JP6858822B2 - Housing management system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a housing management system.

A HEMS (Home Energy Management System) is known that monitors and controls the operation of each device such as a residential power generation unit, a residential power storage unit, and a power consumption device installed in a house by a controller (for example, a patent). Reference 1).

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2019-013128

In recent years, by using voice recognition AI and the cloud from IT companies, a service that interlocks the devices in the house in response to the user's voice has appeared, and in the future, the devices in the house will be controlled more highly. It is expected that services for homes that will be used and services for homes that realize more improved HEMS will appear. In order to use this kind of new residential service, it is usually necessary to make the specifications suitable for the platform of the IT company.
However, if the specifications are adapted to the platform of the IT company, not only the new service part but also the existing monitoring and control part of the equipment in the house will be renewed to be provided by the IT company side. For this reason, there is a risk that the monitoring and control of the equipment in the house that has been adopted and cultivated by the house maker may not be taken over, and if it is to be taken over, a huge amount of work will be required.

An object of the present invention is to provide a housing management system that can use services for housing corresponding to other platforms.

In order to achieve the above object, in a housing management system including a home server provided in each of a plurality of houses, the home server can control the equipment of the house in which the home server is provided, and the equipment. And the home server operates according to a predetermined platform and includes a single service reception unit that is communicably connected to each of the home servers, and the service reception unit is on another platform different from the predetermined platform. It accepts data from an external system that provides services for residences that cooperate between a plurality of houses , converts the data into data corresponding to the predetermined platform, and transmits the data to the home server, and each of the home servers. A housing management system characterized in that a response transmitted from is converted into a response corresponding to the other platform and transmitted to the external system.

In the above configuration, the residential service that cooperates between the plurality of houses monitors the power consumption, the amount of power generation, and the amount of electricity stored in each house, and based on the monitoring result, the generated power or the stored power of a certain house. The service reception unit receives the data of the service corresponding to the power interchange, and based on the received data, the service reception unit is used for each of the home servers and each of the houses. to execute control corresponding to the power interchange to the equipment provided, characterized in Rukoto.

Further, in the above configuration, the API corresponding to the platform between the device and the home server is different from the API corresponding to the other platform.

According to the present invention, residential services compatible with other platforms can be used.

It is a figure which shows the house management system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows a home server and a management device together with a part of housing equipment. (A) and (B) are diagrams for explaining the use of residential services using APIs corresponding to other platforms. It is a figure which shows the house management system which concerns on the modification.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a housing management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The house management system 1 includes a home server 11 that functions as a controller (also referred to as a device control device) capable of controlling a plurality of devices provided in the house H, and a management device 21 that can communicate with the home server 11. There is. The plurality of devices are not particularly limited, but in the present embodiment, the lighting devices 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D that individually illuminate each room of the house H, and each room are individually air-conditioned (so-called air conditioning). The air conditioners 3A, 3B, 3C, the hot water supply device 4 for supplying hot water to the bathtub in the bathroom R3, the power generation device 5 for generating electricity using sunlight, and the storage battery 6 capable of storing electric power.

Of these devices, devices 2A to 4 correspond to energy-consuming devices that operate by consuming energy such as electricity, gas, and water, and the resident of the house H performs operations such as ON / OFF as appropriate. It is a housing facility to be used. Further, the remaining devices 5 and 6 correspond to energy supply devices for supplying electric energy to the devices 2A to 4 or temporarily storing and supplying the devices as needed. The house H shown in FIG. 1 shows a case of a detached house having a plurality of rooms (room R1, children's room R2, bathroom R3, entrance R4, bedroom R5, etc. corresponding to LDK), but it is also possible to use an apartment house. Good.

The home server 11 has a monitoring function for monitoring the devices 2A to 6 installed in the house H and a remote control function for remotely controlling the devices 2A to 6. With these functions, the home server 11 corresponds to HEMS in which the usage amount of electricity, gas, water, etc. used in the house H is monitored, and each device 2A to 6 is appropriately controlled from the viewpoint of energy saving and the like. Processing can be performed.
The home server 11 can communicate with an external system (service providing systems 51, 52, etc. in FIG. 1) connected to the communication network 31 via the management device 21. The communication network 31 is a network that can access the Internet.

By operating the devices 2A to 6 and the home server 11 according to an application that uses an API (Application Programming Interface) corresponding to a predetermined platform, it is possible to perform operations corresponding to the monitoring function and the remote control function. ..
Here, the predetermined platform is a platform adopted by a housing maker that provides housing H (including a platform adopted by a manufacturer such as the above-mentioned devices 2A to 6 selected by the housing maker), and the above-mentioned devices 2A to 6 and the above-mentioned devices 2A to 6. By executing the application developed by the provider of the API corresponding to the platform, the home server 11 can execute the process corresponding to the service for housing according to the application.
For example, the specifications are such that the devices 2A to 6 and the home server 11 operate on the same OS or OSs corresponding to each other. However, it is preferable that the predetermined platform is a platform that can be used by a plurality of manufacturers so that the above-mentioned devices 2A to 6 and the home server 11 that are manufactured or developed by different manufacturers can be used together. Further, the predetermined platform may be an independent platform for each group such as audiovisual-related and energy-related.

By the way, it is expected that new services for housing will be provided from various external systems in the future. However, when the new service for housing is an application developed by using an API different from the API, it is generally difficult to use the application on the housing management system 1 side.

On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the management device 21 functions as an intermediary device that enables the use of residential services using APIs corresponding to platforms different from the predetermined platform. In this embodiment, the platform means an environment in which an application operates. For example, when the OS is different, the platform is different.
Hereinafter, in order to make the explanation easy to understand, a predetermined platform indicating an environment in which the devices 2A to 6 and the home server 11 operate is referred to as a "first platform (see FIG. 1)", and the service providing system 51 is referred to as a "second platform". It is assumed that the service for housing corresponding to the "platform (see FIG. 1)" is provided, and the service providing system 52 provides the service for housing corresponding to the "third platform (see FIG. 1)".

The management device 21 grasps the API for each external system such as the service providing systems 51 and 52, and controls the transmission and reception of information between the external system and the home server 11. As a result, the management device 21 receives data of other residential services using the second platform and the third platform from each of the service providing systems 51 and 52, and based on each data, the home server 11 and others. It functions as a service reception unit that executes each process corresponding to the residential service of. The management device 21 may have a security function such as a firewall or a sandbox.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a home server 11 and a management device 21 together with a part of housing equipment (lighting device 2A, air conditioning device 3A). In FIG. 2, reference numeral HN indicates a residential network constructed in the residential H.
The home server 11 includes a communication unit 12, a control unit 13, and a storage unit 14. The communication unit 12 has a communication module for communicating with each device 2A to 6 provided in the house H or communicating with the home server 11 via the hub 8 and the communication adapter 9. Known hubs and communication adapters for wired or wireless communication can be widely applied to these communication modules, hubs 8, communication adapters 9, and the like.
By the communication unit 12 and the like, the home server 11 uses a signal for controlling the operation of each device 2A to 6, more specifically, ON / OFF, an operation mode (automatic hot water filling mode of the hot water supply device 4, air conditioner 3A to 3A to the air conditioner). A signal for specifying the cooling / operation / dehumidification mode of 3C) and the set value (target temperature of air conditioners 3A to 3C, etc.) can be transmitted to each device 2A to 6.

The control unit 13 has a computer including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like, and controls each part of the home server 11 according to a control program stored in the storage unit 14, and also controls each of the devices 2A to 6. This control program includes an application that uses the API corresponding to the first platform, and transmits the monitoring results of the devices 2A to 6 based on the data (for example, API request) transmitted from the management device 21. It is possible to perform various processes such as controlling the operation of each device 2A to 6 and returning a response. The storage unit 14 stores various data such as a control program executed by the control unit 13.

As shown in FIG. 2, the management device 21 includes a communication unit 22, a control unit 23, and a storage unit 24. The communication unit 22 has a communication module for communicating with the home server 11 and communicating with an external system (service providing systems 51, 52, etc.) via the communication network 31.
The control unit 23 has a computer including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like. By executing the control program 24A stored in the storage unit 24, the control unit 23 functions as a request reception unit 23A, an analysis unit 23B, an API processing unit 23C, and the like.

The request receiving unit 23A receives an API request from an external system (service providing systems 51 and 52) via the communication unit 22. As described above, since the service providing systems 51 and 52 use the APIs corresponding to the second and third platforms, the request receiving unit 23A receives the API requests corresponding to the second and third platforms. ..

The analysis unit 23B analyzes the API request received by the request reception unit 23A and identifies the platform corresponding to each API request. In the present embodiment, the storage unit 24 stores a platform database 24B (hereinafter, referred to as “platform DB 24B”) that stores a data group that can identify a platform corresponding to various API requests. Then, the analysis unit 23B identifies the platform of the received API request by referring to the platform DB 24B. This makes it possible to identify whether the API request is for a second or third platform.

In the platform DB24B, API usage data corresponding to the second and third platforms (for example, API request and response data) is stored in the API usage data corresponding to the first platform (for example, API request and response). Data that describes the conversion rules for conversion to (corresponding data) is also stored.

The API processing unit 23C performs data conversion between the service providing systems 51 and 52 and the home server 11 according to the conversion rules described in the platform DB 24B. That is, the API processing unit 23C converts the API request transmitted from any of the service providing systems 51 and 52 into an API request corresponding to the first platform, and transmits the API request to the home server 11 using the communication unit 22. I do. Further, the API processing unit 23C converts the response transmitted from the home server 11 into a response corresponding to the first platform, and uses the communication unit 22 to transmit the response to any of the service providing systems 51 and 52. Do.

As described above, the storage unit 24 stores data such as the control program 24A used by the control unit 23 of the management device 21 and the platform DB 24B.

Here, a case where the service for housing of the service providing system 51 is used as a service for housing using API corresponding to another platform will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3A, the management device 21 receives an API request for an API corresponding to the second platform from the service providing system 51. In this case, the management device 21 receives the API request by the request receiving unit 23A, identifies the platform of the received API request by the analysis unit 23B, and converts it into the API request corresponding to the first platform by the API processing unit 23C. Then, it is transmitted to the home server 11. Since the home server 11 receives the API request corresponding to the first platform, the process corresponding to this API request can be executed.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3B, the management device 21 receives the API response from the home server 11. In this case, the management device 21 converts the API response corresponding to the second platform by the API processing unit 23C and transmits it to the service providing system 51. Since the service providing system 51 receives the API response corresponding to the second platform, it can receive an appropriate response.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the following effects are obtained.

In the house management system 1 according to the present embodiment, a plurality of devices 2A to 6 and a home server 11 (corresponding to a controller) provided in the house H operate according to a first platform (corresponding to a predetermined platform). Then, the management device 21 receives data of other residential services using each of the second platform and the third platform from each of the service providing systems 51 and 52, and based on each data, another home server 11 receives data. It functions as a service reception unit that executes each process corresponding to the service for housing.
As a result, it becomes possible to use the residential service corresponding to another platform different from the first platform without changing the plurality of devices 2A to 6 and the home server 11. Moreover, since the management device 21 may be made compatible with other platforms, it becomes easy to support new other platforms. As a result, it becomes easy to use the newly provided services for houses while using the devices 2A to 6 and the home server 11 arranged in the house H as they are.

Further, the management device 21 is provided between the residential network HN (FIG. 2) to which the plurality of devices 2A to 6 and the home server 11 are connected, and the service providing systems 51 and 52 which are external systems. As a result, it is possible to avoid a situation in which data is directly input from the external system to the home server 11, which is advantageous for ensuring the security of the residential network HN.

Further, the API corresponding to the platform between the plurality of devices 2A to 6 and the home server 11 is different from the API corresponding to the second and third platforms, and it is possible to use the service for housing in which the API differs depending on the management device 21. Therefore, it is possible to use services for housing that use different APIs.
In the present embodiment, the case where the services for houses having different APIs can be used has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. The point is that the management device 21 may perform a process for enabling the service for a house corresponding to another platform different from the platforms of the devices 2A to 6 and the home server 11, and the process is appropriately performed. Just set it.

The above embodiment is merely an embodiment of the present invention, and can be arbitrarily modified and applied without departing from the spirit of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a housing management system 1 according to a modified example. A part different from the housing management system 1 of the above embodiment will be described.
In the house management system 1 shown in FIG. 4, the management device 21 is communicably connected to the home servers 11 provided in the plurality of houses H. The service providing system 53 provides a service for homes using an API corresponding to a fourth platform different from the first platform supported by the home server 11 or the like of each residence H.

This service for houses is a service for houses that cooperates between a plurality of houses H. For example, power consumption, power generation amount, and storage amount are monitored for each house H, and a certain house H is based on the monitoring result. Realize power interchange such as supplying the generated power or stored power of the house to another house H.
More specifically, in one residence H, since there is no resident, sufficient electric power is stored in the storage battery 6, and it is difficult to charge the generated electric power to the storage battery 6. In another residence H, there is a situation in which it is difficult to charge the generated electric power. When the resident consumes more power than the power generated by the house H, the surplus power generated by one house H is supplied to another house H. As a result, it is possible to efficiently use the generated power, efficiently reduce the number of charge / discharge cycles of the storage battery 6, and suppress deterioration of the performance of the storage battery 6.

The management device 21 is provided between each home server 11 and the service providing system 53, receives data for residential services from the service providing system 53, and receives data for each home server 11 based on the received data. , The equipment provided in each of the houses H is made to execute the control corresponding to the above-mentioned power interchange (corresponding to the linkage).
In this way, the management device 21 can realize the cooperation between different dwellings H. The functions required for the management device 21 are, for example, a reception function for receiving an API request from the service providing system 53, an analysis function for analyzing the API request, and API data corresponding to the fourth platform and the first platform. It is a function of data conversion with API data corresponding to. As the configuration for realizing each function, a known configuration may be appropriately applied.
As a result, it becomes possible to use a plurality of residential services using APIs corresponding to the fourth platform without changing the home servers 11 and the like of the plurality of residential Hs.

Each configuration of the housing management system 1 shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 4, 4 and the like may be realized by hardware, or may be realized by the cooperation of hardware and software. Further, the management device 21 and the like in each configuration of the housing management system 1 may be configured by one or a plurality of cloud computers.

1 Housing management system 2A ~ 2D Lighting device 3A ~ 3C Air conditioner 4 Hot water supply device 5 Power generation device 6 Storage battery 11 Home server (controller)
12, 22 Communication unit 13, 23 Control unit 14, 24 Storage unit 21 Management device 23A Request reception unit 23B Analysis unit 23C API processing unit 31 Communication network 51-53 Service provision system H Residential HN Residential side network

Claims (3)

In a housing management system equipped with a home server installed in each of multiple houses
The home server can control the equipment of the house in which the home server is provided, and the equipment and the home server operate according to a predetermined platform.
It has a single service reception unit that is communicatively connected to each of the home servers.
The service reception unit receives data from an external system that provides a service for housing that cooperates between a plurality of houses on another platform different from the predetermined platform, and converts the data into data corresponding to the predetermined platform. A housing management system characterized in that it is converted and transmitted to the home server, and the responses transmitted from each of the home servers are converted into responses corresponding to the other platforms and transmitted to the external system. The residential service that cooperates between a plurality of houses monitors the power consumption, the amount of power generation, and the amount of electricity stored in each house, and based on the monitoring result, the generated power or the stored power of one house is used as another house. Including power interchange to supply to
The service reception unit receives data of the service corresponding to the power interchange, and based on the received data, controls each of the home servers to deal with the power interchange to the equipment provided in each of the houses. The housing management system according to claim 1, wherein the housing management system is executed. The housing management system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the API corresponding to the platform between the device and the home server is different from the API corresponding to the other platform.

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