JPH0816212A - Load controlling system utilizing multiplex transmission - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a load controlling system utilizing multiplex transmission and capable of optionally restricting the operation of a terminal equipment by making it possible to set up whether the control of a load controller by the operation of a terminal equipment is to be executed or inhibited from an external setter connected to a host computer or the load controller. CONSTITUTION:The load controller 30 is provided with a control management table 32 for setting up the execution/inhibition of a control program in each control mode, the table 32 has hierarchical structure constituted of a control mode sort selecting table capable of selecting and setting up the execution/ inhibition of a control mode and a terminal equipment selecting table for selecting an individual terminal equipment 50 in each control mode and selectively setting up the allowance/inhibition of the operation of the selected terminal equipment and data in the table 32 can be rewritten by an external setter 31.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a load control system utilizing multiplex transmission, which is preferably used for lighting control of buildings, etc.
The present invention relates to a load control system that enables or disables the operation or operation of each terminal device in the system by transmitting prohibition information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a communication control device connected to a host computer is connected to a plurality of load control controllers via multiplex transmission lines, and each load control controller is connected via another multiplex transmission line. Thus, a load control system configured by connecting a plurality of load devices and operation switches as a terminal device is used for a lighting load and the like.

In the load control controller of such a load control system, the control by the switch operation from the terminal is mixed and controlled in the same manner as the load control instructed by the host computer. Therefore, when the control from the terminal is temporarily stopped due to maintenance, nighttime control, or the occurrence of an abnormal situation (fire, power failure, etc.), the host computer sends a control command through the multiplex transmission line or a dummy command. By sending a signal, all terminals connected to the multiplex transmission line of the load controller are dealt with, but when such soft processing is not performed, multiplex transmission line There was no choice but to physically cut a part of it.

[0004]

Therefore, in such a conventional control system, in order to temporarily stop the control from the terminal, data transmission via a multiplex transmission line or a physical treatment is performed. Had to do. Even if the terminal is stopped by data transmission, if the terminal is re-executed by the operation switch, etc., the terminal cannot be stopped unless data is transmitted again from the host computer. It is also a problem that the terminal is left unattended because it does not perform.

Further, if data is transmitted from the setting device while the system-important load is being controlled from the host computer, the load control from the host computer may not be able to be carried out. Contrary to my intention, the terminal side was freely controlled, and there was a problem in terms of managing the system. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an external setting device connected to a host computer or a load control controller can control the load control controller for each control mode that can be executed by the system. It is an object of the present invention to provide a load control system capable of selecting a terminal device and setting whether to permit or prohibit the operation thereof.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention according to claim 1 proposes that the load control controller executes a control program for each control mode executable by the load control system, Along with a control management table for setting prohibition, it is connected to an external setting device, the control management table is classified for each control mode, execution of the control mode, a control mode type selection table capable of selectively setting prohibition, For each control mode, it has a hierarchical structure composed of a terminal selection table that selects individual terminals and sets the operation permission / prohibition,
The control management table is configured so that data can be rewritten by an external setting device.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, a plurality of load control systems proposed in the first aspect are further combined so that the host computer can perform centralized management. A control management table is provided which is connected to a host computer via a transmission line and sets execution and prohibition of a control program for each control mode executable by each load control system. Further, the control management table has the same structure as that described in claim 1, and is configured such that data is rewritten by the host computer.

The present invention as set forth in claim 3 is directed to a mode setting change switch which is included in the system as a control switch and which can change and set a control mode executed by a switch operation of another terminal to an arbitrary control mode. Also, the configuration is such that the allowance and prohibition can be set from the external setting device or the host computer.

[0009]

According to the load control system of the present invention as set forth in claim 1, execution / inhibition of the control program can be freely set for each terminal device from the external setting device to the load control controller in accordance with the control mode. it can. Therefore, even during maintenance, at night, or in the event of an abnormality such as a fire or power failure, the terminal device can be selected from the external setting device for each control mode and executed or prohibited can be controlled.

According to another aspect of the load control system of the present invention, data transmission from the host computer causes the load control controller to execute / inhibit the control program by selecting a terminal for each control mode. It can be set freely. In the load control system according to the present invention as set forth in claim 3, even when the terminal device includes a control switch capable of programmatically changing the switch operation of another terminal device, the setting change is performed. Since the operation of can be freely permitted or prohibited by the host computer or the external setting device, unnecessary setting changes on the user side are not made.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the system of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of the load control system proposed in claim 1. The load control controller 30 includes a drive device (relay device) for controlling on / off of a load device (not shown) such as a lighting device and a load device via a multiplex transmission line 41 configured by a pair line. Operation switches for on / off control are connected as a terminal device 50 having an address set for each.

An external setting device 31 composed of a personal computer or the like is connected to the load control controller 30. By operating this external setting device 31, as will be described later, a control mode in which the system can be executed. Corresponding to, the terminal device 50 can be selected to set execution or prohibition of the control program. Here, as the operation switch included as the lighting control terminal device 50, an individual switch for controlling ON / OFF of one lighting circuit, and a dimming switch for controlling dimming of one lighting circuit (push button The brightness can be changed in multiple steps each time it is operated.) Among the lighting circuits grouped as pattern control in advance, a pattern switch for turning on / off a selected one, a plurality of lighting circuits are turned on all at once, Select group switch for off control, all ON / OFF switch for on / off control of all lighting circuits in all control systems, control switch in system as operation switch for pattern control / group control, There is a mode setting change switch 51 for setting.

Further, the load control controller 30 is provided with a control management table 32 for setting execution and prohibition of the control program in the system. The control management table 3
2 is a control mode type selection table in which execution and prohibition of the control mode can be selectively set, and for each control mode,
Select individual terminals in the system to allow or prohibit their operation (when the terminals act as control relay drive devices)
Alternatively, it has a hierarchical structure in which a terminal selection table for setting whether the operation is valid or invalid (when the terminal serves as an operation switch) is placed at a lower level.

According to such a configuration, the external setting device 31
Therefore, if the control management table 32 of the load controller 30 is rewritten as necessary, even when an operation switch connected to the multiplex transmission line 41 as the terminal device 50 is operated to drive the lighting circuit. , The drive operation can be disabled or enabled. That is, the load control controller 30 always refers to the control management table 32 when executing control, and therefore, when the terminal device in the system is set to be prohibited, the control command from the terminal device is ignored. To be done.

FIG. 2 shows the basic configuration of the load control system proposed in claim 2, in which a plurality of load control controllers 30 are connected to each other via a multiplex transmission line 40 constituted by another pair line. The communication control device 20 is connected to the host computer 10. Further, an external setting device 21 composed of a personal computer or the like is connected to the communication control device 20.

Each of the load control controllers 30 has a control management table 32 composed of a control mode type selection table and a terminal selection table. The multiplex transmission line 41 has a load device (such as a lighting device). Similarly to the above, the drive unit (relay device) for ON / OFF control of the illustrated device and the various operation switches for ON / OFF control of the load device have terminal devices 5 each having an address set therein.
Connected as 0.

In this configuration, the control management table 32 is rewritten by the data transmission from the host computer 10 so that the control mode and the execution / inhibition of the control program can be set for each terminal by selecting the control mode as described above. Has become. 3A and 3B show the control management table 32.
9 shows an example of command data transmitted from the external setter 31 or the host computer 10 to the load controller 30 in order to rewrite

FIG. 3A shows command data for rewriting the control mode type selection table. An identification header $ v3 is provided at the beginning of the command data, and the load control controller 30 of which data is to be rewritten next. The address XX is added, and finally, the type information X1 to X6 of the control mode that can be executed in the system is provided in advance, and the type information X1 to X1 is set.
Execution and prohibition can be set for each X6.

That is, in the illustrated example, as the type information of the control mode, six types of X1, X2, X3 ... X6 are provided, where X1 is an individual control executed when an individual switch is operated, and X2. Is a dimming control executed when the dimmer switch is operated, X3 is a pattern control executed when the pattern control switch is operated, and X4 is a group control executed when the group control switch is operated. , X5 means all ON / OFF control executed when the all ON / OFF switch is operated, and X6 means mode setting change control executed when the mode setting change switch is operated. These X1-X
One bit of either [1] or [0] is assigned to 6, and permission or prohibition of the control is set. Therefore, for the control mode that has become [0], all the operations of the terminal device that should be operated to execute the control mode and the operations of the terminal device are ignored.

After the control mode executed by the control system is selected by the above command data,
Further, the terminal provided in the system is selected. FIG.
(B) shows an example of a command code for setting permission / prohibition of the terminal device for each permitted control mode, and the address XX of the load control controller is added after the identification header $ v4, Any one of the control modes X1 to X6 designated by the command data shown in FIG. 3A is selected and added.

After control mode X, 64 in the system
All terminals are assigned, and for each of them,
Allow / prohibit can be set. That is,
One byte is assigned to each of X1 to X6, and the selection information for one byte is further divided into two bits,
The four control points are allowed or prohibited.

Next, the case where the load controller 30 receives the above command data, expands the data in the memory, and rewrites the data will be described. FIG. 4 shows a control mode type selection table constituting the control management table 32, and FIG. 5 shows a terminal device selection table. The terminal selection table 34 is located below the control mode type selection table 33 and has a table of a different format for each control mode.

Control mode type selection table 3 shown in FIG.
3 consists of 1 byte, and the first 2 bits are
It is vacant, and the information of X1 to X6 for selecting the above-mentioned control mode is stored in the subsequent 6 bits, and the execution / inhibition of the control mode is set by rewriting the bit corresponding to each control mode. The terminal selection table 34 shown in FIG. 5 is configured so that all terminals in the system can be assigned to each of the control modes and the permission and prohibition can be set. The format differs depending on the mode. For example, 64 terminals (256 control points) for individual control, 16 levels for dimming control, 72 patterns for pattern control, 128 groups for group control, all ON / OFF switches, and mode setting change switches On and off can be set separately. In the figure, only the format of the individual control mode is shown. This format is composed of 64 bytes, and data of one terminal is 1 byte, and data for 1 control point is 1 bit, so that all control points can be managed.

With the above configuration, the load control controller 30 executes / prohibits the control program in response to the control command from the terminal side. Next, the processing will be described. Steps 100 to 10 in FIG.
Reference numeral 8 denotes a control program execution / prohibition determination process.

The load controller 30 always accepts a control command from the host computer 10, and when there is a control command, executes a control program to control the load on the terminal unit 50. With respect to the terminal device 50, transmission / reception is periodically performed by polling processing. However, when the terminal device functions as a control switch, the control signal corresponding to the interrupt signal from the terminal device 50 is executed.

The processing of the load controller 30 when a control command is issued from the terminal device 50 will be described. First, the received control data is analyzed and the address, control mode, etc. are read. Based on these read data, the control management table 32 is searched for the data corresponding to the received data, and if the data setting of the searched table is executed or allowed, the control program is executed. Even if a command signal for executing is received, it is ignored and the next received data is waited for. If the setting is prohibited at this time, the received data is ignored, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the terminal device 50 may be notified of the abnormality.

Unlike the operation of each terminal device as described above, the control command from the host computer 10 has priority over the control command from the terminal device 50 by executing the control program without performing the above determination process. I am going. The invention according to claim 3 has a configuration in which a mode setting switch 51 is provided in the terminal device 50 of the load control system shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. This switch 51 can specify the terminal device functioning as a control switch in the system and freely change the control mode to be executed when the switch is operated. The control mode such as individual control or pattern control can be freely set. The setting can be changed to. According to the present invention, such a switch can be set to be permitted or prohibited from the external setting device 31 or the host computer 10 to the load control controller 30, and the control command from the terminal device 50 can be restricted. I can.

[0028]

As can be understood from the above description, the present invention has the following effects. According to the load control system of the present invention described in claim 1 or 2, if the control management data is set in the load controller, the operation of the terminal device is invalidated or the control command is ignored. As a result, maintenance work, nighttime control, and the operation of the control system when an abnormality occurs (fire, power failure, etc.) can be preferentially controlled from the outside. Therefore, the operability is improved, and the management problems that have not been solved in the conventional control system are also solved.

According to the load control system of the present invention as set forth in claim 3, the terminal device for designating the terminal device in the system and freely changing the control mode executed by the switch operation of the system is provided. Even if it is included in the above, since the setting change can be prohibited from the outside, it is possible to solve the problem caused by the end user side arbitrarily changing the control switch program.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of a load control system (claim 1) of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of a load control system (claim 2) of the present invention.

3A and 3B are diagrams showing an example of command data transmitted to rewrite a control management table.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a control mode type selection table forming a control management table.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a terminal selection table that constitutes a control management table.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a basic operation in the system of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 host computer 20 communication controller 21, 31 external setting device 30 load control controller 32 control management table 33 control mode type selection table 34 terminal selection table 40, 41 multiplex transmission line 50 terminal 51 mode setting change switch

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display area // H05B 37/02

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A load control system using multiplex transmission, which is configured by connecting a plurality of load devices, operation switches and the like as terminal units to the load control controller via a multiplex transmission line, wherein the load control controller comprises: The load control system is equipped with a control management table that sets execution and prohibition of control programs for each control mode that is executable, and is connected to an external setter. Control mode type selection table that can selectively set execution and prohibition of modes, and select individual terminals for each control mode included in this control mode type selection table, and selectively set the operation permission or prohibition It has a hierarchical structure consisting of a terminal selection table for Therefore load control system utilizing multiplex transmission as rewriting of data is performed. 2. A load control system utilizing multiplex transmission, wherein a plurality of load devices, operation switches, etc. are connected as terminal units to the load control controller via multiplex transmission lines, wherein each of the load control controllers is Is provided with a control management table that is connected to a host computer via another multiplex transmission line and sets execution and prohibition of a control program for each control mode executable by each load control system. The table is classified for each control mode, a control mode type selection table that can selectively set execution and prohibition of the control mode, and for each control mode included in this control mode type selection table, select an individual terminal device, It has a hierarchical structure consisting of a terminal selection table that selectively sets whether to permit or prohibit that operation. Cage, the control management table, the load control system utilizing multiplex transmission as rewriting of data is performed by the host computer. 3. The terminal device includes a mode setting change switch, which is included in the system as a control switch and can change and set a control mode executed when another terminal device operates the switch. The load control system using multiplex transmission according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the setting change switch is configured to be allowed or prohibited from the external setting device or the host computer.