JP2819726B2 - Water heater - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a hot water supply device provided with an operation interface such as a shower that allows a user to comfortably use hot water.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this type of hot water supply apparatus has the configuration shown in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 59-147864. First, the configuration of this conventional example will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 4, 1 is a shower cylinder tip, 2 is a tap hole, and 3 is a microphone. 4 is an identification unit, 5 is a transmission unit, 6 is a reception unit, 7 is a control unit, 9 is a shower cylinder tip 1 via a hot water supply pipe.
It is connected to the.

Next, the operation of this configuration will be described. The voice uttered by the user is received by the microphone 3, and the received voice signal is modulated by the transmitter 5 and radiated to the outside. The modulated signal is received by the receiving unit 6 and output to the identifying unit 4. The receiving unit 6 performs a recognition process based on the received and demodulated voice signal, and detects the content of the voice command. The content of the detected voice command is output to the control unit 7,
The control unit 7 controls the hot water supply device 8 to adjust the hot water temperature and the flow rate according to the voice command. The controlled hot water is sent to the shower cylinder 1 via the hot water supply pipe 9.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention Such a conventional hot water supply device has the following problems. Even if the sound is not used in the shower, the sound suddenly jumps in from the outside via a window opened after cleaning the bathroom, for example. In such a state, when recognizing the same word as the instruction command, there is an inconvenient aspect such as suddenly starting to supply hot water.

The present invention has been made in view of such a point, and an object of the present invention is to provide a water heater that operates only when instructed by a user and has improved reliability.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a hot water supply means for creating an appropriate temperature, a flow rate adjusting means for tapping or stopping hot water from the hot water supply means, and a voice for inputting a user's instruction voice. Input means, a human body detecting means for detecting a user, voice analyzing means for dividing a voice signal inputted from the voice input means for each specific frequency, and comparing a signal from the voice analyzing means with a standard pattern signal. A speech recognition means comprising a similarity calculation means, an identification means for identifying a user's voice from the signal of the similarity calculation means, and an operation signal to the hot water supply means from a user detection signal and a voice-recognized instruction signal. It comprises a hot water temperature adjusting means for outputting, and an urging amount setting means for setting an urging amount of the flow rate adjusting means based on a user detection signal and an instruction signal recognized by voice.

Operation The hot water supply apparatus of the present invention monitors whether there is a user or not by the above configuration. If the user is not detected by the human body detection means, the input voice signal is ignored. When the user is detected by the human body detecting means, it becomes possible to input the voice signal of the user thereafter. Thereafter, an operation signal of the hot water supply means is determined and output based on the detected signal.

As described above, since the shower or the like does not malfunction due to external noise or the like even when there is no user, the usability is improved.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of the present invention, and the same components as those of the prior art in FIG. 4 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

First, the configuration of the present invention will be described. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes a mixing means which mixes high-temperature hot water sent from the hot water supply device 8 and tap water to produce hot water suitable for a shower or the like. Reference numeral 11 denotes a hot water supply means, which comprises a hot water supply device 8 and a mixing means 10 in FIG. Hot water supply means 11 may be constituted only by hot water supply device 8. 12
Is a flow rate adjusting means for switching hot water outlets to the curan 13 and the shower 14, and for tapping, stopping, and further adjusting the flow rate of hot water. A control unit 15 controls the hot water supply unit 11 and the flow rate adjustment unit 12. FIG. 2 shows one embodiment. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 16 denotes a human body detecting means (for example, an infrared sensor or the like, which is provided on a wall surface of a shower room, an operation unit, or the like) and monitors whether there is a person who uses a shower and determines whether or not there is a human. Reference numeral 17 denotes voice input means (for example, a microphone) for inputting a user's instruction command. Reference numeral 18 denotes speech recognition means, which comprises 19 speech analysis means, 20 standard pattern registration means, 21 similarity calculation means, and 22 identification means. Reference numeral 23 denotes an urging amount setting unit that determines and outputs an urging amount of the flow rate adjusting unit 12 based on a user detection signal from the human body detecting unit 16 and an output signal of the voice recognition unit 18. Reference numeral 24 denotes hot water temperature adjusting means for determining and outputting an optimal operation amount of the hot water supply means 11 based on a user detection signal from the human body detecting means 16 and an output signal of the voice recognition means 18.

Next, the operation of the configuration of the present invention will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation. When the user enters the shower room or the like, the user is detected by the human body detection means 16. This is P1 in FIG. The user issues an instruction command to the voice input means 17. For example, "shower" is designated. The voice is input to voice recognition means 18 via voice input means 17. The input audio signal is divided by the audio analysis means 19 for each specific frequency via a filter. Next, the standard pattern is taken out from the standard pattern registration means 20 and the similarity calculation means
Compare with the input signal divided by 21. Then, the distance between the signal and the pattern signal is obtained and the accumulated sum or the average value (that is, the inter-pattern distance) is obtained. The identification means 22 detects a word to be recognized and outputs a control signal. When the urging amount setting means 23 receives the control signal and the user detection signal, the flow rate adjusting means
Determine and output 12 biasing amounts. Flow control means 12
13 or start supplying hot water to the shower 14 side. When the user detection signal and the control signal are input to hot water temperature adjusting means 24, the optimal operation amount of hot water supplying means 11 is determined and output to hot water supplying means 11 to perform hot water temperature adjustment. In this way, the hot water temperature is adjusted to the user's favorite. This corresponds to P2 to P6 in FIG.

When the user is no longer in the shower room or bathroom,
The human body detecting means 16 outputs a human body non-detection signal. When this undetected signal is input to the urging amount setting means 23 and the hot water temperature adjusting means 24, external noise and conversation are not accepted even if a wide recognition signal is output by the voice input means 17. Therefore, it operates with the voice of the user without malfunction due to external noise or the like.

Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the hot water supply apparatus of the present invention, a hot water supply unit for supplying hot water used for a shower or the like, and a flow rate adjustment for discharging, stopping, or adjusting the flow rate of the hot water from the hot water supply unit Means, a human body detecting means for detecting whether or not a user is present, a voice input means for inputting a voice instruction of the user, a voice recognizing means for recognizing the input voice, and a recognition signal and a user detection signal. It comprises hot water temperature adjusting means for adjusting the hot water temperature of the hot water supply means, and energizing amount setting means for determining the energizing amount of the flow rate adjusting means, and when no user is detected, even if an audio signal is detected, Even if it does not work, it recognizes voice instructions from the user only when a user is detected and supplies hot water from a shower etc. or adjusts the hot water temperature, so that it does not malfunction due to external noise etc. Hungry The effect of improving usability has been obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 is a block diagram of a water heater according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a control block diagram of the water heater, FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the water heater, and FIG. FIG. 2 is an overall configuration perspective view. 11 hot water supply device, 12 flow rate adjusting means, 16 human body detecting means,
17 voice input means, 18 voice recognition means, 23 urging amount setting means, 24 hot water temperature adjusting means

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Shigeru Shirai 1006 Kazuma Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-63-106013 (JP, A) .Cl. ⁶ , DB name) A47K 3/22

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. Hot water supply means for producing hot water for use in a shower or the like, flow control means for tapping or stopping hot water from said hot water supply means or flow control, and presence or absence of a user using said shower or the like. , A voice input means for inputting an instruction voice of a user who uses the shower or the like when the human body is detected by the human body detection means, and a voice signal input from the voice input means is divided for each specific frequency. Voice recognition means comprising: voice analysis means; similarity calculation means for comparing a signal from the voice analysis means with a standard pattern; and identification means for identifying a user's voice from a signal from the similarity calculation means; Hot water temperature adjustment means for calculating and outputting an optimal operation signal for adjusting the hot water temperature of the hot water supply means from a user detection signal from a human body detection means and a recognition signal from the voice recognition means; Serial user detection signal and hot water supply apparatus having a biasing amount determining means for determining an energizing amount of the flow rate control means from said recognition signal.