JP3549819B2 - Battery power supply maintenance service system - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a maintenance service for a battery power supply device that enables maintenance and replacement of a battery power supply device connected to an electronic device having a function of connecting to a communication network by a service support server provided on the communication network. It is about the system.
[0002]
[Prior art]
When a power failure occurs due to a power failure, an accident, or the like, the risk of destruction of data in a computer network increases as the size of the computer system increases. An uninterruptible power supply is used to prevent data destruction from this power failure. Uninterruptible power supply devices connected to individual personal computers are widely used, not limited to computer networks. This uninterruptible power supply is configured using a secondary battery, and the secondary battery is charged by an AC power supply. When the AC power supply is cut off due to a power failure or the like, the DC power of the secondary battery is converted into AC power to convert the power to a computer. To prevent data destruction due to interruption of AC power.
[0003]
The cordless telephone handset is operated by a secondary battery, and is configured to be able to freely move and talk. Since the standby time period during which the slave unit is not used is arranged on the charger, the secondary battery is charged during this period.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The secondary battery of the uninterruptible power supply and the cordless telephone handset can be used repeatedly by charging, but the number of charge / discharge repetitions (charge / discharge cycle) is finite. Deterioration of the secondary battery progresses due to repeated charging and discharging, and eventually reaches the end of its life. It is necessary to accurately detect the state of the end of the life and replace the battery before the operation is stopped, but it is not easy for the user to determine the life of the secondary battery. The life span of a secondary battery varies depending not only on the repeated charging and discharging, but also on the method of use and the environment in which it is used. Therefore, there has been a demand for a system configuration that determines the state of deterioration of the secondary battery of an uninterruptible power supply or a cordless telephone handset and prompts the user for replacement. In particular, the uninterruptible power supply is used to secure power in an emergency, and monitors the state of deterioration of secondary batteries so that only those that are not used at all times are not inoperable. There is a need to.
[0005]
In addition, secondary batteries are not available anywhere, such as purchasing dry batteries, and replacement thereof is not easy. It is necessary to replace the secondary battery for each uninterruptible power supply or cordless telephone handset with a dedicated secondary battery. Many will be available after a short period of time after applying for purchase at a manufacturer's service center or dealer. During this time, the user cannot use the device.
[0006]
In addition, many types of batteries, including primary batteries and secondary batteries, have environmental impacts on the materials used. From the viewpoint of material recycling, it is desired to reliably recover used batteries.
[0007]
An object of the present invention is to connect a battery power supply device to an electronic device having a function of connecting to a communication network as a client, and connect the battery power supply device to a service corresponding server established on the communication network of the electronic device. It is an object of the present invention to provide a maintenance service system for a battery power supply device capable of performing maintenance and replacement of a secondary battery.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, a maintenance service system for a battery power supply device according to the present invention includes a battery power supply device connected to an electronic device having a function of connecting to a communication network as a client, and on the communication network corresponding thereto. Opening a service corresponding server, the battery power supply device includes a secondary battery, a battery management unit that manages the operation state of the secondary battery, and identification information storage unit that stores identification information that specifies a model, The electronic device connects to the service corresponding server through the communication network and sends the operation state data and the identification information, and the service corresponding server prepares the sent operation state data in advance for each model specified by the identification information. The operation status is determined with reference to the database obtained, and the determination result and the action information at the time of detecting the abnormality are transmitted to the client device. Be configured to reply characterized in the by connection of the electronic device to the service corresponding server, the operation state data of the battery power source device is determined is by operating state sent to the service corresponding server. Therefore, it is possible to know the state of deterioration of the secondary battery of the battery power supply device, and to cope with the situation before the operation becomes inoperable.
[0009]
The battery power supply device in the above configuration is an uninterruptible power supply device using a secondary battery. When the electronic device to which the battery power supply device is connected is applied to a computer, it is not required to be used at all times and to operate normally in an emergency. The maintenance of the power failure power supply device can be performed by connecting to the service corresponding server by the Internet connection function of the computer.
[0010]
The battery power supply is a power supply for the cordless telephone handset. When the electronic device connected to the cordless telephone is applied to the cordless telephone base unit, the battery power supply that is the power supply for the cordless telephone is connected to the base unit by connecting to the service-compatible server. Device maintenance can be performed through a communication network.
[0011]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings to facilitate understanding of the present invention. The embodiment described below is an example embodying the present invention, and does not limit the technical scope of the present invention.
[0012]
In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, a manufacturer of an uninterruptible power supply (battery power supply) 3 uses a computer 2 to which each uninterruptible power supply 3 of each model is connected as a client. Service service server 1 is opened on the Internet (communication network) 5, and the service service server 1 is accessed by the Internet connection function of the computer 2 to perform the maintenance service of the uninterruptible power supply 3. 1 shows an example of a system.
[0013]
As shown in FIG. 2, the uninterruptible power supply 3 monitors the operation state by detecting the secondary battery 6 and the battery voltage, charge / discharge current, battery temperature, remaining capacity, and the like of the secondary battery 6. The information processing system includes a means 7, an identification information storage means 9 for storing identification information for specifying a model, and a communication means 8 for forming an information communication path with the computer 2.
[0014]
The uninterruptible power supply 3 is connected to an AC power supply circuit of the computer 2, always supplies commercial power directly to the computer 2, and converts the DC power of the secondary battery 6 to AC power when a power failure such as a power failure occurs. It is configured as a continuous commercial power supply system that converts and supplies, or a continuous inverter supply system that supplies AC power by DC / AC conversion while charging the secondary battery 6 with commercial power. The communication means 8 is configured so that a communication path can be connected to a serial port or a USB port of the computer 2.
[0015]
Also, the computer 2 includes an Internet connection means 15 such as a modem, and a WWW browser is provided at predetermined time intervals (for example, once a day, at an arbitrary time or when the portable personal computer 2 is started) by resident software for maintenance service. Is started, the service correspondence server 1 is accessed, and the battery management information from the battery management means 7 and the identification information from the identification information storage means 9 fetched through the communication means 8 are transmitted to the service correspondence server 1.
[0016]
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, the service support server 1 is configured to process information transmitted from the computer 2 and return reply information. The power supply information DB (Database) 22 provided in the service support server 1 stores the latest data transmitted from the power supply information transmission unit 26 of the service headquarters 20. When the user purchases the uninterruptible power supply 3, the user registration is performed, and the registration data at this time is stored in the mail address DB 23 of the service correspondence server 1 from the user information transmission unit 28 of the service headquarters 20. You. In addition, service bases 40 for performing maintenance services when an abnormality is detected are installed in each region, and information on the service bases 40 is also stored in the mail address DB 23 from the base information transmitting unit 27 of the service headquarters 20. . The service base 40 can be set at a store of the computer 2, a support center, or the like.
[0017]
A WWW (World Wide Web) server / CGI (Common Gateway Interface) 17 functions as an interface with the computer 2 serving as a client, receives information transmitted from the computer 2, and returns a result of information processing as return data to the computer. Transfer to 2. The information processing is performed by the information processing unit 18, and when an abnormality is detected, information for dealing with the abnormality is transmitted from the mail server 21 to each place as e-mail (e-mail).
[0018]
The maintenance service processing according to the above configuration will be described below with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. .. Shown in the flowchart are step numbers indicating processing procedures, and correspond to numbers added in the following text.
[0019]
In FIG. 4, the computer 2 starts the WWW browser 16 at a predetermined time by the resident software, connects to the service corresponding server 1 (S1), transfers the page information of the maintenance service (S2), and further sets the set identification. Information is transmitted (S3), and battery management information is transmitted (S4). Incidentally, the user's access to the service support server 1 may be made by his / her own operation instead of being automated by the resident software as described above.
[0020]
The service corresponding server 1 is connected to the user (S11), and the WWW server / CGI 17 receives the page information to activate the information processing unit 18 to open the maintenance page (S12), and the user ID authentication unit 30 receives the input. The model of the uninterruptible power supply 3 used by the user is specified by referring to the identification information in the mail address DB 23 (S13). The information processing unit 18 processes the data of the battery management information input by the parameter analysis unit 31 to create evaluation target data (S14), and the power information search unit 32 converts the evaluation target data into identification information in the power information DB 22. The battery management information is evaluated by the evaluation unit 33 by searching the database of the model specified by (S15) (S16). That is, since the normal value of the battery management information is stored in the power supply information DB 22, it is determined that the mismatch of the evaluation target data within a predetermined range is abnormal, and if the two match, it is determined to be normal (S17). .
[0021]
If the evaluation is judged to be normal by the evaluation unit 33, the reply data generation unit 34 generates a reply message indicating "no abnormality" (S18) and is transmitted from the WWW server / CGI 17 to the computer 2; When this message is received (S5), and the message is "No abnormality" (S6), "No abnormality" is displayed on the display (S7). On the other hand, when it is determined that “abnormality exists”, a response message is generated by the abnormal time data generation unit 35, transmitted to the computer 2 (S19), and the abnormality processing subroutine shown in FIG. 5 is executed. The abnormal response message is displayed as "abnormal" on the display of the computer 2 and, at the same time, a notification that information for coping with the abnormality is provided by e-mail is displayed (S8).
[0022]
When the abnormality of the battery power supply device 3, that is, the deterioration of the secondary battery 6 is detected, the service corresponding server 1 executes a process of replacing and collecting the secondary battery 6 shown in FIG. 5 as an abnormality processing subroutine. In FIG. 5, in the service support server 1, the battery deterioration state data is generated by the abnormal time data generation unit 35 (S 21). Further, the e-mail generation unit 36 retrieves the user's e-mail address from the e-mail address DB 23 to create an e-mail for the user, attaches the battery deterioration state data to the e-mail (S22), and exchanges a message (S23). And an order reception file (S24) attached thereto, and transmitted from the mail server 21 as an abnormal response mail (S25).
[0023]
The mail corresponding to the abnormality is received by the mailer 25 provided in the computer 2 (S31), and when opened, a battery life evaluation result screen displaying the battery deterioration state data as shown in FIG. 6 is displayed on the display of the computer 2. Is performed (S32). When the user wants to replace the secondary battery 6 based on the determination of the deterioration state, when the user clicks a button of “replacement guide screen” in the battery life evaluation screen, a replacement guide message as shown in FIG. 7 is displayed. (S33) After confirming the price, product name, and the like, and clicking the button of “to order screen”, an order processing screen as shown in FIG. 8 is displayed (S34). The user inputs the order items in the respective input fields in the order processing screen (S35), and clicks the "order" button. An order mail is transmitted from the mailer 25 to the mail server 21 (S36).
[0024]
The mail server 21 that has received the order mail opens it and transfers it to the service corresponding server 1 (S26). The order processing unit 37 registers the order data (S27), searches the service base 40 corresponding to the user's address from the mail address DB 23 (S28), and creates an order instruction mail for the service base 40 (S29). . The order instruction mail is uploaded to the mail server 21 and transmitted to the service base 40 (S30).
[0025]
The service base 40 receiving the order receiving instruction mail (S41) prepares the replacement secondary battery 6 described in the order receiving instruction mail (S42), and delivers the delivery data to the home delivery carrier 41 (S43). Then, a delivery date notification mail is transmitted to the computer 2 (S44). The home delivery carrier 41 receives the secondary battery 6 from the service base 40, delivers it to the user (S45), exchanges the replacement secondary battery with the used secondary battery (S46), and uses the used secondary battery. The used secondary battery is collected by delivering the secondary battery to the service base 40 (S47).
[0026]
The payment of the order for the rechargeable battery 6 can be applied to a cash-on-delivery, which receives the payment at the time of delivery by the home delivery carrier 41, or a card payment using a credit card.
[0027]
The above is the case where the Internet is used, but the maintenance service of the uninterruptible power supply 3 can also be performed by transmitting and receiving information using e-mail.
[0028]
As shown in FIG. 9, the computer 2 creates the battery management information and the identification information taken from the battery management means 7 and the identification information storage means 9 of the uninterruptible power supply 3 through the communication means 8 as an attached file 24 of the e-mail, The mailer 25 sends the mail to the mail server 21 via the Internet. The mail server 21 that has received the attached file 24 opens it and transfers it to the service corresponding server 1. The service corresponding server 1 that has received the battery management information and the identification information transmits the reply mail of “No abnormality” to the computer 2 if there is no abnormality after the information processing as described above. The system is the same as the system described above except that the data transmission from the computer 2 is performed by e-mail, and thus the description is omitted.
[0029]
The above description has been given of the example in which the present invention is applied to the uninterruptible power supply device 3. However, as an example in which a device having a battery power supply device is connected to a device having a function of connecting to a communication network, a cordless telephone handset can be shown. The maintenance service of the battery power supply device can be applied to this.
[0030]
As shown in FIG. 10, the service support server 1 is installed on a communication network 46 based on ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Communication Network), and is configured to be connectable from a base unit 50 of a cordless telephone. Also, the cordless telephone handset 51 has a battery management means 7 for monitoring the operation state of the secondary battery 6 which is an operation power supply thereof, and an identification for storing identification information for specifying the model of the handset 51 and the secondary battery 6. Information storage means 9 is provided. Since a communication path using a weak radio wave is formed between the slave unit 51 and the master unit 50, the master unit 50 communicates with the slave unit 51 by using the battery management information from the battery management unit 7 and the identification information storage unit 9. And sends it to the service corresponding server 1. The service corresponding server 1 that has received the battery management information and the identification information processes the information in the same manner as described above and transmits the answer information to the base unit 50, so that the answer information is displayed on the display of the base unit 50.
[0031]
In the case of a cordless telephone having an e-mail function, the battery management information and identification information are transmitted as an e-mail attached file so that the maintenance of the secondary battery 6 can be performed in the same manner as in the system described above. It can be carried out.
[0032]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, services such as management, maintenance, and advice of a power supply device can be provided. Further, since a recovery system for the deteriorated secondary battery is configured, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of pollution due to the disposal of the secondary battery.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of a maintenance service system for an uninterruptible power supply.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of the uninterruptible power supply.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a maintenance service system.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a procedure of a maintenance service system.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a procedure for battery replacement.
FIG. 6 is a display screen showing an example of a battery life evaluation result screen.
FIG. 7 is a display screen showing an example of a battery replacement guidance message.
FIG. 8 is a display screen showing an example of a battery order screen.
FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a maintenance service system by e-mail.
FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a configuration in which the maintenance service system is applied to a cordless telephone handset.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 server for service 2 computer 3 uninterruptible power supply (battery power supply)
5 Internet (communication network)
6 secondary battery 7 battery management means 8 communication means 9 identification information storage means 15 Internet connection means

Claims (4)

A battery power supply device including a secondary battery, battery management means for monitoring an operation state of the secondary battery, and identification information storage means for storing identification information for specifying a model has a function of connecting to a communication network. Connected to the electronic device by a signal connection means, the electronic device as a client, a service corresponding server is opened on a communication network corresponding to the client,
The electronic device connects to a service support server through a communication network, and sends the battery management information extracted from the battery management unit through the signal connection unit and the identification information extracted from the identification information storage unit to the service support server. ,
The service correspondence server refers to the database prepared in advance for each model identified from the identification information based on the transmitted battery management information to determine the operation state of the secondary battery, and determines the determination result and the abnormality detection time. A maintenance service system for a battery power supply device, wherein response information and response information are returned to a client device. 2. The maintenance service system for a battery power supply device according to claim 1, wherein the battery power supply device is an uninterruptible power supply device using a secondary battery, the electronic device is a computer, and the signal connection means is an interface connecting the two. 2. The maintenance of the battery power supply device according to claim 1, wherein the battery power supply device is a battery power supply of a cordless telephone handset, the electronic device is a cordless telephone master device, and the signal connection means is a wireless communication path connecting the two. Service system. When the service corresponding server determines that the secondary battery is deteriorated, it sends the determination data and order processing information to the electronic device as information to cope with the abnormality detection, and when the service server receives the order information of the secondary battery from the electronic device, the service responds. The maintenance service system for a battery power supply device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the base is instructed to deliver a replacement battery and to collect used batteries and to perform a payment decision process.

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