JPH03201791A - Remote controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To recognize the presence of a fault in a main body device and a remote control transmitter-receiver in a short time by sending a transmission request signal to the main body device when a state signal from the main body device cannot be received for a prescribed period and confirming whether or not the state signal is returned from the main body device as a return signal. CONSTITUTION:When an ACK packet P2 cannot be received within a prescribed time, a retrial counter is incremented, The retrial counter is an up-counter which recognizes it as a fault when no ACK packet P2 is returned even if a transmission request is sent for several times because it is not proper that absence of ACK to only one transmission request cannot be regarded as a fault. When an ACK is received before the retrial counter expires, the counter is initialized. When no ACK is received even when the transmission request is sent for several number of times, the retrial counter expires and a communication error code is outputted to a display device 5 via an I/O 3a. Thus, the fault is recognized in a short time and mis-display is prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a remote control device for remotely controlling hot water appliances and the like.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Conventionally, as a method for accessing a line between a hot water appliance body and a remote control, a method using a mixture of a contention method and a holing-lefting method has been used. In other words, when an operation is performed on the remote control, the content of the operation is immediately sent to the main device (contention method), and even if no operation is performed on the remote control and there is no change in the state of the main device, the content is sent from the main device at regular intervals. Sends a status signal to each remote controller and checks to see if there is a reply from each remote controller (hauling-refting method) to prevent discrepancies between the main unit's status and the remote controller display, and to prevent malfunctions in the remote controller. It was supposed to be checked to see if there were any.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, with the above configuration, if an abnormality occurs in the main device and communication becomes impossible, the remote control will recognize the abnormality in the main device unless the remote control is operated. Because there was no way to do this, there was a possibility that the remote control would show that it was working even though the main device was stopped. Also,
Even if an abnormality occurs in the remote control transmitting/receiving device and communication becomes impossible, the main unit can recognize the abnormality by polling, but the remote control itself cannot recognize the abnormality until it is operated. .

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a remote control that recognizes the abnormality within a short time and does not display errors when an abnormality occurs in the transmitting/receiving device of the main unit or the remote controller and communication becomes impossible.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a display device that displays the status of the main device, a transmitting/receiving device that exchanges signals with the main device and other remote controllers, and a display device that displays the status of the main device and another remote controller. The device is equipped with a transmission request means for sending a transmission request signal to the main device to check the status of the main device and the transmitting/receiving device if no status signal is transmitted from the main device.

Operation When the remote control device of the present invention cannot receive a status signal from the main device for a certain period of time, it sends a transmission request signal to the main device and checks whether a status signal is returned from the main device as a reply. By checking this, the presence or absence of an abnormality in the main unit and the remote control transmitting/receiving device can be recognized within a short time.

EMBODIMENT A remote control device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a remote control system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The remote controller 1 is composed of a transmitting/receiving device 2 that exchanges signals with the main unit and other remote controllers, a microcomputer 3 that performs communication control and input/output control, an operating device 4, and a display device 5 that displays hot water temperature and time. There is. The microcomputer 3 includes a 110 section 3a that receives and receives signals from the operating section 4 and outputs data to the display device 5, a ROM section 3b that stores control programs, and a RAM section 3c that stores data. It is made up of. Incidentally, the transmission request means 3b+ is provided in the ROM section 3b.

FIG. 3 shows the packet structure of communication data. Communication data is transmitted using a time-division serial signal transmission method, and includes a sending address SA indicating the address of the sending source, a receiving address DA indicating the address of the receiving side, a control word CW indicating the type of data, transmission information DATA, and an error detection code. CR
From C to #11fi, it has been done. Note that the control word CW is 0 in the case of normal data. Also, the fourth
What is shown in the figure is a transmission request bucket 1-(Pi) and an ack packet (P2). The control word CW of the transmission request packet (P') is determined to be l, and the receiving side determines that it has received the transmission request packet (Pl) based on this control word CW being l. P2) is a packet that is transmitted when the main unit or remote controller indicated by the reception address DA normally receives the communication data in Fig. 3, and the control word CW is determined to be 2.The data transmission side is It is determined that the communication is complete by receiving the unque packet message (P2).

Next, referring to FIG. 2, the transmission request means in the program in the ROM 5b will be explained. When the communication system is working normally, it receives transmissions from the main unit at regular intervals, and initializes timer 1 (Sl) each time it receives data. If no data is received, the timer l goes over L (S2) and the transmission request flag is set (S3).

On the other hand, the transmitter of the main routine first checks whether the operation flag is set (S4). This flag is set in RAMac when a switch is acquired. If the operation flag is set, normal data transmission is performed (S5).

If the operation flag is not set, check the transmission request flag set in the timer interrupt routine (S6), and if this flag is set, transmit the transmission request signal (S7).

In other words, if there is no data transmission from the main device within a certain period, a transmission request signal will be transmitted. When the main device on the receiving side receives a packet whose control word CW is l, it sends a transmission request packet (Pi) and an ACK packet (P2) as proof of receipt before transmitting the status signal. At this time, the remote control side checks whether this ACK packet (P2) can be received (S8). Book packets (
Check whether P2) can be received. S9) If a book, that is, a packet whose control word CW is 2, can be received, the transmission request flag is dropped. 5IO) The transmission ends.

In other words, at this time, it is determined that no abnormality was found in the main device or the transmitting/receiving device.

If the book packet l-(P2) cannot be received within a certain period of time, the retry counter is increased (Sll
). The retry counter means that even if there is no book for just a few transmission requests, it is immediately recognized as abnormal, so even if several transmission requests are sent, the book packet (P2)
This is an up counter that recognizes it as an abnormality when it does not return. If a book is received before the retry counter exceeds the limit, the error counter is initialized (S12). Note that this transmission routine is a routine that is periodically executed, and as long as the transmission request flag is set, the transmission request bucket (Pi) is periodically sent. Now, if the book cannot be received even after sending a transmission request several times, the retry counter is over L (S13), and the display device 5
A communication error code is output via I/03a (S14). A communication error code is a number that is not normally displayed and is displayed on a 7-segment LED to notify you of an abnormality in the main unit or transmitting/receiving device.

As mentioned above, after confirming several times that communication is impossible,
This is an error message.

Effects of the Invention With the configuration described above, the remote control device of the present invention can recognize the abnormality within a short time and prevent erroneous display even if an abnormality occurs in the main unit or the transmitting/receiving device of the remote control itself and communication becomes impossible. This prevents this and displays the status correctly.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a remote control system diagram of the transmission requesting means in an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a schematic flowchart of the transmission requesting means, Fig. 3 is the packet composition country of the communication data, and Fig. 4a is the same transmission FIG. 4 is a request packet configuration diagram, and FIG. 4 is a book packet configuration diagram. 1... Remote control, 2... Transmitting/receiving device,
3...Microcomputer, 3b...
・ROM section, 3b. ...... Transmission request means, 4...... Operating device,
5...Display device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A display device that displays the status of the main device, a transmitting/receiving device that exchanges signals with the main device and other remote controllers, and a transmission request to the main device if no status signal is sent from the main device within a certain period. A remote control device comprising a transmission request means for sending a signal and checking the status of the main device and the transmitting/receiving device.