JP2002152858A - Home automation system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a home automation system that can cope with increase in the number of house appliances and multi-function of the house appliances that are controlled by the home automation system. SOLUTION: The home automation system 3 is characterized in that the home automation system consists of house appliances 1 installed in a house and a controller 2 for the house appliances controlling the house appliances, the house appliance controller 2 is connected to a server 4 that opens a home page of a user of the home automation system 3 on the Internet 5, the home page opened on the Internet includes a control panel picture 21 by which the user can set the house appliances 1 of the home automation system 3, and the user sets the house appliances 1 on the control panel picture 21 so as to allow the user to remotely control the home automation system 3 on the Internet.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a home automation system capable of easily and surely remotely controlling a plurality of home appliances at home.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, a home automation system uses a plurality of home electric appliances (such as an air conditioner, a television, a microwave oven, a washing machine, a refrigerator, etc.) installed in a house by a control device for controlling the home electric appliances. By connecting using communication means, the plurality of home appliances are to be centrally controlled by a home appliance control device, and the home automation system enables remote control of home appliances, so that the It is possible to prevent a defect due to a defect in the home electric appliance, for example, forgetting to turn off the power.

When remotely controlling the home automation system, a fixed telephone, a portable telephone,
Call a home from an HS or the like, access a home automation system control device connected to the home phone, send out a pre-registered control code to remotely control home appliances, or make a sound from the control device. The remote control of the home appliance is performed by transmitting the control code of the home appliance according to the guidance.

Further, in order to more reliably perform the remote operation of the home automation, the information of the electric appliance is received from the control device of the home electric appliance by a facsimile or a remote operation device formed for the remote operation and received. Devices that remotely control home appliances based on information have been proposed.

[0005]

According to the above-mentioned prior art, although the home automation system can be remotely controlled through a telephone line, the home automation system has become widespread and the number of home appliances compatible with the home automation system has increased. The number of home appliances controlled by the automation system is increasing, and the number of control codes is increasing due to the increasing multi-functionality of home appliances, so remember these increasing control codes. It is difficult to perform the remote operation according to the voice guidance, and even if the user only listens to the voice guidance, a considerable amount of time is required, and the remote control becomes troublesome.

Further, in the case of performing a remote operation while confirming information on home electric appliances using the above-mentioned facsimile or remote control device,
Since it is necessary to prepare a new FAX and a remote control device, there is a problem that the introduction cost of the home automation system becomes high, and the number of home appliances controlled by the home automation system increases and the number of home appliances increases. At present, it is not fully compatible with functionalization, and there is a demand for a home automation system that can cope with an increase in home appliances and multifunctionalization.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a home automation system capable of coping with an increase in the number of home electric appliances controlled by the home automation system and an increase in the functions of the home electric appliances.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following technical means. That is, in a home automation system including a plurality of home appliances 1 installed in a house and a home appliance control device 2 for controlling the home appliances, the home appliance control device 2 is a home automation system 3 The user's own home page is connected to a server 4 that opens on the Internet 5, and the home appliance opened on the Internet sets up a plurality of home electric appliances 1 that constitute the home automation system 3. A remote control of the home automation system 3 is performed on the Internet 5 by providing a control panel screen 21 that can perform the home automation system 3 from the control panel screen 21. be able to A home automation system, characterized in that there was Unishi.

Further, the setting of the plurality of home appliances 1 on the control panel screen 21 provided in the homepage of the user of the home automation system 3 can be connected to the Internet 5 and browse the homepage on the Internet 5. The home automation system is performed by an information device including a browser capable of performing the operation, and the information device is used as a terminal 6 for remote operation.

[0010] With the above configuration, remote control of the home automation system can be performed on the Internet 5.
As long as the user can connect to the Internet 5 and use an information device equipped with a browser, the user can operate the home automation system at home from anywhere, thereby improving the convenience of the home automation system. .

Further, as the terminal 6 for remote control, a personal computer or a PDA (information portable terminal) having a browser function, or a portable telephone can be used, whereby the user can remotely control the home automation system. The burden of performing the operation, for example, the cost of purchasing a device for remote operation is reduced.

Further, the control panel screen 21
From the top, setting of a plurality of home appliances 1 constituting the home automation system 3 is enabled after authentication of the user's ID number and password, or
It is characterized in that the user ID number and password are authenticated, and that the authentication is possible after the random number input based on the random number table 15 possessed by the user is authenticated.

In this case, the remote control of the home automation system 3 by a third party can be prevented.
The home automation system 3 can be operated safely.

Further, the connection between the plurality of home appliances 1 and the control device 2 of the home appliances is performed by Bluetooth using wireless communication, whereby the installation location of the plurality of home appliances is restricted. Therefore, the usability of the home automation system 3 can be improved.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, a home automation system 3 of the present invention includes a plurality of home appliances 1 installed in a house and the plurality of home appliances 1.
The control device 2 for home electric appliances is connected to a server 4 connected to the Internet 5.

The homepage (website) of the user of the home automation system 3 opened on the Internet 5 is uploaded to the server 4.
It is configured to link with the user's own home page uploaded to the server 4 and to exchange control information of the home electric appliance 1.

Further, the user's own home page uploaded to the server 4 and opened on the Internet 5 can be connected to the Internet 5 and
The information can be viewed using various information devices provided with a browser for browsing a homepage on the Internet 5 (terminals A, B, and C connected to the Internet 5 in FIG. 1).

On the user's own home page, a control panel screen 21 for remotely controlling the home automation system 3 is created. From the control panel screen 21, a plurality of home appliances constituting the home automation system 3 are displayed. The configuration of the product 1 allows the home automation system 3 to be remotely controlled.

That is, as shown in the schematic diagram of FIG. 2, the home automation system 3 of the present invention remotely controls various information devices, which can view the user's own homepage established on the Internet 5, for remote control. The terminal 4 is used as a terminal 6 and exchanges information (setting of home appliances on a control panel screen) between the server 4 to which the user's own homepage is uploaded and the terminal 6 for remote operation, and the server 4 and the home automation system 3
The home automation system 3 is remotely controlled by exchanging information (mainly home appliance settings performed by the remote control terminal 6 on the control panel screen) with (mainly the home appliance control device 2). The remote control of the home automation system 3 can be performed on the Internet 5.

The home appliances 1 constituting the home automation system 3 include an air conditioner, a television, a VCR (including DVD and DVD-R), and an MD.
-Various home appliances such as AV equipment such as CD decks, microwave ovens, ovens, washing machines, ventilation fans, refrigerators, toasters, and buses are considered, and home automation systems 3
Is appropriately selected according to the lifestyle of the user who uses.

Further, as the control device 2 of the home electric appliance, a controller or a personal computer which can be connected to a server 4 providing a website on the Internet 5 and can communicate with each other is considered. It is preferable to use an excellent personal computer.

The plurality of home electric appliances 1 and the control device 2 are connected using a predetermined connection means (interface), and may be of various standards using wired, wireless, infrared, and the like. Though considered, a connection means using a wireless device that can easily connect the home appliance 1 to the control device 2 at low cost and that does not limit the installation location of the home appliance 1 is preferable. As for Bluetooth, Bluetooth, which is expected to be compatible with many home electric appliances in the future, is most preferable.

As the server 4, a server provided by a provider to which the user subscribes is considered, and when the user himself operates the server, the use of the server is considered.
The communication line used for connection between the control device 2 of the home electric appliance and the server 4 may be an analog line, an ISDN line, an optical cable, or a dedicated line such as a cable television.

As the terminal 6 for remote operation, a personal computer or a PD having a browser which can be connected to the Internet 5 and can browse a user's own homepage established on the Internet 5 is provided.
A (information portable terminal), mobile phone (i-mode or EZwe
b, mobile phones compatible with J-Sky, etc.).

It should be noted that the details of the information devices such as the personal computer, the PDA, and the mobile phone which are used as the controller, the personal computer, the server 4 and the remote control terminal 6 which constitute the control device 2 of the home electric appliance are known. The description is omitted because there is.

Next, a remote control method for the home automation system 3 based on the above configuration will be described.
First, in performing remote control of the home automation system 3, information (product names, functions, control codes, and the like of home appliances) about each of the plurality of home appliances 1 is installed in the home appliance control device 2 and installed. It is necessary to reflect the information on the user's own homepage uploaded to the server 4,
The installation of the information of the home electric appliance 1 and the upload to the homepage are performed by the trader or the user himself when the home electric appliance 1 is installed.

The remote control of the home automation system 3 is performed by using a remote control terminal 6.
As shown in FIG. 3, first, a terminal 6 for remote operation such as a mobile phone, a PDA, and a personal computer is connected to the Internet 5 (step Sc1), and the user's own homepage (established on the server 4) is displayed. By accessing (Step Sc2), the top page screen 11 shown in FIG. 4 is displayed on the display unit of the terminal 6 for remote operation by a browser.

Next, I on the top page screen 11
A user's ID number is input to the D number input unit 12, and a password is input to the password input unit 13, and the confirmation button 14 is clicked (step Sc3).
And the ID number and the password are confirmed on the server 4 side (step Sc4). If the ID number and the password are correctly input, the process proceeds to step Sc5, and the display of the remote operation terminal 6 is displayed. If the control panel screen 21 shown in FIG. 6 is displayed, and if the ID number and the password have not been correctly input,
Returning to the top page screen 11 of c2, an input of an ID number and a password is required.

Next, on the control screen 21, an input of a random number to the random number input unit 22 is required, and the random number input unit 2
The user prepares random numbers corresponding to the instruction 2 (this instruction is changed every time the control panel screen 21 is displayed, and in FIG. 6, the vertical 3 and the horizontal B). The random number read from the random number table 15 (FIG. 5) (425 in this case), the random number read from the random number table 15 is input to the random number input unit 22, and the confirmation button 23 is clicked (Step Sc6).

Then, in step Sc7, the random number input to the random number input unit 22 is confirmed on the server 4 side.
If the random number has been correctly input, step Sc8
Then, the control panel screen 21 displayed on the display unit of the remote operation terminal 6 becomes operable. If the random number is not correctly input, the above-described step S
Returning to the top page screen 11 of c2, the input of the ID number and the password is requested again.

Further, when inputting the random number, if the random number is not input to the random number input section 22 within a predetermined time, for example, 10 to 20 seconds after the control screen 21 is displayed, By configuring the random number table 15 not to be possessed by the user, that is, to determine that the user is not a legitimate user, unauthorized access can be reliably prevented.

Next, in step Sc9, the name of the home appliance to be operated from the home appliance selection section 24 displayed on the control panel screen 21 (in the present embodiment, the home appliance 1
When the user clicks on the home appliance 12), the setting item 25 of the selected home appliance is displayed. In the setting item 25, a setting item corresponding to the function of the selected home appliance is displayed. If an air conditioner is selected as a home appliance, the air conditioner mode (cooling, heating,
Dry, etc.), temperature, and time (start time, end time) can be set.
The setting can be easily performed by clicking the setting section 26 provided as a pull-down menu (drop-down menu) for each of the five items.

Further, the control panel screen 21
Is displayed so that it can be scrolled with a cursor, in order to improve visibility and operability when a PDA or a mobile phone having a small display unit is used as a terminal for remote operation. By standardizing the items (home appliance names and setting items) displayed on the control panel screen 21, it is possible to reduce costs and facilitate handling when creating the control panel screen 21.

Then, the control panel screen 21
When the setting is completed for all the home appliances to be operated displayed in the above and the setting contents are confirmed, the confirmation button 27 is clicked to confirm the setting (step Sc10).
Is performed, and at the same time, the set information is transmitted to the server 4 as remote operation information (step Sc14).

Next, when the setting is confirmed (transmitted) in step Sc10, the message board screen 31 shown in FIG. 7 is displayed on the display unit of the terminal 6 for remote operation (step Sc1).
1) Clicking the radio button 32 for indicating to the family whether or not the home electric appliance is set, and the time at which the radio button 32 is clicked is displayed as the input time. Can also.

Further, by providing a message board and a schedule table for the family on the message board screen 31, communication between the families can be made denser, and the ID number and the password can be used for the control panel and the message board. By setting aside, a certain restriction can be imposed on the operation of the control panel in the family, and it is possible to prevent a problem such as a young child erroneously setting an electric home appliance.

By clicking the button 33 for returning to the top page of the message board screen 31, the top page screen 11 is displayed again on the display section of the terminal 6 for remote operation (step Sc12), and then the Internet 5 By disconnecting the connection to (step Sc13), the remote operation by the remote operation terminal 6 is terminated.

Further, in step Sc14, the remote control information transmitted to the server 4 is received by the server 4 (step Sc15), and then the home appliance control device 2
To the server 4 (step 16).
Is received by the home appliance control device 2 from the home appliance control device 2 (step Sc17).
After that, an operation signal is transmitted from the control device 2 to each of the home appliances 1 (step Sc18), and based on the operation signal, each of the home appliances 1 is remotely operated, and the remote operation is executed (step 19). ).

FIG. 8 shows home automation 3
The state of the home appliance 1 operated by the user is uploaded to the server 4 and the control panel screen 21 of the user's own homepage established on the Internet 5
FIG. 3 shows a step chart in the control device 2 of the home electric appliance when the state of the home electric appliance 1 is sequentially reflected. After accessing the server 4 at Sh2 and uploading the information of each home appliance 1 (Step Sh3), it is confirmed at Step Sh4 whether or not there is remote operation information.

Next, if it is determined in step Sh5 that there is remote operation information, the process proceeds to step Sh6, where the remote operation information is downloaded, and each home appliance 1 is operated in step Sh7. If it is determined that there is no remote operation information, the process returns to step Sh1 again and performs the following steps.

By performing the above operation at predetermined intervals (several minutes to ten-odd minutes or tens of minutes), the information of the home electric appliance 1 is displayed on the control panel screen 21 of the user's own homepage at the terminal 6 for remote operation. This is reflected almost in real time, and remote control can be performed more reliably.

Further, by providing the home automation system 3 user with homepage creation software including a control panel and a message board used for remotely controlling the home automation 3,
It is possible to eliminate the trouble of creating a homepage by the user himself, to promote the spread of the home automation system 3 of the present invention using the Internet, and to promote the use of IT in each home.

In the above-described embodiment, the control panel screen 21 for remotely controlling the home automation system 3 is configured so that 12 types of home appliances 1 can be operated. The operability when a mobile phone or a PDA is used as the terminal 6 of the home automation system 3 is taken into consideration, and the control panel screen 21 reflects the increase / decrease of the home appliances 1 constituting the home automation system 3 on the control panel screen 21. The number of home electric appliances 1 that can be operated by the user can be increased or decreased.

The ID of the remote control terminal 6
The input of the number, password, random number, and the setting of the home electric appliance is performed by a keyboard and a mouse in the case of a personal computer, a touch panel and operation keys in the case of a PDA, and ten keys and other keys in the case of a mobile phone ( Scroll operation keys, function selection keys, etc.), and remote control of the home automation system can be easily and reliably performed.

[0045]

As described in detail above, the present invention has the following effects. That is, since the home automation system of the present invention is configured such that remote control of the home automation system can be performed on the Internet, various terminals having a browser that can connect to the Internet and browse a homepage on the Internet can be provided. The home automation system can be operated remotely by using the home automation system. In addition, by setting the remote operation via a browser, various functions and settings of home appliances can be displayed in detail. Home automation that can easily and reliably set the home appliances that make up the system, and that can fully cope with the increase in home appliances controlled by the home automation system and multifunctional home appliances Provide system Kill.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of a home automation system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a remote control procedure in the home automation system of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a step chart showing a remote control procedure in detail.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a top page screen displayed when performing a remote operation.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a random number table used when performing remote control.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a control panel screen displayed when performing a remote operation.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a message board screen displayed when remote operation is performed.

FIG. 8 is a step chart showing exchange of information between a control device of a home appliance and a server in the home automation system of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 home electric appliance 2 home electric appliance control device 3 home automation system 4 server 5 internet 6 remote control terminal 11 top page screen 12 ID number input section 13 password input section 14 confirmation button 15 random number table 21 control panel screen 22 random number input section 23 Confirmation Button 24 Home Appliance Selection Section 25 Setting Items 26 Setting Section (Pull-Down Menu) 27 Confirmation Button 31 Message Board Screen 32 Radio Button 33 Button

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of home electric appliances 1 installed in a house
And a home automation system including a home appliance controller 2 for controlling the plurality of home appliances. The home appliance controller 2 includes a server 4 for opening a home page of a user of the home automation system 3 on the Internet 5. And a control panel screen 21 on which a plurality of home appliances 1 constituting the home automation system 3 can be set in a homepage established on the Internet, and the control panel screen is provided. A home automation system characterized in that remote control of the home automation system 3 can be performed on the Internet 5 by setting a plurality of home appliances 1 constituting the home automation system 3 from above. Solution system. 2. The home automation system 3
Of the plurality of home appliances 1 on the control panel screen 21 provided in the user's own homepage of
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the information processing is performed by an information device including a browser capable of connecting to the Internet 5 and browsing a homepage on the Internet 5, and the information device is used as a terminal 6 for remote operation. Home automation system. 3. The home automation system according to claim 2, wherein the terminal for remote control 6 is a personal computer or a PDA (information portable terminal) having a browser function. 4. The home automation system according to claim 2, wherein the terminal for remote control 6 is a mobile phone having a browser function. 5. The setting of a plurality of home electric appliances 1 constituting the home automation system 3 from the control panel screen 21 can be performed after authentication of a user ID number and a password. The home automation system according to claim 1. 6. On the control panel screen 21, setting of a plurality of home electric appliances 1 constituting the home automation system 3 is performed by authenticating a user's ID number and password, and furthermore, a random number table 15 held by the user. 2. The home automation system according to claim 1, wherein the authentication is enabled after the authentication of the random number input based on the authentication is performed. 7. The home automation system according to claim 1, wherein the connection between the plurality of home appliances 1 and the home appliance control device 2 is performed by Bluetooth.