JP5871874B2 - Remote control system and method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a remote control system and method for remotely controlling functions of a function execution device such as a home appliance or office device using a sensing unit.

  In recent years, an increasing number of home appliances and office devices use a remote controller to remotely control functions of a device body. The remote controller is provided with, for example, a plurality of hardware switches or software switches and a display, and when the user operates the switch, the operation signal is transmitted from the remote controller to the device body. In the device main body, when the operation signal is received, the operation signal is decoded, and a corresponding function is executed according to the decoding result. In addition, information regarding the operation content or the executed function is displayed on the display of the remote controller (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2011-172097 A

  However, in a device that remotely controls the functions of the device body using the remote controller as described above, the switch must be operated when performing remote control. For this reason, the user has to remember the correspondence relationship between the control target function of the device main body and the switch or check it every time according to the instruction manual or the like, which is troublesome. In particular, if the device to be controlled has multiple operation modes and it is necessary to combine multiple switch operations to specify these operation modes, the operation becomes even more cumbersome, such as the elderly and children. It was difficult for users who were unfamiliar with the operation.

  The present invention has been made paying attention to the above circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a plurality of sensing units for each command element even when a complicated command statement is required when specifying an operation mode in the function execution device. It is an object to provide a remote control system and method capable of simply and accurately performing remote control without selectively performing complicated operations only by selectively operating the system.

In order to achieve the above object, a first aspect of the present invention provides a function execution device having a plurality of operation modes and a plurality of sensing units capable of communicating with the function execution device directly or via a relay device. And a sensing device. The plurality of sensing units are associated with a plurality of command elements constituting a command statement for designating a plurality of operation modes of the function execution device. Sensing apparatus, when an operation of selectively specifying a plurality of instructions elements constituting the statement by the plurality of sensing units is performed, statements based on a plurality of instruction elements specified by the operation And a remote control signal including information representing the generated command statement is transmitted. When the function execution device receives the remote control signal transmitted from the sensing device, the function execution device extracts a command statement from the received remote control signal, selects an operation mode specified by the extracted command statement, The function is executed according to the selected operation mode.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a function execution device having a plurality of operation modes, a sensing device including a plurality of sensing units, and a relay device capable of communicating between the function execution device and the sensing device. It has. The plurality of sensing units are associated with a plurality of command elements constituting a command statement for designating a plurality of operation modes of the function execution device. The sensing device, when operation for selectively specifying a plurality of instructions elements constituting the statement by the plurality of sensing units is performed, the instruction on the basis of the plurality of command element specified by the operation A sentence is generated, and a first remote control signal including information representing the generated instruction sentence is transmitted. When the relay device receives the first remote control signal transmitted from the sensing device, the relay device extracts a command sentence from the received first remote control signal and is designated by the extracted command sentence A mode is selected and a second remote control signal containing information representative of the selected operating mode is transmitted. When the function execution device receives the second remote control signal transmitted from the relay device, the function execution device executes a corresponding operation based on information representing an operation mode included in the received second remote control signal. .

The first or second aspect is also characterized by comprising the following various aspects.
In the first aspect, the plurality of sensing units may include at least “how” of “when”, “where”, “what”, “how”, “how”, and “what” as the plurality of command elements. Are associated with each other.

  In the second aspect, each of the plurality of sensing units is configured by a three-dimensional structure, and a plurality of contents of command elements assigned to the sensing unit are written on the plurality of peripheral surfaces. Then, in the sensing device, when the sensing unit is operated, it is determined which peripheral surface of the sensing unit is set on the surface, and information indicating the content of the command element written on the determined peripheral surface Is included in the remote control signal.

  In a third aspect, the sensing device includes a plurality of sensing units and a base unit capable of communicating with each of the sensing units. In the base unit, when the plurality of sensing units are placed on the base unit with one surface thereof as the front surface, information representing the contents of the command elements associated with the surface from the plurality of sensing units. Are received, and a remote control signal including information representing the contents of the plurality of received command elements is generated and transmitted.

  In the fourth aspect, the sensing device includes only a plurality of sensing units. Then, when these sensing units are arranged in contact with each other, the arrangement state is detected, and in the detected arrangement state, the contents of command elements associated with the respective surfaces from the plurality of sensing units are detected. Information to be transmitted is transmitted as a remote control signal.

Fifth aspect, the means for selecting the operating mode, lives Ryobun that is part of the received remote control signal is determined whether to satisfy a predetermined logical condition, satisfying the logical condition The operation mode specified by the command statement is selected.

A sixth aspect is the means for selecting the operating mode, if all of the plurality of command element in statements extracted from the received remote control signal is not included, the instruction elements not included the At least one command element is estimated and complemented based on at least two command elements included in the remote control signal.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, when a plurality of sensing units each associated with an instruction element are selectively operated, an instruction sentence is constituted by each instruction element specified by the operation. The remote control signal including it is sent to the function execution device, and the corresponding operation mode is selected and the function is executed. For this reason, even when a complicated command statement is required when selecting and specifying the operation mode, the command statement specifying operation can be performed easily and accurately. Therefore, even a user who is unaccustomed to the operation of the device, such as an elderly person or a child, can remotely control the function execution device easily and accurately. Further, since the command element is written on the sensing unit, there is an advantage that the operation mode of the function execution device currently being executed by the user can be confirmed at a glance.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, each command element designated by the selective operation of a plurality of sensing units is once sent to the relay device and corresponds to the command sentence constituted by the command elements in the relay device. After the operation mode to be selected is selected, it is sent to the function execution device, and the function corresponding to the operation mode is executed in the function execution device. For this reason, it is no longer necessary for the function execution device to have the function of decoding the instruction sentence and converting it to the corresponding operation mode, thereby allowing the function execution device to be remotely controlled without adding a special function. It becomes possible.

  According to the first aspect, at least “how” of “when”, “where”, “what”, “how”, “how”, and “what” are given to a plurality of sensing units as a plurality of command elements. By associating a plurality of command elements including "", it is possible to easily create a command sentence with correct grammatical logic in the sensing device.

  According to the second aspect, each of the plurality of sensing units is composed of a three-dimensional structure in which the content of the command element is written on the peripheral surface. Therefore, when designating the command element and its content, It is possible to specify simply by placing the desired peripheral surface as the surface.

  According to the third aspect, when a plurality of sensing units are placed on the base unit, a remote control signal including information representing the contents of the command elements corresponding to the sensing units placed above is transmitted from the base unit. The For this reason, it is not necessary to provide a communication interface necessary for transmitting a remote control signal to a function execution device or a relay device in a plurality of sensing units, which makes it possible to simplify the sensing unit and reduce power consumption. It becomes.

  According to the fourth aspect, each of the plurality of sensing units can determine information representing the contents of the command element by itself and directly transmit the information to the function execution device or the relay device. It is possible to maintain a high degree of freedom of operation without receiving it.

  According to the fifth aspect, in the function execution device or the relay device, it is determined whether or not the command sentence received from the sensing device satisfies a predetermined logical condition. The operation mode specified by the command statement is selected. For this reason, it is possible to cause the function execution device to execute an operation only when a logically correct command statement is sent, thereby preventing an erroneous operation of the function execution device.

  According to the sixth aspect, in the function execution device or the relay device, when all of the plurality of command elements are not included in the remote control signal received from the sensing device, At least one command element is inferred based on at least two command elements included in the remote control signal. Therefore, the user can operate the function execution device without designating all the command elements.

  That is, according to the present invention, even when a complicated command statement is required when specifying an operation mode in the function execution device, a complex operation is performed by selectively operating a plurality of sensing units for each command element. Thus, it is possible to provide a remote control system and method capable of performing remote control easily and accurately without any problems.

The figure which shows the whole structure of the remote control system which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the external appearance of a sensing apparatus among the remote control systems shown in FIG. The block diagram which shows the structure of a sensing apparatus among the remote control systems shown in FIG. The block diagram which shows the structure of a home server and a function execution apparatus among the remote control systems shown in FIG. The flowchart which shows the process sequence and process content of the sensing apparatus shown in FIG. The flowchart which shows the process sequence and process content of the home server and function execution apparatus which were shown in FIG. The figure which shows an example of the kind of "when" which is one of the command elements. The figure which shows an example of the kind of "where" which is one of the command elements. The figure which shows an example of the kind of "what is" which is one of the command elements. The figure which shows an example of the kind of "how much" which is one of the command elements. The figure which shows an example of the kind of "how" which is one of the command elements. The figure which shows an example of the kind of "what to do" which is one of the command elements. The figure which shows the example of selection of the command element by a sensing unit. The figure which shows the external appearance of the sensing apparatus of the remote control system which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. The block diagram which shows the structure of the remote control system which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. The flowchart which shows the process sequence and process content of the remote control system shown in FIG. The figure which shows the external appearance of the sensing unit which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the usage example of the sensing unit shown in FIG.

Embodiments according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
[First Embodiment]
In the first embodiment of the present invention, a sensing device includes a plurality of sensing units and a base unit, and command IDs representing the contents of command elements selected in the sensing unit are collected by the base unit to generate command statements. To do. Then, a remote control signal including this command is sent from the base unit to the home server, and after checking the logic of the command at the home server, the ID indicating the function execution device to be controlled and the ID indicating the operation mode are set. The data is converted and transmitted to the function execution device.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a remote control system according to a first embodiment of the present invention, in which 1 is a sensing device, 30 is a home server operating as a relay device, 40a, 40b, 40c,. Each of the function execution devices is shown.

  Of the function execution devices 40a, 40b, 40c,..., The function execution device 40a is composed of a lighting fixture. An operation mode for changing to “color”, “day white”, “daylight color”, and the like, and an operation mode for changing illuminance are provided. The function execution device 40b is an air conditioner. In addition to standard operation modes such as “ON” and “OFF”, the function execution device 40b includes “cooling”, “heating”, “increase temperature”, and “decrease temperature”. A plurality of operation modes unique to air conditioners are provided. Furthermore, the function execution device 40c comprises an audio device, and in addition to standard operation modes such as “ON” and “OFF”, audio such as “Play”, “Stop”, “Raise volume”, “Decrease volume”, and the like. It has a number of device-specific operation modes. Other function execution devices include a coffee maker, a television receiver, a front door, etc., but a description thereof is omitted.

  The sensing device 1 includes six sensing units 10 a to 10 f and a base unit 20.

  Each of the sensing units 10a to 10f has a casing made of a regular hexahedron. This housing is made of, for example, a resin material. Each of the sensing units 10a to 10f is individually assigned a plurality of command elements constituting a command statement for designating an operation mode to be executed by the function execution devices 40a, 40b, 40c,.

  The above command elements are, for example, “When”, “Where”, “What”, “How” (How), “How” (How), “How” (How) 3W3H), and their contents are defined as follows. 7 to 12 show an example thereof.

  As the contents of “When”, as shown in FIG. 7, six types of “morning”, “daytime”, “evening”, “night”, “before going to bed”, and “now” are defined. Is printed on the six surfaces of the sensing unit 10a.

  As shown in FIG. 8, there are six types of “Where” defined as “Living”, “Kitchen”, “Dining”, “Bedroom”, “Bathroom”, and “All rooms”. It is written on the six surfaces of the sensing unit 10b by printing or the like.

  As shown in FIG. 9, “What” includes “lighting”, “TV”, “audio equipment”, “coffee maker”, “air conditioner”, “all equipment”. These are defined, and these are expressed by printing or the like on the six surfaces of the sensing unit 10c.

  As shown in Fig. 10, there are five types of "How" ("Minimum", "Slightly", "Many", "Maximum", and "Medium"). It is indicated by printing or the like on five of the six surfaces of the unit 10c. Note that the content of the command element is not described as a blank for the remaining one surface.

  As shown in FIG. 11, the contents of “How” are “gradually”, “immediately”, “over 10 minutes”, “over 30 minutes”, “after 10 minutes”, “ Six types of “after 30 minutes” are defined, and these are printed on the six surfaces of the sensing unit 10e.

  As shown in FIG. 12, there are six types of “how” (“turn off”, “turn on”, “brighten”, “darken”, “warm”, “cool”) as shown in FIG. These are written on the six surfaces of the sensing unit 10f by printing or the like.

  Note that each of the above command elements “When”, “Where”, “What”, “What”, “How” (How), “How” (How), “How” (How) Each type of content is associated with a unique command ID. Further, the contents of the command elements may be handwritten in addition to printing, and may be expressed by sticking a sticker on which the characters are printed on the housing surface.

  On the other hand, the base unit 20 has six reading areas 22a to 22f formed by dividing a rectangular plate-shaped casing 21 with partition plates, and each of these reading areas 22a to 22f has NFC (Near Field Communication) readers 23a to 23f are provided. These NFC readers 23a to 23f communicate with NFC tags (not shown) attached to the sensing units 10a to 10f when the sensing units 10a to 10f are placed in the reading areas 22a to 22f, respectively. I do. And the command ID corresponding to the content of the command element indicated on the surface determined in sensing unit 10a-10f is received.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the sensing units 10a to 10f and the base unit 20. As shown in FIG.
The sensing units 10a to 10f include measurement units 111 to 116 and a circuit module unit 12 respectively disposed on the six surfaces. The measurement units 111 to 116 include, for example, pressure sensors or illuminance sensors, and detect which surface the sensing units 10a to 10f are placed on in the reading areas 22a to 22f of the base unit 20, and the measurement unit 111 Detected voltage values v1 to v6 are output for each of .about.116.

  The circuit module unit 12 includes a command ID storage unit 121, a threshold determination unit 122, and a sensing communication unit 123. The threshold determination unit 122 and the sensing communication unit 123 are realized by causing a CPU (Central Processing Unit) to execute a program stored in a program memory (not shown).

  The command ID storage unit 121 stores a command ID for identifying the contents of the command elements described on the six surfaces in association with the identification information (sensor ID) of the six measurement units 111 to 116. . The instruction ID storage unit 121 has different information for determining the information indicating the correspondence between each instruction ID and the measuring units 111 to 116 and the detected voltage values v1 to v6 output from the measuring units 111 to 116. Six threshold values Vt1 to Vt6 are stored in advance.

  The threshold determination unit 122 compares the detection voltage values v1 to v6 output from the measurement units 111 to 116 with the threshold values Vt1 to Vt6 stored in the command ID storage unit 121, thereby outputting the detection voltage. It is determined on which surface the units 111 to 116 are arranged. Furthermore, by referring to the information indicating the correspondence between each instruction ID and the measurement units 111 to 116 stored in the instruction ID storage unit 121, the surface opposite to the surface on which the measurement unit is arranged (the opposite side) Read out the instruction ID described in (5).

  The sensing communication unit 123 includes an NFC tag, is activated upon receiving power supply by electromagnetic coupling from the NFC readers 23 a to 23 f of the base unit 20, and performs a process of transmitting the read command ID to the base unit 20.

  The base unit 20 includes six base reception units 201a to 201f, an instruction synthesis unit 202, and a base transmission unit 203. In FIG. 3, only 201a and 201b are shown for simplicity of illustration. Each of the base receiving units 201a to 201f includes NFC readers 23a to 23f. When the sensing units 10a to 10f are placed in the reading areas 22a to 22f, the NFC tags of the sensing units 10a to 10f are activated and the NFC tags Receives an instruction ID.

  The instruction synthesizing unit 202 generates information representing a command sentence by synthesizing the instruction IDs received by the base receiving units 201a to 201f in order. The base transmission unit 203 generates a remote control signal including information representing the generated command statement, and transmits the remote control signal to the home server 30. As the communication interface, a wireless interface adopting a short-range data communication standard such as a wireless local area network (LAN) or Bluetooth (registered trademark) or an infrared interface is used.

  The home server 30 is composed of, for example, a personal computer, and functions necessary for realizing this embodiment include a home server communication unit 31, a sensing unit determination unit 32, an instruction / execution conversion unit 33, and a conversion table 34. I have. Of these functions, the home server communication unit 31, the grammar determination unit 32, and the instruction / execution conversion unit 33 are realized by causing the CPU to execute a program stored in a program memory (not shown).

  The home server communication unit 31 has a remote control signal reception function and a transmission function. The reception function performs processing for receiving a remote control signal transmitted from the base unit 20 of the sensing device 1. The transmission function converts the received remote control signal into a remote control signal including a function execution device ID and an operation mode ID passed from a command / execution conversion unit 33, which will be described later, and converts the converted remote control signal into a function. To the execution devices 40a, 40b, 40c,. As the communication interface, a wireless interface adopting a short-range data communication standard such as a wireless LAN or Bluetooth (registered trademark) or an infrared interface is used.

  In the conversion table 34, the identification information (function execution device ID) of the function execution devices 40a, 40b, 40c,... And the execution of the function execution device are associated with all combinations of instruction IDs among the six types of instruction elements. The contents, that is, information for identifying the operation mode (operation mode ID) is stored.

  The grammar determination unit 32 extracts a command sentence from the remote control signal received by the home server communication unit 31, and determines whether the grammar of the extracted command sentence satisfies a previously stored rule. judge. At the same time, when there is a shortage of command elements in the extracted command statement, the content of the missing command element is estimated based on the content of the command elements included in the extracted command statement, Perform complementary processing.

  The instruction / execution conversion unit 33, when the grammar determination unit 32 determines that the grammar of the extracted instruction sentence satisfies the rule, the conversion table 34 based on the complemented instruction sentence. The corresponding function execution device ID and the operation mode ID representing the execution content are read out, and the read function execution device ID and operation mode ID are passed to the home server communication unit 31.

  The function execution devices 40a, 40b, 40c,... Include a function information storage unit 41, a function execution unit 42, and a client communication unit 43. Among these, the function execution unit 42 and the client communication unit 43 are realized by causing the CPU to execute a program stored in a program memory (not shown).

  The function information storage unit 41 stores information representing specific execution contents of functions included in the function execution devices 40a, 40b, 40c,... In association with the operation mode ID transmitted by the home server 30. .

The client communication unit 43 has a function of receiving a remote control signal transmitted from the home server 30.
The function execution unit 42 extracts the function execution device ID and the operation mode ID from the remote control signal received by the client communication unit 43, and when the extracted function execution device ID matches the ID of its own device, Information representing the function execution content corresponding to the extracted operation mode ID is read from the function storage unit 41, and processing for executing the information representing the read function execution content is performed.

(Operation)
Next, operations of the sensing device 1, the home server 30, and the function execution devices 40a, 40b, 40c,... Configured as described above will be described.
(1) Operation of Sensing Device FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure and processing contents of the sensing device 1.
In order for the user to specify a command statement, the sensing units 10a to 10f corresponding to the command elements correspond to the base unit 20 with the surface on which the desired command content is written as shown in FIG. It is assumed that they are placed in the reading areas 22a to 22f, respectively.

  In the sensing units 10a to 10f, when the generation of the measurement value is detected in step S11, the detection voltages v1 to v6 output from the measurement units 111 to 116 are captured in step S12, respectively. The captured detection voltages v1 to v6 are compared with the threshold values Vt1 to Vt6 stored in the instruction ID storage unit 121 in step S13, and the measurement units 111 to 116 that output the detection voltages are arranged on which surface. It is determined whether it is a measuring unit.

  Subsequently, in step S14, the measurement units 111 to 116 that output the detection voltage are arranged based on the information stored in the instruction ID storage unit 121 and indicating the correspondence between each instruction ID and the measurement units 111 to 116. A command ID corresponding to the content of the command element written on the surface (the surface on the opposite side) opposite to the written surface is read from the command ID storage unit 121.

  That is, when the sensing units 10a to 10f are placed on the respective reading areas 22a to 22f of the base unit 20, the sensing units 10a to 10f are detected from the measurement units arranged on the surfaces (lower surfaces) in contact with the respective reading areas 22a to 22f. A signal is output, and a command ID corresponding to the content of the command element indicated on the surface opposite to the surface on which the measurement unit that outputs the detection signal is arranged, that is, the upper surface is read out.

  The command ID read in each of the sensing units 10a to 10f is transmitted from the sensing communication unit 123 to the base unit 20 in step S15. The command ID is transmitted by communication between the NFC readers 23 a to 23 f of the base unit 20 and each NFC tag of the sensing communication unit 123.

  When the base unit 20 detects that the command ID is transmitted from the sensing units 10a to 10f in step S21, the base receiving unit 201a to 201f receives the command ID in step S22. When a predetermined time has elapsed since the last command ID was received, it is determined that the user has placed the sensing units 10a to 10f on the base unit 20, and the process proceeds from step S23 to step S24. Then, a command sentence is generated by sequentially arranging the command IDs received from the sensing units 10a to 10f, and a remote control signal including information representing the command text is transmitted from the base transmission unit 203 to the home server 30 in step S25. .

  For example, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the user can set the “morning”, “bedroom”, “illumination”, “maximum”, “over 10 minutes”, and “turn on” as the surface. If it is placed in the reading areas 22a to 22f of the base unit 20, an instruction sentence in which the contents of each instruction element are arranged as shown in FIG. 13A is generated, and this instruction sentence is generated by a remote control signal. It is transmitted to the home server 30.

  When the sensing units 10b and 10f are placed in the corresponding reading areas 22b and 22f of the base unit 20 so that “living” and “warming” are on the surface, as shown in FIG. 13B. A command sentence in which command IDs corresponding to “living” and “warm” are arranged is generated and transmitted. Similarly, if any one of the sensing units 10a to 10f is placed in the corresponding reading areas 22a to 22f of the base unit 20 so that the desired content is on the surface, for example, FIGS. 13 (c) and 13 (d). A command statement as shown in Fig. 2 is generated and transmitted.

(2) Operation of Home Server FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure and processing contents of the home server 30 and the function execution devices 40a, 40b, 40c,.
In home server 30, when the arrival of the remote control signal is detected in step S31, reception processing of the remote control signal is performed in step S32, and information representing a command statement is extracted from the received remote control signal. Subsequently, in step S33, the grammar determination unit 32 is activated, and it is determined in step S34 whether or not the extracted grammar of the imperative sentence satisfies a previously stored rule. For example, if a command ID that specifies the content of the command element “How” is not included in the command statement, it is determined that the command statement does not satisfy the rules of the grammar.

  Note that even if the command statement satisfies the grammatical rules, the command statement is invalidated even if the operation mode ID corresponding to the command ID combination is not stored in the conversion table 34. For example, when the air conditioner is not installed in the kitchen, the instruction sentence includes the instruction ID (wb2) corresponding to “kitchen” and the instruction ID (wc5) corresponding to “air conditioner”. The statement is invalid.

  The grammar determination unit 32 extracts the contents of the missing command element when the extracted command statement has a shortage of command elements or when the command element specification on the sensing unit is blank. A process of inferring and complementing based on the content of the command element included in the command statement is performed. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 13B, when the command statement includes only the command ID (wb1) corresponding to “living” and the command ID (hc5) corresponding to “warming”, It can be assumed that the device that warms up “is an air conditioner”, and thus the command ID (wc5) corresponding to “turn on the air conditioner” is added to the above-mentioned command statement.

  Further, as illustrated in FIG. 13C, when the command statement includes only the command ID (wc5) corresponding to “ON” and the command ID (hc2) corresponding to “ON”, for example, Whether it is “cooling” or “heating” is determined based on the room temperature detected by the temperature sensor included in the home server 30, and the command ID (hc2) corresponding to the “turn on” is set to “cool” or “warm”. It is converted into the corresponding instruction ID (hc6 or hc5).

Further, as illustrated in FIG. 13D, the command statement includes a command ID (wa1) corresponding to “morning”, and command IDs (wc2 and wc4) corresponding to “TV” and “coffeemaker”. If the instruction ID (hc2) corresponding to “Turn” is included, the “morning” is replaced with a common sense time in the morning or a wake-up time set in advance by the user. In addition, although the command ID indicating the contents of “Where” is not specified in the command statement, only one “TV” and “coffee maker” are registered, and the command is valid. To do.
The determination of the logic of the instruction element and the estimation process of the instruction element described above can be performed based on information indicating a combination of instruction IDs stored in the conversion table 34. In other words, the contents of the command element are estimated as “When”, “Where”, “What”, “What”, “How”, “How”, “How” "(How)" may be targeted, and a plurality of these command elements may be simultaneously targeted. In this estimation process, a command sentence specified in the past is stored as history data, and learning is performed based on the history data, so that a more accurate estimation is possible.

  When the grammar determination and estimation process for the command sentence is completed, in step S35, the conversion table 34 is accessed based on the instruction ID group included in the command sentence after the grammar determination and estimation process, and corresponds to the instruction ID group. The attached function execution device ID and the operation mode ID representing the execution content are read out. In step S36, the remote control signal received from the base unit 20 is converted into a remote control signal including the read function execution device ID and an operation mode ID representing the execution content, and the remote control signal after the conversion is converted. Is transmitted from the home server communication unit 31 to the function execution devices 40a, 40b, 40c,.

(3) Function Execution Device Operation When the function execution devices 40a, 40b, 40c,... First detect the arrival of a remote control signal in step S41, the remote control signal reception processing is performed in step S42. The function execution device ID and the operation mode ID are extracted from the remote control signal. Then, based on the extracted function execution device ID, it is determined whether or not the remote control signal is addressed to itself. If it is addressed to itself, in step S43, the extracted operation mode ID is set. Basically, control information representing the execution content associated with the operation mode ID is read from the function information storage unit 41. Then, according to the control information indicating the execution content, the corresponding function is executed in step S44.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 13A, the user can set the sensing units 10a to 10f to “morning”, “bedroom”, “lighting”, “maximum”, “over 10 minutes”, and “turn on”. If it is placed in the reading areas 22a to 22f of the base unit 20 so as to be on the surface, according to the function execution device ID and operation mode ID corresponding to this command statement, in the morning, the function execution device (lighting) installed in the bedroom. The instrument) 40a is turned on so that it gradually becomes brighter over 10 minutes.

Further, when the user places the sensing units 10b and 10f in the reading areas 22b and 22f of the base unit 20 so that “living” and “warming” are on the surface as shown in FIG. Heating operation is started in the function execution device (air conditioner) 40b installed in the living room.
Similarly, according to the function execution device ID and the operation mode ID corresponding to the command statement, the operation specified by the operation ID is executed in the corresponding function execution device.

(effect)
As described above in detail, the following measures are taken in the first embodiment. That is, when the sensing units 10a to 10f indicate the contents of the six types of command elements constituting the statement, and the sensing units 10a to 10f are placed in the reading areas 22a to 22f of the base unit 20, the sensing unit 10a The command ID corresponding to the contents described on the surface of -10f is transmitted from the sensing units 10a to 10f to the base unit 20, and the base unit 20 generates a command sentence with the command ID and transmits it to the home server 30. The home server 30 determines whether or not the received command statement satisfies the grammatical rules, and after estimating and complementing the content of command elements not included in the command statement, the home server 30 also stores the conversion table 34. Are converted into function execution device IDs and operation mode IDs to be executed, and transmitted to the function execution devices 40a, 40b, 40c,. The function execution device executes a function according to the sent operation mode ID.

  Therefore, when the six sensing units 10a to 10f associated with the command elements are placed on the reading areas 22a to 22f of the base unit 20 with the surface on which the desired content is written as a table, the content written on the surface is displayed. A command statement is composed of a command ID representing the function, and a remote control signal including this command statement is converted into a function execution device ID and an operation mode ID to be controlled by the home server 30, and then the function execution devices 40a, 40b, 40c,. And the operation mode designated by the corresponding function execution device 40a, 40b, 40c,... Is executed. For this reason, even when a complicated command statement is required when selecting and specifying the operation mode, the command statement specifying operation can be performed easily and accurately. Therefore, even a user who is not familiar with the operation of the device, such as an elderly person or a child, can easily and accurately remotely control the function execution devices 40a, 40b, 40c,.

  The sensing device 1 includes sensing units 10 a to 10 f and a base unit 20, and the base unit 20 generates a remote control signal including a command statement and transmits it to the home server 30. For this reason, the sensing units 10a to 10f do not need to be provided with a communication interface necessary for transmitting a remote control signal to the home server 30, and thus the sensing units 10a to 10f can be easily reduced in size and power consumption. It becomes possible.

  Further, it is determined whether or not the command statement satisfies a grammatical rule. If the command statement satisfies the rule, the command statement is converted into a function execution device ID and an operation mode ID to be controlled. Therefore, it is possible to operate the function execution devices 40a, 40b, 40c,... Only when a logically correct command statement is sent, thereby preventing erroneous operation of the function execution devices 40a, 40b, 40c,. can do.

  In addition, when all of the instruction elements are not included in the instruction sentence, at least one instruction element among the instruction elements not included is based on at least two instruction elements included in the instruction sentence. Inferred and complemented. Therefore, the user can cause the function execution devices 40a, 40b, 40c,... To perform a desired operation without specifying all the command elements.

[Second Embodiment]
In the second embodiment of the present invention, the sensing device is configured by only a plurality of sensing units, and a remote control signal including a command ID is directly transmitted from the plurality of sensing units to the home server. Then, the home server constructs a command sentence from the command IDs sent from the plurality of sensing units and checks the grammar, and then converts the command statement into the function execution device ID and the operation mode ID of the control destination to the function execution device. It is intended to be transmitted.

(Constitution)
FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the appearance of sensing units 50a-50c according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 15 shows the configuration of the sensing units 50a-50c, the home server 30, and the function execution devices 40a, 40b, 40c,. FIG.

  The sensing units 50a to 50c are assigned three typical types of command elements that constitute a command statement. For example, “When” is assigned to the sensing unit 50a, “What” is assigned to the sensing unit 50b, and “How” is assigned to the sensing unit 50a.

  The sensing units 50a to 50c have a housing made of a regular hexahedron made of resin as in the first embodiment, and names representing the contents of the assigned command elements are written on each surface. Yes. The contents of the instruction elements “When”, “What”, and “How” are shown in FIGS. 7, 9, and 12, respectively.

  Illuminance sensors 511 to 516 are provided on the surfaces of the sensing units 50a to 50c, respectively. These illuminance sensors 511 to 516 are used to determine the presence or absence of contact between the sensing units 50a to 50c. Furthermore, the sensing units 50a to 50c each include an acceleration sensor 53 with a geomagnetic sensor. The acceleration sensor 53 with the geomagnetic sensor is used to determine which surface is the front when the sensing units 50a to 50c are operated.

  The circuit module unit 52 of the sensing units 50 a to 50 c includes an instruction ID storage unit 521, a threshold determination unit 522, and a sensing communication unit 523. Of these functions, the threshold determination unit 522 and the sensing communication unit 523 are realized by causing a CPU (Central Processing Unit) to execute a program stored in a program memory (not shown).

  The instruction ID storage unit 521 stores instruction IDs representing the contents of the instruction elements described on the respective faces in association with information representing the six faces of the sensing unit.

  The threshold determination unit 522 is on the front side based on the function of determining the presence or absence of contact between sensing units based on the detection signals of the illuminance sensor groups 511 to 516 and the detection signal of the acceleration sensor with a geomagnetic sensor. A function for determining a surface and a function for specifying an instruction ID corresponding to the content of an instruction element written on the surface are provided.

  The function of determining the presence or absence of contact determines whether or not the detection signal values of two or more illuminance sensors are “0”, and the detection signal value of two or more illuminance sensors is “0”. If it is, it is determined that the sensing unit is placed in contact with another sensing unit. The surface determination function initializes the relationship between the surface of the sensing unit and the detection value of the acceleration sensor 53 based on the output of the geomagnetic sensor, and the change amount when the detection value of the acceleration sensor 53 changes in this state. To determine which side of the sensing unit is the surface. The instruction ID read function reads the instruction ID from the instruction ID storage unit 521 based on the identification information of the surface determined to be the surface by the surface determination function.

  The sensing communication unit 523 generates a remote control signal including the read instruction ID and the ID of its own sensing unit, and performs processing for transmitting the generated remote control signal to the home server 30. As the communication interface, a wireless interface adopting a short-range data communication standard such as a wireless local area network (LAN) or Bluetooth (registered trademark) or an infrared interface is used.

  The home server communication unit 31 of the home server 30 has a remote control signal reception function and a transmission function. The reception function performs a process of receiving remote control signals respectively transmitted from the sensing units 50a to 50c. The transmission function converts the received remote control signal into a remote control signal including a function execution device ID and an operation mode ID passed from a command / execution conversion unit 33, which will be described later, and converts the converted remote control signal into a function. To the execution devices 40a, 40b, 40c,. As a communication interface, a wireless interface adopting a short-range data communication standard such as a wireless LAN or Bluetooth (registered trademark) or an infrared interface is used.

The grammar determination unit 32 of the home server 30 arranges the command ID included in the remote control signal received from each of the sensing units 50a to 50c based on the sensing unit ID included in the remote control signal, and configures a command statement. It is determined whether or not the grammar of the command statement satisfies a rule stored in advance. At the same time, when there is a shortage of command elements in the configured command statement, the content of the missing command element is estimated based on the content of the command elements included in the configured command statement, Perform complementary processing.
The other parts of the home server 30 and the functions of the function execution devices 40a, 40b, 40c,... Are the same as in FIG.

(Operation)
(1) Operation of the sensing unit In order for the user to specify a command statement, the sensing units 50a to 50c corresponding to the command elements are displayed in a table with the content of the desired command as shown in FIG. And placed on the table in contact with each other.

  In each of the sensing units 50a to 50c, first, in step S51, the presence / absence of outputs from the illuminance sensors 511 to 516 is monitored. It is determined by. When the detection signal value of the illuminance sensor becomes “0” on two or more surfaces, it is recognized that the sensing unit is placed in contact with another sensing unit.

  Next, in step S53, it is determined which surface of the sensing unit has become the surface from the amount of change in the value of the acceleration sensor 53. It is assumed that the relationship between the surface of the sensing unit and the detected value of the acceleration sensor 53 is initialized in advance based on the output of the geomagnetic sensor. In step S54, the instruction ID is read from the instruction ID storage unit 521 based on the determination result of the surface. In step S55, the read instruction ID is inserted into the remote control signal together with its own sensing unit ID and transmitted to the home server 30.

(2) Operation of home server When the home server 30 detects the remote control signal transmitted from the sensing units 50a to 50c in step S31, the remote server receives the remote control signal in step S32. A command ID and a sensing unit ID are extracted from the remote control signals, respectively. Subsequently, in step S33, the grammar determination unit 32 is activated, and under the control of the grammar determination unit 32, the command IDs extracted from the remote control signals are arranged based on the sensing unit IDs extracted from the remote control signals. Command statement. Then, in step S34, it is determined whether or not the grammar of the constructed command sentence satisfies a grammar rule stored in advance. At the same time, if there is a shortage of command elements in the structured statement, the contents of the missing command element are inferred based on the content of the command elements included in the structured statement, and complemented. Processing is performed.

  As a result of the determination and the complement processing, when it is confirmed that the grammar of the constructed command sentence is correct, the process proceeds from step S34 to step S35, and based on the instruction ID group included in the command sentence after the complement process. The conversion table 34 is accessed, and the function execution device ID associated with the instruction ID group and the operation mode ID representing the execution content are read out. In step S36, a remote control signal including the read function execution device ID and operation mode ID is created, and the remote control signal is sent from the home server communication unit 31 to the function execution devices 40a, 40b, 40c,. Sent.

(3) Operation of Function Execution Device In the function execution devices 40a, 40b, 40c,..., Processing similar to that of the first embodiment described above is performed. That is, first, when the arrival of the remote control signal is detected in step S41, the reception process of the remote control signal is performed in step S42, and the function execution device ID and the operation mode ID are extracted from the received remote control signal. Then, based on the extracted function execution device ID, it is determined whether or not the remote control signal is addressed to itself. If it is addressed to itself, in step S43, the extracted operation mode ID is set. Basically, control information representing the execution content associated with the operation mode ID is read from the function information storage unit 41. Then, according to the control information indicating the execution content, the corresponding function is executed in step S44.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 14, the user places the sensing units 50 a to 50 c on the table in contact with each other so that “night”, “illumination”, and “darken” are on the surface. Suppose. In this case, the home server 30 creates a command sentence including command IDs corresponding to the above “night”, “lighting”, and “darken”. Then, after the grammar check of the created command statement and the complement processing of the command ID are performed, a remote control signal including a function execution device ID and an operation mode ID corresponding to the command statement is sent from the home server 30 to the function execution device. Sent to. As a result, in the function execution device, at night, the illuminance is controlled so that the illuminance of the function execution device (lighting fixture) 40a decreases by a certain amount.

  Note that in the above-mentioned instruction sentence, it is not specified which room the luminaire is to be controlled. However, the room where the lighting equipment is installed is searched based on the facility information of all the rooms stored in advance in the conversion table 34 by the above-described complement processing of the command sentence. Then, the operation is controlled with the luminaires of all the searched rooms being controlled.

(effect)
As described above in detail, in the second embodiment, the sensing device is configured by the three sensing units 50a to 50c, and the remote control signal including the command ID is directly transmitted from the sensing units 50a to 50c to the home server 30. To do. Then, the home server 30 composes a command sentence with the command IDs sent from the three sensing units 50a to 50c, performs a grammar check of the constructed command sentence and a command ID complement process, and then the control destination The function execution device ID and the operation mode ID are converted and transmitted to the function execution device of the control destination.

  Therefore, as in the first embodiment, even when a complicated command statement is required when selecting and specifying the operation mode, it is possible to easily and accurately specify the command statement. Therefore, even a user who is not familiar with the operation of the device, such as an elderly person or a child, can easily and accurately remotely control the function execution devices 40a, 40b, 40c,.

  In addition, each sensing unit 50a-50c can transmit a command ID representing the content of the command element to the home server 30 by itself, so that the sensing unit does not depend on the base unit and does not select an operation location. It becomes possible to operate 50a-50c more freely.

[Other Embodiments]
In the first and second embodiments, a casing made of a regular hexahedron is used as the sensing unit. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, as shown in FIGS. 17A and 17B, sensing units 60a and 60b each including a plate-shaped housing are prepared for each command element. You may use what expressed different contents on one side. In this case, the sensing units 60a and 60b are arranged horizontally on the base unit 70 with the surface on which desired contents are written as shown in FIG. 18A, or in FIG. As shown in (), the instruction ID constituting the instruction sentence is designated by superimposing the surfaces on which desired contents are written in a table.

  In the first and second embodiments, the grammar determination process and the estimation process of the imperative sentence are performed in the home server 30. However, the processing may be performed by the base unit 20 or the function execution devices 40a, 40b,.

  In the first and second embodiments, the remote control signal transmitted from the sensing device 1 or the sensing units 50a to 50c is relayed by the home server 30 and transmitted to the function execution devices 40a, 40b,. However, you may make it transmit directly to the function execution apparatus 40a, 40b, ... from the sensing apparatus 1 or the sensing units 50a-50c.

In addition, the shape and number of surfaces of the sensing unit, the type of the function execution device, the content of the operation to be performed, and the like can be variously modified and implemented without departing from the gist of the present invention.
In short, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments as they are, and can be embodied by modifying the components without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. Moreover, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the above embodiments. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in each embodiment. Furthermore, you may combine suitably the component covering different embodiment.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Sensing apparatus, 10a-10f, 50a-50c, 60a, 60b ... Sensing unit, 111-116 ... Measurement part group, 12, 52 ... Circuit module part, 121, 521 ... Command ID storage part, 122, 522 ... Threshold value Determination unit, 123, 523 ... Sensing communication unit, 20, 70 ... Base unit, 21 ... Base casing, 22a-22f ... Reading area, 23a-23f ... NFC reader, 201a, 201b, ... Base communication unit, 202 ... Command Combining unit 203 ... Base transmitting unit 30 ... Home server 31 ... Home server communication unit 32 ... Sensing unit discriminating unit 33 ... Command / execution converting unit 34 ... Conversion table 40a-40c ... Function executing device 41 ... Function information storage unit, 42 ... Function execution unit, 43 ... Client communication unit, 111-116, 411, 41 ... measurement unit, 511 to 516 ... illuminance sensors, 53 ... acceleration sensor.

Claims (10)

A function execution device having a plurality of operation modes, and a sensing device including a plurality of sensing units capable of communicating with the function execution device,
A plurality of command elements constituting a command statement for designating a plurality of operation modes of the function execution device are associated with the plurality of sensing units,
The sensing device, when an operation to selectively specify the front Kifuku number of command element by said plurality of sensing units is performed, generates a statement based on a plurality of instruction elements specified by the operation And means for transmitting a remote control signal including information representing the generated command statement ,
The function execution device includes:
Means for receiving a remote control signal transmitted from the sensing device;
Means for extracting a command statement from the received remote control signal and selecting an operation mode specified by the extracted command statement;
Means for executing a function in accordance with the selected operation mode. A function execution device having a plurality of operation modes, a sensing device including a plurality of sensing units, and a relay device capable of communicating between the function execution device and the sensing device,
A plurality of command elements constituting a command statement for designating a plurality of operation modes of the function execution device are associated with the plurality of sensing units,
The sensing device, when operation for selectively specifying a plurality of instructions elements constituting the statement by the plurality of sensing units is performed, also the information representing a plurality of instructions elements specified by the operation Means for generating a command statement and transmitting a first remote control signal including information representing the generated command statement ,
The relay device is
Means for receiving a first remote control signal transmitted from the sensing device;
Means for extracting a command statement from the received first remote control signal and selecting an operation mode specified by the extracted command statement;
Means for transmitting a second remote control signal including information representative of the selected mode of operation;
The function execution device includes:
Means for receiving a second remote control signal transmitted from the relay device;
A remote control system comprising: means for executing a corresponding operation based on information representing an operation mode included in the received second remote control signal.   The plurality of sensing units include a plurality of command elements including at least “how” of “when”, “where”, “what”, “how much”, “how”, and “how”. The remote control system according to claim 1, wherein command elements are associated with each other. Each of the plurality of sensing units is made of a three-dimensional structure, and a plurality of contents of command elements assigned to the sensing unit are written on a plurality of peripheral surfaces of one sensing unit,
The sensing device determines which peripheral surface of the sensing unit is set on the surface when the sensing unit is operated, and information indicating the content of the command element written on the determined peripheral surface The remote control system according to claim 1, wherein the remote control signal is included in the remote control signal. The sensing device includes a plurality of sensing units and a base unit capable of communicating with each of these sensing units,
The base unit, when the plurality of sensing units are mounted on the base unit with one surface thereof as a front surface, information representing the contents of command elements associated with the surface from the plurality of sensing units 5. The remote control system according to claim 4, wherein each of the remote control signals is received, and a remote control signal including information representing the contents of the plurality of received command elements is generated and transmitted.   The sensing device detects the arrangement state when a plurality of sensing units are arranged in contact with each other, and the command element associated with each surface from the plurality of sensing units in the detected arrangement state 5. The remote control system according to claim 4, wherein information representing the contents of the remote control is transmitted as a remote control signal. It means for selecting a pre kidou operation mode, if the life Ryobun that is part of the received remote control signal is determined whether to satisfy a predetermined logical condition meets the logical condition The remote control system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein an operation mode specified by the command statement is selected. Before means for selecting a kidou operation mode, when all of said plurality of command element in statements extracted from the received remote control signal is not included, of the command element does not contain the 3. The remote control system according to claim 1, further comprising means for estimating and complementing at least one command element based on at least two command elements included in the remote control signal. A function execution device having a plurality of operation modes; and a sensing device including a plurality of sensing units capable of communicating with the function execution device directly or via a relay device; and the plurality of sensing units. Is a remote control method executed by a remote control system associated with a plurality of command elements constituting a command statement for designating a plurality of operation modes of the function execution device,
When the sensing device performs an operation of selectively designating a plurality of command elements constituting the command statement by the plurality of sensing units , a command is issued based on the command elements specified by the operation. Generating a statement and transmitting a remote control signal including information representing the generated command statement ;
The function execution device receives a remote control signal transmitted from the sensing device;
The function execution device extracts a command sentence from the received remote control signal and selects an operation mode specified by the extracted command sentence;
The function execution device comprises a step of executing a function according to the selected operation mode. A plurality of sensing units each including a function execution device having a plurality of operation modes, a sensing device including a plurality of sensing units, and a relay device capable of communicating between the function execution device and the sensing device. Is a remote control method executed by a remote control system associated with a plurality of command elements constituting a command statement for designating a plurality of operation modes of the function execution device,
When the sensing device performs an operation of selectively designating a plurality of command elements constituting the command statement by the plurality of sensing units , a command is issued based on the command elements specified by the operation. Generating a statement and transmitting a first remote control signal including information representing the generated command statement ;
The relay device receives a first remote control signal transmitted from the sensing device;
The relay device extracting a command sentence from the received first remote control signal and selecting an operation mode specified by the extracted command sentence;
Means for the relay device to transmit a second remote control signal including information representative of the selected operating mode;
The function execution device receiving a second remote control signal transmitted from the relay device;
A remote control method comprising: a step of executing a corresponding operation based on information representing an operation mode included in the received second remote control signal by the relay device.