JPH06137557A - Remote controller for housing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To achieve longer life of a battery power source by optimizing an operation of supplying a power source to a transmitting/receiving means to reduce a circuit current while a radio wave signal emitted from other sources is detected to prevent possible collision. CONSTITUTION:When a wireless radio wave signal is transmitted to a housing equipment from a remote controller, a receiving means 1 is operated to check the vacancy of a communication circuit. At the same time, a transmitting signal generating section 6 is operated to put the operation on a standby position. Then, after the checking of the vacancy of the communication circuit, a power source of the receiving means 1 is turned OFF while an output amplifier 7 is actuated to emit 2 transmission signal to an antenna 4.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a remote control device for housing equipment for remotely controlling housing equipment using a radio wave signal, and more particularly to battery-operated housing equipment requiring low power consumption. The present invention relates to a remote control device for equipment.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There is a hot water supply device as this type of housing equipment. The conventional technique will be described below based on an example of a water heater.

In recent years, a hot water supply apparatus has a heat source unit installed outdoors,
It is becoming mainstream to provide an operation section indoors and operate it by wiring it to the control section of the heat source device. On the other hand, in order to simplify the installation work and improve the operability, it is desired to provide an operation unit at an arbitrary position and to perform remote operation.

Conventionally, a hot water supply device of this type has been disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 57-7.
The one shown in Japanese Patent No. 7671 has been devised. The configuration will be described below with reference to FIG. As shown in the figure, a hot water supply device 31 installed outdoors has a burner 32 for gas combustion, a solenoid valve 33 for controlling the gas supplied to the burner 32, and a control circuit 34, which are provided indoors. It is composed of a receiver 36 that receives a radio wave signal from the transmitter 35 and a return signal 37 that returns the radio wave signal to the receiving mechanism of the transmitter 35. When tapping hot water from the faucet 38, a radio signal is transmitted from the transmitter 35 to the receiver 36 and input to the control circuit 34, and the burner 32 is controlled by the gas control solenoid valve 33.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional configuration, when a radio signal is transmitted from the transmitter provided in the room to the hot water supply device, it collides with a radio signal of the same frequency emitted from another at the same time. There was a problem that could not be avoided. Therefore, in such a case, it is common that the transmitter side also has a receiving function, and when transmitting, the receiver is first turned on to confirm that no radio wave is emitted, and then the signal is transmitted. In such a case, two configurations are possible. In the first configuration, the receiver and the transmitter are turned on at the same time, and while confirming that no radio wave is emitted from the receiver, the transmitter is controlled and the transmitting operation is performed. In the second configuration, first, only the power of the receiver is turned on, it is confirmed that no radio wave is emitted from the other, then the power of the receiver is turned off, and then the power of the transmitter is turned on to perform transmission control. It is a thing.

However, in the case of the first configuration, since the receiver and the transmitter are turned on at the same time, the circuit current value becomes large, and in the case of the battery-powered remote controller as the subject of the present invention, the battery life is increased. In addition to the shortening of the battery, when the battery weakens and the internal impedance increases, the voltage drop due to the internal impedance increases and the output voltage of the battery decreases. Next, in the case of the second configuration, the power of the receiver and the transmitter are not turned on at the same time, which is advantageous in terms of the above-mentioned battery life and a decrease in output voltage due to an increase in internal impedance. After confirming that the emitted radio waves are not emitted, it takes a certain amount of time to turn on the transmitter power and actually emit the transmission signals to the housing equipment. However, there is a problem that the chance of collision with the transmitted radio signal increases.

The present invention is intended to solve the above problems. When transmitting a radio wave signal from a remote controller to equipment, a radio wave signal of the same line emitted from another is detected to prevent a collision, and a receiver is provided. Another object of the present invention is to provide a battery-powered remote control device for housing equipment by controlling the circuit current supplied to the transmitter to a necessary minimum.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has a transmitting means for transmitting a radio wave signal to a housing equipment, a receiving means for receiving the radio wave signal from the transmitting means, and the transmitting means. Means for supplying circuit power to the means and receiver power means for supplying circuit power to the receiving means, wherein the transmitting means supplies a modulator for modulating transmission data and a carrier signal. A transmission signal generator for forming a transmission signal, such as an oscillator, and an output amplifier for amplifying the output of the transmission signal and emitting it from an antenna, and the transmitter power supply means is a power supply for the transmission signal generator. It comprises a first transmitter power supply means for supplying power and a second transmitter power supply means for supplying power to the output amplifier.

Further, when transmitting a radio wave signal to a housing equipment, work for turning on the receiver power supply means to activate the receiver and monitor the communication line, and the first transmitter power supply means. Is turned on so that the transmission signal can be transmitted at any time in parallel, and after the communication line becomes idle and transmission is possible, the receiving unit power supply means is turned off and the second The transmission / reception control means for turning on the transmission part power supply means and amplifying and outputting the transmission signal is provided.

[0010]

According to the present invention, when transmitting the radio wave signal from the transmitting means of the remote control device to the housing equipment by the above structure, first, the receiving section power means is turned on to activate the receiving means and the communication line is idle. Make sure that. Further, during this period, the first transmitter power supply means is turned on to operate the transmission signal generator to prepare for transmission. When the preparation for transmission is completed and the free state of the communication line is confirmed, by turning off the receiving unit power supply means and turning on the second transmitting unit power supply means, the transmission signal can be immediately emitted from the antenna to the space. It realizes highly reliable wireless signal transmission without collision of wireless radio signals while keeping the current to the minimum necessary.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a circuit block diagram of a remote control device for housing equipment, wherein 1 is a receiving means, 2 is a transmitting means, 3 is a transmission / reception control means, 4 is an antenna, and 5 is a power source.

The receiving means 1 is an RF amplifier 11 and a mixer 1.
2, IF amplifier 13, wave detector 14, carrier detector 1
5, a local oscillator composed of VCO 16 and PLL 17, etc. constitutes a super-heterodyne detection system. The radio signal coming from the antenna 4 is the RF amplifier 1
After being amplified by 1, the mixer 12 mixes it with the oscillation signal from the local oscillator to perform frequency conversion. After being amplified by the IF amplifier 13, it is demodulated to the original data signal by the detector 14 and input to the transmission / reception control means 3 as the RDATA signal to be decoded. The output of the IF amplifier 13 is input to the carrier detector 15, and the carrier detector 15 outputs the carrier detection signal CDET to the transmission / reception control means 3 only when a radio wave signal of a predetermined frequency is input from the antenna 4. The local oscillator formed by the VCO 16 and the PLL 17 has a configuration in which the oscillation frequency fR is selectively set by the RSET signal from the transmission / reception control means 3 and returns an RLOCK signal when the oscillation stabilizes.

Power supply to the receiving means 1 is performed from the receiving part power supply means 8 and is turned on / off by the RPWR signal from the transmission / reception control means 3.

The transmitting means 2 is composed of a transmitting signal generating section 6 and an output amplifier 7. In the transmitting signal generating section 6, a transmitter constituted by a VCO 18 and a PLL 19 supplies a carrier signal, and a modulator 20 transmits / receives control means. The carrier signal is modulated with the transmission data SDATA output from the signal generator 3 to form a transmission signal. The carrier signal oscillator composed of the VCO 18 and the PLL 19 receives the SSET signal from the transmission / reception control means 3 to generate an oscillation frequency fS.
Is selected and set, and if oscillation stabilizes, SLOC
It is configured to return a K signal.

Power supply to the transmission signal generator 6 and the output amplifier 7 is performed by the first transmitter power supply means 9 and the second transmitter power supply means 10, respectively, and the SPWR1 signal and SPWR2 from the transmission / reception control means 3 are supplied. ON / OFF is controlled by a signal.

The transmission / reception control means 3 is, as described above, the transmission means 1, the reception means 2 and the respective power supply means 8,
Although it controls 9 and 10, it can be effectively realized by using a microcomputer and controlling the program.

The receiver power supply means 8, the first transmitter power supply means 9 and the second transmitter power supply means 10 are connected to a power supply 5 composed of a battery.

Next, the operation will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, (a) shows the RPWR signal for turning on the receiving section power supply means 8 to activate the receiving means 1, and (b) shows V of the receiving section.
The time tR from the output of the RSET signal for setting the frequency of the local oscillator configured by the CO 16 and the PLL 17 to the stable oscillation of the local oscillator and the response of the RLOCK signal is shown. (C) SPWR for turning on the first transmitter power supply means 9 to activate the transmission signal generator 6
1 signal, (d) S for setting the frequency of the carrier signal oscillator composed of the VCO 18 and PLL 19 of the transmitter.
After the SET signal is output, oscillation stabilizes and SLOC
The time tS until the response of the K signal is shown. (E) shows the SPWR2 signal for turning on the second transmitter power supply means 10 to activate the output amplifier 7.

That is, in the section I, when transmitting a radio wave signal from the remote control device to the housing equipment, it is checked whether or not a radio wave is emitted from another person, that is, whether or not the communication line is idle. In this section, the receiving means 1 is activated during the time tR, and the idle state of the communication line is checked during the next time tT.

The following section II is a section for emitting a radio wave signal through the antenna 4 when the communication line is idle. Preparation for transmission has already been completed at time t of the preceding section I.
Since it is completed in S, transmission is possible immediately.

According to the structure of this embodiment, the time from the detection of the vacant state of the communication line to the actual emission of the radio wave signal can be minimized, so that the radio wave signal collision can be prevented. The effect is that it can be prevented.

In the section I, the circuit currents are the circuit current iR of the receiving means 1 and the circuit current iS of the transmission signal generator 6.
This is the sum of 1 and is the sum of iS1 and the circuit current iS2 of the output amplifier 7 in the section II. For example, the current 40
In the 0MHz band transceiver circuit, approximately iR = 30mA,
Since a circuit current of about iS1 = 10 mA and iS2 = 40 mA is required, iR + iS1 = 40 m in the section I.
In the A and section II, iS1 + iS2 = 50 mA, and 50 mA may be considered as the peak current. Therefore, even if the internal impedance of the battery increases, the voltage drop is reduced, and the battery life can be extended.

[0024]

As described above, in the remote control device for housing equipment of the present invention, when transmitting a radio wave signal to the housing equipment, first, the power supply of the receiver is turned on to activate the receiver for communication. In addition to performing work to confirm that the line is idle, the transmission unit turns on only the first transmission unit power supply to operate the transmission signal generation unit and precedes the transmission preparation,
After this, when the preparation for transmission is completed and the vacant state of the communication line is confirmed, the power supply means of the receiving part is turned off and the second power supply means of the transmitting part is turned on to immediately emit the transmission signal from the antenna. Therefore, the power supply operation to the transmitting / receiving means in such a case is optimized, collision of radio wave signals is avoided, and highly reliable radio signal transmission and minimization of circuit current can be realized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a transmitter / receiver circuit of a remote controller according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial timing chart showing the operation of the device.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a conventional hot water supply device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 receiving means 2 transmitting means 3 transmission / reception control means 4 antenna 6 transmission signal generating section 7 output amplifier 8 receiving section power source means 9 first transmitting section power source means 10 second transmitting section power source means

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A transmitting means for transmitting a radio wave signal to a housing equipment, a receiving means for receiving the radio wave signal from the transmitting means, and a transmitting section power source means for supplying a circuit power to the transmitting means. A transmission signal for forming a transmission signal such as a modulator for modulating transmission data and an oscillator for supplying a carrier signal. A first transmitter power supply unit configured to include a generator and an output amplifier for amplifying an output of the transmission signal and emitting the output from an antenna, wherein the transmitter power supply unit supplies power to the transmission signal generator. And a remote control device for housing equipment, comprising a second transmitter power supply means for supplying power to the output amplifier. 2. When transmitting a radio wave signal to a housing equipment, the operation of turning on the power supply means of the receiving part to activate the receiving means to monitor the communication line, and the first power supply means of the transmitting part. When the communication signal is turned on and the transmission signal is ready to be transmitted at any time in parallel, and the communication line is idle and ready to be transmitted, the receiving unit power supply means is turned off and the second The remote control device for housing equipment according to claim 1, further comprising transmission / reception control means for turning on the transmission part power supply means and amplifying and outputting the transmission signal.