Patent Description:
It is desirable to know an installation location of an air conditioner in order to perform maintenance and inspection of the air conditioner and to determine the cause of failures. For this purpose, an outdoor unit of an air conditioner is equipped with a GPS receiving function, and installation location information acquired through the GPS receiving function is made known to the air conditioner. It is possible to perform maintenance and inspection of a target air conditioner and to determine the cause of a failure using this location information.

To provide an air conditioner and an air conditioner system capable of contributing to suppression of peak electric power without being network-connected with an electric power company <CIT> discloses that limiting conditions for operation (outside air temperature, date and time) in association with a region and a district where the air conditioner is installed, are stored in advance in a storing device. A position specifying means is disposed to specify the region and the district where the air conditioner is installed. A control means specifies the limiting conditions for operation associated with the specified region and district from an operational limiting condition table of the storing device, and when the current state corresponds to the specified limiting conditions for operation, executes the operational limit relating to the suppression of peak electric power.

<CIT> discloses an operation method of a device in a communication system, the method comprising a step of transmitting at least one among a device identifier of the device and position information of the device to another device, wherein the at least one among the device identifier of the device and the position information of the device is registered in a server connected to the another device, and the device identifier and the position information are generated on the basis of operation commands from the another device <CIT> discloses an air conditioner management system including an air conditioner and a portable terminal wherein the portable terminal includes a GPS information acquisition unit according to the preamble of claim <NUM>.

However, equipping an air conditioner with a GPS receiving function as described above increases the number of parts in the air conditioner and increases the cost. Thus, it is feasible for a worker performing maintenance and inspection of an air conditioner to use a portable terminal having a GPS receiving function to acquire location information at the installation site of the air conditioner and store it in a memory of the air conditioner using a communication function between the portable terminal and the air conditioner. By performing processing in this way, the location information of the air conditioner can be stored in the air conditioner without providing a GPS receiving function in the air conditioner body.

However, when a portable terminal acquires location information of an air conditioner, the portable terminal cannot receive a GPS signal in some cases depending on the topography of the location, the installation environment of the air conditioner, the weather, or the like. In such cases, it becomes impossible to input location information into the air conditioner.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an air conditioner management system capable of acquiring location information of an air conditioner even when GPS information cannot be received at the installation location of the air conditioner.

To achieve the above-described object, an air conditioner management system according to the present invention includes an air conditioner, and a portable terminal capable of being connected to the air conditioner through wireless communication, wherein the portable terminal includes: a GPS information acquisition unit configured to receive a GPS signal and acquire location information of the portable terminal; an input information acquisition unit configured to acquire location information input through a manual operation, and a terminal information processing unit configured to add acquisition category information to the location information of the portable terminal acquired by the GPS information acquisition unit or the location information acquired by the input information acquisition unit, the acquisition category information indicating whether corresponding location information is the location information acquired based on the GPS signal or the location information input through the manual operation, and send them to the air conditioner, and the air conditioner includes a storage unit configured to store the location information and the acquisition category information sent from the portable terminal Preferred embodiments of the present invention are defined in the dependent claims.

A configuration of an air conditioner management system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to <FIG>. An air conditioner management system <NUM> according to the embodiment includes an air conditioner <NUM> and a portable terminal <NUM> capable of performing short-distance wireless communication using NFC (near-field communication) with the air conditioner <NUM>. The portable terminal <NUM> is a terminal carried by a worker who performs installation work or maintenance inspection of the air conditioner <NUM>.

<FIG> illustrates a schematic configuration of the air conditioner <NUM>, and <FIG> illustrates a detailed configuration thereof. The air conditioner <NUM> includes an outdoor unit <NUM>, an indoor unit <NUM> connected to the outdoor unit <NUM> through a communication line and a refrigerant piping, and a remote controller <NUM> connected to the indoor unit <NUM> for communication. The outdoor unit <NUM> includes an NFC tag <NUM> and an outdoor controller <NUM>. The NFC tag <NUM> includes an outdoor unit antenna 111a for performing NFC communication, a nonvolatile memory 111b, and an information input/output (I/O) unit 111c. The information I/O unit 111c performs processing of inputting and outputting information through NFC communication. The outdoor unit <NUM>, the indoor unit <NUM>, or the remote controller <NUM> may be connected to a centralized control device of a higher level air conditioner or to an air conditioner management server through the Internet.

The outdoor controller <NUM> includes a first communication unit 112a, a second communication unit 112b, an outdoor storage unit 112c, and a control unit 112d. The first communication unit 112a communicates with the NFC tag <NUM>. The second communication unit 112b communicates with the indoor unit <NUM>. The outdoor storage unit 112c stores various information about the outdoor unit <NUM>. Similar to the nonvolatile memory 111b of the NFC tag <NUM>, the outdoor storage unit 112c uses a nonvolatile memory whose memory is not erased when the power supply is shut off. The control unit 112d controls sending and receiving of information to and from the NFC tag <NUM>, the indoor unit <NUM>, and the outdoor storage unit 112c.

The indoor unit <NUM> includes an indoor controller <NUM> that configures to control equipment in the indoor unit <NUM> based on information sent from the outdoor unit <NUM> and information sent from the remote controller <NUM>. The remote controller <NUM> sends user operation information to the indoor unit <NUM>. The indoor controller <NUM> sends information for controlling equipment in the outdoor unit <NUM> to the outdoor controller <NUM>. The indoor controller <NUM> sends information for display on a display unit (not illustrated) of the remote controller <NUM>.

The portable terminal <NUM> is constituted by, for example, a smart device, and as illustrated in <FIG>, includes a terminal antenna <NUM> for communicating with the NFC tag <NUM> of the outdoor unit <NUM> using NFC, a GPS receiving unit <NUM>, an operation information input unit <NUM>, a network communication unit <NUM>, a terminal storage unit <NUM>, a display unit <NUM>, and a terminal control unit <NUM>.

The GPS receiving unit <NUM> receives a GPS signal and acquires location information of the portable terminal <NUM>. The operation information input unit <NUM> is constituted by a touch screen or the like and inputs manual operation information from a worker. The network communication unit <NUM> connects to a general wide area network. The terminal storage unit <NUM> stores information based on an instruction from the terminal control unit <NUM>. The display unit <NUM> is constituted by a liquid crystal screen that serves also as a touch screen used as the operation information input unit <NUM>, and displays information based on an instruction from the terminal control unit <NUM>.

The terminal control unit <NUM> includes a GPS information acquisition unit <NUM>, an input information acquisition unit <NUM>, and a terminal information processing unit <NUM>. The GPS information acquisition unit <NUM> acquires location information acquired by the GPS receiving unit <NUM>. The input information acquisition unit <NUM> acquires operation information manually input by a worker through the operation information input unit <NUM>. When a location information setting instruction for the air conditioner <NUM> is input from the operation information input unit <NUM> through a manual operation by a worker, the terminal information processing unit <NUM> adds acquisition category information to location information of the portable terminal <NUM> acquired by the GPS information acquisition unit <NUM> or to location information acquired by the input information acquisition unit <NUM>, the acquisition category information indicating whether the corresponding location information is location information acquired based on a GPS signal or location information input by a worker, and sends them to the outdoor unit <NUM> for storage as installation location information of the air conditioner <NUM>, more specifically, of the outdoor unit <NUM>. When a location information read instruction for the air conditioner <NUM> is input from the operation information input unit <NUM> through a manual operation by a worker, the terminal information processing unit <NUM> sends a location information read request to the air conditioner <NUM>, and in response to this, acquires location information stored in the air conditioner <NUM> and sent from the air conditioner <NUM>, and stores the location information in the terminal storage unit <NUM> and outputs the location information to the display unit <NUM>.

Operations of the air conditioner management system <NUM> according to the embodiment will be described with reference to flowcharts in <FIG> and <FIG>. In the embodiment, the portable terminal <NUM> carried by a worker X is designated as a portable terminal 20X, and the portable terminal <NUM> carried by a worker Y is designated as a portable terminal 20Y In the outdoor storage unit 112c of the outdoor controller <NUM> of the outdoor unit <NUM>, for example, a model name "MMY-MUP***", a serial number "<NUM>", and a unit number "U1/12HP" are written and stored as information about the outdoor unit <NUM> when the outdoor unit <NUM> is manufactured.

First, when the air conditioner <NUM> is installed, the worker X inputs the name of the building where the air conditioner <NUM> is installed, "ABC Building No. <NUM> East", into the portable terminal 20X, and brings the portable terminal 20X close to the outdoor unit antenna 111a of the NFC tag <NUM> of the outdoor unit <NUM> to enable NFC communication, and thus the terminal control unit <NUM> of the portable terminal <NUM> and the control unit 112d of the outdoor controller <NUM> detect that NFC communication is enabled.

When detecting that NFC communication is enabled, the control unit 112d acquires the model name "MMY-MUP***", the serial number "<NUM>", and the unit number "U1/12HP" of the outdoor unit <NUM> from the outdoor storage unit 112c and sends them to the portable terminal <NUM> through the first communication unit 112a, the information I/O unit 111c, and the outdoor unit antenna 111a. The portable terminal <NUM> acquires various kinds of information, which are sent from the outdoor unit <NUM>, in the terminal information processing unit <NUM> of the terminal control unit <NUM> through the terminal antenna <NUM> and displays them on the display unit <NUM>.

With NFC communication enabled between the portable terminal <NUM> and the outdoor unit <NUM> ("YES" in S1), when the worker X performs an operation to instruct the setting of location information of the air conditioner <NUM> through the operation information input unit <NUM> of the portable terminal 20X, information on the operation is acquired by the input information acquisition unit <NUM> of the terminal control unit <NUM> ("YES" in S2).

When the input information acquisition unit <NUM> acquires the information on the setting instruction operation for the location information, the terminal information processing unit <NUM> instructs the GPS information acquisition unit <NUM> to acquire location information based on a GPS signal (S3). In response to the instruction, the GPS information acquisition unit <NUM> activates the GPS receiving unit <NUM> to receive a GPS signal.

Here, when a GPS signal is received properly by the GPS receiving unit <NUM> and the location information (latitude/longitude information) of the portable terminal 20X is acquired based on the GPS signal ("YES" in S4), the location information is acquired by the GPS information acquisition unit <NUM> and sent to the terminal information processing unit <NUM>.

Upon acquiring the location information, the terminal information processing unit <NUM> sets acquisition category information based on bibliographic information added to the location information. Here, information indicating that the location information is acquired based on a GPS signal is set as the acquisition category information. Then, first display information <NUM> including the acquired location information and the acquisition category information is displayed on the display unit <NUM> (S5). <FIG> illustrates an example of the first display information <NUM> displayed on the display unit <NUM>.

In the first display information <NUM> in <FIG>, "ABC Building No. <NUM> East" is displayed as building name information <NUM>, which is input by the worker X. "MMY-MUP***" is displayed as model name information <NUM>, "<NUM>" is displayed as a serial number <NUM>, and "U1/12HP" is displayed as a unit number <NUM> of the outdoor unit <NUM>, which are acquired from the outdoor unit <NUM>. "<NUM>" is displayed as latitude information <NUM> and "<NUM>" is displayed as longitude information <NUM> of the location information acquired by the GPS information acquisition unit <NUM>. "GPS" is displayed as acquisition category information <NUM>, indicating that the location information was acquired based on a GPS signal.

The first display information <NUM> in <FIG> displayed on the display unit <NUM> (display screen) includes information on a "Back" button <NUM>, a "Save" button <NUM>, a "Send" button <NUM>, and a "Read" button <NUM>. The "Back" button <NUM> is a button for returning the display of the display unit <NUM> of the portable terminal <NUM> from the screen of the first display information <NUM> to a previous display screen. The "Save" button <NUM> is a button for saving the location information displayed in the first display information <NUM>, in the terminal storage unit <NUM>. The "Send" button <NUM> is a button for sending the information displayed in the first display information <NUM> to the outdoor unit <NUM>. The "Read" button <NUM> is a button for reading out the location information stored in the outdoor unit <NUM>. Here, when the "Save" button <NUM> is operated by the worker X to instruct saving of location information ("YES" in S6), the terminal information processing unit <NUM> adds a flag F = <NUM> to the acquired location information as acquisition category information indicating that the location information is location information acquired based on a GPS signal, and stores it in the terminal storage unit <NUM> (S7).

When the GPS receiving unit <NUM> does not properly receive a GPS signal in step S4 and the terminal information processing unit <NUM> is unable to acquire location information based on a GPS signal ("NO" in S4), the display unit <NUM> outputs information prompting the worker X to input location information, for example, message information such as "location information was not available, use keys to enter location information".

The worker X confirms the message information displayed on the display unit <NUM>, acquires location information of the current location by means other than the location information acquisition means using a GPS signal, and manually inputs the information through the operation information input unit <NUM>. Location information acquired by means other than the location information acquisition means using a GPS signal is, for example, location information constituted by latitude and longitude information of the current location read by the worker X from map information on which the latitude and longitude information is displayed. Although the location information acquired and manually input by the worker X in this way is often less accurate than the location information acquired using a GPS signal, it is possible to identify a rough location. The location information input through an operation by the worker X is acquired by the input information acquisition unit <NUM> and sent to the terminal information processing unit <NUM>. When acquiring the location information that has been input through an operation by the worker X ("YES" in S8), the terminal information processing unit <NUM> sets acquisition category information based on bibliographic information of the location information. Here, information indicating that the location information has been manually input is set as the acquisition category information. Then, second display information <NUM> including the acquired location information and the acquisition category information is displayed on the display unit <NUM> (S9). <FIG> illustrates an example of the second display information <NUM> displayed on the display unit <NUM> (display screen) here. If no operation is performed by the worker X ("NO" in S8), the process ends there.

In the second display information <NUM> in <FIG>, building name information <NUM> "ABC Building No. <NUM> East" is displayed, and model name information <NUM> "MMY-MUP ***", serial number <NUM> "<NUM>", and unit number <NUM> "U1/12HP" of the outdoor unit <NUM> are displayed. Also, "<NUM>" is displayed as latitude information <NUM> and "<NUM>" is displayed as longitude information <NUM> of the location information manually input by the worker X, and "Manual" is displayed as acquisition category information <NUM> indicating that the location information was manually input by a worker. Also, similarly as in <FIG>, the second display information <NUM> includes information on a "Back" button <NUM>, a "Save" button <NUM>, a "Send" button <NUM>, and a "Read" button <NUM>.

Here, when the worker X operates the "Save" button <NUM> to instruct saving of location information ("YES" in S10), the terminal information processing unit <NUM> adds a flag F = <NUM> to the acquired location information as acquisition category information indicating that the location information is location information that has been input through an operation by the worker X, and stores it in the terminal storage unit <NUM> (S11).

Then, when the worker X operates the "Send" button <NUM> to instruct sending of location information ("YES" in S12), the terminal information processing unit <NUM> sends the corresponding location information to the outdoor unit <NUM> of the air conditioner <NUM> through the terminal antenna <NUM> (S13).

In the outdoor unit <NUM>, location information sent from the portable terminal 20X is received through the outdoor unit antenna 111a and stored in the nonvolatile memory 111b by the information I/O unit 111c of the NFC tag <NUM>. Furthermore, the stored location information is sent to the outdoor controller <NUM> by the information I/O unit 111c, and is stored in the outdoor storage unit 112c as location information of the air conditioner <NUM> under the control of the control unit 112d.

An operation performed when another worker Y visits the air conditioner <NUM> after location information of the air conditioner <NUM> is stored in the outdoor unit <NUM> in the above-described way and reads the location information using the portable terminal 20Y will be described with reference to a flowchart in <FIG>. The flowchart in <FIG> illustrates control flows in parallel of the portable terminal <NUM> and the outdoor unit <NUM> operating in association with each other.

When the worker Y brings the portable terminal 20Y close to the outdoor unit antenna 111a of the outdoor unit <NUM> to enable NFC communication ("YES" in S21, "YES" in S22) and performs an operation to instruct reading of location information of the air conditioner <NUM>, through the operation information input unit <NUM> of the portable terminal 20Y ("YES" in S23), the input information acquisition unit <NUM> acquires information on a location information read request operation. The terminal information processing unit <NUM> sends the location information read request to the outdoor unit <NUM> of the air conditioner <NUM> through the terminal antenna <NUM> (S24). If for some reason NFC communication is not possible between the portable terminal 20Y and the outdoor unit <NUM>, the process ends ("NO" in S21, "NO" in S22). Also, if the portable terminal 20Y is not operated to request reading of location information ("NO" in S23), the process ends.

The location information read request sent from the portable terminal 20Y is received by the outdoor unit <NUM> through the outdoor unit antenna 111a and is sent to an outdoor unit information processing unit <NUM>. The outdoor unit information processing unit <NUM> reads location information of the air conditioner <NUM> from the outdoor storage unit 112c in response to the acquired location information read request and sends it to the portable terminal 20Y through the outdoor unit antenna 111a of the NFC tag <NUM> (S25).

In the portable terminal 20Y, the location information of the air conditioner <NUM> sent from the outdoor unit <NUM> is received through the terminal antenna <NUM>, is stored in the terminal storage unit <NUM> by the terminal information processing unit <NUM>, and when the flag F added to the location information is <NUM>, the first display information <NUM> similar to that in <FIG> is displayed on the display unit <NUM>, and when the flag F is <NUM>, the second display information <NUM> similar to that in <FIG> is displayed (S26).

Here, when information displayed on the display unit <NUM> is the second display information <NUM>, the worker Y determines that accuracy may be low because the location information has been manually input, and performs processing to update the location information stored in the outdoor unit <NUM> by acquiring location information using a GPS signal again. When the worker Y performs an operation to instruct the setting of location information of the air conditioner <NUM> through the operation information input unit <NUM> of the portable terminal 20Y in order to update location information stored in the outdoor unit <NUM>, information on the operation is acquired by the input information acquisition unit <NUM> of the terminal control unit <NUM> ("YES" in S27). Since the processing performed in steps S28 to S35 is similar to the processing in steps S3 to S7, S12, and S13 described above, detailed descriptions will be omitted.

By updating manually input location information stored in the outdoor unit <NUM> with location information using a GPS signal in this way, it is possible to obtain highly accurate location information from the air conditioner <NUM> when other workers visit the air conditioner <NUM> in the future.

When location information using a GPS signal could not be acquired in step S29 ("NO" in S29), update processing for location information is not executed and the process returns to step S21. When the location information already stored in the air conditioner is information acquired based on a GPS signal, the worker does not perform the location information setting instruction operation ("NO" in S27) and the installation location confirmation processing ends.

In the above-described embodiment, when the terminal information processing unit <NUM> acquires location information in step S4 ("YES") or step S29 ("YES"), reliability information of a GPS signal, which is created by the portable terminal <NUM> based on the GPS signal and indicates the reliability of the acquired location information, may be used for the acquisition category information. The reliability information of a GPS signal is information added to the GPS signal using existing technology. In contrast, the manually input location information acquired in step S8 ("YES") does not include such reliability information.

Here, the terminal information processing unit <NUM> determines that location information has been acquired based on a GPS signal when reliability information has been added to the acquired location information, and that location information has been manually input by a worker when reliability information has not been added.

The terminal information processing unit <NUM> may include map information, generate display information indicating acquired location information of the air conditioner on the map information in a display format differentiated for each item of acquisition category information added to the location information, and display the display information on the display unit <NUM>.

For example, when the acquisition category information of the location information is "GPS", the terminal information processing unit <NUM> displays a circle S1, which is centered on a location P1 of the location information and becomes larger as the reliability information becomes lower, on map information M as illustrated in <FIG>. When the acquisition category information of the location information is "manual", the terminal information processing unit <NUM> displays a point centered on a location P2 of the location information on the map information M as illustrated in <FIG>. Workers can determine whether stored location information is "GPS" or "manual" also based on the information displayed on this map information M.

In the above-described embodiment, location information of the air conditioner <NUM> stored in the portable terminals 20X, 20Y may be sent from the network communication unit <NUM> to a portable terminal of another worker via a wide area network through operations of workers X, Y By sending information in this way, location information of the air conditioner <NUM> can be provided even to a worker who is yet to go to the place of the air conditioner <NUM>.

According to the above-described embodiment, even when GPS information cannot be received at an installation location of an air conditioner, it is possible to input and store location information of the air conditioner. When stored location information of the air conditioner is less accurate, it is possible to update the information to highly accurate information. By reading the location information of the air conditioner acquired in this way with a portable terminal carried by a worker, it is possible for the worker to easily go to the place of the air conditioner using the acquired location information when performing subsequent maintenance and inspection.

Although the outdoor unit <NUM> stores location information obtained from the portable terminal <NUM> in the outdoor storage unit 112c in the above-described embodiment, the location information may be stored only in the nonvolatile memory 111b of the NFC tag <NUM>, and the location information stored in the nonvolatile memory 111b may be read by the control unit 112d through the first communication unit 112a and the information I/O unit 111c and be sent to the portable terminal <NUM> in response to a location information read request from the portable terminal <NUM>.

Claim 1:
An air conditioner management system (<NUM>), comprising:
an air conditioner (<NUM>); and
a portable terminal (<NUM>) capable of being connected to the air conditioner (<NUM>) through wireless communication, wherein
the portable terminal (<NUM>) comprises:
a GPS information acquisition unit (<NUM>) configured to receive a GPS signal and acquire location information of the portable terminal (<NUM>); characterized in that the portable terminal (<NUM>) further comprises:
an input information acquisition unit (<NUM>) configured to acquire location information that has been input through a manual operation; and
a terminal information processing unit (<NUM>) configured to add acquisition category information to the location information of the portable terminal (<NUM>) acquired by the GPS information acquisition unit (<NUM>) or the location information acquired by the input information acquisition unit (<NUM>), the acquisition category information indicating whether corresponding location information is the location information acquired based on the GPS signal or the location information that has been input through the manual operation, and send the location information and the acquisition category information to the air conditioner (<NUM>), and
the air conditioner (<NUM>) comprises:
a storage unit (112c) configured to store the location information and the acquisition category information sent from the portable terminal (<NUM>).