Remote supervisory control system

• US 6,459,938 B1
• Filed: 06/25/1999
• Issued: 10/01/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Electric Works Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Asahi Matsushita Electric Works Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Ito, Yoshiharu, Yabu, Hajime, Sakasegawa, Shinji, Yoshimura, Yuichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Picard, Leo
• Assistant Examiner(s): RODRIGUEZ, PAUL L
• Application Number:
  US09/344,379
• Time in Patent Office: 1,194 Days
• Field of Search: 315/292, 315/294, 315/295, 315/317, 315/318, 315/321, 362/233, 700/17, 700/19, 700/22, 700/83, 700/277, 700/9, 700/286, 700/297, 700/298
• US Class Current: 700/9
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 19/28 using pulse code
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 2300/03 Application domotique, e.g. for house automation, bus connected switches, sensors, loads or intelligent wiring
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 39/086 with possibility of remote control
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/10 Controlling the light source
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/18 via data-bus transmission
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 90/20 Smart grids as enabling technology in buildings sector smart grids supporting the management or operation of end-user stationary applications in general, or like technologies with no associated climate change mitigation effect Y04S20/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/14 Protecting elements, switches, relays or circuit breakers

Abstract

A control terminal 32 includes an individual address setting section 12 for setting a unique individual address, and a simultaneous control address setting section 13 for setting a simultaneous control address common to the plurality of control terminals 32. A simultaneous control address is commonly assigned to the control terminals 32 to be subjected to group control. When an UP switch Sb or a DOWN switch Sc of an operation terminal 31b for group dimming purpose is pushed, a transfer signal including the simultaneous control address is transmitted to a signal line Ls from a transfer controller 30. The respective control terminals 32 substantially simultaneously receive the transfer signal, thereby changing the intensity of illumination loads.

Claims

1. A remote supervisory control system comprising:

a plurality of operation terminals which are each assigned addresses, an operation section provided in each of the operation terminals;

a plurality of control terminals connected to loads respectively assigned unique addresses, each of the control terminals provided with a terminal processing section;

a signal line to which the operation terminals and the control terminals are connected through multidrop connection;

a transfer controller connected to the signal line, said transfer controller exchanging a transfer signal among the transfer controller and each of the operation and control terminals, and said transfer signal, including data corresponding to operation of the operation section of each of the operation terminals, being transmitted to the control terminal specified in accordance with a correspondence between addresses set in the transfer controller to control the load connected to the control terminal, the correspondence includes an individual control relationship for associating one operation section with one load and a simultaneous control relationship for associating one operation section with a plurality of loads;

an individual address setting section for setting a unique individual address to each of the plurality of control terminals, and a simultaneous control address setting section for setting a simultaneous control address which is commonly assigned to a plurality of control terminals, the individual address setting section and the simultaneous control address setting section being provided with the control terminal,

wherein a terminal processing section controls the intensity of the load to a control level instructed by the operation section of the operation terminal under one of condition that

when the terminal processing section is instructed to use the individual address by the transfer signal and the address data included in the transfer signal match the individual address set in the individual address setting section; and

when the terminal processing section is instructed to use the simultaneous control address by means of the transfer signal, and the address data included in the transfer signal match the simultaneous control address set in the simultaneous control address setting section.

2. The remote supervisory control system as defined in claim 1, wherein the simultaneous control address setting section sets a plurality of simultaneous control addresses.

3. The remote supervisory control system as defined in claim 1, wherein the transfer controller sets a simultaneous control address in the simultaneous control address setting section of each of the control terminals by way of the signal line.

4. The remote supervisory control system as defined in claim 3, wherein in a case where the individual address of any one of the control terminal is changed, the transfer controller sets a new simultaneous control address obtained on the basis of the after-change individual address into the simultaneous control address setting section of the control terminal.

5. The remote supervisory control system as defined in claim 3, wherein the transfer controller includes:

checking means for checking whether or not the simultaneous control address transmitted to the control terminal matches the simultaneous control address which is set in the simultaneous control address setting section of the control terminal and which is returned from the control terminal by means of the transfer signal.

6. The remote supervisory control system as defined in claim 3, wherein the transfer controller includes:

setting means for checking the simultaneous control address set in the simultaneous control address setting section of each of the control terminals when the system is activated, and for setting a correct simultaneous control address into the control terminal whose simultaneous control address differs from the simultaneous control to be originally set.

7. The remote supervisory control system as defined in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of control terminals includes:

a display section for indicating the load level of the load, and

wherein the transfer controller sequentially polls all the operation and control terminals to cause each of the control terminals to return monitoring data pertaining to the actual load level;

updates the load level to be indicated on the display section of the operation terminal on the basis of the thus-returned monitoring data; and

polls the respective control terminals, which are associated with the operation section of the operation terminal by simultaneous control when the transfer controller receives the transfer signal from the operation terminal, in preference to the other control terminals which are not associated with the operation section by simultaneous control.

8. The remote supervisory control system as defined in claim 1, wherein the transfer controller transmits a fade time for fading the load to the control terminals assigned by an identical simultaneous control address, and when receiving fade start control data by the transfer signal including the simultaneous control address, the terminal processing section of each of the control terminals fades the load level within the fade time.

9. The remote supervisory control system as defined in claim 8, wherein the transfer controller transmits the fade time which varies according to the simultaneous control address.

10. The remote supervisory control system as defined in claim 1, wherein the transfer controller transmits fade start control data to the control terminal by the transfer signal, after having transmitted, to the control terminal, data pertaining to a target load level and a time required to fade the target load level, and the terminal processing section of each of the control terminals calculates the adjusting rate for fading the load level to the target load level within the fade time and fades the load level to the target load level according to the adjusting rate when receiving the fade start control data.

11. The remote supervisory control system as defined in claim 10, wherein the transfer controller can transmit the fade time which varies according to each control terminal.

12. The remote supervisory control system as defined in claim 10, the transfer controller transmits, to the plurality of control terminals assigned by a simultaneous control address, data pertaining to a target load level and a time required for fading the target load level and transmits fade start control data to the respective control terminals by the transfer signal which includes the address data as the simultaneous control address, and

wherein the terminal processing section of each of the control terminals calculates the adjusting rate for fading the target load level within the fade time and fades the load to the target load level according to the adjusting rate when the terminal processing section is instructed to use the simultaneous control address by the transfer signal, when the address data included in the transfer signal match the simultaneous control address set in the simultaneous control address setting section, and when the terminal processing section receives the fade start control data.

13. The remote supervisory control system as defined in claim 12, wherein the transfer controller can transmit the fade time which varies according to each control terminal.

14. The remote supervisory control system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the operation terminal includes a display section for indicating the operation status of the associated load, and

wherein the transfer controller transmits control data for switching an indication on the display section of the operation terminal according to the operation state of the load acquired from the control terminal;

and the transfer controller includes display method switching means f or selectively switching the display method of the display section provided for each operation section of the operation terminal.

15. The remote supervisory control system as claimed in claim 14, wherein the transfer controller exchanges with an external device a signal for setting and checking a display method for the display section.

16. The remote supervisory control system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

control method switching means for selectively switching a load control method according to the operation of the operation section of each of the plurality of operation terminals.

17. The remote supervisory control system as claimed in claim 16, wherein the control method includes an ON-prioritized control method wherein, if loads are shared between operation sections and a load is activated by at least one of the operation section, deactivation of a load by another operation sections is invalidated, and a later-operation-prioritized control method for controlling a load by prioritizing a operation section which is actuated later, and the loads shared between the plurality of the operation sections assigned by the ON-prioritized control method are only excluded from deactivating action of another switch.

18. The remote supervisory control system as claimed in claim 16, wherein the transfer controller exchanges with an external device a signal for setting and checking a display method for a display section.

19. The remote supervisory control system as claimed in claim 1, wherein a plurality of said control and operation terminals includes address setting memory in which bit positions are associated with single addresses, and an address flag is set in any of the bit positions of the address setting memory, and the address corresponding to the bit position is used as the address of the operation terminal.

20. The remote supervisory control system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the load is an illumination load, and upon receipt of data corresponding to the actuation of an operation section related to group control, the transfer controller sequentially transmits a transfer signal including a target luminance level of each of the illumination loads associated with group control and an individual address, and the transfer controller subsequently transmits a transfer signal including a simultaneous control address and control.data for instructing the illumination load to start performing a control operation.

21. The remote supervisory control system as claimed in claim 1, wherein a terminal processing section of the operation terminal prohibits transmission of a transfer signal including the data corresponding to the actuation of the operation section when the address data included in the transfer signal match the simultaneous control address.

22. The remote supervisory control system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the operation terminal contains a setting operation terminal which is connected to the signal line and which includes the operation section and a display section, the setting operation terminal comprising:

a display capable of indicating characters and graphics,

a transparent touch panel superimposed on a screen of the display, and

a control section selecting between a setting mode in which there is set processing corresponding to the operation of an operation section assigned to the touch panel in association with contents of the display, and an operation mode in which the processing is performed in response to the operation of the touch panel operation section, and the processing of the control section includes at least a processing of using the touch panel operation section as a switch, a processing of setting a portion of the correspondence, and a processing of ascertaining the correspondence.

23. The remote supervisory control system as claimed in claim 22, wherein the setting operation terminal includes a mount piece having a mount section whose mount pitches are the same as those of a mount frame to which there can be attached a wiring accessory equal in size to an integral multiple of the dimensions of a large-square string wiring accessory and at least a box mount hole, as an attachment section, into which there can be inserted a box screw capable of being screwed into a switch box of the wiring accessory.

24. The remote supervisory control system as claimed in claim 22, wherein the control section assigns, in the setting mode, to the operation section of the operation terminal an individual address equivalent to the address of the operation section of the operation terminal corresponding to the address of the load in a one-to-one correspondence, and activates/deactivates the load in the operation mode by operating the operation section of the operation terminal assigned the individual address.

25. The remote supervisory control system as claimed in claim 22, wherein the control section assigns, in the setting mode, to the operation section of the operation terminal a group address equivalent to the addresses of the operation section of the operation terminal corresponding to the addresses of the plurality of loads in a one-to-many correspondence, and activated/deactivated, in the operation mode by means of the user operating the operation section of the operation terminal assigned the group address to bring the plurality of loads into the same state.