JPH0815355B2 - Transmission / reception system - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transmission / reception system which realizes a low power consumption of a receiving device by intermittently waiting for a signal and a receiving device having an extended battery life.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A transmission / reception system of this type is shown in FIGS.
Will be explained. FIG. 5 is an external perspective view of the case where the transmission / reception system using the radio wave signal is applied to the remote control of the instantaneous gas water heater. The gas water heater 101 is usually installed outdoors or in a machine room. Gas supply pipe 102
The water supplied from the water pipe 103 is heated by burning the gas supplied from the bathroom 105 through the hot water supply pipe 104.
Hot water is supplied to the shower 107 and the faucet 108 of the kitchen 106. Remote controls 109 and 1 in the bathroom 105 and kitchen 106
10 is installed, the operation for adjusting the hot water supply temperature and the operating state of the gas water heater 101 can be monitored. Operation signals from the remote controllers 109 and 110 to the gas water heater 101 and the gas water heater 101 to the remote controller 10
The operation status signals to 9 and 110 are radio wave signals 111 and 112.
Therefore, it is not necessary to wire the signal line between them. Moreover, since a battery is used as the power source, there is an advantage that the installation place is not limited. However, on the other hand, battery replacement is complicated, and low power consumption for reducing the frequency of battery replacement is a very large technical issue. In particular, it is the most important issue to reduce the power consumption required for the signal waiting operation in the transmission / reception system. Therefore, in the conventional transmission / reception system, as shown in FIG. 4B, the reception device intermittently waits for a signal at a constant cycle t10, and thereby the power consumption is t11 in the case of continuous standby.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4A, the transmitter 32 adds a preamble signal 31 having a length t14 longer than the intermittent waiting period t10 from the transmitter 32 as shown in FIG. 4A. By transmitting, the receiving device has realized reliable reception processing and low power consumption.

[0003]

However, in the above conventional configuration, the longer the signal waiting period t10 in order to reduce the power consumption of the receiving device, the longer the length of the preamble portion 31 of the transmission signal 30 becomes. It is necessary to increase the length, and although it is possible to reduce power consumption, the transmission time t13 becomes long and one transmission device occupies a communication channel for a long time, which hinders the communication operation of other systems. There was a problem of becoming. Further, for example, when a radio wave system of a specific low power is used, a radio wave signal exceeding the regulation value of the transmission time limit cannot be output, so that the intermittent standby cycle t10 cannot be lengthened, and thus even if the power consumption is reduced, it is not so effective. There were challenges.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, and provides a transmission / reception system which realizes low power consumption of a receiving device without hindering the communication operation of another system and extends battery life. This is the purpose.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the transmission / reception system of the present invention requires first timer means for cyclically outputting a first timing signal of a constant cycle and transmission. In this case, a transmitter provided with transmission control means for starting a transmission operation based on the first timing signal, and a second timing signal having a cycle that is a multiple of an integral multiple of the cycle of the first timing signal. The second timer means for outputting to the click and the standby operation of the transmission signal from the transmission device are performed intermittently in synchronization with the second timing signal, and when the transmission signal is present during the standby, The receiving device is provided with a reception control unit that performs a receiving operation.

At least one of the transmitting device and the receiving device is provided with a timer synchronizing means for adjusting the phase difference between the first timing signal and the second timing signal to a value at which transmission and reception can be synchronized. Is.

[0007]

With the above construction, when the transmitter needs to transmit, it starts the transmitting operation with reference to the cyclic first timing signal generated by the first timer means. On the other hand, in the receiving device, the receiving circuit is periodically operated with reference to the cyclic second timing signal having a cycle which is an integral multiple of the cycle of the first timing signal generated by the second timer means. By waiting for the transmission signal from the transmission device, the power of the reception circuit only needs to be turned on when there is a possibility that the transmission device may transmit a signal, which enables standby reception operation with low power consumption. .

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1A shows a transmitting device, and FIG. 1B shows a receiving device. In FIG. 1 (a), a transmitter 1 generates a first timer means 2 which cyclically outputs a first timing signal 2a having a constant period T, and a signal generator which outputs an information signal 3a such as sensor information and key input information. Means 3 receives the information signal 3a from the signal generating means 3 and judges the necessity of transmission from the contents, and outputs the transmission request signal 4a and the data signal 4b to be transmitted when the necessity of transmission occurs. Transmission determination means 4, which performs the transmission request signal 4a
Is input, a transmission operation is started with reference to the first timing signal 2a, and a transmission signal 5a and a power supply control signal 5b in which a preamble signal, a transmission error check code, etc. are added to the data signal 4a are output. A control means 5, a transmission circuit 6 for converting the transmission signal 5a into a radio wave signal 6a and transmitting it from a transmission antenna 8, and a power supply control for controlling power supply to the transmission circuit 6 by a power supply control signal 5b from the transmission control means 5. It comprises a means 7 and a first timer synchronization means 9 for outputting a timer synchronization signal 9a to the first timer means 2 for timing of transmission and reception with the means 7 and the receiver 11.

In FIG. 1B, the receiving device 11 has the same period T as the first timing signal 2a of the transmitting device 1.
2nd timer means 12 for generating the second timing signal 12a of the above, and the power supply control signal 15b for supplying the power supply 17a to the receiving circuit 16 on the basis of the second timing signal 12a is output, and at the same time, the receiving circuit 16 Reception control means 1 for waiting for the reception signal 15a from the
5, power control means 17, reception antenna 18 for catching the radio signal 6a sent from the transmission device 1, and reception control means 1 when the reception control means 15 correctly receives
5, the reception completion signal 14a and the reception data 14b are received, and the transmission / reception timing is adjusted between the control signal generator 14 that outputs the control signal 13a for driving the controlled device 13 and the transmission device 1 according to their contents. To the second timer means 12, a timer synchronization signal 19a
The second timer synchronization means 19 for outputting

The operation and effect of the present invention having such a structure will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2A shows one of the information signals 3a from the signal generating means 3 and shows that the state changes from the L level to the H level at the point A.

In (b), the first timing signal 2a output from the first timer means 2 is cyclically input to the transmission control means 5 at the cycle T.

(C) shows a transmission signal 5a output from the transmission control means 5, which receives the change of the information signal 3a at the point A and starts transmission with reference to the first timing signal 2a. . The transmission signal 5a is composed of a preamble signal part 21 used when the receiving device 11 catches a signal and an information signal part 22 to be originally transmitted. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the information signal section 22 is a frame sync code for representing the beginning of the signal, an ID code for distinguishing the transmission source and the transmission partner of the signal, a data section carrying information to be transmitted, and transmitted. It is composed of a transmission error check code or the like for detecting whether or not the signal is incorrect.

(D) shows the second timing signal 12a output from the second timer means 12 of the receiver 11, and has the same cycle as the timing signal 2a output from the first timer means 2. It is output cyclically at T.

(E) shows the intermittent power supply control signal 15b output from the reception control means 15 and the reception signal 15a received by the reception circuit 16 in an overlapping manner. Power control signal 15
The power-on to the receiving circuit 16 by b is started in synchronization with the second timing signal 12a, but when there is no signal from the transmitter 1, the power is automatically turned off after a certain time (t1), and the signal is turned on. In some cases, the power is turned off after receiving it.

The phase difference t2 between the first timing signal 2a and the second timing signal 12a is the power supply control signal 15b when the transmission start timing of the transmission signal 5a is determined by the first timer synchronization means 9 or the second timer synchronization means 19. The time is adjusted so as to fall within the reception active time t1 of the receiving circuit 16 according to the above. At the time of initialization, the first timer synchronizing means 9 and the second timer synchronizing means 19 are connected by a signal line to adjust the timing. It is possible to use a method for adjusting the timing or a method for adjusting the timing by connecting a separately provided reference timing signal generator to each timer synchronization means.

(F) is one of the control signals 13a given to the controlled device 13, which is outputted from the control signal generating means 14 after the reception signal 15a is judged to be a correct signal by the reception control means 15. At the point B, the content (change from L level to H level) of the information signal 3a of the transmitter 1 is transmitted.

In the embodiment, the first timing signal 2a
The cycle of the second timing signal 12a and the cycle of the second timing signal 12a are the same, but generally, if the cycle of the second timing signal 12a is set to be an integral multiple of the cycle of the first timing signal 2a, transmission / reception is performed. It is clear that can be synchronized.

Although the timer synchronizing means 9 and 19 are provided in both the transmitting device 1 and the receiving device 11, the present invention is not limited to this, and the receiving device 11 is an example.
A timer synchronization means is provided only in the second timer means 1 based on the first signal transmitted from the transmitter 1.
A configuration in which the phase difference between the two timing signals is adjusted by starting 2 is also conceivable.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the transmission signal 5
It is possible to reliably receive signals without lengthening the preamble signal part t3 of “a”, and it is possible to solve the conventional problems.

[0020]

As described above, the transmission / reception system of the present invention is provided with timer means for generating a cyclic timing signal whose period is an integral multiple of each other in both the transmission device and the reception device, so that they are mutually Since the configuration is such that the transmission and reception are performed at a timing, the following effects are obtained.

(1) Since the receiving side needs to turn on the power only at the timing when a signal is likely to come from the transmitting side, the power consumption required for standby can be minimized. Therefore,
When applied to a battery-powered remote controller, it takes a long time to replace the battery, which is very convenient.

(2) Since the transmitting side and the receiving side are already synchronized by the timer, it is not necessary to increase the length of the preamplifier signal section. Therefore, since the transmission time of the entire signal is shortened, the communication channel occupation time per transmission is reduced, and a transmission / reception system with less signal interference problems with other systems can be realized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1A is a block diagram of a transmitter of a transmission / reception system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a block diagram of a receiver of the same system.

FIG. 2 is a signal timing diagram of the system.

FIG. 3 is a signal configuration diagram of the system.

FIG. 4 is a signal timing diagram of a conventional transmission / reception system.

FIG. 5 is an external perspective view showing the installation situation when the system is used for a gas water heater.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 transmitter 2 first timer means 5 transmission control means 6 transmission circuit 9 first timer synchronization means 11 receiver 12 second timer means 15 reception control means 16 reception circuit 17 power supply control means 19 for reception circuit 19 second Timer synchronization means

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A first timer means for cyclically outputting a first timing signal of a constant cycle, and when the necessity of transmission arises, a transmission operation is started based on the first timing signal. A transmission device having a transmission control means,
Second timer means for cyclically outputting a second timing signal with a cycle that is an integral multiple of the cycle of the first timing signal, and from the transmitting device in synchronization with the second timing signal. A transmission / reception system comprising a reception device, which is provided with a reception control means for intermittently performing a standby operation of a transmission signal and performing a reception process when the transmission signal is present during the standby. 2. A transmission / reception system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the transmission device and the reception device is provided with a timer synchronization means for adjusting a phase difference between the first timing signal and the second timing signal to a value at which transmission and reception can be synchronized. . 3. The transmission / reception system according to claim 1, wherein the cycle of the first timing signal and the cycle of the second timing signal are the same.