JPH02265395A - Home bus system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify a system and to eliminate the need for the revision work of system expansion after the system installation by dividing a home controller section into a main controller to which hardware components are plugged in and an information panel. CONSTITUTION:The system is divided into an information panel 3 mainly controlling a home controller and a main controller 2 mainly for the function and the circuitry. An I/O section 35 of the information panel 3 consists of a key input section, a display section and a voice input output section or the like and the key input section consists of function keys whose contents are not fixed or a touch panel or the like. The system extension by the user within a range of the full system is implemented only by inserting unit to the main controller and adding terminal equipment and it is not required to revise the information panel 3.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to a home bus system in which a home bus, which is an information transmission path in the home, accommodates a home controller and a large number of terminals. Regarding the structure of the department.

<Prior Art> The so-called home automation (HA) system, which realizes various systemized services by networking various devices in the home, is becoming popular. Current services are mainly limited to telephones, intercoms, security, device control, telecontrol (controlling home devices from external telephones), etc., but if these are connected to each system, physical The wiring becomes messy and the system becomes extremely difficult to handle.

The industry association has standardized the home bus as a home information transmission line with the aim of future expandability and compatibility of HA systems. (In September 1988, the Japan Electronics Industries Association and the Radio Technology Association jointly announced the "Home Bus System" standard.) In that standard, two coaxial cables and four pairs of wires are used as the home bus, and the signal The transmission method, control method, and meaning of signals are determined in detail. By complying with this standard, not only will the wiring in the home become cleaner, but there will also be the possibility of future compatibility of equipment between manufacturers, which is very advantageous for HA.

FIG. 9 shows a conceptual diagram of an HA system based on a home bus (hereinafter referred to as a home bus system). From the same figure, cameras, antennas, video terminals such as televisions, telephone terminals such as intercoms, information terminals such as personal computers, security terminals such as smoke detectors, gas detectors, security switches, electronic keys, air conditioners, bathrooms, etc. It can be seen that home appliance terminals such as lights and home controllers are connected to the home bus via information outlets. This information outlet is the part that connects the above equipment to the home bus. It is embedded in the wall like a power outlet, and can be connected by simply plugging in the device's plug, making it extremely easy to install the device.

The home controller is not only connected to the home bus, but also connected to wired signal lines from the outside, such as telephone lines, and is responsible for not only controlling various services within the home, but also communicating with the outside world.

The above system makes it possible to do the following:

In addition to receiving regular broadcasts on a TV, you can also view camera images by controlling the remote control or home controller. (Video service) By placing call terminals in various places in the home, you can receive incoming calls from outside in any room, and you can make calls from anywhere, make internal calls, and answer the doorbell. . (Telephone service) In addition to the computer operation as a standalone unit, the PC also performs
If you create a program, you can implement some of the control functions of the home controller and perform data communication with the outside via a telephone line.

(Information service) If a security sensor detects an abnormality, the home controller immediately issues an alarm or notifies the outside via the telephone line, and takes necessary measures. (Security service) The home controller allows you to monitor the power status of electrical devices connected to the home bus and control them on and off.
equipment control services), they can also be performed through telephone lines. (Telecontrol service) (For example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 62-231587.) <Problem to be solved by the invention> In realizing a home bus system, each terminal and
A home controller is required as a base unit to control the terminal and connect the telephone line.

An example of a home controller is shown in FIG. 10. The home controller shown in Figure 10 shows the maximum configuration of the system, including telephone system, video monitor system, telecontrol, security, electric lock control,
Lighting control services are available. For each service, units of the same size are combined as shown in Figure 1θ to realize one home controller. This system has a separate main control panel (not shown).
It shares some of the functions of the home controller.

The ioB home controller is flat and embedded in the wall, but such a full system would occupy a fairly large area.

Furthermore, even if you install only a telephone and intercom unit when building a new building and then try to add a security unit or telecontrol unit later, it will require major construction work such as removing walls, making it difficult to add systems midway through.

Furthermore, the HA system is still in its nascent stage, and it is likely that new services will appear more and more in the future.In that case, with the above configuration, even if the capacity for new services is created, it will not be necessary to install them in addition to the existing system. is almost impossible.

Such a configuration of the home controller is not limited to the one shown in FIG. 10, but also applies to most current commercially available systems.

In other words, in the conventional system, the home controller becomes large for a full system, and it is not easy to upgrade the system midway. Another disadvantage was that the number of keys and lamps increased significantly, making it difficult to operate.

Means for Solving the Problems> In order to solve the above problems, the present invention, as shown in FIG. Separate into device 2.

The information board 3 is an interface unit 31 to the home bus l.
%CPU section 32.110 section 35, standard memory section 36, and expansion memory section 37. It consists of a memory section 26 and an expansion memory section 27. In the figure, the expansion part is drawn with a dotted line, and physically it is a unit insertion (in the case of 23 and 24) or a memory card insertion (in the case of 27 and 37).
becomes.

Of the expansion units 110 of the main controller 2, 23 is a telephone line connection unit into which the telephone line 4 is connected. 24 are other Ilo that should be treated as options, 25
is treated as standard.

26 contains all system software, and 27 is a memory card for future expansion.

The 110 section 35 of the information board 3 consists of a key input section, a display section, an audio input/output section, etc. In particular, the key input section is composed of function keys or a touch panel, etc., whose key contents are not fixed. 36 contains all the software necessary for the information board, and 37 is a memory card for future expansion.

Function> Since the configuration is as shown in Figure 1, users can upgrade their systems within the range of a full system by simply adding a terminal and inserting a unit into the main control device (which may not be necessary). It is possible to do so, and there is no need to change the information board 3 at all. Even if the system becomes larger, the physical size remains the same, only the menu on the information board's touch panel changes automatically, making it more compact and easier to operate than conventional systems.

In addition, since part of the memory in both the main control device 2 and the information panel 3 is of the memory card insertion type, it will be possible to support new services in the future by also using the hardware unit insertion into the main control device 2. .

That is, by adopting the configuration of the home controller as in the present invention, it is possible to configure a home bus system that has better operability and is easier to expand than conventional systems.

<Example> As an example of the present invention, an external view of the information board is shown in Fig. 2, a block diagram of the information board is shown in Fig. 3, a block diagram of the main control device is shown in Fig. 4, and a configuration of the home bus system is shown in Fig. 5. As shown in the figure.

In FIG. 2, numeral 3 is a flat information board, which includes a handset 42 for making calls, a color liquid crystal display 43 for watching TV, and displaying images from a video doorbell or camera.
It is composed of a liquid crystal input touch panel 44, a speaker 45, a power indicator lamp 46, and a power switch 47. 49 is a memory card for expansion software, which will be inserted into the insertion slot 048 when changing the software in the future.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the information panel, in which the control channel 51 (one pair of wires) of the home bus 1 is led into the control channel interface 52, and the information channel 53 (one coaxial
3 pairs of wire pairs) is the information channel interface 54
be drawn into. The analog signal passing through the information channel is
The audio signal is transmitted to the handset 42 and speaker 45 via the audio circuit 55, and the video signal is transmitted to the liquid crystal display 43 via the video circuit 56. The CPU 50 inputs and outputs control signals onto the home bus via the control channel interface 52, and also controls the touch panel input section 57 and the touch panel display control section 5 that control the liquid crystal touch panel 44.
8. Controls all of the program memory 59, memory card 49, etc.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the main controller, in which the home bus 1 has a control channel 61 connected to the control channel interface 6.
2, the information channel 63 is connected to the information channel interface 64 and the voice signal is connected to the telephone line 4 via the telephone line unit 65. 66 is another unit, such as a telecontrol unit. 67 is the standard required for main control devices! 10 and 68 are program memories that cover all services of the system, and 69 is a memory card. Note that the memory card 49 in FIG. 3, the telephone line unit 65, the telecontrol unit 66, and the memory card 69 in FIG. 4 are optional, and are indicated by dotted lines in the figure. In the system of FIG. 5, only the telephone line unit 65 is installed.

Figure 5 shows an example of the configuration of a home bus system, with main control unit R2
and the information board 3 are those explained in FIGS. 2 to 4. In FIG. 7, 70 is a home bus compatible telephone, 712
is a heat sensor, 711 is an interface unit (hereinafter referred to as RPU) that connects it to the home bus, 722,
732 are the first and second intruder Senna, 742 respectively
, 752 are the first and second lights connected to the home bus, and 721.731, 741, and 751 are the respective IFs.
Ul 76 is a TV door-pong entrance machine. Therefore, the system shown in Figure 5 supports one heat detector and two intrusion sensors for security, two lights for device control, an information panel and one telephone, and one video door phone. Become.

This system complies with the aforementioned "home bus system" standard (hereinafter simply referred to as the standard), so we will briefly introduce that standard.

In the standard, two coaxial cables and four pairs of wires are used as the transmission path, one pair of wires is used as the control channel, and the remaining three
The pair of wires is called an information channel that mainly handles audio signals, and one coaxial cable is called an information channel that mainly handles video signals, and the remaining coaxial cables are kept as a reserve. There are three main types of devices connected to the home bus: one is a supervisory home bus controller (called HBC) that manages channels, and the other is a connection unit to external communication networks such as telephone lines and CATV. One is the network termination (referred to as NT), and the other is the interface unit (referred to as IFU) that connects the terminal to the home hub. Analog signals flow in the information channel by baseband or frequency multiplexing, and digital control signals are transmitted and received in the control channel according to a detailed protocol.

Control signals handle all control signals from information channel management to application signals such as security and device control.

In the system shown in FIG. 5, the main control unit R2 has the functions of MBC and NT, and all others are FU.

An overview of the operation of this system will be explained below.

When the power is turned on and the system starts, a ``registration sequence'' is performed according to the standard, in which each terminal communicates to the main controller that it is connected to the home bus. Since the attributes of the terminals are also registered in this sequence, the main controller can grasp what kind of terminals are attached to the system, where and how many.

Thereafter, the main controller processes the above information indicating the system configuration into a form necessary for the information board and sends it to the information board. That is, what kind of services are possible, what kind of terminals are connected for each service, how many terminals, etc.

In the case of the system shown in FIG. 5, the information is as shown in Table 1.

Table 1 The information panel program includes enough software to support the full system, including character patterns, pictographic patterns, processing programs, etc., so the information panel can take the mode that corresponds to the information from the main controller. can.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the initial menu display on the touch panel of the information panel is as shown in FIG.

Now, if you want to make a call, first touch the r [talk] part on the touch panel. Then, the menu display changes, and the selections are ``outside call'', ``extension call'', and ``door phone call'' (not shown). [If you select J to make an outside call, the menu display will change further and a dial numeric keypad will be displayed, so you will need to dial using the touch panel. Calls are made using a handset (42 in FIG. 2).

Of the above operations, the operation part is handled only by the information panel, but the main controller is in charge of the actual connection etc.
After connection, the voice signal flows to the telephone line via the home bus information channel, the main control unit.

In addition to "Call outside line", the "Telephone" menu also includes "Call extension" to call another telephone (70 in FIG. 5) and "Call doorphone" to call the doorbell (76 in FIG. 5).

If you select the "Camera" menu in Figure 7, you can monitor the image from the video doorphone camera (76 in Figure 5) on the information board's color LCD display (43 in Figure 2). You can watch TV broadcasts by selecting the "TV" menu.

If you select the "Safety" menu, you can monitor the status of the heat detector and two intrusion sensors, and check for fires and locked doors. In the "Control" menu, you can monitor the lighting status of the two lights and then control them from the information panel.

The above operations are based on menu selections on the information panel, but there are other system operations as well, which are summarized in Table 2.

1 Margin 1 Table 2 Each of the above sequences is basically executed by control commands on the home bus control channel through the main controller. The main control unit manages all actual operations, and the information panel only manages operational input and output, and both are equipped with enough software to support the full system. Therefore, since one main controller centrally manages system operations, multiple information panels can be installed and controlled from various locations. This is because the information panel only manages input/output operations, so it does not cause any confusion in system operation. Next, let's consider a case where a user wants to upgrade the system (of course, it is also possible to bring the system down).

For example, in the system shown in Figure 5, one air conditioner can be attached and telecontrol can be performed. In this case, add a telecontrol unit to the main control device,
Simply connect the air conditioner and its IFU to the home bus. Therefore, the system configuration is as shown in FIG. Figure 6 is almost the same as Figure 5, but air conditioner 7
72 and its [FU771 have been added.

At this time, the services and terminal types shown in Table 1 change as shown in Table 3.

Table 3 The initial menu displayed on the touch panel of the information board is also as shown in Figure 8.

The telecontrol functions added here are as follows.

When the user selects "telephone call" from the menu shown in FIG. 8, the system enters the telecaller automatic response mode. In this state, if you call home from your telephone while you are away, the main control device automatically answers, and if the input of your password is confirmed, you can control the terminal equipment.

Here, it is possible to monitor the states of three sensors, and to monitor and control on/off three devices (two lights, one air conditioner).

Among the above telecontrol functions, the hardware that automatically responds and outputs synthesized speech is the telecontrol unit (66 in Figure 4), and the software for its operation is already the main program of the main controller 2. It is installed in. The program is automatically started when the telecontrol unit is installed. In the information panel 3, the function to display the "telecontrol" menu shown in Figure 8 is already in the main program, and when the main controller 2 informs that the telecontrol function exists in the system, that part is is started.

Therefore, there is no need to change the wiring of the home bus or install the information panel 3, making it extremely easy to upgrade the system. For the sake of simplicity, the example shows a system upgrade that only adds one air conditioner and a telecontrol function, but it is clear that any system change can be made using the exact same steps as long as the change is made within the full system. be.

Furthermore, if new services are to be added in the future, of course it will not be possible to do so with just the above measures, but since a part of the memory of both the information panel and the main control unit will be freed up for memory cards,
All you have to do is insert a memory card with software for the new service written on it. If the problem cannot be solved by adding software, you can create a hardware unit and insert it into the main controller unit. From the above, it can be seen that it is possible to support a considerable number of future services.

<Effect of the invention> The present invention has a number of effects as shown below.

First, since the home controller section is divided into a main control unit and an information panel that can be plugged into hardware, system expansion after system installation can be done by simply connecting a terminal or adding additional hardware units. It is possible, and it is very simple and does not require any modification work. From a user's perspective when installing an HA system, rather than investing a large amount of money to install a full system, it is better to make a small investment and try using a simple system or a service of one's choice and fully evaluate its effectiveness. It is a great advantage to be able to easily upgrade the system after recognizing it.

Second, new services can be accommodated simply by inserting a memory card into the main control unit or information board, making it highly expandable in the future. The current HA service is
Due to the types of terminal equipment, insufficient performance, immature social environment, etc., it is still not satisfactory, and new HA services are being devised in response to the progress and enhancement of terminal equipment and the social environment. Therefore, scalability for the future is also a very important point of view.

Third, since the information panel does not have any fixed keys and uses software keys such as a touch panel, the information panel is compact, easy to see, and very easy to operate, regardless of system size.

Fourth, since the main controller centrally manages system operations, distributed control can be easily performed by installing a large number of information panels. This is because when a large number of devices manage system operations, the sequence and processing of the system becomes extremely complex due to matching of system states among the devices and delicate timing management.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual block diagram of the home controller of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the information panel of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example of the information panel of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example of the information panel of the present invention. 5 is a block diagram of an example of the main control device of the present invention, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the home bus system of the present invention, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of an upgraded system of FIG. 5, and FIG. A diagram showing an example of the touch panel menu of the information panel in the system, FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the touch panel menu of the information panel in the system of FIG. 6, FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram of the home bus system, and FIG. 1O is the conventional FIG. 2 is a front view of a typical home controller.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a home bus system in which a home controller unit and numerous terminal units are connected to an information transmission path in the home, the home controller unit is connected to an information panel that mainly controls operation units, and an information panel that mainly controls function units. The input section of the information panel consists of a touch panel or keys with non-fixed key contents, and it is possible to insert a memory card for expansion memory that can support new services.The main control device is mainly a microprocessor. A home bus system comprising a memory, an input/output section, at least a part of the memory can be plugged into a memory card, and a part of the input/output part can be plugged into a hardware unit.