KR100360340B1 - Automatic control system of domestic electric articles - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An apparatus for automatically managing home is provided to control all household appliances used in the home unitedly and in a remote place regardless of a spatial limit. CONSTITUTION: All household appliances(20) have their intrinsic ID, receive a control command signal received through a light-receiving and light-emitting unit(40), judge whether a provided ID is identical to their intrinsic ID, and perform an operation according to the received control command signal when the provided ID is identical to their intrinsic ID. A remote controller(10) generates an ID of a household appliance to be controlled among the all household appliances(20) and a key code corresponding to the contents of a desired control command. The light-receiving and light-emitting unit(40) receives the ID and the key code outputted from the remote controller(10), outputs the ID and the key code to a microcomputer(60), receives a control signal about a control object household appliance from the microcomputer(60), and outputs the control signal to the control object household appliance. A PC(70) stores an operation command about each household appliance(20), has a communication device for receiving the control command about the household appliances(20) from the outside, and controls the entire operation. The microcomputer(60) relays data between the light-receiving and light-emitting unit(40) and the PC(70).

Description

Automatic control system of domestic electric articles}

The present invention relates to a home automatic management device, in particular, home appliances that can be used to control the various home appliances used at home integrated and remotely with various functions without space constraints, and also can be integrated with a security system It relates to a management device.

In recent years, with the development of the electronic control field and communication field, home automation that remotely or automatically controls specific home appliances used at home has been actively proposed and used. For example, a system has been proposed that can control various home appliances, such as a television, a video cassette recorder or an audio device, which are commercially available from different manufacturers, using a single universal remote controller. In addition, a technique for controlling the on / off of the electric boiler through a telephone line has been proposed and actively used.

On the other hand, in relation to the security system, intrusion, fire and gas sensors are installed in the proper places in the home, and when the sensors are operated, alarms are provided through alarms installed in the home or the security company is informed to the security company through the telephone line. A system has been proposed and put into practice that allows for immediate action by transmission.

However, in the conventional home automation system as described above, since the remote control unit directly transmits a command to the home appliance, the infrared signal emitted from the remote controller does not reach the light receiving unit of the home appliance in the presence of an obstacle such as a wall. There is a space limitation that the home appliance cannot be operated. In addition, even in the case of a wireless system that controls home appliances through a telephone line at a remote location, only a single item is controlled in a limited manner, and thus lacks scalability, and moreover, it can perform various functions such as a reservation order. There is no problem. In addition, there is a problem that these automation systems are not managed integrated with the security system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and can be used to control various home appliances that are used at home in a variety of functions and at a remote location without space restrictions, and to be integrated with a security system. The purpose is to provide a home automatic management device.

The home automatic management device of the present invention for achieving the above object is a general home appliance that receives a command signal in the form of infrared rays and determines whether it matches the ID of the home appliance, and if it matches, general home appliances that operate according to the input command thereafter; A remote controller for launching a key code corresponding to an ID of a home appliance selected from the general home appliances and contents of a desired command in the form of an infrared signal; It is installed in pairs near the ceiling of each compartment of the home and receives the infrared signal emitted from the remote control, and also the ceiling side number which emits the operation command of the general household appliances in the form of an infrared signal to the compartment. Light emitting unit; A personal computer for collectively controlling overall operations of home automation by storing operation instructions for each of the general household appliances; To receive, select, set, change, and delete various parameters in the microcomputer for relaying data transfer between the ceiling and light emitters and the personal computer and the main program mounted on the personal computer, and the operation command of the home appliance. And a touch screen which integrally performs a function as a fixed key input unit and a function as an indicator for displaying the program contents of the personal computer.

1 is an overall block diagram of a home automatic management apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration and an operation of a remote controller of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the structure and operation of the general home appliance side receiving and emitting unit in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the construction and operation of the water light emitting unit attached to the ceiling in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration and operation of the microcomputer in FIG. 1.

* Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings *

10: remote control, 11: remote control emitter,

12: carrier generating circuit, 13: CPU,

14: ROM, 15: EEPROM,

16: keymatrix, 17: keymatrix CPU,

18: liquid crystal display, 19: indicator driving unit,

20: all home appliances, 21: LPF,

22: carrier generating circuit, 23: device-side light receiver,

24: device-side light emitter, 25: CPU,

26: device side control unit,

30: general safety sensor, 40: water-emitting unit,

42: LPF, 44: receiver,

46: carrier generating circuit, 48: light emitter,

50: touch screen, 60: microcomputer,

62: CPU, 64: ROM,

66: RAM, 70: personal computer,

72: hard disk, 80: video compression board,

90: video camera, 100: communication control unit

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

1 is an overall block diagram of a home automatic management apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the home automatic management apparatus of the present invention is generally a household appliance 20, an appliance 20, which is composed of a television, an electric rice cooker, a video cassette recorder, an audio device, a washing machine, a boiler, and various lights. ), A remote controller 10 which emits a key code corresponding to the ID of the home appliance selected by the user and the content of a desired command in the form of an infrared signal, each compartment of the home, for example, a living room, a bedroom, Placed in pairs on the veranda and toilet, for example, on the ceiling to receive infrared signals emitted from the remote controller 10 and to emit the operation commands of the home appliances 20 to the partitioned space in the form of infrared signals. A personal computer that stores operation commands for each of the ceiling side light-receiving unit 40 and the general household electrical appliances 20 to collectively control the overall operation of home automation. 70) setting, changing, and deleting various variables in the microcomputer 60 and the main program mounted on the personal computer 70 to relay the data transfer between the ceiling side light emitting unit 40 and the personal computer 70; And a touch screen 50 which integrally performs a function as a fixed key input unit for receiving an operation command of the general household appliance 20 and a function for displaying a program content of the personal computer 70 and the like.

In the above-described configuration, in order to enable control by the home automatic management apparatus of the present invention, each of the general household electrical appliances 20 also receives infrared signals emitted from the light emitting unit side of the ceiling receiving and emitting unit 40. A light receiving unit (hereinafter referred to as a device-side light receiving unit) should be provided in front of it.

On the other hand, if the communication control unit 100, preferably a voice modem (hereinafter referred to as a voice modem) is further connected to the personal computer 70, the user is guided through a telephone line at a remote location outside the home. According to the contents, the keys of the telephone can be operated to operate the general home appliance 20 as desired. It is also possible to carry out a reservation command (command to be operated at a desired time). In this case, the contents to be guided are stored in advance in the personal computer 70 by a program, and are output in the form of voice when the telephone key is input from the user.

Furthermore, the operating state of the various home appliances 20, for example, an on / off state, may be integrally displayed through the touch screen 50. For this purpose, the front of the home appliance 20 may be displayed. A light emitting unit (hereinafter referred to as a device side light emitting unit) capable of emitting the current operating state in the form of an infrared signal should be provided. Furthermore, in the present invention, various safety-related sensors, such as intrusion sensors, fire sensors, and gas sensors (hereinafter, collectively referred to as general safety sensors 30) may be installed in place to manage safety functions integrally. There is a number. In this case, the intrusion sensor may be implemented as, for example, a sensor for detecting the opening or closing of a home porch or window, and the gas sensor and the fire sensor may be implemented by installing chemically sensitive sensors around the gas inlet hose of the kitchen. have. Also in this case, a light emitting unit (also referred to as an apparatus side light emitting unit) capable of transmitting its operating state in the form of infrared rays should be provided around each of the safety sensors 30.

Furthermore, an additional video camera 90 may be further installed around the safety sensor 30, particularly each intrusion sensor, to capture the intruder's impression. Further comprising an image compression board 80 for compressing the data in the digital form, and storing the image data compressed and converted in the digital form in the image compression board 80 to the hard disk 72 of the personal computer 70 In addition, it is possible to obtain a higher quality video and to make playback easier. When an intrusion is detected by the intrusion sensor, an alarm may be automatically sent by calling a phone number registered in advance to the personal computer 70 through the communication control unit 100. In the above configuration, the image compression board 80 may be implemented as a JPEG board for compressing still images or an MPEG board for compressing moving images.

Hereinafter, each part of the home automatic management apparatus of this invention is demonstrated in detail.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration and operation of the remote controller of FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the remote controller 10 according to the present invention includes a key code including an ID (IDentification) of a home appliance selected by a user and contents of a desired command among the home appliances 20 in the form of an infrared signal. It is used to fire a key, the internal configuration of the CPU 13 for controlling the operation of the remote control 10 as a whole, the key matrix 16 for receiving a predetermined key input, the key data pressed through the key matrix 16 A key matrix processing CPU 17 for processing, a ROM 14 storing an operation program, a nonvolatile memory storing a key code value corresponding to the input key matrix data, and preferably an EEPROM (Electrically Erasible Programmable Read). Only Memory) 15, the carrier generation circuit 12 for modulating the key code read out from the EEPROM 15 to a predetermined carrier frequency, and the key code modulated by the carrier generation circuit 12 in the form of infrared rays. A remote control side light emitter 11 for photoelectric conversion, a liquid crystal display 18 and a liquid crystal display driver 19 for displaying the type and command of a home appliance corresponding to a currently input key as characters. In the external configuration, the remote controller side light emitter 11 is disposed at an upper portion of the case, a liquid crystal display 18 is disposed at an upper side of the case, and an operation key button corresponding to the key matrix 16 is disposed at a lower portion thereof. The key button is preferably provided with a character key capable of inputting, as characters, keys and types of commands corresponding to each of the newly registered home appliances 20 at least.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the structure and operation of the general home appliance side receiving and emitting unit in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 3, each home appliance 20 according to the present invention is provided with a device-side light emitting unit, and in detail, it is possible to efficiently receive infrared light emitted from the light emitting unit 44 installed on the ceiling. The product ID and command are removed by removing the carrier frequency contained in the electrical signal photoelectrically converted by the device-side receiver 23 arranged at the position where the device-side receiver 23 and the device-side receiver 23 are positioned at the rear end. LPF (Low-Pass Filter) 21 to demodulate, converts the product ID and command received through the LPF (21) into a bit stream of the digital form and the operation state signal received from the device-side control unit 26 to be described later The CPU 25 for controlling the overall operation related to the device-side light emitting unit such as output to the carrier generation circuit 22 described later and whether or not the product ID provided from the CPU 25 correspond to their own IDs are compared. If it is the same, it is provided with that ID The operation state signal of the device provided by the device control unit 26 and the CPU 25 to control the operation of the device in accordance with the command, and outputs a signal indicating the operation state of the device at a predetermined time period by a preloaded program. And a device side light emitter 24 for outputting the operation state information modulated by the carrier generating circuit 22 in the form of infrared rays.

In the above-described configuration, since the operation state information may vary according to the characteristics of the corresponding home appliance, it is preferable to include at least on / off information. In addition, the display method may be displayed only when the user wants to display the touch screen 50.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration and operation of the water light emitting unit attached to the ceiling in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 4, the ceiling-side receiving and emitting unit 40 is configured to display the operation state signal from the general household electrical appliance 20 and the general safety sensor 30 and the key code from the remote controller 10. Receiver 44 for receiving and photoelectrically converting in the form, LPF 42 for removing and demodulating the carrier frequency from the photoelectrically converted signal by the receiver 44, ID of all home appliances 20 to be operated and Carrier generation circuit 46 which modulates the operation command signal by the carrier frequency and light emitter 48 which optically converts the electric signal modulated by the carrier generation circuit 46 and outputs it in the form of infrared rays. The circuit 46 and the LPF 42 are each wired to the microcomputer 60.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration and operation of the microcomputer in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 5, in the home management apparatus of the present invention, the microcomputer 60 is responsible for relaying the transfer of data between the ceiling side light-receiving unit 40 and the personal computer 70. To this end, first, a ROM 64 for storing a communication program according to a predefined communication protocol with a main program of the personal computer 70, a CPU 62 for controlling the overall operation of the microcomputer 60, and a personal computer ( 70) and a RAM 66 for temporarily storing bit strings input from the light receiving portion of the ceiling-side light-receiving portion 40. FIG. In the above configuration, the microcomputer 60 and the personal computer 70 are preferably connected in serial communication.

Hereinafter, the operation of the home automatic management device of the present invention will be described in detail.

First, in the home automatic management apparatus of the present invention, the personal computer 70 collectively generates operation commands of the home appliances 20. The reason for doing so is to overcome the limitation of the scalability of the remote controller used in the related art. to be. That is, in the related art, in order to directly control a specific home appliance using a remote controller, a custom code corresponding to an ID code of a product must be generated and a data code corresponding to a type of a command is generated later. Is implemented. Therefore, in order to register a new product, a new product can be controlled only when the chip in which the internal program is input is exchanged with the installed chip.

However, in the remote controller 10 of the present invention, the upper 8 bits of the custom code part consisting of 16 bits are exclusively used by the provider of the home automation system of the present invention, and the lower 8 bits are extended code together with the data code part also consisting of 8 bits. Up to 2 ¹⁶ commands can be generated. Furthermore, in the remote controller 10 according to the present invention, since the command bit is generated directly by the personal computer 70, it is possible to update the personal computer 70 simply by updating the personal computer 70 without having to replace the hardware as in the prior art. It is possible to register home appliances.

As a result, in order to register a new product in the home automatic management apparatus of the present invention, the home appliance maker side provides the home with a recording medium storing a program corresponding to the operation command. In the home, the integrated remote controller 10 of the present invention provides the home appliance. The key used to select a product is registered and stored as text, and at the same time, the content of the recording medium is updated on the personal computer 70 through the touch screen 50, and the product ID registered in the integrated remote controller 10 is stored. By simply registering in the personal computer 70, the home appliance can be controlled in the future.

On the other hand, as the input of the personal computer 70, the remote controller 10, the light emitting portion on the side of the home appliance 20, the light emitting portion provided in the safety sensor 30, the touch screen 50, the voice modem 100, etc. This can be. Among these inputs, signals from the remote controller 10, the light emitting portion on the side of the home appliance 20, and the light emitting portion on the side of the safety sensor 30 are transmitted to the personal computer via the ceiling side receiving and emitting portion 40 and the microcomputer 60. 70), wherein the signals from the remote controller 10, the light emitting part on the side of the home appliance 20, and the light emitting part on the side of the safety sensor 30 are transmitted wirelessly to the ceiling male / light emitting part 40. Subsequently, the signal is converted into a signal suitable for transmission by wire between the ceiling-side light-receiving unit 40 and the microcomputer 60 and between the microcomputer 60 and the personal computer 70 and then is transmitted by wire. Referring to an example of the control of the control target home appliance according to the present invention in more detail, for example, a specific home appliance (for example, a television set) to be controlled among the home appliances 20 in the remote control 10 ) Is selected (for example, by designation of a unique ID set for each home appliance), and a remote controller (for example, a TV's 'off' command) is selected. When the transmission key included in the 10) is pressed, the remote controller 10 uses the corresponding key code (for example, in the above example, a key code corresponding to a command for 'off' the television, hereinafter, simply a first command pulse). Is emitted in the form of infrared rays through the light emitter 11 provided therein. Accordingly, the light receiver 44 of the ceiling side light-receiving unit 40 receives the first command pulse of the remote controller 10 to perform photoelectric conversion, and the LPF 42 of the ceiling side light-receiving unit 40 is photoelectrically converted. Then obtains the pure first command pulse by removing the carrier frequency from the received signal, and then delivers the first command pulse to the microcomputer 60. Next, the microcomputer 60 analyzes the first command pulse transmitted as described above, converts the first command pulse into a command bit string, and delivers the same to the personal computer 70. Next, the personal computer 70 analyzes the command bit string provided from the microcomputer 60 and refers to various operation commands for each of the pre-stored home appliances 20 to determine which control command has been generated for which home appliance. After the determination, the command bit suitable for the control of the corresponding home appliance is generated and returned to the microcomputer 60. In addition, the microcomputer 60 converts the command bit thus transferred into a command pulse (hereinafter, referred to as a second command pulse) including a reader code and a PPM pulse corresponding to 0 or 1, so as to receive the ceiling side. The carrier generating circuit 46 of the ceiling-side light emitting unit 40 modulates this second command pulse to a carrier frequency and then emits the light through the light emitter 48 in the form of infrared light. Will fire in space. Accordingly, the appliance-side light receiver 23 of the home appliance (for example, television) selected by the remote controller 10 among the home appliances is an infrared signal from the light emitter 48 of the ceiling-side receiver and the light emitting unit 40. Receives and performs photoelectric conversion, demodulates the product ID and command by removing the carrier frequency from the LPF 21, and the CPU 25 compares the product ID with the unique ID of the corresponding electronic device, and if it matches, According to a control command provided together, the device-side control unit 26 controls the operation of the device (for example, 'off' the television).

The repeat code is generated when a specific key of the remote controller 10, for example, a channel up / down key or a volume up / down key of the television, is operated. In this case, when the repeat code is received, the corresponding home appliance is You can keep it running.

The role of the touch screen 50 among the above inputs may control the function of the remote controller 10 in a GUI (Graphic User Interface) environment, and may also be used to set a basic environment of home automation. In addition, the touch screen 50 may also be used to view the current operating state of the home appliance 20. When the corresponding home appliance is selected on the touch screen 50, the operating state of the corresponding home appliance 20 It is output on the touch screen.

Even when the voice modem 100 is used, all functions provided in the remote controller 10 may be performed. In this case, when the user operates a key of the telephone according to the contents guided through the telephone line, the command is personal. The only difference is that it is transmitted to the computer 70 to operate the general home appliance 20. In the case of the input through the voice modem 100, for example, it may be usefully used to turn on the lights in the living room or to run the boiler in advance at work.

On the other hand, in relation to the general safety sensor 30, when the user selects a security function through the touch screen 50 or the like when the user is out, when the intrusion is detected by the intrusion sensor, such information is immediately received from the ceiling through the corresponding light emitting unit. Wirelessly transmitted to the light emitting unit 40, and then transmitted to the personal computer 70 via the above-described path. The personal computer 70 then operates the corresponding video camera 90, for example, to store the intruder's impression on the hard disk 72 provided in the personal computer 70, thereby enabling the intruder to recognize and retrieve the image later. can do. At the same time, the telephone number registered in advance to the personal computer 70 via the voice modem 100 may be called to notify the fact so that immediate action can be taken.

In addition, the user may routinely execute the home appliance 20 to be used at a predetermined time by enabling a reservation command for the user's convenience for the user's daily use. ), The remote controller 10 or the voice modem 100.

In addition, it is also possible to control through the World Wide Web. For example, when the home automation function of the present invention is installed in each apartment complex, a server is installed in such a complex management. Automation installed on the WWW can be controlled. In this case the function will be limited to some part, for example security.

The home automatic management apparatus of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the range permitted by the technical idea of the present invention.

According to the home automatic management device of the present invention as described above, it is possible to control all the home appliances used in the home with various functions in a remote and remote location without space restrictions, and also can be integrated with the security system There is an effect that can reduce the convenience and installation cost of the device. In addition, there is an effect that the additional registration of a new device can be easily and efficiently.

Claims (6)

Each home appliance has a unique ID, and receives a control command signal received through the light receiving unit to determine whether it matches the ID of the home appliance, and if there is a match, all home appliances that operate according to the control command provided with the ID. ; A remote controller for generating and outputting a key code corresponding to an ID of a home appliance to be controlled and contents of a desired control command among the home appliances; Receives a key code corresponding to the ID of the control target home appliance and the content of the control command output from the remote control to output to the microcomputer, and receives a control signal for the control target home appliance from the microcomputer to the control target home appliance A ceiling male-emitting unit for outputting; A personal computer storing operation instructions for each of the general home appliances, and having a communication unit capable of receiving a control command for the general home appliances from outside, for controlling the overall operation of the home automatic management apparatus; And And a microcomputer for relaying data transfer between the ceiling side light-receiving unit and the personal computer. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a voice modem connected to the personal computer, wherein the personal computer generates a command bit string corresponding to a command input through the voice modem and outputs the command bit string to the microcomputer. Home auto management device. The said household electrical appliance is further equipped with the apparatus side light emission part which can emit the operation state of itself in the form of an infrared signal, The said personal computer is mounted in the said personal computer. A touch screen which integrally sets, changes, and deletes various variables in the main program, and serves as a fixed key input unit for selecting operation commands of the home appliance and an indicator for displaying the program contents of the personal computer. Home auto management device further including. 3. The light emitting unit according to any one of claims 1 and 2, further comprising a general safety sensor installed at a proper place in the home, wherein the general safety sensor further comprises a light emitting unit for outputting an operation state signal of the self to the ceiling receiver and the light emitting unit. Home automatic management device, characterized in that provided. The method of claim 4, wherein the general safety sensor includes an intrusion sensor, The apparatus further includes a video camera installed around the intrusion sensor to capture a situation around the intrusion sensor, and an image compression board for compressing and converting an analog video signal captured from the video camera into a digital form. And the personal computer is configured to operate the video camera and the image compression board and store the data in a hard disk provided therein when the intrusion is detected by the intrusion sensor. 6. The home automatic management apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the personal computer automatically sends an alarm by calling a telephone number registered in advance through a voice modem when an intrusion is detected by the intrusion sensor.