JP4600165B2 - Remote control terminal - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a remote operation terminal that controls a terminal device.

  A remote operation terminal using optical communication using an internal power source such as a battery has a reduced communicable range with the terminal device as the internal power source decreases. Therefore, when the remote control terminal and the control terminal are fixed, the remote control terminal may be operable but cannot communicate.

Therefore, the conventional remote operation terminal performs communication confirmation after changing the current flowing through the optical device of the remote operation terminal to reduce the communication distance (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-15772

  However, in the conventional configuration, when the communication confirmation is performed between the terminal device and the remote control terminal, only one pattern of the current to flow can be changed. The radiation range other than the straight line distance could not be confirmed.

  The present invention solves the above-mentioned problem, and in a remote operation terminal system using optical communication, when confirming communication with a terminal device, communication equivalent to when the internal power supply of the remote operation terminal is reduced The purpose is to make it possible to confirm the communication by reproducing the distance and the communication radiation range, and to easily and accurately perform the communication confirmation.

  In order to solve the above-described conventional problems, in the system using the remote operation terminal of the present invention, when confirming communication with the terminal device, an optical signal transmitted from the remote operation terminal to the terminal device is lit and an output adjustment unit is provided. By passing it through, the light quantity and the radiation range are continuously varied, creating a state equivalent to the state where the internal power supply of the remote control terminal is lowered, and performing communication confirmation.

  The remote operation terminal of the present invention can continuously change the optical output output from the remote operation terminal, and can perform communication confirmation by reproducing the communication distance and communication range equivalent to when the internal power supply is lowered.

  In a first aspect of the present invention, in a remote control terminal for controlling a terminal device and supplying power from an internal power source, a signal generator for generating control data for controlling the terminal device and a signal generated by the signal unit are optically output. An output unit and an adjustment unit capable of continuously changing the light amount of the output unit are provided. Therefore, the amount of light output can be changed by varying the adjustment unit.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an adjustment unit capable of continuously changing the radiation direction of the light output output from the output unit. Therefore, the radiation direction of the output light amount can be changed by varying the adjustment unit.

A third aspect of the invention includes a response confirmation unit that detects that the terminal device has received the signal output from the output unit, and when the previous period response confirmation unit has been received by the terminal device, the adjustment unit has a light amount It is a remote control terminal that can be adjusted in the direction to reduce the. Thereby, it is possible to output the signal by reducing the light amount of the optical signal output from the remote operation terminal to the terminal device according to the reception status of the terminal device.

  A fourth invention includes a response confirmation unit that detects that the terminal device has received the signal output from the output unit, and when the response confirmation unit is received by the terminal device, the adjustment unit is an optical This is a remote control terminal that can be controlled to change the radiation direction of the output. As a result, the optical signal optically output by the adjustment unit can change the radiation direction of the optical signal according to the reception status of the terminal device, and output the optical signal.

  A fifth aspect of the invention is a remote control terminal including an information calculation unit that converts the light output output from the output unit into the optical information from the information in the adjustment unit when the light output is output through the adjustment unit. Thereby, it is possible to convert from the communication state when the optical output output from the remote operation terminal to the terminal device is variable to other information.

  6th invention, It is a remote control terminal provided with the information calculating part which converts the light output output from the output part into the radiation direction information of an optical output from the information of an adjustment part, when it outputs through the said adjustment part. Thereby, it is possible to convert from the communication state when changing the radiation range of the optical output output from the remote operation terminal to the terminal device into other information.

  In the seventh invention, the light quantity information is a maximum communicable distance with the terminal device, and the information calculation unit has a function of converting information from the adjustment unit into the maximum communicable distance. Thereby, the communication distance when the internal power supply becomes the minimum condition can be output from the communication state in which the light output of the remote control terminal is reduced.

  In an eighth aspect of the invention, the optical information is a limit voltage of an internal power source capable of communicating with the terminal device, and the information calculation unit has a function of converting information from the adjustment unit into the limit voltage. Thereby, the lowest voltage at which the remote operation terminal can communicate with the remote operation terminal in a situation where the remote operation terminal and the terminal device are installed is obtained from the communication state in which the optical output of the remote terminal is reduced.

  In a ninth aspect of the invention, the optical information is a limit capacity of an internal power source capable of communicating with a terminal device, and the information calculation unit has a function of converting information from the adjustment unit into the limit capacity. Thereby, the state of the internal power supply of the remote control terminal can be estimated.

  In a tenth aspect of the invention, the optical information is a replacement time of the internal power supply when communication with the terminal device cannot be performed, and the information calculation unit has a function of converting the information from the adjustment unit into the replacement time. As a result, in the permanent installation where the remote operation terminal and the terminal device are installed in an arbitrary position, it is possible to obtain the replacement time of the internal power supply before the internal power supply of the remote operation terminal decreases and communication becomes impossible.

  The eleventh invention includes a display unit for displaying information, and the display unit can display optical information. As a result, it is possible to display a communicable distance, a change in power supply capacity, a limit voltage of the communicable internal power supply, and a replacement time of the internal power supply under the installation conditions of the remote control terminal and the terminal device. In addition, the state of the internal power supply can be known.

  Embodiments of the invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited to this embodiment.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a system diagram of a remote control terminal according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, the remote operation terminal 1 controls the terminal device 2 by transmitting a control signal for optical output toward the terminal device 2 separated by an angle θ and a distance d. Here, the remote operation terminal refers to a communication remote controller that uses light of a specific wavelength. The terminal device refers to a lighting device, a lighting switch, an air conditioning / ventilating device, a hot water supply system, a hot water toilet seat, an audio device, a television, an image recording device, a security device, and the like that include a receiving unit.

  FIG. 2 is an internal block diagram of the remote operation terminal 1 according to the first embodiment.

  The remote operation terminal 1 includes a signal generation unit 3 that generates a control signal or a test signal for the terminal device 2, an output unit 4 of an optical device for generating a signal to the terminal device 2, and an amount of light generated from the output unit 4. The adjustment unit 5 that can change the direction or range of radiation, the adjustment data conversion unit 6 that converts the state of the adjustment unit into data, and the terminal device 2 receives the control signal emitted through the output unit 4 and the adjustment unit 5 of the remote operation terminal 1 A response confirmation unit 7 for confirming that it has been made and a changeover switch 8 for entering a test mode used when installing the remote control terminal 1 are provided. The signal generator 3, the output unit 4, the adjustment data conversion unit 6, and the response confirmation unit 7 are supplied with power from an internal power source 9 such as a battery.

  About the remote control terminal 1 comprised as mentioned above, the operation | movement and an effect | action are demonstrated.

  When the remote operation terminal 1 and the terminal device 2 are installed, it is necessary to confirm communication. Therefore, the changeover switch 8 is switched to the test mode. When the mode is switched to the test mode, the adjustment unit 5 performs adjustment so as to change the light amount, the light emission direction, or the range for each test signal output from the output unit 4, and performs communication confirmation.

  The adjustment unit 5 has a configuration as shown in FIG. 3, for example.

  The adjustment unit 5 is composed of a deflection A plate 10, a deflection B plate 11 and a deflection C plate 12 that selectively absorb or pass light deflection components, and an angle α formed by the deflection A plate as shown in FIG. By changing the angle β formed by the deflection B plate and the angle γ formed by the deflection C plate, the amount of light emitted from the output unit 4, the radiation direction, and the radiation range are varied.

  If the terminal device 2 can receive the control signal emitted from the output unit 4 by changing the light amount, the radiation direction, and the radiation range, the response confirmation unit 7 performs confirmation. The response confirmation unit is, for example, a button that can be operated by a person. If the terminal device 2 can confirm that the signal can be received, the response confirmation unit may confirm by pressing a switch, or a signal that informs the reception confirmation from the terminal device 2 side. May be transmitted and received by the response confirmation unit 7 to confirm that the terminal device 2 has received.

  When the response confirmation unit 7 confirms that the test signal generated under certain conditions of the deflection A plate 10, the deflection B plate 11, and the deflection C plate 12 in the adjustment unit 5 is received by the terminal device 2. Adjusts the adjustment unit 5 so that the amount of the test signal emitted from the output unit 4 decreases or changes the radiation range or radiation direction, transmits the test signal, and the terminal device 2 receives the test signal. The process is performed until it becomes impossible to find the minimum light amount that can be communicated between the remote control terminal 1 and the terminal device 2.

  FIG. 5 is an example of a flowchart for obtaining a communicable light quantity at an angle θ formed with the terminal device in the remote operation terminal.

The test mode is entered by switching the changeover switch 8 from the normal communication state (step 1). The angles α, β, and γ formed by the deflection A plate 10, the deflection B plate 11, and the deflection C plate 12 of the adjustment unit 5 are set to predetermined initial values (step 2). When this step is performed for the first time, the process proceeds to the next step 3 in the setting state of each deflection plate of the adjusting unit 5 set in the previous step 1. When this step is performed after the second time, if this step is performed without going through step 6 described later, the angle θ formed by the signal transmitted from the remote control terminal 1 to the terminal device 2 is not changed. The angle α formed by the deflection A plate 10, the angle β formed by the deflection B plate 11, and the angle γ formed by the deflection C plate 12 of the adjustment unit 5 are adjusted so that the amount of light output from the output unit 4 is decreased by a certain value. When performing this step through step 6 described later, the angle θ formed by the signal transmitted from the remote control terminal 1 to the terminal device 2 is not changed, and the deflection of the adjusting unit 5 is set so that the light quantity is set to the initial value. Sets the angle between the plates. The initial value here is, for example, a setting that maximizes the amount of light (step 3). A test signal is transmitted from the output unit 4 through the adjusting unit 5 under the conditions adjusted in the previous step 3 (step 4). The response confirmation unit 7 confirms whether or not the terminal device 1 has received the test signal transmitted in the previous step 4. If the confirmation can be confirmed, the process proceeds to the previous step 3, and if not, the process proceeds to step 6 (step 5). The light amount changed from the last to the previous step is set as the minimum communicable light amount at a certain θ (step 6). The angle θ between the terminal device 1 and the remote control terminal 2 is changed by Δθ, and the process proceeds to Step 3. If this step was performed last time and Δθ was changed to a predetermined range, the process proceeds to step 8 (step 7). End test mode (step 8).

  In this way, it is possible to find the minimum amount of light that can be communicated when the angle between the remote control terminal 1 and the terminal device 2 is θ. The confirmation of communication by changing the angle θ formed in the flowchart to Δθ is performed in order to check the margin for the communicable range.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to easily confirm the communication by reducing the light output in the communication of the remote control terminal.

(Embodiment 2)
FIG. 6 is an internal block diagram of the remote control terminal according to the second embodiment. In the configuration of FIG. 6, the description of the same components as those in FIG. 2 is omitted, and the other components are described below.

  The difference from FIG. 2 is that the information obtained from the optical information such as the minimum communication light quantity obtained from the adjustment unit 5 via the adjustment data conversion unit 6 is communicated between the maximum communication distance and the remote operation terminal 1 and the terminal device 2. An information calculation unit 13 that converts information such as a limit voltage of the internal power supply necessary for performing, replacement time of the internal power supply, capacity information of the internal power supply, and the like, and a power supply monitoring unit 14 for monitoring the state of the internal power supply 9 such as a battery The display unit 15 displays information such as the limit voltage of the internal power source, the replacement time of the internal power source, the capacity information of the internal power source, and the information of the power source monitoring unit 13 converted by the information calculation unit 13. is there.

  The method for converting the information obtained from the adjustment data conversion unit 6 into the above information is performed using, for example, the conversion function shown in FIG. In FIG. 7, the maximum communication distance d_max is obtained using the conversion function f (Ie) from the minimum light amount Ie necessary for communication between the remote control terminal 1 and the terminal device 2.

  Moreover, it can obtain | require by converting not only a conversion function but from optical information into the said information using a conversion correspondence table and a nonlinear algorithm.

  About the remote control terminal 2 comprised as mentioned above, the operation | movement and an effect | action are demonstrated below. Note that the method for obtaining the amount of light that can be communicated is omitted because it has been described in the first embodiment, and the subsequent operation and action will be described in detail.

After obtaining the minimum amount of light that can be communicated between the remote operation terminal 1 and the terminal device 2, the internal voltage of the internal power source 9 such as a battery is lowered based on the information obtained by the information calculation unit 13, so that the minimum amount of light becomes equal. Determine the voltage of the communication state. If the remote control terminal 2 is used normally, an internal power source 9 such as a battery is used.
When the power monitoring unit 14 that monitors the power of the internal power supply 9 has a voltage value that is equal to or equal to the voltage value, the display unit 15 displays information such as the replacement time of the internal power supply. Or the content of the voltage drop is displayed.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, communication is performed by reducing the amount of communication between the remote operation terminal 1 and the terminal device 2 during installation, and the power of the internal power supply 9 such as a battery in the remote operation terminal 1 is supplied. It can be notified in advance that communication cannot be performed due to the decrease.

  As described above, when installing a remote control terminal for controlling a terminal device by optical communication as in the present invention, in order to continuously reduce the light output of the remote control terminal, the light deflection component is absorbed or passed through. Thus, it is possible to easily perform communication confirmation by reproducing that the internal power source or the like is reduced and the light emission amount of the remote operation terminal is reduced. If communication confirmation is performed by the method of the present invention when installing network equipment indoors, it is possible to detect the decrease in internal power supply according to the installation location and display the replacement time of the internal power supply for any terminal equipment. it can.

System diagram of terminal device and remote control terminal in an embodiment of the present invention Internal block diagram of remote control terminal in embodiment 1 Block diagram of adjustment unit in embodiment 1 The figure of the variable definition of the adjustment part in Example 1 Flowchart for finding the minimum communicable light amount in the first embodiment Internal block diagram of remote control terminal in embodiment 2 The figure which shows the conversion function which calculates | requires communication maximum distance from the communicable minimum light quantity in Example 2. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Remote operation terminal 2 Terminal device 3 Signal generation part 4 Output part 5 Adjustment part 6 Adjustment data conversion part 7 Response confirmation part 8 Changeover switch 9 Internal power supply 10 Deflection A plate 11 Change B plate 12 Change C plate 13 Information calculation part 14 Power supply Monitoring unit 15 Display unit d Distance between remote control terminal and terminal device θ Angle formed by remote control terminal and terminal device α Angle formed by deflection A plate of remote control terminal β Angle formed by deflection B plate of remote control terminal γ Remote Angle formed by deflection C plate of operation terminal

Claims (1)

In the remote control terminal that controls the terminal equipment and supplies power from the internal power supply,
A signal generator for generating control data for controlling the terminal device ;
An output unit for optically outputting the signal generated by the signal unit ;
An adjustment unit comprising a variable polarization plate for varying the amount of light output from the output unit ;
A response confirmation unit that detects that the terminal device has received the signal output from the output unit;
The remote control terminal , wherein when the response confirmation unit can be received by the terminal device, the adjustment unit rotates and adjusts the variable polarization plate in a direction to reduce the light amount .

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