Air conditioner operation control system and air conditioner operation control apparatus

Abstract

An air conditioner operation control system includes an air conditioner, a portable terminal, and a server. The server includes a relaying circuitry that receives an operational request from the portable terminal and relays the operational request received to the air conditioner and an exclusive time setting circuitry that sets a certain period between a point in time when the relaying circuitry receives the operational request and a point in time when the certain period that is predetermined expires as an exclusive time. The portable terminal includes a location information acquiring circuitry, an exclusive time acquiring circuitry that obtains the exclusive time when the location information obtained by the location information acquiring circuitry arrives in the control area from outside the control area, a transmitting circuitry that transmits the operational request from a user to the server after a lapse of the exclusive time.

1 . An air conditioner operation control system comprising:
 an air conditioner to perform operational request-based operation relating to air conditioning;   a portable terminal; and   a server including a relaying circuitry to receive an operational request from the portable terminal and relay the operational request received to the air conditioner and an exclusive time setting circuitry to set a certain period between a point in time when the relaying circuitry receives the operational request and a point in time when the certain period that is predetermined expires as an exclusive time, wherein   the portable terminal includes
 a location information acquiring circuitry to obtain location information indicating where the portable terminal is, 
 a memory to store a range covering a predetermined distance from the air conditioner as a control area, 
 an exclusive time acquiring circuitry to obtain the exclusive time set by the server when the location information obtained by the location information acquiring circuitry arrives in the control area from outside the control area, 
 a transmitting circuitry to transmit the operational request from a user to the server after a lapse of the exclusive time, and 
 an inputting circuitry for a user to input location information of the air conditioner and the control area. 
   
     
     
         2 . The air conditioner operation control system according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein   the portable terminal further includes a display to display unavailability of operation when the location information of the portable terminal arrives at the air conditioner before the exclusive time expires.   
     
     
         3 . The air conditioner operation control system according to  claim 2 ,
 wherein   the portable terminal further includes
 a moving speed computing circuitry to compute a moving speed of the portable terminal on a basis of the location information of the portable terminal and time information when the portable terminal is outside the control area and 
 an estimated arrival time computing circuitry to compute estimated arrival time on a basis of the moving speed computed by the moving speed computing circuitry, the estimated arrival time being time when the portable terminal arrives at the air conditioner, and 
   the display displays unavailability of operation when the estimated arrival time computed by the estimated arrival time computing circuitry is earlier than time when the exclusive time expires.   
     
     
         4 . The air conditioner operation control system according to  claim 3 ,
 wherein   the transmitting circuitry transmits the operational request to the server after the lapse of the exclusive time when the estimated arrival time computed by the estimated arrival time computing circuitry is later than time when the exclusive time expires.   
     
     
         5 . The air conditioner operation control system according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein   the transmitting circuitry transmits the operational request to the server when the location information of the portable terminal moves out of the control area, and   the air conditioner includes
 a person detection sensor to detect presence or absence of a person in a space where the air conditioner performs air conditioning and 
 a controlling circuitry to ignore the operational request when the person detection sensor detects a person. 
   
     
     
         6 . The air conditioner operation control system according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein   the exclusive time setting circuitry sets a predetermined period as the exclusive time for a portable terminal that has the operational request first received and confirmed by the server.   
     
     
         7 . An air conditioner operation control apparatus comprising:
 a request receiving circuitry to receive an operational request intended for an air conditioner from a portable terminal;   an exclusive time setting circuitry to set a certain period between a point in time when the request receiving circuitry receives the operational request and a point in time when the certain period that is predetermined expires as an exclusive time;   an operational request retention memory to retain a different operational request that the request receiving circuitry has received from a portable terminal different from the portable terminal before the exclusive time set by the exclusive time setting circuitry expires; and   an operational request transmitting circuitry to transmit to the air conditioner the different operational request retained by the operational request retention memory after the exclusive time set by the exclusive time setting circuitry expires.