Abstract:
The invention provides a method and apparatus for controlling a ventilation device. When the power switch of a room is turned on, the light of the room is turned on and the fan of the room is also turned on. When the power switch is turned off the light goes off, the automatic controlled fan still works for a predetermined amount of time (say, 5 minutes) and then shuts off automatically. If later the room is not being used, the automatic controlled fan will automatically repeat turning on and off (only turned on for a short time say, 5 minutes) periodically according to a set interval (say, repeat every 30 minutes). By the above automatic control of the ventilation fan, the bad odors or humid air in the room can be removed. If the room is not used for a longer period of time (say, 12 hours), the automatic controller enters sleep mode and the sleep timer will shut off the automatic repeat on/off function. In sleep mode, the fan won&#39;t be automatically turned-on/off to save energy assuming that the humid air in the room is well ventilated. With the user-friendly and energy saving automatic control features over the ventilation fan, the user can enjoy a better living quality.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling a ventilation device, and in particular to a method and apparatus for controlling a ventilation device in a bathroom, restroom or warehouse. 
     2. Reference to Prior Application 
     This application has been filed in the R.O.C. (Taiwan) as Patent Application No. 08921002 May 8, 2000 and Patent Application No. 089209524 on Jun. 2, 2000 respectively. 
     3. Description of the Related Art 
     In a conventional bathroom, restroom or warehouse design, in order to improve the air quality, ventilation fans will be installed to work in parallel with the rooms&#39; lights. If the light of a room (bathroom, restroom, or warehouse room) is turned on by a user, the fan in that room is also turned on to ventilate the room. The ventilation fan can expel bad odors and humid air from the room when the room is being used and the light in the room is turned on. If the user leaves the room, the light power switch is turned off and the fan is also turned off, but the remaining bad odors and humid air cannot be expelled from that room. So, the conventional design has only limited effect in improving the air quality in those rooms. 
     Please refer to FIG.  1 . If the user leaves a room (bathroom, restroom, or warehouse room), without turning off the Power Switch  7  of the Ventilation Fan  72 , the Light  71  in the room will also be left turned on. If the user wants to turn off the Power Switch  7  after making sure that the bad odors are expelled, then it causes inconvenience to the user. If the user forgets the working condition of the Ventilation Fan  72  or simply lets the Power Switch  7  stay always turned on, that will cause the electricity to be wasted and the electricity bill to increase. That will also wear out the fan and the light in that room. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     From the above deficiencies, the Inventor uses his electronic experiences, through careful study and modifications, to successfully accomplish this invention. 
     An aspect of this invention is to provide a control apparatus that is a kind of Automatic Delay-Off and Timer-On/Off Control over ventilation fan to improve the air condition in a room (bathroom, restroom, or warehouse room). Please refer to FIG.  2 . One Automatic Control Box  73  is added in between the Fan  72  and the Light  71  to provide automatic control as described below: When the Light  71  in a room is turned on, the Ventilation Fan  72  will also be turned on. When the Power Switch  7  is turned off the Light  71  goes off, but the Automatic Control Box  73  will let the Ventilation Fan  72  work until a fixed set time (say, 5 minutes) and then turn off automatically. If later the room is not being used by the user, the Automatic Control Box  73  will automatically repeat turning on and off the Ventilation Fan  72  (only turns on for a short time say, 5 minutes) periodically according to the set interval (say, repeat every 30 minutes). 
     By the above automatic control over the Ventilation Fan  72 , the bad odors and humid air in the room can be removed. If the room is not used after a longer period of time (say, 12 hours), the Automatic Control Box  73  enters sleep mode, the sleep timer will shut off the automatic repeat on/off function. In sleep mode, the Ventilation Fan  72  won&#39;s be automatically turned-on/off to save energy assuming that the humid air in the room is well ventilated. No matter whether the Automatic Control Box  73  is in sleep mode or not, whenever the user re-enters the room, the Ventilation Fan  72  will be turned on with the Light  71  by Power Switch  7 , and all the above automatic control functions can be repeated to keep the room smelling good. So, the purpose of this invention, namely to ventilate the bad odors and humid air in a room, can be accomplished by the above Automatic Control Box  73 . 
     It is another aspect of the invention to provide an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) that implements the control apparatus of the invention therein. 
     It is another aspect of the invention to provide a method for controlling a ventilation device in the bathroom, restroom or warehouse. 
     It is another aspect of the invention to provide a computer-readable recording medium encoded with a computer software which is performing the above method. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     For a more complete understanding of the present invention and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate the embodiments of the present invention, wherein: 
     FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of a conventional ventilation device provided in a bathroom. 
     FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of a ventilation device with a control apparatus of the present invention. 
     FIG. 3 a  in combination with FIG. 3 b  illustrate block diagrams of the control apparatus of the present invention; and FIG. 3 a  in combination with FIG. 3 c  illustrates a block diagram of another embodiment of the control apparatus of the present invention. 
     FIG. 4 illustrates a flow chart of a method performing the embodiment of the present invention illustrated in FIG. 3 a  in combination with FIG. 3 c.    
     FIG. 5 illustrates a timing diagram of the elements of the control apparatus of the present invention illustrated in FIG. 3 a  in combination with FIG. 3 b.   
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     In order to facilitate the examining officials better understanding the contents of this invention and how it can be achieved, the inventor provided a physical H/W design example (as shown in FIG. 3 a  in combination with FIG. 3 b  and FIG. 5) and a Micro Processor software example (as shown in FIG. 3 a  in combination with FIG. 3 c  and FIG. 4) on how the invention can be accomplished as follows: 
     Please refer to FIG. 3 a  and  3   b  and FIG.  5 . This invention is mainly composed of a Ventilation Device Activating circuit (such as Fan Activating circuit)  1 , a First Timer (such as Delay-off Timer Circuit or Monostable Timer)  26 , a Second Timer (such as Repeat Turn-on/off Timer Circuit or Astable Timer)  24 , a Third Timer (such as Sleep Timer Circuit)  4 , and an Electronic Switch Circuit  3 . 
     The so called Fan Activating circuit  1  is composed of two circuits: One is Low Voltage Generation Circuit  11 . It converts common wall power outlet voltage to a low voltage (say, 5 V) to supply all the electronic circuits in this invention. The other circuit is an Isolated Voltage Converter Circuit  12 . The purpose of the Isolated Voltage Converter Circuit  12  is to convert the room light power switch signal to a low level isolated signal as an indication of the light status. For example, if the room light is turned on, the output of the isolated voltage converter  12  will be high (say, 5 V) and if the room light is not turned on, the output will be low (say, 0 V). The timing representation of that output is on FIG. 5, line B. 
     The so called Repeat Timer, Delay-off Timer, and Sleep Timer  2  is mainly composed of Repeat Turn-on/off Timer Circuit  24 , Delay-off Timer Circuit  26 , and Sleep Timer Circuit  4 . The low level Light status signal from FIG. 3 a  Isolated Voltage Converter Circuit  12  is fed to the Inverter  21 . The output timing of the inverter  21  is shown on FIG. 5, Line C. The inverted signal then passes the Differentiator  22  to generate a positive edge pulse as shown on FIG. 5 Line D. It is then fed to one of the inputs of OR Gate  23 . An Astable Multi-vibrator  24  generates repeat cycles according to the optional settings (say, ½ hour Short Repeat Cycle  28 , or 1 hour Long Repeat Cycle  29 ). The Astable Multi-vibrator  24  is reset and restarted to count whenever the light power switch is turned off. The output of Astable Multi-vibrator  24  is shown of Figure line E. It then feeds to another Differentiator  25  and generates a series of short pulses as shown on FIG. 5, line F. Those short pulses then feed to the other input of the OR gate  23 . The output of the OR Gate  23  is shown on FIG. 5, line G. That output then fees to the Monostable Multi-vibrator  26 . The output Monostable Multi-vibrator  26  is shown on FIG. 5 line J. The Monostable Multi-vibrator  26  can be designed to have two optionally different lengths of delay-off time (say, 1 minute Short Delay Off  211 , or 5 minutes Long Delay Off  212 ). A Sleep Timer Circuit  4  can be designed to have two optionally different time limits (say, 12 hours Short Sleep Timer  42 , or 24 hours Long Sleep Time  43 ). The Sleep Timer  4  is started/reset to count whenever the light power switch is turned off. The output of Sleep timer circuit  4  is shown on FIG. 5, line H. It then feeds to one of the inputs of the AND Gate  210 . The other input of the AND Gate  210  is from the output of Monostable Multi-vibrator  26 . The AND Gate output is shown on FIG. 5 line I. It shows clearly that in the sleep mode (FIG. 5 line H in low state), the output of the AND Gate  210  can no longer send out repeat turn-on/off signals from Astable Multi-vibrator  24 . In sleep mode the Sleep Mode Indicator  41  will be turned on. 
     Finally the output of the AND Gate  210  is send to OR Gate  27 . Another input of the OR Gate  27  is from the output of Isolated Voltage Converter Circuit  12  (FIG. 5 line B). The output of the OR Gate  27  is shown on FIG. 5, line A. It forms a complete low level automatic control signal for the Ventilation Fan  72 . 
     The so called Electronic Switch Circuit  3  is composed of an Isolated Switch  32  and a Driver Circuit  31  to drive Isolated Switch  32 . When the low level automatic control signal shown on FIG. 5, line As in “high” state to turn on the Driver Circuit  31 , the Driver Circuit  31  then turns on the Isolated Switch  32 . The wall outlet power then is provided to the Ventilation Fan  72  and makes it run. When the Ventilation Fan  72  is running, the Operating Indicator  5  is also turned on to indicate the status of Ventilation Fan  72 . When the state of low level automatic control signal is in “low” state, it turns off the Driver Circuit  31 . The Driver Circuit  31  then turns off the Isolated Switch  32  and then stops the Ventilation Fan  72  and the Operating Indicator  5  is also turned off. 
     From the above analysis, no matter if the automatic controller is in sleep mode, whenever the light is turned on, the Ventilation Fan  72  will be turned on. Whenever the light is turned off, the Ventilation Fan  72  will automatically be delayed (say, 1 minute or 5 minutes) to be turned off. The Ventilation Fan  72  will be turned on for a short time (say, 1 minute or 5 minutes) periodically (say, ½ hour or 1 hour) before the sleep timer changes state (say, 12 hours or 24 hours) and enters sleep mode. When the automatic controller enters sleep mode, the Ventilation Fan  72  will not be turned on/off periodically to save electricity. On end product design, the Isolated Voltage Converter Circuit  12  and Isolated Switch  32  can be simplified to fulfill their jobs without the isolation function to reduce cost and make this invention cheaper for public. In addition, the control apparatus of the present invention can be implemented in an ASIC to further reduce the cost. 
     Another way to implement this invention is to use software with micro-process to simplify hardware components. Please refer to FIG. 3 a , and FIG. 3 c , and FIG.  4 . The circuit on FIG. 3 a  is connected to FIG. 3 c  to use a Micro-Processor (uP). Please refer to the previous paragraphs for the operation on FIG. 3 a  part of circuits. In FIG. 3 c , the uP handles all the functions in FIG. 3 b  including Delay Timer, Repeat Timer, and Sleep Timer and two optional indicators, optional delay time setting, optional repeat time setting and optional sleep time setting. 
     Program inside a uP starts from block  800 . Then it executes process  801  to initialize uP hardware and sets variable used in this program by reading optional input pins. 
     After the process  801 , the uP H/W internal timer will be setup and started to count and generate fixed period interrupts repeatedly to calibrate all three timers: Delay Timer, Repeat Timer, and Sleep Timer. When a H/W timer interrupts, The T.I.S.R. (Timer H/W Interrupt Service Routine) will be executed to add one to a variable (say, Counter). Also after the process  801 , the H/W interrupt pin will be enabled to accept the change of conditions on the Light  71 . Whenever the Light  71  is turned off, the E.I.S.R (External-pin H/W Interrupt Service Routine) section program will be executed. 
     Three main variable are DelayV, RepeatV, and SleepV for three main timers (Delay Timer, Repeat Timer, and Sleep Timer). The DelayV is set according to the Input 1  pin status. Since the pin  1  has two states (hi and low), two different lengths of delay-off time can be set. One is long delay-off time (say, 5 minutes corresponds to FIG. 3 b  block  212 ) and the other is short delay-off time (say, 1 minute corresponds to FIG. 3 b  block  211 ). The RepeatV can also be set to two different lengths of repeat cycle time set by Input 2  pin. One is long repeat cycle (say, 1 hour correspond to FIG. 3 b  block  29 ) and another is short repeat cycle (say, half an hour corresponding to FIG. 3 b  block  28 ). The Input 3  pin can set the time before entering the Sleep mode. The SleepV can be set long (say, 24 hours corresponding to FIG. 3 b  block  43 ) or short (say, 12 hours corresponding to FIG. 3 b  block  42 ). Later there are some comparison check blocks that use these variables to direct the way the program goes. 
     After block  801  the program enters the process  802  to check if a fixed time is reached. The T.I.S.R. will continue to add one to the variable (say, Counter) on the background. In process  802 , if the variable (say Counter) is not yet reached a fixed time (say, T seconds), the process  802  will continue to loop back to re-run the process  802 . The reason for this variable (say, Counter) and loop back re-run to temporarily keep the program in this process  802  loop is to generate a longer fixed time (longer than the H/W Timer interrupt fixed repeat time) to make later three main timers (Delay Timer, Repeat Timer, and Sleep Timer) easier to calculate. This block  802  can be saved and still fulfill the same functions, if the later three main timers can count long time intervals. 
     If a longer fixed time is reached (say, T seconds), program will reset the variable (say, reset Counter) and start to execute process  803 . In process  803 , if it is not in sleep mode (say, SleepOn flag is not set), the program can not go down to process  804 . If in sleep mode (say, SleepOn flag is set), the program will loop back to start process  802  again. The only way for program to go down to process  804  is that a user turns on or off the Light  71  and triggers the H/W interrupt input pin and then the E.I.S.R. is executed to leave sleep mode (say, clear SleepOn flag). 
     When the Light  71  is turned on or off by the user, the E.I.S.R. is then immediately executed and the program enters the Delay-off mode (say, DelayOn flag is set). The process  804  checks the Delay-off mode. If Automatic Control Box  73  is in Delay-off mode, the program goes to process  805 . If Automatic Control Box  73  is not in Delay-off mode, the program goes to process  807 . 
     In Process  805 , the program first adds one to variable DelayC. If Automatic Control Box  73  is in Delay-off mode (DelayOn is set) and has not yet reached the Delay Time (DelayV variable set by Input 1  pin), the program will go to process  807 . If Automatic Control Box  73  is reaching Delay Time setting (say, DelayC=DelayV), the program will go to process  806  to reset DelayC variable and stop Ventilation Fan  72  and clear DelayOn flag then goes to process  807 . 
     In Process  807 , the program first adds one to variable RepeatC. If Automatic Control Box  73  is not yet reached the Repeat Time (RepeatV variable set by Input 2  pin), the program will go to process  809 . If Automatic Control Box  73  is reaching Repeat Time setting (say, RepeatC=RepeatV), the program will go to process  808  to reset RepeatC variable and enters Delay-off mode (say, set DelayOn flag), and starts Ventilation Fan  72  and then goes to process  809 . 
     In Process  809 , the program first adds one to variable SleepC. If Automatic Control Box  73  is not yet reached the Sleep Time (SleepV variable set by Input 3  pin), the program will go back to process  802 . If Automatic Control Box  73  is reaching Sleep Time setting (say, SleepC=SleepV), the program will go to process  810  to reset SleepC, DelayC, and RepeatC variables, enters Sleep mode (say, set SleepOn flag), goes to process  811  to stop Ventilation Fan  72  and then goes to process  802 . 
     The E.I.S.R. will be executed when the Light  71  is turned on or off and started from block  812  the program will cancel the Sleep mode (say, clear SleepOn flag), enter Delay-off mode (say, set DelayOn flag), clear DelayC and RepeatC and SleepC variables and then go to process  814  to start Ventilation Fan  72 . After that, the program will go to block  815  to return from E.I.S.R. to main program. 
     The T.I.S.R. will be executed when H/W Timer Interrupt has occurred. It starts from block  816  and then goes to process  817  to reset H/W Timer to make it start again and add one to the variable Counter, then goes to block  818  to return from T.I.S.R. to main program. 
     The above main program continues to loop again and again. The two subroutines with main program can do all three main Timer functions interacted with the input status of Light  71 . 
     The H/W Interrupt function on uP input pin for Light  71  conditions in the end product can be omitted by changing the software design to reduce cost. Another way to reduce cost is to omit the H/W Timer interrupt function by changing software design. The above two ways can be used to provide a cheaper product for public by using a simpler uP. The two diodes connected close to Output 3  can be omitted if the software program is changed to make the uP do the “OR” function in the software. The sample software program block diagram is just one way to implement three main automatic functions (Delay-off, Repeat-on/off, Sleep-off saving). It can be further improved to implement the same functions. 
     Programs can practice the above method. The programs can be loaded into a computer or a programmable information processor to execute the function of the flow chart of FIG.  4 . The programs can be stored into a computer-readable medium (for example, magnetic memory or IC memory, etc) to be used to into the computer. Therefore, the invention further discloses a computer-readable medium recording computer-executable programs for the method of the invention. 
     &lt;Comparison&gt; 
     In order to make clear the advances and usefulness of this invention, a short description of the deficiencies of the conventional ventilation fan in a room (restroom, bathroom, or warehouse room) is provided as follows: 
     (1). In many cases, the conventional design fan can&#39;t get rid of bad odors or humid air, since the Ventilation fan is turned on and off along with the room light. 
     (2). It is not very useful for the next user of the restroom or bathroom, since the bad odors or humid air might still be remained inside the room. 
     (3). It is not an advanced design. If the user wants to prolong the ventilation time by simply leaving the power on, the user must remember to go back to the room to turn off the power later. It is inconvenient to the user. 
     (4). It is not an advanced design, if the user wants to prolong the ventilation time, he can leave the power always on, and it is easy for the user to forget the status of the fan. It causes the wasting of electrical power and money as well as the wearing out the fan and light. 
     The advantages of this invention are as follows: 
     (1). It can improve the living environment for the user. The advanced user-friendly automatic design can reduce bad odors and humid air in the room (restroom, bathroom, or warehouse room). It can improve the living environment for the user. 
     (2). The advanced user-friendly automatic design can save the user the inconvenience of monitoring/checking the FAN and Light status of the room. 
     (3). The advanced user-friendly automatic design can save energy and money, because it can automatically turns on the fan without turning on the light to ventilate the room. 
     (4). It is suitable for home use and some industrial applications and is able to provide with indicators to show the status of the fan. 
     In conclusion, from the above comparisons, this invention is much more advanced and useful than the conventional design. It is not found on the market, so the inventor is applying for a patent. 
     Although the present invention and its advantages has been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alternations can be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.