JPH07131542A - Operation display method for telecontrol system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To ensure the speedy processing and to improve the operability in a telecontrol system by performing the pointing operations on a screen via a graphic terminal equipment and carrying out the remote control of the household equipments through a communications circuit. CONSTITUTION:The data are transmitted for various objects set previously in a home bus system HBS of a household 8 by a request sent from a computer 1 for the system component data. Meanwhile the computer 1 shows the states on a display 2 based on the inside layout of the household 8 and on those value acquired from the equipments and various sensors connected to the HBS. Then a user operates the graphic screens by a pointing device 4 to select the desired control equipments and control items. In such a constitution, the state data on equipments are updated and the control change instructions are sent to the HBS of the household 8 through a communication circuit 7. Then the control results are shown on the graphic screen of the display 2.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a telecontrol system for remotely controlling home appliances via an external remote control terminal device, and more particularly to an operation display method for the control system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a telecontrol system using a telephone line is used to communicate with a home bus system (HBS) in the home by using a tone signal (DTMF signal) of the telephone, and It was used to check the system status and directly control specific equipment. In addition, by using a personal computer or the like, it is possible to perform simple remote operation on individual devices by relatively low-speed communication using inter-modem communication over a voice line.

[0003]

These are only voice data communication by tone signals using a voice-dedicated telephone line, and are carried out on a one-to-one basis using voice response or the like. In addition, recently, modem communication has been used for telecontrol systems other than telephones to enable HB from personal computer terminals.
It is considered that it is possible to give an instruction and a response to S, and it is possible to operate the status of the system in the home and the instruction therefor by displaying a list on the personal computer terminal screen or instructing / response by a menu. However, the operability is not good, the communication speed is slow, you can not immediately select the information you want or the content you want to instruct, and you do not know whether the instruction was transmitted correctly and whether the operation for that instruction was actually performed, etc. The material cannot be wiped.

Only those that control air-conditioning control, fires, locks (crime prevention), etc., have severe requirements for their reliability, and in order to secure these and speedy processing, the current communication means, communication The method and the operation method were unreasonable.

[0005]

The present invention has been made in consideration of such a situation, and a remote control terminal device has a graphic screen display function and a pointing device function for accurately instructing a user's instruction on the screen. In order to exchange control information for HBS using a line capable of high-speed communication, and to completely monitor and control the status of the telecontrol system on the remote control terminal side, the functions and equipment of indoor equipment The control operation and the various control contents of communication and the configuration data are converted into objects, and the correspondence between the graphic screen and the control information is completely matched only by exchanging the data.

[0006]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, the user can directly control the devices in the home by operating the screen displayed on the terminal device, and the contents and the result of the instruction can be immediately graphically displayed. You can check it on the screen.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of an embodiment according to the present invention, in which 1 is a computer device (constituting a remote control terminal device) having a graphic display device, which is represented by a display 2 for displaying an image, a keyboard 3 for inputting, a mouse and the like. The pointing device 4 is connected. Reference numeral 5 denotes a communication terminal device, which is connected to the computer 1 by a communication cable 6 and is an HB in a home 8 to be controlled through a communication line 7 (including public digital line and dedicated line) capable of high-speed communication.
Connected to S. The home 8 has a home bus system terminal HT connected to the line 7 as shown in the schematic diagram of FIG.
And a home bus system control operation unit HS connected to the home bus system control operation unit HS.
VBS, VTR, lighting, windows, curtains, entrance doors, etc.) can be centrally managed and HBS is configured.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a remote control terminal device portion, which includes the computer device 1, the display 2, the keyboard 3 and an external operation unit 9 such as a pointing device 4, and the communication terminal device 5. The computer device 1 includes a data memory 10, an external connection device interface control unit 11, a communication control unit 12, a display control unit 13, and the like. The data memory 10 of the computer apparatus 1 contains various databases and programs for controlling the HA system such as communication control procedures, HBS control object commands, and graphics database, and includes a pointing device specified by the user and a pointing device. It includes various databases such as an image control database for controlling the graphics screen in cooperation with each other and a program for controlling them in real time.

It should be noted that 3 displayed on the display 2
As a means for stereoscopically viewing a three-dimensional graphic image, for example, "stereo view glasses" using a liquid crystal shutter can be used, or a method of directly displaying using a HMD (head mountain display) can be used. In addition, at this time, as a pointing device for giving an instruction on the screen, a directional / position detecting device using a magnetic sensor or the like and a position detecting device using a potentiometer are used as a pointing device, so that a graphic screen close to the reality can be obtained. By using so-called artificial reality (virtual reality) that artificially creates and operates, it is possible to realize perfect matching between the actual arrangement in the home and the graphic screen.

Further, due to recent advances in digital technology, portable personal computers and hand-held input type portable terminals have come out, while a range of products called PDA (Personal Data Assistant) is planned. Morphological terminals are being considered. These attach importance to the communication function, and as a basic function, a means that can freely connect with a person who wants to access using a communication line is provided. It is possible to achieve the remote control, which is the object of the present invention, with a similar configuration using such a portable terminal device.

FIG. 3 is a simple flow chart showing the communication control procedure, showing the flow of line connection, screen processing, and HBS control. The flow of operation will be described with reference to FIG. First, access the line and connect to the home 8 to be controlled (S
-1). When this connection is completed, first verify the password (S
-2) is carried out, and the control of the HBS in the home 8 becomes possible for the first time. Here, the “system configuration data request” is transmitted from the computer 1 on the remote control terminal side, and is preset in the HBS of the home 8, for example, FIG.
Data corresponding to various objects shown in (b) are transmitted from the HBS at home 8 to the computer 1 (S-
3). In the computer 1, the graphic image of the built-in database 10 is made to correspond to this, and a state based on the layout in the home 8 and the remotely controllable equipment connected to the HBS and various sensors is displayed on the display 2. (S-4).

Next, the user operates this graphic screen with the pointing device 4 such as a mouse (S-
5) Select the room containing the equipment to be controlled and the control equipment and select it. For example, the display 2 is scrolled to bring up the screen shown in FIG. 1, and the point P is moved to select a desired device. The controllable contents of the device are stored in advance in the database or HA from the home HBS.
It is registered with the system object data, and at the same time when you select it, the status of the device and the item you want to control are displayed.
For this, the items may be displayed as a menu, or a simulated display panel of the device may appear.

After this selection, when the desired control item is selected, the current device status data is updated and a control change instruction is immediately sent to the HBS at home 8 through the line (S-6). Based on this instruction signal, the HBS at home 8
Change the currently set status of the corresponding device. For example, when there is an instruction to turn on the switch of the air conditioner in the room, the power of the air conditioner is turned on. When the control according to the instruction is executed, the control result is immediately H
It is sent back from the BS to the computer 1 side via the communication line. As a result, the state of the air conditioner on the graphic screen of the display 2 is changed from off to on and displayed (S-7).

4A and 4B are correspondence tables of communication command information and graphic-related data. In the case of the present invention, room layout information, equipment installation information and control equipment graphic data, HBS control information, abnormality processing information, etc. It contains the basic data for the functioning of the device. This data and an actual operation example will be described below. Here, a part of the image of the layout schematic diagram of the home 8 shown in FIG. 5 is drawn on the graphic screen of the display 2. The home room layout information is composed of HOME information data including the number of floors, the number of rooms, room layout information starting from the entrance, the type of room, the device to be controlled and the type installed in each room, and the like. Corresponding graphic data of the device information is registered in the computer 1 as device object information in advance. In addition, controllable contents are also registered. For example, in the case of an air conditioner, control items such as power on / off, and in the case of windows such as locking and opening / closing of curtains are registered.

In the case of the HOME structure of the present invention, for example, the display screen is moved to the second floor by scrolling the pointing device 4 from the state in which the peripheral area of the entrance shown in FIG. 5 is displayed on the graphic screen of the display 2. When the air conditioner 20 in the room (2F-R1) is operated by the instruction operation input at the point P, the device contents are displayed as a menu based on the device object information data. When the power is turned on, the state of the device is changed. As a result, the control instruction is sent to the home HBS through the communication line, and the state of the corresponding device is changed. Then, the operation change confirmation data is fed back to the operation terminal side, where the air conditioner graphic data changes the color of the air conditioner device display based on the device object information data, and an air balloon indicating that it has been activated is displayed on the screen. To do.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the remote control terminal device is operated away from home, the remote control terminal device accurately displays the graphic screen display function, the operation and the instruction on the screen. Equipped with a corresponding pointing device function, it can exchange control information for the HA system using a line capable of high-speed communication, and the operating side can completely monitor and control the HA system status. The property can be made extremely good.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a telecontrol system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration block diagram of a remote control terminal device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an operation procedure showing the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an information data table diagram relating to communication control and graphic control of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a room arrangement in a home and a layout of control devices for each room.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Computer Device 2 Display 3 Keyboard 4 Pointing Device 5 Communication Terminal Device 6 Communication Cable 7 Communication Line 9 External Operation Unit 10 Data Memory 11 External Interface Control Unit 12 Communication Control Unit 13 Display Control Unit 20 Air Conditioner 21 Air Conditioner 22 Gas Leak Sensor 23 TV, VTR device 24 TV, VTR device 25 TV, VTR device 26 TV, VTR device 27 TV, VTR device 28 TV, VTR device 29 Illuminating device 30 Illuminating device 31 Illuminating device 32 Illuminating device 33 Illuminating device 34 Illuminating device 35 Window, Curtain 36 Entrance door HT Home bus system terminal HS Home bus system control operation unit

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A home bus system that centrally manages devices in a home, and a remote control terminal device that is connected via a communication line capable of high-speed communication with the home bus system and remotely controls the devices in the home. In the telecontrol system consisting of, after the connection between the home bus system and the remote control terminal device, the data registered in advance in the home bus system is sent from the home bus system to the remote control terminal device, Based on the information sent from the home bus system, the image of the inside of the home is displayed on the display unit of this remote control terminal device, and the home layout or the device image to be controlled is drawn in the image. Various object screens showing them,
By using the dedicated pointing device attached to the remote control terminal or an input device similar to it, you can move the contents displayed on the screen by directly instructing the operation on the image.
Selection of a device to be controlled and operation for device control are performed on the screen, control information based on the operation result is transmitted to the home bus system, and the home bus system transmits the device based on the transmitted control information. And a control result is transmitted to a remote control terminal device, and the remote control terminal device displays the control result in association with a designated device on a screen of a display unit.