JP4724985B2 - Remote control system - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
The present invention relates to a remote control system, and more particularly, relates to a remote control system for home appliances that call control automatically appliances from a predetermined location.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, as a device for remotely controlling so-called household appliances (hereinafter abbreviated as home appliances) such as indoor lighting devices, air conditioners, and hot water supply devices, (1) a main unit installed indoors and a predetermined telephone network When a voice signal for instructing desired control is transmitted from the slave unit (or another telephone connected to the telephone network) to the master unit outdoors, the slave unit can communicate with the master unit via A device is known that recognizes this audio signal as a control command in the master unit, and transmits a predetermined infrared control signal from the infrared output unit of the master unit to the infrared receiver of the home appliance based on the recognition result ( (2) When control code data is transmitted from an outdoor digital cordless telephone to a base unit installed indoors via a public base station and a telephone line, the base unit and the RF module (Radio Department) The built-in home appliance (or RF module connected) home appliance is wirelessly connected, and the home appliance and the digital cordless phone are connected via the master unit, the public base station, and the telephone line. (3) a detector that detects a radio wave received by a telephone using a radio signal, and a radio wave received by the detector. And a supply device that supplies power to an external device in accordance with on / off control of the switch, and an external device connected to the supply device in response to radio waves received from the telephone disposed in the vicinity of the detector A device for turning on and off the power supply to an apparatus is known (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-278436).
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, these known devices require a human act of making a phone call in order to perform remote control of home appliances, and some users forget to make a phone call while family members When multiple users remotely control the same home appliance, etc., they may make separate calls without contacting each other, so they make unnecessary calls, and the control device that receives this issues a duplicate command. The device sometimes malfunctioned. In order to avoid this, there is a problem that the configuration of the control system becomes complicated and expensive.
The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and it is an object of the present invention to eliminate an artificial act of a user making a call and to eliminate redundant control by a plurality of telephones.
[0004]
In order to solve the above-described problems, the remote control system of the present invention includes an information terminal that transmits a radio wave that enables self-position recognition, a position of the information terminal that receives the radio wave and refers to the received radio wave and map information. , The transmitting station that transmits the recognized location information, the control device that receives the control signal and transmits a signal for operating the home electric appliance to be controlled based on the received control signal, and the telephone number of the control device Is stored in a telephone number field, a call position information field in which a position where a control device controlled by the information terminal is called, which is a distance from the home of the information terminal, is stored, and a name of the controlled home appliance controlled by the control device Shows the correspondence between the information terminal and the control target home appliance, and the control mode field indicating how to operate the control target home appliance. Control table having a corresponding mobile phone telephone number field in which the telephone number of the information terminal is described, and receiving the location information, referring to the received location information, and determining that the information terminal exists at a predetermined location Then, a control station having a processing means for calling a corresponding control device and transmitting a control signal for controlling the home appliance to be controlled by the control device with the content of the control mode field with reference to the control table is provided. .
[0009]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.
(Embodiment 1) In this embodiment, a mobile phone that transmits a radio wave that enables recognition of its own location, a transmitting station that transmits location information of the mobile phone, and control of home appliances installed at home based on the location information The present invention relates to a home appliance remote control system having a remote control station having processing means for calling a device and transmitting a control signal and the control device for transmitting an operation signal to a controlled home appliance based on the control signal.
[0010]
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a system for remotely controlling household electrical appliances according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, in which a mobile phone 1a is a phone owned by a family a, for example, and a mobile phone 1b is a family b I have a phone. The radio base stations 2a and 2b are installed for each operation setting area configured around the remote control station 2, and enable calls with an unspecified number of mobile phones. For this reason, the radio base station 2a detects the position of the mobile phone 1a. When the mobile phone 1a moves to the operation setting area of the radio base station 2b, the radio base station 2b detects the position from the phone number of the mobile phone 1a, the transmitted electric field strength, and the like. The same applies to the mobile phone 1b.
[0011]
The position information of the mobile phone 1a whose position is detected is transmitted from the radio base station 2b to the remote control station 2. The remote control station 2 has a function as a radio base station and has jurisdiction over a plurality of homes 3 equipped with home appliances that are remotely controlled, and the location of the mobile phones 1a and 1b is determined from the home by map information that is separately provided. It constantly monitors which position (location) it is. And when the position (place) described in the control table mentioned later arrives, the telephone which automatically calls the home 3 and calls the apparatus which controls the household appliances installed in the said home 3 concerned. Communication between the remote control station 2 and the home 3 is performed by a general public line, a dedicated line, or a wireless line.
[0012]
This position detection can be detected in detail within the same operation setting area (service area) by narrowing the cell radius by one radio base station.
[0013]
FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration block diagram of a radio base station. The radio base station includes a control unit 20, a location data detection unit 21 that detects location data of a mobile phone, and an urban area connected via a memory I / F 24. An external memory 23 storing the map data. Furthermore, it has the communication processing part 22, and acquires the position of the mobile phone 1a in detail within a radius of 2 km from the XX town ×× Chome intersection and home. Then, this position information is transmitted from the communication processing unit 22 to the remote control station 2 via a public line, a dedicated line, or a wireless line.
[0014]
FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration block diagram of the remote control station. The remote control station is connected via the control unit 30, the position information acquisition unit 31 that acquires the position information of the mobile phone, and the memory I / F 3 4. with external memory 3 3 for storing control table. Further comprising a communication processor 3 2, by referring to the acquired position information and control table, home appliances through the communication processing section 3 2 communicates with In-Home 3 provided.
[0015]
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the control table, which is made up of a telephone number, call location information, home appliance name, control mode, compatible mobile phone telephone number, etc. The telephone number is the telephone number of the home, and the calling position information indicates the position (location) from the home or the absolute position (area) where the mobile device control device controlled by the mobile phone is called. For example, it is described by a location or condition such as the nearest station of the home, a street intersection or a radius within 2 km from the home, and a location set appropriately in consideration of the walking speed of the user. The home appliance name indicates the home appliance to be controlled, A is a security device, B is a lighting device, and C is a hot water supply device. The control mode indicates how the control device is operated. For example, in the case of a security device, the power is turned off. In the case of a lighting device or a hot water supply device, the power is turned on. Indicated. Corresponding mobile phone number describes the phone number of the mobile phone in order to show the correspondence between the mobile phone and the home appliance that is remotely controlled.
[0016]
A control device that operates the home appliance is installed in the home 3 where the home appliance is installed, and transmits an operation signal corresponding to the control mode described in the control table to the home appliance to be controlled. This control device is activated in response to a signal from the remote control station 2, and transmits an operation signal such as an infrared control signal to the control device by recognizing an operation symbol of the control mode.
[0017]
FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the schematic configuration of the control device. The control device decodes the control unit 40, the control signal receiving unit 41 that receives the calling telephone of the remote control station, the control device in the control table, and the control mode. And an infrared transmitter 42 for transmitting an infrared signal to a predetermined home appliance.
[0018]
In addition to the infrared type, various types of control devices such as an audio type and Bluetooth can be applied, and the control device is not limited to a specific type.
[0019]
In the system configuration, the position of the mobile phone 1a is monitored by the radio base station 2a or 2b, and the position information is transmitted to the remote control station 2. The remote control station 2 refers to the transmitted position information and control table to determine whether the mobile phone 1a has reached the call position recorded in the control table of the operation setting area. Automatically calls home 3 and calls the control device in home 3. When the control device is activated in response to this call, the home appliance described in the control table is recognized. When the control device is, for example, an infrared control device, an infrared control signal is sent from the infrared output unit to the infrared light receiving unit of the home appliance. Send out and control home appliances. For example, the control devices of the mobile phone (phone number: 0y0-qqqq-rrrr) described in the control table of FIG. 4 are a security device (control device name: A) and a lighting device (control device name: B). When you reach the XX Town ×× Chome intersection, turn off the security device to cancel the security system, and when you reach the XX Town ×× Chome yy store, turn on the lighting device. Control the lighting in the house. The same applies to the mobile phone (phone number: 0y0-ssss-tttt). In the case of a mobile phone having the telephone number 0y0-uuuu-vvvv, when the radius reaches within 2 km from the home, the switch-on control of the hot water supply device (control device name: C) is performed.
[0020]
By the way, when a plurality of family mobile phones enter the same operation setting area at substantially the same time, the same control device may be called by each mobile phone and receive a control command. In order to prevent this, it is possible to prevent unnecessary calls from being made by providing the remote control station 2 with the duplicate control prevention unit 35 (FIG. 3).
[0021]
FIG. 6 is an operation flowchart for preventing overlap control by a plurality of mobile phones. This operation will be described with reference to FIG. 6. When the function of the duplicate control prevention unit 35 is turned on, the prevention unit 35 checks whether or not a plurality of mobile phones that control the same home are already in the same operation setting area ( If there is no step S1) (S1, NO), a signal is sent to the home to control the home appliance (S3), and this process ends. If there is already a plurality of mobile phones (S1, YES), it is checked whether or not the mobile phone is controlling the same control device (S2). If the mobile phone is controlling the same control device (S2, YES) YES), the prevention unit 35 does not perform the control process and ends (ends) this process. If it is not a mobile phone that controls the same control device (S2, NO), a signal is sent to the home to control the home appliance (S3), and this process ends.
[0022]
According to the present embodiment, it is possible to control a predetermined home appliance in accordance with the timing at which the user arrives at home without making an artificial call to remotely control the control device. In this case, since position detection is performed by the radio base stations 2a and 2b, and remote control is performed by a computer (control unit) (not shown) of the remote control station 2, map data and the remote control station 2 are added to the radio base stations 2a and 2b. The remote control conditions (control table) may be registered in the mobile station 1a, and the mobile phone 1a can be lightly equipped. Also, if multiple mobile phones that control the same home are in the same operation setting area, it is checked whether or not they are mobile phones that control the same control device. It is possible to eliminate the waste of sending the signal, and it is possible to eliminate malfunction of the home appliance.
[0023]
In the first embodiment, the radio base station and the remote control station are configured separately, but can be configured as a single station (device) by integrating them.
[0024]
(Embodiment 2) This embodiment receives GPS radio waves, acquires self-location information, and exists within a predetermined distance or a predetermined area from the home where the home appliance is installed based on the acquired self-location information This relates to a mobile phone that calls a control device for a home electric appliance installed in a home and operates the predetermined home appliance with respect to the called control device.
[0025]
FIG. 7 is an internal configuration block diagram of the mobile phone according to the embodiment of the present invention. The control unit 50 includes a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM (not shown), loads a basic program and application stored in the ROM into the RAM, Control the mobile phone according to the loaded basic program or application.
When realizing a function as a telephone, first, at the time of transmission, when a telephone number is input or a call request is made by a key operation from the input unit 58, the control unit 50 responds accordingly by the communication processing unit 52 and the antenna 51. Through the wireless base station and the wireless line control station. Next, the audio data collected from the microphone 63 is modulated by the communication processing unit 52, and the modulated audio data is transmitted to the radio base station via the antenna 51. At the time of reception, the reception data is taken from the antenna 51 into the communication processing unit 52, demodulated, and then output through the speaker 62 to realize a call. Note that data is stored in a RAM (not shown) of the control unit 50 and displayed on the display unit 57 as necessary.
[0026]
On the other hand, when realizing a function as a remote control device for home appliances, the position data detection unit 54 is a self-position detection device using GPS (Global Positioning System), and coordinates data (latitude of a position where a mobile phone is present) , Longitude) at regular intervals. When this data is supplied to the control unit 50, the control unit 50 refers to the map data loaded in the external memory 55 via the memory I / F (interface) 56, and acquires self-position data. The external memory 55 is further loaded with the control table shown in FIG. The control unit 50 refers to the call position information in the control table and the self-location data, and checks whether or not the mobile phone is in an area for calling the device that controls the home appliance. As a result of the check, when it is determined that the mobile phone is within the area for controlling the home appliance, the home is automatically called via the communication processing unit 52, the control device is activated, and the predetermined number described in the control table Control home appliances.
[0027]
According to the present embodiment, it is possible to control a predetermined home appliance in accordance with the timing at which the user arrives at home without making an artificial call to remotely control the control device. In addition, since a series of operations from the acquisition of the self position to the transmission of the control signal is completed in the mobile phone device, the home appliance can be remotely controlled by the phone alone.
[0028]
In the present embodiment, a home appliance remote control system can be configured by the mobile phone described in the second embodiment and the home appliance control device installed in the home described in the first embodiment. At this time, if the control device is added with a function of checking calls from a plurality of mobile phones that control the same control device, and the same instruction content is duplicated and sent to the same home appliance, The mobile phone may be made communicable to prevent duplicate calls and eliminate malfunctions of the home appliance.
[0029]
【The invention's effect】
According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, it is possible to remotely control home appliances installed in a home at an easy-to-use timing without an operation of making a call artificially. At this time, since the information terminal itself does not bear the equipment for remote control, the equipment of the terminal can be lightened.
According to the third aspect of the present invention, since redundant signals are not sent to the home appliance control device, useless telephone calls can be eliminated. Moreover, since the control apparatus of household appliances does not receive the control command of the same content, the structure of a control apparatus can be simplified and the malfunction of household appliances can be eliminated.
According to the fourth and fifth aspects of the present invention, it is possible to remotely control home appliances installed in a home at an easy-to-use timing without an operation of making a call artificially. At this time, since the information terminal completes the function for remote control within its own terminal, it is possible to perform remote control of home appliances independently without using other devices [Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a system for remotely controlling a home electric appliance according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration block diagram of a radio base station according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a schematic configuration of a radio network controller according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a control table according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of a control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart for preventing duplicate calls by a plurality of mobile phones according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the mobile phone according to the embodiment of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
1a ··· Mobile phone, 2a · · Wireless base station, 2b · · Wireless base station, 2 · Remote control station, 3 · Home

Claims (1)

An information terminal that emits radio waves to enable self-recognition,
A transmitting station for receiving said radio wave, referring to the radio wave and the map information received recognizes the position of the information terminal, transmits the recognized position information,
Receiving a control signal, and a control unit for transmitting a signal for operating the control target Appliances in-home based on the control signal received,
A telephone number field in which a telephone number of the control device is stored; a call location information field in which a location where the information terminal is called and which is a distance from the home of the information terminal is stored; A home appliance name field in which the name of the controlled home appliance controlled by the control device is stored; a control mode field indicating how to operate the controlled home appliance; the information terminal; and the controlled home appliance A control table having a corresponding mobile phone telephone number field in which the telephone number of the information terminal is written, and the position information is received, and the control table is referenced with the received position information. Once the information terminal exists then judgment in place, along with calling the corresponding one of said control device, said control table Remote control system comprising a control station and a processing means for transmitting a control signal for controlling the control target home appliance by the control device in charge by irradiation with the contents of the control mode field.

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