JP2024060045A - Opening and closing control system - Google Patents

Abstract

[Problem] It is possible to control an opening/closing body according to the weather without using an outside air sensor. [Solution] An opening/closing control system comprising an opening/closing control device that controls the opening and closing operation of an opening/closing body, and an information terminal that acquires weather information from the outside for the area where the opening/closing body is installed, the weather information includes first information that associates a plurality of times from the present with forecast information for the weather in the area for each of the plurality of times, the information terminal determines whether or not a predetermined setting condition is met based on the weather information, and if it determines that the predetermined setting condition is met, transmits second information directly to the opening/closing control device that includes information for causing the opening/closing body to perform a predetermined operation, and the opening/closing control device controls the opening and closing operation of the opening/closing body based on the second information. [Selected Figure] Figure 1

Description

This disclosure relates to an opening and closing control system.

Patent Document 1 discloses an opening and closing control system for opening and closing blinds. This opening and closing control system is equipped with an outside air sensor that detects the weather conditions of the outside air. The opening and closing control system opens and closes based on the weather conditions detected by the outside air sensor.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-292755

The above opening and closing control system requires the use of an outside air sensor to detect the outside weather conditions. Therefore, the opening and closing control system is expensive.

The objective of this disclosure is to provide an opening and closing control system that can control the opening and closing body according to the weather without using an outside air sensor.

One aspect of the present disclosure is an opening/closing control system that includes an opening/closing control device that controls the opening/closing operation of an opening/closing body, and an information terminal that acquires weather information for the area in which the opening/closing body is installed from the outside, the weather information including first information that associates multiple times from the present with weather forecast information for the area for each of the multiple times, the information terminal determines whether a predetermined setting condition is met based on the weather information, and if it determines that the predetermined setting condition is met, transmits second information including information for causing the opening/closing body to perform a predetermined operation directly to the opening/closing control device, and the opening/closing control device controls the opening/closing operation of the opening/closing body based on the second information.

1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an opening and closing control system according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an information terminal according to the present embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display screen of the information terminal according to the embodiment. FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of an initial setting method for an information terminal according to the embodiment. FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram of the opening and closing control system according to the present embodiment. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a first example of the operation of the information terminal according to the embodiment. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a second example of the operation of the information terminal according to the embodiment.

The opening and closing control system according to this embodiment will be explained below with reference to the drawings.

Figure 1 is a diagram showing an example of the schematic configuration of an opening and closing control system 1 according to this embodiment. As shown in Figure 1, the opening and closing control system 1 includes one or more opening and closing devices 2 and an information terminal 3.

The opening/closing device 2 comprises an opening/closing body 21 and an opening/closing control device 22.

The opening/closing body 21 is installed in a building. The opening/closing body 21 can operate in either an open direction or a closed direction. For example, the opening/closing body 21 has at least one of a sunshade and a rainshade function. The opening/closing body 21 in this embodiment is a shade provided on the exterior side of the window O. However, the opening/closing body 21 is not limited to a shade and may be an awning. For example, the opening/closing body 21 may be a shutter curtain or a blind. The opening/closing body 21 may be provided outdoors or indoors. When the opening/closing control system 1 is provided with multiple opening/closing devices 2, the multiple opening/closing devices 2 may be the same type of opening/closing device or different types of opening/closing devices. The same type of opening/closing device is an opening/closing device having the same type of opening/closing body 21 to be controlled. The different types of opening/closing devices are opening/closing devices having different types of opening/closing bodies 21 to be controlled. For example, it is assumed that the opening/closing control system 1 is provided with three opening/closing devices 2 (2-1 to 2-3). In this case, for example, the opening/closing device 2-1 has a shutter curtain as the opening/closing body 21 and opens and closes the shutter curtain. For example, the opening/closing device 2-2 has a shade as the opening/closing body 21 and opens and closes the shade. For example, the opening/closing device 2-3 has a blind as the opening/closing body 21 and opens and closes the blind.

The opening/closing control device 22 operates the opening/closing body 21 in the open or closed direction. The opening/closing control device 22 transmits and receives information to the information terminal 3 by wireless or wired communication. The opening/closing control device 22 receives information from the information terminal 3 by wireless or wired communication. The opening/closing control device 22 operates the opening/closing body 21 in the open or closed direction based on the information received from the information terminal 3.

The information terminal 3 transmits and receives information by directly communicating with the opening/closing control device 22 wirelessly or via a wire. The standard of the wireless communication is not particularly limited as long as the information terminal 3 and the opening/closing control device 22 can communicate wirelessly. For example, the standard of the wireless communication may be a wireless LAN or a short-distance wireless communication. For example, the information terminal 3 is a portable information terminal that can be carried by the user. For example, the information terminal 3 is any of a mobile phone, a smartphone, a tablet terminal, and a notebook computer. The information terminal 3 may be a wearable terminal. The wearable terminal is, for example, any of glasses and a watch that have a communication function. However, the information terminal 3 is not particularly limited as long as it can directly communicate with the opening/closing control device 22 wirelessly or via a wire. For example, the information terminal 3 may be a communication device that constitutes a HEMS (Home Energy Management System) and is installed in a room.

The information terminal 3 includes an operation device 31, a display device 32, and an information processing device 33.

The operation device 31 is operated by a user. When the operation device 31 accepts an operation by the user, it outputs an operation signal corresponding to the accepted operation to the information processing device 33. For example, the operation device 31 is any one of a mouse, a keyboard, a touch panel, a button, and a switch. In this embodiment, the operation device 31 is a touch panel that is integrated with the display device 32.

The display device 32 displays information. For example, the display device 32 has a touch panel type display screen.

The information processing device 33 includes a processor, a memory, and a communication interface. The information processing device 33 includes an acquisition unit 34, a display control unit 35, an information processing unit 36, and a transmission unit 37. These functions of the information processing device 33 are realized by applications pre-installed in the information processing device 33.

The acquisition unit 34 has a wireless or wired communication function. When the application is executed, the acquisition unit 34 acquires weather information R for the area in which the opening/closing body 21 is installed from the outside. For example, information on the location where the opening/closing body 21 is installed is stored in advance in the information processing device 33. However, this is not limited to this, and the acquisition unit 34 may acquire the current location of the information processing device 33 as the location information of the opening/closing body 21. The acquisition unit 34 may acquire the location information of the opening/closing body 21 by operating the operating device 31 by the user. The acquisition unit 34 of this embodiment is not particularly limited in the method of acquiring the location information of the opening/closing body 21.

The acquisition unit 34 acquires the weather information R by accessing an external server that publishes the weather information R for the area where the opening/closing body 21 is installed. For example, the external server is a server operated by at least one of the Japan Meteorological Agency and a company other than the Japan Meteorological Agency. The weather information R includes first information that is information in which prediction times t+1, ..., t+n, which are multiple times from the current time t, are associated with forecast information K (K+1, ..., K+n) of the weather of the area for each of the multiple prediction times t+1, ..., t+n. The weather forecast information K includes, for example, at least one predicted value of temperature, humidity, air pressure, rainfall, and wind speed. The weather forecast information K may be a weather forecast. The weather is a weather state such as sunny, cloudy, rain, and snow. In this embodiment, the forecast information K is a predicted value of wind speed. The weather information R may include forecast information for the current time.

The acquisition unit 34 may acquire weather information R at a preset time t. For example, the acquisition unit 34 may acquire weather information R for the control day in the region from outside at least the day before the control day. As an example, the acquisition unit 34 may acquire weather information R for the control day in the region from outside at least during a specified period at night. Night is the period from sunset on the day before the control day to sunrise on the control day. The acquisition unit 34 may acquire weather information R at a time t specified by the user in an application running on the information terminal 3. The acquisition unit 34 outputs the acquired weather information R to the information processing device 33.

When the application is started, the display control unit 35 displays a display screen 100 as shown in FIG. 3. A plurality of items are displayed on the display screen 100. When the first item 101 is selected by the operation device 31, the display control unit 35 displays a screen that explains how to use the application. When the second item 102 is selected by the operation device 31, the display control unit 35 displays a screen for setting setting information. The setting information includes the type of weather information R acquired by the acquisition unit 34, the time t at which the weather information R is acquired, and a predetermined threshold value. In this embodiment, the type of weather information R is set to wind speed. The predetermined threshold value is a threshold value for operating the opening/closing body 21 in the opening or closing direction. When the third item 103 is selected by the operation device 31, the acquisition unit 34 acquires weather information R from outside regardless of the time t.

The information processing unit 36 transmits the second information including an instruction to operate the opening/closing body 21 in the opening or closing direction to the opening/closing control device 22 based on the weather information R acquired by the acquisition unit 34. For example, the information processing unit 36 executes a judgment process to judge whether or not the predicted information K in the weather information R satisfies a predetermined condition. The fact that the predicted information K in the weather information R satisfies a predetermined condition indicates that a setting condition, which is a condition for executing a setting operation set in the initial setting, has been established. If the information processing unit 36 judges that the predicted information K satisfies the predetermined condition as a result of the judgment process, it transmits the second information including the occurrence time, which is the predicted time associated with the predicted information K, to the opening/closing control device 22. For example, if the predicted information K+1, ..., K+n is a predicted value of wind speed, the information processing unit 36 judges whether or not the predicted value K+1, ..., K+n of the wind speed in the weather information R exceeds a predetermined threshold for each predicted time t+1, ..., t+n. If there is a predicted value K that exceeds a predetermined threshold among the predicted values K+1, ..., K+n, the information processing unit 36 sets the predicted time corresponding to the predicted value K as the occurrence time. The information processing unit 36 transmits the second information, including the set occurrence time, to the opening and closing control device 22 via the transmission unit 37.

The transmitter 37 communicates wirelessly or wired with the opening/closing control device 22. The transmitter 37 transmits the second information, including the information on the occurrence time set by the information processing unit 36, directly to the opening/closing control device 22. The transmitter 37 transmits the second information directly to the opening/closing control device 22 without going through another device.

The opening/closing control device 22 controls the opening/closing operation of the opening/closing body 21 based on the second information received from the information terminal 3 by wireless or wired communication. This allows the opening/closing control device 22 to control the opening/closing body 21 according to the weather without using an outside air sensor. For example, the opening/closing control device 22 operates the opening/closing body 21 in the opening direction when the current time reaches either the occurrence time included in the second information or a time a predetermined time before the occurrence time. This causes the opening/closing body 21 to be stored when the wind speed is higher than a predetermined threshold. As a result, the opening/closing control system 1 can prevent the outdoor opening/closing body 21 from being damaged by weather or climate.

The following describes how to initially configure the information terminal 3, using Figure 4.

When the user performs a predetermined operation on the information terminal 3, the information terminal 3 starts an application (step S101). When the application is started, the information terminal 3 acquires location information of the area for which weather information R is desired to be acquired by the user operating the operation device 31 (step S102). For example, the user may operate the operation device 31 of the information terminal 3 to input location information, and the information terminal 3 may acquire the location information. Here, the location information is not particularly limited as long as it is information indicating a location, and may be information such as a postal code, address, longitude, and latitude.

The user sets the operation (setting operation) to be performed by the opening/closing body 21 by performing a predetermined operation on the information terminal 3. For example, the information terminal 3 can set operations from the first operation to the fifth operation. For example, the first operation is an operation of opening the opening/closing body 21 when the predicted value of the wind speed included in the weather information R exceeds the threshold value included in the first parameter. The second operation is an operation of closing the opening/closing body 21 when the predicted value of the wind speed included in the weather information R exceeds the threshold value included in the second parameter. The third operation is an operation of closing the opening/closing body 21 when the rainy weather time included in the weather information R exceeds the threshold value included in the third parameter. Here, the rainy weather time is the time during which the rain continues. The fourth operation is an operation of opening or closing the opening/closing body 21 based on the predicted value of the temperature included in the weather information R. For example, the fourth operation is an operation of opening the opening/closing body 21 when the predicted value of the temperature exceeds the threshold value included in the fourth parameter. The fifth operation is an operation of controlling the opening degree of the opening/closing body 21 to a predetermined opening degree when the sunshine time included in the weather information R exceeds the threshold value included in the fifth parameter. For example, if the opening/closing body 21 is a blind or shutter with multiple slats, the opening/closing control device 22 that controls the opening/closing body 21 can adjust the amount of light entering the room by controlling the opening degree of the multiple slats.

For each of the first to fifth operations, the information terminal 3 can select the equipment that is the target of that operation. The equipment corresponds to the opening and closing device 2 in this embodiment. Therefore, when the opening and closing control system 1 has multiple opening and closing devices 2 (opening and closing devices 2-1 to 2-5), the information terminal 3 can, through the user's operation, set the target equipment for the first operation to "opening and closing device 2-1", the target equipment for the second operation to "opening and closing device 2-2", the target equipment for the third operation to "opening and closing device 2-3", the target equipment for the fourth operation to "opening and closing device 2-4", and the target equipment for the fifth operation to "opening and closing device 2-5".

Next, the information terminal 3 can set the first parameter to the fifth parameter, which are parameters used for the first operation to the fifth operation, respectively. Therefore, when the first operation is set on the application (step S103) and the equipment to be the target of the first operation is set (step S104), the information terminal 3 displays a screen on which the first parameter to be used for the first operation is set. Then, when the first parameter is input by the user (step S105), the information terminal 3 ends the initial setting of the first operation.

When the second operation is set on the application (step S106) and the equipment to be the target of the second operation is set (step S107), the information terminal 3 displays a screen for setting the second parameters to be used in the first operation. Then, when the second parameters are input by the user (step S108), the information terminal 3 ends the initial setting of the second operation.

When the third operation is set on the application (step S109) and the equipment to be the target of the third operation is set (step S110), the information terminal 3 displays a screen for setting the third parameters to be used in the third operation. Then, when the user inputs the third parameters (step S111), the information terminal 3 ends the initial setting of the third operation.

When the fourth operation is set in the application (step S112) and the equipment to be the target of the fourth operation is set (step S113), the information terminal 3 displays a screen for setting the fourth parameter to be used in the third operation. Then, when the user inputs the fourth parameter (step S114), the information terminal 3 ends the initial setting of the fourth operation.

When the fifth operation is set on the application (step S115) and the equipment to be the target of the fifth operation is set (step S116), the information terminal 3 displays a screen for setting the fifth parameter to be used in the third operation. Then, when the fifth parameter is input by the user (step S117), the information terminal 3 ends the initial setting of the fifth operation.

An example of the operation flow of the opening/closing control system 1 will be described below. When the application is started, the information terminal 3 displays the display screen 100 on the display device 32. When the user operates the display device 32 to select the third item 103 on the display screen 100, the information terminal 3 acquires weather information R from the outside (step S201). When the information terminal 3 receives the weather information R, it executes a judgment process to judge whether or not the predicted information K+1, ..., K+n in the weather information R satisfies a predetermined condition (step S202). The information terminal 3 transmits the judgment result of the judgment process to the opening/closing device 2 wirelessly or wired (step S203). For example, the information terminal 3 executes a judgment process to judge whether or not the predicted information K+1, ..., K+n in the weather information R exceeds a predetermined threshold for each piece of predicted information. If there is a predicted value that exceeds the predetermined threshold among the predicted values K+1, ..., K+n, the information terminal 3 sets the predicted time corresponding to the predicted value as the occurrence time. The information terminal 3 transmits the second information including the set occurrence time to the opening/closing device 2.

On the control day, the opening/closing device 2 controls the opening/closing operation of the opening/closing body 21 based on the result of the determination process received from the information terminal 3 by wireless or wired communication (step S204). For example, if the forecast information is air temperature, the opening/closing device 2 operates the opening/closing body 21 in the closing direction when the current time reaches either the occurrence time included in the second information or a time a predetermined time before the occurrence time.

For example, if the forecast information is either rainfall or wind speed, the opening/closing device 2 operates the opening/closing body 21 in the opening direction when the current time reaches either the occurrence time included in the second information or a time a predetermined time before the occurrence time. This allows the opening/closing control system 1 to keep the opening/closing body 21 open in bad weather, thereby preventing the outdoor opening/closing body 21 from being damaged by weather or climate. When the opening/closing body 21 is in the open state, it means that the opening/closing body 21 is stored in the opening/closing control device 22.

In the above embodiment, the information processing unit 36 may specify a time period in which the prediction information exceeds a predetermined threshold in the judgment process. For example, the information processing unit 36 may include the time period between the earliest and latest occurrence times in the second information and transmit it wirelessly or wired to the opening/closing control device 22. In this case, the opening/closing control device 22 may always keep the opening/closing body 21 open during the time period included in the second information. This allows the opening/closing control system 1 to prevent the outdoor opening/closing body 21 from being damaged due to weather or climate. When the current time has passed the time period included in the second information, the opening/closing control device 22 may control the opening/closing body 21 to a closed state, or may keep it open.

In the above embodiment, the information terminal 3 executes the above-mentioned judgment process on the day before the control target day, and if it is determined as a result of the judgment process that the specified condition is satisfied, the information terminal 3 may transmit the second information directly to the opening/closing control device 22 wirelessly or via wire on the day before the control target day.

The information terminal 3 determines whether the prediction information K satisfies a predetermined condition, and transmits second information including the occurrence time, which is the predicted time associated with the prediction information K that is determined to satisfy the predetermined condition, directly to the opening/closing control device 22 wirelessly or via wire. This allows the opening/closing device 2 to control the opening/closing body 21 according to the weather without using an outside air sensor.

The information terminal 3 may transmit the second information directly to the opening/closing control device 22 wirelessly or via wired connection one day or several days before the target control day. This allows the opening/closing control system 1 to prevent the outdoor opening/closing body 21 from being damaged by weather or climate even if the user is out on the target control day.

The forecast information K may include wind speed information. The opening/closing control device 22 causes the opening/closing body 21 to open when the current time reaches either the occurrence time included in the second information or a time a predetermined time before the occurrence time. This enables the opening/closing control system 1 to prevent the outdoor opening/closing body 21 from being damaged by weather or climate.

A first example of the flow of operations of the information terminal 3 will be described below with reference to FIG. 6. In FIG. 6, it is assumed that the OS (operating system) of the information terminal 3 is Android (registered trademark). However, the mobile information terminal of this embodiment is not particularly limited to the type of OS.

When the application is started, the information terminal 3 determines whether or not the weather forecast linkage is enabled (step S301). For example, when the user selects the third item 103 on the display screen 100, the information terminal 3 determines that the weather forecast linkage is enabled. When the information terminal 3 determines that the weather forecast linkage is enabled, it determines whether or not the current time is the set time (step S302). The set time is the time at which the weather information R is obtained. For example, the set time is the time period on the day before the control target day. As an example, the set time is the time period during the late night hours on the day before the control target day. When the current time is the set time, the information terminal 3 accesses an external server to obtain the weather information R for the control target day (step S303). Then, the information terminal 3 stores the weather information R in the internal memory of the information terminal 3.

The information terminal 3 executes a determination process to determine whether or not the setting condition is met based on the acquired weather information R (step S304). For example, the setting condition is that the wind speed is 10 m (predetermined threshold) or more during the time period between the start time (e.g., 3 p.m.) and the end time (e.g., 5 p.m.). If the information terminal 3 determines that the setting condition is met based on the weather information R, it sets the time to execute the setting operation, which is the operation set in the initial settings, as the timer reservation time (step S305). The timer reservation time can be set arbitrarily by the user, but may be set to the start time, for example.

The information terminal 3 determines whether the current time is the timer time (S306). If the information terminal 3 determines that the current time is the timer time, it transmits second information including information for causing the opening/closing body 21 to execute a predetermined setting operation (e.g., the first operation) to the opening/closing device 2 of the target equipment (step S307). The information terminal 3 determines whether the target equipment has received the second information (step S308). If the information terminal 3 receives an acknowledgement message (ACK: ACKnowledgement) from the target equipment, it determines that the target equipment has received the second information. If the information terminal 3 does not receive an acknowledgement message from the target equipment within a predetermined period, it retransmits the second information to the target equipment (step S309).

A second example of the flow of operations of the information terminal 3 will be described below with reference to FIG. 7. In FIG. 7, it is assumed that the OS (operating system) of the information terminal 3 is iOS (registered trademark).

When the application is started, the information terminal 3 determines whether or not the weather forecast link is enabled, as in step S301 (step S401). If the information terminal 3 determines that the weather forecast link is enabled, it accesses an external server to obtain weather information R for the target control day (step S402). The information terminal 3 then stores the weather information R in the internal memory of the information terminal 3.

The information terminal 3 executes a determination process to determine whether or not the setting conditions are met based on the acquired weather information R (step S403). If the information terminal 3 determines that the setting conditions are met based on the weather information R, it sets the time to execute the setting operation, which is the operation set in the initial settings, as the timer reservation time (step S404). The timer reservation time can be set arbitrarily by the user, but may be set to the start time of the setting conditions, for example.

The information terminal 3 judges whether the current time is the timer time (S405). When the information terminal 3 judges that the current time is the timer time, it issues a pop-up notification to the display device 32 (step S406). After issuing the pop-up notification, the information terminal 3 judges whether the application is running (step S407). When the information terminal 3 judges that the application is running, it transmits second information including information for causing the opening/closing body 21 to execute a predetermined setting operation (e.g., the first operation) to the opening/closing device 2 of the target equipment (step S408). The information terminal 3 judges whether the target equipment has received the second information (step S409). When the information terminal 3 receives an acknowledgement response message from the target equipment, it judges that the target equipment has received the second information. When the information terminal 3 does not receive an acknowledgement response message from the target equipment within a predetermined period, it retransmits the second information to the target equipment (step S410).

When the information terminal 3 determines that the set condition is met, it may send the second information directly to the opening and closing control device 22 when the current time reaches a predetermined time.

For example, the information processing unit 36 includes a processor. For example, the processor is a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and an MPU (Micro Processing Unit). For example, the information processing unit 36 may be a microcontroller. The information processing unit 36 may include at least one of a non-volatile semiconductor and a volatile semiconductor. The control unit 13 may be realized by the processor executing a program. At least some of the components of the control unit 13 may be realized by hardware, or may be realized by a combination of software and hardware.

For example, the hardware is at least one of an LSI (Large Scale Integration), an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), and a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). The program may be stored in a storage device in advance. The storage device is a non-transient storage medium. For example, the storage device is at least one of an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) and a flash memory. The program may be stored in a removable storage medium. In this case, the program may be installed in the storage device by mounting the storage medium in a drive device. The storage medium is a non-transient storage medium. For example, the recording medium is either a DVD or a CD-ROM.

1...Opening and closing control system, 2...Opening and closing device, 3...Information terminal, 21...Opening and closing body

Claims (4)

An opening/closing control device that controls the opening/closing operation of the opening/closing body;
an information terminal that acquires weather information from an external source for the area in which the opening/closing body is installed;
Equipped with
The weather information includes first information in which a plurality of times from the present to the future are associated with forecast information of weather in the region for each of the plurality of times;
The information terminal includes:
determining whether a predetermined setting condition is satisfied based on the weather information, and when it is determined that the predetermined setting condition is satisfied, transmitting second information including information for causing the opening/closing body to perform a predetermined operation directly to the opening/closing control device;
The opening and closing control device controls an opening and closing operation of the opening and closing body based on the second information. The information terminal includes:
When it is determined that the set condition is satisfied, the second information is directly transmitted to the opening/closing control device when the current time reaches a predetermined time.
The opening and closing control system according to claim 1 . The information terminal externally acquires weather information for a control target day in the region at least on the day before the control target day.
The opening and closing control system according to claim 1 or 2. The information terminal determines whether the setting condition is satisfied on the day before the control target day, and when it is determined that the setting condition is satisfied, directly transmits the second information including the time at which the predetermined operation is to be started to the opening/closing control device on the day before.
The opening and closing control system according to claim 1 .

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