fire alarm

Abstract

This invention provides means to enable users to perform maintenance work to reduce contamination of fire alarms more appropriately. [Solution] A fire alarm according to one embodiment of the present invention detects a fire when it occurs in a monitored area and notifies users in the monitored area of ​​the fire by sound and light. The fire alarm determines the degree of contamination of its own device at sufficiently short time intervals. If the degree of contamination of its own device is greater than or equal to threshold D1 and less than threshold D2, the fire alarm emits an audio message prompting the user to clean the fire alarm after waiting for the user to press a button. Furthermore, if the degree of contamination of its own device is greater than or equal to threshold D2, the fire alarm emits an audio message prompting the user to clean the fire alarm at a predetermined frequency without waiting for the user to press a button.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a fire alarm.

Background Art

[0002] When a fire breaks out in a monitored area such as a house, a fire alarm that detects the fire and notifies people in the monitored area of the occurrence of the fire by sound or light is widespread.

[0003] A fire alarm measures the physical quantity of the air in the monitored area (for example, the concentration of smoke, temperature, etc.) flowing into the housing with a sensor, and determines the presence or absence of a fire in the monitored area based on the measurement result. Therefore, as the usage time of the fire alarm becomes longer, it becomes dirty due to the adhesion of dust and the like in the air flowing into the housing. Such dirt on the fire alarm may cause a false detection that determines that a fire is occurring when there is no fire.

[0004] In order to prevent or reduce the false detection of a fire due to the dirt on the fire alarm, a mechanism has been proposed that specifies the degree of dirt on the fire alarm and prompts the user to perform maintenance work to reduce the dirt when the degree of dirt reaches a predetermined threshold.

[0005] For example, in Patent Document 1, dust particles in the air before and after passing through a filter disposed on the path through which air reaches a detector that detects the concentration of smoke and the like in the air are detected, and based on the number of detected dust particles, it is determined whether the filter needs to be replaced. When it is determined that the filter needs to be replaced, a function (filter maintainability monitoring system) that performs a display prompting the filter replacement work is provided in a fire alarm (smoke detection system).

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0006]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

[0007] For example, according to the fire alarm described in Patent Document 1, when the filter becomes dirty enough to require replacement, a notification is sent to the user prompting them to replace the filter. However, the user does not necessarily replace the filter promptly after receiving this notification.

[0008] Furthermore, maintenance work to reduce contamination of fire alarms includes various types of tasks, such as replacing parts like filters, cleaning filters, and using a vacuum cleaner to remove dirt accumulated inside the fire alarm. Depending on the type of maintenance work, even if the user performs the maintenance, it may be insufficient or inappropriate.

[0009] As mentioned above, with conventional technology, even if a notification is sent to the user prompting them to perform maintenance to reduce contamination of the fire alarm, the user may not perform the maintenance properly as a result of the notification. Consequently, there is a risk of false fire detection by the fire alarm.

[0010] In view of the above circumstances, the present invention aims to provide a means to enable users to perform maintenance work to reduce contamination of fire alarms more appropriately compared to the prior art. [Means for solving the problem]

[0011] To solve the above problems, the present invention provides a fire alarm comprising: data processing means for performing data processing; measuring means for measuring a physical quantity within a monitoring area; and notification means for emitting at least one of sound and light to provide notification, wherein the data processing means determines whether there is a fire within the monitoring area based on measurement result data indicating the physical quantity measured by the measuring means, and if the data processing means determines that there is a fire, the notification means provides notification, wherein the data processing means identifies a degree of contamination indicating the degree of contamination of the fire alarm based on measurement result data indicating the physical quantity measured by the measuring means, the data processing means determines whether the identified degree of contamination satisfies a first condition, and whether the identified degree of contamination satisfies a second condition different from the first condition, and if the data processing means determines that the first condition is satisfied, the notification means provides a notification corresponding to the first condition, prompting the user to perform maintenance work to reduce contamination of the fire alarm, and if the data processing means determines that the second condition is satisfied, the notification means provides notification corresponding to the second condition. [Effects of the Invention]

[0012] According to the present invention, in addition to the notification prompting the user to perform maintenance work to reduce contamination of the fire alarm when the first condition is met, the user receives a different notification when the second condition is met compared to when the first condition is met. As a result, the user can perform maintenance work to reduce contamination of the fire alarm more appropriately by receiving the notification when the second condition is met, compared to conventional technology in which no such notification is given. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0013] [Figure 1] A schematic diagram showing a situation in which a fire alarm according to one embodiment is used. [Figure 2] A diagram showing an example configuration of a fire alarm according to one embodiment. [Figure 3] A graph showing the change in the degree of contamination of a fire alarm according to one embodiment over time. [Figure 4] A graph showing the change in the degree of dirtiness of a fire alarm before and after cleaning according to one embodiment. [Figure 5] A schematic diagram illustrating the situation in which a modified fire alarm is used. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0014] [Embodiment] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing the situation in which a fire alarm 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention is used. The fire alarm 1 is placed within a monitoring area M, and when a fire occurs within the monitoring area M, it detects the fire and notifies people within the monitoring area M of the occurrence of the fire by emitting sound and light.

[0015] In this embodiment, the fire alarm 1 is assumed to be a residential fire alarm. That is, the monitoring area M is the space inside the house. Currently, the most common types of residential fire alarms are the heat type, which detects fire by detecting heat in the surrounding air, and the smoke type, which detects fire by detecting smoke in the surrounding air. However, the method by which the fire alarm 1 detects fire may be heat type, smoke type, other methods, or a combination of two or more of these. Hereinafter, as an example, the fire alarm 1 will be assumed to be a smoke type.

[0016] Figure 2 shows an example of the configuration of fire alarm 1. Fire alarm 1 comprises the following components. Processor 11: Performs various data processing. Processor 11 constitutes an example of data processing means. Sensor 12: Equipped with a light-emitting unit, a light-receiving unit, and an A / D (Analog to Digital) converter, the light-emitting unit emits light, the light-receiving unit receives the scattered light from particles in the air (including smoke), and converts a signal corresponding to the amount of light received into digital data, which is output to the processor 11. The data output by sensor 12 (hereinafter referred to as "sensor output data") is used by the processor 11 to measure the concentration of smoke (an example of a physical quantity). Together with the processor 11, it constitutes an example of a measurement means. Speaker 13: It emits sound to give a notification according to the instruction of the processor 11. It constitutes an example of a notification means together with the processor 11. Indicator 14: It emits light to give a notification according to the instruction of the processor 11. It constitutes an example of a notification means together with the processor 11. Memory 15: It stores various data. It is an example of a storage means. Clock 16: It measures the current time. The current time measured by the clock 16 is used by the processor 11 to determine the timing of the notification to the user by the speaker 13. Button 17: It receives the pressing operation by the user and outputs a signal to the processor 11 while it is being pressed. For example, it is pressed by the user when the user stops the warning sound emitted from the speaker 13 at the time of a fire. It constitutes an example of an operation reception means together with the processor 11.

[0017] The above is the description of the configuration of the fire alarm 1. However, the indicator 14 is supplemented as follows.

[0018] The indicator 14 includes, for example, one or more LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes). Examples of the method of the indicator 14 include, but are not limited to, the following. (a) A method of emitting light of one color for one segment. It can emit light in different modes such as lighting and blinking at various speeds. (b) A method of emitting light of multiple colors for one segment. For example, when emitting light in three colors of red, yellow, and green, it can emit light in different modes such as red lighting, red blinking at various speeds, yellow lighting, yellow blinking at various speeds, green lighting, and green blinking at various speeds. (c) A method of emitting light of one color for each of multiple segments. Each of the multiple segments can emit light in different modes such as lighting and blinking at various speeds. There are a method where the colors of each of the multiple segments are the same and a method where they are different. For example, a 7-segment LED indicator is an example of a method where the colors of each of the multiple segments are the same. (d) A method in which each of the multiple segments emits light in multiple colors. Each of the multiple segments can emit light in different ways, such as being lit in a different color or flashing in different colors at different speeds.

[0019] In the following example, the indicator 14 is assumed to be an indicator of the type described in (b) above. The indicator 14 may be integrated with the button 17. In that case, for example, the button 17 should be made of a translucent material, and the light emitted by the indicator 14, positioned behind the material, should pass through the button 17 so that it is visible to the user.

[0020] <1. Fire detection action> The following describes the operation of the fire alarm 1 for fire detection. Sensor 12 outputs sensor output data to processor 11 at sufficiently short predetermined time intervals. Processor 11 sequentially stores the sensor output data output from sensor 12 in memory 15.

[0021] The processor 11 reads, for example, a predetermined number of recent past sensor output data from the memory 15 at sufficiently short predetermined time intervals, and determines whether the amount of scattered light indicated by the read sensor output data satisfies the fire detection conditions indicated by the data stored in the memory 15, thereby determining whether or not there is a fire in the monitoring area M.

[0022] If the processor 11 determines that there is a fire, it reads audio waveform data for the fire alarm from the memory 15, and outputs an audio signal obtained by D / A (Digital to Analog) conversion of the read audio waveform data to the speaker 13. The speaker 13 emits a sound corresponding to the audio signal output from the processor 11. In this case, the sound emitted by the speaker 13 is, for example, "A fire has occurred."

[0023] Furthermore, if the processor 11 determines that there is a fire, it instructs the indicator 14 to illuminate in a predetermined manner corresponding to the occurrence of the fire. The indicator 14 illuminates in a manner corresponding to the instruction from the processor 11. In this case, the indicator 14 flashes red at a rapid speed, for example.

[0024] After the processor 11 determines that there is a fire, it continues to output an audio signal to the speaker 13 as described above, as long as the sensor continues to detect a fire, until the user presses button 17. In other words, as long as the sensor continues to detect a fire, the speaker 13 continues to play an audio message, such as "A fire has occurred," until the user presses button 17.

[0025] Furthermore, after the processor 11 determines that a fire has occurred, if the user presses button 17, it instructs the indicator 14 to stop illuminating. In other words, as long as the sensor continues to detect a fire, the indicator 14 will continue to flash red, for example, at a rapid speed, until the user presses button 17.

[0026] The above describes the actions performed by fire alarm 1 for fire detection.

[0027] <2. Soiling level identification operation> The fire alarm 1 is equipped with a function to identify the degree of contamination, which is an indicator of the level of contamination of the device itself. Specifically, the data processing means of the fire alarm 1 identifies the degree of contamination of the fire alarm 1 based on measurement result data that shows the physical quantity measured by the measuring means of the device itself.

[0028] The dirt on the fire alarm 1 refers, for example, to the accumulation of dirt on the inside of the wall that forms the housing space for the light-emitting part and the light-receiving part.

[0029] The accumulation of dirt on the inside of the walls forming the housing space for the light-emitting and light-receiving units generally increases the value indicated by the sensor output data output by the light-receiving unit of sensor 12. Therefore, there is a correlation between the degree of dirt and the value indicated by the sensor output data under normal conditions; for example, as the dirt progresses, the value indicated by the sensor output data under normal conditions when no fire is occurring increases.

[0030] Memory 15 stores data (hereinafter referred to as "correspondence data") that shows the correspondence between the values ​​indicated by the sensor output data under normal conditions and the degree of contamination, corresponding to the fire alarm 1. The correspondence data may, for example, be shown in a table format showing the correspondence between the values ​​indicated by the sensor output data and the degree of contamination, or it may be shown as a relational expression that shows that correspondence.

[0031] The processor 11 reads a predetermined number of recent past sensor output data from the memory 15 at sufficiently short predetermined time intervals, performs processing on the values ​​indicated by the read sensor output data (an example of measurement result data), such as removing abnormal values ​​indicating noise, and performing smoothing processing such as moving average, and identifies the degree of contamination corresponding to the value after these processing, according to the correspondence indicated by the correspondence data stored in the memory 15.

[0032] The processor 11 sequentially stores the dirt level data, which indicates the degree of dirt identified as described above, into the memory 15.

[0033] <3. Notification behavior based on the degree of soiling> The fire alarm 1 has a function to notify the user via speaker 13 and indicator 14 (notification means) when the degree of contamination of the device, which is continuously identified as described above, meets predetermined conditions. The operation of the notification performed by the fire alarm 1 is described below.

[0034] Figure 3 is a graph illustrating the notification operation of fire alarm 1. The horizontal axis of the graph in Figure 3 shows the elapsed time from the start of use Ta, and the vertical axis shows the degree of contamination. Note that the start of use Ta is the time when fire alarm 1 was put into use.

[0035] The graph in Figure 3(A) shows the change in the degree of contamination of fire alarm 1 over time, from the start of use Ta to the present, at the point Tb when the degree of contamination reaches the first threshold D1, as the degree of contamination increases with the passage of time.

[0036] The graph in Figure 3(B) shows the change in the degree of contamination of fire alarm 1 over time, from the start of use Ta to the present, at the point Tc when the degree of contamination reaches the second threshold D2, as the degree of contamination further increases with the passage of time.

[0037] The processor 11 reads past contamination level data from the memory 15 at sufficiently short predetermined time intervals and determines which of the following conditions the contamination level indicated by the read contamination level data satisfies. (Condition 1) The degree of soiling is less than the first threshold D1. (Second condition) The degree of soiling is greater than or equal to the first threshold D1, and less than the second threshold D2. (Third condition) The degree of soiling is above the second threshold D2.

[0038] While processor 11 determines that the degree of contamination meets the first condition, it does not perform any notification processing. Therefore, the user does not receive any notification regarding contamination.

[0039] While the processor 11 determines that the degree of contamination satisfies the second condition, it performs the following actions as a notification process: The indicator 14 is instructed to flash yellow at regular time intervals, such as every 3 seconds. When button 17 is pressed, speaker 13 outputs an audio signal prompting cleaning (an example of maintenance work to reduce dirt on fire alarm 1), such as "The fire alarm is a little dirty. Please clean the inlet with a vacuum cleaner when you have time."

[0040] As a result, indicator 14 continues to flash yellow at regular time intervals, such as every 3 seconds. Also, when the user presses button 17, a voice message such as "The fire alarm is a little dirty. Please clean the inlet with a vacuum cleaner when you have time" is played from speaker 13 in response to the press.

[0041] While the processor 11 determines that the degree of contamination satisfies the third condition, it performs the following actions as a notification process: The indicator 14 is instructed to flash red at regular time intervals, such as every 3 seconds. Once a day, during the daytime, speaker 13 is output an audio signal urging cleaning, such as, "The fire alarm is quite dirty. Please clean the inlet with a vacuum cleaner immediately."

[0042] As a result, indicator 14 continues to flash red at regular time intervals, such as every 3 seconds. Also, once a day, during the daytime, a voice message is emitted from speaker 13 saying, "The fire alarm is quite dirty. Please clean the inlet with a vacuum cleaner immediately."

[0043] As described above, the fire alarm 1 provides notifications in different ways via the indicator 14 depending on the degree of dirtiness of the fire alarm 1. In addition, the fire alarm 1 provides notifications with different content via the speaker 13 depending on the degree of dirtiness of the fire alarm 1. Therefore, the user can clean the fire alarm 1 at a time of their choosing, taking into account their own schedule and the severity of the dirtiness of the fire alarm 1.

[0044] Furthermore, the fire alarm 1 may be configured to notify the user via the speaker 13 when the user presses button 17 if the fire alarm 1 is not very dirty, and to notify the user via the speaker 13 without waiting for the user to press button 17 if the fire alarm 1 is very dirty. In this way, the user will not be prompted to clean at an unwanted time when there is no urgency to clean.

[0045] Figure 4 is a graph showing the change in the degree of contamination over time when the user does not clean the fire alarm 1 while the first and second conditions described above are met, and then cleans the fire alarm 1 at time Td after the third condition is met. Figure 4(B) is a graph that shows the graph in Figure 4(A) magnified horizontally for about 5 minutes before and after time Td.

[0046] As shown in Figure 4(A), the degree of contamination of fire alarm 1 decreases rapidly immediately after time point Td due to the user's cleaning. However, this decrease in contamination does not occur instantaneously; as shown in Figure 4(B), the degree of contamination decreases gradually as the user continues cleaning. Time point Td1 in Figure 4(B) is the start of the user's cleaning work, and time point Td2 is the end of that cleaning work. At time point Td1, when the user's cleaning work begins, the degree of contamination shows a discontinuous decrease.

[0047] While the degree of soiling decreases due to the cleaning process, the processor 11 determines, instead of the first to third conditions described above, which of the following conditions the degree of soiling indicated by the soiling data satisfies. (Fourth condition) The degree of soiling is above the second threshold D2. (Fifth condition) The degree of soiling is less than the second threshold D2, and greater than or equal to the first threshold D1. (Condition 6) The degree of soiling is less than the first threshold D1 and greater than or equal to the third threshold D3. (Condition 7) The degree of soiling is less than the third threshold D3.

[0048] The third threshold D3 is a threshold used to detect when the level of soiling has sufficiently decreased due to cleaning, and it is a smaller value than the first threshold D1.

[0049] The processor 11 first detects that the rate of change in the degree of soiling (amount of change per unit time) has reached a predetermined threshold for detecting the start of cleaning. Then, the processor 11 performs the following processing until the rate of change in soiling becomes substantially zero.

[0050] While the processor 11 determines that the degree of contamination meets the fourth condition, it performs the following actions as notification processing: The indicator 14 is instructed to flash red. At that time, as the degree of contamination approaches the threshold D2, the indicator 14 is instructed to lengthen the flashing interval. Speaker 13 outputs an audio signal urging the user to continue cleaning, such as "Please continue cleaning."

[0051] The user continues cleaning, prompted by a voice message from speaker 13 saying, "Please continue cleaning." As the level of dirt decreases through cleaning, indicator 14 changes from a fast red flashing to a slow red flashing. The user can confirm the effectiveness of the cleaning by observing the decreasing speed of indicator 14's red flashing.

[0052] While the processor 11 determines that the degree of contamination meets the fifth condition, it performs the following actions as a notification process. The indicator 14 is instructed to flash yellow. At that time, as the degree of contamination approaches the threshold D1, the indicator 14 is instructed to lengthen the flashing interval. Speaker 13 outputs an audio signal urging the user to continue cleaning, such as "Please continue cleaning."

[0053] The user continues cleaning, prompted by a voice message from speaker 13 saying, "Please continue cleaning." As the level of dirt decreases through cleaning, indicator 14 changes from a fast yellow flashing to a slow yellow flashing. The user can confirm the effectiveness of the cleaning by observing the decreasing speed of indicator 14's yellow flashing.

[0054] While the processor 11 determines that the degree of contamination meets the sixth condition, it performs the following actions as a notification process: The indicator 14 is instructed to flash green. At that time, as the degree of contamination approaches the threshold D3, the indicator 14 is instructed to lengthen the flashing interval. Speaker 13 outputs an audio signal urging the user to continue cleaning, such as "Please continue cleaning."

[0055] The user continues cleaning, prompted by a voice message from speaker 13 saying, "Please continue cleaning." As the level of dirt decreases through cleaning, indicator 14 changes from a fast green flashing to a slow green flashing. The user can confirm the effectiveness of the cleaning by observing the decreasing speed of indicator 14's green flashing.

[0056] While the processor 11 determines that the degree of contamination meets the seventh condition, it performs the following actions as a notification process: Instruct indicator 14 to light up green. The speaker 13 outputs an audio signal indicating that cleaning is complete, such as "Cleaning complete."

[0057] The user is prompted by the voice message "Cleaning complete" from speaker 13 to finish the cleaning process. The user can also see indicator 14 lit green to confirm that the level of dirt on the fire alarm 1 has been sufficiently reduced by the cleaning.

[0058] As described above, while conditions 4 to 6 are met, the fire alarm 1 will notify the user by flashing red, yellow, or green on the indicator 14 (an example of a notification indicating that the maintenance work was ineffective or insufficient), and will also notify the user by voice on the speaker 13 that "Please continue cleaning" (an example of a notification indicating that the maintenance work was ineffective or insufficient).

[0059] Meanwhile, as long as the seventh condition is met, the fire alarm 1 will notify the user by lighting up green on the indicator 14 (an example of a notification indicating that the maintenance work has been effective), and will also notify the user by making an audio message "Cleaning is complete." via the speaker 13 (an example of a notification indicating that the maintenance work has been effective).

[0060] Therefore, users can check the effectiveness of the cleaning process in real time while cleaning, and they can also know when the cleaning is complete, allowing them to continue cleaning appropriately until the level of dirtiness has sufficiently decreased.

[0061] As described above, with fire alarm 1, the user can properly perform maintenance work to reduce contamination of fire alarm 1.

[0062] [Differentiation] The fire alarm 1 according to the above embodiment may be modified in various ways. Examples of such modifications are shown below. Two or more of these modifications may be combined as appropriate.

[0063] (1) In the embodiment described above, the thresholds for the degree of soiling were assumed to be three, D1 to D3, but the number of thresholds for the degree of soiling is not limited to three. For example, the number of thresholds may be four or more.

[0064] (2) In the above-described embodiment, while the second condition is met, that is, while the degree of soiling is relatively low, the speaker 13 makes a notification after waiting for the user to operate the button 17, and while the third condition is met, that is, while the degree of soiling is relatively high, the speaker 13 makes a notification at a predetermined frequency without waiting for the user to operate the button 17. Alternatively, the frequency of notification may be varied depending on which of the conditions is met.

[0065] For example, while the second condition is met, i.e., while the degree of soiling is relatively low, the speaker 13 may be configured to provide notifications at a relatively low predetermined frequency (an example of the first frequency), such as once a week, and while the third condition is met, i.e., while the degree of soiling is relatively high, the speaker 13 may provide notifications at a relatively high frequency (an example of the second frequency), such as once a day.

[0066] According to this modified version, the user can know that the fire alarm 1 is dirty enough to warrant maintenance without having to press button 17.

[0067] (3) In the above-described embodiment, the processor 11 detects the start and end of cleaning based on the rate of change in the degree of soiling, and causes the speaker 13 and indicator 14 to make notifications according to the degree of soiling while cleaning is being performed. Alternatively, after making a notification prompting maintenance work, it may be determined whether or not the maintenance work was effective, and a notification may be made according to the result of that determination.

[0068] For example, if the processor 11 determines that the third condition is met, it will have the speaker 13 emit a voice message such as, "The fire alarm is quite dirty. Please clean the inlet with a vacuum cleaner immediately." After a predetermined time (for example, 1 hour) has elapsed, or if the user presses button 17, it will determine whether the first condition is met. If the first condition is met, the processor 11 will have the speaker 13 emit a voice message such as, "The dirt on the fire alarm has been sufficiently removed by cleaning." On the other hand, if the first condition is not met, the processor 11 will have the speaker 13 emit a voice message such as, "The dirt on the fire alarm has not yet been sufficiently removed. Please clean the inlet with a vacuum cleaner immediately."

[0069] According to this modified version, the user can verify whether the maintenance work performed was sufficiently effective after the work was completed.

[0070] (4) In the embodiments described above, the measurement result data used by the processor 11 to determine the degree of contamination is the same as the measurement result data used for the fire detection operation. The processor 11 may also determine the degree of contamination based on measurement result data not used for the fire detection operation, in place of or in addition to the measurement result data used for the fire detection operation.

[0071] For example, the sensor 12 may include a light-emitting unit that emits light for smoke detection (hereinafter referred to as the "smoke detection light-emitting unit") as well as a light-emitting unit that emits light for dirt detection (hereinafter referred to as the "dirt detection light-emitting unit"). In this case, the dirt detection light-emitting unit irradiates light onto the wall forming the space that houses the sensor 12, for example. While the dirt detection light-emitting unit is emitting light, the light-receiving unit receives scattered light from particles such as dust attached to the wall. The processor 11 then determines the degree of dirt on the fire alarm 1 based on, for example, the measurement result data output by the sensor 12 when the smoke detection light-emitting unit is emitting light and the dirt detection light-emitting unit is not emitting light, and the measurement result data output by the sensor 12 when the dirt detection light-emitting unit is emitting light and the smoke detection light-emitting unit is not emitting light.

[0072] In this case, the processor 11 can distinguish between the effects of contamination caused by (a) and (b) below, and therefore can determine the degree of contamination with greater accuracy. (a) Dirt adhering to the light-emitting and light-receiving parts (i) Adhesion of dirt to the inside of the wall forming the housing space for the light-emitting and light-receiving parts

[0073] (5) In the embodiments described above, the maintenance work to reduce dirt on the fire alarm 1 that the user is prompted to perform is cleaning with a vacuum cleaner. The maintenance work that the user is prompted to perform is not limited to cleaning with a vacuum cleaner. For example, the user may be prompted to replace parts such as filters, wash parts such as filters, or clean by wiping away dirt inside the housing.

[0074] (6) In the embodiments described above, the condition "greater than a predetermined threshold" may be replaced with the condition "greater than a predetermined threshold." Also, in the embodiments described above, the condition "less than a predetermined threshold" may be replaced with the condition "less than or equal to a predetermined threshold."

[0075] (7) The sounds emitted by the speaker 13 are not limited to those exemplified in the above description of the embodiments. Various other voice messages may be used, or a buzzer sound or the like may be emitted in place of or in addition to the voice.

[0076] (8) The manner of light emitted by the indicator 14 is not limited to those illustrated in the above description of the embodiments.

[0077] (9) In addition to notifications via speaker 13 and indicator 14, the fire alarm 1 may also be equipped with a transmission means that transmits notification data indicating a notification corresponding to those notifications to a device other than itself.

[0078] Figure 5 schematically shows the situation in which the fire alarm 1 is used in this modified example. In this modified example, a wireless access point 2 is located within the monitoring area M, and the terminal device 3 used by the user communicates wirelessly with the fire alarm 1 via the wireless access point 2. The wireless access point 2 is a device that relays wireless communication between communication devices within the same LAN (Local Area Network) according to a communication standard such as the Wi-Fi® standard.

[0079] The fire alarm 1 is equipped with a wireless communication interface (IF) that communicates with the terminal device 3 via a wireless access point 2. This wireless communication interface operates under the control of the processor 11. Therefore, the wireless communication interface, together with the processor 11, constitutes an example of a communication means.

[0080] For example, in the embodiment described above, the fire alarm 1 generates notification data showing the same content as the notification made by the speaker 13 via voice, and transmits this notification data to the terminal device 3 via the wireless access point 2. The terminal device 3 notifies the user of the content of the notification shown in the notification data received from the fire alarm 1 by displaying it, playing a voice, etc.

[0081] Furthermore, if the wireless access point 2 has a router function that connects to the internet, or if the wireless access point 2 is connected to an external router and the terminal device 3 can connect to, for example, a mobile communication network, the fire alarm 1 may transmit notification data to the terminal device 3 via the internet. In this case, the fire alarm 1 may transmit notification data to the terminal device 3 via a server device connected to the internet.

[0082] According to this modification, the user can receive notifications from the fire alarm 1 even when they are not within the monitoring area M. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0083] 1... Fire alarm, 2... Wireless access point, 3... Terminal device, 11... Processor, 12... Sensor, 13... Speaker, 14... Indicator, 15... Memory, 16... Clock, 17... Button.

Claims

1. A data processing means for performing data processing, A measuring means for measuring physical quantities within the monitoring area, A notification means that provides notification by emitting at least one of sound and / or light. Equipped with, A fire alarm in which, based on measurement result data indicating a physical quantity measured by the measuring means, the data processing means determines whether or not there is a fire within the monitoring area, and if the data processing means determines that there is a fire, the notification means makes a first notification, The data processing means identifies the degree of contamination of the fire alarm, which indicates the level of contamination, based on the measurement result data showing the physical quantity measured by the measuring means. The notification means provides a second notification whose mode changes according to the degree of soiling as the degree of soiling decreases due to maintenance work to reduce soiling of the fire alarm. Fire alarm.

2. A data processing means for performing data processing, A measuring means for measuring physical quantities within the monitoring area, A notification means that provides notification by emitting at least one of sound and / or light. Equipped with, A fire alarm in which, based on measurement result data indicating a physical quantity measured by the measuring means, the data processing means determines whether or not there is a fire within the monitoring area, and if the data processing means determines that there is a fire, the notification means makes a first notification, The data processing means identifies the degree of contamination of the fire alarm, which indicates the level of contamination, based on the measurement result data showing the physical quantity measured by the measuring means. If the identified degree of contamination meets predetermined conditions, the notification means will issue a second notification to the user prompting maintenance work to reduce contamination of the fire alarm. After the second notification is given, and after a predetermined time has elapsed, the data processing means determines the effectiveness of the maintenance work based on the degree of contamination, and the notification means gives a third notification according to the result of the determination. Fire alarm.

3. The data processing means detects the start of the maintenance work based on the identified rate of change in the degree of contamination. A fire alarm according to claim 1 or 2.

4. The data processing means detects the start of the maintenance work based on the rate of change in the degree of contamination, which is identified after the user is notified by the notification means to perform the maintenance work. The fire alarm according to claim 3.

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