JP2022128792A - toilet seat device - Google Patents

Abstract

[Problem] To provide a toilet seat device that performs appropriate control on various control objects based on unified status information. [Solution] A toilet seat device 100 includes a status information processing unit 130 that periodically collects and updates status summary information 135 including the toilet lid open/close state, the toilet seat open/close state, and the seated/apart state, control units 140, 141, 143, 145 that control the operation of the toilet seat device 100 when a trigger to operate the toilet seat device 100 occurs, and condition determination units 142, 144, 146 that determine whether or not the operation needs to be performed and the manner in which the operation is to be performed based on the status summary information 135 before the operation control by the control units 140, 141, 143, 145 is performed. [Selected Figure] Figure 1

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a toilet seat device that detects the opening/closing of a toilet lid, the opening/closing of a toilet seat, and the seating/leaving of the toilet seat using electric signals.

In recent electrified toilet devices, when an electrical trigger is generated to cause the toilet device to perform some action, the control unit that controls the operation detects various detectors as activation conditions for the operation. It is configured to determine the state (see Patent Document 1, for example).

For example, in recent years, there have been proposed toilet bowl devices and toilet seat devices that clean only when the toilet lid is closed in order to prevent scattering when the toilet bowl is flushed. The part determines whether the toilet lid is open or closed.

JP 2006-177064 A

By the way, even if there is one event (trigger) such as a cleaning instruction, the actions based on the trigger may affect a plurality of controlled objects. In such a case, the determination of the state (status) as described above is generally performed by detecting a signal from a sensor for each controlled object.

In other words, when there is a separate control unit (program) for each controlled object, the operation of inputting the signal of the sensor may be performed individually. Therefore, there is a possibility that the detection timing of the status of the sensor differs between the plurality of control units even if the operation is based on the same trigger.

For example, Patent Document 1 describes that a sensor detects a status of leaving the seat on the toilet seat device side, while the toilet body side receives a seat leaving signal from the toilet seat device side to determine whether the seat is left. A time lag may occur in such a device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been proposed in consideration of such circumstances, and its object is to provide a toilet seat apparatus that can appropriately control various controlled objects based on unified status information.

In order to achieve the above object, a toilet seat device of the present invention is a toilet seat device for detecting the opening/closing of a toilet lid, the opening/closing of a toilet seat, and the seating/leaving with respect to the toilet seat by electrical signals. A status information processing unit that collects and updates aggregated status information including the state, toilet seat open/closed state, and seated/seated state at regular intervals, and a control unit that controls the operation when a trigger for operating the toilet seat device is generated. and a condition determination unit that determines whether or not the operation is to be executed and the mode of execution of the operation based on the aggregated status information before the operation is controlled by the control unit.

Since the toilet seat device of the present invention is configured as described above, appropriate control is performed on various controlled objects based on unified status information.

1 is a basic block diagram of a toilet seat device according to one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. Fig. 2 is a schematic side view schematically showing the inside of the toilet bowl device to which the same toilet seat device is attached; It is a basic block diagram of another toilet device. (a) and (b) are schematic side views schematically showing two examples of the internal structure of the same toilet device. (a) is a schematic diagram of an operation section in which buttons such as a cleaning operation section are arranged, and (b) is a schematic diagram of a setting section in which buttons such as a scattering prevention mode setting button are arranged. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of basic operation of a status information processing unit; It is a flow chart which shows an example of basic operation of a control part (toilet bowl control part). 9 is a flow chart showing another example of the basic operation of the control section (toilet control section). (a) is an operation execution table showing an example of basic operation of the control unit (toilet seat/toilet lid control unit), and (b) is an operation execution table showing an example of basic operation of the control unit (notification control unit).

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
First, a schematic basic configuration of the toilet seat device 100 will be described.

The toilet seat device 100 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is a toilet seat device 100 that detects the opening/closing of the toilet lid 120, the opening/closing of the toilet seat 124, and the seating/leaving of the toilet seat 124 by electrical signals.

The toilet seat device 100 includes a status information processing section 130 that periodically collects and updates aggregated status information 135 including the open/closed state of the toilet lid, the open/closed state of the toilet seat, and the sitting/seating state. The toilet seat device 100 further includes control units 140, 141, 143, and 145 that control operations when a trigger for operating the toilet seat device 100 is generated. Further, the toilet seat device 100 further includes condition determination units 142, 144, and 146 that determine whether or not the operation is to be executed and the mode of execution of the operation based on the status aggregation information 135 before the operation is controlled by the control unit 140. It has

The toilet device 1 is configured by attaching the toilet seat device 100 to the toilet device main body 200 . This toilet device 1 is a device that performs substantially the same operation as the toilet device 3 shown in FIGS. First, the toilet device 3 will be described. The toilet seat device 100 and the toilet bowl device 1 will be described later.

The toilet device 3 detects the opening/closing of the toilet lid 20, the opening/closing of the toilet seat 24, and the seating/leaving on the toilet seat 24 by electrical signals.

The toilet device 3 includes a status information processing section 30 that periodically collects and updates aggregated status information 35 including the open/closed state of the toilet lid, the open/closed state of the toilet seat, and the sitting/seating state. The toilet device 3 further includes control units 40, 41, 43, and 45 for controlling the operations when a trigger for operating the toilet device 3 is generated. Further, the toilet device 3 further includes condition determination units 42, 44, and 46 for determining whether or not the operation is to be executed and the mode of execution of the operation based on the status aggregate information 35 before the control unit 40 performs operation control. It has
Furthermore, the detailed configuration, structure and basic operation of the toilet device 3 will be described.

3 and 4 are explanatory diagrams of the basic configuration of the toilet device 3. FIG. 4(a) and 4(b) are schematic side views schematically showing the interior of the toilet device 3 showing two forms with different cleaning methods (structures). method can also be applied.

As shown in FIGS. 4(a) and 4(b), the toilet device 3 is a seat-type Western-style toilet device fixed to the floor, wall, or the like in the toilet space. The main body 10 of the toilet device 3 has a bowl 12 open upward and is surrounded by a skirt portion 11. The toilet seat can be raised and lowered with respect to the opening surface of the bowl 12 and has the same rotation axis. 24, a toilet lid 20 is provided. In addition, the toilet seat 24 and the toilet lid 20 may have separate rotating shafts so that they can be interlocked with each other.

In the inner space of the skirt portion 11, a toilet bowl cleaning portion 13 is disposed which is controlled to discharge dirty water in the bowl 12 and supply cleansing water into the bowl 12 from a water supply port 14 to clean the inside of the bowl 12. ing. The toilet bowl cleaning unit 13 has a water supply mechanism and a drainage mechanism.

The water supply mechanism includes a water supply port 14, a cleaning water supply channel 15 for supplying cleaning water supplied from a water pipe (not shown) into the bowl 12 through the water supply port 14, and a cleaning water supply channel 15 disposed in the middle. A water supply valve 16 for supplying or shutting off washing water to the bowl 12 is provided.

The drainage mechanism shown in FIG. 4( a ) has a cylindrical bent trap 17 connected to extend rearwardly from the bottom of the bowl 12 , and the trap 17 extends further downward to a drain port 18 . It is connected. This type of drainage mechanism includes a siphon type, a siphon jet type, a siphon vortex type, and the like, and is considered to be a mechanism in which a drained state or a water-sealed state is formed by a siphon action.

The drainage mechanism may also have a structure having a movable trap 17A as shown in FIG. 4(b). The trap 17A is rotated in the direction of the arrow by a driving section (not shown) to form a drain state or a water sealing state. The illustrated trap 17A is in the water-sealed position, but the open end 17a of the trap 17A faces the drain port 18 in the drained state. The trap 17A is surrounded by a trap case (not shown) inside the skirt portion 11 so that sewage and odors do not leak outside.

Also, the toilet bowl device 3 can be applied with a drainage mechanism that is neither a siphon type nor a movable type, for example, a wash-off type drainage mechanism.

The toilet device 3 shown in FIGS. 4(a) and 4(b) is a tankless type directly connected to a water supply without a flush tank (low tank), but it may be configured to include a flush tank. .

The toilet device 3 also includes a toilet lid open/close detector 21 that detects the open/closed state of the toilet lid 20 and a toilet lid drive unit 22. The toilet device 3 further includes a toilet seat open/close detector that detects the open/closed state of the toilet seat 24. 25 and a toilet seat drive unit 26 for opening and closing the toilet seat 24 . The toilet device 3 further includes a seating detector 28 and a human body detector 29 .

As the toilet lid opening/closing detection unit 21 and the toilet seat opening/closing detection unit 25, those configured to detect the opening/closing state based on the opening angle, for example, are employed. In other words, these detection units detect not only the open/closed state and the closed state, but also the intermediate state between them. For example, the closed state of the toilet lid 20 may include not only the closed state but also the state in which the opening of the bowl 12 is substantially closed just before the toilet lid 20 closes during the closing operation, which can be defined by an angle. You can make a decision.

The toilet lid drive unit 22 and the toilet seat drive unit 26 are each configured by a motor or the like. The toilet lid drive unit 22 electrically opens and closes (raises) the toilet lid 20 when there is an instruction from the toilet lid operation unit 23 described later, and the toilet seat drive unit 26 receives an instruction from the toilet seat operation unit 27 described later. The toilet seat 24 is electrically opened and closed (raised) when there is a problem. The toilet lid 20 and the toilet seat 24 may each have a drive unit (motor), or a single motor may operate the toilet lid 20 and the toilet seat 24 individually.

Further, in the toilet bowl device 3 of the present embodiment, the toilet lid 20 and the toilet seat 24 can be electrically opened and closed by the drive units, but they may be opened and closed only manually. In other words, the toilet device 3 may be one in which the toilet lid driving portion 22 and the toilet seat driving portion 26 are not mounted. Even if the toilet lid 20 and the toilet seat 24 are manually opened and closed, the opening/closing state is detected by the toilet lid opening/closing detection unit 21 and the toilet seat opening/closing detection unit 25 .

As the seating detection unit 28, for example, a load sensor built into the toilet seat 24 that detects seating/leaving, an infrared sensor that detects seating/seating from the vicinity of the rotation shaft of the toilet seat 24, or the like is employed. The human body detection unit 29 is a sensor that detects the presence or absence of a person in the toilet room, and is installed on the main body 10 or the like.

In addition, as the operation unit 50 for causing the toilet device 3 to perform various operations, a cleaning operation unit 51 (a stool cleaning button 51a and a urine cleaning button 51b), a toilet lid operation unit 23, a toilet seat operation unit 27, etc. It is provided on the remote controller and the main body 10 (see FIGS. 3 and 5(a)). As shown in FIG. 5( a ), the operation unit 50 also includes various buttons of a private cleaning-related operation unit 52 . Needless to say, the remote controller is provided with a transmitting section (not shown), and the main body 10 is provided with a receiving section (not shown).

Each of the toilet lid operation unit 23 and the toilet seat operation unit 27 may be composed of individual buttons for opening and closing, or may be configured to alternately switch opening and closing with one button. In the latter case, the toilet lid opening/closing detection unit 21 (toilet seat opening/closing detection unit 25) and further cooperation between these detection units and software determine whether the instruction is open or closed. It has become. The toilet device 3 is the latter as shown in FIG. 5(a).

In addition, as a setting unit 54 for setting or changing the washing mode etc., a scattering prevention mode setting button 55, an automatic toilet bowl washing setting button 56, a timer toilet bowl washing setting button 57, etc. are provided at the rear of the main body 10 ( 3 and FIG. 5(b)). The toilet seat device 100 described above is also provided with an operation unit 150 similar to the operation unit 50 of the toilet device 3 and a setting unit 154 similar to the setting unit of the toilet device 3 .

The anti-scattering mode is a washing mode in which washing is not executed unless the toilet lid 20 is closed. From the viewpoint of preventing the spread of contaminants contained in excrement when the bowl 12 is washed, this mode is set so that the splash containing the contaminants in the feces excreted in the bowl 12 does not scatter outside the toilet bowl. 20 is in the closed state as a condition for activating the toilet flushing operation.

That is, when there is a washing instruction in this mode, the open/closed state of the toilet lid based on the detection signal of the toilet lid opening/closing detection unit 21 is determined in order to check the conditions for activating the toilet bowl washing operation. When the toilet lid 20 is closed, the toilet is washed, and when the toilet lid 20 is open, the toilet is not washed. If the toilet lid 20 is open, the operation of automatically closing the toilet lid 20 is executed when the toilet lid 20 is open, and then the toilet bowl is flushed. may

The automatic toilet flushing setting is a setting that enables a function of automatically performing flushing when a state change occurs from a seated state to an unseated state regardless of the flushing instruction operation. The timer cleaning setting is a setting for activating a function of automatically performing cleaning at a predetermined time or in a certain cycle regardless of the cleaning instruction operation.

That is, the washing instruction signal that triggers the washing of the toilet can be generated at various timings such as operation of the washing operation unit 51, automatic washing of the toilet (change of state from the seated state to the leaving of the seat), or timer washing (predetermined time, etc.). is generated by the cleaning instruction generating means of

The toilet device 3 also includes a buzzer, a speaker, a display, etc. as a notification unit 60 for notifying the timing of occurrence of an abnormality in the device, the state of the device at various timings, the generation of a trigger, and the like. The buzzer can convey various messages by varying the sounding mode. Also, the sound or voice synthesis may be output from a speaker.

The toilet device 3 collects the information set by the setting unit 54 and the information input from the toilet lid opening/closing detection unit 21, the toilet seat opening/closing detection unit 25, the seating detection unit 28, the human body detection unit 29, etc. at a constant cycle. A status information processing unit 30 is provided for taking in as information 35 . The status information processing unit 30 may be activated, for example, at intervals of 100 msec, 200 msec, etc. by timer interrupt.

In addition, the toilet device 3 is controlled by the occurrence of various triggers (events), the controlled object 5 (the water supply valve 16 of the toilet bowl cleaning unit 13, the drive unit (not shown) for the movable trap 17A, the toilet lid drive unit 22, the toilet seat, and the like). and a control unit 40 for controlling the driving unit 26, etc.).

The control unit 40 includes a toilet bowl control unit 41 that controls the toilet cleaning unit 13, a toilet seat/toilet lid control unit 43 that controls the toilet lid driving unit 22 and the toilet seat driving unit 26, and a notification control unit that controls the notification unit 60. 45 are included. In addition, the control unit 40 also includes a private cleaning control unit (not shown) for controlling a private cleaning device (not shown).

These control units 41, 43, and 45 may be composed of a program or a group of programs corresponding to individual controlled objects 5, or may be composed of a program or a group of programs in which control logics of a plurality of controlled objects 5 are mixed. may

The status information processing section 30 and the control section 40 include various programs executed under a processor such as a CPU or MPU. Note that the control units 41, 43, and 45 may be operated by different processors. The toilet device 3 further comprises a timer (not shown) and a power supply (not shown) along with the processor.

The status information processing unit 30 may be periodically executed by timer interrupt as described above so that various status information can be read in at regular intervals. The status information processing unit 30 may be activated, for example, every 100 msec, and may perform processing such as fetching data from the IO port at that timing.

Further, the status information processing unit 30 may be activated by a trigger caused by a hardware interrupt different from the timer interrupt, and the status changed by the trigger may be stored and updated in the status aggregation information 35 .

Various types of status information collected by the status information processing unit 30 in this way are aggregated into status aggregation information 35 . This aggregated status information 35 is provided in a storage unit (not shown).

On the other hand, when a trigger for operating the toilet device 3 is generated, the control unit 40 is activated by the trigger. Triggers of this type include button operations by the operation unit 50 and detection by various detection units. For example, if a cleaning instruction is given by the cleaning operation unit 51, the toilet device 3 must perform a toilet bowl cleaning operation, so the trigger of the cleaning instruction is transmitted to the control unit 40 (toilet control unit 41). The trigger may be a raw trigger such as a hardware interrupt, or an internal trigger generated by software.

The event (trigger) of the cleaning instruction includes not only the event by the cleaning operation unit 51 but also the state change between sitting and leaving the seat detected by the seating detection unit 28 . The status information processing unit 30 may monitor the seating state (sitting/leaving) periodically updated, and generate a trigger, that is, a washing instruction, when a change occurs from sitting to leaving. Of course, a hardware interrupt (trigger) may be generated when the seating detection unit 28 leaves the seat.

In addition, the toilet bowl control unit 41, the toilet seat/toilet lid control unit 43, and the notification control unit 45 each determine whether or not to execute an operation for the control object 5 and the mode of operation based on the aggregated status information 35. , 44, 46.

The condition determination units 42, 44, and 46 may be periodically executed together with the status information processing unit 30 instead of being operated at the timing when the control unit 40 is activated. For example, after various states are input in the status information processing unit 30, conditional determination is performed using these data, and the determination data generated internally in this way may be included in the status summary information 35 and saved. good.

In any case, when the control unit 40 is activated based on a certain trigger, at that timing, all of the toilet bowl control unit 41, the toilet seat/toilet lid control unit 43, and the notification control unit 45 are updated at the same timing. The status aggregation information 35 is referred to. In other words, even if a plurality of the toilet bowl controller 41, the toilet seat/toilet lid controller 43, and the notification controller 45 operate with the same trigger, the plurality of controllers 41, 43, and 45 operate at the same timing. Aggregate information 35 can be referred to.

Therefore, among the plurality of control units 41, 43, 45 executed by the same trigger, there is no possibility that the status read by each control unit 41, 43, 45 will be inconsistent. Therefore, proper operation is executed based on the unified status, and malfunctions are less likely to occur.

Various programs, such as the status information processing unit 30, the toilet bowl control unit 41, the toilet seat/toilet lid control unit 43, the notification control unit 45, etc., access the status aggregated information 35 updated at regular intervals. may be provided for each timing or for each function. Therefore, each program is made compact, which has the secondary effect of making programming easier. It is desirable that such a program configuration be realized by arranging basic software for monitoring and managing a plurality of programs in real time.

Next, an operation example of each program (status information processing section 30, toilet bowl control section 41, toilet seat/toilet lid control section 43, notification control section 45) will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 9. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing an example of the basic operation of the status information processing section 30, and FIGS. 7 and 8 are flow charts showing two examples of the basic operation of the toilet control section 41 when a flushing instruction is issued. 9A is an operation execution table showing an example of basic operation of the toilet seat/toilet lid control unit 43, and FIG. 9B is an operation execution table showing an example of basic operation of the notification control unit 45. FIG.

The status information processing unit 30 is activated at intervals such as 100 msec as described above, and the operations shown in the flow chart (S101 to S106) of FIG. 6 are executed. Specifically, the toilet lid opening/closing state detected by the toilet lid opening/closing detection unit 21, the toilet seat opening/closing state detected by the toilet seat opening/closing detection unit 25, the seated/seated state detected by the seating detection unit 28, the setting information of the setting unit 54, and other states are captured. (S101 to S105 in FIG. 6). Collected data is stored in status aggregation information 35 . Since this operation is executed in a cycle of 100 msec, the aggregated status information 35 is updated in a cycle of 100 msec. Of course, if there is no change in the state, the data will be the same value even if it is updated.

By the way, the present toilet device 3 has a cleaning mode called a scattering prevention mode (see FIG. 5(b)). As described above, this anti-scattering mode is a mode in which washing is executed only when the toilet lid 20 is closed at the timing when the washing instruction is given.

This anti-scattering mode is set by operating the anti-scattering mode setting button 55 of the setting unit 54 as described above. When this mode is enabled, the open/closed state of the toilet lid 20 is discriminated as described above, and washing is carried out if the start conditions are met. If the anti-scattering mode is not set, cleaning is performed unconditionally.

In the operation example of FIG. 6, the status information processing unit 30 determines whether or not to flush the toilet based on the information collected at the same timing regardless of whether or not the anti-scattering mode is set (S106 in FIG. 6). Specifically, when the anti-scattering mode is set, it is determined that the toilet can be washed if the toilet lid is closed, and that the toilet cannot be washed if the toilet lid is open. It is sufficient to determine that the toilet bowl can be washed regardless of the open/closed state.

On the other hand, the toilet control unit 41, when activated by a trigger of a cleaning instruction, determines whether or not the toilet bowl can be cleaned based on the "whether toilet bowl can be cleaned" determined by the status information processing unit 30. Washing is controlled (Y of S201 in FIG. 7, S202). When toilet flushing is disabled, toilet flushing is not controlled (N in S201 of FIG. 7). In other words, the toilet controller 41 does not have to refer to whether or not the anti-scattering mode is set.

In addition, in the case of a flushing instruction due to leaving the seat (change of state from being seated on the toilet seat 24 to leaving the seat), the toilet lid 20 is in the open state at that timing. , it is desirable to generate a cleaning instruction trigger after a predetermined period of time.

In the example of FIGS. 6 and 7, the status information processing unit 30 generates the internal status data “toilet flushing possible/impossible” (S106 in FIG. 6). will be in charge of the department.

Of course, the status information processing unit 30 does not need to generate condition determination data such as "whether toilet bowl can be washed". The toilet control unit 41 may refer to the toilet lid opening/closing state and the set state of the anti-scattering mode in the aggregated status information 35 to determine whether or not toilet cleaning is necessary.

For example, when the toilet lid 20 is in the open state during washing in the anti-scattering mode, the controller 40 performs the operations shown in the flow chart (S301 to S304) of FIG. may be executed.

That is, when the control unit 40 is activated by the trigger of the flushing instruction, it is sufficient to refer to the status aggregation information 35 and determine the conditions for controlling the closing operation of the toilet lid 20 and controlling the flushing of the toilet bowl.

Specifically, when the toilet seat/toilet lid control unit 43 determines that the anti-scattering mode is set and the toilet lid 20 is open, the toilet lid 20 is driven to close. The unit 22 is controlled (Y in S301, Y in S302, and S303 in FIG. 8).

Then, after the toilet lid 20 is closed (after S303 in FIG. 8), toilet cleaning is performed (S304). Also, when the anti-scattering mode is not set (N of S301), or when the anti-scattering mode is set and the toilet lid 20 is closed (Y of S301, N of S302), the toilet Washing is performed (S304).

In the case of the example of FIG. 8 in which the toilet lid 20 automatically closes in the anti-scattering mode, the toilet seat/toilet lid control unit 43 is first activated by the cleaning instruction trigger, and controls the toilet lid 20 to close ( S303 in FIG. 8). After the toilet lid is closed by the control, the toilet control unit 41 is activated by the toilet seat/toilet lid control unit 43 by a trigger when the toilet lid open/close detection unit 21 detects that the toilet lid is closed, and the toilet bowl is flushed. is executed (S303, S304). Further, the toilet seat/toilet lid control section 43, when the anti-scattering mode is not set (N of S301), or when the anti-scattering mode is set and the toilet lid 20 is closed (Y of S301) , N of S302), the toilet controller 41 is activated.

In other words, in the example of FIG. 8, the toilet seat/toilet lid control unit 43 and the toilet bowl control unit 41 are activated in order by the trigger of the washing instruction so as to cooperate with each other. In the case of this operation, reference to the status aggregation information 35 for condition determination may be performed within the toilet seat/toilet lid control section 43 as shown in FIG.

When a plurality of control units 40 are operated by the same trigger in this way, if it is necessary for each of them to refer to the same status, the status aggregation information 35 can be referred to at the timing of each operation.

In addition, when a plurality of control units 41, 43, and 45 are continuously executed, there is a possibility that the status data referred to by any one of them may be updated by the periodic processing of the status information processing unit 30 between the operations of the control units 41, 43 and 45. be. In consideration of such a situation, dedicated transfer data between the preceding and following control units 41 , 43 , 45 may be provided in the status aggregation information 35 .

Next, the control operation of the toilet seat/toilet lid control section 43 will be described with reference to the operation execution tables shown in FIGS. 9(a) and 9(b).

As a trigger for the toilet seat/toilet lid control unit 43, a toilet seat opening/closing input by the toilet seat operation unit 27 and a toilet lid opening/closing input by the toilet lid operation unit 23 are assumed. As described above, both operation sections are not individually input for opening and closing, but it is determined whether to instruct opening or closing according to the state at that time.

Any of the inputs from the toilet seat operation unit 27 and the toilet lid operation unit 23 determines five types of statuses as shown in the table of FIG. Specifically, when the toilet seat operation unit 27 is operated to open and close the toilet seat, the execution mode is as follows for each status. These statuses can refer to the status aggregate information 35 .

(1) If both the toilet lid 20 and the toilet seat 24 are closed, the toilet seat open/close input is determined to be a toilet seat open instruction, and the toilet lid driving section 22 is controlled to open the toilet lid 20, and then the toilet seat is driven. It controls the unit 26 to open the toilet seat 24 .
(2) If the toilet lid 20 is in the intermediate position, the toilet seat open/close input is not determined to be an open/close instruction, and no control or operation is performed.
(3) If the toilet lid 20 is open and the toilet seat 24 is closed, the toilet seat open/close input is determined to be a toilet seat open instruction, and the toilet seat driving section 26 is controlled to open the toilet seat 24 .
(4) If the toilet seat 24 is in the intermediate position, the toilet seat open/close input is not determined to be an open/close instruction, and no control or operation is performed.
(5) If the toilet lid is open and the toilet seat is open, the toilet seat opening/closing input is determined to be a toilet seat closing instruction, and the toilet seat drive unit 26 is controlled to close the toilet seat 24 .

Further, when the toilet lid opening/closing input is given by the toilet lid operation unit 23, the following execution mode is performed for each status.

(1) If both the toilet lid 20 and the toilet seat 24 are closed, the toilet lid open/close input is determined as an instruction to open the toilet lid, and the toilet lid drive unit 22 is controlled to open the toilet lid 20 .
(2) If the toilet lid 20 is in the intermediate position, the toilet lid opening/closing input is not determined to be an instruction to open or close, and control and operation are not executed.
(3) If the toilet lid 20 is open and the toilet seat 24 is closed, the toilet lid opening/closing input is determined to be a toilet lid closing instruction, and the toilet lid drive unit 22 is controlled to execute the closing operation of the toilet lid 20 .
(4) If the toilet seat 24 is in the intermediate position, the toilet lid open/close input is not determined to be an instruction to open or close, and no control or operation is performed.
(5) If the toilet lid 20 is open and the toilet seat 24 is open, the toilet lid opening/closing input is determined to be a toilet lid closing instruction, and the toilet seat driving section 26 is controlled to close the toilet seat 24, and then the toilet lid is closed. The driving unit 22 is controlled to close the toilet lid 20 .

In addition, the closing operation of the toilet lid 20 when there is a washing instruction when the anti-scattering mode that involves the closing operation of the toilet lid 20 (see FIG. 8) is set, and other automatic closing operations of the toilet lid 20 are , the operation corresponding to the status (3) or (5) in the toilet lid open/close input field in the table of FIG. 9 is executed. Further, in the automatic opening operation of the toilet lid 20, an operation corresponding to the status (1) of the toilet lid open/close input field in the table of FIG. 9 is executed.

Next, the control operation of the notification control unit 45 will be described with reference to the operation execution table shown in FIG. 9(b).

This operation execution table is activated by the notification control unit 45 with two types of triggers: a washing instruction based on the operation of the washing operation unit 51 or the detection of leaving the seat by the seating detection unit 28, and the closing of the toilet lid 20 by the toilet lid open/close detection unit 21. This is an example of a case where

When the notification control unit 45 is activated when the trigger for the cleaning instruction is generated, if the status aggregation information 35 “whether toilet bowl cleaning is possible”, the notification control unit 45 controls the notification unit 60 (buzzer) to “ output a beep. In addition, in the case of the washing instruction by leaving the seat (state change from sitting to leaving the seat), generation of the washing instruction trigger may be delayed in the same manner as the toilet bowl washing control.

The notification control unit 45 controls the notification unit 60 (buzzer) to output a "beep" without judging the conditions in particular when the toilet lid opening/closing detection unit 21 triggers the closing of the toilet lid.

Activation of the notification control unit 45 by various triggers such as washing instructions and toilet lid closing may be performed by a raw trigger or by cooperation from the toilet bowl control unit 41 .

In the above description, the statuses aggregated in the status aggregation information 35 are referred to as starting conditions for operations such as toilet flushing, but they may also be referred to as operating conditions. An operating condition is defined as a condition always required for executing a certain operation, and if the condition is not met, the operation is stopped.

The consolidated status information 35 is also referred to when determining this operating condition. That is, the status information processing unit 30, which is activated at regular intervals, collects the status and detects the state change, and if the state change does not meet the operating conditions of a certain operation, the operation is stopped. Control should be executed. The status information processing section 30 may perform the processing of the condition determination sections 42, 44 and 46 and the processing of the control sections 41, 43 and 45 for performing this stop control.

The toilet bowl controller 41 for controlling toilet flushing, the toilet seat 24, the toilet seat/toilet lid controller 43 for controlling the opening and closing of the toilet lid 20, and the notification controller 45 for controlling the notification unit 60 have been described above. is not limited. For example, even when controlling a private washing device, condition determination based on the aggregated status information 35 may be performed.

As described above, the toilet device 3 shown in FIG. 4 integrates the toilet lid 20 and the toilet seat 24. As described above, the toilet device 1 shown in FIG. 200 (see FIGS. 1 and 2). The toilet seat device 100 and the toilet bowl device 1 will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 5 to 9. FIG.

A toilet device main body 200 to which the present toilet seat device 100 is attached is a siphon-type tank toilet, and a water supply valve 171 is controlled to supply flush water in the tank 170 to the bowl 12 . The water supply valve 171 is included in the toilet seat device 100 and configured to operate under the control of the toilet seat device 100 . This toilet seat device 100 operates with a processor different from the processor of the toilet device body 200 .

Other structures such as the bowl 12 of the toilet device main body 200 are substantially the same as those of the main body 10 of the toilet device 3 shown in FIG. The description of is omitted. Although the tank-type toilet device 1 is exemplified here, it is not limited to this, and the toilet device 3 may be directly connected to a water supply as shown in FIGS. 4(a) and 4(b).
Next, details of the toilet seat device 100 will be described.

The toilet seat device 100 includes a toilet lid opening/closing detection unit 121 and a toilet seat opening/closing detection unit 125 for detecting opening/closing of the toilet lid 120 and the toilet seat 124, similarly to the toilet device 3 of FIG. The toilet seat device 100 further includes a toilet lid driving section 122 and a toilet seat driving section 126 for operating the toilet lid 120 and the toilet seat 124 .

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the toilet seat device 100 includes a seating detection unit 128 and a human body detection unit 129, an operation unit 150 for various operations of the toilet device 3 and the toilet seat device 100, a scattering prevention mode, and the like. A setting unit 154, a notification unit 160, and the like are also provided for setting.

The operation unit 150 is substantially the same as the operation unit 50 (see FIG. 5) of the toilet device 3 shown in FIG. In addition, a toilet seat operation unit 27 (see FIG. 5) for opening and closing the toilet seat 124 is also provided.

The toilet seat device 100 has a control unit 140 that controls the control target 105 (the water supply valve 131, the toilet lid drive unit 122, the toilet seat drive unit 126, the notification unit 160, the toilet device main body 200, etc.) in response to the occurrence of various triggers (events). It has

The control unit 140 includes a toilet control unit 141 that controls the water supply valve 171, a toilet seat/toilet lid control unit 143 that controls the toilet lid driving unit 122 and the toilet seat driving unit 126, and a notification control unit 145 that controls the notification unit 160. and Also, the control unit 140 may be configured to control other parts of the toilet device main body 200 .

These control units 141, 143, and 145 may be composed of a program or a group of programs corresponding to individual controlled objects 5, or may be composed of a program or a group of programs in which control logics of a plurality of controlled objects 105 are mixed. may

The status information processing section 130 and the control section 140 include various programs executed under a processor such as a CPU or MPU. Note that the control units 141, 143, and 145 may operate with different processors. The toilet device 3 further comprises a timer (not shown) and a power supply (not shown) along with the processor.

The toilet bowl control unit 141, the toilet seat/toilet lid control unit 143, and the notification control unit 145 each have condition determination units 142 and 144 that determine whether or not to execute an operation on the control object 105 and the mode of operation based on the status aggregation information 135. , 146 .

The status information processing unit 130 may be periodically executed by timer interrupt as described above so that various status information can be read in at regular intervals. The status information processing unit 130 is activated, for example, every 100 msec, and may perform processing such as fetching data from the IO port at that timing.

Further, the status information processing unit 130 may be activated by a trigger by a hardware interrupt different from the timer interrupt, and the status changed by the trigger may also be stored and updated in the status aggregation information 135 .

Various types of status information collected by the status information processing unit 130 in this way are aggregated into status aggregation information 135 . This aggregated status information 135 is provided in a storage unit (not shown).

As described above, the configuration and operation of the status information processing unit 130 and the control units 140, 141, 143, and 145 of the toilet seat device 100 are the same as those of the toilet device 3 shown in FIGS. The operation shown in 9 is executed.

Therefore, according to this toilet seat device 100, similarly to the toilet bowl device 3 of FIG. It is possible to suppress the occurrence of deviation due to timing between them. In short, according to the toilet seat device 100, appropriate operations are executed based on the unified status, and thus malfunctions are less likely to occur.

2 is information monitored and aggregated by the toilet seat device 100, it may be information shared by the toilet seat device 100 and the toilet device body 200. FIG. By doing so, the uniformity of the status between the toilet seat device 100 and the toilet device main body 200 can be achieved.

1 toilet device 100 toilet seat device 105 controlled object 120 toilet lid 121 toilet lid opening/closing detection unit 122 toilet lid driving unit 124 toilet seat 125 toilet seat opening/closing detection unit 126 toilet seat driving unit 128 seating detection unit 130 status information processing unit 135 status aggregation information 140 control unit 141 toilet control unit 142 condition determination unit 143 toilet seat/lid control unit 144 condition determination unit 145 notification control unit 146 condition determination unit 150 operation unit 151 cleaning operation unit 154 setting unit 160 notification unit 170 tank 171 water supply valve 200 toilet apparatus main body

Claims (3)

A toilet seat device that detects the opening/closing of a toilet lid, the opening/closing of a toilet seat, and the seating/leaving of the toilet seat by electrical signals,
a status information processing unit that periodically collects and updates aggregated status information including the open/close state of the toilet lid, the open/close state of the toilet seat, and the sitting/seating state;
a control unit that controls the operation when a trigger for operating the toilet seat device is generated;
A toilet seat device comprising: a condition determination unit that determines whether or not the operation is to be executed and the mode of execution of the operation based on the aggregated status information before the control unit controls the operation. In claim 1,
The toilet seat apparatus, wherein the trigger includes a washing instruction, and further comprising washing instruction generation means for generating a signal of the washing instruction. In claim 1 or 2,
The toilet seat device, wherein the status information processing unit also collects the status changed by the trigger as the aggregated status information, and performs the processing of the condition determination unit.

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