. A transmission strength control unit 133 for controlling the transmission is provided.

  In addition, the transmission strength control unit 133 is provided with a function of switching the signal strength to three types of strong, medium, and weak based on the result of comparison by the strength comparison unit. Each of these functions is operated by a battery stored in the remote controller 1 and can be replaced. The signal level setting unit 13 is controlled by a microcomputer.

  The toilet bowl 2 includes a test signal receiving unit 21 that can receive a test signal from the remote controller 1 and a test signal transmitting unit 22 that transmits a test signal similar to the received test signal. Transmission is possible.

  An infrared receiving device for receiving an infrared transmission signal including a test signal from the remote controller 1 is provided in the test signal receiving unit 21 of the toilet 2, and the test signal transmitting unit 22 has the same as the received test signal. An infrared transmitter including an infrared LED that transmits the infrared rays of the infrared rays is provided.

  Here, the test signal receiving unit 21 of the toilet 2 may be used also as a signal receiving unit for receiving a signal for operating the interior device transmitted from the remote controller 1, or for receiving a test signal. Only the test signal receiving unit 21 may be provided separately.

  Hereinafter, the mechanism of automatic adjustment of the signal intensity level transmitted from the remote controller 1 will be described in detail according to the block diagram shown in FIG.

  First, a test signal is transmitted from the test signal transmission unit 11 of the remote controller 1 (S1), and this test signal is received off-line by the test signal reception unit 21 of the toilet 2 (S2). Note that the number of times the test signal is transmitted is not particularly limited, but it is preferable to transmit the test signal a plurality of times in consideration of ensuring that the test signal reception unit 21 of the toilet 2 receives the test signal.

  Alternatively, the timer may start counting simultaneously with the transmission of the first test signal from the test signal transmission unit 11 of the remote controller 1, and the test signal may be transmitted again after a predetermined time has elapsed. With this configuration, the test signal can be received more reliably by the test signal receiving unit 21 of the toilet 2.

  Next, the test signal received by the test signal receiving unit 21 of the toilet 2 is transmitted to the test signal transmitting unit 22 of the toilet 2 while maintaining the reception strength, and the test signal is transmitted from the test signal transmitting unit 22 offline. (S3).

  The test signal sent back from the toilet 2 is received by the test signal receiving unit 12 of the remote controller 1 (S4) and sent to the signal level setting unit 13. In the signal level setting unit 13, the strength comparison unit 132 compares the received strength data stored in the received strength level storage unit 131 with the strength of the test signal sent back from the toilet 2 (S5). Then, the comparison result is sent to the transmission intensity control unit 133, and the transmission intensity of the remote control set by the transmission intensity control unit 133 is selected and set from three levels of strong, medium and weak (S6).

  According to the toilet system that automatically adjusts the signal intensity by transmitting and receiving the test signal between the remote controller 1 and the toilet 2 as described above, the operation signal transmitted from the remote controller 1 for any toilet environment The signal intensity level can be easily adjusted to an appropriate level. In addition, since an appropriate transmission intensity from the remote controller 1 for the receiving unit of the toilet bowl 2 is set according to the toilet environment, wasteful power consumption can be suppressed and the battery life can be extended.

  In the above embodiment, when the test signal first transmitted from the test signal transmission unit 11 of the remote controller 1 cannot be received by the test signal reception unit 21 of the toilet 2, the remote controller 1 receives the test signal after a predetermined time. The transmission intensity of the test signal can be increased stepwise. Further, the transmission intensity control unit 133 of the remote controller 1 can set the transmission intensity level to be strong.

  While the present invention has been described based on the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

  For example, the test signal transmission unit 11 of the remote controller 1 transmits test signals having different signal strengths at predetermined time intervals, and the strength of the test signal indicating that the test signal is received from the test signal transmission unit 22 is returned. To grasp. Then, the transmission strength level of the remote controller 1 set by the transmission strength control unit 133 may be set from the result. In this case, the test signal transmitted from the test signal receiving unit 21 may be different from the test signal transmitted from the test signal transmitting unit 11.

  Further, the test signal transmission unit 11 of the remote controller 1 transmits test signals having different signal strengths at predetermined time intervals, and the toilet 2 side grasps to what level the test signal reception unit 21 has received the signal. May be transmitted from the test signal transmission unit 22.

  In the above-described embodiment, the transmission intensity of the remote controller 1 is controlled in three levels of strong, medium, and weak. However, it may be finely controlled in three or more levels, or infinitely controllable.

  In the above embodiment, the remote controller 1 is driven by a battery, but can be driven by electricity supplied from a household power source. Moreover, the power source for operating each component of the toilet 2 can be driven by electricity from the battery, or can be driven by electricity supplied from a household power source for operating the interior device installed in the toilet 2. .

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Remote control 11 Test signal transmission part 12 Test signal reception part 13 Signal level setting part 2 Toilet bowl 21 Test signal reception part 22 Test signal transmission part

Claims (2)

A remote controller for transmitting an operation signal for operating an interior device installed in a toilet, and the toilet that receives the operation signal transmitted by the remote controller and operates the interior device based on the received operation signal. In the toilet system provided,
In the remote control,
A test signal transmitter for transmitting a test signal for confirming the signal strength received by the toilet;
A test signal receiving unit for receiving a test signal sent back from the toilet;
Providing a signal level setting unit for setting an intensity level of the operation signal based on the test signal received by the test signal receiving unit;
In the toilet bowl,
The test signal transmitted from the remote control is received, and a test signal receiving / transmitting unit that sends back a test signal indicating reception to the remote control is provided,
A toilet system that automatically adjusts the signal intensity level of the operation signal. The toilet system according to claim 1, wherein the test signal transmission unit of the remote controller starts counting by a timer simultaneously with the transmission of the test signal and transmits the test signal again after a predetermined time has elapsed. .

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