JPH0444498A - Load connection unit and home bus system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a load connection unit and a home bus system, and particularly relates to improvements in the operation related to testing of equipment such as sensors and loads connected to the load connection unit. .

[Prior Art] FIG. 5 shows an example of the configuration of a conventional home bus system. ``The home bus system shown in this figure is similar to the home bus system described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 198443/1983.

In the home bus system shown in this figure, a system control device (1) connects an entrance camera (3),
Garden camera (4), children's room camera (5) and VTR (
6) is a system for exchanging information packets and documents.

That is, this system is a system in which information packets ① to ② are exchanged via the transmission line (2) as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 5, the system control device (1) has a transmission path (
2) a communication control unit (
7) and equipment connected to transmission line (2) (entrance camera (
3), etc.), a touch panel TV (9) that displays input information, etc., and a control unit (10) that controls each of these components. .

The entrance camera (3) also includes a communication control unit (11) that sends and receives information packets via the transmission line (2), a camera (12) that takes images of the entrance, and a video signal of the camera (12). a modulator (13) that modulates and sends it to the transmission path (2);
) and a control section (14) that controls these. The garden camera (4) and children's room camera (5) also have similar configurations.

Furthermore, the VTR (6) includes a communication control unit (15) that sends and receives information packets via the transmission path (2), and a VTR (6) that records images captured by the entrance camera (3) and the like.
16), and a control section (17) that controls the VTR (16) based on information received by the communication control section (15).

That is, in this conventional example, the video signal photographed by the camera (12) of the entrance camera (3) is recorded in the VTR (6) under the control of the system control device (1).

In this way, in the past, it was possible to exchange information between the system control device (1) and other devices via the transmission path (2).

When a conventional home bus system having such a configuration is used, for example, as a system for home security, the entrance camera (3) in FIG. 5 may be replaced with a suitable device.

For example, a sensor such as a fire sensor or a gas sensor may be connected to the transmission path via a load connection unit.

In addition, if a fire is detected by a fire sensor connected to the transmission line via a load connection system and an external notification is to be made, an automatic notification device that also sends an external notification via a telephone line to the transmission line. All you have to do is connect the .

In this way, in the past, it was possible to automatically report security abnormalities using the home bus system.

[Problem to be solved by the invention] However, in the conventional home bus system,
When testing a sensor connected to a load connection unit, it is impossible to distinguish between the output produced by the test and the output produced by an actual situation such as a fire.

For this reason, for example, if an automatic notification device is connected to the transmission path, the test will be notified to the outside even though the test is merely being performed, which is inconvenient.

The present invention was made with the aim of solving these problems, and it is possible to determine whether changes in the state of equipment such as sensors are caused artificially due to the necessity of testing, or whether they are actually caused by a fire or the like. It is an object of the present invention to provide a load connection unit that can distinguish and report whether a state change is caused by a situation, and a home bus system configured by applying this load connection unit.

[Means for Solving the Problem] In order to achieve such an object, the load connection unit of the present invention transmits a predetermined state change notification in response to a change in the state of connected devices such as sensors and loads. a test start notification means for sending a predetermined test start notification to the transmission path when starting an operation test performed by artificially changing the state of the connected equipment; and a test completion notification means for sending a predetermined test completion notification to the transmission line when the operation test of the device is completed, and the device includes a test completion notification means for transmitting a predetermined test completion notification to the transmission line, and the device is configured to detect changes in the state of the equipment caused by the operation test by the test start notification and the test completion notification. It is characterized by being notified via the transmission path, distinguishing it from changes.

Further, the home bus system of the present invention includes the load connection unit described above, a transmission path for transmitting status change notifications, test start notifications, and test completion notifications from the load connection unit;
When a test start notification is received from the load connection unit via the transmission path, it is assumed that the equipment operation test has started, and when a test end notification is received, it is assumed that the equipment operation test has been completed, and the load connection unit The present invention is characterized by comprising a monitor device that performs predetermined processing only when it can be considered that an operation test is not being performed when a state change notification is received from a user via a transmission path.

[Operation] In the load connection unit of the present invention, a status change notification is sent from the status notification means to the transmission line in response to a change in the status of the device. In addition, when a state change is artificially caused, that is, when an operation test is started, a test start notification is sent to the transmission path by the test start notification means, and when this test is finished, a test end notification is sent. It is sent to the transmission path by the test completion notification means. Therefore, whether or not the state change report sent from the load connection unit to the transmission path is a report regarding a true state change is notified separately by the test start report and the test end report.

Furthermore, in the home bus system of the present invention, if the test start notification is supplied from the load connection unit via the transmission path between the time the monitor device receives the test start notification and the time it receives the test end notification, Predetermined processing (external reporting, etc.) performed by the monitor device is not performed during periods other than the above. Therefore, the usability of the system is improved when testing the operation of devices such as sensors and loads.

[Examples] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

Note that the same components as those of the conventional example shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 1 shows a home bus system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, a sensor connection unit (18), a CRT monitor device (one), and an automatic notification device (20) are connected to the transmission line (2).

The sensor connection unit (18) includes a fire sensor (21) that detects fire and a gas sensor (21) that detects gas leakage.
2) are connected, and these sensors (21) and (2)
Test switch (23) operated when testing 2)
is provided.

On the other hand, the CRT monitor device (19) has a CRT for displaying information received from the sensor connection unit (18).
(24) is connected.

Furthermore, the automatic notification device (20) has a telephone line (25).
is connected and in the given case this telephone line (25)
A speech synthesis unit (26) is connected to which outputs synthesized speech.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

FIG. 2 shows the reporting operation in this embodiment.

First, consider a case where the fire sensor (21) is turned on without the test switch (23) being pressed. At this time,
When the fire sensor (21) is turned on, a fire ON notification is transmitted from the sensor connection unit to the CRT monitor device (19) and the automatic notification device (20) via the transmission line (2).

This fire on report has contents as shown by ■ in FIG. 3.

In other words, a fire on report is composed of a self address, a destination address, an operation code, and an operand.The self address is set to the address of the device related to transmission, that is, the sensor connection unit (18), and the destination address is set to the CRT. Monitor device (19), automatic notification device (20)
), addresses specifying all the monitor devices connected to the transmission line (2) are set, the operation code is a code indicating the fire sensor (21), and the operand is indicating on notification. Each code is set.

When such a fire ON notification is supplied to the CRT monitor device, the CRT monitor device causes a display to be displayed on the screen of the CRT (24) to indicate that the fire sensor (21) has been turned on.

Further, when the fire on report is supplied to the automatic notification device (20), the automatic notification device (20) is activated by the voice synthesis unit (26).
) is used to make a call outside the home via the telephone line (25), and a broadcast device (not shown) is used to make a broadcast inside the home.

Such an operation is the original operation of this embodiment when a fire is detected by the fire sensor (21).

On the other hand, when the test switch (23) is turned on,
An operation different from this operation is performed. Hereinafter, the operation of this test switch (23) at 05, that is, the operation related to the feature of the present invention will be explained.

In FIG. 2, when the test switch (23) is turned on, a test start notification indicated by ■ in FIG. 3 is sent from the sensor connection unit (18) to the transmission line (2).

In Figure 3, the test start notification has the same address as the self address and the other party's address as the fire on notification described above, but the operation code contains a code indicating that it is a test, and the operand further indicates that the test has started. Each code is set.

This kind of test start notification is sent to the CRT monitor device (19)
When the CRT monitor device (19) is supplied with the CRT
(24) A message indicating that the test is in progress is displayed on the screen.

Further, when the test start notification is supplied to the automatic notification device (20), the automatic notification device (20) determines that the test has started.

After this, when the fire sensor (21) is turned on for a test, a fire on notification is issued in the same way as in the above-described operation.

At this time, the CRT (2
4) A similar fire ON display is displayed on the screen. On the other hand, in the automatic notification device (20), unlike the above-mentioned operation, outside the home notification is not performed, but only the voice synthesized by the voice synthesis unit (26) is broadcast inside the home.

In other words, outside-the-house notifications are not made via the telephone line (25).

After this, when the fire sensor (21) is turned off, a fire off notification is sent from the sensor connection unit (18) to the transmission line (
2). This fire off report is a report indicating that the operation code is a fire sensor and the operand is an off report, as shown by ■ in FIG. In response, the CRT monitor device (19)
) turns off the fire ON display on the screen, and the automatic notification device (20) stops the home broadcast.

When the test switch (23) is turned off after the fire sensor (21) is turned off, the sensor connection unit (1
8) sends a test completion notification to the transmission line (2).

The test completion notification is a notification in which a code indicating that it is a test is set in the operation code and a code indicating that it is a completion notification is set in the operand, as shown by ■ in FIG. 3.

When such test completion notification is supplied to the CRT monitor device (19), the display indicating that the test is in progress on the screen of the CRT (24) is turned off, and when it is supplied to the automatic notification device (20), the test has ended. It is judged that.

As described above, according to this embodiment, an outside notification is made only when the fire sensor (21) detects a fire due to an actual occurrence, etc., and the test switch (23) is turned on.
Therefore, if the test is being carried out, outside-the-house notification will not be made. In this way, the fire sensor (21) can be tested without reporting outside the house, and usability is improved compared to the conventional method. In addition, if you operate the test switch (23) in the same way during maintenance or construction, you can test the target sensor (for example, the fire sensor (23)) during maintenance or construction.
Even if 1)) is turned off, this will not be reported outside the home, which is extremely convenient for maintenance and construction.

It is also possible to test multiple sensors simultaneously.

Although the above explanation has been given only regarding the fire sensor (21), it goes without saying that the same applies to the gas sensor (22), and other types of sensors, such as intrusion sensors, etc. may also be used. Furthermore, the same thing can be done by using a load connection unit that connects to a general load device, such as an air conditioner, in place of the sensor connection unit (18), as long as it has a similar test reporting function. .

Furthermore, the device that operates in response to a report from the sensor connection unit (18) may be a device other than the CRT monitor device (19) and the automatic notification device (20). FIG. 4 shows a configuration in which monitoring is performed by a housing complex management monitor device (27) instead of outside the home notification by an automatic notification device (20).

In this figure, a plurality of transmission paths (2) are connected to a super home lot (29) via a gateway (28), respectively.
It is connected to the. This super home bus (29) is connected to an apartment complex management monitor device (27).

The apartment complex management monitor device (27) connects the transmission line (2) installed in each unit of the apartment complex to a super home bus (29).
) is a device for central monitoring.

In the case of this embodiment, the report sent from the sensor connection unit (18) to the test switch (23) at 00:00 (such as the above-mentioned fire on report) is blocked at the gateway (28), and is sent to the super home bus (29). will not be sent. As a result, it becomes possible to notify the apartment complex management monitor device (27) only when a fire or the like really occurs.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the load connection unit of the present invention, it is possible to distinguish and report the true state change of devices such as sensors and loads from the state change during the test, and the operation test This will improve usability.

Further, according to the home bus system of the present invention, the predetermined process performed in the monitor device in response to the status change notification is not performed from the test start notification to the test end notification.

As a result, it becomes possible to perform processing such as out-of-home notifications only in response to true changes in the status of devices, and it is possible to obtain a home bus system with improved usability.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a home bus system according to the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the reporting operation of this embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the reporting operation of this embodiment. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the home bus system according to the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the contents.
FIG. 6, a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a conventional home bus system, is a diagram showing an information packet exchange operation in this conventional example. In the figure, (2) is a transmission line, (18) is a sensor connection unit, (20) is an automatic notification device, (21) is a fire sensor, (22) is a gas sensor, (23) is a test switch, and (25) is telephone line, (26) IT speech synthesis unit. Note that the same reference numerals in each figure indicate the same or corresponding parts. Agent: Patent attorney Kenji Yoshida (2 others) Implementation-free action J1 Figure 2nd fruit t11! ! Figure 1 Contents of ρ Figure 1 Lambda

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A status reporting means that sends a predetermined status change report to a transmission line in response to changes in the status of connected equipment such as sensors and loads, and an operation test performed by artificially changing the status of the equipment. a test start notification means for sending a predetermined test start notification to the transmission line when starting the test; and a test completion notification unit for sending a predetermined test completion notification to the transmission line when finishing the operation test of the equipment. A load connection unit comprising: a load connection unit that reports a change in the state of the device caused by an operation test, distinguishing it from a true change in state through a test start report and a test end report, via a transmission path. (2) A load connection unit according to claim (1), a transmission path for transmitting status change notifications, test start notifications, and test completion notifications from the load connection unit, and a test start notification from the load connection unit via the transmission path. If it receives this, it is considered that the operation test of the device has started, and if it receives a test completion notification, it is considered that the operation test of the device has finished, and the load connection unit sends a status change notification via the transmission path. A home bus system comprising: a monitor device that performs predetermined processing only when it can be considered that an operation test is not being performed when the system is received.