Bathroom system

Abstract

To provide a bathroom system capable of detecting abnormality of a bather with simple construction.SOLUTION: A bathroom system comprises: a bathroom remote control 6, which is an operation device installed in a bathroom to remotely operate a water heating device; a biological information sensor 64 that is provided in the bathroom remote control 6, and detects biological information of people present in the bathroom and a dressing room, which are arranged adjacent to each other, at a predetermined cycle; and a control unit 67, which is an abnormality determination unit that determines whether or not a person is abnormal based on the biological information of the person continuously detected at the predetermined cycle by the biological information sensor 64.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a bathroom system that detects abnormalities in a bather. [Background technology]

[0002] In winter and other times, when a bather enters the bathroom from the changing room, abnormalities may be observed in biological information such as blood pressure and heart rate due to heat shock, etc. For example, Patent Document 1 describes a system in which biological sensors are provided in both the changing room and the bathroom, and abnormalities in the bather are detected based on the difference between biological information obtained by the biological sensor in the changing room and biological information obtained by the biological sensor in the bathroom thereafter. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2017-76184 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The configuration of Patent Document 1 mentioned above requires that biosensors be installed in both the changing room and the bathroom, and the bioinformation obtained by both biosensors is used to detect abnormalities in the bather, making the installation difficult.

[0005] The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a bathroom system that is easy to install and can detect abnormalities in bathers. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to achieve the above-mentioned objective, a bathroom system according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises an operating device that is installed in a bathroom for remotely operating a hot water device, a biometric information sensor provided on the operating device that detects biometric information of people present in the bathroom and changing room which are arranged adjacent to each other at a predetermined cycle, and an abnormality determination unit that determines whether the person is abnormal based on the biometric information of the person continuously detected at the predetermined cycle by the biometric information sensor.

[0007] According to this configuration, a single biometric sensor attached to an operating device installed in the bathroom detects the biometric information of people in the bathroom and the changing room at a predetermined interval, and determines whether or not the people are abnormal based on the detected biometric information. There is no need to install biometric sensors in both the bathroom and the changing room, and since the biometric sensor is attached to the operating device of the hot water device, installation is simple and abnormalities in bathers can be detected.

[0008] The device may further include an alarm unit that alerts the user of an abnormality when the abnormality determination unit determines that a user is abnormal, and a human detection sensor that is provided in the operating device and detects the presence of a user in the bathroom, wherein the abnormality determination unit may determine that a user in the bathroom is abnormal when a difference between the biometric information detected by the biometric information sensor when the human detection sensor does not detect the presence of a user in the bathroom and the biometric information detected by the biometric information sensor when the human detection sensor subsequently detects the presence of a user in the bathroom exceeds a predetermined reference value.

[0009] According to this configuration, by providing a human detection sensor that detects the presence of a person in the bathroom, it is possible to clearly distinguish whether the biological information detected by the biological information sensor is biological information of a person in the dressing room or biological information of a person in the bathroom. In addition, by providing the human detection sensor in the operating device, the burden of installation is not increased. In addition, the alarm unit can alert the bather and his / her family members.

[0010] The operating device may further include a temperature sensor for detecting the room temperature of the bathroom, and the abnormality determination unit may determine that a person in the bathroom is abnormal when the difference between the biometric information detected by the biometric information sensor when the presence of a person in the bathroom is not detected by the human detection sensor and the biometric information detected by the biometric information sensor when the presence of a person in the bathroom is subsequently detected by the human detection sensor exceeds a predetermined reference value and the room temperature of the bathroom detected by the temperature sensor is equal to or lower than a predetermined reference temperature.

[0011] With this configuration, it is possible to determine whether or not a person who has entered the bathroom is abnormal based on the biological information detected by the biological information sensor and the bathroom room temperature detected by the temperature sensor, thereby determining the risk of heat shock taking into account the bathroom room temperature. In addition, because the temperature sensor is provided in the operating device, the burden of installation is not increased.

[0012] The biological information detected by the biological information sensor may be a heart rate.

[0013] The notification unit may be provided in the operation device. In this manner, by providing the notification unit in the operation device, the burden on the installation is not increased. Effect of the Invention

[0014] The present invention has the above-described configuration, and has the effect of providing a bathroom system that is easy to install and can detect abnormalities in a bather. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0015] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an outline of a dressing room and a bathroom in a house equipped with a bathroom system of the present embodiment. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a communication system including the bathroom system of this embodiment. [Diagram 3]FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of the process performed by the abnormality determination unit in the bathroom system of this embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0016] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following, the same or corresponding elements are denoted by the same reference numerals throughout the drawings, and duplicated descriptions thereof will be omitted. Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments.

[0017] (Embodiment) Fig. 1 is a plan view showing an outline of a dressing room and bathroom in a house equipped with a bathroom system of the present embodiment. As shown in Fig. 1, a dressing room 10 and a bathroom 20 are disposed adjacent to each other and separated by a partition wall 31 and a door 32. A bathtub 21 is installed in the bathroom 20. A bathroom remote control 6, which is an operating device for remotely operating a water heater 1, which is a hot water device, is installed on the wall of the bathroom 20.

[0018] 2 is a diagram showing the schematic configuration of a communication system including the bathroom system of this embodiment. The bathroom system of this embodiment includes water heater 1, which is an example of a hot water device and can supply hot water to bathtub 21, and bathroom remote control 6 and outside bathroom remote control 7, which are remote controls (remote controllers) for remotely operating water heater 1.

[0019] Water heater 1 is installed outdoors or indoors in a location other than bathroom 20, and can be, for example, a combustion heating type water heater (heat source unit) and can be configured to have a bath water pouring function that supplies hot water to bathtub 21 in bathroom 20, a bath reheating function that heats the hot water in bathtub 21, and a hot water supply function that supplies hot water to a hot water tap in a kitchen or the like in the house and a hot water supply terminal such as a shower in bathroom 20. Bathroom remote control 6 is installed in bathroom 20 as described above, and outside bathroom remote control 7 is installed in the kitchen or the like. Control device 1a of water heater 1, bathroom remote control 6, and outside bathroom remote control 7 are configured to be able to communicate with each other.

[0020] Bathroom remote control 6 includes a display unit 61, an operation unit 62, an audio output unit 63, a biological information sensor 64, a human detection sensor 65, a temperature sensor 66, and a control unit 67. Display unit 61 displays information such as the hot water temperature setting and the bath temperature setting on an LCD screen or the like. Operation unit 62 has operation switches for performing various operations of water heater 1. Audio output unit 63 includes a speaker or the like, and can emit notification sounds, warning sounds, etc., and output predetermined messages, etc.

[0021] The biological information sensor 64 is composed of, for example, a millimeter wave sensor, and can detect biological information such as the heart rate and respiratory rate of people in the changing room 10 and bathroom 20. The human detection sensor 65 is for detecting the presence of a person in the bathroom 20, and can be composed of, for example, an infrared sensor or a radio wave sensor. Note that the human detection sensor 65 cannot detect the presence of a person in the changing room 10. The temperature sensor 66 is for detecting the indoor temperature of the bathroom 20.

[0022] Control unit 67 inputs operation signals from operation unit 62 and detection signals from biometric sensor 64, human detection sensor 65, and temperature sensor 66. It also controls display unit 61 and audio output unit 63. Control unit 67 is composed of, for example, a microcontroller, and has a CPU and storage units such as ROM and RAM. In control unit 67, for example, the CPU reads a control program stored in the ROM into the RAM and executes it, thereby controlling bathroom remote control 6 as a whole. Control unit 67 also functions as an abnormality determination unit that determines whether a person who has entered bathroom 20 is abnormal or not.

[0023] The outside bathroom remote control 7 is equipped with a display unit 71, an operation unit 72, an audio output unit 73, etc., similar to the bathroom remote control 6. The outside bathroom remote control 7 also has a wireless LAN communication unit (not shown) in which a wireless LAN connection setting has been made with the wireless LAN router 3, and is capable of wireless communication with the wireless LAN router 3. The outside bathroom remote control 7 communicates with the control device 1a of the water heater 1 and the bathroom remote control 6 via a communication line, and also communicates with the wireless LAN router 3 and the management server 5 via the wireless LAN communication unit and external communication network 4. The wireless LAN router 3 is owned by the user of the bathroom system, and is connected to an external communication network 4 such as the Internet.

[0024] Management server 5 communicates with outside bathroom remote control 7 via external communication network 4 and wireless LAN router 3. Management server 5 stores information transmitted, for example, from control device 1a of water heater 1 via outside bathroom remote control 7 as necessary. Information transmitted from control device 1a of water heater 1 to management server 5 includes, for example, periodically transmitted operating status information indicating the operating status of water heater 1, error information indicating an abnormality in water heater 1, etc.

[0025] Moreover, mobile terminal 8 is composed of a smartphone or the like owned by a user of this bathroom system, and has a display unit composed of a touch panel display, an operation unit composed of the touch panel, an audio output unit having a speaker, etc. Although one mobile terminal 8 is illustrated in Fig. 1, this is not limiting, and the number of mobile terminals 8 may vary depending on family structure, etc.

[0026] Mobile terminal 8 can communicate with management server 5 via wireless LAN router 3 or a base station of a mobile phone network, and external communication network 4. An application program dedicated to the bathroom system (hereinafter referred to as the "dedicated app") is installed on this mobile terminal 8, and a user can operate mobile terminal 8 to start up the dedicated app and remotely control water heater 1 and check its status via management server 5, etc.

[0027] Next, a case where the control unit 67 functions as the abnormality determination unit will be described. Fig. 3 is a flow chart showing an example of processing by the abnormality determination unit. This processing is executed by the control unit 67, and information stored by the control unit 67 during processing is stored in a memory unit within the control unit 67. Here, a case where a certain person (hereinafter also referred to as a "bather") is taking a bath will be described. When taking a bath, the bather opens a door (not shown) for entering and exiting the changing room 10 and enters the changing room 10, and after undressing in the changing room 10, opens the door 32 and enters the bathroom 20.

[0028] Biometric information sensor 64 is capable of detecting the heart rate of a bather in changing room 10 and bathroom 20, and detects the bather's heart rate at a predetermined cycle (detection cycle).

[0029] When a bather enters the changing room 10, the bather's heart rate is detected by the biological information sensor 64, and the detected heart rate is input to the control unit 67 (Yes in step S1).

[0030] At this time, if the human detection sensor 65 does not detect a person in the bathroom 20 (if No in step S2), the control unit 67 stores the heart rate detected in step S1 as the heart rate of the person in the changing room 10 (step S3). If the bather's heart rate is detected by the biological information sensor 64 at the timing of the next detection cycle (if Yes in step S4) and the human detection sensor 65 does not detect a person in the bathroom 20 (if No in step S2), the control unit 67 stores the heart rate detected in step S4 as the heart rate of the person in the changing room 10. In this way, the heart rates detected sequentially at a predetermined cycle while the bather is in the changing room 10 are stored in the control unit 67. Note that if the person's heart rate is not detected in step S4 (if No in step S4), the control unit 67 determines that the person in the changing room 10 has left the changing room 10 without taking a bath, and deletes the heart rate stored up to that point (step S5).

[0031] Then, if the human detection sensor 65 detects a person in the bathroom 20 in step S2 (Yes in step S2), the control unit 67 stores the heart rate detected in step S1 as the heart rate of the person in the bathroom 20 (step S6).

[0032] Next, in step S7, the control unit 67 judges whether or not the person currently in the bathroom 20 (bather) is abnormal based on the difference between the heart rate stored in step S3 when the bather was in the changing room 10 and the heart rate stored in step S6 after the bather entered the bathroom 20. Specifically, since there are multiple heart rates stored in step S3, for example, if the value (difference) obtained by subtracting the minimum or average heart rate stored in step S3 from the heart rate stored in step S6 exceeds a predetermined reference value, the control unit 67 judges that the person in the bathroom 20 is abnormal, and if the value is equal to or less than the predetermined reference value, the control unit 67 judges that the person in the bathroom 20 is not abnormal (normal). For example, in winter, when the room temperature of the bathroom 20 is lower than that of the changing room 10, when the bather enters the bathroom 20 from the changing room 10 due to heat shock or the like, the bather's heart rate rises. Whether or not the person in the bathroom 20 is abnormal is judged based on the degree of this rise.

[0033] If the control unit 67 determines in step S7 that the person in bathroom 20 is not abnormal (No in step S7), it returns to step S1, and if it determines that the person in bathroom 20 is abnormal (Yes in step S7), it causes the bathroom remote control 6 to notify the person of an abnormality (step S8). Specifically, the control unit 67 may cause the audio output unit 63 to output an alarm sound notifying the person of an abnormality, or may cause the control unit 67 to output an audio message notifying the person of an abnormality. In addition, the control unit 67 may cause the display unit 61 to display a message notifying the person of an abnormality. The alarm in step S8 can alert the bather. This allows the bather to stop bathing or take sufficient care while bathing.

[0034] In this embodiment, a single biometric sensor 64 provided on the bathroom remote control 6 installed in the bathroom 20 detects the heart rates of people in the bathroom 20 and the changing room 10 at a predetermined cycle, and a distinction is made between whether the heart rate detected by the biometric sensor 64 is the heart rate of a person in the changing room 10 or the heart rate of a person in the bathroom 20 based on the detection result of the human detection sensor 65. Then, based on the difference between the heart rate when the bather is in the changing room 10 and the heart rate when the bather enters the bathroom 20, it is determined whether the bather in the bathroom 20 is abnormal or not. Therefore, there is no need to install the biometric sensor 64 in both the bathroom 20 and the changing room 10, and since the biometric sensor 64 and the human detection sensor 65 are provided on the bathroom remote control 6, installation is simple and abnormalities in bathers who have entered the bathroom 20 can be detected.

[0035] In calculating the difference between the bather's heart rate when in the changing room 10 and the heart rate when in the bathroom 20, the difference may be calculated from the average value of each heart rate detected multiple times in order to improve the accuracy of abnormality determination and to suppress erroneous detection. Furthermore, the heart rate detected multiple times may be subjected to an appropriate noise reduction process.

[0036] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the audio output unit 63 and / or display unit 61 provided in the bathroom remote control 6 are used as the notification unit for notifying that a person is abnormal, but instead of or in addition to this, the audio output unit 73 and / or display unit 71 provided in the outside bathroom remote control 7 may be used. In this case, by transmitting information from the bathroom remote control 6 to the outside bathroom remote control 7 that the person taking the bath is abnormal, the audio output unit 73 and / or display unit 71 of the outside bathroom remote control 7 will notify that the person taking the bath is abnormal. This makes it possible to notify the family of the person taking the bath that the person taking the bath is abnormal.

[0037] Also, an audio output unit and / or a display unit provided on the user's mobile terminal 8 may be used as the notification unit. In this case, when bathroom remote control 6 sends information that the bather is abnormal to outside bathroom remote control 7, outside bathroom remote control 7 sends the information that the bather is abnormal to management server 5, which may then send the information by email to a pre-registered mobile terminal 8 from management server 5, or send a push notification via the dedicated app mentioned above. In this way, if the owner of mobile terminal 8 is a family member of the bather, the family member can be notified that the bather is abnormal.

[0038] In this embodiment, the control unit 67 may also determine whether or not a person is abnormal by taking into account the room temperature of the bathroom 20 detected by the temperature sensor 66. In this case, the control unit 67 determines that a person in the bathroom 20 is abnormal if the difference between the heart rate of the person detected by the biometric sensor 64 when the presence of a person in the bathroom 20 is not detected by the human detection sensor 65 and the heart rate of the person detected by the biometric sensor 64 when the presence of a person in the bathroom 20 is subsequently detected by the human detection sensor 65 exceeds a predetermined reference value and the room temperature of the bathroom 20 detected by the temperature sensor 66 is equal to or lower than the predetermined reference temperature, and otherwise determines that the person in the bathroom 20 is not abnormal (is normal). In this case, the risk of heat shock can be determined by taking into account the room temperature of the bathroom 20. Furthermore, since the temperature sensor 66 is provided in the bathroom remote control 6, the burden of installation is not increased. The temperature sensor that detects the room temperature in bathroom 20 does not have to be provided in bathroom remote control 6, but may be provided in a bathroom heating device that can communicate directly with bathroom remote control 6 or indirectly via control device 1a of water heater 1. The bathroom heating device is originally equipped with a bathroom temperature sensor for air conditioning control.

[0039] In this embodiment, abnormality of the bather may be detected without using the detection signal of the human detection sensor 65. In this case, the control unit 67 judges whether the bather is abnormal or not based on whether the difference between the heart rates detected at different times exceeds a predetermined reference value when the human heart rate is continuously detected by the bioinformation sensor 64 at a predetermined cycle. For example, in winter, when the bather enters the bathroom 20 from the undressing room 10, which has a lower room temperature than the undressing room 10, the heart rate rises due to heat shock, so that it is possible to judge whether the bather is abnormal or not based on the fluctuation range (difference) of the heart rate. In other words, the control unit 67 may judge the bather to be abnormal if the difference between the minimum and maximum heart rates continuously detected at a predetermined cycle after the bioinformation sensor 64 starts detecting the human heart rate exceeds a predetermined reference value, and judge the bather not to be abnormal (normal) if the difference is equal to or less than the predetermined reference value.

[0040] In this embodiment, a sensor capable of detecting blood pressure may be used as the biological information sensor 64, and abnormalities in a person may be determined based on blood pressure instead of heart rate.

[0041] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the abnormality determination unit is provided in the control unit 67 of the bathroom remote control 6, but it may be provided in the control device 1a of the water heater 1.

[0042] From the above description, many improvements and other embodiments of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the above description should be construed as merely illustrative and is provided for the purpose of teaching those skilled in the art the best mode for carrying out the present invention. Details of the structure and / or function thereof may be substantially changed without departing from the spirit of the present invention. [Industrial Applicability]

[0043] INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention is useful as a bathroom system, etc., which is easy to install and can detect abnormalities in bathers. [Explanation of symbols]

[0044] 10: changing room, 20: bathroom, 6: bathroom remote control (operation device), 64: biometric information sensor, 65: human detection sensor, 66: temperature sensor, 67: control unit (abnormality determination unit)

Claims

1. An operating device that is installed in the bathroom and that remotely operates the hot water device; a biological information sensor provided in the operating device for detecting biological information of a person present in the bathroom and the dressing room arranged adjacent to each other at a predetermined period; an abnormality determination unit that determines whether or not the person is abnormal based on the biological information of the person that is continuously detected at the predetermined period by the biological information sensor; A bathroom system equipped with

2. a notification unit that notifies the user of an abnormality when the abnormality determination unit determines that the user is abnormal; a human detection sensor provided in the operating device and configured to detect the presence of a person in the bathroom; Further equipped with The abnormality determination unit is a difference between the biological information detected by the biological information sensor when the presence of a person in the bathroom is not detected by the human detection sensor and the biological information detected by the biological information sensor when the presence of a person in the bathroom is subsequently detected by the human detection sensor exceeds a predetermined reference value; The bathroom system according to claim 1.

3. A temperature sensor is provided on the operating device to detect a room temperature in the bathroom. The abnormality determination unit is a difference between the biometric information detected by the biometric information sensor when the presence of a person in the bathroom is not detected by the human detection sensor and the biometric information detected by the biometric information sensor when the presence of a person in the bathroom is subsequently detected by the human detection sensor exceeds a predetermined reference value, and the room temperature of the bathroom detected by the temperature sensor is equal to or lower than a predetermined reference temperature, the presence of a person in the bathroom is determined to be abnormal; A bathroom system as described in claim 2.

4. The biological information detected by the biological information sensor is a heart rate. A bathroom system as described in any one of claims 1 to 3.

5. The notification unit is provided in the operation device. A bathroom system as described in claim 2 or 3.

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