JPH06308255A - Object detecting method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To detect objects (including a human body) with very high precision and with no radio interference at all staggering the operations of light projecting elements and light receiving elements in individual areas when the objects are detected in multiple areas. CONSTITUTION:A human body detecting sensor 6 constituted of a light projecting element and a light receiving element is provided on the front face of a toilet seat box 3. A hand detecting sensor 10 constituted of a light projecting element and a light receiving element is provided on the wall face 7 of a toilet room. The light is intermittently projected to a detection area 20 from the light projecting element of the human body detecting sensor 6, and the light receiving element is operated synchronously with it. The light is projected from the light projecting element of the hand detecting sensor 10 at 125msec after this operation in a detection area 21, and the light receiving element is operated synchronously with it.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an object detecting method, and more particularly to an object detecting method suitable for application to a human body detecting device for automatically cleaning a Western-style toilet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There is known a self-cleaning western-style toilet bowl which automatically supplies washing water to a toilet bowl when a user of the toilet bowl stands up from a sitting state. In this case, it is customary to provide a proximity switch on the western-style toilet bowl or a wall surface in the vicinity thereof so that manual washing can be performed to supply washing water to the western-style toilet bowl when a hand is brought close to it.

In many cases, the rise from the seated state and the approach of the hand are detected by an optical sensor including a light projecting element and a light receiving element.

In order to temporarily suspend the detection of the optical sensor so that the Western-style toilet can be cleaned,
A Western style toilet using a remote control is also known. That is, when cleaning the Western-style toilet, the remote controller is operated so as to temporarily stop the automatic cleaning function or the manual cleaning function in order to detect the human body of the cleaning operator and prevent the cleaning water from flowing. .

This remote controller applies an optical signal to the light receiving element of the optical sensor to stop the cleaning control circuit.

Conventionally, the light projecting element of the occupant detecting optical sensor, the light projecting element of the hand detecting optical sensor, and the light projecting element of the remote controller are made to have different light modulation frequencies to prevent interference. There is.

[0007]

In the above-mentioned conventional object detecting method, if the frequencies of the light of the respective sensors are brought close to each other, there is a risk of causing interference. Therefore, there is a problem that the modulation frequency to be used must be widened.

The object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and even when two or more photosensors are installed in a relatively close area, there is no interference of photosensors, and therefore an object can be accurately measured with a narrow modulation frequency. An object of the present invention is to provide an object detection method capable of detecting an object.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an object detecting method, wherein two or more detection areas are intermittently projected by light projecting elements at modulation frequencies close to each other, and reflected light from each detection area is detected. In an object detection method of detecting an object in the area by receiving light by a light receiving element, the timing of projecting light to each area is made different for each area, and the projection of light to the area and the reception of reflected light thereof are synchronized. It is characterized in that it is done by doing.

An object detecting method according to a second aspect is the method according to the first aspect, wherein the light receiving element receives the light emitted from the remote controller at a time other than the light emitting timing of the light emitting element. The light projected by the light projecting element is continuous light within one intermittent light projecting time, and the light projected by the remote controller is intermittent light which blinks a plurality of times within the time, and is generated by the light receiving element. The light receiving pattern is analyzed, and when it is continuous light, it is treated as reflected light from an object, and when it is the intermittent light, it is treated as signal light from a remote controller.

[0011]

In the object detecting method of the present invention, light is intermittently projected from the light projecting element to each area, and the reflected light is received by the light receiving element to determine the presence or absence of an object in the area.

In this object detection method, the timings of light projection and light reception are different for each area, and the light emitting operation of the light emitting element and the light receiving operation of the light receiving element are synchronized, so that the same or Even if light having a frequency close to each other is projected, interference of the light receiving element is prevented. That is, for example, the first
Even if the light projected toward the area of is reflected by the object and is incident on the light receiving element of the second area,
The light receiving element for detecting the object in the area is not operated, and it is not determined that there is an object in the second area.

In the object detecting method of the second aspect, since the object detecting light is continuous light and the remote controller is intermittent light, the optical signal from the remote controller is clearly distinguished from the object detecting light (reflected light from the object). It is possible.

[0014]

EXAMPLES Examples will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 5 show an object detecting method according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a toilet room equipped with a Western-style toilet with a human body detecting device, and FIG. 2 is a human body. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the detection device, FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the object detection method, FIG. 4 is the same timing chart, and FIG.

In this Western-style toilet 1, a toilet seat box 3 for pivotally supporting the toilet seat 2 has a large height, and a light projecting element 4 and a light receiving element 5 (see FIG. 2) are provided on the front surface of the toilet seat box 3. The human body detection sensor 6 is provided. The wall surface 7 of the toilet room is provided with a hand detecting sensor 10 including a light projecting element 8 and a light receiving element 9 (see FIG. 2). The light emitting elements 4 and 8 of these detection sensors 6 and 10 are connected to the light emitting element drive circuits 12 and 13 of the control device, respectively, and the light receiving elements 5 and 9 are the light receiving element drive circuits 14 and 1, respectively.
Connected to 5. These drive circuits 12 to 15 are operated by the control circuit 16. Then, the light receiving elements 5 and 9
The detection signal of is input to the control circuit 16 through the light receiving element drive circuits 14 and 15.

The control circuit 16 outputs a control signal to the valve drive circuit 17, and the valve drive circuit 17 opens and closes the washing valve 18. Reference numeral 19 is a water supply pipe.

As shown in FIG. 1, the detection area 20 of the human body detection sensor 6 is an area above the toilet seat 2, and the detection area 21 of the hand detection sensor 7 is an area immediately in front of the hand detection sensor 7. .

As shown in FIG. 4, the light projecting element 4 of the human body detecting sensor 6 and the light projecting element 8 of the hand detecting sensor 10 are each activated to emit light once every 500 mSec.

The operations of the light projecting elements 4 and 8 are deviated so that the light projecting element 8 is delayed by 125 mSec. The light receiving element 5 is operated in synchronization with the operation of the light projecting element 4, and the light projecting element 8
The light-receiving element 9 is operated in synchronization with the operation of.

From the operation of the light projecting element 4, 250 mSe
After c (500 mSec after the operation of the light projecting element 8), as described in FIG.
If the light receiving elements 5 and 9 are operated for a short time and the remote controller 22 (FIG. 1) is operated at this time, this remote control signal is input to the control circuit 16 via the light receiving elements 5 or 9. The remote controller 22 is for preventing both automatic cleaning based on the detection signal of the human body detection sensor 6 and manual cleaning based on the detection signal of the hand detection sensor 7.

The light emitted from the light projecting elements 4 and 8 and the remote controller 22 is 38 KHz in this embodiment. When the light receiving elements 5 and 9 are driven, the light projecting elements 4 and
Not only the reflected light of the light of No. 8 but also the optical signal of the remote controller 22 can be incident on the light receiving elements 5 and 9. In order to discriminate between the reflected light and the remote control signal, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5A, the light projecting elements 4 and 8 are continuous light (continuous light of 38 KHz).
And the remote controller 22 is 5 m per 1 mSec as shown in (b).
The pulsed light emits individual pulses. Control circuit 16
When the pulse component is detected in the signals input from the light receiving elements 5 and 9, it is determined that the signal is sent from the remote controller 22, and the cleaning valve 18 is kept for a predetermined time.
Do not open.

The operation of the human body detecting device will be described with reference to FIG.

First, in steps 31 and 32, the human body detecting light projecting element 4 and the light receiving element 5 are operated for a predetermined time, and it is determined whether or not light is received. If light is received, the process proceeds to step 33 to determine whether continuous light is remote control (pulse light).
If the light is continuous light, the process proceeds to step 34 to perform a human body detection process.

That is, the presence / absence of a human body is continuously checked for 5 seconds, and if the human body leaves within 5 seconds, it is determined that the human body is just passing by and the process proceeds to the next step 35 without cleaning the toilet bowl. When the human body is continuously detected for 5 seconds or more, it is determined that there is a user of the toilet bowl, and the valve drive circuit 17 is driven after the user leaves (that is, when the human body is no longer detected). Then, the cleaning valve 18 is opened. Then, it progresses to step 35. In addition, step 3
If no light is received in 2 or if it is determined in step 33 that the light is received by the remote controller, the process also proceeds to step 35.

After waiting 125 mSec in step 35, the light projecting element 8 of the hand detecting sensor 10 is operated for a predetermined time, and the light receiving element 9 is operated for the same time in synchronization with this. If the received light is continuous light, step 38
To 39, the hand detection process is performed. That is, when a hand is detected (for example, when two reflected light pulses are counted at 500 mSec), the cleaning valve 1 is immediately activated.
Open 8 and supply flush water to the toilet bowl. Then, it waits until the hand is no longer detected.

From step 39 to step 40,
Wait for 125mSec. Even if the remote controller is determined in step 38, the process proceeds to step 40.

When 125 mSec has elapsed in step 40, the light receiving elements 5 and 9 are operated for a predetermined time, and the remote controller 22
It is determined whether the optical signal is emitted from the. When the remote control signal is input, the process proceeds to step 42 and remote control processing is performed. That is, the cleaning valve 18 is not opened for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, the process proceeds from step 42 to step 43, and when 250 mSec has elapsed,
Return to step 31.

In step 42, it is checked whether a signal from the remote controller 22 is input even while waiting for 10 minutes. If a signal is again issued from the remote controller 22, the remote controller processing is performed. Cancel and proceed to step 43. When it is determined in step 41 that the pattern is not the remote control pattern, the process also proceeds to step 43.

In the object detecting method having the above-mentioned structure, the human body detecting sensor 6 has the detecting area 20 extending from the light projecting element 4 to the detecting area 20.
Light is emitted intermittently, and the light receiving element 5 is activated in synchronization with this. In addition, 125 mSec after this operation, light is projected from the light projecting element 5 of the hand detecting sensor to the detection region 21, and the light receiving element 9 is operated in synchronization with this. Therefore, the light projected from the light projecting element 4 is received only by the light receiving element 5, and the light projected from the light projecting element 8 is received only by the light receiving element 9, so that interference is surely prevented.

Since the operation timings of the sensors 6 and 10 are shifted, even if the light frequencies of the light projecting elements 4 and 8 are the same, interference can be reliably prevented.

In particular, in this embodiment, the light projecting element 4,
Since 8 is continuous light and the light emitted from the remote controller 22 is pulsed light, the light from the remote controller 22 can be clearly distinguished from the light from the light projecting elements 4 and 8. Therefore, it is possible to ensure that the cleaning is not performed.

In the above embodiment, the light frequencies of the light projecting elements 4 and 8 and the remote controller 22 are completely the same, but in the present invention, the frequencies of these lights may be similar.

Although the above embodiment is applied to an automatic washing device for western-style toilets, the present invention is directed to an automatic washing device for urinals and a pseudo-noise device for automatically generating a pseudo-use sound for western-style toilets. You may apply to an automatic hand dryer, an automatic faucet device, etc.

In the above embodiment, the light receiving element is provided for each detection area, but in the present invention, the light receiving element may be shared by a plurality of areas. The pulse of the remote controller may be repetitive or may be a coded pulse pattern.

[0035]

As described above, according to the object detecting method of the present invention, when an object is detected in a plurality of areas, the operations of the light projecting element and the light receiving element in each area are deviated.
It is possible to detect highly accurate objects (including human body) without any interference.

Further, even if light of the same frequency is used in each area, there is no interference, so that the light projecting element and the light receiving element can be shared or shared in each area. Therefore, the number of parts of the detection device can be reduced.

According to the object detecting method of claim 2, since the object detecting light and the remote control light can be clearly distinguished, the remote controller can accurately control the operation of the object detecting device (for example, stop the automatic operation for a predetermined time). Is possible).

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a self-cleaning Western-style toilet and a toilet room that employ an object detection method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a detection device adopted in the embodiment method.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of the detection device.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart showing the operation of the detection device.

FIG. 5 is a waveform diagram showing an operation of the detection device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4,8 Light emitting element 5,9 Light receiving element 6 Human body detection sensor 7 Hand detection sensor 12,13 Light emitting element drive circuit 14,15 Light receiving element drive circuit 16 Control circuit 17 Valve control circuit 18 Wash valve

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An object in the area is detected by intermittently projecting light pulse-modulated by a light projecting element to two or more sensing areas and receiving reflected light from each sensing area by a light receiving element. In the method for detecting an object, the modulation frequency for projecting light is the same or close to each area, the timing of projecting light is different for each area, and the light projection to the area and the reception of the reflected light are performed. An object detection method characterized by being performed synchronously. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the light receiving element receives the light emitted from the remote controller at a time other than the time when the light emitting element emits light. The continuous light is continuous within one intermittent projection time, and the projection by the remote controller is intermittent light that blinks a plurality of times within the time, and the light receiving pattern by the light receiving element is analyzed to obtain continuous light. An object detection method characterized in that when it is light, it is treated as reflected light from an object, and when it is the intermittent light, it is treated as signal light from a remote controller.