Communications: electrical – Continuously variable indicating – With meter reading
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-21
2003-03-25
Trieu, Van (Department: 2735)
Communications: electrical
Continuously variable indicating
With meter reading
C340S870030, 72
Reexamination Certificate
active
06538575
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a control system that includes a control apparatus and a controlled apparatus that is controlled by the control apparatus. In particular, the present invention relates to an improvement in the control performed at a start of communication within a control system.
BACKGROUND ART
Conventional techniques are available for connecting domestic appliances such as air conditioners and AV (audio-video) appliances to a central control apparatus using coaxial cables, twisted-pair cables, mains cables, or the like as communication paths. The central control apparatus in such a system communicates with the domestic appliances (hereinafter, such apparatuses are referred to as “controlled apparatuses”) so that it can control their operations. One such technology has been standardized according to the Japanese HBS (Home Bus System) standard.
Initial communication settings have to be made for communication to take place within a communicative control system composed of a central control apparatus and controlled apparatuses. These settings include the setting of address numbers (referred to hereafter as “own addresses”) for identifying the central control apparatus and the controlled apparatuses on the communication network, as well as the setting of address numbers of apparatuses (referred to hereafter as “called addresses”) that the central control apparatus and the controlled apparatuses are to communicate with.
The settings described above are conventionally made separately for each apparatus according to manual operations performed when the communicative control system is first used. Such settings made in a conventional communicative control system are described below with reference to
FIGS. 8
to
10
.
FIG. 8
is a block diagram giving an overview of a conventional communicative control system.
The present conventional communicative control system includes the central control apparatus
600
and the controlled apparatus
700
. These apparatuses are interconnected via their respective communication units
610
,
710
and the transfer path
900
, and so are able to communicate with each other.
The central control apparatus
600
is provided with an own address setting/holding unit
620
for setting and holding the address of the central control apparatus
600
and a called address setting/holding unit
630
for setting and holding the address of the apparatus in communication with the central control apparatus
600
. In the same way, the controlled apparatus
700
is provided with an own address setting/holding unit
720
for setting and holding the address of the controlled apparatus
700
and a called address setting/holding unit
730
for setting and holding the address of the apparatus in communication with the controlled apparatus
700
.
The central control apparatus
600
is also equipped with control buttons
651
~
653
that the user can press to select a desired control operation and a control message issuing unit
640
for detecting presses of the control buttons
651
~
653
and issuing a control message to the controlled apparatus
700
. The controlled apparatus
700
is also equipped with a control unit
740
for controlling the controlled apparatus
700
according to a control message issued by the central control apparatus
600
.
For communication to take place between the central control apparatus
600
and the controlled apparatus
700
, both the central control apparatus
600
and the controlled apparatus
700
have to internally set their own address and the address of the other apparatus. Such initial communications settings are made in the following way in a conventional communicative control system.
First the user respectively uses the own address setting/holding units
620
and
720
to manually set the own address of the central control apparatus
600
and the own address of the controlled apparatus
700
. The values used as the own addresses of the central control apparatus
600
and the controlled apparatus
700
are set within a range determined by the communication protocol being used. As examples, the addresses may be freely set as any integer between 1 and 65535 so long as no two apparatuses in the system have the same own address. In this way, each apparatus in the communicative control system is assigned an exclusive address.
As one example, the user may assign the own address “1” to the central control apparatus
600
and the own address “16553511” to the controlled apparatus
700
, in keeping with the conditions given above.
Once the own addresses of each apparatus have been determined as described above, the user uses the called address setting/holding unit
630
,
730
to set the called address(es) in the central control apparatus
600
and a called address in the controlled apparatus
700
. In this case, the own address of the controlled apparatus
700
is set in the central control apparatus
600
as a called address and the own address of the central control apparatus
600
is set in the controlled apparatus
700
as the called address.
As mentioned above, the central control apparatus
600
is assigned the own address “1”, while the controlled apparatus
700
is assigned the own address “65535”, so that “65535” is set as a called address of the central control apparatus
600
and “1” is set as the called address of the controlled apparatus
700
.
The above setting of the called addresses of the apparatuses completes the initial communication settings and so makes communication between the apparatuses possible. In the present arrangement, the central control apparatus
600
can control the controlled apparatus
700
.
In the present example, the control button
651
of the central control apparatus
600
is used to indicate a “power on” operation for the controlled apparatus
700
. If the user presses the control button
651
, this is detected by the control message issuing unit
640
which issues the corresponding control message and passes it over to the communication unit
610
. The communication unit
610
refers to the own address stored in the own address setting/holding unit
620
and the called address stored in the called address setting/holding unit
630
and transfers the received control message from the address number “1” (the central control apparatus
600
) to the address number “65535” (the controlled apparatus
700
). The control message transmitted in this way passes the transfer path
900
and reaches the communication unit
710
of the controlled apparatus
700
.
In the controlled apparatus
700
, the control message is sent from the communication unit
710
to the control unit
740
which has an appropriate operation performed for the control message. When the control button
651
is used to indicate a “power on” operation for the controlled apparatus
700
, a “power on” control message is issued and the control unit
740
performs control so that the controlled apparatus
700
is switched on.
While the explanation has thus far described a communicative control system having one central control apparatus and one controlled apparatus, the following will examine the procedure for making the communication initialization settings for the case where a central control apparatus is connected to a plurality of controlled apparatuses that are to be controlled individually.
FIG. 9
shows a communicative control system where a central control apparatus
600
is connected to a plurality (here, two) controlled apparatuses
700
and
800
, while
FIG. 10
shows the construction of the controlled apparatus selection panel
660
that is used during the procedure making the communication initialization settings in this communicative control system. The construction and operation of the controlled apparatus
800
conform to the same standards as the controlled apparatus
700
.
As shown in
FIG. 9
, an additional appliance, the controlled apparatus
800
, is connected via the transfer path
900
to the central control apparatus
600
and the controlled apparatus
700
described above.
The central contr
Matsushita Electric - Industrial Co., Ltd.
Trieu Van
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