JPS59126397A - Remote controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To extend the life of a battery longer in a remote monitor section by releasing a circuit operation stopping means after a signal from a master controller is received and stopping a prescribed circuit operation after a prescribed processing is executed. CONSTITUTION:The master controller 2 handles directly the control of a device main body 1 and consists of a device control section 3 realized by using a microcomputer or the like and a transmission/receiving section 4 making corresponding with a remote monitor device 7 provided separately with the device main body 1. Further, the circuit operation stopping means 10 releases the circuit operation stop by a wake signal (WAKE) from the master controller 2 received by the transmission/receiving section 9, drives a motor control section 8 and stops the circuit operation partially by a sleep signal (SLEEP) outputted from the remote monitor control section 8 when the input signal processing from the state detecting section 13 by the remote monitor control section 8 and jobs such as the correspondence with the master controller 2 via the transmission/receiving section 9 are finished.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Industrial Application Field The present invention relates to a remote control device for remotely monitoring room temperature, etc., and feeding back the contents to operate equipment, such as an FF heater or an air conditioner. It is related to.

Conventional configurations and their problems Traditionally, when remotely monitoring room temperature, etc., the simplest configuration was to extend a signal line from the device itself, attach a thermistor, etc. to the end, and detect the room temperature, and it has not been commercialized. Many have been done. However, such a configuration requires troublesome wiring work and has disadvantages such as spoiling the aesthetics of the interior of the house.

In order to solve this problem, for example, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-open No. 51-83598 discloses a method of wirelessly transmitting detected temperature information to a power supply control section to perform temperature control.

Furthermore, Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 51-83597 discloses a method for reducing the power consumption of a portion of a remote monitor by performing temperature detection and transmission operations intermittently.

However, in all of these precedents, a part of the remote monitor continuously sends temperature information to the power supply control unit, so if the power switch of the power supply control unit is turned off, , some of the remote monitors end up repeating wasteful transmission operations.

In general, a part of a remote monitor is battery-powered in order to have a compact configuration, but there is a drawback that the battery is consumed even by such wasteful transmission operations. In view of the above drawbacks, the object of the present invention is to propose a method for extending the battery life of a part of a remote monitor, and to provide a practical remote control device that requires less frequent battery replacement.

Structure of the Invention The present invention provides a remote monitoring device with circuit operation stopping means for stopping circuit operation, and releases the circuit operation stopping means to execute a predetermined process only when a signal from the main control device is received. After that, the predetermined circuit operation is stopped.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS The configuration of an embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 1. Reference numeral 01 indicates a main body of the apparatus, and reference numeral 2 indicates the main controller, the operation of which is controlled by a main controller. The main control device 2 is directly involved in controlling the device main body 1, and communicates with the device control section 3, which is implemented using a microcomputer, etc., and a remote monitoring device 7, which is provided separately from the device main body 1. It is composed of a transmitting/receiving section 4 and the like. Note that 5 is an address setting section, and the address value appropriately determined by the device control section 3 is used as verification data for transmission and reception. or,
Reference numeral 6 denotes a frequency setting section, which sets a tuning frequency for transmission and reception.

The remote monitoring device 7 includes a state detection unit 1 such as a thermistor.
3, a remote monitor control section 8, a transmitter/receiver section 9, and partially a predetermined circuit for processing input signals from the main controller 2, assembling transmitted and received data for communication with the main controller 2, checking transmission errors, etc. Stop operation and replace battery 11
It is composed of circuit operation stopping means 10 for suppressing consumption of the circuit.

The circuit operation stopping means 10 receives a wake-up signal (WAKE) from the main controller 2, which is received by the transmitter/receiver 9.
, the circuit operation is stopped and the remote monitor control section 8 is driven, and the remote monitor control section 8 processes the input signal from the status detection section 13 and communicates with the main control device 2 via the transmission/reception section 9. When the work such as communication is completed, the circuit operation is partially stopped by a sleep signal (SLEEP) outputted from the remote monitor control section 8.

Note that if the neighbor address setting section 14 (tj) is configured to be able to communicate only when the same address value as the address setting section 5 provided in the main control device 2 is set, communication can be performed. It is possible to prevent troubles between the main controller 2 and other equipment placed in a room, etc. Also, 16 is a frequency setting section, which sets the tuning frequency for transmitting and receiving. Communication can only be performed when the frequency is set to the same frequency as the one set in , which eliminates problems with other devices.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a power switch that cuts off power supply to all circuits to prevent battery consumption when the equipment is not operated at all.

FIG. 2 is a partial operational timing diagram of the present invention. A is a received signal sent from the main controller in the remote monitoring device, and the rising edge of this signal is used as a wake-up signal (WA).
KE), the circuit operation stop means 10 is triggered to release the operation stop of the remote monitor control section circuit. The opening indicates the operation of the circuit operation stopping means 10, and is ``Q''.
'' state indicates that the circuit operation is not stopped.

C shows the operation of the remote monitor control unit 8. During operation, processing of reception signals from the main control unit 2, processing of input signals from the state detection unit 13 such as a thermistor, processing of input signals to the main control unit 2, etc. Transmission processing and the like are performed, and finally, a sleep signal (SLEEP) is issued to the circuit operation stop means 10 to operate the circuit operation stop means 10. After this, the remote monitor control unit 8 is stopped, and when the next received signal is received,
The power consumption becomes high. Therefore, if the transmission period from the main controller 2 is T and the operating period of the remote monitor control section 8 is t, the power consumption in the remote monitor control section 8 can be reduced by -.

Note that 2 is a transmission signal to the main controller 2 that includes data inputted from the state detection section 13 and the like.

Fig. 3 depicts a product image when the present invention is used, for example, in an FF hot air fan, and it can be easily installed under the remote monitoring device anywhere in the room without wiring work. can.

FIG. 4 is a circuit configuration diagram below the remote monitoring device. B
& is a microcomputer, which is the center of the remote monitor control section 8. This microcomputer 8a uses a CMOS device that consumes little power during operation, and further has a low power consumption function called a standby function. For example, specifically,
This corresponds to microcomputers such as the μPD7500 series manufactured by NEC Corporation. The standby function is when a certain instruction is executed, and various registers of the microcontroller are activated.

The contents of RAM, etc. are retained, and the clock that controls the progress of the program is stopped to reduce power consumption. Canceling this standby mode is generally done by
Interrupt signals etc. are performed.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the input terminal 80 is a port for canceling the standby mode. The effect of this standby mode is, for example, in the case of the aforementioned μPD7500 series, the power consumption is reduced by more than two orders of magnitude.

This function controls power supply to the D/A converter 16, comparator 17, thermistor 13a, resistor 13b, etc., thereby reducing power consumption.

That is, the switch function 8b is turned ON only when temperature information is to be obtained from the thermistor 13a.

18 is an LED lamp, which displays the status of the equipment transmitted from the main controller 2.

9a is a tuning circuit, and the tuning frequency is switched by the frequency setting section 16. Further, the oscillation frequency in the modulation section 9C is also switched in conjunction with the above.

Reference numeral 9b is a demodulator, which is input to the port for canceling the standby mode of 8c and is also connected to the input port of 8d, and receives and processes signals sent from the main controller 2. 8e is a port for outputting transmission data to the main control device 2, and is connected to the modulation section 9c.

FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart of the microcomputer 8d. In the figure, it is a command to enter standby mode, and is equivalent to the effect of the sleep signal (SLEEP) in FIG. 1 described above. After executing this instruction, the microcomputer 8
A's CPU stops and enters standby mode. Eventually, when a signal is sent from the main controller 2 and a WAKE signal is generated, the standby mode is canceled and the CPU resumes operation. At the same time as restarting, receive processing is performed at 20, and if necessary, L
Controls the ED lamp 18, etc.

Next, at 21, temperature information is obtained by A/D conversion using a D/A converter 16 or the like. Furthermore, at 23, the switch function is set to 0FFI, which cuts off the power supply to the D/A converter 16, etc.Finally, at 24, the temperature information obtained earlier is transmitted to the main controller. After performing the transmission processing for the purpose, the process returns to step 19 again, executes the standby command, and repeats the process of waiting for the WAKE signal to arrive.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a frame structure of a transmission/reception signal used for communication between the main control device 2 and the remote monitor device 7, and the bit length of each frame is a multiple of 4 bits.

Furthermore, if the end code 25 is assigned the same state as the idle state, that is, the no-signal state, there is no need to actually transmit a signal, which particularly contributes to lower power consumption of the remote monitoring device 7. I can do it.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION As described in detail, in the present invention, the operation of the remote monitoring device is normally kept in a dormant state with low power consumption, and the wake-up signal (WAKE) transmitted from the main control device is used.
By configuring the system to cancel the hibernation state, perform a predetermined work, and then return to the original hibernation state, the life of the battery of the remote monitoring device can be extended.

Father, even when the power plug on the main unit is disconnected or the power switch is turned off, there is no alarm signal from the main control unit, so the remote monitoring unit remains in the hibernation state until -i, reducing power consumption as much as possible. It is something that can be done.

°・orios*x”41 Figure 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the remote control of the present invention, Figure 2 is a partial operation timing diagram of the same device, and Figure 3 is a diagram showing a partial operation timing diagram of the same device.
4 is a circuit diagram of a remote monitoring device according to the embodiment, FIG. 5 is a partial operation flowchart of the microcomputer according to the embodiment, and FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of transmitted and received signals in the same embodiment.

1...Equipment body, 2...Main control device, 7...
...Remote monitoring device, 1o...Circuit operation stop means.

Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao and 1 other Ninpo
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Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) It has a main control device for controlling the main body of the device, and a remote monitoring device that is provided separately from the main body of the device and detects conditions such as room temperature and sends the contents to the main control device. The remote monitoring device is battery-powered and includes a circuit operation stop means for stopping a predetermined circuit operation to reduce battery power consumption, and the circuit operation stop means receives an alarm from the main control device. It is canceled when a 1 signal is received, and the room temperature detection process is performed. A remote control device that executes a transmission process to a main control device and then again brings all predetermined circuit operations to a halt state. (2) As a circuit operation stopping means, by executing a predetermined command in the program, it enters a standby state with low power consumption, and exits from the standby state by a release signal given to the external input terminal, and stops the program from proceeding. 2. The remote control device according to claim 1, comprising a microcomputer having a standby function for restarting the device, the microcomputer having an external terminal for canceling the standby state through which an alarm signal from the main control device is input.