JP7341931B2 - Communications system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a communication system that includes IoT devices that can communicate with each other via a network, an external server, and an information terminal.

Today, water heaters with bath functions etc. connect to external servers via the Internet and use the so-called IoT (Internet of Things) to link with information terminals such as smartphones, increasing user convenience. Improvements are being made. Information terminals can be used to remotely control water heaters and view information such as usage history from outside the home.

For example, in Patent Document 1, it is determined whether an information terminal is located near a water heater, and the contents that can be operated on the water heater using the information terminal are automatically switched.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2018-191100

In Patent Document 1, when switching the operable content of a water heater using an information terminal, an external server acquires router identification information from the water heater and the information terminal and determines the location of the information terminal. It was controlled by an external server. In this case, there is a problem in that the water heater and the information terminal periodically transmit identification information of the router to the server, which increases communication processing and communication amount. In addition, an external server switches the operable contents of a water heater using an information terminal, resulting in an increase in the processing load on the external server.

The present invention has been made in consideration of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a communication system that can reduce the processing load on an external server.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a communication system according to the present invention provides an IoT device that can communicate with each other via a network and that is used in a home, and an external device that is used outside the home that is a location other than the home. A communication system comprising a server, an information terminal used in the home and outside the home, and at least one router that relays connections between the IoT device and the information terminal and the network, the communication system comprising: has a server-side acquisition unit that acquires device identification information, which is identification information of the router to which the IoT device connects, from the IoT device, and the information terminal has the device identification information acquired by the server-side acquisition unit. A terminal-side acquisition unit that acquires the information from the external server compares the terminal identification information, which is the identification information of the router to which the information terminal connects, with the acquired device identification information, and determines the terminal identification information and the device identification. a determination unit that determines that the information terminal is within the residence if the information is the same, and determines that the information terminal is outside the residence when the terminal identification information and the device identification information are different; The router to which the IoT device connects is capable of communicating in a plurality of radio frequency bands, has different device identification information for each radio frequency band, and the information terminal is connected to the router by the IoT device. If the information terminal connects to the same router as the router to which the IoT device connects, the information terminal can connect to the router using the radio frequency band different from that of the IoT device, and the server-side acquisition unit connects the information terminal to the router to which the IoT device connects. further acquires identification information of the router obtained when connected to the same router as the terminal-side device identification information, and the terminal-side acquisition section uses the terminal-side device identification information acquired by the server-side acquisition section as the terminal-side device identification information. further acquired from an external server, the determination unit compares the terminal identification information, the equipment identification information, and the terminal-side equipment identification information, and compares the terminal identification information, the equipment identification information, and the terminal-side equipment identification information. If either of the pieces of information is the same, it is determined that the information terminal is in the house, and if the terminal identification information is different from either the equipment identification information or the terminal-side equipment identification information, it is determined that the information terminal It is determined that the location is outside the residence .

In the communication system according to the present invention, the processing load on the external server can be reduced.

1 is a system configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a communication system according to the present invention. 1 is a schematic functional block diagram showing the functional configuration of a bath hot water supply system. FIG. 2 is a schematic functional block diagram showing the functional configuration of an external server. FIG. 2 is a schematic functional block diagram showing the functional configuration of an information terminal. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an inside/outside home determination process executed by a terminal control unit in the present embodiment. FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram illustrating a process executed between the bath hot water supply system, an external server, and an information terminal during execution of the indoor/outdoor determination process in FIG. 5;

An embodiment of a communication system according to the present invention will be described based on the accompanying drawings.

In the communication system according to the present invention, for example, an information communication network such as the Internet can be applied as the network. As the IoT device, for example, residential equipment such as a bath hot water supply system, an air conditioning system, and a floor heating system installed in a house can be applied. As the external server, for example, a cloud computing system placed outside the home and connected to a network can be applied. Examples of information terminals include smartphones, tablets, and personal computers that can be used both inside and outside the home, and can be devices that can be connected to a network wirelessly or by wire.

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a communication system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic functional block diagram showing the functional configuration of the bath hot water supply system 10.

FIG. 3 is a schematic functional block diagram showing the functional configuration of the external server 30.

FIG. 4 is a schematic functional block diagram showing the functional configuration of the information terminal 40. As shown in FIG.

The communication system 1 includes a bath hot water supply system 10, an external server 30, and an information terminal 40 that can communicate with each other via a network 2. In the communication system 1, a bath water supply system 10 used in a house 5 connects to a network 2 and cooperates with an information terminal 40 by using the so-called IoT (Internet of Things). The information terminal 40 is used inside the house 5 and outside the house 6 (outside the house). The information terminal 40 can instruct the bath hot water supply system 10 to operate, change settings, and view device information such as usage history. The bath hot water supply system 10 and the information terminal 40 are connected to a router 3 that relays connection to the network 2.

In the following description, "inside the house 5" includes the inside of the house, the outside of the house, and the premises of the house (such as around the outer wall of the house). “Outside the house 6” is a place other than the inside of the house 5.

The bath hot water supply system 10 mainly includes a hot water supply unit 11, a hot water supply circuit and a bath circulation circuit (not shown), and a remote control 15.

Hot water supply unit 11 has a hot water storage tank and a heat pump. The hot water supply unit 11 supplies hot water to a bathroom (bath, bathtub) or kitchen via a hot water supply circuit or a bath circulation circuit, or heats hot water supplied from a bathtub via a bath circulation circuit. As shown in FIG. 2, the hot water supply unit 11 includes a hot water supply unit control section 12, a hot water supply unit storage section 13, and a hot water supply unit communication section 14. The hot water supply unit control section 12 has a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and electrically controls the hot water supply unit 11 according to a program stored in advance in the hot water supply unit storage section 13 . The hot water supply unit storage section 13 includes a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), etc., and stores various programs and data necessary for controlling the hot water supply unit control section 12. The hot water supply unit communication section 14 is connected to the remote control communication section 20, and enables bidirectional communication between the hot water supply unit 11 and the remote control 15.

The hot water supply circuit and bath circulation circuit are connected to the bathtub in the bathroom, the shower, and the drain in the kitchen, and supply hot water from the hot water storage tank to the bathroom or kitchen, and circulate hot water from the bathtub between the bathtub and the hot water storage tank. and circulate it. The hot water supply circuit, the bath circulation circuit, and the hot water supply unit 11 have sensors such as a temperature sensor, a flow rate sensor, and a water level sensor. Information obtained from these sensors is mainly supplied to the hot water supply unit control section 12, and information necessary for display on the remote control 15 and information required by the external server 30 is supplied to the remote control control section 16.

The remote control 15 is placed in the bathroom or kitchen, and receives various instructions from the user and displays information. As shown in FIG. 2, the remote control 15 includes a remote control control section 16, a remote control storage section 17, a remote control input section 18, a remote control display section 19, and a remote control communication section 20.

The remote control control section 16 has a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and controls the remote control 15 according to a program stored in advance in the remote control storage section 17. For example, the remote control control unit 16 performs control based on a user's instruction received via the remote control input unit 18 or the information terminal 40, and executes the instruction. Specifically, the remote controller control unit 16 executes hot water supply operation, bath automatic operation, bath reheating operation, etc. based on the instructed hot water supply temperature setting, bath temperature setting, set amount of hot water, and the like. The hot water supply unit control section 12, which has received the instruction from the remote control control section 16, controls the operations of various valves and the like based on information obtained from the sensors. In addition, in this embodiment, in order to simplify the explanation, an example in which the remote controller control unit 16 controls each part of the bath hot water supply system 10 including the hot water supply unit 11 will be described below.

The remote control storage section 17 includes a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), etc., and stores various programs and data necessary for controlling the remote control control section 16. The remote control input unit 18 is, for example, buttons that accept instructions from the user. The remote control display unit 19 is, for example, a display that displays information to the user. The remote control communication unit 20 connects other devices and the remote control 15 in a communicable manner by wire or wirelessly. Specifically, the remote control communication section 20 connects the remote control 15 and the hot water supply unit 11 in a communicable manner by connecting to the hot water supply unit communication section 14 as described above. Further, the remote control communication unit 20 connects the remote control 15 to the network 2 via the router 3 in a predetermined radio frequency band (2.4 GHz), and transmits and receives required information to and from other devices via the network 2.

The router 3 is disposed in the house 5 (within a range that can communicate with the remote controller 15), and connects the bath water supply system 10 and the information terminal 40 connected to the router 3 to the network 2. The router 3 also functions as a wireless communication unit that connects to the bath hot water supply system 10 and the information terminal 40 by wireless communication. Specifically, the router 3 has a function as an access point for wireless LAN (Local Area Network) communication. The router 3 has an SSID (Service Set Identifier) for identifying an access point (wireless communication unit) as identification information.

The external server 30 is realized using, for example, so-called cloud computing, and is connected to the bath hot water supply system 10 and the information terminal 40 via the network 2. As shown in FIG. 3, the external server 30 includes a server control section 31, a server storage section 32, and a server communication section 33. The server control unit 31 has a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and controls the external server 30 according to a program stored in the server storage unit 32 in advance. The server storage unit 32 includes a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and the like, and stores various programs and data necessary for controlling the server control unit 31. In particular, the server storage unit 32 appropriately stores equipment information transmitted from the bath hot water supply system 10, including the operating status and usage history of the bath hot water supply system 10. The server communication unit 33 connects the external server 30 to the network 2 and transmits and receives necessary information to and from the bath hot water supply system 10 and the information terminal 40 via the network 2.

The information terminal 40 is a device that can be used at any location of the user, including inside the home 5 and outside the home 6. As shown in FIG. 4, the information terminal 40 includes a terminal control section 41, a terminal storage section 42, a terminal input section 43, a terminal display section 44, a terminal communication section 45, and a mobile communication section 46. have

The terminal control section 41 has a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and controls the information terminal 40 according to a program stored in the terminal storage section 42 in advance. The terminal storage section 42 includes a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), etc., and stores various programs and data necessary for controlling the terminal control section 41. The terminal input unit 43 is, for example, a touch panel or buttons that accept instructions from the user. The terminal display unit 44 is, for example, a display that displays information to the user.

The terminal communication unit 45 connects other devices and the information terminal 40 communicably by wire or wirelessly. Specifically, the terminal communication unit 45 connects the information terminal 40 to the network 2 via the router in the same predetermined radio frequency band (2.4 GHz) used by the remote control 15, and connects the information terminal 40 to the network 2 via the network 2. Send and receive required information with other devices. The router to which the terminal communication unit 45 is connected includes a router 3 located inside the home 5 (the same router as the router to which the IoT device is connected) and an arbitrary router 7 installed outside the home 6. The mobile communication unit 46 connects the information terminal 40 to the mobile communication network 4. That is, when the information terminal 40 is in the house 5, it is connected to the network 2 via the router 3 or the mobile communication network 4. When the information terminal 40 is outside the home 6, it is connected to the network 2 via the router 7 or the mobile communication network 4.

Next, processing when the information terminal 40 remotely operates the bath hot water supply system 10 in the communication system 1 will be described.

The bath hot water supply system 10 executes a plurality of operations performed by the bath hot water supply system 10 by receiving instructions via the remote control input unit 18. As described above, the information terminal 40 can function as a remote control section that instructs the bath hot water supply system 10 to execute these operations (hereinafter simply referred to as "remote control") without using the remote control 15.

For example, the information terminal 40 can view device information such as the usage history and current operating status of the bath hot water supply system 10 on the information terminal 40 as an example of remote control. Viewing the usage history is, for example, viewing the past usage status of the bath hot water supply system 10, and information regarding daily and hourly changes in the amount of hot water used, whether or not the bathroom was used, and the bathroom temperature. In addition, viewing the operating status is the current operating information in the bathroom, such as viewing the status regarding whether or not the bathtub is being used, whether the bathroom is occupied, the operating status of hot water filling, and the like.

Note that the device information may be viewed by a family member living in a remote location other than the resident of the residence where the bath water supply system 10 is installed.

In addition, the information terminal 40 can perform other remote control operations, such as executing automatic bath operation or bath reheating operation, or changing the set temperature or set hot water amount for bath automatic operation or bath reheating operation. Instructions can be given remotely even at a location away from the remote controller 15.

Such remote control using the information terminal 40 can be used from the viewpoint of security, privacy, and safety, whether the information terminal 40 is used inside the home 5 or outside the home 6. It is necessary to limit certain functions. For example, when the information terminal 40 is used outside the home 6, it may be possible to limit the ability to check whether the user is in the bathroom from the viewpoint of privacy. Further, from the viewpoint of safety, it is conceivable to set a limit on the setting of the hot water supply temperature.

Therefore, the information terminal 40 is provided with two modes, for example, an in-home mode and an out-of-home mode, and displays to the user which mode the terminal is currently operating in on the terminal display section 44. Furthermore, when the information terminal 40 is in the out-of-home mode, the functions that can be used from the information terminal 40 are restricted compared to when the information terminal 40 is in the in-home mode.

The communication system 1 in this embodiment makes a determination as to whether the information terminal 40 is used inside the house 5 or outside the house 6 to be made in the bath hot water supply system 10, the external server 30, and the information terminal 40. This can be done while reducing the load. The details of the inside/outside home determination process will be described below.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the inside/outside home determination process executed by the terminal control unit 41 in this embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram illustrating the process executed between the bath hot water supply system 10, the external server 30, and the information terminal 40 during execution of the indoor/outdoor determination process in FIG.

This home/outside determination process is executed on the application software (app) installed on the information terminal 40, and is started under the control of the terminal control unit 41 when the application is started (step S13 in FIG. 6). is executed repeatedly until it is finished.

In addition, in order to perform indoor/outdoor determination processing, the bath hot water supply system 10 uses the SSID (identification information) of the router 3 to which the remote control communication unit 20 (bath hot water supply system 10) connects as the device SSID (device identification information) at the initial stage of connection. At the time of setting and thereafter, it is periodically transmitted to the external server 30 (step S11 in FIG. 6). The bath hot water supply system 10 transmits the device SSID to the external server 30, for example, once a day. The external server 30 as a server-side acquisition unit acquires the device SSID from the bath hot water supply system 10 and stores it in the server storage unit 32 (step S12 in FIG. 6). Note that the bath hot water supply system 10 may transmit the device SSID to the external server 30 each time it detects that the SSID of the router 3 has been changed.

In step S1 of FIG. 5, the terminal control unit 41 establishes a connection with the external server 30. Specifically, the terminal control unit 41 requests the external server 30 to establish a connection using, for example, authentication information agreed upon in advance with the external server 30 (step S14 in FIG. 6). When the transmitted authentication information matches the authentication information held by the external server 30, the external server 30 responds to the information terminal 40 that the connection has been established (step S15 in FIG. 6).

In step S2, the terminal control unit 41 as the terminal side acquisition unit requests the external server 30 to transmit the acquired and stored device SSID, and acquires the device SSID (step S16 in FIG. 6). The external server 30 transmits the device SSID stored in the server storage unit 32 to the information terminal 40 based on the request (step S17 in FIG. 6).

In step S3, the terminal control unit 41 obtains the SSID of the router to which the information terminal 40 is connected as the terminal SSID (terminal identification information). The information terminal 40 is connected to the network 2 via the routers 3 and 7 or the mobile communication network 4, as described above. Therefore, when the information terminal 40 is connected to the routers 3 and 7, the terminal control unit 41 acquires the terminal SSID. If the information terminal 40 is connected to the mobile communication network 4 or not connected to any of them, the terminal control unit 41 acquires that there is no terminal SSID because there is no terminal SSID. The terminal SSID may be acquired from the OS (Operating System), for example, if the OS owns the terminal SSID.

In step S4, the terminal control unit 41 as a determination unit compares the device SSID acquired in step S2 and the terminal SSID acquired in step S3, and determines whether the device SSID and the terminal SSID are the same. (Step S18 in FIG. 6). When the information terminal 40 is connected to the router 3 located in the home 5, the terminal control unit 41 determines that the device SSID and the terminal SSID are the same. On the other hand, if the information terminal 40 is connected to the router 7 or the mobile communication network 4 located outside the house 6, the terminal control unit 41 determines that the device SSID and the terminal SSID are not the same. .

If the terminal control unit 41 determines that the device SSID and the terminal SSID are the same (YES in step S4), the terminal control unit 41 determines that the information terminal 40 is in the house 5. In step S5, the terminal control unit 41 executes the home mode (step S18 in FIG. 6). The terminal control unit 41 displays on the terminal display unit 44 that it is the home mode, and executes the home mode.

On the other hand, if the terminal control unit 41 determines that the device SSID and the terminal SSID are not the same (NO in step S4), it determines that the information terminal 40 is outside the house 6. In step S6, the terminal control unit 41 executes the out-of-home mode (step S18 in FIG. 6). The terminal control unit 41 displays on the terminal display unit 44 that it is the out-of-home mode, and executes the out-of-home mode. That is, the terminal control unit 41 as a remote control unit limits the operations that can be instructed, that is, the remote operations that the information terminal 40 can perform, compared to when the information terminal 40 is in the house 5.

After the mode execution steps S5 and S6, the terminal control unit 41 returns to the device SSID acquisition step S2, and repeats the processing from step S2 to step S6 until the application ends. Note that in order to reduce the amount of communication with the external server 30, the terminal control unit 41 may return to the terminal SSID acquisition step S3. This is because it is unlikely that the device SSID of the router 3 to which the bath hot water supply system 10 is connected will be changed while the app is running, and it is sufficient to perform the SSID determination step S4 using the device SSID acquired when the app is launched.

The communication system 1 that executes such indoor/outdoor determination processing can reduce the processing load on the external server 30 when determining whether the information terminal 40 is inside the home 5 or outside the home 6. That is, the communication system 1 acquires information about the connection destination of the bath hot water supply system 10 from the external server 30, determines by itself whether the information terminal 40 is inside the house 5 or outside the house 6, and obtains the result. Therefore, compared to, for example, the case where the external server 30 makes the determination and sends the result to the information terminal 40, the amount of processing and communication can be reduced.

Further, the indoor/outdoor determination process is a process executed for display control and function restriction in the information terminal 40. For this reason, compared to the case where, for example, the external server 30 determines whether the device is inside the home 5 or outside the home 6 and delivers the determination result to the information terminal 40, the information terminal 40 itself only needs to obtain the device SSID from the external server 30. Processing can be completed and quick display control and function restrictions can be implemented.

Although several embodiments of the invention have been described, these embodiments are presented by way of example and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and changes can be made without departing from the gist of the invention. These embodiments and their modifications are included within the scope and gist of the invention, as well as within the scope of the invention described in the claims and its equivalents.

For example, if the router 3 is capable of communicating in multiple radio frequency bands (for example, 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz), the router 3 uses an SSID (Service Set Identifier) is held for each of the plurality of radio frequency bands that the router 3 has. Here, from the viewpoint of security, the initial setting for connection between the bath water supply system 10 and the information terminal 40 is allowed only in an environment where the same router 3 is used for communication. At this time, since the router 3 communicates using multiple radio frequency bands, the bath water supply system 10 connects using one radio frequency band (2.4 GHz), and the information terminal 40 connects using another radio frequency band (5 GHz). , the wireless frequency bands of the routers 3 used may be different. Further, since the router 3 has a different SSID for each radio frequency band, the device SSID of the router 3 to which the bath water supply system 10 and the information terminal 40 are connected will be different. In this case, in the SSID determination step S4, if the device SSID acquired from the bath hot water supply system 10 and the terminal SSID are simply compared, the determination will not be made correctly.

Therefore, the information terminal 40 uses the SSID of the router 3 obtained during initial setup with the bath water supply system 10 (that is, when the information terminal connects to the same router to which the IoT device connects) as the device SSID (terminal side device identification information) to the external server 30. The external server 30 as a server-side acquisition unit further acquires the device SSID (for example, the SSID when using the 5 GHz band) from the information terminal 40, and acquires the device SSID (for example, when using the 2.4 GHz band) acquired from the bath hot water supply system 10. SSID) in the server storage unit 32 (step S12 in FIG. 6).

In the device SSID acquisition step S2, the terminal control unit 41 acquires the two device SSIDs acquired and stored from the information terminal 40 and the bath hot water supply system 10 from the external server 30 (step S17 in FIG. 6). Further, the terminal control unit 41 as a determination unit compares the terminal SSID and the two device SSIDs in SSID determination step S4. The terminal control unit 41 determines that the information terminal 40 is in the house 5 when the terminal SSID and one of the two device SSIDs are the same. If the terminal SSID is different from either of the two device SSIDs, the terminal control unit 41 determines that the information terminal 40 is outside the house 6. Thereby, even if the router 3 has a plurality of device SSIDs, it is possible to correctly determine whether the information terminal 40 is located inside the home 5 or outside the home 6.

Although an example has been described in which the device identification information is the SSID, other information that can identify the communication mode (for example, the MAC address of the router, etc.) may be applied.

1 Communication system 2 Networks 3, 7 Router 4 Mobile communication network 5 Inside the house 6 Outside the house 10 Bath hot water supply system 11 Hot water supply unit 12 Hot water supply unit control section 13 Hot water supply unit storage section 14 Hot water supply unit communication section 15 Remote control 16 Remote control control section 17 Remote control storage Section 18 Remote control input section 19 Remote control display section 20 Remote control communication section 30 External server 31 Server control section 32 Server storage section 33 Server communication section 40 Information terminal 41 Terminal control section 42 Terminal storage section 43 Terminal input section 44 Terminal display section 45 Terminal communication Department 46 Mobile Communications Department

Claims (4)

IoT devices used in the home that can communicate with each other via a network, an external server used outside the home that is a location other than the home, and an information terminal used in the home and outside the home; A communication system comprising at least one router that relays connection between the IoT device and the information terminal and the network,
The external server includes a server-side acquisition unit that acquires device identification information, which is identification information of the router to which the IoT device connects, from the IoT device;
The information terminal is
a terminal-side acquisition unit that acquires the device identification information acquired by the server-side acquisition unit from the external server;
The terminal identification information, which is the identification information of the router to which the information terminal connects, is compared with the acquired device identification information, and if the terminal identification information and the device identification information are the same, the information terminal is connected to the router. a determination unit that determines that the information terminal is located outside the home if the terminal identification information and the device identification information are different from each other ;
The router to which the IoT device connects is capable of communicating in multiple radio frequency bands, and has different device identification information for each radio frequency band,
When the information terminal connects to the same router as the router to which the IoT device connects, the information terminal can connect to the router in the radio frequency band different from that of the IoT device,
The server-side acquisition unit further acquires, as terminal-side device identification information, identification information of the router obtained when the information terminal connects to the same router as the router to which the IoT device connects,
The terminal-side acquisition unit further acquires the terminal-side device identification information acquired by the server-side acquisition unit from the external server,
The determination unit compares the terminal identification information, the device identification information, and the terminal-side device identification information, and determines whether the terminal identification information, the device identification information, or the terminal-side device identification information are different from each other. If they are the same, it is determined that the information terminal is within the residence; if the terminal identification information is different from any of the device identification information and the terminal-side device identification information, it is determined that the information terminal is outside the residence. communication system. The information terminal further includes a remote control unit that instructs the IoT device to execute a plurality of operations performed by the IoT device,
2. The remote control unit limits the operations that can be instructed when the determination unit determines that the information terminal is outside the residence compared to when the information terminal is inside the residence. communication system. The information terminal further connects to the network via a mobile communication network,
3. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines that the information terminal is outside the home when the information terminal is connected to the network via the mobile communication network. 4. The communication system according to claim 3 , wherein the communication in the radio frequency band is wireless LAN (Local Area Network) communication, and the identification information is SSID (Service Set Identifier).

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