JP5343143B2 - Alarm - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve reliability by extending, even if a low battery alarm is emitted, a residual period until the battery runs down. <P>SOLUTION: When detecting a low battery from a voltage reduction of a battery power supply, a low battery monitoring unit 60 intermittently outputs a low battery alarm indicating a linkage source, and transmits an event signal indicating the low battery to other alarms. On the other hand, when receiving an event signal indicating a low battery from the other alarm, the alarm intermittently outputs a low battery alarm indicating a linkage destination. When detecting the low battery, a transmission/reception time control unit 62 changes a reception period of a receiving circuit 44 to a long period. On the other hand, when receiving an event signal indicating a low battery from the other alarm, the transmission/reception time control unit 62 changes the transmission time of a transmission circuit 42 to a transmission time longer than the long receiving period after the change. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2012,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to an alarm device that detects an abnormality such as a fire and issues an alarm and wirelessly transmits a signal to another alarm device to output an alarm in conjunction with the alarm device.

  Conventionally, residential alarm devices (hereinafter referred to as “residential alarms”) that detect and warn of abnormalities such as fires and gas leaks in homes have become widespread. There is also an increasing tendency to monitor the anomalies such as fires in each room by installing a vessel.

  In this way, when a plurality of house alarms are installed in a dwelling unit, if a person is in a room different from the room where the abnormality has occurred, a warning sound may not be heard and a disaster such as a fire may spread. For this reason, when the house alarm devices are connected to each other by wire and a fire is detected and alarmed by a certain house alarm device, an interlocking alarm that sends a signal to another house alarm device and simultaneously issues an alarm is made possible.

  However, there is a problem in that the cost of the connection between the resident alarms is high due to the necessity of wired work. This problem can be solved by using a wireless residence guard. In addition, with the recent reduction in power consumption of ICs for wireless circuits, even in an operation state in which signals can be received at all times in order to be able to receive signals from other home alarm devices, for example, more than 5 years can be put into practical use. The endurance of battery life is guaranteed, and the environment for practical use of wireless home alarms is getting ready.

  By the way, in the case of a wireless residence guard, since it is not known when a signal indicating an abnormality is transmitted from another residence guard, it is necessary to keep the receiving circuit unit in a standby operation state so that the signal can be received at any time. However, since this increases power consumption, the reception operation is intermittently performed every predetermined reception cycle.

JP 2007-094719 A

  By the way, in a residential alarm using a conventional battery power source, a low battery is detected when the battery voltage drops to a limit voltage that can function normally for 72 hours (3 days) as a residential alarm, For example, a short warning sound such as “beep” is made once a minute.

  However, if the low battery alarm is issued and there is a long absence such as one week, for example, there is a problem that the low battery alarm runs out of operation without being noticed, and the operation stops and becomes unwarranted. .

An object of the present invention is to provide an alarm device that extends the remaining period until the battery runs out as much as possible even when a low battery alarm is issued, thereby improving reliability.

The present invention
Battery power,
A receiving circuit unit that intermittently performs a receiving operation every predetermined reception period and receives an event signal indicating an abnormality detection from another alarm device and a fault detection including a low battery ;
A transmission circuit unit that transmits an event signal indicating an event detected over a transmission time equal to or greater than a reception cycle when an event including an abnormality and a failure is detected ; and
A notification unit that outputs an alarm including an abnormality and a failure ;
In the alarm device provided with
When a low battery is detected from the battery power supply voltage drop, a low battery alarm that intermittently indicates the interlock source is output intermittently, and an event signal indicating the low battery is transmitted to other alarm devices, while other alarm devices When the event signal indicating the low battery is received from the low battery monitoring unit that intermittently outputs a low battery alarm indicating the linkage destination,
When a low battery is detected, the reception cycle of the reception circuit unit is changed to a longer cycle. On the other hand, when an event signal indicating low battery is received from another alarm device, the transmission time of the transmission circuit unit is changed. A transmission / reception time control unit for changing to a transmission time longer than the long reception cycle;
It is provided with.

Here, the low battery monitoring unit detects the low battery when the battery voltage drops to a limit voltage that can function normally over a predetermined remaining time as an alarm.

According to the alarm device of the present invention, when the battery voltage is lowered and a low battery is detected, the intermittent reception cycle up to that time is changed to a longer cycle, thereby reducing the average current consumption of the reception circuit unit, Accordingly, even if the time until the battery runs out is lengthened and a low battery is detected and alarmed, it is possible to prevent as much as possible from becoming unwarmed due to the battery running out during the absence period.

Explanatory drawing which showed the external appearance of the house alarm device by this invention Explanatory diagram showing the installation state of the house alarm for the house The block diagram which showed embodiment of the residence guard by this invention Explanatory drawing showing the format of the event signal used in this embodiment Time chart showing operations on the transmission side and reception side in the initially set intermittent reception cycle in this embodiment Time chart showing the operation on the transmission side and reception side when the intermittent reception cycle is changed to a short cycle in this embodiment Time chart showing the relationship between the intermittent reception period and average current consumption in this embodiment Time chart showing fire monitoring process with interlocking alarm according to this embodiment

  FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing the appearance of a wireless house alarm according to the present invention. FIG. 1 (A) shows a front view and FIG. 1 (B) shows a side view.

  In FIG. 1, the residential alarm 10 according to the present embodiment includes a cover 12 and a main body 14. In the center of the cover 12, a smoke detecting section 16 having a smoke inlet is opened around it so that a fire is detected when smoke from the fire reaches a predetermined concentration.

  An acoustic hole 18 is provided on the lower left side of the smoke detector 16 provided in the cover 12, and a speaker is incorporated behind this so that an alarm sound and a voice message can be output. An alarm stop switch 20 is provided below the smoke detector 16. The alarm stop switch 20 also functions as an inspection switch.

  An LED 22 is arranged inside the alarm stop switch 20 as indicated by a dotted line. When the LED 22 is lit, the LED 22 is lit through the switch cover portion of the alarm stop switch 20 so that the lighting state of the LED 22 can be seen from the outside. Yes.

  Also, a mounting hook 15 is provided on the upper back side of the main body 14, and a screw or the like is screwed into the wall of the room to be installed, and the mounting hook 15 is attached to this screw, so that the residential alarm 10 can be installed on the wall surface. it can.

  In addition, in the residential alarm 10 of FIG. 1, although the residential alarm which detects the smoke by the fire provided with the smoke detection part 16 is taken as an example, the thermistor which detects the heat by a fire other than this is equipped. Household alarms and houseguards that detect gas leaks other than fire are also included in the subject of the present invention.

  FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the installation state of the house alarm of the present embodiment with respect to the house. In the example of FIG. 2, the residence guards 10-1 to 10-4 of the present embodiment are installed in the kitchen, living room, main bedroom, and child room provided in the house 24, and are further built outdoors. Also installed in the garage 26 is a residence guard 10-5.

  Each of the home alarm devices 10-1 to 10-5 has a function of transmitting and receiving event signals wirelessly to each other, and constitutes one group with five home alarm devices 10-1 to 10-5. The entire house is being monitored for fire.

  If a fire has occurred in the child's room of the house 24, the residence guard 10-4 detects the fire and starts an alarm. Detecting this fire and initiating an alarm is referred to as “reporting” at the home alarm. When the resident alarm 10-4 is triggered, the resident guard 10-4 functions as an interlocking source, and fires are issued to the other resident alarms 10-1 to 10-3 and 10-5 that are the interlocking destinations. An event signal indicating is transmitted by radio. In the other home alarm devices 10-1 to 10-3, 10-5, when receiving an event signal indicating a fire alarm from the home alarm device 10-4 as the interlock source, the alarm operation as the interlock destination is performed. Do.

  Here, as the alarm sound of the home alarm device 10-4 that is the link source, for example, “Please confirm that the Woo fire alarm has been activated” is continuously output by voice message. On the other hand, in the interlocked residence alarm devices 10-1 to 10-3 and 10-5, a voice message such as “Please confirm that another fire alarm has been activated” is output continuously. When the alarm stop switch 20 provided in the residence guard shown in FIG. 1 is operated in a state in which the residence guards 10-1 to 10-5 are emitting an alarm sound, a warning sound stop process is performed.

  In addition, the home alarm devices 10-1 to 10-5 have a low battery monitoring function for monitoring battery exhaustion. When a low battery is detected, for example, an alarm sound such as “beep” is intermittently output every predetermined time, Notify that a failure has occurred. In addition, the faulty home alarm device that has detected the low battery wirelessly transmits an event signal indicating the occurrence of the low battery to the other home alarm devices, and the same low battery alarm is output in the other home alarm devices. As a result, when a low battery is detected by an arbitrary house alarm, a failure alarm is output from all the house alarms constituting the group that performs the interlocking alarm.

  Further, in the residential alarm devices 10-1 to 10-5 of the present embodiment, when a low battery is detected, the intermittent reception cycle T12 of the normal reception circuit 44 is changed to a longer intermittent reception cycle T14. Lower current consumption and extend battery life. Also, when a low battery event signal is received from another house alarm device, the transmission time T3 of the transmission circuit 42 at the normal time is changed to a longer transmission time T5.

  The home alarm devices 10-1 to 10-5 monitor a sensor failure in addition to the low battery, and when a sensor failure is detected, an interlocking alarm is performed in the same manner as the low battery detection.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of a residential alarm according to the present invention. FIG. 3 shows in detail the circuit configuration of the five home guards 10-1 to 10-5 shown in FIG.

  The home guard 10-1 includes a CPU 28, and a radio circuit unit 30, a recording circuit unit 32, a sensor unit 34, a notification unit 36, an operation unit 38, and a battery power source 40 including an antenna 31 are provided for the CPU 28. .

  The wireless circuit unit 30 is provided with a transmission circuit 42 and a reception circuit 44 so that event signals can be transmitted and received wirelessly between the other mortgages 10-2 to 10-5. As the radio circuit unit 30, in the case of Japan, for example, STD-30 (standard standard of radio equipment of a low power security system radio station) or STD- known as a standard of a specific low power radio station of 400 MHz band or STD- It has a configuration compliant with T67 (standard specification for specific low-power radio station telemeter, telecontrol and data transmission radio equipment).

  Of course, the radio circuit unit 30 has contents conforming to the standard of the assigned radio station in the area in places other than Japan.

  The reception circuit 44 performs an intermittent reception operation. The intermittent reception operation of the reception circuit 44 is intermittent reception of a period T12 (= T1 + T2) in which a pause time of T2 = 10 seconds, for example, is placed following a reception operation time of T1 = 5 milliseconds, for example. Corresponding to this intermittent reception, the transmission circuit 42 continuously transmits the event signal for a time T3 that is equal to or longer than the intermittent reception cycle T12 (= T1 + T2).

  The intermittent reception cycle T12 of the reception circuit 44 is a cycle determined at the design stage of the home alarm device so as to have an average current consumption for ensuring a battery life of, for example, 10 years, and is a default cycle set at the shipment stage. ing.

The reception circuit 44 of the present embodiment, a default intermittent reception cycle T12 that is set in advance, when it detects a low battery, and can be changed in a long discontinuous reception cycle T1 4 to extend the battery life Yes. With the change to the discontinuous reception cycle T12 long period T1 4, the transmission time of the transmission circuit 42 of the housing does not detect the low battery警器is changed from the normal transmission time at T3, a longer transmission time T5 Is done.

  The recording circuit unit 32 is provided with a memory 46. The memory 46 stores a transmission source code 50 that is an ID (identifier) for identifying a house alarm, and a group code 52 for configuring a group that performs a linked alarm with a plurality of house alarms as shown in FIG. Yes. As the transmission source code 50, the number of home guards provided in the country is predicted, and for example, a 26-bit code code is used so as not to be duplicated as the same code.

  The group code 52 is a code that is set in common to a plurality of residential alarms constituting the group, and the group code included in the event signal from the other residential alarm received by the wireless circuit unit 30 is registered in the memory 46. This event signal is received as a valid signal and processed when the group code 52 matches.

  In this embodiment, the memory 46 is used for the recording circuit unit 32. However, a dip switch is provided instead of the memory 46, and the transmission source code 50 and the group code 52 are set by the dip switch. Also good. When the code length (number of bits) of the transmission source code 50 and the group code 52 is small, the recording circuit unit 32 using a dip switch is desirable.

  In the present embodiment, the sensor unit 34 is provided with the smoke detector 16, and outputs a smoke detection signal corresponding to the smoke density to the CPU 28. In addition to the smoke detector 16, the sensor unit 34 may be provided with a thermistor that detects a temperature due to a fire. In the case of a gas leak monitoring residence guard, a gas leak sensor is provided in the sensor unit 34.

  The notification unit 36 is provided with a speaker 56 and an LED 22. The speaker 56 outputs a voice message and an alarm sound from a voice synthesis circuit unit (not shown). The LED 22 displays an abnormality or failure such as a fire by blinking, blinking, or lighting.

The operation unit 38 is provided with an alarm stop switch 20. When the alarm stop switch 20 is operated, the alarm sound flowing from the residential alarm 10-1 can be stopped. The alarm stop switch 20 also serves as an inspection switch in the present embodiment.

  The alarm stop switch 20 is effective when an alarm sound is output from the notification unit 36 through the speaker 56. On the other hand, the alarm stop switch 20 functions as an inspection switch in a normal monitoring state in which no alarm sound is output. When the inspection switch is pressed, a notification voice message or the like is output from the notification unit 36.

  The battery power supply 40 uses, for example, an alkaline dry battery having a predetermined number of cells, and has a battery capacity of about 10 years due to a reduction in power consumption of the entire circuit unit including the wireless circuit unit 30 in the residential alarm 10-1. The lifetime is guaranteed.

  The CPU 28 is provided with an abnormality monitoring unit 58, a low battery monitoring unit 60, and a transmission / reception time control unit 62 as functions realized by executing the program.

  When the smoke detection signal from the smoke detector 16 provided in the sensor unit 34 exceeds the fire level and detects a fire, the abnormality monitoring unit 58 generates an alarm sound indicating the interlock source from the speaker 56 of the notification unit 36, for example, “Woo-woo” “Please check that the fire alarm has been activated” repeatedly, and an event signal indicating the fire alarm is transmitted from the antenna 31 to the other residential alarm devices 10-2 to 10-5 by the transmission circuit 42 of the radio circuit unit 30. To send to.

  In addition, when the abnormality monitoring unit 58 receives an event signal indicating a fire alarm from any of the other home alarm devices 10-2 to 10-5 by the reception circuit 44 of the wireless circuit unit 30, the notification unit 36 An alarm sound indicating the link destination, for example, “Woooo Check if another fire alarm has been activated” is continuously output from the speaker 56.

  Here, when the abnormality monitoring unit 58 detects a fire alarm and outputs an interlocking source alarm sound, for example, the LED 22 of the notification unit 36 is blinked, while when the interlocking destination alarm sound is output, the LED 22 of the notification unit 36 is displayed. Blinks. Thereby, the display of the LED 22 in the interlocking source alarm and the interlocking destination alarm can be distinguished. Of course, the blinking or flashing display of the same LED 22 may be used for both the interlocking source alarm and the interlocking destination alarm.

  When the low battery monitoring unit 60 detects a low battery due to a voltage drop of the battery power supply 40, for example, once per minute, the low battery monitoring unit 60 emits a short low battery alarm sound such as “beep” and other event signals indicating the low battery. To the home alarm devices 10-2 to 10-5.

  Here, the low battery monitoring unit 60 detects a low battery when the battery voltage of the battery power supply 40 drops to a limit voltage that can function normally over a predetermined remaining time as an alarm.

  In addition, when the low battery monitoring unit 60 receives an event signal indicating a low battery from any of the other residential alarm devices 10-2 to 10-5, the low battery monitoring unit 60 similarly intermittently emits a low battery alarm sound. , Synchronized output of fault alarm sound. Regarding the alarm at the low battery interlocking destination, the LED 22 may be blinked in synchronization with the alarm sound.

Reception time control unit 62, upon detecting a low battery, extend battery life by changing the reception cycle T12 of the reception circuit 44 that is initially set to a long period T1 4, whereas, a low battery from the other home alarm upon receiving an event signal indicating the changes the transmission time T3 of the transmission circuit 42 are initialized, the discontinuous reception cycle T1 4 or more transmission time T5 that have changed.

  FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the format of the event signal used in this embodiment. In FIG. 4, the event signal 48 includes a transmission source code 50, a group code 52, and an event code 54. The transmission source code 50 is a 26-bit code, for example. The group code 52 is, for example, an 8-bit code, and the same group code is set for, for example, the five residential alarm devices 10-1 to 10-5 in FIG.

  In addition, as the group code 52, in addition to setting the same group code to the same group of house alarms, a reference code common to the house alarms constituting a predetermined group, and a transmission source unique to each house alarm A different group code may be used for each residential alarm obtained from the calculation with the code.

  The event code 54 is a code representing an event content such as an abnormality or failure such as a fire or a gas leak. In the present embodiment, a 3-bit code is used. For example, “001” indicates a fire and “010” indicates a fire. Gas leak, “011” is low battery, the rest is reserved.

  Note that the number of bits of the event code 54 can be increased to 4 bits and 5 bits when the type of event is increased, thereby representing a plurality of types of event contents.

FIG. 5 is a time chart showing the operations on the transmission side and the reception side of the event signal indicating the fire alarm in the normal state in this embodiment. FIG. 5 (A) shows the transmission operation of the transmission side resident alarm, and FIG. 5 (B) shows the reception operation of the reception side resident alarm.

5B, in the normal monitoring state, the reception side resident alarm of the event signal indicating the fire alarm has an intermittent reception period T12 (= T1 + T2) including a reception operation time T1 and a pause time T2 that are initially set. ) and subjected to intermittent receiving operation, the reception operation time T1 is for example T1 = 5 milliseconds, the hibernation time T2 is for example T2 = 10 seconds, thus the discontinuous reception cycle T12 is T12 = 10 seconds It has become.

  In this state, when the transmitting side home alarm shown in FIG. 5A issues a fire at an arbitrary timing, an event signal indicating the fire is transmitted. The transmission time T3 of the fire alarm event signal is set to a time equal to or longer than the intermittent reception cycle T12. As a result, at any transmission timing, at least one reception time T1 enters between transmission times T3, and even in intermittent reception, the event signal is reliably received and the battery life is reduced. Can be extended.

Figure 6 is at low battery detection in the present embodiment, a time chart showing the transmission side and the receiving side the operation of the event signal indicating the fire alert, FIG. 6 (A) sender home alarm (the low battery a transmission operation of the receiving side) of the event signal indicating, FIG. 6 (B) is a reception operation of the reception-side home alarm (sender event signal indicating a low battery).

6 In the receiving side home alarm event signal indicating the fire alert (B), upon detection of a low battery, the reception operation time T1 is intact, T 4 down time from time T2 until then and performing an intermittent receiving operation by the intermittent reception cycle T1 4 (= T1 + T 4 ) is extended in time, the reception operation time T1 is for example T1 = 5 milliseconds, hibernation time T 4, for example T 4 = 20 Seconds.

FIG. 7 is a time chart showing the relationship between the intermittent reception period and the average current consumption in the present embodiment. FIG. 7A shows the intermittent reception operation in the normal intermittent reception cycle T12. In this case, the average current Ia1 is Ia1 = (Ir × T1) / T12.
Given in.

FIG. 7B shows a case where the intermittent reception cycle T12 is changed to a long intermittent reception cycle T14 based on detection of the low battery, and the average current consumption Ia2 in this case is Ia2 = (Ir × T1) / T14.
Given in.

  For this reason, the intermittent reception cycle T12 is changed to a long intermittent reception cycle T14 when a low battery is detected, so that even when the battery power supply 40 is in a low battery state, the consumption current of the reception circuit 44 is reduced and the battery life is possible. It can be extended as long as possible.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the processing performed by the CPU 28 provided in the residential alarm 10-1 of FIG. In FIG. 8, when the battery power supply of the house alarm is enabled (turned on), an initialization process is performed in step S1. In this initial setting, the process which sets an interlocking | linkage group by the residence police device 10-1 to 10-5 is included.

  Subsequently, the home alarm enters a monitoring state, and in step S2, the presence or absence of a fire alarm by the smoke detector 16 provided in the sensor unit 32 is determined. If a fire alarm is determined, the process proceeds to step S3. After transmitting the fire alarm event signal to the other home alarm devices 10-2 to 10-5, in step S4, the interlocking fire alarm is output by the sound output from the speaker 56 of the notification unit 36 and the lighting control of the LED 22 To do.

  On the other hand, if a fire alarm is not determined in step S2, the process proceeds to step S5, where it is determined whether or not a fire alarm event signal has been received from another house alarm, and the event signal of the fire alarm is determined. If reception is discriminated, a fire alarm at the interlock destination is output in step S6.

Subsequently, in step S7, it is determined whether or not the low battery is detected. If low battery detection is determined, the process proceeds to step S8, and an event signal indicating the low battery is transmitted to the other mortgages 10-2 to 10-5. After that, an intermittent interlocking low battery alarm is output in step S9.

Subsequently, in step S10, the intermittent reception cycle of the reception circuit 44 is changed from the initially set cycle T12 to, for example, twice the cycle T14. On the other hand, when the low battery is not detected in step S7, it is determined in step S11 whether or not an event signal indicating a low battery has been received from the other residential alarm devices 10-1 to 10-5. In step S12, an intermittent interlock low battery alarm is output. Furthermore the transmit operation time of the transmission circuit 44 from the time T3 in the normal at the step S13, to change to a longer T5 hours.

  Subsequently, when the alarm stop operation during the alarm is determined in step S14, the notification sound is stopped in step S15.

In addition, although said embodiment took the resident alarm for fire detection as an example, in addition to this, other appropriate abnormalities, such as a gas leak alarm and a security alarm, are detected. For the alarm device, the monitoring process with the interlocking alarm of this embodiment can be applied as it is. It can also be applied to alarm devices for various purposes such as buildings and offices, not limited to residential use.

  Moreover, although said embodiment took the case where the sensor part was integrally provided in the alarm device as an example, as another embodiment, it is an alarm device provided with the sensor part as a separate body from the residential alarm device. Also good.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, includes appropriate modifications that do not impair the objects and advantages thereof, and is not limited by the numerical values shown in the above-described embodiments.

10, 10-1 to 10-5: House alarm 12: Cover 14: Main body 15: Mounting hook 16: Smoke detector 18: Sound hole 20: Alarm stop switch 22: LED
24: Housing 26: Garage 28: CPU
30: Radio circuit unit 31: Antenna 32: Recording circuit unit 34: Sensor unit 36: Notification unit 38: Operation unit 40: Battery power source 42: Transmission circuit 44: Reception circuit 46: Memory 48: Event signal 50: Source code 52 : Group code 54: Event code 56: Speaker 58: Abnormality monitoring unit 60: Low battery monitoring unit 62: Transmission / reception time control unit

Claims (2)

Battery power,
A receiving circuit unit that intermittently performs a receiving operation every predetermined reception period and receives an event signal indicating an abnormality detection from another alarm device and a fault detection including a low battery ;
A transmission circuit unit that transmits an event signal indicating the detected event to another alarm device over a transmission time equal to or greater than the reception period when an event including abnormality and failure is detected ;
A notification unit that outputs an alarm including an abnormality and a failure ;
In the alarm device provided with
When a low battery is detected from a voltage drop of the battery power source, a low battery alarm that intermittently indicates the link source is intermittently output, and an event signal indicating the low battery is transmitted to another alarm device, while another alarm A low battery monitoring unit that intermittently outputs a low battery alarm indicating a linkage destination when an event signal indicating a low battery is received from the device;
Upon detecting the low battery, and change the reception cycle of the reception circuit section to a long period, whereas, upon receiving an event signal indicating a low battery from the other alarm devices, the transmission time of the transmission circuit unit a reception time control unit for changing a long reception period or transmission time of the changed,
An alarm device comprising:

  2. The alarm device according to claim 1, wherein the low battery monitoring unit detects the low battery when the battery voltage drops to a limit voltage capable of functioning normally for a predetermined remaining time as an alarm device. Alarm device characterized.

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