JP3958240B2 - Control device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a control device that controls a control target device without using a key switch or the like.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, for example, power on / off operation and switching of various states of various devices such as a lighting fixture, a ventilation fan, an air conditioner, and a television are performed by operating switches provided on the main body or key switches of a remote controller. For example, in the case of a lighting fixture, on / off and brightness adjustment can be performed by a switch operation of a wall switch or a remote controller. In the case of an air conditioner, on / off and temperature setting are performed by key operation using the remote controller. Furthermore, in the case of a television, on / off and channel switching are operated by a switch on the remote controller.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In these control devices that output control signals to these conventional devices to be controlled, all operate a small key top with the fingertip, so while visually checking the small characters stamped on the key top or in the vicinity thereof It was necessary to operate. Such an operation method is not necessarily a sophisticated method depending on the purpose, and it is annoying. In particular, an elderly person with reduced proximity vision or fine fingertip manipulation ability cannot obtain a satisfactory operation feeling. Furthermore, it may be difficult to find the location of the remote control when the surroundings are very dark, or even if the remote control is at hand, the display of the key top or the like at that hand is difficult to see and cannot be operated easily.
[0004]
In addition, for example, in the case of continuously dimming the brightness of a luminaire, a key button for operating the increase / decrease in brightness or a key button for operating in a decrease direction until a predetermined brightness is achieved. There was annoyance that had to be repeatedly pressed many times.
[0005]
An object of the present invention is to provide a control device that solves the above-mentioned various problems without using a key switch or the like.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention relates to distance measurement means for measuring a distance to a distance measurement target object existing in a detection area, and the distance when the distance measurement target object is changed from a state not existing in the detection area to an existing state. A start distance detecting means for detecting a measurement result by the measuring means as a start distance, a distance section determining means for determining which one of the predetermined distance sections in the detection area corresponds to, and a start distance corresponding to the start distance Based on the distance section, device selection means for selecting a control target device that is associated with the distance section in advance from a plurality of devices, and control for controlling the control target device selected by the device selection means Means . Since the distance section is determined based on the result of the distance measurement in this way and the control signal is given to the control target device according to the distance section, the distance from the measuring unit of the distance measuring means to the human hand, for example, is determined. If the distance measuring means is provided so as to measure, for example, power control of the device corresponding to the distance section can be performed only by holding the hand over the position corresponding to the distance section from the measuring unit.
[0007]
Further, the present invention is characterized in that the control is control of the amount of power supplied to the control target device. As a result, for example, power on / off control of the control target device can be performed only by holding the hand within a predetermined distance section.
[0008]
In addition, the present invention is characterized by comprising control stop means for stopping control by the control means when the distance measurement target object changes from a state existing in the detection area to a state not existing .
[0009]
Further, the present invention is the measurement result of the distance measuring means may vary by more than the distance determined distance interval to correspond to the start distance by the section determination unit, the control object that is selected by the apparatus selecting means It is characterized in that the control amount of the control target device is changed while the device is selected .
By detecting the distance change in this way and changing the control amount to the control target device according to the distance change, for example, the hand is raised and lowered so that the distance from the measurement unit of the distance measuring means changes. By moving or moving left and right, the brightness of the luminaire and the volume of the audio equipment can be continuously operated.
[0010]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The control apparatus for lighting fixtures which concerns on 1st Embodiment is demonstrated with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 shows how to use this control device. In (A), an apparatus indicated by 10 is a lighting apparatus control apparatus installed on a floor or a table, for example. The control device 10 includes distance measuring means for measuring the distance to an upper reflecting object (in this example, a hand H of a person who intends to use the control device 10). In this example, section A, section 1, section 2, and section 3 are set as distance sections. If you hold your hand over section 1, the lighting / extinguishing state of the first lighting fixture will be reversed, and your hand over section 2 will be reversed. The lighting / extinguishing state of the second lighting fixture is reversed if the hand is held over, and similarly the lighting / extinguishing state of the third lighting fixture is reversed if the hand is held over the section 3. Furthermore, if the hand is held over the section A, all the first to third lighting fixtures are turned on or off.
[0011]
When the second lighting fixture is in an extinguished state, the second lighting fixture is turned on by holding the hand H over the section 2 as shown in FIG. And if the hand H is moved up and down so that the distance from the upper surface (distance measurement part) of the control apparatus 10 may change, the brightness of a 2nd lighting fixture will change according to it. For example, the higher the hand H is, the brighter it is and the lower it is, the darker it is. The dimming range at this time is not related to each section, and dimming is performed according to the vertical movement distance from the position where the hand is first held.
[0012]
FIG. 1B shows the relationship between the control device 10 installed near the floor wall and the design tiles provided on the wall. In this example, design tiles T1, T2, and T3 that represent the patterns of the respective lighting fixtures are attached to positions that indicate three distance sections of section 1 to section 3. In addition, a design tile Ta representing a picture that represents the control of all the lighting fixtures is attached to a position indicating the section A. The operator turns on / off and dimms a predetermined lighting fixture by holding the hand with the height of these design tiles as a guide.
[0013]
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the lighting fixture control apparatus. In FIG. 2, the distance sensor 1 includes a distance measuring sensor that measures a distance based on a time delay of transmission / reception of an ultrasonic wave, a distance measuring sensor that measures a distance by a triangulation method by projecting infrared rays or laser light, and the like. The distance measurement control unit 2 uses the distance sensor 1 to obtain a distance measurement value as a value. As will be described later, the control unit 3 controls the load control unit 4 by detecting in which distance section the measured distance exists, a distance change amount, and the like. The load control unit 4 performs on / off control and dimming control of the first to third lighting fixtures 11 to 13 based on control data from the control unit 3.
[0014]
3 to 5 are flowcharts showing the processing contents of the control unit 3 shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the entire processing content. First, the measurement distance data R is read from the distance measurement control unit 2 (s1). If the value is outside the predetermined interval, the flag FS is reset and the process returns to the process of reading the distance data again (s2 → s3 → s1). For example, if the hand is not held in any position of the section A and the sections 1 to 3 shown in FIG. 1, the distance from the distance sensor 1 to the ceiling is measured, and the above process is repeated.
The flag FS is a flag that indicates a state in which the determination of the distance section to be described later has been performed once, and indicates a distance section undecided state when FS = 0, and a distance section determination completed state when FS = 1.
[0015]
If it is detected that the distance R is equal to or less than the predetermined maximum value Rmax, the distance R at that time is stored as the start distance RS (s4 → s5). Then, it is determined which section the measurement distance R corresponds to in advance (s6). If it is the section 1, the lighting / extinguishing control of the first lighting fixture 11 is performed (s7 → s8). In this on / off control, as will be described later, if it is in the off state, it is turned on with the final brightness at the time of the previous lighting. If it is lit, turn it off. Thereafter, “1” is set in the value n for identifying the section, and a flag FS indicating that the section determination is completed is set (s9 → s10). If it is the section 2, the lighting / extinguishing control of the second lighting fixture 12 is performed (s11 → s12). That is, if the 2nd lighting fixture 12 was a light extinction state, it will be lighted with the brightness immediately before the last light extinction, and if it was a lightening state, it will be lighted out. Thereafter, “2” is set in the value n for identifying the section, and a flag FS indicating that the section determination is completed is set (s13 → s10). Similarly, if it is section 3, lighting / extinguishing control of the 3rd lighting fixture 13 is performed (s14-> s15). That is, if the 3rd lighting fixture 13 was a light extinction state, it will be lighted by the final brightness at the time of last lighting, and if it was a lighting state, it will be lighted out. Thereafter, “3” is set in the value n for identifying the section, and a flag FS indicating that the section determination is completed is set (s16 → s10). If it is section A, lighting / extinguishing control of all the first to third lighting fixtures is performed (s17 → s18). In the process of step s18, as will be described later, when two or more of the three luminaires are lit, all are turned off, and when two or more are turned off, all are turned on. The brightness at the time of lighting is set to the brightness immediately before the first to third lighting fixtures are turned off. Thereafter, “a” is entered in the value n for identifying the section, and the flag FS indicating that the section determination is completed is set (s19 → s10).
[0016]
After that, if the operator retracts his / her hand over a predetermined section, the flag FS is reset and the next operation is waited (s1 → s2 → s3 → s1). Further, if the hand is moved up and down without retracting the hand immediately after holding the hand over a predetermined distance section, the difference from the distance over which the hand is held is obtained as a change distance ΔR (s1 → s2 → s4 → s20). Subsequently, the dimming control data CON of the luminaire is set according to the change distance ΔR, and is output to the load control unit 4 (s21 → s22 → s23). Here, n is any one of “1”, “2”, and “3”.
When the hand is held over the section A, the dimming operation is not performed even if the hand is moved up and down thereafter (s20 → s1).
[0017]
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of step s8 shown in FIG. First, if the flag FO1 indicating the on / off state of the first lighting fixture is 0 (off state), the previous dimming data CO1 is set to the dimming data CC1 (s31 → s32). Subsequently, since the first lighting fixture is turned on this time, the flag FO1 is set (s33). Then, the dimming data CC1 is output to the load controller 4 (s34). Thereby, the 1st lighting fixture lights with the brightness according to the value of the light control data CC1. That is, it is lit at the same brightness as when it was lit last time. When the flag FO1 is 1 (lighting state), the dimming data CC1 is set to 0 (light-off state), the flag FO1 is reset, and the dimming data CC1 is output to the load control unit 4 (s35 → s36 → s34). . Thereby, the 1st lighting fixture is made into a light extinction state. It should be noted that the previous dimming data CO1 is set to the value “15” that is brightest in the initial state.
Although FIG. 4 shows the control related to the first lighting fixture, the same applies to the processing contents of steps s12 and s15 in FIG.
[0018]
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing content of step s18 in FIG. First, the majority values of the flags FO1 to FO3 indicating the on / off states of the first to third lighting fixtures are obtained from the FO (s41). When FO is 0, that is, when two or more of the first to third lighting fixtures are in the extinguished state, the dimming data CC1 to CC3 of the first to third lighting fixtures are set to a maximum value of 15 (s42 → s43). Further, all the lighting / extinguishing states of the first to third lighting fixtures are turned on (s44). Then, the dimming data CC1 to CC3 are output to the load controller 4 (s45). Thereby, all the 1st-3rd lighting fixtures light with the maximum brightness. When the FO is 1, that is, when two or more of the first to third lighting fixtures are turned off, the first to third dimming data CC1 to CC3 of the lighting fixtures are set to the minimum value 0 (s42 → s46). Further, the lighting / extinguishing states of the first to third lighting fixtures are all turned off (s47). Then, the dimming data CC1 to CC3 are output to the load controller 4 (s45). As a result, all lighting fixtures are turned off.
[0019]
Next, FIG. 6 shows a configuration of a control device according to the second embodiment.
In the first embodiment, power control such as lighting / extinguishing control and dimming control is performed using a plurality of lighting fixtures as loads, but a single device to be controlled may be used. For example, on / off and supply power control can be performed in the same manner for a single load. In addition to controlling the power supplied to the load, for example, when giving control signals for setting various states, such as volume adjustment of audio equipment, temperature adjustment of air conditioners, etc., or when giving control amounts and values to control target equipment Can be applied similarly. In FIG. 6, the control target device 20 is such a device.
[0020]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, the distance section is determined based on the distance measurement result, and the control signal is given to the control target device according to the distance section. If the distance measuring means is provided so as to measure the distance, it is possible to control the power supply of the device corresponding to the distance section by simply holding the hand to the position corresponding to the distance section from the measuring unit. it can.
[0021]
In addition, according to the present invention, since one of the distance sections is configured to control the power supplies of a plurality of devices to be controlled at the same time, the simultaneous control can be controlled only by holding a hand over a predetermined distance section. Become.
[0022]
In addition, according to the present invention, for example, the distance from the measuring unit of the distance measuring unit is changed by detecting the change in the distance and changing the control amount to the control target device in accordance with the change in the distance. By moving the hand up and down or moving left and right in this way, the brightness of the lighting fixture, the volume of the acoustic device, and the like can be continuously operated.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a relationship between a control device and each distance section. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the control device. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an overall processing procedure of a control unit 3 in the control device. 3 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of step s8 in FIG. 3. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of step s18 in FIG. 3. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control device according to the second embodiment.
10-Control device H-Hand

Claims (4)

A distance measuring means for measuring a distance to a distance measurement target object existing in the detection area ;
Start distance detection means for detecting a measurement result by the distance measurement means as a start distance when the distance measurement target object is changed from a state not existing in the detection area to a state existing;
Distance section determining means for determining which of the predetermined distance sections in the detection area the start distance corresponds to;
Based on a distance section corresponding to the start distance, device selection means for selecting a control target device that is associated with the distance section in advance from a plurality of devices;
Controller and a control means for controlling the control target device is selected by the device selecting unit. The control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a control stop unit that stops control by the control unit when the distance measurement target object changes from a state that exists in the detection area to a state that does not exist. The control means, even if the measurement result by the distance measurement means changes beyond the distance section determined to correspond to the start distance by the distance section determination means, the control target device selected by the device selection means The control device according to claim 1, wherein the control amount of the device to be controlled is changed while the item is selected. The control device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls a power supply amount to a device to be controlled.

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