JP2002028103A - Sanitary device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technology capable of further saving an energy used in a sanitary device while minimizing an uncomfortable feeling given to a toilet user by increasing a prediction probability. SOLUTION: This sanitary device having a plurality of control modes for a toilet environment is provided with a control mode detection means detecting a control mode selected from a plurality of control modes, a toilet use detection means detecting use of the toilet, a toile use information storage means dividing one day into a plurality of detection time bands and storing toile use information detected at every time band by means of the toilet use detection means, a control content decision means deciding control contents of the toilet environment of the following days on the basis of the toilet use information of the adjacent detection time bands, and a toilet environment control means controlling the toilet environment on the basis of the decided control contents at a control time band shifted from the detection time band by a predetermined time.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technique for controlling a so-called toilet environment such as a heating temperature of a toilet seat, a washing water temperature for washing a human body part, and a heating temperature of a toilet room.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to allow a toilet user to use a toilet comfortably, a sanitary device for controlling a so-called toilet environment such as a temperature of a toilet seat, a temperature of a washing water for washing a human body, and a heating temperature of a toilet room is widely used. ing. In these sanitary devices, it is necessary to always keep the temperature of the toilet seat and washing water at an appropriate temperature even when the toilet is not in use, so that the toilet can be used comfortably at any time. Uses energy such as electric power.

In order to keep the toilet seat and the washing water warm even when the toilet is not used, a large amount of energy such as electric power is consumed. Therefore, energy consumption is reduced within a range that does not impair the comfort of the toilet environment. Technology has been proposed. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 5-161572 discloses a method of learning the time period during which the toilet is used by detecting the body of the toilet user, predicting the time period during which the toilet is used from the learning result, and using the toilet seat and cleaning. Techniques for controlling the temperature of water or the like have been disclosed. If such a technology is used, the temperature of the toilet seat or the washing water is warmed during the time when the use of the toilet is predicted, and the toilet is used comfortably, while the control temperature of the toilet seat or the like is lowered during the time when the use is not predicted. , Energy can be saved.

[0004]

However, when such a technique is used, it is possible to save energy to some extent without impairing the comfort of the toilet environment. Saving is usually in a trade-off relationship, and there is a problem in that it is inevitable to sacrifice the comfort of the toilet environment in order to save energy. In order to further save energy, it is necessary to further lower the control temperature of the toilet seat and the like in a time zone when the use of the toilet is not expected, and to increase the time zone in which the control temperature of the toilet seat and the like is set lower. Toilet users will feel uncomfortable if the control temperature of the toilet seat and wash water is too low. In addition, the longer the time period in which the control temperature is set to be lower, the more easily the toilet user feels uncomfortable. By the way, a certain amount of preparation time is required to make the toilet environment comfortable, and even if preparation is started gradually during the time when use is expected, the temperature of the toilet seat and toilet room has not yet reached the target temperature. Therefore, the user feels uncomfortable.

However, in order to prevent the user from feeling uncomfortable when using the toilet at any time, it is necessary to limit the control temperature of the toilet seat, the washing water, etc. so as not to be too low, or to set the control temperature to a lower temperature. Limiting the band to not too many does not provide any further energy savings. By the way, no matter how regularly you live,
A shift of about 10 minutes occurs. Conventionally, this 5 minutes, 1
In order to allow a 0-minute shift, prediction was performed with a certain width, and power was supplied.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems in the prior art, and it is possible to increase the prediction probability and minimize the discomfort to the toilet user while minimizing the discomfort.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a technology capable of further saving the amount of energy used in a sanitary device.

[0007]

Means for Solving the Problems and Their Functions and Effects In order to solve at least a part of the above problems, the sanitary device of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, a sanitary device that divides a day into a plurality of control time zones, selects a control mode of a toilet environment from a plurality of control modes for each control time zone, and a toilet use detecting unit that detects use of the toilet. A toilet use information storage unit that stores toilet use information in a detection time period longer than the control time period based on an output of the toilet use detection unit, and a toilet use information stored by the toilet use information storage unit. A control content determining means for determining the control content of the toilet environment after the next day, and controlling the toilet environment from the control time zone and a predetermined time before the control time zone based on the determined control content. The gist of the present invention is to provide toilet environment control means.

A sanitary device having a plurality of toilet environment control modes, comprising: a toilet use detecting means for detecting use of the toilet; and dividing a day into a plurality of detection time zones.
Toilet use information storage means for storing toilet use information detected by the toilet use detection means for each of the time periods, and the toilet environment after the next day based on the toilet use information of the adjacent detection time periods before and after Control content determining means for determining the control content of the toilet environment, based on the determined control content, a control time zone provided at a predetermined time offset from the detection time zone and a predetermined time before the control time zone. And a toilet environment control means for controlling the toilet environment.

A sanitary apparatus having a plurality of control modes of a toilet environment, comprising: a toilet use detecting means for detecting use of the toilet; and dividing a day into a plurality of detection time zones;
A toilet use information storage unit that stores toilet use information detected by the toilet use detection unit for each of the detection time periods, and a next day based on the toilet use information of the detection time period and the adjacent detection time periods before and after. Control content determining means for determining the control content of the subsequent toilet environment, and toilet environment control means for controlling the toilet environment in the detection time zone and the previous detection time zone based on the determined control content. The point is to prepare.

[0010] Further, toilet use detecting means for detecting use of the toilet, and storage means for each detection time zone for storing the presence or absence or the number of times of use for each of a plurality of detection time zones based on the output of the toilet use detection means. A control content determining means for determining the control content of the toilet environment in a control time zone narrower than the time zone based on the output of the storage means for each detection time zone;
The gist of the present invention is to include toilet environment control means for controlling the toilet environment from a predetermined time before the control time zone based on the determined control content.

[0011] In such a sanitary device, when the use of the toilet is detected, the toilet use information as information relating to the detected time is stored for each predetermined detection time period. Here, the information related to the time when the toilet is used may be the time itself when the toilet is used, or, for example, 1
The information may be such that the day is subdivided into several time zones, and the number of times the toilet was used in which time zone. The control mode is, for example, a control characteristic set in accordance with the characteristics of the toilet user, such as an energy saving operation mode and an elderly operation mode. Then, based on the stored toilet usage information, the control content of the toilet environment is determined, and based on the determined control content, a control time zone narrower than the detection time zone and a predetermined time before the control time zone. Control the toilet environment for a period of time.

As described above, since the prediction is performed based on the detection time zone and the control of the toilet environment is performed during the control time period narrower than the detection time period and the predetermined time before the control time period, the prediction is performed. It is possible to ensure that the toilet environment is comfortable when the toilet is started to be used, so that it is possible to further save the energy used in the sanitary apparatus without giving the toilet user discomfort.

[0013] In such a sanitary device, the use of the toilet may be detected by detecting the operation of the function of the toilet. If the operation of the function of the toilet is detected, the use of the toilet can be accurately detected, and thus the accurate toilet use information can be stored. It is preferable that accurate toilet use information can be stored because the toilet environment can be appropriately controlled.

As an operation of the function of such a toilet,
The operation of the function of cleaning the toilet may be detected. When a toilet is used, the toilet is usually washed, and the washing of the toilet can be easily and reliably detected. Therefore, it is preferable to detect the operation of the flushing function of the toilet because it is possible to accurately store the toilet use information.

In a sanitary device provided with a human body detecting means for detecting a human body of a toilet user, when the operation of the function of the toilet is detected, when the human body of the toilet user is detected, it is determined that the toilet is used. You may do so. This is also preferable because there is no possibility of erroneously detecting use of the toilet.

In the sanitary device of the present invention, at least toilet use information for each detection time zone is stored, and based on the toilet use information, a toilet use frequency which is an index indicating the ease of use of the toilet is calculated. Based on the calculated toilet use frequency, the control content of the toilet environment for each control time zone after the next day may be determined.

For example, when the toilet is easy to use, that is, when the frequency of use of the toilet is calculated to be large, the toilet seat and the washing water of the human body are warmed, and conversely, the toilet is not used. That is, during the time when the frequency of using the toilet is calculated to be zero, the temperature of the water such as the toilet seat and the washing is not controlled, thereby avoiding waste of energy. Further, in the time when the toilet is used occasionally, that is, in the time when the frequency of using the toilet is calculated as medium, the time for setting the control temperature such as the temperature of the toilet seat or the temperature of the washing water and the time for performing the control depending on the selected control mode. Change obi etc. Therefore, in such a sanitary device, by selecting a control mode suitable for the toilet user in advance, it is possible to prevent the toilet user from feeling uncomfortable while greatly saving energy consumed by the sanitary device. It becomes possible.

In such a sanitary device, the frequency of use of the toilet is not calculated every moment, but one day is divided into a plurality of detection time zones, and the frequency of use of the toilet takes the same value in each detection time zone. The toilet use frequency may be calculated for each detection time zone. In this manner, if the frequency of using the toilet is not calculated every moment, but is calculated for each detection time zone, the burden of calculating the frequency of using the toilet by the sanitary device can be reduced, and high-performance and expensive This is preferable because there is no need to provide a complicated arithmetic means. Note that each detection time zone does not necessarily need to have the same length of time. For example, the detection time period of the time when it is difficult to use the toilet at midnight or the like is extended,
Conversely, the detection time zone of the time when the toilet is easy to use may be divided into short periods.

In this sanitary device, not only the toilet usage frequency is calculated for each of the plurality of detection time zones, but the toilet usage information may be divided into a plurality of detection time zones and stored. That is, a day is divided into a plurality of detection time zones, and when the toilet is used, the number of times the toilet is used in the detection time zone corresponding to the used time is increased by one.
As a result, the toilet use information is stored as the number of times the toilet is used in each detection time period. The toilet use frequency is calculated based on the toilet use information thus stored. Note that a plurality of detection time periods for storing toilet use information and a plurality of control time periods for calculating toilet use frequency are:
They do not have to match. It goes without saying that the length of each detection time zone and control time zone does not necessarily have to be the same.

As described above, it is preferable to store the toilet use information as the number of times of use of the toilet in each detection time period, since the memory capacity required for storing the toilet use information is reduced. In addition, if the toilet use information is stored as the number of times of use of the toilet in each detection time period, and the calculation of the frequency of use of the toilet is calculated for each control time period, the process of calculating the frequency of use of the toilet is simplified. There is also.

Further, each time zone is set such that the division position of each control time zone for calculating the toilet usage frequency is one for each detection time zone for storing the toilet usage information.
Then, when calculating the toilet use frequency for a certain control time period, the toilet use frequency is calculated using the toilet use information stored in the two detection time periods having a boundary within the control time period. If the toilet use frequency is calculated based on the toilet use information stored in the two detection time zones, the toilet use frequency is calculated to be a relatively stable value even if the toilet use time is slightly shifted. It is preferable because it can be performed.

When the toilet use information is stored for a plurality of days, the toilet use frequency may be calculated by appropriately weighting according to the stored days. For example, when referencing the toilet usage information to calculate the toilet usage frequency,
The frequency of using the toilet is calculated with different weights depending on how many days ago the toilet use information was stored. For example, depending on the form of work, the days when the number of times the toilet is used frequently and the days when the number of times the toilet is used often appear in a certain cycle. It is possible to appropriately calculate toilet use information. The stored date may be, for example, information on “day of the week” in addition to the date indicating how many days ago the date was stored, or may be a calendar date. Absent.

Further, when the frequency of use of the toilet is calculated by the above method, the information on the use of the toilet with a newer stored date is more important.
The toilet use frequency may be calculated with a large weight. In this way, even if the toilet usage pattern changes due to, for example, a toilet user going on a long vacation, the toilet environment can be promptly responded to the change in the toilet usage pattern and the toilet environment can be appropriately controlled, which is preferable. It is.

Also, the toilet use frequency may be calculated by giving a large weight to the toilet use information seven days before the day on which the control is to be performed. In many cases, the life pattern of the toilet user fluctuates periodically in units of seven days, that is, one week. Therefore, if the weight of the information seven days ago is used to calculate the toilet usage information, the toilet usage information is more appropriately calculated. This is preferable because it becomes possible.

It should be noted that the newer toilet use information with the stored date may be given a greater weight, and the toilet use information seven days before may be given a greater weight to calculate the toilet use frequency. In this way, it is possible to appropriately calculate the toilet use frequency by predicting a periodic change in units of one week, and it is also possible to quickly respond to a change in life pattern.

The sanitary device of the present invention determines the target temperature of the control target based on the stored toilet use information and controls the control target so as to reach the determined target temperature, thereby controlling the toilet environment. Can be performed.
Whether the toilet user feels comfortable using the toilet is
Since it is strongly related to the temperature of the toilet seat, the temperature of the washing water for cleaning the human body, the temperature in the toilet room, etc., these target temperatures are determined and controlled to reach the determined target temperature. Can be controlled comfortably.

In such a sanitary device, the toilet use frequency may be calculated from the stored toilet use information, the target temperature to be controlled may be determined based on the calculated toilet use frequency, and control may be performed at the determined target temperature. . As described above, it is preferable to control the temperature based on the toilet use frequency, because the toilet environment can be appropriately controlled.

In such a sanitary device, the toilet environment may be controlled as follows. When the usage frequency calculating means determines that the toilet usage frequency is zero, the control content determination means determines the temperature at which the equipment is not damaged by freezing as the target temperature, so that even when the usage frequency is low, the equipment damage may occur. Can warm the inside of the toilet so that it does not reach
It is possible to prevent breakage of the toilet bowl due to freezing of the sealing of the toilet bowl in a cold place or the like where cooling is severe.

In the sanitary apparatus of the present invention, toilet use information for the same detection time period for a plurality of predetermined days may be stored, and the toilet use frequency may be calculated based on the stored toilet use information. This is preferable because the accuracy of the calculated toilet use frequency can be improved, and the amount of energy used by the sanitary device can be reduced without sacrificing the toilet environment.

In the sanitary device of the present invention, toilet use information for the same detection time period for a plurality of predetermined days is stored, the toilet use frequency is calculated based on the stored toilet use information, and the stored toilet use information is stored. If is less than a predetermined number of days, the toilet use frequency may be calculated using a method different from that after storing the toilet use information for the predetermined number of days. This is preferable because the toilet environment can be controlled based on the calculated toilet use frequency even during a period until the toilet use information for a plurality of days is accumulated. In particular, in order to increase the accuracy of the calculated toilet use frequency, in a sanitary device that calculates based on toilet use information for many days, it takes a long time to store all of the predetermined days. Therefore, if the toilet environment is controlled based on the toilet usage frequency calculated by such a method, the energy consumption of the sanitary device can be reduced without sacrificing the toilet environment even before storing the toilet usage information for a predetermined period. Therefore, it is preferable.

In this sanitary apparatus, the toilet use frequency may be calculated to be larger as the number of days of the stored toilet use information is smaller, until all the toilet use information for a plurality of predetermined days is stored. That is, if the number of days of the stored toilet use information is small, the toilet use frequency must be calculated from the small information, so that the calculation accuracy tends to be low accordingly, and the possibility that the toilet user feels uncomfortable increases. . Therefore, the smaller the number of days of the stored toilet use information is, the larger the use frequency of the toilet is calculated, so that it is possible to prevent the toilet user from feeling uncomfortable until the predetermined number of days is stored. is there.

Further, in such a sanitary apparatus, the minimum value of the toilet use frequency that can be calculated may be calculated such that the smaller the number of days of the stored toilet use information is, the larger the number of days is. In other words, if there has not been a long time since the start of storing the toilet use information, the frequency of toilet use should be kept below a predetermined value, and as the number of stored days increases,
A smaller value of the toilet use frequency is calculated. In the first place, the toilet user feels uncomfortable when the temperature of the flush water in the toilet seat or the human body is low, which corresponds to the case where the toilet use frequency is calculated to be a small value. Therefore, while the number of days of storage of the toilet use information is small, the frequency of use of the toilet is limited so as not to be smaller than a predetermined value, and as the number of days of storage increases and the calculation accuracy is improved, the lower limit of calculation of the frequency of use of the toilet is reduced. By that
Energy can be saved without impairing the comfort of the toilet environment until the predetermined number of days is stored.

[0033]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The embodiments of the present invention will be described below, but in order to facilitate understanding, the general order and contents of the description will be outlined prior to the specific description. . In this specification, an embodiment of the invention is described.
The description is roughly divided into five parts. That is, “A.
Device configuration "and" B. Learning toilet use information "
"C. Control contents of toilet environment based on learning result",
There are five items: "D. Control contents of toilet environment before learning is completed" and "E.

In “A. Apparatus configuration”, the structure of the sanitary apparatus according to the present embodiment will be briefly described focusing on parts related to the present invention. Although the sanitary apparatus of the present embodiment is composed of several units having unique functions, the present specification will briefly describe six units that are closely related to the present invention.

In "B. Learning of toilet use information", a description will be given of a method in which the sanitary device of the present embodiment stores toilet use information and calculates a toilet use frequency based on the stored toilet use information. As described above, the sanitary device according to the present embodiment stores toilet use information, calculates the toilet use frequency based on this information, and controls the toilet environment based on the calculated use frequency, so that an appropriate It is possible to perform control.

In "C. Control contents of toilet environment based on learning result", a method of actually controlling the toilet environment based on the toilet use frequency obtained by learning by the sanitary device of the present embodiment will be described. . In the following "D. Contents of control of toilet environment before learning is completed", when the use frequency of the toilet cannot be accurately calculated because the learning of the toilet usage information is not sufficient, the sanitary device of the present embodiment controls the toilet environment. A control method will be described. The last "E.
In the section “Measures against power cutoff such as power outage”, measures against power outage or the like in the sanitary device of the present embodiment will be described. That is, if the power supply cannot be received due to a power failure or the like and the stored toilet use information disappears or the accurate toilet use information cannot be stored, the toilet environment is appropriately controlled. It is not possible. In the sanitary device of this embodiment, various countermeasures are taken to prevent such a situation.

A. 1. Configuration of Sanitary Apparatus (1) Outline Configuration: FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an appearance of a sanitary apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the sanitary device 10 includes a toilet seat 12 that is installed and used on a toilet (not shown), a toilet lid 14 that covers the toilet seat 12 when the toilet is not used, and various functions related to various functions of the sanitary device 10. And a remote controller 20 for the toilet user to instruct the sanitary device 10 to perform various operations. An auxiliary operation unit 18 is provided in a part of the casing 16, and a toilet user can finely set operating conditions of the sanitary device 10 by operating the auxiliary operation unit 18. The casing 16 is attached to the toilet using a dedicated fixing bracket, and the toilet seat 12 and the toilet lid 14 are each attached to the casing 16 so as to be openable and closable. When using the toilet for men's urinals, use the toilet seat 12 and the toilet lid 14 both in the raised state ("open" state), and when using the toilet for urinals or women's urine, use the toilet seat. It is used with only 12 lowered ("closed"). When the toilet is not used, both the toilet seat 12 and the toilet lid 14 may be lowered.

When the sanitary device 10 of the present embodiment is mounted in place of the toilet lid of the ordinary toilet seat, water is supplied through the branch fitting, and the power cord is plugged into an outlet, the sanitary device 10 is in an operable state. The toilet user issues various instructions to the sanitary device 10 from the remote controller 20 or the auxiliary operation unit 18 to wash the human body part, dry the local part after washing, heat the toilet seat, heat the room, deodorize the room, etc. (Hereinafter referred to as sanitary functions) can be used.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a state in which parts related to various sanitary functions are stored in the casing 16 in the sanitary apparatus 10 of the present embodiment. Casing 1
A nozzle unit 100 that blows out hot water to clean a human body part and various valves (not shown) for supplying hot water to the nozzle unit 100 are housed in the center of the nozzle unit 6. Next to the nozzle unit 100, there is a warm air unit 20 that blows warm air to dry the human body after cleaning.
0 is stored, and next to the warm air unit 200 (on the right side on the paper), a deodorizing unit 500 for deodorizing fecal odor is stored. A room warming unit 400 for heating the room is housed below the auxiliary operation unit 18. Each unit uses a heater, an electromagnetic valve, an electric actuator such as a motor, and the like, and an AC control unit 600 that supplies electric power to these actuators is housed in a space above the nozzle unit 100. The operation of the AC control unit 600 is controlled by the DC control unit 700, and the DC control unit 700
8 and the room warming unit 400. Further, the toilet seat 12 of the present embodiment can heat the toilet seat to an appropriate temperature by a built-in heater, and a heating toilet seat unit 300 is incorporated inside the toilet seat 12 to control the temperature of the toilet seat. The AC control unit 600 also supplies power to the heating toilet seat unit 300.

(2) Water supply system: FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a water supply system for supplying cleaning water to the nozzle unit 100. As shown in the figure, the sanitary device 1 of the present embodiment
No. 0 takes in water from a water pipe or the like with a branch fitting 92 and introduces water into the apparatus via a water supply adapter 94. A strainer (not shown) is built in the water supply adapter 94 so that foreign matters in pipes such as water pipes do not enter the sanitary device 10.

The washing water taken into the sanitary device 10 is
First, it is introduced into the mixing unit 110. The mixing unit 110 is a unit that takes out a part of the taken-in washing water, heats it in the heat exchanger 118, mixes the heated washing water and the unheated cold washing water into hot water of an appropriate temperature. is there. In the sanitary apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, a heat exchanger 118 of a system in which a small-capacity tank is provided and the washing water in the tank is heated by a heater is used. Of course, it is also possible to use a heat exchanger of another type that does not use a tank, for example, a type in which washing water is rapidly heated by a heater installed in piping to obtain hot water when needed.

The feedwater introduced into the mixing unit 110 passes through a check valve 112, a pressure regulating valve 114, and a solenoid valve 116, and is branched into two, one of which is directly supplied to a mixing valve 124 and the other of which is a heat exchanger 118. Through the mixing valve 124. The check valve 112 is provided to prevent the wash water supplied into the sanitary device 10 from flowing back to a water pipe or the like, and the pressure regulating valve 114 is used to adjust the pressure of the water supply system when the pressure of the water supply is high. In addition, the electromagnetic valve 116 is provided for taking in or stopping the washing water into the water supply system. A heater (not shown) and a hot water thermistor 122 for measuring the temperature of the water in the tank are provided in the tank of the heat exchanger 118, and the water in the tank is always heated to about 60 ° C. Further, a cold water thermistor 120 for measuring the temperature of the washing water is provided in a pipe directly connected from the electromagnetic valve 116 to the mixing valve 124.

The mixing valve 124 controls the washing water to have an appropriate temperature by changing the mixing ratio of cold water and hot water using the following method. A rotor (not shown) is provided inside the mixing valve 124. When the rotor is rotated, the mixing valve 124
The passage area of the cold water and the passage area of the warm water flowing into the inside are changed. The hot water thermistor 122 and the cold water thermistor 120 are used to detect the temperature of the hot water and the temperature of the cold water, respectively. As a result, the washing water at an appropriate temperature can flow out of the mixing valve 124. Further, a water discharge thermistor 128 is provided downstream of the mixing valve 124, and performs feedback control of the measured temperature of the washing water to the rotation angle of the rotor. The aforementioned DC control unit 70
0 receives the measurement result of the water temperature from the cold water thermistor 122, the hot water thermistor 120, and the water discharge thermistor 128,
The feedback control is performed by controlling the rotation of the mixing motor 126 based on the result.

The cleaning water adjusted to an appropriate temperature by the mixing unit 110 is led to the flow adjusting unit 140.
The flow adjusting unit 140 is a unit that switches the flow rate of the washing water between when the hips are washed and when the hips are used as a bidet, and at the same time, switches between the hips washing nozzle and the bidet washing nozzle. Flow control unit 140
Is composed of a flow control switching valve 142 and a bypass valve 144. When the toilet user instructs either the ass washing or the bidet washing, the flow control switching valve 142 is operated to switch the flow path of the washing water, and flows through a predetermined passage of the nozzle unit 100, or the ashes washing nozzle or Cleaning water spouts from the bidet cleaning nozzle. Bypass valve 144
The toilet user presses a switch for starting a posterior or bidet wash, thereby bypassing the washing water from flowing out of the nozzle for a while. In other words, immediately after the cleaning start switch is pressed, the temperature of the mixing unit 110 is not sufficiently adjusted, and cold water is ejected from the nozzle. Then, the bypass valve 144 is opened and the washing water is discarded. However, the washing water to be discarded as described later is also supplied to the nozzle unit 100 and used for nozzle cleaning in the nozzle cleaning chamber.

The nozzle unit 100 includes a nozzle body and a nozzle head. The nozzle head is provided with a posterior cleaning nozzle 102 and a bidet cleaning nozzle 104. When cleaning is not performed, the nozzle head is stored in a nozzle cleaning chamber 106 in the nozzle body. When the toilet user designates assembling or bidet cleaning, first, the bypass valve 1 of the flow control unit 140 is used.
44 is opened, and cleaning water is jetted into the nozzle cleaning chamber 106. At this stage, since the nozzle head is still stored in the nozzle cleaning chamber 106, it is possible to clean the nozzle head by jetting the cleaning water into the nozzle cleaning chamber 106.

When a certain amount of cleaning water is jetted and the temperature of the cleaning water rises, the nozzle valve is extended from inside the nozzle cleaning chamber 106 after closing the bypass valve 144. When the nozzle head reaches a predetermined position, the nozzle 1
The cleaning water is jetted from the cleaning nozzle 02 or the bidet cleaning nozzle 104 to clean the human body part. In this way, if the washing water is blown out from the nozzle after reaching an appropriate temperature, the human body part can always be washed comfortably.

(3) Hot air unit: FIG.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a hot air unit 200 of No. 0; Since the configuration of the room warming unit 400 is almost the same, it is collectively shown in FIG. Hot air unit 200
Is a unit that blows hot air to the human body after cleaning to dry it. It comprises a warm air heater 206 for warming the air blown from the air, and a thermistor 208 for detecting the temperature of the warm air. When a toilet user presses a predetermined switch, which will be described later, the sirocco fan 202 rotates and blows warm air heated by the warm air heater 206 to dry the human body part. The temperature detected by the thermistor 208 is transmitted to the DC control unit 700 described above, and the DC control unit 700 controls the hot air heater 206 via the AC control unit 600 so that the temperature of the hot air becomes a preset temperature. Controlling.

(4) Room warming unit: Room warming unit 400
Is a unit for warming the room temperature of the toilet, which has almost the same configuration as the hot air unit 200, and differs only in the temperature measurement point of the thermistor from the hot air unit 200. That is, the room warming unit 400 also includes a sirocco fan that takes in air to blow air, a fan motor for rotating the sirocco fan, a warm air heater that warms the blow air, and a thermistor 408 that detects the temperature of the warm air. . The thermistor 208 of the hot air unit 200 measures the temperature downstream of the heater.
Thermistor 408 measures the temperature at the air intake of a sirocco fan upstream of the heater. Thermistor 40
The temperature detected at 8 is also transmitted to the DC control unit 700, and the DC control unit 700 controls the hot air heater so that the room temperature becomes the set temperature.

(5) Deodorizing unit: FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a schematic configuration of the deodorizing unit 500. The deodorizing unit 500 includes an ozonizer 502 that generates ozone by applying a high voltage, an ozonizer driver 504 that supplies a high voltage to the ozonizer 502, a sirocco fan 506 that sucks odor in the toilet seat, and a sirocco fan 5.
It is composed of a deodorizing motor 508 for rotating No. 06 and a catalyst 510 for decomposing odor. When the toilet user sits on the toilet seat 12, a seat switch 80 provided on the toilet seat
2 (see FIG. 6) detects this, and if it has been sitting for a predetermined time or more, the deodorizing unit 500 is automatically started, and the odor intake provided below the warm air outlet of the warm air unit 200 is taken. Inhale odor from mouth. The inhaled odor and the ozone generated by the ozonizer 502 form the catalyst 51.
When sent to zero, the catalyst 510 adsorbs the odor and decomposes the ozone to generate active oxygen, and the action of the active oxygen decomposes the odor adsorbed on the catalyst. The odor is decomposed and deodorized, then desorbed from the catalyst and discharged from the exhaust port as odorless exhaust. As the catalyst 510 for deodorizing odor, for example, a catalyst such as a metal oxide obtained by subjecting a base material mainly composed of titania and silica to a manganese oxide treatment can be used.

(6) Heating toilet seat unit: FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of the heating toilet seat unit 300. The heating toilet seat unit 300 includes a toilet seat heater 302 for warming the toilet seat 12, a toilet seat thermistor 304 for measuring the temperature of the toilet seat, and a seating switch 802 for detecting that a toilet user is sitting on the toilet seat 12. I have. The signals of the toilet seat thermistor 304 and the seat switch 802 are transmitted to the above-described DC control unit 700, and the DC control unit 700 controls the temperature of the toilet seat 12 so that the temperature becomes a set temperature.

(7) Control System: FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a part related to control of the sanitary function of the sanitary apparatus 10. The controller unit of the sanitary device 10 includes the DC control unit 700, a remote controller 20 operated by a toilet user, an auxiliary operation unit 18 for setting detailed control contents of the sanitary device 10, and a nozzle unit 100 and the like. And an AC control unit 600 for supplying power to each unit.

The DC control unit 700 includes a CPU 702
A ROM 704 storing various control programs and various data, a RAM 706 temporarily storing data, a nonvolatile memory 708, a built-in clock 710, a timer 712, and an external device using infrared rays. A communication circuit 714 that performs data communication and a P that controls data exchange between various peripheral devices such as a thermistor and a contact switch.
Each component is connected to each other via a bus 718, and can exchange data. As the nonvolatile memory 708, a memory called an EEPROM such as a flash memory is used. EE
The PROM is a memory that can hold written data even in a non-energized state and that can rewrite data by an electrical operation. Although the sanitary device 10 according to the present embodiment includes the dedicated built-in clock 710, it is a matter of course that the time may be measured by software using the function of the CPU 702. When the power of the sanitary device 10 is turned on, the CPU 702 reads a control program and data from the ROM 704, and reads the control program and data.
Start control.

The remote control 20 is provided with various buttons for washing the poster, cleaning the bidet, drying with hot air, and heating the room. When the toilet user operates these buttons, infrared rays are emitted from an infrared light emitting element (not shown) built in the remote controller 20, and an operation signal of the remote controller is transmitted to the communication circuit 714 of the DC control unit 700. The CPU 702 of the DC control unit 700 receives an operation signal of the remote controller from the communication circuit 714 and executes various controls.

The auxiliary operation unit 18 includes the nozzle unit 10
Various knobs are provided for adjusting the temperature of the wash water spouting from 0, the temperature of hot air for drying the human body after washing, the temperature of the toilet seat, the temperature in the room, and the like (see FIG. 25).
The CPU 702 of the DC control unit 700 determines detailed control contents of various units based on the settings of various knobs of the auxiliary operation unit 18.

The AC control unit 600 is responsible for supplying power to various units such as the nozzle unit 100 and the hot air unit 200 described above. AC control unit 6
Reference numeral 00 denotes an electric circuit mainly composed of a semiconductor, similarly to the DC control unit 700. However, elements such as power transistors and thyristors are often used, and it is possible to control relatively high voltage and large current electricity such as 100 volt AC electricity and 24 volt DC electricity. AC
The control unit 600 is connected to electrical devices such as the solenoid valves, motors, and heaters of the various units described above, such as the bypass valve 144 and the mixing motor 126 of the nozzle unit 100.

When the toilet user operates a button provided on the remote controller 20 to instruct to perform various sanitary functions such as posterior washing, bidet washing and hot air drying, the operation signal is transmitted to the DC control unit 700. C via circuit 714
The information is transmitted to the PU 702. The CPU 702 determines the content of the received operation signal, and issues an instruction to the AC control unit 600 in consideration of the setting of the auxiliary operation unit 18 and the like. AC
The control unit 600 controls a current supplied to various electric devices such as an electromagnetic valve and a heater in accordance with an instruction from the DC control unit 700, thereby executing a sanitary function corresponding to an instruction from a toilet user.

B. Learning Control The sanitary device 10 of this embodiment detects the use of the toilet, stores the above-mentioned toilet use information, and calculates the frequency of use of the toilet from the stored information. In the present specification, calculating the use frequency of the toilet based on the stored toilet information is also referred to as learning. By determining the control contents of various sanitary functions based on the calculated toilet use frequency, energy consumption can be saved without impairing comfortable toilet use. Therefore, hereinafter, a method of detecting toilet use information in the sanitary device 10 of the present embodiment, a method of learning the detected toilet use information, and a method of controlling the sanitary function of the toilet based on the learning result will be described.

(1) Toilet use information detection method: Toilet use information can be detected if the use of the toilet is detected and the time at that time can be known. The time when the use of the toilet is detected is determined by the built-in clock 7 of the DC control unit 700.
10 to know. Various methods can be used for detecting the use of the toilet.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view conceptually showing various methods for detecting the use of the toilet by the sanitary device 10 of the present embodiment. Detection of toilet use information is mainly performed by the DC control unit 7.
00. PIO7 of DC control unit 700
Various sensors for detecting the use of the toilet are connected to 16, and signals from the various sensors are transmitted to the CPU 702 via the PIO 716. When the use of the toilet is detected by these sensors, the CPU 702 sets the built-in clock 7
10 reads the use time of the toilet, performs predetermined processing described later, and accumulates the information as toilet use information.

The sanitary apparatus 10 of this embodiment is provided with various sensors described below as sensors for detecting use of the toilet (see FIG. 8). Note that the sanitary device 10 may of course include some of these sensors.

The seat switch 802 is mounted on the lower surface of the toilet seat, and when a toilet user sits on the toilet seat and receives a load, the contact switch closes. When the toilet is used for men's toilet or women's use, the contact of the seat switch 802 is closed, so that the use of the toilet can be detected. Instead of the contact switch, various sensors utilizing a phenomenon that the capacitance or the electric resistance value changes according to the pressure received may be applied. Since the seat switch 802 has a simple mechanism and the contacts are opened and closed according to the weight of the toilet user, there is almost no possibility of malfunction and the use of the toilet can be reliably detected.

As a sensor for detecting the seating of the toilet user, means for measuring the temperature of the human body may be applied. That is, when the toilet user sits on the toilet seat 12, the toilet seat is warmed by the user's body temperature and the temperature of the toilet seat rises. Therefore, it is possible to detect the seating of the toilet user based on the temperature change of the toilet seat 12. As the sensor for measuring the toilet seat temperature, for example, a toilet seat thermistor 304 provided for controlling the temperature of the heated toilet seat can be used. Since the normal sanitary device 10 has a heating toilet seat function and has a toilet seat thermistor for controlling the temperature of the toilet seat, if a toilet user is seated by this method, a new sensor is added. No need,
That can increase the cost. Needless to say, a temperature thermistor used for other purposes is not limited to the toilet seat heating.

The human body sensor 804 is a sensor that is attached to the toilet body and detects use of the toilet by sensing infrared rays emitted from the human body. In the sanitary device 10 of the present embodiment, a pyroelectric infrared sensor is used as such a human body sensor. When the use of the toilet is detected by the human body sensor 804, it is possible to detect the use of the toilet in a form that does not sit on the toilet, such as urine for men. The human body sensor 804 may be incorporated in the sanitary device 10 or may be provided separately from the sanitary device 10.

The float switches 806 and 807 are so-called contact switches, and are provided so as to interlock with the movement of the float in the tank for storing the washing water of the filth received by the toilet. When the toilet user cleans the waste,
By detecting the water level in the tank by the float switches 806 and 807 linked to the float,
Detect toilet use. It should be noted that the amount of water required for cleaning dirt differs between the case where the toilet is used for urinal use and the case where the toilet is used for urine use, so that the water level change in the tank also differs. In the sanitary device 10 of the present embodiment, only the contacts of the float switch 806 are used when the toilet is used for urine, and the float switch 80 is used when the toilet is used for urine.
The contacts 6 and 807 are provided. By doing so, it is possible to identify whether the toilet is used for stool or urine. Toilet for stool
If the learning is performed by distinguishing between the two for urination, there is a possibility that the toilet environment can be more finely controlled. In addition, the detection of the use of the toilet by the float switch has an advantage that the toilet can be easily attached if the toilet has a tank.

A water flow sensor 808 is a sensor for detecting a water flow flowing in the piping of the toilet. As the sensor for detecting the water flow, various known sensors can be used.
In the sanitary device 10 of the present embodiment, a vane type water flow sensor of a type in which the position of the vane changes according to the flow of water is used, but another sensor using ultrasonic waves, electromagnetic force, or the like may be applied. . When the toilet user uses water, for example, by flushing waste in the toilet bowl, the water flows in the pipe, and by detecting this, the use of the toilet can be detected. Since the water flow sensor may be provided anywhere in the toilet pipe, there is an advantage that the degree of freedom in designing or constructing the sanitary device is improved. In addition, a water flow sensor may be provided not only in the pipe in the toilet but in the pipe for washing hands after using the toilet.

The cleaning switches 810 and 811 are contact switches that are linked to an operation lever used when flushing dirt in the toilet. The toilet user tilts the operating lever clockwise after using it for urine, and tilts it counterclockwise after using it for stool. The contact of the cleaning switch 811 is closed. Therefore, by detecting the opening and closing of the cleaning switches 810 and 811,
It is possible to obtain information on whether the toilet was used for urination or stool as well as toilet use.

The toilet user can use various sanitary functions of the sanitary device 10 by operating various buttons of the remote controller 20. The signal from the remote control 20 is
As described above, the communication circuit 7 in the DC control unit 700
Since the signal is transmitted to the CPU 702 via the CPU 14, the use of the toilet can be detected by detecting this signal. By detecting the operation signal from the remote controller 20 in this way, it is possible to reliably detect the detailed intention of the toilet user, for example, whether to use the poster cleaning or the bidet cleaning. Further, unlike the detection by the float switch, the water flow sensor, or the like, the use of the toilet can be detected even when the water supply is cut off.

Here, the operation signals detected by the sanitary device 10 are, as described above, various buttons related to the sanitary function of the remote controller 20 (for example, a button for washing a bottom, a button for cleaning a bidet, a button for drying with hot air, a button for drying with hot air, washing and drying). Button for stopping
However, it goes without saying that the remote controller 20 may be provided with a button relating to the function of the toilet (for example, flushing a toilet) and detect an operation signal of the button.

(2) Method of accumulating toilet use information: When the sanitary device 10 of this embodiment detects the use of the toilet by any of the methods described above, the sanitary device 10 temporarily stores the information relating to the time of use of the toilet as the toilet use information. Accumulate, then
The use frequency of the toilet is calculated from the accumulated toilet use information by a predetermined method. In addition, calculation of toilet use frequency is
Actually, the toilet usage frequency in each past time zone is calculated from the stored toilet usage information,
Unless the usage pattern of the toilet is particularly changed, calculating the frequency of use of the toilet in each past time period also means predicting the frequency of use of the toilet in each future time period. For this reason, in this specification, calculating the toilet use frequency is also referred to as predicting the toilet use frequency. Hereinafter, a method of accumulating toilet use information will be described first, and then a method of predicting the frequency of toilet use will be described.

As shown in FIG. 9, the sanitary apparatus 10 of this embodiment divides 24 hours a day into 32 blocks at intervals of 45 minutes, and uses toilet information in the form of the number of times the toilet has been used in each block. Is stored. Storing in the form of the number of times the toilet has been used in each block instead of the time of using the toilet itself has the advantage of saving memory required for storage and simplifying the entire learning process. Of course, the use time of the toilet may be stored. Then, it is possible to precisely predict the frequency of use of the toilet every hour. This will be described later.

A day may be divided into blocks shorter than 45 minutes (for example, 20 minutes), and the number of times the toilet is used in each block may be stored. As the time width of each block becomes narrower, the memory required for storing the toilet use information also increases accordingly, but it is possible to more precisely predict the toilet use frequency. Conversely, the number of times the toilet is used in a block for a time longer than 45 minutes (for example, 1 hour) may be stored.

The sanitary device 10 of this embodiment stores toilet use information using a storage area called a “temporary registration data frame” and a storage area called a “learning data frame”. FIG. 10A is an explanatory diagram schematically showing the “temporary registration data frame”. As described above, the sanitary device 10 of the present embodiment
Handles the day by dividing it into 32 blocks each of which is divided into 45 minutes, and correspondingly, the temporary registration data frame is provided with 32 blocks. In other words, each block of the temporary registration data frame corresponds to 45 minutes of the day, and the entire temporary registration data frame corresponds to 24 hours a day. In the “temporary registration data frame”, an area is actually secured on the RAM 706 in the DC control unit 700, and data is stored in that area. As shown, each block of the "temporary registration data frame" is assigned a serial number from 1 to 32.

FIG. 10B is an explanatory diagram schematically showing a “learning data frame”. As shown in the figure, the "learning data frame" is composed of blocks for storing data for eight days, with 32 blocks as one day, as in the "temporary registration data frame". In the sanitary device 10 of the present embodiment, data for 8 days is stored in the “learning data frame”. However, the data may be stored for 9 days or more, or may be stored for 7 days or less. . If the number of storable days is large, it is possible to predict the use of the toilet in detail as described later, and if the number of storable days is small, the memory required for storage can be saved, and the toilet user can be saved. It is possible to quickly adapt the accumulated data of the toilet use information to changes in the daily life pattern. In the “learning data frame”, an area is actually secured in the nonvolatile memory 708 in the DC control unit 700,
Data is stored in that area.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the flow of the process in which the sanitary device 10 of this embodiment accumulates toilet use information. The toilet use information accumulation routine shown in FIG. 11 is performed after the sanitary device 10 is turned on and a predetermined program is loaded on the CPU 702 of the DC control unit 700.
06 and the non-volatile memory 708. While the power is turned on and the sanitary device 10 is operating, the routine in FIG. 11 is constantly running, and the toilet use information is accumulated. Hereinafter, the process in which the sanitary device 10 stores the toilet use information will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

When the toilet use information accumulation routine is started, the CPU 702 determines whether data is stored in the learning data frame (step S100). This determination is made by the CPU 702 referring to a predetermined address on the memory,
This is performed by determining whether or not a flag is set in a predetermined bit. Here, the predetermined address referred to by the CPU 702 is an address displaying various control information of the sanitary device 10, such as failure information, for example, and the sanitary device 1
For 0, predetermined information is written at the time of shipment. Therefore,
When the sanitary device 10 is powered on for the first time, the CPU
Reference numeral 702 detects that no learning data exists by referring to this address. Also, as described later, when the toilet user resets the learning data frame, a flag is set in a predetermined bit of a predetermined address.

Although details will be described later, the sanitary device 1 of the present embodiment will be described.
At 0, the toilet use information stored for many days is stored in a non-volatile memory in order to prevent the information from being lost due to a power failure. Therefore, when the toilet use information storage routine is started, first, it is determined whether or not data is stored in the nonvolatile memory, thereby preventing the necessary data stored in the learning data frame from being erased. is there.

If no data exists in the learning data frame, the CPU 702 initializes the data in the learning data frame (step S102). As described with reference to FIG. 10, the learning data frame is an area on the non-volatile memory 708 for storing data for eight days, that is, 256 blocks. Each block of the learning data frame has a corresponding 45
The number of times of use of the toilet detected in a minute is stored. In the process of step S102, first, a value “0” is written to all 256 blocks.

When data exists in the learning data frame, or after the learning data frame has been initialized, the CP
U702 initializes the temporary registration data frame (step S1).
04). As described above with reference to FIG. 10, the temporary registration data frame is an area on the RAM 706 that stores data for one day, that is, 32 blocks. Step S104
In the process (1), the value “0” is written to all 32 blocks. Thus, when the initialization of the learning data frame and the temporary registration data frame is completed, accumulation of the toilet use information is started.

The toilet use information accumulation routine stores the toilet use information in the temporary registration data frame every time the use of the toilet is detected, stores the toilet use information for one day, and then registers it in the learning data frame. Therefore, it is determined whether or not 24 hours have elapsed since the start of storing data in the temporary registration data frame (step S106). Note that, in FIG. 11, since it is necessary to express in a flowchart, it is expressed as if the CPU 702 always determines whether 24 hours have elapsed, but actually, an interrupt operation by a timer function is used. That is, the CPU 702 sets the timer 712 to 24
After instructing to generate an interrupt every hour,
Normally, proceed assuming that 24 hours have not passed,
Each time the timer 712 generates an interrupt, the processing after step S116 (details will be described later) is performed.

Next, the CPU 702 determines whether or not the use of the toilet is detected (step S108). If the use of the toilet is detected, the CPU 702 obtains the use time of the toilet from the built-in clock 710 (step S110). Here, since it is necessary to express in the flowchart here, it is expressed as if the CPU 702 constantly monitors whether or not the use of the toilet is detected. An interrupt is generated, and the CPU 702 obtains the use time of the toilet from the built-in clock 710 every time the interrupt occurs. This eliminates the need for the CPU 702 to constantly monitor whether or not use of the toilet has been detected, and allows other useful processing to be performed.

When the use time of the toilet is acquired from the built-in clock 710 (step S110), it is calculated which block of the temporary registration data frame corresponds to the acquired time (step S112), and the toilet use time of the corresponding block is calculated. The value of the number of times is increased by one (step S114). When the value of the number of times of using the toilet is increased by one, the process returns to step S106 again. That is, the CPU 702 executes a standby state or other processing until an interrupt occurs due to the detection of the use of the toilet, and every time the use of the toilet is detected,
The use time of the toilet is acquired from the built-in clock 710 (step S110), and the block position is calculated (step S1).
12), add one to the number of times the toilet in the corresponding block has been used (step S114). When 24 hours have elapsed while repeating such processing, the timer 712 generates an interrupt.

When 24 hours have passed since the start of data storage in the temporary registration data frame, one day's toilet use information stored in the temporary registration data frame is registered in the learning data frame.
As mentioned in the description of FIG. 10, the sanitary device 10 of this embodiment
Can store eight days' worth of data as a learning data frame. Each data is stored data of yesterday, stored data of two days ago, stored data of three days ago, and stored data of eight days ago. It is remembered until. When registering the accumulated data of the temporary registration data frame in the learning data frame, the processing of step S114 is performed so that the accumulated data of yesterday is not overwritten with the accumulated data of the temporary registration data frame. Is shifted by one day. At this time,
The storage data itself eight days ago is discarded because the storage area is not secured, but before that, it is stored together with the past data in a dedicated data frame as follows. That is, the data eight days ago and the data in the dedicated data frame are averaged for each time zone, and the data in the dedicated data frame is updated with the average value. In this way, if data for a predetermined period (for example, 30 days) is accumulated, the past average toilet usage status is accumulated in the dedicated data frame. Although details will be described later, even when there is a time zone in which stored data does not exist due to a power failure or the like, it can be used as substitute data during the power failure time.

After shifting the data of the learning data frame by one day (step S116), the one-day toilet use information stored in the temporary registration data frame is written (step S118). When the above processing is completed, the toilet use information for one day is registered in the learning data frame. C
The PU 702 returns to step S104 again, and
Start accumulating toilet use information for the day.

As described with reference to FIG. 8, the sanitary device 10 of this embodiment can detect the use of the toilet by various methods. In the above-described toilet use information accumulation routine, the use of the toilet is detected by any method and the toilet use information is accumulated in the temporary registration data frame. However, as described below, the use of the toilet may be detected by simultaneously judging signals from various sensors for detecting the use of the toilet.
That is, for example, when the use of the toilet is detected by the water flow sensor 808, the use of the toilet should be detected by the human body sensor 802 at the same time. If the human body sensor 802 detects the use of the toilet, but the seat switch 802 does not detect the use of the toilet, it is not for men's urine or toilet use. It is considered that a false detection was made. By thus taking into account the signals of various sensors for detecting the use of the toilet, it is possible not only to avoid erroneous detection of the use of the toilet, but also to obtain more information.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing a method of simultaneously detecting signals from a plurality of sensors for detecting use of a toilet to avoid erroneous detection and obtain more information. FIG. 12 shows an example in which signals from three types of sensors, that is, a seat switch 802, a water flow sensor 808, and a stool washing switch 810 are simultaneously determined to detect use of a toilet. Of course, the signals are not limited to these three types of sensors, and signals from more sensors may be determined at the same time. For convenience of description, it is assumed here that the water flow sensor 808 is attached to a hand washing pipe, not a toilet washing pipe.

For example, in the case of the combination 1 in FIG. 12, both the seat switch 802, the water flow sensor 808, and the stool cleaning switch 810 are "ON". In other words, since the toilet user uses the water to clean the toilet seat, for example, sitting on the toilet seat and washing his / her hands, the toilet seat can be definitely determined to be in use. Therefore, in the case of the combination 1, the value “1” indicating that the toilet is surely used is set as the judgment value. In the case of the combination 2, the outputs of the sitting switch 802 and the water flow sensor 808 are “ON”, but the output of the washing switch 810 is “OFF”. That is, this corresponds to a state where the user is sitting on the toilet but not performing toilet seat cleaning. It is conceivable that such a state was used for urination of a girl or the toilet is being maintained, and it cannot be determined that the toilet is definitely used. Therefore, in the case of combination 2, the value "0.5" indicating that the certainty of using the toilet is slightly low.
Is the judgment value. In the case of combination 6, the water flow sensor 8
08 is “ON”, but both the sitting switch 802 and the cleaning switch 810 remain “OFF”. Therefore, it is determined that there is a high possibility that the user has washed his hands for toilet maintenance or the like, and the determination value is set to “0”. ". In the case of the combination 8, since none of the sensors detects the use of the toilet, the judgment value is of course "0".

In the aforementioned toilet use information accumulation routine described with reference to FIG. 11, when the use of the toilet is detected,
Although the number of times the toilet is used by the corresponding block is increased by one (step S112), it is possible to determine the likelihood of using the toilet ("judgment value" in FIG. 12) by judging outputs from a plurality of sensors simultaneously. In such a case, such a judgment value is added to the corresponding block instead of the number of times of using the toilet. This makes it possible to detect toilet use with high accuracy. In the example of FIG. 12, as the value indicating the likelihood of using the toilet, a value “1” indicating that the toilet is almost certainly used, and a value “0.
5 ", value" 0 "indicating that it is almost definitely unused
Although the description has been made assuming that the values of the three stages are taken, it is a matter of course that the values of more stages may be taken.

When judging outputs from a plurality of sensors at the same time, whether the toilet was used for stool or for women (hereinafter, the two are collectively referred to as use for stool), Alternatively, it may be determined whether or not they have been used. FIG. 13 shows an example in which a determination is made by distinguishing between heavy use and urine use. Seating switch 802, water flow sensor 808, washing switch 810
In response to the combination of the outputs from, the information indicating whether the toilet was used for heavy use or urine is output together with a judgment value indicating the likelihood of use. For example, in the case of the combination 1, since the outputs of all the sensors are "ON", it can be determined that the toilet has been reliably used for heavy use. Therefore, the judgment value for heavy use is set to “1” and the judgment value for urine is set to “0”. In the case of combination 3, the seat switch 802
Is "ON", the output of the water flow sensor 808 and the output of the cleaning switch 810 are "OFF". As a temporary possibility, it is considered that the toilet was used for girls' urine, but it is difficult to judge that the toilet was used reliably. The value is “0”. In this way, when the probability of use is detected at the same time as the use of the toilet for each of the toilet and urine, the toilet use information is stored while distinguishing between the toilet and the urine. Specifically, each block constituting the above-described “temporary registration data frame” and “learning data frame” (see FIG. 10) includes two pieces of information, i.e., large toilet use information and urinal toilet use information. Remember. As an example,
FIG. 14 conceptually shows that two pieces of toilet use information for heavy use and urine are stored in the learning data frame. The upper data stored in each block in the drawing is an example of toilet use information for heavy use, and the data on the lower side is an example of toilet use information for urine. In the toilet use information accumulation routine (see FIG. 11), the determination value may be added to the corresponding block in the process of step S112 while distinguishing between large and small urine. In this way, if the toilet use information is stored while distinguishing between the large and the small urine, the toilet environment can be finely controlled.

(3) Method of calculating (predicting) toilet use frequency: The sanitary device 10 of the present embodiment predicts the toilet use frequency based on the toilet use information accumulated by using the above-described method. The prediction of the toilet use frequency is performed by performing a predetermined operation described later on the data of the toilet use information accumulated in the learning data frame. The predicted result is stored in an area called “control data frame”, and is stored in the DC control unit 70.
0 performs various controls of the toilet environment based on the prediction result stored in the “control data frame” and the selected control mode.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing the “control data frame” of this embodiment. The “control data frame” divides 24 hours a day into 32 blocks at intervals of 45 minutes, and in each block, a prediction result of the toilet use frequency can be stored. Similar to the temporary registration data frame, each block is given a serial number from 1 to 32. Actually, RAM 7 in DC control unit 700
06, an area is secured, and data is stored in that area. In FIG. 15, the day is divided into 32 blocks at intervals of 45 minutes. However, the present invention is not limited to this.
The division into a larger number of blocks or the division into a smaller number of blocks is the same as in the above-described temporary registration data frame and learning data frame.

The first block of the control data frame (hereinafter referred to as the first block)
The prediction data of the n-th block is referred to as block n) is obtained based on the data for eight days accumulated in block 1 of the learning data frame and the data for eight days accumulated in block 2. Similarly, block 2 of the control data frame
Is obtained based on the data for eight days in block 2 and the data for eight days in block 3 in the learning data frame. The data of the block 32 of the control data frame is obtained based on the data of the block 32 of the learning data frame and the data of the block 1. In FIG. 15, such a relationship between the control data frame and the learning data frame is expressed by shifting the position of the control data frame by a half block with respect to the learning data frame. That is, the block 1 of the control data frame corresponds to the data of the blocks in the two columns of the block 1 and the block 2 of the learning data frame, and the block 2 of the control data frame is the data of the blocks 2 and 3 of the learning data frame. It corresponds to.

As described above, since one block in the control data frame is obtained by using the data of the blocks in the two columns in the learning data frame, it is possible to absorb a slight difference in toilet use time that may occur. . That is, even if the toilet user uses the toilet at approximately the same time every day, it does not mean that the toilet user will use the toilet at exactly the same time. If the time to use the toilet is exactly on the boundary between two blocks, the toilet usage information registered in the learning data frame may be different data even though the toilet is used at almost the same time. obtain. Assuming such a case, the toilet use frequency is predicted with reference to the values of the blocks in the two columns of the learning data frame.

In addition to predicting the frequency of use of the toilet with reference to the values of the blocks in the two columns, for example, when the use of the toilet is frequently detected near the boundary of the block,
The position of the block boundary may be shifted.

In the above embodiment, the position of the control data frame is shifted by half a block with respect to the learning data frame. Similar results can be obtained by using three columns of data (block n-1, block n, and block n + 1) in the control data frame before and after that. By using the learning data frame in a time zone wider than the control data frame in this way, it is possible to absorb a difference in toilet use time.

The CPU 7 in the DC control unit 700 will now be described based on the toilet use information stored in the learning data frame.
A description will be given of a state in which No. 02 predicts the toilet use frequency and writes the prediction result in the corresponding block of the control data frame. FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram showing an enlarged part of the control data frame corresponding to a part of the learning data frame. The upper part of the figure shows the learning data frame, and the lower part shows the control data frame. For example, “X (4,1)” in the learning data frame indicates the value of the toilet use information of the block 4 registered one day ago. For example, F (4) in the control data frame indicates a predicted value of the toilet use frequency written in block 4 of the control data frame.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram of the DC control unit 700.
It is the flowchart which showed the flow of the process in which PU702 predicts toilet use frequency. This routine is executed subsequently when the data stored in the temporary registration data frame is registered in the learning data frame in the toilet use information storage routine (see FIG. 11). That is, when an interrupt is generated every 24 hours by the timer, the CPU
Reference numeral 702 registers the data stored in the temporary registration data frame in the learning data frame, and performs the processing shown in FIG. 17 to predict the toilet use frequency. The built-in clock 710 may, of course, generate an interrupt at a fixed time every day by using a function.

When the toilet use frequency prediction routine is started, first, the control number n is initialized (step S20).
0). As described above, the nth and n + 1 of the learning data frame
The data of the n-th block in the control data frame is obtained based on the data stored in the first block. In order to perform processing for all blocks, step S200
Then, 0 is substituted for the control number n.

After the control number n is initialized, the value of the control number n is increased by one in order to start the processing for the first block of the control data frame (step S202). In the following step S204, the accumulated value Sm1 (1) is calculated from the data for eight days accumulated in the blocks 1 and 2 of the learning data frame using the following equation (1). Sm1 (n) = ΣX (n, m) + ΣX (n + 1, m) (1) Here, the control number n is 1. m is an integer from 1 to 8. That is, the equation (1) is expressed by the block 1 of the learning data frame.
And the data ΣX (1, m) for eight days accumulated in the block 2 and the data ΣX (2, m) for eight days accumulated in the block 2. The cumulative value Sm1 (1) thus obtained is a value corresponding to the number of times the toilet has been used in the past eight days in the time zone corresponding to block 1 and the time zone corresponding to block 2.

When the accumulated value Sm1 (1) is obtained, two values are added to the threshold values th1 and th2 (th1 <th2).
By comparing with, the frequency of use of the toilet is divided into three cases: high frequency, medium frequency, and low frequency. First, the cumulative value S
m1 (1) is compared with th1 (step S206), and when the accumulated value Sm1 (1) is smaller than th1, a value “0” indicating that the toilet use frequency is small is substituted into F (1) (step S214). . When the cumulative value Sm1 (1) is greater than th1, the cumulative value Sm1 (1) is compared with th2 (step S208), and when the cumulative value Sm1 (1) is greater than th2, a value indicating that the toilet use frequency is high. "2" is substituted for F (1) (step S210). If the cumulative value Sm1 (1) is larger than th1 and smaller than th2, a value “1” indicating that the usage frequency is medium is substituted for F (1) (step S212).

As is clear from the above description, the result of the judgment on the toilet use frequency differs depending on the value selected as the threshold value. That is, by improving the method of selecting the threshold value, a more comfortable toilet environment can be controlled. The method of selecting a threshold in the present embodiment will be described later in detail.

When the toilet use frequency of the block 1 in the control data frame is determined in this way, it is determined whether or not all the blocks have been determined (step S216). Here, since the control data frame is composed of 32 blocks, unprocessed blocks remain until the control number n becomes 32. If unprocessed blocks remain, the process returns to step S202 to perform a series of subsequent processes on the next block.

When the toilet use frequency is determined for all the blocks, the toilet use frequency prediction routine is terminated, and C
The PU 702 starts storing the toilet use information again (see FIG. 11).

In the above description, the cumulative value Sm1 (n) is calculated using one calculation formula, but a plurality of calculation formulas can be used. When a plurality of calculation formulas are used, it is possible to determine the usage frequency in detail. Hereinafter, a method of determining the toilet use frequency using a plurality of calculation formulas will be described.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing the flow of a process for determining the toilet use frequency using two formulas as an example.

When the toilet use frequency prediction routine is started, the control number n is first initialized (step S23).
0), the value of the control number n is increased by one, and the processing of block 1 is started (step S232). Subsequently, the accumulated value Sm is calculated from the data in the learning data frame using the above-described equation (1).
1 (n) is calculated (step S234). The cumulative value Sm1 (n) obtained by the equation (1) is a value corresponding to the number of times of use of the toilet stored in the two blocks of the learning data frame.

When the cumulative value Sm1 (n) is calculated by the equation (1), the cumulative value Sm2 (n) is then calculated by using the following equation (2).
(N) is calculated (step S236). Sm2 (n) = ΣX (n−1, m) + ΣX (n, m) + ΣX (n + 1, m) + ΣX (n + 2, m) (2) That is, the cumulative value Sm1 ( n) is before and after 2
This is a value obtained by accumulating the values of the blocks in the column (see FIG. 16), but the accumulated value Sm2 (n) obtained by Expression (2)
Is a value obtained by accumulating the values of blocks in a total of four columns including outer blocks. Therefore, Sm1 (n) ≦ S
The relationship m2 (n) always holds.

When the cumulative values Sm1 (n) and Sm2 (n) are obtained, the larger one of the cumulative value Sm2 (n) and the threshold value t
h1 (step S238), and the accumulated value Sm2
If (n) is smaller than the threshold th1, a value “0” indicating that the toilet use frequency is low is substituted for F (n) (step S240). Here, the threshold value is described as being the same as the value described in FIG. 17, but a newly set value may be used, and th1 and th2 may be the same value.

If the cumulative value Sm2 (n) is larger than the threshold value th1, the smaller cumulative value Sm1 (n) is compared with the threshold value th2 (step S242).
When 1 (n) is larger than th2, a value “2” indicating that the frequency of using the toilet is large is substituted for F (1) (step S244). If not, the frequency of use of the toilet is determined to be medium, and a value “1” indicating that the frequency of use of the toilet is medium is substituted into F (1) (step S24).
6).

When the toilet use frequency of the block n in the control data frame is determined in this way, it is determined whether or not all the blocks have been determined (step S248). If unprocessed blocks remain, the process returns to step S232 and returns to step S232. The following series of processing is performed for the block No., and if the processing for all blocks has been completed, the toilet use frequency prediction routine ends.

As described above, the value obtained by accumulating the data of the blocks in the four columns and the value obtained by accumulating the data of the blocks in the two columns are two.
If you use the value of the type to predict the frequency of toilet use,
There are the following advantages. First, since the accumulated values of the blocks for four columns are used, it is possible to make a stable prediction that is hardly affected by the difference in the toilet use time. On the other hand, 2
Since the cumulative value of the blocks for the rows is used, it is possible to make an appropriate prediction even when there is a time zone in which the toilet is used in a short time.

In the above description, equation (2) accumulates data of four columns of blocks. However, the number of blocks to be accumulated is not limited to four columns. For example, data of three columns of blocks may be accumulated. Alternatively, data of blocks in five columns may be accumulated.

In the calculation according to the formula (1) or (2), the data of each block in the learning data frame is accumulated with the same weight, but the data of each block may be accumulated with different weights. For example, the following equation (3) may be used instead of the above equation (1), or the following equation (4) may be used instead of the above equation (2). Sm3 (n) = ΣX (n, m) + Σk ・ X (n + 1, m) (3) Sm4 (n) = ΣX (n-1, m) + Σk ・ X (n, m) + Σk '・ X (N + 1, m) + ΣX (n + 2, m) (4) Here, k and k ′ are weight counts, and are numbers larger than 1. As described above, the value of the block n of the control data frame (F (n)) is the value of the block n of the learning data frame (X
(N, m)) and the value of block (n + 1) (X (n + 1,
m)) is determined based on the accumulated value. X (n, m) is data that is delayed in time by half a block with respect to F (n), and X (n + 1, m) is data that precedes by a half block. Therefore, for example, if the value of F (n) is determined using (Equation 3), the value is determined with a specific gravity relative to the temporally preceding data, and the control is always performed earlier and more preferably. Is obtained.

Similarly, if the value of F (n) is determined by using (Equation 4), the value of F (n) is determined with the specific gravity given to the data of the blocks that are temporally adjacent to each other, and can be determined appropriately.

As described above, it is possible to more comfortably control the toilet environment by performing calculations with different weights for each block of the learning data frame. The preferred effect can also be obtained by giving different weights depending on the type.

If the case described using the flowchart of FIG. 18 is taken as an example, the following equations (5) and (6) may be used instead of equations (3) and (4). Sm5 (n) = Σα (m) · X (n, m) + Σα (m) · X (n + 1, m) (5) Sm6 (n) = Σα (m) · X (n−1, m) ) + Σk （α (m) ・ X (n, m) + Σk '・ α (m) ・ X (n + 1, m) + Σα (m) ・ X (n + 2, m) (6) where control number m Is an integer from 1 to 8 and is used to identify how many days ago data was accumulated. α
(M) is a weight coefficient.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram showing the concept of setting the value of the weight coefficient α (m). In FIG. 19, the weighting coefficient α (m) is obtained by the calculation formula α (m) = α1 (m) + α2 (m).
α1 (m) and α2 (m) have the following meanings, respectively.

For example, there is a case where the life pattern is suddenly changed, such as when the school enters summer vacation or the place of commuting is changed. In order to quickly respond to such sudden changes in life patterns and appropriately predict toilet use frequency, it is appropriate to evaluate recent toilet use information with heavy weight and old use information with light weight. It is. α1
(M) is a weight coefficient in consideration of such a situation. As shown in an example in FIG. 19, the weight of recently accumulated data is set to be large, and the weight of old data is set to be small.

Also, as it is considered that there is a different life pattern between weekdays and holidays, it is expected that the life pattern usually tends to repeat the same pattern with a cycle of one week. α2 (m) is a weight coefficient in consideration of such a fact, and as shown in an example in FIG. 19, the weight of the accumulated data seven days before is set large.

In consideration of the above, the weight coefficient α (m) is α1
(M) and α2 (m) are set to a value obtained by adding them. By doing so, it is possible to predict the frequency of use of the toilet, in addition to quickly responding to changes in lifestyle and appropriately responding to periodic changes appearing in a normal lifestyle pattern. In the example described above, the weighting coefficient α is described as the sum of two values α1 and α2, but is not limited to this. That is, a sum of three or more weight coefficients may be used, or a single weight coefficient may be used.

(4) Threshold setting method: In the above description,
Although the thresholds th1 and th2 are set in advance, it is possible to make the prediction of the toilet use frequency more appropriate by improving the way of setting the thresholds as described above. In the present embodiment, it is possible to set the threshold value using various methods, and each threshold value setting method will be described below.

A first method of setting a threshold is a method of setting a threshold according to the number of times of use of a toilet per day. It seems that some toilet users rarely use the toilet or others use it frequently. For example, even if the number of times the toilet is used during a certain period of time, it is equivalent to a period of high frequency use for a small family, but to a period of low frequency use for a family with a large number of people. Such a case may occur. Therefore, it is desirable to change the setting of the threshold value according to the total number of times of use of the toilets per day, and to equalize the toilet use frequency set in the control data frame.

More specifically, the setting of the threshold value is changed as follows. First, the average number of times of use of the toilets per day is obtained from the toilet use information for 8 days accumulated in the learning data frame. Next, the threshold value is corrected with reference to the table shown in FIG. For example, a household whose average number of times of use of a toilet is 5 or less is considered to be a household that rarely uses a toilet, so a value obtained by subtracting 2 from the current threshold value is set as a new threshold value. By doing so, it is possible to reliably predict the use even when the toilet is rarely used. In addition, a household whose average number of times of use of the toilet is 12 to 15 times is considered to be a household that uses the toilet relatively frequently, and thus a value obtained by adding 1 to the current threshold value is set as a new threshold value. As described above, if the threshold value is corrected according to the average number of times of use of the toilet, it is possible to perform prediction according to the type of use of the toilet for each household.

The second method of setting the thresholds is a method of setting the respective threshold values so that the ratio of the frequency of using the toilet becomes a predetermined ratio. In the first method described above, the value of the threshold is corrected uniformly. For example, two thresholds th1,
When th2 is set, it has been described that two thresholds are corrected simultaneously. However, if the threshold is changed for each threshold as described below, it is possible to more appropriately predict the use of the toilet according to the toilet usage status of each household. An example of the second method for setting the threshold will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 21 is an explanatory diagram showing an enlarged part of the control data frame in which the toilet use frequency is written. On the right side of the figure, the number of blocks predicted to use the toilet frequently and the number of blocks predicted to use the toilet less frequently are also shown. Here, the toilet use frequency is calculated using the set thresholds th1 and th2. FIG. 21 shows three cases as examples. Case 1 is a case in which toilet use frequency is predicted to be high in most of the time periods, and there is almost no time period predicted to be low in use frequency. In other words, here, the control data frame is composed of 32 blocks, so that the blocks with a small toilet use frequency (F (n) = 0) are less than 10% of the total, and the blocks with a large use frequency (F (n) = 0).
The block of (n) = 2) occupies two thirds or more of the whole. In such a case, the threshold value th1 for determining whether the usage frequency is low or medium and the threshold value th2 for determining whether the usage frequency is medium or high are both increased, so that a more appropriate toilet The distribution of usage frequency is improved. That is, increasing the value of the threshold th1 increases the ratio of the toilet use frequency low, and increasing the value of the threshold th2 decreases the ratio of the toilet use frequency high.

Case 2 is a case where the ratio of toilet use frequency is predicted to be too small. In other words, although the frequency of use of the toilet is predicted to be low in almost two-thirds of the entire time period, the rate of prediction that the frequency of use is high is not particularly high. In such a case, by decreasing only the value of the threshold value th1, the ratio of each use frequency can be made closer to an appropriate value.

Case 3 is a case where the ratio of the toilet use frequency is low and large, and the ratio during the use frequency is low as a result. In such a case, the ratio of each use frequency can be improved to an appropriate value by decreasing the threshold th1 and increasing the threshold th2.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart showing the flow of a process for correcting a threshold value based on the concept described with reference to FIG. Hereinafter, description will be given according to the flowchart. At first, the toilet use frequency is predicted for each of the 32 blocks constituting the control data frame using the set thresholds th1 and th2 (step S30).
0). Any of the above-described methods can be applied to the prediction of the toilet use frequency.

Next, the number N1 of blocks predicted to have a low toilet use frequency is counted (step S302), and N1 is compared with a preset reference value Cr1u (step S304). That is, it is determined whether the number of blocks predicted to be infrequently used is not too large. N
If 1 is greater than the reference value Cr1u, it is determined that there are too many blocks whose usage frequency is low, and the threshold value th1 is set to a predetermined value d.
The value reduced by th is set as a new threshold th1 (step S306).

When N1 is smaller than the reference value Cr1u,
This time, a preset reference value Cr1L is compared with N1 (step S308). That is, it is determined whether the number of blocks predicted to be used less frequently is not too small. If N1 is smaller than the reference value Cr1L, it is determined that there are too few blocks whose usage frequency is low, and a value obtained by increasing the threshold th1 by a predetermined value dth is set as a new threshold th1 (step S310). N1 is the reference value Cr
If it is larger than 1L, it can be determined that the value of the threshold th1 is an appropriate threshold. If it is determined that the threshold value th1 is appropriate, the computer that performs the threshold value changing process (in this embodiment, the CPU 70 in the DC control unit 700).
A flag indicating that th1 is OK is set in the register in 2) (step S312).

The above processing is also performed on the blocks predicted to be used frequently in the toilet (step S314).
To step S324), it is determined whether or not both thresholds th1 and th2 are determined to be appropriate (step S3).
26). If any one of the thresholds has not reached an appropriate value, the process returns to step S300 to repeat a series of subsequent processes. By repeating such processing, both thresholds are finally corrected to appropriate values, and the threshold setting processing ends. In FIG. 22, in order to avoid complicating the description, it has been described that the processing after step S300 is repeated if either of the threshold values is not yet an appropriate value. If the value has been corrected, the corresponding processing may be skipped.

In the learning of toilet use information described above, a day is divided into 32 blocks every 45 minutes.
The description has been made on the assumption that the number of times the toilet is used in each block is stored. Also, in calculating the toilet use frequency, it has been described that the toilet use frequency is predicted for each block. However, as mentioned above, it is also possible to store the time when the use of the toilet is detected as the toilet use information, and calculate the toilet use frequency every moment based on such use information. The time when the toilet is used is stored, and the frequency of using the toilet can be calculated for each time period. In the following, a method of storing the toilet use time and calculating the toilet use frequency based on the toilet use information will be described.

FIG. 23 is an explanatory diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a method of storing the time when the toilet is used as the toilet use information and predicting the frequency of use of the toilet every moment. In FIG. 23, for simplification of the description, the stored toilet use information is assumed to be for three days. FIG. 23A schematically illustrates a state in which the toilet use time is stored in the learning data frame. ▽ in the figure
The toilet is used at the time indicated by. Since the toilet is considered to be used at approximately the same time every day, it can be considered that there is a high possibility that the toilet will be used again around the time when the use of the toilet was detected in the past.
In addition, it can be considered that the possibility of using the toilet again decreases as the distance from the time when the toilet is used is reduced. That is, a weighting factor having a distribution in which the weight decreases as the time goes away from the time when the toilet is used is considered, and it is considered that the toilet is likely to be used again at a time when the value of the coefficient becomes large. be able to.

Based on such a concept, FIG.
For each of the toilet use times stored in
FIG. 2 schematically shows the distribution of the weighting factors.
3 (b). By accumulating such weighting factors for all toilet use information stored in the learning data frame, it is possible to calculate the toilet use frequency every moment as shown in FIG.

In the above description, the toilet use frequency for one day is calculated at a time in consideration of the distribution of the weighting factors for all the stored toilet use information, but as shown in FIG. It is also possible to calculate the toilet use frequency every moment. For example, it is assumed that the toilet use frequency at the time indicated by Δ in FIG. 23D is calculated. The time difference between the time at which the toilet use frequency is to be calculated (calculated time) and each toilet use time stored in the learning data frame is obtained, and the reciprocal of the time difference is accumulated for all the toilet use times. The obtained accumulated value is used as the toilet use frequency at the calculation time. Of course, the value to be accumulated is not limited to the reciprocal of the time difference, and various values for properly calculating the toilet use frequency, such as using the reciprocal of the square of the time difference, may be accumulated.

FIG. 23 shows an example of a method of storing the time of using the toilet and calculating the frequency of use of the toilet every moment based on the stored time. However, the control state of the toilet environment is changed every moment. Even if it is meaningless, an example of a method for utilizing the instantaneous usage frequency for toilet environment control will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 24A schematically illustrates a state in which the toilet use time is stored in the learning data frame. As in the case of FIG. 23, in order to avoid complication of the figure, it is assumed that toilet learning information for three days is stored in the learning data frame. A weight coefficient is applied to each of the stored toilet use times in the same manner as in FIG. 23B to calculate the instant toilet use frequency (see FIG. 24B). While the distribution of the toilet use frequency thus obtained exceeds a predetermined frequency (large), the control data frame F
(N + 1), a control data frame F (n + 2) during a predetermined frequency (medium) below the predetermined frequency (large), a control data frame F (n + 3) during a period below the predetermined frequency (medium),
The control data frame F (n + 4) is used while the frequency exceeds the predetermined frequency (medium) and lower than the predetermined frequency (large), and the control data frame F (n + 5) is used while the frequency exceeds the predetermined frequency (large) again. The control data frame is determined according to the frequency, and the toilet environment described later is controlled according to the control data frame.

In the method of calculating the toilet use frequency at each time shown in FIG. 23D, the toilet use frequency at each time is calculated every five minutes (f (n-1), f (n), f (n). n + 1)
…) F (n) = {f (n−1) + k · f (n) + k ′ · f (n + 1)} / 3 (8) where k and k ′ are weight counts and are smaller than 1. Number. Therefore, for example, if the value of F (n) is determined using (Equation 8), the value is determined with a specific gravity relative to the temporally preceding data, and the control is always performed earlier and more preferably. Is obtained. The time interval of the calculation is arbitrary. For example, the toilet use frequency at each time may be calculated every 45 minutes instead of every 5 minutes. According to this example, the control contents of the toilet environment are reviewed according to each calculation interval.

C. Content of control of toilet environment based on learning result The sanitary device 10 of the present embodiment controls the toilet environment based on the toilet usage status learned by the above-described method and the settings of the auxiliary operation unit 18. In the sanitary device 10 of the present embodiment, by changing the control mode set by the operator of the auxiliary operation unit 18, it is possible to provide a restroom user with a comfortable restroom environment while further saving energy consumption. It is possible to plan. Hereinafter, how the control mode is set in the auxiliary operation unit 18 and how the sanitary device 10 of the present embodiment controls the toilet environment will be described.

(1) First embodiment: FIG. 25 (a) is an explanatory diagram showing the auxiliary operation section 18 of the sanitary device 10 of the first embodiment. As shown in the figure, a power switch 900 and an adjustment knob 90 for adjusting the temperature of the heating toilet seat are provided on the auxiliary operation unit 18.
2, an adjustment knob 904 for adjusting the temperature of the washing water for washing the local part of the human body, an adjustment knob 906 for adjusting the temperature of the hot air for drying the washed local part, and an adjustment knob 908 for adjusting the heating temperature of the toilet room. And comfortable driving switch 91
2 and an energy saving operation switch 914 are provided.
Comfortable operation switch 912 and energy saving operation switch 914
Is a switch for switching the control mode of the sanitary device 10. When the comfortable driving switch 912 is selected,
The sanitary device 10 performs control in pursuit of the comfort of the toilet environment even when the energy consumption increases, and when the energy saving operation switch 914 is selected, the energy consumption increases even if the comfort of the toilet environment is somewhat sacrificed. Control not to be performed. Comfortable operation switch 912 and energy saving operation switch 9
14, one of them is always selected. That is, if the comfortable operation switch 912 is selected, the setting of the energy saving operation is automatically canceled, and if the energy saving operation switch 914 is selected, the setting of the comfortable operation is canceled.

When the comfortable operation switch 912 is selected, it is considered that the operator of the auxiliary operation section 18 strongly demands the comfort of the toilet environment. Therefore, regardless of the prediction result of the toilet use frequency, the temperature of the heated toilet seat, the washing water, and the like is controlled to the temperature set by the operator. Even if the frequency of use of the toilet is predicted to be low, it is not at all possible that the toilet will not be used during that time, so the toilet seat and flush water should be used so that the toilet can be used comfortably at any time. Is controlled to the set temperature.
The set temperature of the toilet seat, washing water, etc. can be adjusted by using the adjustment knob 902 described above.
Through 908.

When the energy saving operation switch 914 is selected, the operator of the auxiliary operation unit 18 considers that the comfort may be slightly sacrificed in order to avoid wasting the electric power consumption. Seem. Therefore, the temperature is controlled to the temperature set by the operator during a time period in which the frequency of use of the toilet is predicted to be high, but is controlled to a temperature low enough that the toilet user does not feel uncomfortable in other time periods. The temperature at which the toilet user does not feel uncomfortable is, for example, 26 ° C. for the heated toilet seat, 33 ° C. for the flush water, and about 15 ° C. for the toilet room. Is set at the time of shipment.

FIG. 26 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the sanitary device 10 controls the toilet environment based on the control mode set by the operator and the prediction result of the toilet use frequency in the first mode. The sanitary device 10 of this embodiment controls various temperatures such as a toilet seat temperature, a washing water temperature, and a hot air temperature. FIG. 26 shows, as an example, the washing water temperature, the toilet seat temperature, and the hot air for indoor heating. Shows the temperature. The upper part of FIG. 26 shows the above-described control data frame, the lower part of the control data frame shows the control temperature of the wash water, and the lower part of the control temperature shows the control temperature of the toilet seat. A predicted value of the toilet use frequency is written in the control data frame. The predicted value “0” indicates a state where the toilet usage frequency is low, the predicted value “1” indicates a state where the usage frequency is high, and the predicted value “2” indicates a state where the usage frequency is high.

When the control mode selected by the auxiliary operation unit 18 is comfortable driving, control is performed so that the washing water temperature always becomes the set temperature regardless of the setting of the predicted value in the control data frame. In other words, when comfortable driving is selected, the operator seems to want to control the comfort of the toilet environment with priority over energy saving, so that the toilet seat temperature and the flush water temperature are set. The temperature is always controlled so that the temperature becomes high.

On the other hand, when the control mode selected by the auxiliary operation unit 18 is the energy-saving operation, the time zone in which the predicted value of the control data frame is “2” (toilet use frequency is high) and the time zone immediately before the time zone In the time zone corresponding to the control data frame, the temperature is controlled to be the set temperature, but in other time zones, the washing water temperature is controlled to 33 ° C. That is, when the energy-saving operation is selected as the control mode, it is considered that the user desires to save energy even if the comfort is slightly sacrificed. In the time period corresponding to the immediately preceding control data frame, control is performed so that the temperature becomes the set temperature, and in the time period when it is predicted that it will not be used very often or when it is predicted that it will be used almost no time, the toilet By controlling the temperature of the washing water to a temperature low enough that the user does not feel uncomfortable, energy is saved.

As described above, the sanitary device 10 of this embodiment is
The control content of the toilet environment is changed based on the control mode set in the auxiliary operation unit 18 and the learning result of the toilet usage status. In other words, such an operation of the sanitary device 10 of this embodiment is interpreted as interpreting the intention of the setter who has set the control mode in the auxiliary operation unit 18 based on the learning result of the toilet usage status. You can also. In this way, since the intent of the setter is interpreted based on the learning result, it is possible to further save energy without impairing the comfort of the toilet environment.

(2) Second embodiment: FIG. 25 (b) is an explanatory view showing the auxiliary operation section 18 of the sanitary device 10 of the second embodiment. Unlike the auxiliary operation unit 18 of the first embodiment, the auxiliary operation unit 18 of the second embodiment is provided with two energy-saving operation switches, a weak energy-saving operation switch 916 and a strong energy-saving operation switch 918. If the operator of the auxiliary operation unit 18 wants to prioritize the comfort of the toilet environment over the saving of energy, the operator selects the comfortable operation switch 912. To save energy, the comfort of the toilet environment is reduced. If it is considered that it may be slightly sacrificed, the weak energy saving operation switch 916 is selected. If it is considered that the comfort of the toilet environment may be sacrificed considerably, the strong energy saving operation switch 91 is selected.
Select 8. The comfortable operation switch 912, the weak energy saving operation switch 916, and the strong energy saving operation switch 918
One of the switches is always selected. That is, when any one of the three switches is selected, the previously selected switch is automatically released.

FIG. 27 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the toilet environment such as the washing water temperature and the toilet seat temperature is controlled based on the set control mode and the prediction result of the toilet use frequency in the second mode. It is. The upper part of FIG. 27 shows the above-described control data frame, the lower part of the control data frame shows the control temperature of the washing water, and the lower part of the control temperature shows the control temperature of the toilet seat. If the control mode selected by the auxiliary operation unit 18 is comfortable driving, control is performed so that the washing water temperature always becomes the set temperature regardless of the setting of the predicted value in the control data frame (solid line in the figure). reference). On the other hand, when the control mode selected by the auxiliary operation unit 18 is the low energy saving operation, the predicted time of the control data frame is “2” (toilet use is large) and the immediately preceding control data frame. In the time zone corresponding to the above, the temperature is controlled to be the set temperature, but in the other time zones, the washing water temperature is controlled to be 33 ° C. (see the broken line in the figure). Further, when the strong energy saving operation is selected, in a time period in which the predicted value “0” of the control data frame (the frequency of use of the toilet) is continuous, a time zone of the predicted value “0” of the last control data frame is used. Except for the above, the heater power of the toilet seat and the washing water in the time zone of the other predicted value "0" is cut off (see the dashed line in the figure). In other words, when the strong energy saving operation is selected as the control mode, the operator seems to think that the comfort of the toilet environment may be sacrificed considerably in order to save energy. In a time zone when it is not expected to be used, the toilet seat and the heater power of the washing water are cut off to further save energy. In addition, even when the strong energy saving operation is selected, the temperature is controlled to be the set temperature in the time period when the toilet is expected to be used frequently, and the time period and the control when the use is not expected to be used very often are set. Predicted value of data frame "0"
In the time zone of the predicted value “0” of the last control data frame in the continuous time zone, the flush water temperature is controlled to a temperature low enough that the toilet user does not feel uncomfortable.

As described above, the operator of the auxiliary operation unit 18 selects any one of the strong energy saving operation, the weak energy saving operation, and the comfortable operation according to the degree to which energy saving is desired, and selects the content of the toilet usage condition. Since the interpretation is performed based on the learning result and the toilet environment is controlled based on the interpretation result, it is possible to perform appropriate control according to the intention of the operator. The threshold value of the control data may be changed depending on each control mode.

(3) Third aspect: In the above-mentioned second aspect, only two levels of “strong” or “weak” can be selected to save energy, but it is also possible to select steplessly. . FIG. 25C is an explanatory diagram showing the auxiliary operation unit 18 of the sanitary device 10 as an example of such a third aspect. The auxiliary operation unit 18 of the third embodiment is provided with an adjustment knob (hereinafter, referred to as an energy-saving knob) 922 for setting the degree of energy saving, in addition to the comfortable operation switch 912 and the energy-saving operation switch 914. . As the energy saving operation switch 914 is selected and the energy saving knob 922 is turned in the “strong” direction, the setting is such that energy saving is strongly desired. Conversely, as the energy saving knob 922 is turned in the “weak” direction, the setting is such that the comfort of the toilet environment is prioritized over energy saving.

As described in the second embodiment, when the frequency of using the toilet is high, the toilet seat and the washing water are controlled to the set temperature, and when the frequency of using the toilet is high, the toilet user does not feel discomfort. If the frequency of use of the toilet is low, the heater power for the toilet seat, washing water, etc. is cut off. Therefore, in the third embodiment, by changing the ratio of the predicted value of the frequency of use of the toilet according to the degree of energy saving set by the energy saving knob 922, the comfort of the toilet environment and the saving of energy according to the operator's intention are achieved. It is trying to balance with. As a method of changing the ratio of the predicted value, for example, the method described above with reference to FIG. 20 or FIG. 22 can be applied.

FIG. 28 is an explanatory diagram conceptually showing an example in which the ratio of the predicted value of the toilet use frequency is changed according to the setting of the energy saving knob 922. As shown in the figure, when the energy-saving knob 922 is set to the "weakest" side, the ratio of the toilet use frequency is set to, for example, about 2/3, and the remaining ratio is set to the toilet use frequency. In this case, the temperature of the toilet seat, the washing water, and the like is controlled to the set temperature in about 2/3 of the day, so that the toilet can be used comfortably. In the remaining one-third of the time period when it is considered that the toilet is not used much, the temperature is controlled to be lower than the set temperature in order to save energy, but the temperature is not low enough to cause discomfort to the toilet user. Therefore, the comfort of the toilet environment is not impaired.

As the setting of the energy-saving knob 922 is changed from “weak” to “strong”, the ratio of the frequency of using the toilet is decreased, and the ratio of the frequency of using the toilet is increased. When the energy-saving knob 922 exceeds the vicinity of the middle between “weak” and “strong”, a period of low toilet use frequency appears, and as the setting is further approached to the “strong” side, the ratio of low toilet use frequency increases.

When the setting of the energy-saving knob 922 is set to the most "strong" side, the operator of the auxiliary operation unit 18 desires to save as much energy as possible without significantly impairing the toilet environment. I think that the. Therefore, the ratio of the frequency of using the toilet is set to, for example, about 1/4, the rate of the frequency of using the toilet is set to about 1/4, and the remaining half is set to the frequency of using the small toilet. By doing so, the heater power of the toilet seat and the washing water is cut off in about half of the day when it is expected that the toilet will not be used relatively, so that the energy can be largely saved. Since the temperature of the toilet seat and the temperature of the washing water are controlled to the set temperature during the time when the frequency of using the toilet is the highest, the toilet can be used comfortably. In addition, during periods when toilet use is not very frequent, the temperature of the toilet seat and washing water is controlled to a low temperature that does not make the toilet user uncomfortable, so the energy of the toilet environment is not significantly impaired and the energy Savings can be achieved.

In FIG. 28, according to the setting of the energy-saving knob 922, the ratio of the large, medium, and small toilet use frequency is set to change continuously. However, as described above, since there are only 32 time zones in the control data frame, it is not always possible to continuously change the ratio of the toilet use frequency as shown in FIG. In such a case, the values of the thresholds th1 and th2 are determined so that the ratio of the toilet use frequency is closest to the ratio shown in FIG.

(4) Fourth aspect: In the first to third aspects described above, the control temperature of the toilet seat and the washing water is changed according to the predicted value of the toilet use frequency. However, the toilet use frequency can be considered as an index indicating the time until the next use of the toilet. That is, it can be considered that a large toilet use frequency represents a short time until the next use of the toilet, and a small toilet use frequency represents a long time until the next use of the toilet.
In the fourth mode of the present embodiment, the predicted value of the toilet use frequency is regarded as an index indicating the time until the next use of the toilet, and the toilet is used as follows in accordance with the intention of the operator of the auxiliary operation unit 18 as follows. I control the environment.

As the simplest example, the auxiliary operation unit 18 has a configuration shown in FIG. 25A, that is, a comfortable operation switch 912 and an energy saving operation switch 914 are provided as switches for setting a control mode. The case where only one is selected will be described. When the comfortable operation switch 912 is selected, it is considered that the operator of the auxiliary operation unit 18 always desires a comfortable toilet environment, and thus the temperature of the toilet seat, the washing water, and the like always becomes the set temperature. Control. When the energy saving operation switch 914 is selected, it is considered that the toilet environment may be somewhat sacrificed in order to save energy. Therefore, the temperature of the toilet seat, the washing water, and the like are controlled as follows in order to achieve both the comfort of the toilet environment and the saving of energy.

FIG. 29 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a method for controlling the temperature of the toilet seat, the washing water, etc. according to the predicted value of the frequency of use of the toilet in the fourth mode. In the fourth mode, it is possible to achieve both the comfort of the toilet environment and the saving of energy by repeatedly turning on and off the power of the heater such as the toilet seat and the washing water. For example, in the time zone where it is predicted that the toilet is being used frequently (the predicted value in the control data frame is “1”) and in the time zone immediately before that, the temperature of the toilet seat and the washing water is set while the toilet is being used. However, when the use of the toilet is no longer detected, the heater power supply such as the toilet seat and washing water is temporarily turned off, and the energization control for 2 minutes is started so that the temperature reaches the set temperature 10 minutes later. . Here, the elapsed time until the control is restarted is determined based on the toilet use information for the past eight days accumulated in the learning data frame. That is, if the average number of times of use of the toilets in the past eight days in the time period when the frequency of use of the toilet is predicted to be medium is determined to be, for example, four, one time period corresponds to 45 minutes. In the time zone, toilets will be used every 45/4 ≒ 11 minutes. Therefore, after a margin of one minute, ten minutes after the detection of the use of the toilet, it is predicted that the toilet will be used soon, and the control of the temperature of the toilet seat, the washing water, etc. is started.

Similarly, the toilet use frequency is predicted to be large (control data frame predicted value "2") and the time period immediately before it, or the toilet use frequency is small (control data frame predicted value "0"). Similarly, when the use of the toilet is no longer detected during the service period, the heater power for the toilet seat, washing water, etc. is once turned off, and the energization control is restarted every time the time calculated based on the average number of times the toilet has been used. Then, the temperatures of the toilet seat and the washing water are controlled to a preset temperature.

FIG. 30 is an explanatory view showing another example of the method for controlling the temperature of the toilet seat, the washing water, etc. according to the predicted value of the toilet use frequency in the fourth mode. In the example shown in FIG. 30, the temperature of the toilet seat, the washing water, etc. is controlled to the set temperature during use of the toilet, but when the use of the toilet is no longer detected, the control target temperature is temporarily lowered to room temperature. Thereafter, the target temperature is made to approach the set temperature over a predetermined time. As a result, immediately after the use of the toilet is no longer detected, the heater power such as the toilet seat and the washing water is turned off, but as the target temperature increases, the heater power is turned on from a certain time to warm the toilet seat and the washing water. . Here, the predetermined time until the target temperature returns from the room temperature to the set temperature is as shown in FIG.
In the same manner as described above, the following is set according to the predicted value of the toilet use frequency. For example, if it is determined that the average number of times of use of the toilet during the past eight days in the time period predicted to be during the toilet use frequency and the immediately preceding time period is four, one time period corresponds to 45 minutes, It can be considered that the toilet is used about every 11 minutes during that time. Therefore, control is performed so that the temperature of the toilet seat, the washing water and the like reaches the set temperature 11 minutes after the toilet is used.

However, since the time thus obtained until the next use of the toilet is an average time, it is possible that the toilet is used earlier. However, even if the toilet was used a little earlier,
Since it is considered that the temperature is controlled so as to be close to the set temperature, the toilet user does not feel uncomfortable.

Similarly, in the time zone where the toilet usage frequency is predicted to be high (the predicted value of the control data frame is “2”) or the toilet usage frequency is low (the predicted value of the control data frame is “0”), the use of the toilet is similarly performed. When the detection is no longer performed, the control target temperature of the toilet seat, the washing water, and the like is temporarily reduced to room temperature, and then gradually increased to the set temperature. It is considered that the time from when the toilet is used until the next time it is used is short in the time zone where it is predicted that the frequency of toilet use is high and the time immediately before that, so the target temperature should be returned to the set temperature promptly. On the other hand, it is considered that the time until the next use of the toilet is long in the time period when it is predicted that the frequency of use of the toilet is low (excluding one before the time period in which the frequency of use is medium and high). Therefore, the target temperature is gradually returned to the set temperature over a long period of time.

As described above, in the fourth mode, when the comfortable operation switch 912 of the auxiliary operation section 18 is selected, the operator can comfortably use the toilet even if it wastes energy. Therefore, in order to perform control according to the operator's intention, the temperature of the toilet seat or the like is controlled to be kept at the set temperature. Further, when the energy saving operation switch 914 is selected, the operator may wish to save energy even if the comfort of the toilet environment is somewhat impaired. In order to perform the control, the next use time of the toilet is predicted based on the learning result, and the control of the toilet environment is started when the use time of the toilet approaches.

In order to ensure a comfortable toilet environment,
The temperature of the toilet seat or the like may always be controlled in a time period in which the frequency of use of the toilet is predicted to be high. In addition, in order to save energy, the heater power supply is turned off to suspend the temperature control of the toilet seat, the washing water, etc., or the toilet user does not feel uncomfortable during the time period when it is predicted that the frequency of use of the toilet is low. The temperature may be controlled to a low level. Even in this case, it is possible to save energy while securing a comfortable toilet environment to some extent, so that control according to the operator's intention can be performed.

In the fourth embodiment described above, after detecting the use of the toilet, the control target temperature is temporarily lowered to room temperature. However, a suitable temperature may be set according to the calculated value of the toilet use frequency, and after detecting the use of the toilet, the control target temperature may be reduced to the set temperature. For example, if it is calculated that the toilet use frequency is high, the control target temperature is slightly lowered. Thereafter, the target temperature is gradually increased. However, when the frequency of using the toilet is high, the target temperature is slightly decreased, and thus the target temperature is quickly returned to the set temperature. Conversely, if it is predicted that the frequency of use of the toilet is low, the target temperature is lowered to almost the room temperature. In this case, since it takes a long time for the control target temperature to return to the set temperature, energy can be saved correspondingly.

D. Prediction of toilet use frequency before learning is completed As described above, the sanitary device 10 of the present embodiment operates by interpreting the setting contents of the operator of the auxiliary operation unit 18 based on the prediction result of the toilet use frequency. The toilet environment is properly controlled according to the needs of the elderly. However, if the toilet usage frequency is predicted by the above-described method before the learning of the toilet usage status is completed, the prediction accuracy may be deteriorated and control different from the intention of the operator may occur. Therefore, before learning is completed, the toilet use frequency is predicted as follows.

FIG. 31 is an explanatory diagram showing a method of estimating the toilet use frequency before learning is completed. Hereinafter, description will be made with reference to FIG. On the first day of study start, toilet usage information is not accumulated at all, so it is predicted that toilet usage will be high at all times. As described above, during times when the frequency of toilet use is high, the temperature of the toilet seat, washing water, etc. is controlled to the set temperature, so by predicting that the frequency of toilet use is high, the comfort of the toilet environment is improved. Keep it.

On the second day after the start of learning, since toilet use information on the first day is accumulated, rough prediction is performed based on this data. In other words, in a total of four time zones, two before and after the time zone for which the toilet use frequency is to be predicted, 1
If the toilet is used even once, the usage frequency in that time zone is predicted to be large, and if it has not been used even once, the usage frequency is predicted to be medium. Here, one time zone is 45
Four minutes correspond to three hours because it corresponds to minutes.
In other words, it is determined that the toilet is being used only when the toilet has not been used at least once in three hours, so even if only one day's worth of data is accumulated, the toilet environment will not be greatly impaired. Absent.

On the third day after the start of learning, toilet use information for two days is accumulated, and the toilet use frequency is predicted using this data. In other words, if the toilet is used more than once in the past two days in a total of four time zones, two before and after the time zone for which the toilet usage frequency is to be predicted, the usage frequency in that time zone is predicted to be large. Otherwise, the frequency of toilet use is predicted to be medium. On the third day after the start of learning, it is not predicted that the frequency of use of the toilet is low even in a time period when the toilet is not used at all. This is because, as described above, if the frequency of use is predicted to be low, the heater power such as the toilet seat or washing water may be cut off, and the toilet environment may be greatly impaired due to incorrect prediction. Because there is. As a result of frequent discomfort to the toilet user before learning is completed, if the toilet user cancels the energy saving operation or changes the strong energy saving operation to the weak energy saving operation, it is not possible to achieve further energy saving. Can not. Therefore, by not predicting that the frequency of use of the toilet is small until the accuracy of predicting the frequency of use of the toilet is improved, it is possible to secure a final energy saving effect.

On the fourth day after the start of learning, since toilet use information for three days is accumulated, it is possible to make a more accurate prediction based on this. Therefore, in a total of two time zones, one each before and after the time zone for which the use frequency is to be predicted, a time zone in which the toilet is used at least once in the past three days is predicted to have a high use frequency. In addition, in the past four time zones, two before and after the time zone to be predicted,
It is predicted that the time period during which the number of times of use of the toilet per day is 2 or less is low. However, if the frequency of use of the toilet is low, the power supply of the heater such as the toilet seat is cut off in many times of the day, which may greatly impair the toilet environment. Therefore, if the time zone of low usage frequency exceeds 25% of the day, the threshold value is reduced so that the ratio of the time zone of low usage frequency does not exceed 25%. It is predicted that the frequency of use of the toilet is medium when the frequency of use is neither large nor small.

After the fifth day after the start of learning, the frequency of toilet use is predicted in substantially the same manner as on the fourth day. However, in order to improve the prediction accuracy by the increase in the amount of accumulated toilet use information, conditions for predicting that the frequency of use of the toilet is high are becoming strict. That is, on the 5th and 6th days after the start of the learning, unless the toilet is used more than once in the total of two time zones, one each before and after, and on the 7th and the 8th day after the start of the learning, Unless the toilet is used three or more times in each of the two total time periods, it is not predicted that the toilet frequency will be high during that time period.

The sanitary device 10 of this embodiment predicts the frequency of use of the toilet as described above even during the accumulation of the toilet use information. Therefore, even before the learning is completed, the sanitary device 10 according to the intention of the operator of the auxiliary operation unit 18 can be used. It is possible to properly control the toilet environment. As a result, there is no possibility that the toilet user cancels the energy saving operation or changes the strong energy saving operation to the weak energy saving operation before the learning is completed, and a predetermined energy saving effect can be obtained.

E. The power supply disconnection measures such as a power outage When the sanitary device 10 of this embodiment detects the use of the toilet,
Stored in the temporary registration data frame together with the detected time,
The toilet usage information for the day is collected and stored in the learning data frame. As described above, the temporary registration data frame is provided on the RAM 706 in the DC control unit 700. However, in general, it is necessary to apply a predetermined voltage in order to hold the data stored in the RAM,
If power supply to the sanitary device 10 is cut off, for example, when an outlet is disconnected for maintenance of the toilet such as a power outage or cleaning, the toilet use information stored in the temporary registration data frame is lost. In addition, while power supply to the sanitary device 10 is cut off, the built-in clock 710 in the DC control unit 700 is stopped, so that the restroom use information after that is stored with the restroom use time shifted. . If the accumulated use time of the toilet is shifted, the use of the toilet cannot be accurately predicted. In the sanitary device 10 of the present embodiment, even if the power is cut off due to a power outage or cleaning of a toilet, the accumulated toilet use information does not disappear or the toilet use time does not shift, as follows. It protects the memory when the power is turned off, and corrects the deviation of the toilet use time due to the power cut.

(1) Memory Protection at Power-Off FIG. 32 is an explanatory diagram conceptually showing a power supply path in the sanitary apparatus 10. When the power cord of sanitary device 10 is plugged into an outlet, electric power of AC 100 volts is supplied from commercial power supply 730 to power supply circuit 732. The power supply circuit 732 converts the power of 100 VAC into two types of power of 5 VDC and 24 VDC. 5 VDC power is supplied to the DC control unit 700,
24 VDC power is supplied to the AC control unit 600, respectively. As shown, the CPU 702, the ROM 704, and the built-in clock 70 in the DC control unit 700
Most components such as 6 are directly supplied with 5 volts DC, but the RAM 706 is supplied with power via a power failure monitoring unit 734. The power failure monitoring unit 734 constantly monitors the voltage supplied from the power supply circuit, and switches to the power supply from the battery 736 when it detects that the voltage has dropped due to a power failure or the outlet of the sanitary device 10 is unplugged. As the battery 736, either a primary battery or a secondary battery can be used, and a large-capacity capacitor or the like can be used. As described above, the sanitary device 10 of the present embodiment supplies power from the battery to the RAM 706 upon detecting a power failure or the like, and thus stores the power in the temporary registration data frame even if the power is cut off due to a power failure or unplugging. The used toilet information will not disappear. Further, as described above, in the sanitary apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, since the toilet use information accumulated in the learning data frame is stored in the nonvolatile memory 708, the information is accumulated even if the power supply is cut off due to a power failure or the like. No data is lost.
As the nonvolatile memory 708, an EEPROM such as a flash memory is used.

(2) Correction of Deviation of Toilet Use Time by Turning Off Power The sanitary device 10 of this embodiment is
A signal (hereinafter, this signal is referred to as a time signal) is received only once, and the time difference due to a power failure or the like is corrected using the time signal as a reference. The time signal is displayed on the remote control 2
0 is transmitted from the infrared light emitting element contained in the DC control unit 714 to the communication circuit 714 in the DC control unit 700 on an infrared carrier wave. Hereinafter, a method of correcting a time deviation will be described.

As described above, the sanitary apparatus 10 divides a day into 32 blocks each having a width of 45 minutes, and stores toilet use information in the form of the number of times the toilet is used in each block. Each time the use of the toilet is detected, the toilet use information is accumulated in the temporary registration data frame, and when the data for one day is accumulated, it is registered in the learning data frame. The learning data frame is capable of storing toilet use information for eight days, and when new data is registered, old data is deleted. In the present embodiment, one day a day
Each time, the time signal is received from the remote controller 20, and the number of the block that received the signal is also stored in the temporary registration data frame and the learning data frame.

A method of correcting a time lag due to a power failure or the like is to determine whether or not a time signal is received at the time of the power failure, in other words, the number of the block that received the time signal is the temporarily registered data at the time of the power failure. It depends on whether or not it is stored in the frame. Therefore, first, an outline of a method of correcting a time lag when a power failure occurs before a time signal is received and then when a power failure occurs after a time signal is received will be described.

FIG. 33 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of a method for correcting a time lag when a power failure occurs before a time signal is received. FIG. 33 (a) shows the latest one day of accumulated data among the eight days of toilet use information accumulated in the learning data frame. The toilet use information for one day is composed of 32 blocks, and the number of times the toilet has been used is written in each block. The hatched blocks in the figure indicate that the time signals have been received in those blocks. In the example shown in FIG. 33A, a time signal is received while the 24th block is being accumulated.

FIG. 33B shows a state where toilet use information is stored in the temporary registration data frame. It is assumed that a power outage occurred while toilet use information was being stored in the eighth block. Built-in clock 710 during power outage
Has stopped and the elapsed time is unknown, so it is not known from which block the data should be stored even after returning from the power failure. Therefore, the toilet use information after the return is temporarily stored as temporary data from the block immediately after the power failure. In the example shown in FIG. 33, the toilet use information is accumulated as temporary data from the block immediately after the power failure, that is, the ninth block. In FIG. 33 (b), the numbers in parentheses are attached to the numbers of the ninth and subsequent blocks.
This indicates that the data is stored as temporary data.

When the temporary data is stored in this way, a time signal is received at a certain time. In FIG. 33B, the time signal is received in the 21st block. Here, since the time signal is transmitted every 24 hours, if there is no power failure, it should have been received in the 24th block similarly to the stored data. That is, from 24-21 = 3,
It can be considered that a power failure occurred for a time corresponding to three blocks. Therefore, since the power outage period was not known, the data was temporarily stored after the ninth block immediately after the recovery from the power outage. However, it can be seen that the data may be stored after the ninth block, shifted by three blocks.

Based on the power outage period calculated in this way, the deviation of the toilet use time can be corrected as shown in FIG. Immediately after the power failure, the data accumulated as temporary data in the ninth and subsequent blocks is shifted by three blocks corresponding to the power failure time and stored in the twelfth and subsequent blocks. After correcting the deviation of the toilet use time, the toilet use information is accumulated as usual, and when data for one day is accumulated in the temporary registration data frame, this is registered in the learning data frame.

As shown in FIG. 33 (d), during the power outage (three blocks from the ninth to the eleventh), the use of the toilet cannot be detected, so the toilet use information is blank. Toilets will accumulate as unused. However, even during a power outage, the toilets are naturally used. Therefore, in the case of a long-term power outage, if the toilet is not used during the power outage, it will accumulate data that is far from the actual usage of the toilet. Accuracy may be reduced. Therefore, if the power outage period during 32 blocks per day is about 3 blocks, but the power outage period is longer than a predetermined period, the toilet use information for that day is discarded without being stored, and instead, the data is stored in the above-mentioned dedicated data frame. Accumulation of past average usage data that has been stored in advance prevents a decrease in prediction accuracy. Since the substitute data is stored in this manner, as described with reference to FIG. 19, even if the toilet use frequency is calculated with a predetermined weight according to the data storage date, the storage date can be handled. The weight can be calculated with appropriate weights. However, data accumulated in the past may be written only during the power outage period, and if no weight corresponding to the data storage date is given, data may not be stored during a long power outage day.

Next, an outline of a method for correcting a time lag when a power failure occurs after receiving a time signal will be described with reference to FIG.
4 will be described. FIG. 34A shows a state where toilet use information is accumulated in the temporary registration data frame. In the example shown in FIG. 34, a power failure occurs while data is being stored in the fifteenth block, but a time signal is received in the preceding twelfth block. Since the elapsed time is not known during the power failure, it is not known from which block the data after the recovery from the power failure should be stored. Therefore, as in the case described with reference to FIG. 33, temporary data is sequentially accumulated from the block immediately after the power failure. In the example of FIG. 34A, provisional data is accumulated from the 16th block. Note that the numbers in parentheses after the 16th block indicate that the data is stored as provisional data.

When the temporary data is stored, a time signal is received at a certain time. In FIG. 34A, the time signal is received in the 38th block. Here, since the time signal was received last time in the twelfth block, if there is no power failure, from 12 + 32 = 44,
It should have been received in the 44th block. However, since the 38th block was actually received,
It can be considered that there was a power outage for six blocks corresponding to the difference between the 44th and 38th. Therefore, the data accumulated in the 16th and subsequent blocks as temporary data is
If only the blocks are shifted and accumulated after the 22nd, it is possible to correct the time shift due to the power failure.

FIG. 34 (b) shows the result of correcting the power outage period in this way. The first to 32nd data are data to be stored in the learning data frame, and the 33rd and subsequent data are considered to be data currently being stored. Therefore, the stored data of FIG.
The data is divided into two days of accumulated data as shown in FIG. That is, the data from the 1st to the 32nd in FIG. 34B is stored in the learning data frame, and the data after the 33rd is provisionally registered as data in the middle of storage as shown in the lower part of FIG. Reset to the first and subsequent blocks in the data frame.

FIG. 35 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing for correcting a time lag due to a power failure or the like based on the above-described concept. This process is started when it is detected that power supply has been restarted after a power failure. The restart of power supply is detected by the power failure monitoring unit 734 in the DC control unit 700 (see FIG. 32). Hereinafter, processing for correcting a time lag due to a power failure or the like will be briefly described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

When returning from the power failure, it is determined whether or not the data of the temporary registration data frame includes a time signal (step S400). As described above, the method of correcting the time difference is different between a case where a power failure occurs before receiving a time signal and a case where a power failure occurs after receiving a time signal.
Therefore, in order to determine which method to correct,
First, it is determined whether or not the data being accumulated in the temporary registration data frame includes a time signal.

If no time signal is stored in the temporary registration data frame, it can be determined that a power failure occurred before receiving the time signal. That is, in this case, the time lag may be corrected using the concept described with reference to FIG. Therefore, first, referring to the latest accumulated data registered in the learning data frame, the number B1 of the block that has received the time signal is acquired (step S402).

When the number of the block that has received the time signal is obtained, the process of storing the toilet use information in the temporary registration data frame is restarted. However, since it is unknown how much time has passed during the power outage, the temporary registration data frame I don't know which block to start with. Therefore, data is sequentially stored as temporary data from the block following the power failure, and stored until a time signal is received (steps S404 and S406).

When a time signal is received, as described above,
From the number of the block storing the data at that time, it is possible to determine how many blocks the power outage time corresponds to, and if it is possible to know how many blocks the power outage has occurred, the time lag due to the power outage can be determined. Can be corrected (see FIG. 33). Therefore, in order to perform such a correction, the block number B2 accumulated when the time signal was received.
Is acquired (step S408). Next, the number of blocks corresponding to the power outage time can be obtained by calculating the difference between the block number B1 acquired in advance and the block number B2 at the time of receiving the time signal (step S41).
0). That is, since the time signal is transmitted in a 24-hour cycle, if there is no power failure, the time signal should have been received in the B1st block in the same manner as the data stored in the learning data frame. . However, since it was actually received in the B2 block, B1
It can be considered that there has been a power failure for the number of blocks corresponding to the difference between B2 and B2.

If it is possible to determine how many blocks the power outage time corresponds to, the data temporarily registered in the processing of steps S404 to S406 after returning from the power outage is stored again in the correct block. (Step S412), the deviation correction processing is ended, and thereafter the toilet use information is accumulated as usual.

If no time signal is stored in the temporary registration data frame in step S400, that is, if it is determined that a power failure has occurred before the time signal is received, the deviation is corrected as described above. Can be. On the other hand, in step S400, when the time signal is accumulated in the temporary registration data frame, that is, when it is determined that the power failure has occurred after the reception of the time signal, using the concept described with reference to FIG. The deviation is corrected in the same manner as described above.

First, the number B1 of the block in which the time signal is stored in the temporary registration data frame is obtained (step S414). When the number of the block in which the time signal is stored is obtained, the process of storing the toilet use information in the temporary registration data frame is restarted.However, it is unknown how much time has elapsed during the power outage. I do not know which block to start accumulating. Therefore, data is sequentially stored as temporary data from the next block after the power failure, and stored until a time signal is received again (steps S416 and S418).

When the time signal is received again, the block number B2 of the block is obtained (step S420). Since the time signal is transmitted in a 24-hour cycle, if there is no power outage, the number of the block receiving the second time signal should be (B1 + 32). However, since it was actually received in the B2 block, (B1 + 3
It is considered that the difference between 2) and B2 is the number of blocks corresponding to the period during which the power failure occurred. Therefore, (B1 + 32) -B
2 is calculated, and its value is set as the number of blocks corresponding to the power outage time (step S422).

If it is possible to determine how many blocks the power outage time corresponds to, the data temporarily registered in the processing of steps S416 to S418 after returning from the power outage is stored again in the correct block. The data from No. 1 to No. 32 are registered in the learning data frame,
The data after the number is set in the temporary registration data frame as data in the middle of accumulation (step S424). When the above processing is completed, the deviation correction processing ends, and thereafter, the toilet use information is accumulated in the temporary registration data frame as usual.

After returning from the power failure, the remote control 20 is requested for time information, and in response to the request,
8, the current time information may be transmitted. If the time after the return can be known in this way, thereafter, it becomes possible to accumulate the toilet use information as usual.

In the correction method described above, the remote controller 20
, A time signal was transmitted periodically, and the time lag was corrected by calculating the period during which the power outage occurred based on this signal. Such a method is accurate and can be corrected relatively easily, but requires a time signal to be transmitted from the remote control 20. Therefore, it is possible to use the following correction method that does not require transmission of the time signal.

FIG. 36 is an explanatory view showing the principle of correcting a time lag without using a time signal. In FIG. 36 (a),
As an example, a case where data is accumulated in the eighth block of the temporary registration data frame at the time of a power failure is shown. Upon recovery from the power failure, data of a predetermined number of blocks is stored following the block immediately after the power failure. The blocks accumulated by the predetermined number after the restoration from the power failure are hereinafter referred to as a test block group. In the example shown in FIG. 36, the number of blocks included in the inspection block group is six.

In the method described below, the period during which the power failure has occurred is determined by checking the correlation between the data of the test block group and the data accumulated in the past. That is, since toilets are considered to be used in almost the same pattern every day, it is considered that the data stored in the inspection block group does not greatly differ from the toilet usage patterns stored in the past. Therefore, it is possible to examine the correlation between the data of the test block group and the accumulated data while shifting the position of the test block group little by little, and consider the position having the best correlation as the original position where the data of the test block group is stored. it can. Hereinafter, a specific description will be given with reference to FIGS. 36 (b) to 36 (f).

FIG. 36B shows the accumulated data of the latest day in the learning data frame as an example of the data accumulated in the past. Since data for eight days is accumulated in the learning data frame, data obtained by averaging eight days may be used.

FIG. 36 (c) is an explanatory diagram showing a state where the correlation with the stored data is checked before shifting the check block group. In the example of FIG. 36, it is assumed that a power failure occurred during the accumulation of the eighth block, so the first block (indicated by “*” in the figure) of the inspection block group is located at the ninth block position. As is clear from FIG. 36 (c), the data of the inspection block group does not match the stored data at all. The amount of deviation between the data of the test block group and the accumulated data can be quantified as follows.

First, focusing on the first block of the inspection block group (the block marked with “*” in the figure), the data of the inspection block group is “0” and the corresponding block (the learning data in the figure) Since the accumulated data of the ninth block in the frame is “2”, the absolute value of the difference between the two data is taken, and here, it can be considered that a difference of “2” has occurred between the two data. Similarly, for the second block of the inspection block group, the data of the inspection block group is “0” and the accumulated data is “1”, so that the deviation generated in the second block of the inspection block group is “1”. Become. Less than,
Similarly, the amount of deviation when the head block of the inspection block group is located at the ninth block position of the learning data frame can be quantified as 2 + 1 + 1 + 0 + 1 + 1 = 6.

FIG. 36D shows a state in which the correlation between the data of the test block group and the accumulated data is examined when the head of the test block group is shifted to the twelfth block position of the learning data frame. FIG. At a glance, it can be seen that the data of the inspection block group and the accumulated data are in good agreement. Actually, when the deviation amount in this state is obtained by using the above-described method, 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 1 = 1, and the quantified deviation amount is also an extremely small value.

FIG. 36 (e) shows a state in which the inspection block group is further shifted by one block from the state of FIG. 36 (d). As is clear from the figure, even if the position of the inspection block group is shifted by only one block, the correlation between the data of the inspection block group and the accumulated data is significantly deteriorated. When the shift amount is quantified by the above-described method, the shift amount is 0 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 0 + 0 = 3, which indicates that the shift amount is larger than the state shown in FIG.

As described above, when the head position of the test block group coincides with the twelfth block position of the learning data frame, the amount of deviation between the data of the test block group and the accumulated data becomes the smallest. I have. Therefore, it is considered that the data of the test block group temporarily stored after the ninth block immediately after returning from the power failure should have been originally stored in the twelfth block and thereafter. Therefore, FIG.
As shown in (f), by storing the data of the inspection block group in the twelfth and subsequent blocks of the temporary registration data frame, the time lag due to the power failure has been corrected.

In the above, it has been described that the inspection block group includes six blocks. But,
The number of blocks included in the inspection block group is not limited to six as long as the use of the toilet is stored in the inspection block group to the extent that correlation with the accumulated data can be obtained. For example, it is possible to flexibly change the number of blocks included in the inspection block group according to the usage status of the toilet by stopping data accumulation in the inspection block group after detecting use of the toilet three times. is there.

In addition to the above, a standard radio wave on which time information is superimposed is transmitted under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. The long wave standard radio wave is transmitted on a carrier wave of 40 kHz. It is conceivable to incorporate a radio-controlled timepiece that receives the radio waves and corrects the time. The radio-controlled timepiece has a function of receiving radio waves and a function of correcting time in addition to a timekeeping function and a time display function, and performs time correction by receiving the long-wave standard radio wave to perform accurate time display. Can be.

As described above, various methods have been described as a method for correcting a time lag due to a power cut such as a power failure. However, it is a matter of course that power is supplied from a battery or the like to the built-in clock 710 at the time of a power failure. Advances in semiconductor technology have made it easier to obtain built-in clocks with low power consumption in recent years. In the event of a power outage, the built-in clock 710 can be driven by batteries or other electric power to use the toilet immediately after returning from a power outage. The accumulation of information can be started.

Finally, the operation of the sanitary device 10 of this embodiment for initializing the toilet use information stored in the learning data frame will be described. As described above, the sanitary device 10 of the present embodiment accumulates toilet use information for eight days, and calculates the toilet use frequency based on this data. But,
If the usage pattern of the toilet user changes or if the usage pattern of the toilet changes significantly due to summer vacation, etc., if the toilet usage frequency is calculated based on the accumulated data, the toilet usage pattern after the change will be used. It is not possible to calculate the frequency of use suitable for. Therefore, in such a case, by initializing the stored data, control corresponding to a new toilet use pattern can be performed.

FIG. 37 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation section of the remote controller 20 used in the sanitary apparatus 10 of this embodiment. As shown, a remote control switch 95 for instructing the sanitary device 10 to start cleaning the rear of the sanitary device 10 is provided.
0 and a bidet switch 952 for instructing the start of bidet cleaning
And a hot air drying switch 954 for instructing the start of hot air drying
And a stop switch 956 for instructing to stop posterior washing, bidet washing, or hot air drying, and an indoor heating switch 958 for instructing on / off of indoor heating. In addition, a nozzle position adjustment switch 960 for fine adjustment of the nozzle tip position, a move switch 962 for cleaning while moving the position of the cleaning nozzle back and forth, a water force adjustment switch 964 for adjusting the force for jetting the washing water, and a force for jetting Massage switch 966 to wash while adding strength to the
A display section 968 for displaying the setting state of the nozzle position and the water level of the washing water, a time display section 970 for displaying the current time, and the like are also provided.

In the sanitary apparatus 10 of this embodiment, when the toilet user presses the stop switch 956 and the hot air drying switch 954 simultaneously for 3 seconds or more, the toilet use information stored in the learning data frame is initialized. . The initialization operation is shown in FIG.
This is performed in the toilet use information accumulation routine described above using That is, a flag for invalidating the learning data is set at a predetermined address in the memory, and the toilet use information accumulation routine shown in FIG. 11 is restarted. Then, it is determined that the learning data does not exist in the process of step S100 in FIG. 11, and all the data in the learning data frame is initialized in the subsequent process of step S102. After all the stored data is initialized in this way, new data is stored and the toilet use frequency is calculated. Of course, during the period until the data accumulation is completed, the toilet use frequency is calculated by the method described above with reference to FIG. 31, so that the toilet user can use the toilet comfortably immediately after the initialization operation.

The reason that the condition for starting the initialization operation in the sanitary apparatus 10 of this embodiment is that the stop switch 956 and the hot air drying switch 954 are simultaneously pressed for 3 seconds or more is as follows. by. As shown in FIG. 37, the stop switch 956 and the hot air drying switch 954 are
It is unlikely that these two switches would be depressed at the same time for more than three seconds, for example, while cleaning the toilet, since they are provided apart from each other. Further, it is unlikely that the toilet user erroneously operates the remote controller 20 and keeps pressing the switch for instructing start and stop of the hot air drying for three seconds. Therefore, by setting such conditions, it is possible to avoid erroneous initialization of the learning data accumulated for a long period of time.

As described above, the sanitary device 10 of the present embodiment detects the use of the toilet and learns the state of use of the toilet, and is suitable while considering the learning result and the set control mode. Control contents are determined. As a result, without compromising the comfort of the toilet environment,
Further savings in energy usage can be achieved.

In the above description, the initialization operation is started by simultaneously pressing a plurality of switches, but the initialization operation is started when a plurality of switches are pressed in a predetermined order. May be started. At this time, it is preferable that the order of operating the plurality of switches be an order that cannot occur in normal use. For example, hot air drying switch 954,
The switches of the bidet switch 952 and the posterior cleaning switch 950 may be reset in this order when pressed within a predetermined time.

Since the hot-air drying switch 954 is used after the posterior washing or bidet washing, in a normal use, after pressing the posterior washing switch 950 or the bidet switch 952, the hot-air drying switch 954 is soon.
Is pressed, and immediately before the hot air drying switch 954 is pressed, the stop switch 956 should be pressed. Therefore, depending on whether or not such a switch has been operated when the hot air drying switch 954 is pressed, whether the toilet user instructs the start of the hot air drying or whether the initialization operation is performed. It is possible to distinguish whether the instruction is given. Also, in normal use, after the hot air drying switch 954 is operated, the stop switch 956 should be pressed to stop the hot air drying.
Since the bidet switch 952 is pressed after the hot air drying switch 954, it is possible to identify that the normal use is not performed, and since the buttocks washing switch 950 is pressed, an erroneous operation is performed due to some malfunction. It is possible to eliminate the risk of initialization.

Although various embodiments have been described above, the present invention is not limited to all the above embodiments, and can be implemented in various modes without departing from the gist of the invention.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a sanitary device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a state in which components related to various sanitary functions are stored in a casing of the sanitary device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a water supply system of a nozzle unit in the sanitary device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a warm air unit and a room warming unit in the sanitary device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a deodorizing unit in the sanitary device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a heating toilet seat unit in the sanitary device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of control of a sanitary function in the sanitary device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram conceptually showing various methods for detecting use of a toilet by the sanitary device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which one day is divided into a plurality of time zones in the sanitary apparatus of the present embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of a data frame for storing toilet use information in the sanitary device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a process in which the sanitary device of the present embodiment accumulates toilet use information.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing a method of detecting use of a toilet based on outputs of a plurality of sensors by the sanitary device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing a method in which the sanitary device of the present embodiment detects a usage pattern of a toilet based on outputs of a plurality of sensors.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the sanitary device of the present embodiment accumulates toilet use information while distinguishing the use mode of the toilet.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram conceptually showing a relationship between a control data frame and a learning data frame in the sanitary device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram conceptually showing data written in a learning data frame and a control data frame.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a process in which the sanitary device of the present embodiment predicts a toilet use frequency.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of another process in which the sanitary device of the present embodiment predicts a toilet use frequency.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a weight coefficient used when calculating the toilet use frequency with different weights depending on the date on which the toilet use information is accumulated.

FIG. 20 is an explanatory diagram showing a method in which the sanitary device of the present embodiment changes the threshold value according to the average number of times of using the toilet.

FIG. 21 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a method of changing a threshold value according to a calculated distribution of toilet use frequency.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a threshold setting process in the sanitary device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 23 is an explanatory diagram conceptually showing a method of calculating the toilet use frequency at each time based on the toilet use time stored as the toilet use information.

FIG. 24 is an explanatory view conceptually showing a method of calculating the toilet use frequency in each time zone based on the toilet use time stored as the toilet use information.

FIG. 25 is an explanatory view exemplifying an auxiliary operation unit in the sanitary device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 26 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example in which the sanitary device of the present embodiment controls the toilet environment based on the control mode and the toilet use frequency.

FIG. 27 is an explanatory diagram showing another example in which the sanitary device of the present embodiment controls the toilet environment based on the control mode and the toilet use frequency.

FIG. 28 is an explanatory diagram conceptually illustrating an example in which the sanitary device of the present embodiment changes the ratio of the predicted value of the toilet use frequency according to the setting of the energy saving knob.

FIG. 29 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a method in which the sanitary device of the present embodiment controls the toilet environment according to the frequency of using the toilet.

FIG. 30 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of a method in which the sanitary device of the present embodiment controls the toilet environment according to the frequency of use of the toilet.

FIG. 31 is an explanatory diagram showing a method of estimating a toilet use frequency before the sanitary device of the present embodiment completes learning of a toilet use situation.

FIG. 32 is an explanatory diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a power supply path in the sanitary device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 33 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a method of correcting a time lag due to power-off by the sanitary device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 34 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of a method of correcting a time lag due to power-off by the sanitary device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 35 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a process in which the sanitary device of the present embodiment corrects a time lag due to power-off.

FIG. 36 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of a method of correcting a time lag due to power-off by the sanitary device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 37 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of an operation unit of a remote controller in the sanitary device of the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Sanitary device 12 ... Toilet seat 14 ... Toilet lid 16 ... Casing 18 ... Auxiliary operation part 20 ... Remote control 92 ... Branch metal fittings 94 ... Water supply adapter 100 ... Nozzle unit 102 ... Cleaning nozzle 104 ... Bidet cleaning nozzle 106 ... Nozzle cleaning room 110 ... mixing unit 112 ... check valve 114 ... pressure regulating valve 116 ... solenoid valve 118 ... heat exchanger 120 ... cold water thermistor 122 ... hot water thermistor 124 ... mixing valve 126 ... mixing motor 128 ... water discharge thermistor 140 ... flow regulating unit 142 ... flow Control switching valve 144 Bypass valve 200 Hot air unit 202 Sirocco fan 204 Fan motor 206 Hot air heater 208 Thermistor 300 Heating toilet seat unit 302 Heater seat heater 304 Toilet seat thermistor 400 Room heating unit 408 Thermi Star 500 Deodorizing unit 502 Ozonizer 504 Ozonizer driver 506 Sirocco fan 508 Deodorizing motor 510 Catalyst 600 AC control unit 700 DC control unit 702 CPU 704 ROM 706 RAM 708 Non-volatile memory 710 Built-in Clock 710 Non-volatile memory 712 Timer 714 Communication circuit 716 PIO 718 Bus 730 Commercial power supply 732 Power supply circuit 734 Power failure monitoring unit 736 Battery 802 Seating switch 804 Human sensor 806, 807 Float switch 808 ... water flow sensor 810, 811 ... washing switch 900 ... power switch 912 ... comfortable operation switch 914 ... energy saving operation switch 916 ... weak energy saving operation switch 918 ... strong energy saving operation switch 950 ... buttocks Kiyoshi switch 952 ... bidet switch 954 ... hot-air drying switch 956 ... stop switch 958 ... indoor heating switch 960 ... nozzle position adjustment switch 962 ... move switch 964 ... water force adjustment switch 966 ... massage switch 968 ... display unit 970 ... time display unit

Claims (17)

[Claims] 1. A sanitary device for dividing a day into a plurality of control time zones and selecting a toilet environment control mode from a plurality of control modes for each control time zone, wherein toilet use detection for detecting use of a toilet. Means, toilet use information storage means for storing toilet use information in a detection time zone longer than the control time zone based on the output of the toilet use detection means, and toilet use information stored by the toilet use information storage means A control content determining means for determining the control content of the toilet environment from the next day on the basis of the control time zone and the toilet environment from a predetermined time before the control time zone based on the determined control content. Sanitary apparatus provided with toilet environment control means for controlling the toilet. 2. A sanitary device having a plurality of control modes of a toilet environment, comprising: a toilet use detecting means for detecting use of the toilet; a day divided into a plurality of detection time zones; Based on the toilet use information storage means for storing the toilet use information detected by the use detection means and the toilet use information in the adjacent detection time period before and after, determining the control content of the toilet environment from the next day onward. Control content determining means, and a toilet environment control for controlling the toilet environment from a predetermined time before the control time zone and a control time zone shifted from the detection time zone by a predetermined time based on the determined control content. Sanitary apparatus comprising: 3. A sanitary apparatus having a plurality of control modes of a toilet environment, comprising: a toilet use detecting means for detecting use of the toilet; and dividing a day into a plurality of detection time zones, and for each of the detection time zones. Toilet use information storage means for storing toilet use information detected by the toilet use detection means, based on the toilet use information of the detection time zone and the adjacent detection time zone before and after, based on the toilet use information of the toilet environment after the next day A sanitary apparatus comprising: control content determining means for determining control content; and toilet environment control means for controlling the toilet environment in the detection time zone and the previous detection time zone based on the determined control content. 4. A toilet use detecting means for detecting use of a toilet, and a storage means for each detection time zone for storing the presence or absence or the number of uses for each of a plurality of detection time zones based on an output of the toilet use detection means Control content determining means for determining the control content of the toilet environment in a control time zone narrower than the time zone based on the output of the storage means for each detection time zone; and the control time based on the determined control content. A sanitary apparatus comprising: a toilet environment control means for controlling the toilet environment from a predetermined time before the obi. 5. The sanitary device according to claim 1, wherein the toilet use detecting means detects use of the toilet by detecting an operation of a function of the toilet. Sanitary equipment. 6. The sanitary device according to claim 1, wherein said toilet use detecting means is a human body detecting means for detecting a toilet user. 7. The sanitary device according to claim 1, wherein the control content determining means stores the toilet use frequency as an index indicating the ease of use of the toilet in each detection time zone. A use frequency calculating means for calculating based on the toilet use information, and a control means for determining the control content of the toilet environment in each control time zone on and after the next day based on the calculated toilet use frequency. Sanitary equipment. 8. The sanitary device according to claim 7, wherein the toilet use information storage means stores the number of times of use of the toilet in each time zone which is set by dividing a day into a plurality as the toilet use information. A sanitary device that is a means for storing information. 9. The sanitary device according to claim 7, wherein the toilet use information storage means is means for storing the toilet use information for each of the same detection time periods for a plurality of predetermined days.
The sanitary device, wherein the use frequency calculation unit calculates the toilet use frequency by assigning a weight according to a date when the toilet use information is stored. 10. The sanitary device according to claim 9, wherein the use frequency calculating unit calculates the toilet use frequency by assigning a larger weight to newer toilet use information on the stored day. apparatus. 11. The sanitary device according to claim 9, wherein the use frequency calculating means assigns a large weight to the toilet use information stored seven days before the date on which the control is performed, and calculates the toilet use frequency. A sanitary device that is a means for calculating. 12. The sanitary apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said control content determining means is means for determining a target temperature of said toilet environment as said control content, and said toilet environment control means. Is a means for controlling the toilet environment to be at the determined target temperature. 13. The sanitary device according to claim 12, wherein:
When the usage frequency calculating means determines that the toilet usage frequency is zero, the control content determining means determines, as the target temperature, a temperature at which the equipment is not damaged by freezing. 14. The sanitary device according to claim 7, wherein the toilet use information storage means is means for storing the toilet use information for each of the same detection time periods for a plurality of predetermined days. 15. The sanitary device according to claim 14, wherein:
The control content determining unit is configured to perform a method different from that after storing the toilet use information for the predetermined number of days while the toilet use information stored in the toilet use information storage unit is less than the predetermined number of days. A sanitary device which is means for calculating the frequency of use of the toilet. 16. The sanitary device according to claim 15, wherein
The sanitary device, wherein the control content determining unit is a unit that, when the stored toilet use information is less than the predetermined number of days, calculates the toilet use frequency higher as the stored number of days is smaller. 17. The sanitary device according to claim 15, wherein:
The control content determining means, when the stored toilet use information is less than the predetermined number of days, calculates the minimum value of the toilet use frequency larger as the stored number of days is smaller. Some sanitary equipment.