JP7734896B2 - Bathroom equipment control system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a bathroom equipment control system that can also operate a bathtub cleaning device remotely.

A bathtub cleaning device is provided that automatically cleans a bathtub. This bathtub cleaning device is controlled to clean with detergent and then rinse with tap water.
Furthermore, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, it is also possible to remotely control the bathtub cleaning device from outside the home using a mobile terminal such as a smartphone.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2020-176761

However, it is conceivable that the bathtub cleaning device may interrupt the bathtub cleaning once it has started, for example, when a command to stop the bathtub cleaning is made from a mobile terminal, when a bathtub cleaning being executed is forcibly terminated using a remote control installed in the house, or when an error occurs in the device.
If the bathtub cleaning is interrupted in this way after the cleaning with detergent has started but before rinsing with tap water has been completed, detergent will remain inside the bathtub.
If you fill the tub in this state, the water will contain detergent, making it impossible to take a bath.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a bathroom equipment control system that allows the bathtub to be filled with water without any problems even if the operation of the bathtub cleaning device is interrupted.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a bathroom equipment control system that is equipped with a control means that can remotely control the filling of the bathtub with water by a water heater and the control of a bathtub cleaning device that rinses after cleaning with detergent via a communication terminal, and is characterized in that if the control means determines that the operation of the bathtub cleaning device has been interrupted midway, it controls the water heater not to fill the bathtub with water until a predetermined release operation is performed.
This means that if the bathtub cleaning device is interrupted mid-operation, even if a command to fill the bathtub is issued by the water heater, the bathtub will not be filled unless a specified cancellation operation is performed. This makes it possible to prevent the bathtub from being filled with detergent remaining in the bathtub, eliminating any impediments to filling the bathtub.

Preferably, the control means controls the water heater not to fill the tub with water if it determines that the operation of the bathtub cleaning device has been interrupted midway after the bathtub cleaning device has started cleaning with detergent but before rinsing has been completed.
According to this, if the control means determines that the timing when the bathtub cleaning device is interrupted is a timing when detergent may remain in the bathtub, it will prohibit the bathtub from being filled. Therefore, if the operation is interrupted at a timing when there is no detergent remaining in the bathtub, the bathtub will be filled. This makes it possible to further eliminate obstacles to filling the bathtub.

In this case, it is also preferable that the control means, when determining that the operation of the bathtub cleaning device has been interrupted midway, transmits a bathtub cleaning interruption signal to the communication terminal.
This makes it possible to display on the communication terminal that the bathtub cleaning has been interrupted.

Furthermore, preferably, when the control means determines that the operation of the bathtub cleaning device was interrupted midway after the bathtub cleaning device started cleaning with detergent but before rinsing was completed, when the communication terminal remotely controls the water heater to fill the bathtub with water, the control means controls the water heater to fill the bathtub with water after rinsing the bathtub cleaning device.
According to this, even if there is a possibility that detergent remains in the bathtub, rinsing is performed first before filling the bathtub, which further reduces the chance of problems with filling the bathtub.

This invention makes it possible to provide a bathroom equipment control system that allows the bathtub to be filled with water without any problems even if the operation of the bathtub cleaning device is interrupted.

1 is a block diagram showing an outline of a bathroom appliance control system. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the bathroom appliance control system. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the bathroom appliance control system. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the bathroom appliance control system.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of a bathroom appliance control system.
A bathtub 110 is installed in a bathroom 100 arranged in a house, and a bathroom cleaning device 200 for automatically cleaning the inside of the bathroom 100 and a bathtub cleaning device 300 for automatically cleaning the inside of the bathtub 110 are also installed.
The house is also equipped with a water heater 400 that fills the bathtub 110 with water and supplies hot water to the bathtub cleaning device 300.

Also located within the home is a control box 500 that controls the bathroom cleaning device 200, bathtub cleaning device 300, and water heater 400. This control box 500 transmits control signals to the bathroom cleaning device 200, bathtub cleaning device 300, and water heater 400, which are generated by operating a remote control 600 installed within the home. The control box 500 also receives control signals transmitted from a cloud server 800 based on operational commands transmitted by operating an app installed on a mobile device 700, such as a smartphone, owned by a resident of the home, and transmits the control signals to the bathroom cleaning device 200, bathtub cleaning device 300, and water heater 400. The cloud server 800 and control box 500 correspond to the control means of the present invention, and each of the cloud server 800 and control box 500 may be provided as a single unit or may be separated into multiple units.
A gateway device (not shown) that converts signals between the cloud server 800 and the control box 500 is installed inside the home.

The bathtub cleaning device 300 automatically cleans the bathtub 110 by supplying it with detergent and hot water from the water heater 400. The cleaning procedure typically involves first spraying hot water onto the bathtub 110 to perform a preliminary wash, then spraying detergent to remove dirt adhering to the inner surface of the bathtub 110, and finally spraying hot water onto the inner surface of the bathtub 110 to rinse, but the presence or absence of a preliminary wash is not essential.

The bathroom cleaning device 200 cleans the washing area of the bathroom 100. Cleaning methods that can be used include a method in which dirt adhering to the washing area is washed away with a pre-wash and then hot water containing hypochlorous acid is sprayed onto the washing area to clean it, or a method in which hot water is sprayed onto the washing area to pre-wash it, then detergent is sprayed onto the surface of the washing area to remove dirt adhering to the surface of the washing area, and finally hot water is sprayed onto the washing area to rinse it.

The water heater 400 performs functions such as filling the bathtub 110 with water, reheating the water, and supplying hot and cold water to the bathtub cleaning device 300.

When cloud server 800 receives an operation command from mobile terminal 700, it generates a control signal based on the command and transmits it to control box 500 in the home via the Internet. Cloud server 800 also receives signals transmitted by control box 500 via the Internet, and transmits signals to change the display of the app screen of mobile terminal 700 as necessary in relation to the received signals.
If the bathtub cleaning operation is interrupted midway through, the cloud server 800 receives a signal via the control box 500 indicating that the bathtub cleaning device 300 has been interrupted.

Next, the operation of this bathroom equipment control system will be described.
As shown in Figure 2, the bathroom equipment control system starts operation of the bathtub cleaning device 300 by remote control 600 or mobile device 700. If a command to stop bathtub cleaning is issued via the remote control 600 or mobile device 700 after the operation of the bathtub cleaning device 300 has begun, the operation of the bathtub cleaning device 300 is interrupted. The cloud server 800 determines that bathtub cleaning has been interrupted when it receives an interruption signal sent from the bathtub cleaning device 300 via the control box 500. In this case, the cloud server 800 will not allow the mobile device 700 to fill the bathtub. Specifically, the cloud server 800 rejects the bathtub filling command sent from the mobile device 700, or the cloud server 800 transmits a signal to the mobile device 700 indicating that the bathtub filling request is prohibited.
This makes it possible to prevent the bathtub from being filled with water while detergent remains inside the bathtub 110 even if the bathtub cleaning is interrupted and detergent remains inside the bathtub 110.

If the bathtub cleaning process remains interrupted, the bathtub cannot be filled indefinitely, so filling the bathtub can be stopped by performing a specific release operation. For example, the user can perform this release operation by using a special operation on the remote control 600 after the bathtub cleaning process has been interrupted, such as by showering the bathtub 110 with water to rinse away the detergent. Alternatively, the user can perform a rinsing operation on the mobile terminal 700 or the remote control 600.
In this way, even if the bathtub cleaning device 300 stops its operation midway, a predetermined release operation is performed so that no detergent remains in the bathtub 100, and the bathtub can be filled if instructed to do so.

Here, as shown in Figure 3, the cloud server 800 may control the bathtub cleaning device 300 not to fill the bath if it determines that the operation of the bathtub cleaning device 300 was interrupted midway after the bathtub cleaning device 300 started cleaning with detergent but before rinsing was completed.
In this way, cloud server 800 prohibits filling the bathtub only when it determines that the timing at which bathtub cleaning device 300 was interrupted is a timing at which detergent may remain in bathtub 110. Therefore, if operation is interrupted at a timing when there is no detergent remaining in bathtub 110, filling the bathtub will be carried out.

When prohibiting the execution of bathtub filling, the cloud server 800 may send a bathtub cleaning interruption signal to the communication terminal 700 if it determines that the operation of the bathtub cleaning device 300 has been interrupted midway. In this case, the communication terminal 700 can display that the bathtub cleaning has been interrupted midway. For example, when the app is launched, it may display that the bathtub cleaning has been interrupted midway, or, when an attempt is made to fill the bathtub using the communication terminal 700, it may display that the bathtub cleaning cannot be performed because it was interrupted midway.

Also, as shown in Figure 4, if the cloud server 800 determines that the operation of the bathtub cleaning device 300 was interrupted midway after the bathtub cleaning device 300 started cleaning with detergent but before rinsing was completed, when the communication terminal 700 remotely controls the water heater 400 to fill the bathtub with water, the cloud server 800 may control the bathtub cleaning device 300 to automatically rinse and then fill the bathtub with water.
According to this, even if there is a possibility that detergent remains in the bathtub 110, the detergent is washed away by rinsing, so that even if the bathtub is filled after the bathtub cleaning is interrupted, hot water mixed with detergent does not accumulate, and it is possible to further eliminate obstacles to filling the bathtub.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and can be implemented in various other embodiments.
For example, instead of placing a control box inside the home, signals from the cloud server may be sent to a remote control via a gateway device, and the remote control may then send signals to each bathroom appliance.

100 Bathroom 110 Bathtub 300 Bathtub cleaning device 400 Water heater 500 Control box (control means)
600 Remote control 700 Communication terminal 800 Cloud server (control means)

Claims (3)

A bathroom equipment control system having a control means that can remotely control a bathtub cleaning device that uses a communication terminal to fill a bathtub with water using a water heater and to rinse the bathtub after cleaning with detergent,
The control means
If it is determined that the operation of the bathtub cleaning device has been interrupted midway, the device controls the water heater not to fill the bathtub with water until a predetermined cancellation operation is performed;
This bathroom equipment control system is characterized by controlling the water heater not to fill the tub with water if it is determined that the operation of the bathtub cleaning device has been interrupted after the bathtub cleaning device has started cleaning with detergent but before rinsing has been completed. A bathroom equipment control system having a control means that can remotely control a bathtub cleaning device that uses a communication terminal to fill a bathtub with water using a water heater and to rinse the bathtub after cleaning with detergent,
The control means
If it is determined that the operation of the bathtub cleaning device has been interrupted midway, the device controls the water heater not to fill the bathtub with water until a predetermined cancellation operation is performed;
A bathroom equipment control system characterized in that, when the control means determines that the operation of the bathtub cleaning device was interrupted after the bathtub cleaning device started cleaning with detergent but before rinsing was completed, and when the communication terminal remotely controls the water heater to fill the bathtub with water, the control means controls the water heater to fill the bathtub with water after rinsing the bathtub cleaning device. The bathroom equipment control system described in claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the control means sends a bathtub cleaning interruption signal to the communication terminal when it determines that the operation of the bathtub cleaning device has been interrupted midway.