JPH03186097A - Remote monitor control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To use a device having an intermediate operating state till prescribed two states are reached as a load by sending a monitor signal representing the intermediate operating state to an interface unit from the load and allowing a controller to monitor even the intermediate operating state. CONSTITUTION:An interface unit 2 controls and monitors the operation of a load having an intermediate operating state till reaching at least prescribed two states. The interface unit 2 is provided with a home bus I/F circuit 5 applying signal transmission with the controller, an address switch 6 setting a specific address, and a signal processing circuit 7 comprising a CPU. When the load is in the intermediate operating state, the load sends a monitor signal representing the intermediate operating state to the interface unit 2 so as to allow the controller to monitor even the intermediate operating state. Thus, a device having an intermediate operating state till prescribed two states are reached is used as a load.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [711: Togami Field of Application 1 The present invention relates to a remote monitoring and control system in which a controller remotely monitors and controls the operation of a load via an interface unit.

[Prior Art J This type of remote monitoring and control system includes, for example, a home automation system (hereinafter referred to as HA system)]
, ), as shown in Figure 7,
Controller 1 and interface unit (hereinafter referred to as I
) 2 (referred to as FU) are connected via the home bus L, and signals are exchanged secretly between the controller 1 and IFU 2.
The controller 1 remotely monitors and controls the operation of the load 3 via the IFU 2. Here, IFU2 is 7t
) Cabra P C+ t P C2, and this 7t) f
The load 3 and the home bus L are insulated and separated by the JBR PC, PC2. The IFU 2 is connected as a load 3 to, for example, an air conditioner specified in JISC9612. The IFU 2 and the load 3 are each equipped with an HA terminal 4 standardized by the Japan Electrical Manufacturers Association standard (JEM standard 1427), and connecting wires Z, ? At the same time, the monitor terminals M, , M2 are connected by a connection 11111m.

In this HA system, Con)o-? 1 to load 3
When control data for turning on and off is sent to the IFU 2, the IFU 2 responds to this control data by transmitting the control signal V shown in FIG.
Send e to load 3 to turn load 3 on and off. Here, the JEM1427 standard specifies that the control signal Vc has a pulse width Tp of 200 to 300@s and a pulse interval Ti (on/off interval of load 2) of at least 6200+ms. The load 3 inverts its operating state every time the control signal Ve is input.

On the other hand, the load 3 sends the monitor signal vm indicating the operating state to the IFU.
Send to 2. Here, the monitor signal ■- is shown in Fig. 9 (
In the case of the static signal Vss shown in b) and the case of the ninth
The dynamic signal Vmd shown in figure (e) (however, T1
≦ 20m5. Tz≧ 1m5S Tz/T+≧o,i
s). Note that T" in FIG. 9 is response darkness, which is specified to be 350 m5 or less. I F LJ 2 that received this monitor signal vII
sends the operating state of the load 3 indicated by the monitor signal Vso to the control a-te 1 as monitoring data.

[Problem 1 to be solved by the invention] However, there is no problem if the load of this type of HA system is one that simply turns on and off, such as an air conditioner, but for example, with electric rain shutters, at least a specific 2
There is an intermediate operating state before reaching this state, that is, there is a state in the middle of completely opening and closing before opening and closing, so the controller cannot grasp the opening and closing status of the storm door.
Therefore, even though the rfR leap has been completed, the electric shutters may continue to operate, or conversely, the shutters may be completely turned off! The operation may stop without ff1L. Therefore, in the conventional HA system, devices such as electric storm doors were not targeted as a load.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and its purpose is to provide remote monitoring that can be used as a load for equipment that has an intermediate operating state before reaching at least two specific states. The purpose is to provide a control system.

[Means for Solving the Problems J] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention controls and monitors the operation of a load that has an intermediate operating state before reaching at least two specific states, and When in the intermediate operating state, a monitor signal indicating that the interface unit is in the intermediate operating state is sent from the load to the interface unit.

In addition, so that the load can be easily controlled to any operating state by the controller, control data for operating the load in a specific state direction and control data for stopping the load in the specific state direction are sent from the controller to the interface unit. The interface unit may send a control signal corresponding to each control data to the load to control the operation of the load.

Furthermore, in order to be able to monitor detailed load operating conditions, a monitor signal can be used to monitor the current operating amount of the load in intermediate operating states.
It may also be shown in a graphical manner.

[Function] As described above, the present invention enables the intermediate operating state to be monitored on the controller side by sending a monitor signal from the load to the interface unit to indicate that the interface unit is in the intermediate operating state, so that at least two specific states can be monitored. This allows equipment that has an intermediate operating state to be used as a load.

In addition, the controller sends control data for operating the load in a specific state direction and control data for stopping the load in the specific state direction from the controller to the interface unit, and the interface unit sends control signals corresponding to each of the above control data to the load. If the load is controlled by the controller, the load can be easily controlled to any operating state by the controller, improving load controllability.

Furthermore, if the monitor signal indicates the current operating amount of the load in an intermediate operating state in an analog manner, the controller can monitor the situation, such as how far the electric shutters are opened.

[Example 11 An embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG.

Note that this embodiment shows the case where the present invention is applied to an HA system.The system #lI of the HA system of this embodiment is no different from the conventional one; however, in the case of this embodiment, The difference is that equipment that has an intermediate operating state before reaching at least two specific states, such as an electric storm door, is also targeted as the load 3.

Here, I would like to add an explanation about the HA system and IFU2.The system configuration diagram in Figure 17 shows only one IFU2 connected to the home bus L, but in reality, there are multiple IFU2. It is connected to home bus L. A unique address is set for each IFU 2, and the controller 1 uses the address data of the transmission signal to cyclically access each IFU 2 in sequence, thereby establishing a connection between the controller 1 and the multiple IFUs 2. Signal transmission is performed via the home bus L by time-division multiplexing.

As shown in Fig. 1, the IFU 2 is composed of a home bus I/F circuit 5 that secretly transmits signals to the controller 1 via the home bus 1, an address switch 6 that sets a unique address, and a CPU. and a signal processing circuit 7. Here, when the address data of the transmission signal sent from the controller 1 matches the address set by the 7 dress switch 6, the signal processing circuit 7 drives the 7 Otokaboo 7pc+ according to the control data of the transmission signal. and sends a control signal Ve to the load 3 to control the operation of the load 3, and also receives a monitor signal Vm sent from the load 3 (described in detail later) via a coupler PC2, and responds to this monitor signal Vm. The monitored data is returned to the controller 1 during the return period set by the return waiting period signal of the controller 1's transmission signal. By the way, IFU2 of this example
Here, as the control signal Ve for controlling the operation of the load 3, the same signal as explained in the conventional example is used.

The monitor signal V-, which is a feature of this embodiment, will be explained below. Note that the load 3 will be explained as an electric storm door. now,
When the control signal Ve shown in FIG. 2(b) is input to the electric storm door 3, for example, if the electric storm door 3 is completely closed, it operates in the opening direction, and if it is completely open, it operates in the closing direction. works. Here, in the case of this embodiment, when the load 3 is in an intermediate operating state, that is, when it is in the middle of being opened and closed, the monitor consisting of a pulse train signal as shown in FIG. Send signal V- to IFU2.

Here, the monitor signal V- consisting of this pulse train signal is a signal similar to the dynamic signal Vmd described in the conventional example. The IFU 2 can determine from this monitor signal v wheel that the load 3 is in the process of opening or closing, and at this time the controller 1
If accessed from , control the monitoring data indicating that it is in the process of opening or closing? Return it to 1. When the electric storm door 3 is completely opened and closed, a high level or low level monitor signal V- is sent to the IFU 2. This monitor signal V- is a signal similar to the static signal Vms. In this case, the IFU 2 can determine from this monitor signal that the load 3 has been completely opened and closed, and when accessed from the controller 1, the IFU 2 can display monitoring data indicating that the electric storm door 3 has been completely opened and closed. It is sent back to controller 1. As described above, according to this embodiment, since the monitor signal ■so is different when the electric storm door 3 is in the middle of closing m and when it is completely opened/closed, the monitor signal Vso to I
The FU 2 can discriminate between the halfway opening/closing state of the electric storm door 3 and the fully opened/closed state, so that the controller 1 side can also recognize the halfway opening/closing condition of the electric storm door 3 and the completely WR closed condition. Therefore, for example, if the electric storm door 3 continues to operate even though it is fully opened or closed, or if the operation of the electric storm door 3 is stopped while it is left half-open by mistake.
Note that the control signal V of this embodiment
Since c is based on the Japan Electrical Manufacturers Association standard (JEM standard 1427), it is possible to control the operation even with a load 3 such as a near-condigi fin.

[Example 21 Other embodiments of the present invention are shown in FIGS. 3 to 5.

In this embodiment, the load 3 can be easily controlled to any operating state by the controller 1, and for this purpose, control data for operating the load 3 in a specific state direction and stopping the operation in the specific state direction are provided. The controller 1 sends control data to the IFU 2, and the IFU 2, which receives this control data, generates a control signal Ve corresponding to each of the above control data.
is sent to the load 3 to control the operation.

To specifically explain this using an example in which the load 3 is an electric storm door, the electric rain door may be operated in the direction of opening or closing, or the operation thereof may be stopped.

I F tJ 2 receives the above control data from the above controller 1 and sends the next control signal V to the load 3.
Send e. In other words, I! As shown in IS3 diagrams (b) to (d), the control am+ for opening, closing control, and stop control of load 3 is
Let the control signal Ve be expressed by a combination of pulse signals with a narrow pulse width and a pulse signal with a wide pulse width, respectively.

In addition, FIG. 3(a) shows a control signal based on JEM standard 1427. In this way, the load 3 can be easily controlled to any operating state. For example, when the load 3 is an electric rain door, In the first embodiment, when the fully closed electric storm door was stopped in the cow 1911 state and then the electric storm door was operated, the operation could only be controlled in the direction of opening.
According to this embodiment, it is possible to operate the electric rain shutters in the direction toward the RFI, and the controllability of the operation of the load 3 is improved.

Note that the control signal Vc may be in the form of a pulse train signal and the pulse width may be changed for each control, as shown in FIG.
Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 5, it may be a 6-bit data signal, for example.

Here, each of the above control signals Ve is a signal that deviates from the Japan Electrical Manufacturers Association standard (JEM standard @1427). Therefore, even if the above signal is sent to the load 3 that conforms to the standard, since the control signal Vc is out of the standard,
Load 3 does not malfunction.

[Embodiment 31] Still another embodiment is shown in FIG. 6. In this embodiment, the operating state of the load 3 can be more precisely monitored using the monitor signal V-, which is different from the first embodiment. The pulse width of the monitor signal V-, which is a pulse train signal indicating the intermediate operating state of the example, is variable according to the operating state of the load 3.

A case in which the load 3 is an electric storm door will be specifically explained. In the fully closed or fully open state, the first
Similarly to the embodiment, monitor signal of low and /% low level ■-
is sent to IFU2. Then, when the operation starts in either the open or close direction, a monitor signal 2 consisting of a pulse train signal is sent to the IFU 2. Here, when operating in the opening direction, the pulse width becomes wider as it opens, and conversely, when operating in the closing direction, the pulse width becomes narrower as it closes. The pulse width of the monitor signal V-, which is a pulse train signal, is such that it indicates the current operating amount of the load 3 in an intermediate operating state in an analog manner.

Incidentally, although the above description has been made using an HA system as an example, it goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied to other remote monitoring and control systems such as a telephone control system.

Effect of the invention 1 As described above, the present invention sends a monitor signal from the load to the interface unit indicating that it is in an intermediate operating state, so that the intermediate operating state can also be monitored on the controller side, and at least two specific states can be monitored. Devices that have intermediate operating states up to this point can also be considered as loads.

In addition, the controller sends control data for operating the load in a specific state direction and control data for stopping the load in the specific state direction from the controller to the interface unit, and the interface unit sends control signals corresponding to each of the above control data. If the signal is sent to the load to control the operation of the load, it will be sent to the controller and the load can be easily controlled to any operating state, improving load controllability.

Furthermore, if the monitor signal indicates the current operating amount of the load in an intermediate operating state in analog form, the controller can understand the situation, such as how far the electric rain shutters are opened, allowing for more detailed monitoring of the load's operation. can be done.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

I! FIG. 141 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of an IFU according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the same operation as above, FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing control signals of another embodiment, 5 is an explanatory diagram showing different control signal forms, FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a monitor signal of another embodiment, FIG. 7 is a system #lI diagram of the HA system as a conventional example, and FIG. is JE
Explanatory diagram showing control signals compliant with M standard 1427, No. 9
The figure is an explanatory diagram of a monitor signal based on JEM standard 1427. 1 is a controller, 2 is an IFU, 3 is a load, ■C is a control signal, and V is a monitor signal.

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) The controller and the interface unit are connected via a transmission line, signals are exchanged between the controller and the interface unit, and the interface unit controls the operation of the load according to control data from the controller. In a remote monitoring and control system in which an interface unit monitors the operating state of a load and sends the monitoring data to a controller, the interface unit controls the operation of a load that has an intermediate operating state before reaching at least two specific states. monitor,
A remote monitoring and control system comprising, when the load is in an intermediate operating state, a monitor signal indicating that the load is in the intermediate operating state is sent from the load to an interface unit. (2) Control data for operating the load in the direction of a specific state and control data for stopping the operation in the direction of the specific state are sent from the controller to the interface unit, and the interface unit sends control signals corresponding to each of the above control data to the load. 2. The remote monitoring and control system according to claim 1, wherein the remote monitoring and control system controls the operation of the load by transmitting the information to the remote controller. (3) The remote monitoring and control system according to claim 1, wherein the monitor signal indicates the current operating amount of the load in an intermediate operating state in an analog manner.