JPH05227318A - Equipment control system by pager and equipment used therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a malfunction when an application device coupled with a pager is controlled by selecting the number of digits of an ID number for counter-device to be longer than that of a pager for counter-person and devising a system such that the calling is attained only with an abbreviation number. CONSTITUTION:The number of digits of an ID number of a pager for a counter device is selected longer than that of an ID number of a pager for a counter- person, a calling to the pager is implemented by the automatic dialer (the ID number is automatically sent from an automatic dial signal transmitter) through the operation of an abbreviation number. That is, while the number of digits of the ID number for a counter-person pager is 10, the number of digits of the ID number for a counter-device pager is 11, then even when the ID number of a counter-person call is wrong, the control pager is inoperative from the counter-person calls. Thus, a mistake by manual operation is prevented by devising the system such that all digits of the ID number are dialed automatically by having only to depress an abbreviation code key (function key for control and person name key for counter-person pager) without key entry of the ID number at every occasion of the utilization by the person.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention refers to a pager (pager) to control a specific device, that is, a device having a single function, or a function in a device having multiple functions, a sequence control of a series of devices or a plurality of devices. The present invention relates to a device control system using a pager.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Pager systems have recently become popular, but about 1
It has been found that false calls occur with a probability of 2 in 00. This is mostly due to human incorrect keystrokes. There are almost no measures taken against false calls in specific devices activated by conventional pagers. The only one disclosed is that disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-167255 (Japanese Patent Application No. 60-8659). Its content is 2 in one pager
This is a method in which a device having one ID (identification) number (telephone number) is used, a call having both ID numbers is detected, and a specific device is controlled by an AND condition between the two.

[0003]

The pager system often causes an error in the ID number before the call is accepted and the ID number is called, and the error occurs about twice per 100 calls. It is said that. This is my I
It means that there is a probability of a false call that a third party call different from the D number accidentally activates its own pager, and even if it calls its own pager, it does not It means that there is a probability of calling the pager and not calling its own pager (missed call).

It is said that the main cause of these problems is that a person pushes a wrong key when he / she inputs a key, or carelessly touches another key. In a pager calling an ordinary person, these are not big problems, but in the case of device control, unintended control or uncontrolled control does not cause serious loss, danger, or accident. You could invite them. The present invention provides this measure.

Although only the measures disclosed in the above publication prevent malfunctions when mistakenly called by oneself, when one's call mistakenly goes to the pager of a third party and does not call its own pager. There is a problem that the AND condition is not satisfied and the probability that the specific device cannot be operated (controlled) (non-operation) is very high. Further, this conventional method has the inconvenience that the type of pager to be used is limited to one having one or more ID numbers, and thus spreads the spread.

[0006]

According to the present invention, the digit number of the pager ID number for the device is made longer than the ID number of the pager number for the person. The call to the pager is
Except that the ID number is automatically transmitted from the auto dialer (automatic dial signal transmitter) by abbreviated number operation, I
Disable sending of D number. The ID number is not disclosed to the user.

The ID number is transmitted a plurality of times, and if the self ID number is detected a plurality of times within a predetermined time, response control is performed. The invention of claim 1 relates to the construction of a pager system, and is mainly intended to prevent an erroneous operation due to a human erroneous key input. The pager for personal use currently accounts for 100%, and it is considered that the enormous user makes a wrong key input about twice every 100 times. Of course, the probability that each pager device or computer malfunctions due to noise or the like is also included, but it seems to be less than human error input.

Although the number of digits of the ID number of the interpersonal pager is 10 digits, the ID number of the control pager is, for example, 11 digits.
If you increase the number of digits, most interpersonal calls will temporarily
Even if the number is wrong, the control pager remains stationary for interpersonal calls. If the number of digits of the control ID number is longer than the number of digits of the interpersonal ID number, in the opposite case, if the call key operation to the interpersonal pager is interrupted, the control ID is erroneously set.
This is to prevent the number of digits from being used.

Rather than keying in an ID number each time a person uses it, simply pressing a short code key (a function key for control, a person name key for interpersonal use) with an auto dialer
Automatically dial all digits. Therefore, human error can be prevented. This is a compact and inexpensive realization as a dedicated auto dialer that registers its ID number (1 to multiple types) to the pager, and if the communication service company performs the registration, it does not need a registration key group or display unit. The auto dialer can be made smaller and cheaper. Further, it is also possible to supply a dedicated auto dialer having a plurality of same-number registrations to a user, his / her family, a colleague, etc. for one pager.

By preventing the user from making a call without using the auto dialer without disclosing the ID number to the user, erroneous key input can be completely prevented. The invention of claim 2 is an improvement in practicality of the invention of claim 1 so that two or more pagers can be called by one auto dialer, pager ID numbers other than those for control can be registered, and other than the pager. The user can freely register the telephone number and the like.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in spite of the above countermeasures, when a human erroneous key input or a pager system malfunction occurs, a malfunction of a specific device controlled by the pager receiving the call is prevented. .. That is, after calling the user's own ID number for the first time and receiving the announcement from the service station, the call is hung up again and the same ID number or the second ID number for the second time is set again for an appropriate time. Predetermined time T at intervals
The call detection circuit on the pager side
A call and a second call are detected, and the existence of both parties is AN
The pager responding device is configured to control the specific device under the D condition. The probability that both the first call and the second call happen to be false calls are the squares of the above probabilities, and the probability that the first false call and the second false call continue for a predetermined time T (up to 1 minute) becomes even smaller. Malfunction due to a call can be prevented. This becomes almost complete when the third call is ANDed. The above is M = 2, N =
2, and M ₁ = N ₁ = 1, M ₂ = N ₂ = 1 or ΣM _i =
2, ΣN _i = 2.

When the user's own ID number is called, the pager of another third party is called twice in 100 times, and the own pager does not enter the called state, so that the specific device is not controlled. That is, it becomes inoperative (missed call). M (ΣM _i )
= 2, N (ΣN _i ) = 2, if the first call or the second call is a lost call, the AND condition is not satisfied, so the probability of inactivity is 2/100 + 2 /
Since 100 = 4/100, the probability of non-operation increases remarkably. 1 if M (ΣM _i ) = 2 and N (ΣN _i ) ≧ 1
It is possible to lose the number of times and the inactivity probability decreases to about 4/10000, but when N (ΣN _i ) = 1, it cannot be determined whether the detected 1 call is due to a true call or an incorrect call. ..
The probability of false call is about 4/100.

Further, the third call is made. 1st, 2nd,
At least two calls N in the third call M (ΣM _i ) = 3
When (ΣN _i ) ≧ 2 is detected, it is determined that the call is a true call, and if the specific device is controlled, one of the three calls can be lost. The inactivity probability is as low as about 12 / 10,000. As to the detected two calls, the probability that two false calls are detected within the predetermined time T (about 1 minute) is extremely low as already described, and one of the three calls is lost,
The probability that one call is a miscall when two calls are detected and that one call is a false call within T time is extremely low.
The false call probability is about 12/10000. Therefore, the detected 2 calls can be regarded as a true call. Therefore at least M
If (or ΣM _i ) = 3 and N (or ΣN _i ) ≧ 2, there is no malfunction due to an erroneous call, and one missed call out of three times is allowed, so no malfunction due to a miscall does not occur. It is possible to reliably control the specific device. If M (or ΣM _i ) and N (or ΣN _i ) are further increased as 4 and 2, 4 and 3, respectively, the certainty is further increased.

Since it is inconvenient for the user to call the pager many times, considering the importance of the contents controlled by the response device and the risk of malfunction, N = 1, 2,
It is desired to be able to selectively set which of 3, ...

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the invention of claims 1 and 2 is shown in FIG. The pager-only auto dialer 10 of this illustrated example has four kinds of function keys 11A, 11B, 11C and 11D, each of which is CAR (preparation for starting the car), BATH (bath water heater) AIR-CON (air conditioner Start) L
It corresponds to IGHT (lighting control of gate lights, entrance lights, and garage lights). In this example, the CALL key 12 is used to prevent malfunction.
CALL key 12 and function keys 11A to 11 are provided.
When any one of D is pressed at the same time, the ID number corresponding to the pressed function key is read from the memory, and the read number is converted into a push button dial signal of the telephone. By speaker 13
To acoustically couple the dialer 10 to the mouthpiece of the telephone handset 14 as shown in FIG. 1C for transmission over the telephone network. In the illustrated example, the operation stop control is not performed, but either one can be assigned to stop. In the case of BATH, if the pager is used only for starting, after that, boiling water is brought to an automatic stop or an automatic hot water temperature control state is entered.

In the illustrated example, the keys 11A, 11B, 11C,
Corresponding to 11D, a total of four pagers are required, one for each pager. When one pager having two or more types of ID numbers is used, ON / OFF of one device and various states can be designated. When the cover 15 is removed from the rear surface of the auto dialer 10, the battery 16 and the contact plug 17 are exposed, and the contact plug 17 has an ID number registration key group and an ID number registration provided with a liquid crystal display. Can be connected. By doing so, the dedicated auto dialer 10 can be made small and inexpensive, and can be supplied in combination with a pager.
It is also possible to supply a plurality of auto dialers 10 having the same registration number to family members or work groups. It is desirable that this registration be performed by the communication service company. Furthermore, it is desirable not to disclose the ID number to the user. This is because, if disclosed, there is a risk of performing a key input manually without using the auto dialer 10 and making an erroneous operation at that time.

In the illustrated example, the key 18 at the entrance or office entrance
Although an example in which the key chains are connected with each other is shown, it can be freely used. It is convenient to lend the ID number register to the user, supply it for sale, etc., and to separately provide a memory area in which the user can register and write, since it can also be used as an auto dialer such as a telephone number. In this case, the registration of the communication service company and the registration of the user should be separated by a plug, special code, switch, etc. to prevent the user from entering the registration area of the communication service. Is desirable.

Next, an embodiment of the invention of claim 3 is shown in FIG. 3 (a) is the case of P = 1 in 3 (b),
(C) is a pager of 3 (b) having two or more ID numbers, instead of using a plurality of pagers having only one ID number to perform the same operation as 3 (b). Is. An example in which the number of calls M (ΣM _i ) of the same ID number is 3 and the minimum number of call detections N (ΣN _i ) is 2 will be described. This is because this case has the highest certainty per number of calls and is practical. If M and N are further increased, the certainty increases, but the operability decreases. In this case, (a) when one pager has one ID number and (b) 1
Consider, for example, when a single pager has two ID numbers. In (b), it is sufficient to make a call with M ₁ = 2 and M ₂ = 1 and operate with N ₁ + N ₂ ≧ 2. Calling two types of ID numbers is useful for preventing the cause of incorrect memory in order to prevent human error, but the same ID
It is complicated in operation as compared with (a) where a number is called three times.

A case will be described in which one pager 20 has two types of ID numbers ID1 and ID2 as a typical example in FIG. The pager 20 shows different output patterns corresponding to ID1 and ID2 when called. For example I
For D1, the beeping sound and the light emission of the light emitting diode of the time series pattern corresponding to this are output,
For ID2, a beeping sound, a beeping sound, and the light emission of the light emitting diode are output.

The output of the ringing sound or light from the pager 20 at the time of a call is detected by the sensor 21. A pager 20 and a sensor 21 are installed in a shielding box to shield from external noise. From the viewpoint of easy shielding, it is preferable to use light. Hereinafter, description will be made assuming that light is used. The time-series light emission pattern output from the light emitting diode of the pager 20 at the time of being called is converted into an electric signal by the sensor 21. Generally, the output of the pager 20 continues for about 20 seconds by one call, and automatically stops.

The time-series pattern discrimination circuit 22 includes the sensor 21.
Only the particular time-series pattern of the output of is extracted and recognized. Prior to use, various output patterns of the pager 20 can be learned by the time series pattern determination circuit 22. This is useful not only for discriminating the type of pattern but also for eliminating the detection of external noise. The time-series pattern discriminating circuit 22 sends the type of the detected pattern (100, 110, 101, 111, ... By encoding) to the microcomputer 23. If the first call is the code 100, the microcomputer 23 adds 1 to the memory having the address of the code 100.

The user hangs up the phone and dials ID1 again. When the entire system operates normally, the microcomputer 23 adds 1 to the memory data at the address of code 100 and 2
And When the user again hangs up the telephone and then dials ID2, the microcomputer 23 sets the corresponding address 110
Add 1 to the memory of. If the microcomputer 23 is instructed to look at the count values N ₁ and N ₂ of the memories having the addresses 110 and 100 by the forecasting program, the sum of the counts of both addresses N ₁ + N ₂ ≧ 2 Drives a relay 25, and the relay 25 controls ON / OFF of a signal line or a power line of a specific controlled machine.

Since it is unknown to the user whether or not it has been normally detected, the microcomputer 23 makes three calls, but the microcomputer 23 uses N ₁ + N
_{When 2} = 2, it operates and drives the relay 25. The N ₁ + N ₂ value can be selectively set by the user using the reception detection number setting switch 26. Microcomputer 2
The count determination of 3 is programmed so as to be valid when it is performed within the predetermined time T. The value of the predetermined time T may be 30 seconds for one call and about 2 minutes for three calls. If the required number is not added within the predetermined time T, the count value of the output of the time-series pattern determination circuit 22 is incorrect, and the microcomputer 23 resets the memory of all addresses.
The predetermined time T is made from the built-in clock circuit 24.
In FIG. 2, parts such as a power source that are not directly related to the invention are omitted.

It is also possible to prevent erroneous calls by using message output from the pager together. Currently, messages are only displayed on the liquid crystal display, but in the future, if the pager has a message output function using electric signals, optical signals, electromagnetic wave signals, etc., it will be a very useful method. Increasing the number of digits of the signal including the message greatly reduces the possibility of false call. On the one hand, however, it increases the possibility of a lost call. The latter can be remedied by correcting the error in the message using a generally known error correction code or the like. Compared with the case where a call is detected a plurality of times, it can be realized by one call (although the number of digits is long), and there is an advantage that operations such as disconnection and connection of the telephone are unnecessary.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, erroneous key input by a human being is prevented, and even if an erroneous input is made, an erroneous call or a lost call can be made by making relatively few calls. Since the call can be prevented, the pager can be used to accurately check various devices from a remote point.
You will be able to control it reliably and safely.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1A is a front view showing an example of an auto dialer used in the present invention, B is a rear view thereof, and C is a perspective view showing a usage state thereof.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a main part of an embodiment of claim 3;

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A device control system by a pager, wherein at least one of the following configurations is used in a system for controlling a specific device coupled to the pager by calling the pager. a) ID number (telephone number) of the pager used for control
Make the number of digits longer than that of the pager used for general use. b) Calling the pager ID number is possible only from the auto dialer by abbreviated number operation. The ID numbers in c) and b) are managed by the communication service company and are not disclosed to the user. 2. The auto dialer used in the system according to claim 1, further comprising any one of the following means. a) The ID number of one pager that is not disclosed to the user is provided, and the ID numbers of other pagers are provided if necessary (not disclosed).
Is provided. b) In addition to the non-disclosure ID number, the disclosure ID number of the pager used for general use is also registered. c) The pager's ID number and / or telephone number is registered by the user, in addition to the pager's non-disclosure ID number. 3. A specific device is controlled by detecting a pager call.
At least one of the following means in a pager response device
It is characterized by having two. a) Calls of the same ID number M (M ≧ 2) times within a predetermined time T
In contrast, when at least N calls (1 ≦ N ≦ M) are detected
Means to respond to. b) One pager has two or more different ID numbers
Pager is used for each i (i = 1, 2, ... P) type
The ID number is called Mi times, and the ID number
The number of call detections Ni (0 ≦ Ni ≦ Mi) of all P types
Respond when the ID number is detected within the predetermined time T
Means to However, P = 2, M₁= N₁= 1, M ₂= N₂= 1
except for. c) At least two pagers with different ID numbers
They are used at the same time to detect that each of them has received a call within a predetermined time T.
Means to respond when taken out. d) The detection circuits N and Ni in the above a), b), and c)
Means that the user can select. 4. An ID is used by using a pager which is provided with a message output for the device other than the output for the person (sound, light emission, vibration).
The message signal sent following the number is detected and I
A pager responding device characterized in that means for responding to an AND condition with an interpersonal output by D number detection is provided.