FR2852173A1 - Ambiance creating system for use in residence, office and vehicle, has central unit which downloads ambiance creating programs from remote server, and executes programs including commands to be applied to different equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

System has multiple equipment (3), each acting on environment of a person and having control interface (4). Local network (1) connects central unit (2) to interfaces. Central unit executes ambiance creating programs which include commands to be applied to different equipment. Central unit can download ambiance creating programs from remote server (11) through data transmitting network (10). Sensor (5) is connected to central unit to trigger start of ambiance creating program when preset condition is detected by sensor. Sensor can be located on the user or on a transitional object, e.g. cuddly toy. equipment include heating and lighting systems, air conditioning system, perfume diffuser, blinds, etc. Control unit, such as mobile phone (7), can be used instead of central unit to execute ambiance creating programs.

Description

- 1

  SYSTEM FOR CREATING ATMOSPHERE AND THE ENVIRONMENT OF PEOPLE USING MULTISENSORY ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT.

  The present invention relates to a system for creating the ambiance and environment of people, using electronic accessories integrated in private or public places or in the direct environment of the person such as his clothes.

  Currently, man generally lives in static environments, that is to say, which do not change or little. The interior decor of the home or office, or even of a vehicle is relatively invariable in the short term. It is the same with the decor of public places.

  However, there are equipments allowing to influence the mood and the state of mind of the person. Indeed, in certain places, one finds equipment for the diffusion of background music or perfumes or video screens. There are also pieces of equipment influencing the environment, such as lighting control, heating or air conditioning, or even opening and closing of shutters or blinds.

  This equipment can include controlled switches, which can be programmable or actuated by the change of a condition (position, temperature, time). They can also include remote control means 25.

  Furthermore, control panels or remote controls capable of controlling several pieces of equipment have already been provided. However, these control systems allow the equipment to be controlled separately in a sequential manner.

  There are also equipment installed in places of shows (theaters, cinemas, nightclubs), or for educational or recreational purposes (simulators installed for example in amusement parks), making it possible to control lighting or broadcasting. sounds and images. This equipment includes a control panel requiring direct intervention by an operator or the user. - 2

  However, these devices remain simple and only partially meet the needs of the user, insofar as they offer no interactivity with the user and most of the time require manual intervention.

  Indeed, in general, the creation of ambience is essentially carried out by a musical broadcast, the rhythm of which is sometimes used to synchronize a lighting or a broadcast of images, or even to generate an image on a screen. computer.

  These equipments do not have an integrated control or management: to create a specific atmosphere or environment, it is necessary to control each equipment individually.

  This equipment also requires the intervention of the user to specifically choose a program defining what he wants to see, hear or feel. To create a specific atmosphere, the user must order each item of equipment separately (radio, television, computer, heating, lighting, etc.), each item of equipment being controlled by a specific program.

  The present invention aims to eliminate these drawbacks by proposing a system capable of meeting a need for change, in particular to adapt to the mood of the person, or to particular circumstances: party, exceptional event, sport, ... This objective is achieved by the provision of an atmosphere creation system comprising a plurality of equipment acting on the environment of the person, provided with a control interface.

  According to the invention, this system comprises a central unit connected via a local network to the equipment control interfaces, the central unit comprising means for executing programs for creating atmospheres gathering commands to be applied to equipment.

  Advantageously, the central unit comprises means for downloading programs for creating an environment from a remote server connected to the central unit via a data transmission network.

  According to a variant of the invention, the central unit comprises means for executing the atmosphere creation programs downloaded from the remote server as and when they are received by the central unit.

  According to another variant of the invention, this system comprises at least one sensor connected to the central unit, the central unit comprising means for triggering the execution of a determined atmosphere creation program when a predefined condition is detected by the sensor (s).

  Advantageously, this system comprises at least one sensor installed on a person.

  Preferably, this system comprises at least one sensor installed in a transitional object.

  According to another variant of the invention, the central unit comprises a control unit connected to sound and video reproduction equipment, and a control unit of other equipment comprising at least one equipment belonging to the assembly comprising a diffuser perfume, a lighting system, a heating installation, an air conditioning installation, a fan, an installation for controlling blinds or shutters.

  According to yet another variant of the invention, this system comprises means for detecting the presence and the type of equipment to be controlled. Advantageously, certain items of equipment to be ordered are worn by a person.

  According to another variant of the invention, this system comprises a central unit control unit, designed to select an atmosphere creation program to be executed and store an identifier of the selected atmosphere creation program.

  Advantageously, the control unit is worn by the user comprises wireless connection means for connecting and disconnecting from a central equipment control unit, located nearby, as the user moves, and means for transmitting the identifier of the selected ambience creation program to the central unit to which it is connected.

  Preferably, the control unit comprises means for communicating via a data transmission network with a remote server broadcasting programs for creating atmospheres. - 4

  According to another variant of the invention, the central unit and the equipment to be controlled are interconnected via a wireless local area network.

  Advantageously, the wireless local area network is of the Bluetooth or WiFi type.

  Preferred embodiments of the invention will be described below, by way of nonlimiting examples, with reference to the appended drawings in which: FIG. 1 schematically represents an atmosphere creation system according to the invention; Figures 2 and 3 schematically represent two variants of the control system shown in Figure 1.

  FIG. 1 represents an atmosphere creation system according to the invention. This system comprises a plurality of equipment 3 for diffusing sounds, images, or perfumes, or which influence the environment (lighting, heating, air conditioning, ventilation, shutter opening / closing system) , this equipment being connected to a central control unit 2 via a local network 1 which can be wired or wireless, for example of the Bluetooth or WiFi type.

  The broadcasting equipment can be radio or television receivers, electronic or computer equipment of the high fidelity chain type, home theater system, personal computer, video projector, portable music player, etc. In order to be able to be controlled by the central unit 2, the devices 3 include a standby mode of operation and are coupled to a respective communication and control interface 4 bringing together a communication unit 30 to receive orders for controlling the equipment. 3 associated, and an equipment control unit in order to control the equipment by applying to it the orders received from the central unit.

  The central unit 2 can be of the personal computer type and is designed to store and execute ambience creation programs consisting of equipment control sequences 3, containing identifiers of equipment to be controlled associated with commands to be applied. to the corresponding equipment. The choice of equipment thus identified in a program and the commands to be applied to it is made according to the atmosphere to be created for the user.

  The atmosphere creation system which has just been described can be installed at the user's home, at his office, in his vehicle, in public or semi-public places, or even on the user by means of clothing. or suitable accessories.

  Thanks to these provisions, the user only has to choose on the central unit 2 the program designed to create the desired atmosphere, and the central unit executes the chosen program which controls the equipment designated in the program.

  Thus, a single program selection command can control a large number of devices.

  The central unit 2 can be connected to an external network 10, for example a radio network or the Internet network, to receive servers 11 connected to the network 10 from programs for creating atmospheres. In addition, these downloaded atmosphere creation programs 20 can be executed as they are downloaded, so that these programs are activated by the remote server which transmits them to the local network 1.

  Provision may be made for the central unit to include means for scheduling the activation of room programs on an hourly basis.

  It can also be provided that the selection of an atmosphere creation program is carried out by means of equipment 3 which is started manually by the user. For example, if the user turns on a music broadcasting equipment 3, the identification information of the music broadcast is transmitted by the equipment to the central unit 2 which has in memory a table of correspondence between this information identification and an ambience program. The central unit then searches this table for the room program and executes it. In order to be able to control the devices 3 with which it is connected by the local network 1, the central unit 2 stores the type of each of these devices, associated with their identifier in the local network. - 6

  In a more elaborate variant of the invention, provision is made for the central unit 2 to comprise means for automatically recovering the identifier and the type of each of the items of equipment 3 connected to the local network. To this end, the communication unit 5 of each of the equipment communication and control interfaces 4 includes means for transmitting this information to the central unit 2 following the reception of a message of query.

  In the above description, the selection and execution of a program for creating an atmosphere is triggered by the user. Alternatively, this selection and / or this triggering can be carried out following a particular condition detected by a sensor 5 placed on the place where the atmosphere creation system is installed or on the user, this sensor comprising 15 means for communicating with the central unit 2, either by the network 1 or by another means of transmission (direct wired connection). This sensor can be a motion sensor, designed to detect a particular gesture by the user or the movement of an object, each gesture or movement being associated with a particular atmosphere creation program. These gestures or 20 movements can be the touch of a flower, or the lighting of a candle, or the taking and manipulation of a particular object, such as a transitional object 9 (stuffed animal, piece of tissue, ...).

  Several sensors can also be arranged in the same object, for example a motion sensor and a pressure sensor. In this way, the central unit can be programmed so that the program executed by the central unit 2 is, for example, all the more soothing as the pressure exerted on the object is high.

  The activation of a particular atmosphere creation program can also be triggered by the central unit 2 when a predefined condition is fulfilled by the signals transmitted by one or more sensors 5.

  These sensors can include biomedical sensors, for example of the “body-data” type, for detecting the user's emotions, or also sensors making it possible to detect changes in the user's environment such as temperature, humidity. , lighting intensity, appearance of particular noises or sounds, etc. The atmosphere created by the system which has just been described is limited to a specific place (that o is installed the central unit 2 and the equipment 3. However, as people are brought to move, the system according to the invention 5 can also be designed so that the atmosphere chosen by the user accompanies him during his travels.To this end, the user is equipped with a control device 7 which memorizes the choice of atmosphere of the user making this choice to the nearest central unit, within radio range of the control device. Once contact is established between the control device 7 and a central unit 2, the control device transmits to the central unit a room identifier to be created and the central unit searches for and executes the corresponding room creation program by controlling the equipment with which it can communicate. and that the connection between the control device and the central unit is interrupted, the central unit stops the execution of the program for creating the current ambience.

  As a variant, the control device 7 can perform the functions of the central unit 2 and thus control the equipment in communication with the control device as a function of an atmosphere creation program which it executes. The control device can be connected to a remote server, for example accessible via a mobile telephone network or the Internet, in order to access the atmosphere creation programs which it downloads and executes.

  The equipment to be ordered can also be worn by the user, or even be integrated into his clothing. This is for example an MP3 player, ...

  In these last two variants of the invention, the control device 7 is for example integrated in a mobile telephone advantageously comprising a communication module conforming to the Bluetooth or WiFi standard.

  Typically, an ambience creation program can include equipment command scripts combining equipment commands and durations or dates of execution of these commands, and multimedia files (music, images, video,. ..) to be sent to suitable equipment.

  The equipment control scripts can contain standardized commands which are then converted by the control unit 21, 22, using pilot programs (drivers), into commands executable by the corresponding equipment 3 or its control interface. 4.

  It can be planned to install in the central unit 2 software allowing the user to carry out his own programs for creating the atmosphere.

  Thus a program "ZEN ambiance" includes for example the following orders 10: - switching on the two video projectors and activating the video source, - switching on the amplifier and selecting the sound input, - sending the streams of animated images and sound (5-minute loop sequence in 15 bicamera) and background music associated, respectively with video projectors and amplifier, - progressive lighting of the six light channels at 60%, - lighting of the fan at slow speed, - shutter control to reach the closed position at 60%, - triggering of the fragrance diffuser with the "sweet orange" fragrance for one minute.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the central unit 2 represented in FIG. 1 can consist of several computers connected to the local network 1 used by the system according to the invention. Thus, provision can be made for: a central unit 20 offering functions for selecting, consulting, and previewing, programs for creating atmospheres stored in a mass memory 6, these programs possibly being downloaded from a remote server ; a control unit 21 for controlling the control of the audiovisual equipment and the reproduction by these equipment of the audiovisual elements of the program (decoding and reproduction of the images and of the sound); and a control unit 22 taking charge of piloting via the control interfaces 4 of the other equipment 3 (perfume diffusers, lights, spotlights, heating, air conditioning, fans, blinds, shutters, etc.).

  In this variant of the invention, the control units 21, 22 can be connected to the equipment that they control by wired links, for example of the RS 232 (perfume diffusers) or USB (Universal Serial Bus) type or by wireless links, for example of the Bluetooth type. The lighting control interfaces 4 can be of the DMX type, the equipment control interfaces such as fans, blinds, shutters, are controlled relays, for example of the Powerlink type, and the equipment such as heating and air conditioning are radio controlled.

  When the central unit 20 executes an ambience creation program, it transmits to the control units 21 and 22 the parts of the program relating to the respective equipment 3 which they control, namely the equipment control scripts 15 to the control unit 22 and the audiovisual elements to control unit 21.

  As illustrated in FIG. 3, the functions for previewing and accessing a remote server for downloading ambient programs, performed by the central unit 2 or 20 can be deported respectively to a terminal 32 and to a gateway 31, connected directly to the local network 1. The gateway 31 ensures the communication of the external network to the local network and includes for this purpose a modem connected to the external network 10 and for example a firewall. The terminal 32 is advantageously of the Tablet PC type, while the modem integrated in the gateway 31 is a broadband modem, for example of the ADSL type. - 10

Claims (14)

  1. atmosphere creation system comprising a plurality of equipment (3) acting on the environment of the person, provided with a control interface (4), characterized in that it comprises a central unit (2, 20) connected via a local network (1) to the control interfaces (4) of the equipment (3), the central unit comprising means for executing programs for creating an environment gathering commands to be applied 10 equipment.   2. Room creation system according to claim 1, characterized in that the central unit (2, 20) comprises means for downloading programs for setting the room from a remote server (11) connected to the central unit via a data transmission network (10).   3. atmosphere creation system according to claim 2, characterized in that the central unit (2, 20) comprises means for executing the atmosphere creation programs downloaded from the remote server (11) as and measurement of their reception by the central unit.   4. atmosphere creation system according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that it comprises at least one sensor (5) connected to the central unit (2, 20), the central unit comprising means to trigger the execution of a determined room creation program when a predefined condition is detected by the sensor (s).   5. atmosphere creation system according to claim 4, characterized in that it comprises at least one sensor (5) installed on a person.   6. atmosphere creation system according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that it comprises at least one sensor (5) installed in a transitional object (9).   7. atmosphere creation system according to one of claims 1 - il à6, characterized in that the central unit (2) comprises a control unit (21) connected to sound and video reproduction equipment, and a control unit (22) for other equipment comprising at least one equipment 5 belonging to the assembly comprising a fragrance diffuser, a lighting system, a heating installation, an air conditioning installation, a fan, a control installation blinds or shutters.   8. atmosphere creation system according to one of claims 1 10 to 7, characterized in that it comprises means for detecting the presence and type of equipment (3) to be controlled.   9. atmosphere creation system according to one of claims 1 15 to 8, characterized in that certain equipment to be controlled (3) are carried by a person.   10. Ambience creation system according to one of claims 20 1 to 9, characterized in that it comprises a control unit (7, 32) of the central unit (2, 20), designed to select a ambiance creation program to execute and store an identifier of the selected ambiance creation program.   11. atmosphere creation system according to claim 10, characterized in that the control unit (7, 32) is carried by the user comprises wireless connection means (1) for connecting and disconnecting d '' a central unit (2, 20) for controlling equipment, located nearby, as the user moves, and means for transmitting the identifier of the program for creating the selected atmosphere to the central unit to which it is connected.   12. atmosphere creation system according to claim 11, characterized in that the control unit (7, 32) comprises means for communicating via a data transmission network (10) with a server remote (11) broadcasting ambience creation programs. - 12   13. Ambience creation system according to one of claims l to 12, characterized in that the central unit (2, 20) and the equipment to be controlled are interconnected via a local network (1) wireless.   14. An atmosphere creation system according to claim 13, characterized in that the wireless local area network (1) is of the Bluetooth or WiFi type.