JP3158595B2 - Housing equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wireless remote control system for transmitting a signal between equipment and its remote controller using a radio wave signal, and more particularly to a radio signal emitted from the equipment and a radio wave emitted from the remote controller. The present invention relates to housing equipment having different signal carrier frequencies.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There is a hot water supply apparatus as this kind of household equipment. Hereinafter, a conventional technique will be described based on an example of a hot water supply device.

[0003] In recent years, hot water heaters have installed heat source equipment outdoors,
The mainstream is to provide an operation unit indoors and wire it with a control unit of a heat source unit to perform operation operation. On the other hand, in order to simplify the installation work and improve the operability, there is a demand for an operation unit provided at an arbitrary position and capable of being remotely operated.

[0004] Conventionally, this type of hot water supply apparatus is disclosed in
No. 7671 has been devised. Hereinafter, the configuration will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in the figure, a burner 2 for gas combustion, a solenoid valve 3 for controlling gas supplied to the burner, and a control circuit 4 are built in a water heater 1 installed outdoors, and a transmission circuit provided indoors is provided. It comprises a receiver 6 for receiving a radio signal from the transmitter 5, a return signal 7 for transmitting a radio signal to the receiving mechanism of the transmitter 5, and the like. When tapping water from the water tap 8, a radio signal is transmitted from the transmitter 5 to the receiver 6, input to the control circuit 4, and the burner 2 is controlled by the gas control solenoid valve 3.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional configuration, since the signal is transmitted by radio waves, there is a problem in manufacturing a control device for each communication terminal having a transmission / reception function. That is, since the signal transmission path is a space, a radio signal from another device that is not originally a communication partner also arrives on its own, and this receiver is affected. For this reason, there is a problem that much time is taken only for the reception processing, and other work of the communication terminal cannot be performed. For example, in the conventional hot water supply apparatus, when the reception operation of the remote control communication terminal is too frequent, there is no time to perform other tasks of the remote control such as key input and display output, and the user operates keys and the like. However, the remote control does not respond easily. Normally, the main control device of a communication terminal is mainly composed of a microcomputer, and controls communication by driving a transmitter and a receiver and input / output control of the communication terminal itself.
The rationalization is achieved by executing the processing in a time-sharing manner by one microcomputer, and the cost of the communication terminal is reduced. Therefore, if the processing time is occupied by a specific job, in the worst case, other jobs are stopped.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, and reduces the time required for receiving a radio signal emitted from another device which does not need to communicate or which does not necessarily need to directly communicate, and reduces the response time. It is an object of the present invention to provide housing equipment such as a hot water supply device having a good wireless remote controller.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention relates to a housing equipment which transmits a radio signal of a first frequency and receives a radio signal of a second frequency. Equipment having a receiver for, having a transmitter for transmitting a second frequency radio signal for transmission and reception between the equipment, and a receiver for receiving the first frequency radio signal One or a plurality of remote controllers 1 for remote control or remote monitoring of the equipment are provided.

The equipment and the remote control prohibit the transmission of the radio signal from each transmitter while each receiver is receiving the radio signal, and the radio signal emitted from the equipment and the radio signal emitted from the remote control are prohibited. This is configured so that the emission times of the radio signals do not overlap.

In addition, the input / output processing such as key input and display output of a remote control and the communication control processing for controlling a transmitter and a receiver are executed in a time-division manner by a program processing of one microcomputer. It is.

[0010]

According to the above arrangement, the remote controller receives only the radio signal having the same frequency as the radio signal transmitted from the equipment, so that the receiver of the remote controller, of course, receives the radio signal from the remote controller of another device. Radio signals transmitted from other remote controllers of the own device do not enter. Therefore, there is no need to perform reception processing at least while another remote control is transmitting a radio signal to the equipment, and the microcomputer can concentrate on other tasks such as key input and display output.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a water heater will be described below with reference to FIGS. In FIG. 1, 11
Is a water heater, which comprises a water heater control device 12, a burner 13, a gas control solenoid valve 14, a heat exchanger 15, a water heater wireless transmission / reception device 16, and the like, and is usually installed outside the dwelling unit 61. The hot water supply wireless transmitting and receiving device 16 includes a transmitter 17 and a receiver 1
8, and a signal is transmitted by radio waves to and from a remote controller via a transmitting antenna 19 and a receiving antenna 20 provided outside the housing. Here the transmitter 16
The first frequency f1 of the radio wave radiated from and the second frequency f2 of the radio wave received by the receiver 18 are different frequencies. Reference numeral 21 denotes an address storage unit which stores ID data as a terminal station in communication.

Reference numeral 31 denotes a first remote control, which comprises a remote control wireless transmission / reception device 32, a remote control device 33, an address storage means 34, a key switch, an LCD display (not shown), and the like. Remotely monitor the operating status. The remote control wireless transmission / reception device 32 is the transmitter 3
6, a receiver 35, and a transmitting antenna 3
8. Signal transmission by radio waves to and from the water heater 11 via the receiving antenna 37 is performed. The radio wave signal received by the receiving antenna 37 and the receiver 35 is the first frequency f1 emitted from the transmitter 17 of the water heater 11, and the radio wave signal emitted from the transmitter 36 is the second frequency f2.
The configuration is as follows. The remote control device 33 is mainly composed of a microcomputer, and performs communication control for controlling the receiver 35 and the transmitter 36 and input / output control for input means such as key switches and display means such as an LCD. This allows the remote control system to be streamlined and cost-effective. Reference numeral 34 denotes an address storage unit of the first remote controller 31, which stores ID data for identifying each terminal station in communication.

FIG. 2 is a schematic flowchart of the program processing of the microcomputer for realizing the function of the remote controller 33. 70 is an initialization process executed when the power is turned on. At 71, it is checked whether a radio signal is coming to the receiver 35 or not. If there is a radio signal,
At 72, reception control is performed to receive a signal, and at 73, the received signal is analyzed. The signal is stored in the address storage means 34.
Is checked at 74 to determine whether the received data is intended for the user or the received data is correct. If the received signal is a signal to be received, display control based on the received signal is performed at 77 or a buzzer or the like is performed at 78. Perform output control. If the received signal is not addressed to itself or is not normally received, the process returns to the process of checking the arrival of the radio wave signal at 71. 71
If no radio wave signal arrives at, key input control is performed at. If there is a key input, other processes such as display output control at 77 and buzzer output control at 78 are performed based on the contents. At 79, a transmission request is determined. When it is necessary to transmit an operation signal to the water heater 11 by key input, transmission preparation is made at 80 after the determination at 79, and the transmitter 36 is controlled at 81. To transmit the operation signal. In this way, communication control such as reception processing and transmission processing and key input,
By adopting a configuration in which input / output control such as display output is executed in a time-sharing manner, an inexpensive remote control device using one microcomputer can be realized.

Reference numeral 41 denotes a second remote control, which comprises a remote control wireless transmission / reception device 42, a remote control device 43, an address storage means 44, etc., and has the same functions as those of the first remote control 31. . These remote controllers are used for hot water supply faucets 64 and 65 in the kitchen 62 and bathroom 63 in the dwelling unit.
Installed nearby, the user can remotely control the water heater 11.

The operation of the above configuration will be described. When the user operates a temperature setting key or the like of the first remote controller 31 to adjust the temperature of hot water supplied from the hot water supply faucet 64, for example, the operation signal is detected by the remote controller 33 and sent to the water heater 11 as a temperature setting signal. Is prepared for transmission. Next, the remote control device 33 controls the receiver 35 to check whether or not a radio signal of the frequency f1 is coming out of space from another terminal device. When the signal is not output, the transmitter 36 is controlled to convert the temperature setting signal into a radio signal having a frequency f2 and transmit the signal via the antenna 38. The temperature setting signal is received by the receiving antenna 20 and the receiver 18 of the water heater 11, and the hot water supply control device 12 controls the gas control electromagnetic valve 14 based on the received temperature setting signal. Is started, and the user can obtain a desired hot water supply. An operation information signal of the water heater 11 such as a combustion state is emitted as a radio signal of a frequency f2 from the transmitter 17 and the transmission antenna 19 of the water heater 11 and received by the reception antenna 37 and the receiver 35 of the first remote controller 31. Is done. The contents are displayed on the display by the remote control device 33, and the user can remotely monitor the operation state of the water heater 11 by this. The case of the first remote controller has been described above, but the same applies to other remote controllers.

In the embodiment, the water heater 11 and the remote controller 3
Although the transmitting and receiving antennas 1, 41 have been described as separate devices that resonate at the corresponding carrier frequencies, the present invention is not limited to this, and one antenna device that resonates at two carrier frequencies may be used. The configuration may be shared.

As described above, the carrier frequency of the radio wave signal from the water heater 11 to the first and second remote controllers 31 and 41 and the carrier frequency of the radio wave signal from the remote controllers 31 and 41 to the water heater 11 are set to different frequencies. Is used. Hereinafter, the special effects will be described. In general, when transmitting a radio wave signal, a transmission path is a space, so that it is usually possible that a radio signal emitted from another device reaches this receiver. In such a case, an address is usually allocated to each terminal station, and each terminal station transmits its own address and the address of the other party to the signal when transmitting, and when receiving, the received signal is transmitted. A configuration is adopted in which whether or not the signal is addressed to itself is determined by referring to the address value attached to the signal, and the signal is not sent to an erroneously wrong partner. However, if the frequency of radio signals emitted from various parties is the same, the signal will always enter the receiver,
Each time, the communication control device needs to perform a reception process to confirm whether or not the signal is addressed to itself. Therefore, if a radio signal comes frequently, there is a problem that time is taken for the reception processing and other work is stopped.

Therefore, in the present invention, a 1: N communication network configuration in which the equipment such as a water heater is a master station and each remote controller is a slave station is used to transmit signals from the master station to the slave station and from the slave station to the master station. By setting the carrier frequency of the transmission signal to the remote frequency to be different, signal transmission and reception between each remote control is eliminated,
It is possible to reduce the time required for unnecessary reception processing of each remote controller. FIG. 3 is a model diagram showing a case where a hot water supply device that can be remotely operated by a radio wave signal is installed in each of three houses A, B, and C. Here, consider the effect of the communication between the water heater 11b in the B house and the remote controller 31b by the radio signals emitted from the water heaters 11a and 11c in the A house and the C house and the remote controllers 31a and 31c.

In the case where all the water heaters and all the remote controllers, that is, all the terminal stations transmit and receive using the same carrier frequency, for example, the remote controller 31b at the house B has only the radio signal emitted from the water heater 11b at the house B. Not the other four terminal stations (water heater 11a at home A, remote controller 3 at home A)
1a, the water heater 11c at C's home and the radio signal emitted from the remote controller 31c at C's home are also subjected to the receiving process. On the other hand, in the case of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3, the remote controller 31b of the house B has the original transmission signal from the water heater 11b of the house B and the radio signals from the water heaters 11a and 11c of the houses A and C. Going to receive, remote control 31a, 31 at home A and home C
Since the radio wave signal from c has a different frequency, it does not go to the receiving process. That is, in such a case, the present invention can stochastically reduce the time required for the reception processing of the radio signal to 3/5 as compared with the case where all terminal stations use the same carrier frequency. In the above example, the case where the number of remote controllers of each water heater is one has been described. However, it is apparent that the effect is further enhanced when the number of remote controllers is increased to two or three.

Next, referring to FIG. 4, it is assumed that all terminal stations transmit and receive radio signals of the same carrier frequency, and that when the carrier frequency is changed between the master station and the slave station according to the present invention, work other than reception processing is performed. Shows how different hours are available. (A) shows radio signals S1 to S5 emitted from various communication terminals.
Are shown in chronological order. (B) shows the time required for the receiving process when the radio signals S1 to S5 are all transmitted at the same carrier frequency and the receiver is configured to receive the radio signal of that frequency. R1 to R5 are radio wave signals S1
To S5, and A1 to A5 are the times required for analyzing the received signal. Note that the reception processing of the signal S2 is executed immediately after the analysis A1 ends because the signal S2 is emitted during the analysis after the reception of the previous signal S1. (C) shows S among the radio signals S1 to S5.
The carrier frequencies of S1, S4 and S2, S3, S5 are different from each other, and the time required for the reception process when the receiver receives only the frequencies of S1, S4 is shown. D1 and D2 are the times required for receiving the radio signals S1 and S4, and A6 and A7 are the times required for analyzing the received signals.

As is clear from the above description, when all the terminal stations use the same carrier frequency, as shown in FIG. 4B, the time available for work other than the reception processing in the period T is: ta + tb + tc, whereas when the carrier frequency is changed between the master station and the slave station as in the present invention, FIG.
As shown in (c), a sufficient time of ta + td + te can be secured. Therefore, work other than the reception processing such as key input and display output can be promptly processed, and remote control with good responsiveness can be realized.

[0022]

As described above, the housing equipment according to the present invention has a configuration in which the carrier frequency of the radio signal emitted from the equipment main body and the carrier frequency of the radio signal emitted from the remote controller are different from each other. The probability that a radio signal arrives at the receiver of the terminal station can be reduced. Thereby, each terminal station can reduce the time required for the reception processing, and each terminal station can increase the time available for other work. For example, in the case of a remote control, it is possible to realize remote control with good responsiveness of key input.

In particular, by adopting such a configuration, communication control and input / output control can be realized by time-division program processing of one microcomputer, so that the control device of each terminal station can be realized at low cost. Was.

Further, since unnecessary reception processing of the radio signal is not required, driving power for the receiver is not required. Therefore, in the case of a battery-type remote controller or the like, there is a great effect that the battery life is extended or a small battery can be used.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of house equipment in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a program process of a microcomputer constituting a control device of the device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the degree of influence of the radio wave signal emitted from another device on the device.

FIG. 4 is a signal timing diagram for comparing the signal carrying methods of the same device.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a conventional housing equipment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 11 hot water heater 12 hot water controller 17 hot water heater transmitter 18 hot water heater receiver 31, 41 remote controller 33, 43 remote control controller 35, 45 remote controller receiver 36, 46 remote controller transmitter

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Yasuo Yoshimura 1006 Kazuma Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-60-119195 (JP, A) JP-A-4- 24419 (JP, A) JP-A-61-94424 (JP, A) JP-A-51-55893 (JP, A) JP-A-60-24798 (JP, A) JP-A-54-19301 (JP, A) JP-A-5-30570 (JP, A) JP-A-57-77671 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04Q 9/00-9/16 F23N 5/26

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] An equipment comprising: a transmitter for transmitting a radio signal of a first frequency; and a receiver for receiving a radio signal of a second frequency different from the first frequency;
It has a transmitter for transmitting a radio signal of a second frequency for transmitting and receiving to and from the equipment, and a receiver for receiving a radio signal of the first frequency, and remotely controls or monitors the equipment. And one or more remote controls for transmitting signals to the equipment at least.
When transmitting a signal, radio waves of the first frequency from the equipment
After confirming that no signal is being emitted,
Housing equipment that is configured to transmit using a number of radio signals . 2. The equipment according to claim 1, wherein input / output functions such as key input and display output of a remote controller and communication control functions for controlling a transmitter and a receiver are realized by a program processing of one microcomputer. .