JP7435637B2 - toilet equipment - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to toilet devices.

Patent Document 1 discloses a toilet seat device equipped with an image sensor. This toilet seat device photographs the inside of the toilet bowl using an image sensor.

In such a toilet seat device, by using an image sensor with a wide angle of view, it becomes possible to more reliably photograph the stool in the toilet bowl. On the other hand, an image sensor with a wide angle of view may photograph the user's body, potentially infringing on the user's privacy.

From this point of view, Patent Document 1 proposes a configuration in which a shielding portion is provided in a range corresponding to the user's body within the viewing angle of the image sensor. According to this configuration, it is possible to prevent the user's body from being photographed without adjusting the viewing angle of the image sensor itself.

JP 2021-55522 Publication

However, since humans have various physiques and sitting postures, in conventional toilet seat devices, the relative position of the image sensor and the shielding part may not be suitable for the actual user. For example, if the user is relatively small in stature, there is a risk that the user's buttocks will largely enter the toilet bowl side through the opening of the toilet seat, and be located in the range of the image sensor's field of view that is not shielded by the shielding part. In this case, the image sensor ends up photographing the user's body.

The present invention has been made in view of these problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a toilet device that can photograph the inside of a toilet bowl while reliably preventing the user's body from being photographed.

In order to solve the above problems, a toilet device according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a toilet seat disposed above the toilet bowl, an image sensor provided on the back side of the toilet seat for photographing the inside of the toilet bowl, and a toilet device. a shielding part that is arranged to shield a part of the field of view of the image sensor when viewed from the bowl, and that prevents at least a part of the body of a user seated on the toilet seat from being photographed by the image sensor; The shielding section is configured to be able to change the range to be shielded.

According to this configuration, it is possible to change the range to be covered by the shielding portion to an appropriate range according to the user's physique and sitting posture, and to reliably prevent the user's body from being photographed.

In the toilet device according to the second aspect of the present invention, the shielding part is configured to be able to change the area of the shielding range into a first area and a second area smaller than the first area.

According to this configuration, the area of the range covered by the shielding part is increased as the body physique and sitting posture of the user tend to be located within the field of view of the image sensor, thereby reliably preventing the user's body from being photographed. It becomes possible to do so.

In the toilet device according to the third aspect of the present invention, the shielding part has an operating member, and when the operating member is operated, the area of the range to be shielded is changed.

According to this configuration, by operating the operating section according to the user's physique and sitting posture, it is possible to easily change the range to be covered by the shielding section to an appropriate one.

By the way, if a complicated mechanism is used to change the area to be shielded, the user's urine splashed in the toilet bowl may enter the mechanism, making cleaning difficult, or calcium in the urine may precipitate and become stuck. There is a risk that this may occur.

In the toilet device according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the shielding part includes a transparent plate that is arranged within the field angle of the image sensor and has light-transmitting properties, and an opaque masking member that is detachably attached to the transparent plate. have.

According to this configuration, a masking member corresponding to the physique of the user is selected from a plurality of masking members of different sizes prepared in advance, and the masking member is attached to the transparent plate, so that the range to be shielded by the shielding portion is You can change it to something appropriate. This makes it possible to reliably prevent the user's body from being photographed while making the shielding part easy to clean and having a low risk of sticking.

In the toilet device according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the shielding portion has a guide portion that indicates a plurality of attachment positions of the masking member.

According to this configuration, the masking member selected to correspond to the user's physique etc. can be reliably attached to a position suitable for the masking member. As a result, it becomes possible to change the range to be shielded by the shielding portion to an appropriate range.

The toilet device according to the sixth aspect of the present invention includes a determining means for determining whether at least a part of the user's body is included in the image of the inside of the toilet bowl taken by the image sensor; and output means for outputting a signal corresponding to the determination when the determination means determines that at least a part of the body of the user is included.

According to this configuration, when the relative position of the image sensor and the shielding part is such that at least a part of the user's body is photographed, the user etc. It becomes possible to encourage that improvement. For example, based on the output signal, it is possible to notify the user or the like by voice or text that the position of the shielding part needs to be changed.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a toilet device that can reliably prevent the user's body from being photographed.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a toilet room in which a toilet device according to a first embodiment of the present invention is installed. FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line II-II in FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the toilet device of FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the toilet device of FIG. 1. FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a toilet device according to a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the toilet device of FIG. 5.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In order to facilitate understanding of the description, the same components in each drawing are denoted by the same reference numerals as much as possible, and redundant description will be omitted.

[First embodiment]
First, a toilet device 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. 1 is a perspective view showing a toilet room R in which a toilet device 1 is installed, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along II-II in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the toilet device 1. be. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the toilet device 1, showing the toilet device 1 seen in the direction of arrow A1 in FIG. FIG. 4 shows an enlarged view of the periphery of an image sensor 44, which will be described later.

<Overall configuration>
As shown in FIG. 1, a toilet bowl 9 is installed on the floor F of the toilet room R. The toilet bowl 9 is a toilet bowl, and includes a toilet bowl 91 for receiving the user's stool, and a rim 92 that stands around the toilet bowl 91. For example, when a user operates a washing operation unit (not shown) provided in the toilet room R, washing water is supplied to the toilet bowl 91, and the toilet bowl 91 is cleaned and feces are discharged from the toilet bowl 91. It will be done. The cleaning operation section may take various forms, such as an operation lever provided in the toilet room R or a switch provided on an operation device 7, which will be described later.

The toilet device 1 is applied to this toilet bowl 9. The toilet device 1 includes a toilet seat device 2 and an operating device 7. In addition, in the following description, the front will be referred to as "front", the rear will be referred to as "rear", the left side will be referred to as "left", and the right side will be referred to as "right" when viewed from the user seated on the toilet seat 41, which will be described later. Further, the vertically upward direction is referred to as "upper", and the vertically downward direction is referred to as "lower".

The toilet seat device 2 is attached to the upper part of the toilet bowl 9 and includes a main body 3, a toilet seat 41, a nozzle 42, and a toilet lid 43. The toilet seat device 2 may be detachably attached to the toilet bowl 9, or may be attached so as to be integrated with the toilet bowl 9.

The toilet seat 41 is an element on which the user sits when defecating, and supports the user's buttocks with its seating surface 41c. The toilet seat 41 has an annular shape, and an opening 41a is formed in the center thereof. The opening 41a opens the toilet bowl 91 when the toilet seat 41 is placed on the rim 92. The rear end of the toilet seat 41 is pivoted, so that the toilet seat 41 can rotate between a position where it is placed on the rim 92 and a position where it is separated from the rim 92 and opens the toilet bowl 91 widely. It is considered possible.

As shown in FIG. 2, the toilet seat 41 has a bottom plate 5 and a top plate 6. Both the bottom plate 5 and the top plate 6 are made of resin material. The bottom plate 5 and the top plate 6 are joined by welding the inner circumferential edge 5a of the bottom plate 5 and the inner circumferential edge 6a of the top plate 6, and by welding the outer circumferential edge 5b of the bottom plate 5 and the outer circumferential edge 6b of the top plate 6. The toilet seat 41 is configured by the toilet seat 41. The center portions of the bottom plate 5 and the top plate 6 are spaced apart from each other, thereby forming a gap 41b inside the toilet seat 41. In addition to this, the toilet seat 41 can adopt various other forms, such as one in which a rib erected on the upper surface of the bottom plate 5 and a rib erected on the lower surface of the top plate 6 are welded and joined.

When the toilet seat 41 is placed on the rim 92 of the toilet bowl 9, as shown in FIG. It is arranged so that it is located at . An opening 5c is formed in the other part of the bottom plate 5. An image sensor 44 is provided in the gap 41b of the toilet seat 41 to photograph the inside of the toilet bowl 91 through the opening 5c. The image sensor 44 can photograph an object existing within the field angle θ1 in a side view as shown in FIG. The configuration around the image sensor 44 will be described later.

The top plate 6 is arranged so that the seating surface 41c, which is a curved surface, faces upward. A heater 411 is attached to the lower surface of the top plate 6. The heater 411 is a heating wire that generates Joule heat when supplied with electric power.

The nozzle 42 shown in FIG. 1 is used for cleaning a user's private parts. The nozzle 42 is configured to be movable back and forth from the main body 3 into the toilet bowl 91 by an electric motor (not shown). By opening an electromagnetic valve (not shown) when the nozzle 42 is located in the toilet bowl 91, the nozzle 42 discharges water toward the user's private parts.

The rear end of the toilet lid 43 is pivotally supported and is configured to be rotatable between a posture that covers the toilet seat 41 and a posture that opens the toilet seat 41.

The operating device 7 is installed on the wall of the toilet room R, for example. The operating device 7 has a plurality of switches (not shown) each corresponding to a plurality of operations of the toilet seat device 2 (for example, starting and stopping private part washing). As shown in FIG. 3, the operating device 7 further includes a communication section 71 and a display section 72. The communication unit 71 wirelessly transmits and receives signals to and from a communication unit 312 of the toilet seat device 2, which will be described later. The display section 72 is a liquid crystal panel provided on the outer surface of the operating device 7, and displays various information.

As shown in FIG. 3, a control device 31 is disposed within the main body 3 of the toilet seat device 2. The control device 31 is partially or entirely configured as an analog circuit or as a digital processor, and has a determination section 311 and a communication section 312 as functional blocks. The determination unit 311 performs various determinations based on signals received by the control device 31 from the outside. The communication unit 312 transmits and receives signals to and from equipment external to the toilet seat device 2 .

Note that the software modules incorporated in the control device 31 do not necessarily have to be divided into functional blocks as shown in FIG. 3. That is, an actual analog circuit or module may be configured to function as a plurality of functional blocks shown in FIG. 3, or may be further subdivided. The configuration of the control device 31 can be modified as appropriate by those skilled in the art as long as it is configured to be able to execute the processing described below.

The control device 31 is connected to the heater 411, the nozzle 42, and the image sensor 44 so as to be able to transmit control signals. Additionally, the control device 31 can receive image signals from the image sensor 44 .

<Operation example>
When the determination unit 311 determines that the user is seated on the toilet seat 41 based on the signal that the control device 31 receives from the seating sensor (not shown), the control device 31 transmits a control signal to the heater 411 (that is, power to the heater 411). As a result, the temperature of the top plate 6 increases due to the Joule heat generated by the heater 411, and the toilet seat 41 is heated.

Furthermore, when the user operates a switch on the operating device 7 corresponding to the start of private part washing, the communication section 71 of the operating device 7 generates a signal corresponding to this switch and transmits it to the toilet seat device 2 wirelessly. The toilet seat device 2 receives this signal at the communication section 312 of the control device 31, and the control device 31 transmits the control signal to the nozzle 42. Upon receiving the control signal, the nozzle 42 advances from the main body 3 into the toilet bowl 91 and discharges water supplied from the opened electromagnetic valve toward the user's private parts.

Further, the control device 31 transmits a control signal to the image sensor 44 to photograph the inside of the toilet bowl 91 after or during the defecation of the user. The image sensor 44 transmits an image signal corresponding to the photographed image inside the toilet bowl 91 to the control device 31. In the control device 31 that has received the image signal, the determination unit 311 determines at least one of the presence or absence of the user's stool, the color, shape, and amount of the stool, based on a predetermined program. The communication unit 312 of the control device 31 generates a signal corresponding to this determination result and transmits it to the external cloud service C. By accessing this cloud service C and acquiring the above-mentioned determination results, medical personnel and the like can grasp the user's health condition and provide advice based on the health condition.

<Prevention of photographing the user's body>
The toilet device 1 is designed to prevent the image sensor 44 from photographing the user's body. This point will be explained below.

As shown in FIG. 2, walls 51 and 52 are provided in the gap 41b of the toilet seat 41. As shown in FIG. The walls 51 and 52 are both formed integrally with the bottom plate 5. The wall bodies 51 and 52 each extend from the lower end to the upper end so as to approach each other, and are connected to each other at the upper end. Thereby, a recess 53 that communicates with the outside of the toilet seat 41 via the opening 5c is defined between the walls 51 and 52. The image sensor 44 is placed within this recess 53 and fixed to the wall 52.

Furthermore, a shielding section 8 is arranged between the image sensor 44 and the toilet bowl 91. The shielding part 8 has a holding part 81 and a shielding plate 82.

As shown in FIG. 4, the holding portions 81 are provided at two locations spaced apart from each other on the lower surface of the bottom plate 5. As shown in FIG. One of the holding parts 81 is formed with a slit 81a that penetrates in the vertical direction and extends in the front-back direction. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the holding portion 81 forms a groove 81b between it and the lower surface of the bottom plate 5. As shown in FIG. The groove 81b extends in the front-rear direction and is open at its front end.

The shielding plate 82 is made of an opaque material and has a plate shape. The shielding plate 82 is arranged within the groove 81b. As shown in FIG. 4, an operating member 821 is connected to the end of the shielding plate 82. The operating member 821 is arranged within the slit 81a of the holding portion 81. When a user or the like applies force to the operating member 821 with their fingers and moves the operating member 821 in the front-back direction within the slit 81a, the shielding plate 82 also slides in the back-and-forth direction within the groove 81b. This allows the user or the like to arbitrarily change the position of the shielding plate 82 in the front-rear direction.

As shown in FIG. 4, guide lines 831 and 832 are provided on the lower surface of the bottom plate 5 at a predetermined interval in the front-rear direction. Specifically, the guide line 832 is provided at a position in front of the guide line 831. The shielding plate 82 is arranged so that its front end 82a coincides with one of the guide lines 831 and 832.

The shielding plate 82 is arranged so as to be located within the field angle θ1 of the image sensor 44 when viewed from the toilet bowl 91 (viewed in the direction indicated by arrow A1 in FIG. 2). The shielding plate 82 is arranged so as to shield the range of angle θ2, which is a part of the range of angle of view θ1. This angle θ2 is determined according to the position of the shielding plate 82 in the front-rear direction. When the front end 82a of the shielding plate 82 is located at the guide line 832, the angle θ2 is larger than when the front end 82a is located at the guide line 831. In other words, the area covered by the shielding plate 82 when the front end 82a is located at the guide line 831 (an example of the "second area" of the present invention) is This area is smaller than the area covered by the shielding plate 82 (an example of the "first area" of the present invention) when the shielding plate 82 is closed.

By shielding the range of angle θ2 by the shielding plate 82, photographing by the image sensor 44 is prevented in this range. On the other hand, in a range not shielded by the shielding plate 82, the image sensor 44 can photograph the inside of the toilet bowl 91 through the opening 5c.

<Effect>
According to this configuration, it is possible to change the range to be shielded by the shielding part 8 to an appropriate one according to the user's physique and sitting posture, and to reliably prevent the user's body from being photographed. .

Moreover, the shielding part 8 is configured to be able to change the area of the range to be shielded into a first area and a second area smaller than the first area.

According to this configuration, the larger the user's physique or sitting posture is such that the body is likely to be located within the viewing angle θ1 of the image sensor 44, the larger the area of the range covered by the shielding part 8 is, and the more the user's body is photographed. This can be reliably prevented.

Moreover, the shielding part 8 has an operating member 821, and when the operating member 821 is operated, the area of the range to be shielded is changed.

According to this configuration, by operating the operating member 821 according to the user's physique and sitting posture, it is possible to easily change the range covered by the shielding part 8 to an appropriate one.

[Second embodiment]
Next, a toilet device 1A according to a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 3, 5, and 6. This toilet device 1A is configured to photograph the inside of the toilet bowl 91 of the toilet bowl 9 using the image sensor 44, similarly to the first embodiment. The toilet device 1A differs from the first embodiment in the configuration of its shielding portion 8A and the like. In the toilet device 1A, the same components as those in the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted as appropriate.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the toilet device 1A. FIG. 5 shows a cross section of the toilet device 1A corresponding to the II-II cross section in FIG. In order to facilitate understanding of the explanation, FIG. 5 shows an exaggerated thickness of a masking member 85, which will be described later. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the toilet device 1A, and shows the toilet device 1A viewed in the direction of arrow A2 in FIG. FIG. 6 shows the periphery of the image sensor 44 in an enlarged manner.

As shown in FIG. 5, a shielding portion 8A is arranged between the image sensor 44 and the toilet bowl 91. The shielding section 8A includes a transparent plate 84 and a masking member 85.

The transparent plate 84 is made of a translucent material (for example, acrylic resin or glass) and has a plate shape. As shown in FIG. 5, the transparent plate 84 fits into the opening 5c of the bottom plate 5.

Masking member 85 is an opaque thin film. An adhesive layer is provided on one side 85a of the masking member 85 shown in FIG. As the masking member 85, masking members 851 and 852 of different sizes are prepared in advance.

As shown in FIG. 6, guide lines 861 and 862 are provided on the lower surface of the bottom plate 5 at a predetermined interval in the front-rear direction. Specifically, the guide line 862 is provided at a position in front of the guide line 861. The guide lines 861 and 862 are an example of the "guide portion" of the present invention.

A selected one of the masking members 851 and 852 is pasted across the transparent plate 84 in the left-right direction by bonding its adhesive layer to the bottom surface of the bottom plate 5 and the transparent plate 84. When attaching the relatively small masking member 851, the operator arranges the masking member 851 so that the end side 851a coincides with the guide line 861. On the other hand, when attaching a relatively large masking member 852, the operator arranges the masking member 852 so that the end side 852a coincides with the guide line 862. The adhesive force of the adhesive layer is set to such an extent that the masking members 851 and 852 can be attached to and detached from the transparent plate 84.

As shown in FIG. 5, the transparent plate 84 to which the masking member 85 is attached is located within the viewing angle θ1 of the image sensor 44 when viewed from the toilet bowl 91 (as viewed in the direction indicated by arrow A2 in FIG. 5). It is arranged so that Furthermore, the masking member 85 attached to the transparent plate 84 is arranged so as to cover the range of angle θ3, which is a part of the range of angle of view θ1. This angle θ3 is determined according to the size of the attached masking member 85. When the relatively large masking member 852 is attached to the transparent plate 84, the angle θ3 is also larger than when the masking member 851 is attached to the transparent plate 84.

By blocking the range of angle θ3 with the masking member 85, the image sensor 44 is prevented from photographing in this range. On the other hand, in a range not covered by the masking member 85, the image sensor 44 can photograph the interior of the toilet bowl 91 through the transparent plate 84 having light-transmitting properties.

The determination unit 311 of the control device 31 shown in FIG. 3 processes the image taken by the image sensor 44 and determines whether or not the user's body is included in this image. For example, the determination unit 311 determines whether or not an object exists in a portion of the image other than the toilet bowl 91 using a known method such as pattern matching, and if such an object is included, the It is determined that the person's body has been photographed.

When the determination unit 311 determines that the user's body is included in the image, the communication unit 312 wirelessly transmits a signal corresponding to this determination to the outside. The communication unit 312 in this embodiment is an example of the "output means" of the present invention. When the operating device 7 receives this signal through the communication section 71, it displays text information on the display section 72 to inform the user that there is a problem with the image and that the shielding section 8A needs to be improved. The text information may be, for example, information that prompts the user to change the size of the masking member 85 to a larger one or to change the user's posture.

[Effect]
In the second embodiment, the shielding section 8A includes a transparent plate 84 that is arranged within the field angle θ1 of the image sensor 44 and has light-transmitting properties, and an opaque masking member 85 that is detachably attached to the transparent plate 84. have.

According to this configuration, by selecting a masking member 85 that corresponds to the user's physique etc. from a plurality of masking members 85 of different sizes prepared in advance and attaching the masking member 85 to the transparent plate 84, the shielding portion 8A It becomes possible to change the range to be shielded to an appropriate one. This makes it possible to reliably prevent the user's body from being photographed while making the shielding portion 8A easy to clean and less likely to cause problems such as sticking.

Moreover, the shielding part 8A has guide lines 861 and 862 that indicate a plurality of attachment positions of the masking member 85.

According to this configuration, the masking member 85 selected to correspond to the user's physique etc. can be reliably attached to a position suitable for the masking member 85. As a result, it becomes possible to change the range to be shielded by the shielding portion 8A to an appropriate range.

The toilet device 1A also includes a determination unit 311 that determines whether the image of the inside of the toilet bowl 91 captured by the image sensor 44 includes at least a part of the user's body. The toilet device 1A further includes a communication unit 312 that outputs a signal corresponding to the determination when the determination unit 311 determines that at least a part of the user's body is included in the image.

According to this configuration, when the relative position of the image sensor 44 and the shielding part 8A is such that at least a part of the user's body is photographed, the This makes it possible to encourage people to make improvements. Based on the output signal, it is possible to notify the user etc. of the need to change the position of the shielding part 8A by voice or text.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. In other words, the scope of the present invention includes modifications to the above-described embodiments made by those skilled in the art as long as they have the characteristics of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 1A... Toilet device, 311... Judgment part (determination means), 312... Communication part (output means), 41... Toilet seat, 44... Image sensor, 5... Bottom plate, 6... Top plate, 8, 8A... Shielding part, 821... Operating member, 84... Transparent plate, 85... Masking member, 861, 862... Guide line (guide portion), 9... Toilet bowl, 91... Toilet bowl, 92... Rim

Claims (6)

A toilet seat placed above the toilet bowl;
an image sensor provided on the back side of the toilet seat to photograph the inside of the toilet bowl;
The image sensor is arranged to block a part of the field angle range of the image sensor when viewed from the toilet bowl, and prevents at least a part of the body of the user seated on the toilet seat from being photographed by the image sensor. comprising a shielding part;
The shielding part includes a shielding plate and a holding part that holds the shielding plate on the toilet seat,
The toilet device , wherein the shielding plate is configured to be able to change a range to be shielded by adjusting a relative position with respect to the holding part . The toilet according to claim 1, wherein the shielding part is configured to be able to change the area of the range to be shielded into a first area and a second area smaller than the first area. Device. 3. The toilet device according to claim 2, wherein the shielding part has an operating member, and when the operating member is operated, the area of the shielding range is changed. A toilet seat placed above the toilet bowl;
an image sensor provided on the back side of the toilet seat to photograph the inside of the toilet bowl;
The image sensor is arranged to block a part of the field angle range of the image sensor when viewed from the toilet bowl, and prevents at least a part of the body of the user seated on the toilet seat from being photographed by the image sensor. comprising a shielding part;
The shielding part has an opaque masking member,
The toilet device , wherein the masking member is configured to be able to change the range to be covered by changing the mounting position . The toilet device according to claim 4, wherein the shielding part has a guide part that indicates a plurality of attachment positions of the masking member. determining means for determining whether at least a part of the user's body is included in the image of the toilet bowl taken by the image sensor;
A claim characterized in that the method further comprises: when the determining means determines that at least a part of the user's body is included in the image, output means outputs a signal corresponding to the determination. The toilet device according to any one of Items 1 to 5.

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