WO2011013215A1 - Living apparatus provided with function capable of displaying information through management and operation center and management system for the apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided are a living apparatus and an operation and management system therefor which allow a user to transmit necessary information from the apparatus directly to the maintenance company or maker of the apparatus and allow the maker or the maintenance company of the apparatus to provide and display necessary information or the like directly to the apparatus, thereby directly associating the comapany with the user through the apparatus. A flat display screen (2) provided with a control section (5) is installed on the outer surface of the casing (1b) of the living apparatus. An operation section (3) for turning on/off display on the screen, switching a displayed content and so forth is provided in or by the casing. The operation section (3) is connected to the control section (5) by radio or by cable. In order to manage the displayed content of the display section (2) through the control section (5), information is exchanged with a server computer (8) in the management and operation center.

Description

Living equipment with a function to display information through the management center and the management system for the equipment

The present invention relates to liquids and chemicals produced by mixing sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl), which has sterilization, sterilization, and deodorizing functions that are harmless to human storage, with an acid such as hydrochloric acid (HCl) (hereinafter simply referred to as “sterilization”). It is used in various facilities for homes, offices, schools, hospitals, and people, including devices and equipment for sterilizing and deodorizing target spaces and objects using water. In addition to providing a display screen capable of displaying various information provided by the information provider on devices used in daily life at each location, such as humidifiers, air conditioners such as air conditioners and water heaters, and the like, Based on the information displayed on the screen, living equipment equipped with equipment that has the function to send various information including orders for consumables to the management center that manages the equipment and devices. Management of equipment, for the operation system.

Conventionally, equipment, equipment or facilities that use sterilized water (hereinafter referred to as “equipment”) have been used in various commercial facilities and general households where unspecified people gather, or agricultural products, fishery products, and storage products themselves. On the other hand, it is known from Patent Document 1 and the like that it is effectively used in the processing factory of each product. It is also well known that daily life equipment such as humidifiers, air conditioners, and water heaters are widely used in homes, offices, schools, and various facilities.

However, in the devices and equipment that are frequently used in the daily life described above, if the consumables run out or the operating status of the equipment becomes defective or breaks down, the equipment dealer or local manufacturer service center At present, individual users are requesting maintenance and repair for consumables and malfunctions by telephone or FAX. Recently, a form in which a user himself / herself requests repairs from his / her personal computer to a service provider or a repair company that has opened a homepage (HP) on the Web via the Internet has come to be seen.

However, in any request form, the equipment used by the user and the equipment used by the user between the manufacturer or service provider (hereinafter, simply referred to as “business”) requesting repairs, etc. Apart from that, users and contractors cannot exchange information or make linked movements without the intervention of terminals such as telephones, FAX, or personal computers connected to the Internet.
In other words, it is indispensable that a user who is a user of a device in which a malfunction or failure has occurred contacts the maintenance or repair agent for the device away from the device using a telephone, FAX, or Internet search method. Yes. After all, if the user does not know the contact information of the contractor, the current situation is that there is no inconvenience that repair or maintenance of the device in which the trouble or failure has occurred or replenishment of consumables cannot be performed.
JP-A-11-188083

Therefore, the inventor of the present invention can send information necessary for the user directly from the device to the maintenance company or manufacturer of the device regarding the various inconvenience devices as described above. At the same time, if necessary information is provided directly to the device from the manufacturer or maintenance company of the device, and the information can be displayed on the device, a user or a telephone or FAX from the user regarding the device In addition to being able to solve various troubles such as ordering and requesting using a variety of devices, each user has a variety of information, including information on the device, from the manufacturer and other suppliers. That can be presented via each device, directly connecting the consumer equipment manufacturer and its users to the user via the device. As an issue life equipment that was to be able to Rukoto and the provision of its operations management system, it has seen the completion of the present invention.

The first configuration of the present invention, which has been made for the purpose of solving the above problems, includes a control unit on the outer surface of a housing in a daily life device such as a sterilizing water spray device, a humidifier, a cooling / heating device, a water supply device, and a tea supply device. And an operation unit for performing on / off of display of the screen, switching of display contents, and the like is provided inside or on the side of the casing, and the operation unit is provided in the control unit. A wireless or wired connection is used, and information is exchanged with a server computer of a management operation center in order to manage the display content of the display unit through the control unit.

In the device of the present invention, the control unit connected to the display screen and the operation unit includes a server computer (hereinafter simply referred to as “server”) serving as a management operation center through a communication network such as a telephone network, a LAN, and the Internet, and the control. A device provided with a communication unit having an information communication function for exchanging information between the units may be used. The communication unit may be formed by a small computer having communication devices including a personal computer.

In the present invention, the server includes the manufacturer of the device, a maintenance company including repair of the device and replenishment of consumables, or one or more computers that provide various types of information. It has a function for exchanging information via a communication network. In the present invention, the information provider computer includes a terminal computer such as a server computer or a personal computer. In addition to the information alone, the various types of information include tangible and intangible article information and the article.

In the present invention, various living devices including a sterilizing water spray device and an information supplier including a manufacturer, a maintenance company, etc. of the devices are connected to a server computer via a communication network, and the display of the living devices is displayed. By operating the operation unit of the screen and selectively displaying the information from the information supply source on the screen, the life of the user between the information supply source and the user who installs and uses the life device is displayed. It is possible to exchange information with priority on the user via the device.

Since the present invention is configured so that the display of the display screen of the life device used by the user and the information provided by the information provider can be displayed on the display screen with priority on the user as described above, The user who is installing and using the device operates the operation unit by looking at the display content of the screen installed in the device, thereby displaying the information desired by the user on the screen, and based on the display, It is possible to request the information providing source such as a maintenance company to provide information including an article desired by the user from the device.

In addition, for information requested by the information provider by operating the operation section of the user's own equipment that the user uses on a daily basis, the information provider such as a maintenance company provides information requested by the user (this information It is possible to immediately provide or supply a user with an article including information in addition to information as described above.
In addition, when the information requested by the user is an article, the article may be received by the information provider who has accepted the user's request, or by an external agent (either a trader or an individual). Supply or deliver to users.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described below by taking a sterilizing water spray device as an example. The following description is an example of a sterilizing water spray device, but it is not necessary to explain that the present invention can be applied to a living device such as a humidifier or an air conditioner other than the above device.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the configuration of a sterilizing water spray apparatus to which the present invention is applied. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a plurality of users who individually use the apparatus of FIG. It is the block diagram which illustrated the connection relationship of the information provider.

The sterilizing water spray device 1 in FIG. 1 includes a sterilizing water W solution tank T disposed inside a casing formed by a base 1a made of an appropriate hard material such as synthetic resin or metal and a decorative cover 1b, and sterilizing water W. A spray outlet J for spraying, a pump P for pushing up the sterilizing water W to the outlet J, and a compressor C that generates compressed air and supplies the compressed air to the outlet J are formed. In addition, a flat display screen 2 made of liquid crystal or organic EL is provided on the front surface of the decorative cover 1 b of the spray device 1, and an operation unit 3 is disposed on the screen 2. The operation unit 3 can be formed as a touch panel type on the screen 2 or a keyboard type operation unit 3 in which touch buttons are arranged. The operation unit 3 in the above example is a control unit of the device 1. 5 is a handy card type that is connected to 5 by wire or wirelessly.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a power supply circuit connected to a commercial power supply. Here, the power supply circuit is built in the pedestal 1a and is connected to supply the power supply current of the pump P and the compressor C. They are connected via the unit 5. The power supply circuit 4 is also connected to the display screen 2, the operation unit 3, and a receiving unit 7 described later via a control unit 5. The control unit 5 also controls the transmission unit 6 and the reception unit 7 to be in a transmission / reception enabled state or to stop their functions while the operation state of the spraying device 1 is displayed on the display screen 2. While displaying a rest state etc., it is formed so that the operation content of the operation unit 3 can be sequentially displayed on the screen 2.

The tank T shown in FIG. 1 is a resin bottle and is provided so as to be attached to the spraying device 1 in an inverted state so as to be detachable. However, the installation state of the illustrated tank T is an example. And it may be a fixed tank. The sterilizing water W in the tank T passes through the water supply pipe P1 communicating with the tank T, obtains the lift of the pump P, and is sent to the pipe P2.

The pipe P2 has a tip connected to the nozzle N, and compressed air generated by the compressor C is supplied to the two-fluid nozzle N through the pipe P3. Since the tip of the nozzle N is formed at the air outlet J, the sterilized water W atomized by the two-fluid nozzle N is sprayed from the air outlet J. The compressor C is suspended in the casing 1b by a spring Sp and absorbs the vibration. Further, although not shown in the figure, the atomization means is provided with an atomization tank, and the sterilizing water W is atomized by driving a heating source or an ultrasonic vibrator provided at a lower part or a bottom part of the atomization tank. It is arbitrary which atomization means is used in the spraying device.

The transmitter 6 provided inside the pedestal 1a has the following configuration as one of its functions. That is, a measuring unit D electrically connected to the sensor Ss disposed at the bottom or bottom of the tank T is provided, and the remaining amount of the sterilizing water W in the tank T is measured at an appropriate sampling time.

The measurement unit D is connected to a setting unit F having a memory for storing appropriate setting values, and the setting unit F is connected to a calculation unit CP for comparing and calculating the measurement values and setting values at appropriate sampling times. Has been.

Here, if the calculation unit CP finds that the measured value is lower than the set value set in the setting unit F in advance as a value indicating that the sterilizing water W in the tank T is small, A signal to that effect is input to the transmission unit 6, and a signal indicating that the remaining amount of the sterilizing water W has decreased from the transmission unit 6 is associated with a signal of a unique code that is given in advance to the spray device 1. , Sent to the server computer 8 (hereinafter referred to as the server 8) via a LAN or other communication network, and from the server 8 via the external network NW, a store V for consumables such as repairers R and sterilizing water W. To be sent to. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the server 8 serves as an operation management center and is connected to each user's device 1 via a LAN network, while being connected to external contractors R, V, etc. via the Internet.

Accordingly, even if the user does not know the remaining amount of the sterilizing water W, the replacement tank T can be automatically supplied or the sterilizing water W can be replenished from the vendors R and V in the fixed tank. it can. In addition, when transmitting the request | requirement signal of the replacement tank T or the request | requirement of the sterilization water W by manual operation, by selecting and pushing the order button set to the above-mentioned operation part 3, said contractor R or V A request signal such as an order for the sterilizing water or a request for maintenance can be sent from the transmitter 6 via the server 8.

The transmission of the request signal is displayed on the display screen 2 to that effect. Further, the traders R and V that have received the transmission signal return a signal (order response signal) indicating that the order has been received to the server 8, so that the signal indicating that from the server 8 has entered the receiving unit 7 and has received the input The signal is sent from the control unit 5 to the display screen 2 and displayed.

It should be noted that the remaining amount of the tank T can be judged by the user's own visual observation. In this case, what is necessary is just to comprise so that a residual amount can be grasped | ascertained easily by reflecting light in the germicidal water W by blue LED etc. which are not shown in figure.

A receiving unit 7 is connected to the control unit 5 connected to the display screen 2 and the operation unit 3 described above.
In addition to the order signal indicating that an order has been received from the above-mentioned external contractor (repair shop R or dealer V), other receiving information is sent to the receiving section 7 via the network NW via the server 8. input. This input information is displayed by the control unit 5 in the received content column 2a set at the corner of the display screen 2 or the like as an indication that new information of the other contents is provided. In the present invention, the receiver 7 may be provided with a tuner for TV broadcasting or radio broadcasting.

In this way, the receiving unit 7 can receive various information in addition to the information from the external vendors R and V from the providers (information providers Th1 to Thn) via the server 8 via the network NW. It is. In this embodiment, in addition to the vendors R and V that are set to allow reception in the server 8 in advance, a specific information provider Th1 that has been set to accept the provision in the server 8 in advance. It is set to receive only the information. Therefore, the other party to whom the user can send information from the sending unit 6 of the spraying device 1 is also limited to the traders R and V set in the server 8 in the same manner.

In the present invention, the information provider R, V, Th1... And the spraying device 1 receiving and transmitting information 6 and 7 can exchange information between the configuration and capacity of the control unit 5. However, it can be arbitrarily set by the server 8. In addition, the information received and displayed on the screen 2 can be switched or stopped by the operation of the operation unit 3, and the display can be automatically shut off by a timer set in the control unit 5.

In the present invention, examples of information displayed on the display screen 2 include information on specific infectious diseases and infectious diseases in addition to the above examples, disaster information such as earthquakes and typhoons in and outside Japan, medical institutions on the infectious diseases, Information on effective medicines, companies specified by a contract with the operation manager of the server 8, public relations of local public bodies, advertisement information, and the like can be mentioned.
Of course, the type of information displayed on the display screen 2 in the present invention is not limited to the examples given above.

As described above, in the present invention, on the display screen provided in a daily life device such as a spray device for sterilizing water, the operating state of the device, the degree of consumption of the consumables, the replacement time, etc. are displayed each time the device is operated. Since it is now possible to send a request for repairs or replenishment of consumables directly from the equipment when necessary, maintenance and management of the equipment can be performed using conventional communication means such as telephone and fax. This can be done automatically without using it.

In addition, various information supplied from an external supplier or information provider supplied via the server can be switched or displayed on the screen while being selected by the operation of the operation unit by the user. Even if those broadcasts are not received, various information can be obtained while the user is present, which is convenient in daily life.

Furthermore, businesses that want to provide various types of information to many users can directly publicize their products to a large number of users who use each device without placing advertisements on the so-called media.

The figure which showed typically the structure of the disinfection water spray apparatus to which this invention is applied. The block diagram which showed typically the relationship between the user of the some apparatus of FIG. 1, and an external contractor.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Sterilization water spray apparatus 2 Display screen 3 Operation part 4 Power supply circuit 5 Control part 6 Sending part 7 Receiving part 8 Server NW network R, V, Th1-Thn External contractor

Claims (5)

1. A flat display screen with a control unit is installed on the outer surface of the housing of daily life equipment such as sterilizing water spraying equipment, humidifiers, air conditioners, water heaters, tea dispensers, etc. An operation unit for switching display contents is provided inside or on the side of the casing, the operation unit is connected to the control unit wirelessly or by wire, and the display content of the display unit is managed through the control unit. For this purpose, the life equipment is designed to exchange information with the server computer of the management center.
2. The living device according to claim 1, wherein the operation unit is formed by at least one of a touch panel on a display screen, an operation key arranged on a housing, and a wireless or wired card or block operation unit.
3. The control unit connected to the display screen and the operation unit is a communication having an information communication function for exchanging information between the server computer of the management center and the control unit via a communication network such as a telephone network, a LAN, and the Internet. The living device according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a section.
4. The server computer is a communication network between a manufacturer of the device, a maintenance company including repair of the device and replenishment of consumables, or a computer at one or more information providers that provide various types of information. The living device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a function of exchanging information via
5. Various life equipment including a sterilizing water spray device and information supply sources including the manufacturer, maintenance company, etc. of the equipment are linked to the server computer via a communication network, and the display screen of the life equipment is operated. User-oriented information exchange between the information supply source and the user who installs and uses the life device by selectively displaying information from the information supply source on the screen by operating the unit A management system for daily life equipment.
   

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