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US 10,254,002 B2Granted
Communication system, signal transfer method, and air conditioner
AssigneeMitsubishi Electric Corporation
InventorsSoichiro Kurokawa, Yoshiaki Koizumi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An outdoor unit and an indoor unit communicate with each other. The outdoor unit includes a communication circuit that outputs a pulse signal to be transmitted to the indoor unit. The indoor unit includes a communication circuit that receives the pulse signal transmitted by the outdoor unit. An air conditioner 100 includes at least one photocoupler to transfer to the communication circuit the pulse signal output by the communication circuit. The communication circuit transmits a pulse signal with a first polarity and a pulse width corrected to be shorter by a predefined correction time than a predefined reference pulse width of the pulse signal.
Claims11
A communication system, comprising:
- a first communication device and a second communication device that are configured to communicate with each other;
- at least one photocoupler;
- and
- a transferrer,
- wherein
- the first communication device comprises a transmission circuit configured to output a pulse signal to be transmitted to the second communication device,
- the second communication device comprises a reception circuit configured to receive the pulse signal transmitted by the first communication device,
- the at least one photocoupler is configured to transfer to the reception circuit the pulse signal output by the transmission circuit,
- the transmission circuit is configured to transmit a test pulse signal with a first polarity and with a first pulse width,
- the reception circuit is configured to receive the test pulse signal,
- the transferrer is configured to transfer to the transmission circuit a difference between the first pulse width and a pulse width of the test pulse signal received by the reception circuit, and
- the transmission circuit is configured to obtain a correction time based on the difference transferred by the transferrer, and transmit the pulse signal with the first polarity and with a pulse width corrected to be shorter by the correction time than a predefined reference pulse width.
9 more elements
A signal transfer method for transferring a signal between a first communication device and a second communication device, the signal transfer method comprising:
- a pulse signal outputting step of outputting, from either one device of the first communication device and the second communication device, a pulsed electrical signal;
- an electric-photo conversion step of performing electric-photo conversion on the pulsed electrical signal output in the pulse signal outputting step, and of emitting light;
- a photoelectric conversion step of performing, by a photoelectric conversion element, photoelectric conversion on the light emitted by the electric-photo conversion, and of outputting a pulsed electrical signal;
- a receiving step of receiving, by another device of the first communication device and the second communication device, the pulsed electrical signal output by the photoelectric conversion;
- and
- a correction time obtaining step of outputting a pulsed electrical test signal from the one device of the first communication device and the second communication device, obtaining a difference between a predefined pulse width and a pulse width of the pulsed electrical test signal received by the other device of the first communication device and the second communication device, and obtaining a correction time based on the obtained difference,
- wherein a pulse width of the pulsed electrical signal output in the pulse signal outputting step is set to be shorter by the correction time obtained in the correction time obtaining step than a reference time defined by a communication speed.
4 more elements
An air conditioner comprising:
- an outdoor unit;
- an indoor unit;
- at least one photocoupler;
- and
- a transferrer,
- wherein
- either one unit of the outdoor unit and the indoor unit comprises a transmission circuit configured to transmit a pulse signal to another unit of the outdoor unit and the indoor unit,
- the other unit of the outdoor unit and the indoor unit comprises a reception circuit configured to receive the pulse signal transmitted by the one unit of the outdoor unit and the indoor unit,
- the at least one photocoupler is configured to transfer to the reception circuit the pulse signal output by the transmission circuit,
- the transmission circuit is configured to transmit a test pulse signal with a first polarity and with a first pulse width,
- the reception circuit is configured to receive the test pulse signal,
- the transferrer is configured to transfer to the transmission circuit a difference between the first pulse width and a pulse width of the test pulse signal received by the reception circuit, and
- the transmission circuit is configured to obtain a correction time based on the difference transferred by the transferrer, and transmit the pulse signal with the first polarity and with a pulse width corrected to be shorter by the correction time than a predefined reference pulse width.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.