JPH07107572A - Remote manipulator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To apply the sense of security to a user concerning the sure transmission of radio communication by displaying the completion of communication when the communication with the main body of an equipment is established after the operation switch of the remote manipulator is operated. CONSTITUTION:When an operation switch 3 of a remote manipulator 2 is operated, a transmission/reception part 4 generates a transmitting signal and transmits it to a main body 1 of the equipment and at the same time, a bar 7 at the center of a display part 5 starts turning on and off. When the transmitting signal from the remote manipulator 2 is transmitted to the main body 1 of the equipment, the main body 1 of the equipment transmits a signal showing the reception of this transmitting signal to the remote manipulator 2 and the remote manipulator 2 receives the signal from the main body 1 of the equipment, a control part 6 decides the establishment of communication, and the bar 7 at the center of the display part 5 changes into the turned-on state. Namely, the bar 7 at the center of the display part 5 is also used for displaying the completion of communication and continuously turned on and off until the communication is established. Thus, attention is called to the user, and the sense of security that the communication is established when the bar is not turned on and off can be applied.

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 household equipment such as a water heater.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in the case of a wired remote control device, it is necessary to judge whether or not the data can be reliably transmitted during the exchange of signals between the remote control device and the instrument body. However, the judgment result was displayed and the user was not notified.

[0003]

However, in the case of not displaying whether or not the communication is ensured as in the conventional case, the communication state tends to be unstable like the wireless communication (for example, the communication route). When the space of is shielded by metal,
Communication becomes unstable due to external noise, etc.), which causes the user to feel anxiety.

The present invention is intended to solve the above problems, and it is a first object of the present invention to display a communication completion indication when communication with the instrument body is established after operating the operation switch of the remote control device. The second purpose is to display on the display unit during the communication required time until the completion of communication and inform the user of that fact.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the first means of the remote control device according to the present invention is provided with a display section for displaying whether or not the wireless communication has been made surely, and the communication is made surely. The communication completion display is performed at the time when it becomes possible. The second means of the present invention is to display on the display unit of the remote control device that the communication is in progress until the completion of communication.

[0006]

With the first means, the remote control device of the present invention informs the user through the display unit that communication has been established even in a communication system having an unstable element of wireless communication. This allows the user to use it with a sense of security. Further, in the second means, during communication between the remote control device and the instrument main body, a message to that effect is displayed on the display unit to notify that communication is not taking place and communication is not possible due to a failure or the like.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a remote control device of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a communication situation between a remote control device and a water heater as one embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a main body of a water heater installed outdoors or the like, which communicates by radio communication with a remote control device 2 installed at a hot water supply location indoors. An operation switch 3 for setting and inputting a hot water supply temperature and the like to the remote operation device 2, a transmission / reception unit 4 for transmitting the operation content of the operation switch 3 to the instrument body 1 and a signal from the instrument body 1, and a remote operation A display unit 5 that displays the state of the device 2 and the state of the instrument body 1 and a control unit 6 that controls the entire remote control device 2 are provided. In this example, the display unit 5
Has a hot water supply status display section and a bath status display section, and a bar 7 is provided in the center to separate them.

Here, when the operation switch 3 of the remote control device 2 is operated, the transmission / reception section 4 generates a transmission signal and transmits it to the instrument body 1, and at the same time, the central bar 7 of the display section 5 starts blinking. To do. A transmission signal from the remote control device 2 is transmitted to the instrument main body 1, and the instrument main body 1 transmits a signal indicating that the transmission signal has been received to the remote control device 2. When the control unit 6 determines that the communication is established when the signal is received, the central bar 7 of the display unit 5 is changed to the lighting state. That is, the bar 7 in the center of the display unit 5 also serves as a communication completion display, and continues to blink until communication is established. Conversely speaking, communication is not established while the bar 7 is blinking.

By the way, in the conventional wired communication system, when there is a communication failure due to noise such as an external radio wave such that the remote control device 2 cannot receive a reply from the instrument main body 1, the remote control device 2 immediately operates. I was able to retransmit the same transmission signal. However, the wireless communication system is regulated by the Radio Law, and each transmission is obliged to set a pause time.
Therefore, when the communication is not successful in one time, the communication is automatically repeated, and it takes more time than the wired communication method until the communication is completed.

Further, an extra signal is required for avoiding interference with external radio waves, and it takes about 2 to 6 seconds for each communication depending on the content of communication. For this reason,
The wireless communication method has an advantage that the wiring work for communication can be omitted, but the communication required time becomes a little longer in use, and there is a drawback that it was not so much in the past. Then, the blinking of the bar 7 is an effective notifying means so that it is not mistakenly determined that the communication is time-consuming because of a malfunction of the device.

If the remote control device 2 does not require communication wiring and further does not require a lead-in wiring for a commercial power source for radio wave communication and uses a battery power source, the power consumption is rationalized and the transmission output is suppressed to a low level. Then, in the unlikely event of a communication failure due to a strong external radio wave, the communication fails many times and the bar 7 repeatedly blinks for an abnormally long time.
Of course, at this time, hot water supply under the desired input condition cannot be expected. However, the user can easily detect this abnormal situation by the constant change of the bar 7 from blinking to lighting.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the bar 7 blinks until the wireless communication is surely completed to call the user's attention. If not blinking, the communication is established. It can give a feeling. Further, if the display unit 5 has a margin, it is possible to more clearly appeal to the user by individually displaying "communication completed".

[0013]

As is apparent from the above description, the remote control device according to the first aspect of the present invention displays the communication completion when the wireless communication can be reliably transmitted, which gives the user a sense of security. It will be possible to inform you of that even if communication is impossible.

Further, according to the present invention, when there is a lot of setting input contents of the operation switch or when the time required for completion of communication becomes long due to external noise or the like, the fact that communication is in progress is displayed on the display unit. It is possible to prevent an erroneous determination of a failure and make up for a defect while making the most of the advantages of the wireless communication system.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a remote control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Remote control device 3 Operation switch 5 Display unit 6 Control unit 7 bar

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Shuji Ishizuka 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Takao Asada 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An operation switch for inputting a driving instruction signal to an instrument main body, and a radio signal is generated by an input operation of the operation switch, the radio signal is transmitted to the instrument main body, and a radio signal from the instrument main body. And a control unit that determines whether or not the driving instruction signal from the operation switch has been reliably transmitted to the instrument body through a wireless signal transmitted and received from the transmission and reception unit, and the control unit. A remote control device including a display unit that displays the determination result in step 1. 2. The remote control device according to claim 1, wherein the display content of the display unit changes when the driving instruction signal from the operation switch is reliably transmitted to the instrument body.