JP2020129776A - Control system - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a control system that can switch a speaker that responds to an operator's instruction.SOLUTION: A TV 10 includes a TV speaker 11. The TV speaker 11 is a first speaker included in the TV 10. A DV speaker 32 and an SP speaker 42 are second speakers that are connected to a set top box 20 wirelessly or by wire. A server device 50 determines one of the first speaker and the second speaker as a speaker that performs voice response to a control content instructed by the TV 10 by an operator. The determination is made on the basis of various conditions, but for example, the determination is made on the basis of a distance between the operator and the TV 10. The server device 50 performs control for making voice response from the determined speaker.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to a technique for making a voice response to an instruction from an operator.

2. Description of the Related Art With the advancement of voice recognition technology, when an operator gives a voice instruction to a device, a mechanism that responds to the instruction with a voice and performs processing according to the instruction is becoming widespread. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses that a robot that receives a voice command by utterance transmits an operation command specified from the voice command to a home appliance and outputs by voice whether or not the home appliance can operate in accordance with the operation command. ing.

JP, 2016-76799, A

When a television receiver is assumed to be controlled by voice, various voice input/output devices can be connected to the television receiver, so that there are multiple speaker candidates that respond to the operator's instructions by voice. possible.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a mechanism capable of switching a speaker that makes a voice response to an instruction of an operator for a television receiver.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a first speaker included in a television receiver, or a control for converting a broadcast signal into a signal that can be viewed by the television receiver and controlling the television receiver. A determination unit that determines any one of the second speakers connected to the apparatus via a wireless or wired connection as a speaker that performs a voice response to the control content instructed by the operator to the television receiver, and the determination unit. And a response control unit that performs control for performing the voice response from the speaker determined by the control system.

The determining unit may determine a speaker that performs the voice response based on a distance between the operator and the television receiver.

The determination unit may estimate the distance between the operator and the television receiver based on the volume of the voice from the operator and the volume of the voice from the television receiver.

The determination unit may determine the speaker that performs the voice response based on the volume of noise heard by the operator.

The determining unit may determine a speaker to perform the voice response based on a time zone.

The determination unit may determine the speaker that performs the voice response based on the presence or absence of a person other than the operator.

The deciding unit may decide the speaker to perform the voice response based on the control content instructed by the operator.

The deciding unit may decide a speaker to perform the voice response based on the content of the program output by the television receiver.

The determining unit may determine the speaker to perform the voice response based on the speed of voice utterance by the operator.

According to the present invention, it is possible to switch the speaker that makes a voice response to the instruction of the operator.

It is a figure which illustrates the structure of the control system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which illustrates the hardware constitutions of a server apparatus. It is a block diagram which illustrates the hardware constitutions of a smart phone. It is a block diagram showing an example of functional composition of a control system. It is a figure which shows the example of the distance of a television receiver and an operator. It is a flow chart which illustrates operation by a server device.

[Constitution]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a control system 1 of this embodiment. The control system 1 includes a television receiver 10 (hereinafter, referred to as a television 10), a set top box 20, an audio device 30, a smart phone 40, a server device 50, the set top box 20, and the smart phone 40. And a network 2 for connecting the server device 50 in a communicable manner. The set top box 20 is a control device which has a tuner (not shown) and the like built therein, converts a broadcast signal into a signal that can be viewed on the television 10, and controls the television 10. The voice device 30 is a device whose main function is input/output of voice. The smart phone 40 is a communication device suitable for being carried by an operator. The network 2 is a wireless or wired communication network of an arbitrary communication standard such as Wifi (registered trademark) or LTE (Long Term Evolution), and includes a wireless base station (not shown) and its host device. The television 10 and the set top box 20 are connected by, for example, HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) (registered trademark). The set top box 20 and the audio device 30 are connected by, for example, BLE (Bluetooth (registered trademark) Low Energy). The smart phone 40 and the set top box 20 are connected by the network 2. It should be noted that FIG. 1 shows only one each of the television receiver 10, the set top box 20, the audio device 30, the smartphone 40, and the server device 50, but a plurality of these may be used. Good.

The television 10 includes a display 11 (not shown), a tuner, and the like, and a speaker 11 (hereinafter, referred to as a TV speaker 11). The audio device 30 includes a microphone 21 (hereinafter referred to as a DV microphone 21) and a speaker 22 (hereinafter referred to as a DV speaker 22) in addition to a BLE communication unit (not shown) and the like. Although the configuration of the smart phone 40 will be described later in detail, the smart phone 40 includes a microphone 41 (hereinafter referred to as SP microphone 41) and a speaker 42 (hereinafter referred to as SP speaker 42). The TV speaker 11 is a first speaker included in the television 10. The DV speaker 22 and the SP speaker 42 are second speakers that are connected to the set top box 20 wirelessly or by wire.

When the operator instructs the television 10 to perform desired control by voice, this voice is picked up by the DV microphone 21 or the SP microphone 41. This voice is analyzed by a known voice recognition technique, and the control content instructed by the operator is executed on the television 10. When the voice of the operator is picked up by the DV microphone 21, the voice data is transmitted from the voice device 30 to the server device 50 via the network 2 via the set top box 20, and the server device 50 performs voice recognition. Under the control of the server device 50, the control content according to the voice recognition result is executed in the television 10. On the other hand, when the voice of the operator is picked up by the SP microphone 41, the voice data is transmitted from the smart phone 40 to the server device 50 via the network 2, the server device 50 performs voice recognition, and the server device 50 performs the voice recognition. Under the control, the control content according to the voice recognition result is executed in the television 10.

In response to such an instruction from the operator, the TV speaker 11 (that is, the first speaker) or the DV speaker 22 or the SP speaker 42 (that is, the second speaker) makes a voice response. The voice response is, for example, a message indicating that the operator's instruction has been accepted, or a message such as an answer or question to the operator's instruction.

The server device 50 determines either of the first speaker or the second speaker as a speaker that performs a voice response to the control content instructed by the operator on the television 10. The determination of the speaker is made based on various conditions, but in the present embodiment, an example in which the determination is made based on the distance between the operator and the television 10 will be described.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of the server device 50. The server device 50 is physically configured as a computer device including a processor 5001, a memory 5002, a storage 5003, a communication device 5004, an input device 5005, an output device 5006, and a bus connecting these. In the following description, the word "device" can be read as a circuit, a device, a unit, or the like. The hardware configuration of the server device 50 may be configured to include one or a plurality of each device illustrated in the figure, or may be configured not to include some devices.

For each function in the server device 50, a predetermined software (program) is read on hardware such as the processor 5001 and the memory 5002, so that the processor 5001 performs an operation to control communication by the communication device 5004 and the memory 5002. In addition, it is realized by controlling at least one of reading and writing of data in the storage 5003.

The processor 5001 operates an operating system to control the entire computer, for example. The processor 5001 may be configured by a central processing unit (CPU) including an interface with peripheral devices, a control device, an arithmetic device, a register, and the like. Further, for example, a baseband signal processing unit and a call processing unit may be realized by the processor 5001.

The processor 5001 reads a program (program code), software module, data, and the like from at least one of the storage 5003 and the communication device 5004 to the memory 5002, and executes various processes according to these. As the program, a program that causes a computer to execute at least a part of the operations described below is used. The functional block of the server device 50 may be realized by a control program stored in the memory 5002 and operating in the processor 5001. Various processes may be executed by one processor 5001, but may be executed simultaneously or sequentially by two or more processors 5001. The processor 5001 may be implemented by one or more chips. The program may be transmitted from the network 2 to the server device 50 via an electric communication line.

The memory 5002 is a computer-readable recording medium, and is configured by at least one of a ROM (Read Only Memory), an EPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM), an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and the like. May be done. The memory 5002 may be called a register, a cache, a main memory (main storage device), or the like. The memory 5002 may store programs (program codes), software modules, etc. that can be executed to implement the method according to the present exemplary embodiment.

The storage 5003 is a computer-readable recording medium, for example, an optical disc such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disc ROM), a hard disk drive, a flexible disc, a magneto-optical disc (for example, a compact disc, a digital versatile disc, a Blu-ray disc). (Registered trademark) disk, smart card, flash memory (for example, card, stick, key drive), floppy (registered trademark) disk, magnetic strip, and the like. The storage 5003 may be called an auxiliary storage device.

The communication device 5004 is hardware (transmission/reception device) for performing communication between computers via at least one of a wired network and a wireless network, and is also called, for example, a network device, a network controller, a network card, a communication module, or the like.

The input device 5005 is an input device (for example, a keyboard, a mouse, a switch, etc.) that receives an input from the outside. The output device 5006 is an output device (for example, a display) that outputs to the outside. Note that the input device 5005 and the output device 5006 may be integrated (for example, a touch panel).

The respective devices such as the processor 5001 and the memory 5002 are connected by a bus for communicating information. The bus may be configured by using a single bus, or may be configured by using a different bus for each device.

The server device 50 is configured to include hardware such as a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), a PLD (Programmable Logic Device), and an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). Alternatively, a part or all of each functional block may be realized by the hardware. For example, processor 5001 may be implemented with at least one of these hardware.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of the smart phone 40. The smart phone 40 has a display function and functions as a display device in the present invention. The smart phone 40 is physically configured as a computer device including a processor 4001, a memory 4002, a storage 4003, a smart phone 4004, an input device 4005, an output device 4006, and a bus connecting these. The processor 4001, the memory 4002, the storage 4003, the input device 4005, and the output device 4006 are the same device group as the processor 5001, the memory 5002, the storage 5003, the input device 5005, and the output device 5006 included in the server device 50. The input device 5005 includes the SP microphone 41 described above. The output device 5006 includes the SP speaker 42 described above.

Note that the smart phone 4004 has a configuration suitable for wireless communication, for example, a high frequency switch and a duplexer in order to realize at least one of frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD). , A filter, a frequency synthesizer, etc. may be included. For example, the transmission/reception antenna, the amplifier unit, the transmission/reception unit, the transmission line interface, and the like may be realized by the smart phone 4004. The transmitter/receiver may be implemented by physically or logically separating the transmitter and the receiver.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the control system 1. In the server device 50, the acquisition unit 51 acquires the voice data of the operator input to the DV microphone 31 of the voice device 30 via the set top box 20 and the network 2. Further, the acquisition unit 51 acquires the voice data of the operator input to the SP microphone 41 of the smart phone 40 via the network 2.

In the server device 50, when the voice data of the operator is acquired by the acquisition unit 51, the determination unit 52, the TV speaker 11 (that is, the first speaker), or the DV speaker 32 or the SP speaker 42 (that is, the second speaker). One of the speakers) is determined as a speaker that makes a voice response to the control content instructed by the operator on the television 10. In the present embodiment, the determination unit 52 stores an algorithm for determining a speaker that makes a voice response based on the distance between the operator and the television 10. This algorithm includes an algorithm for obtaining the distance between the operator and the television 10 and an algorithm for determining a speaker that makes a voice response based on the distance.

The algorithm for obtaining the distance between the operator and the television 10 is, for example, the volume of the sound from the television 10 picked up by the DV microphone 31 or the SP microphone 41 and the operator's volume picked up by the DV microphone 31 or the SP microphone 41. The distance between the operator and the television 10 is estimated based on the sound volume of the voice. Specifically, the determination unit 52 predetermines a standard volume (standard volume) as the volume of the sound from the television 10 and the volume of the sound from the operator, and the DV microphone 31 or the SP microphone 41 receives the sound. Based on a comparison between a value obtained by dividing the volume of the sound of the sounded television 10 by the standard volume and a value obtained by dividing the volume of the sound of the operator picked up by the DV microphone 31 or the SP microphone 41 by the standard volume, The distance between the operator and the television 10 is estimated. The standard volume of the sound from the television 10 may be a volume determined for each volume output from the television 10, for example. That is, since the volume designated by the user or the like to be output from the television 10 can be specified, the determination unit 52 may determine the standard volume according to the volume.

In the example of FIG. 5, as illustrated in FIG. 5A, the value obtained by dividing the volume of the sound from the television 10 picked up by the DV microphone 31 or the SP microphone 41 by the standard volume is the DV microphone 31 or When it is evaluated that the volume of the voice from the operator picked up by the SP microphone 41 is divided by the standard volume, the distance between the operator and the television 10 is estimated to be long. Further, as illustrated in FIG. 3B, the value obtained by dividing the volume of the sound from the TV 10 collected by the DV microphone 31 or the SP microphone 41 by the standard volume is the sound collected by the DV microphone 31 or the SP microphone 41. When it is evaluated that the volume of the voice from the operator is larger than the value obtained by dividing the volume by the standard volume, it is estimated that the distance between the operator and the television 10 is short.

The algorithm for determining the speaker that performs the voice response is, for example, when the distance between the operator and the television 10 is greater than or equal to a threshold value (that is, the television 10 is far from the operator), the DV speaker 32 or the SP speaker 42 is operated. While the speaker is determined to perform a voice response to the control content instructed by the operator to the TV 10, if the distance between the operator and the TV 10 is less than the threshold value (that is, the TV 10 is close to the operator), the TV speaker 11 is determined to be a speaker that makes a voice response to the control contents instructed by the operator on the television 10. The reason why the DV speaker 32 or the SP speaker 42 is determined as the speaker of the voice response when the television 10 is far from the operator is that the DV speaker 32 or the SP speaker 42 is carried by the operator or the operator's voice is heard. This is because it is assumed that the operator can easily hear the response sound because the operator is in a position closer to the operator than the television 10 because it is assumed that the operator can easily detect the response sound. On the other hand, when the TV 10 is close to the operator, the reason why the TV speaker 11 is determined as the speaker for the voice response is that the TV speaker 11 itself makes the voice response, and the operator himself gives an instruction to which home appliance. This is because it is easy to understand whether the instruction has been accepted.

In the server device 50, the response control unit 53 performs control for making a voice response from the speaker determined by the determination unit 52. That is, when the speaker determined by the determination unit 52 is the TV speaker 11, the response control unit 53 controls the TV speaker 11 via the network 2 and the set top box 20 to make a voice response. When the speaker determined by the determining unit 52 is the DV speaker 32, the response control unit 53 controls the DV speaker 32 via the network 2 and the set top box 20 to make a voice response. When the speaker determined by the determination unit 52 is the SP speaker 42, the response control unit 53 controls the SP speaker 42 via the network 2 to make a voice response.

For example, when the operator's voice instruction is “change to 6 channels”, the voice response to this is “change to 6 channels”. Also, for example, if the operator's voice instruction is “search for a quiz program”, the voice response to this is “I searched for a quiz program. It is a program. ○○. Change channel? ". The algorithms for determining the contents of these voice responses are stored in the response control unit 53, and the response control unit 53 performs control to output a voice response message based on this algorithm from the determined speaker.

[motion]
Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. When the operator instructs the television 10 to perform desired control by voice, the voice is collected (that is, input) by the DV microphone 21 or the SP microphone 41. Which of the DV microphone 21 and the SP microphone 41 picks up the sound depends on the operator's explicit designation, for example, when the operator activates the voice device 30 by voice or activates the application of the smartphone 40. Can be decided The collected voice data is transmitted to the server device 50 via the communication path described above, and the acquisition unit 51 of the server device 50 acquires this voice data (step S11 in FIG. 6).

When the voice data of the operator is acquired by the acquisition unit 51, the determination unit 52 determines whether the TV speaker 11 (that is, the first speaker) or the DV speaker 32 or the SP speaker 42 (that is, the second speaker). Is determined to be a speaker that performs a voice response to the control content instructed by the operator on the television 10 using the method described above (step S12).

When the determination unit 52 determines the speaker, the response control unit 53 performs control for making a voice response from the speaker using the method described above (step S13). The control content according to the operator's voice instruction is executed by the television 10 under the instruction from the server device 50 or the set top box 20.

According to the above-described embodiment, it is possible to switch the speaker that performs the voice response to the instruction of the operator according to the distance between the operator and the television. That is, when the television 10 is far from the operator, the voice device 30 or the smart phone 40, which is assumed to be closer to the operator than the television 10, makes a voice response, so that the operator hears the response voice. It will be easier. On the other hand, when the TV 10 is close to the operator, the TV speaker 11 itself makes a voice response, so that it becomes easy to understand which home appliance the operator himself has instructed and the instruction has been received.

[Modification]
The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. The embodiment described above may be modified as follows. Further, the following two or more modified examples may be combined and implemented.

[Modification 1]
In the above embodiment, as the second speaker connected to the set top box 20 wirelessly or by wire, a DV speaker 32 wirelessly connected to the set top box 20 such as BLE, and a network 2 connected to the set top box 20. Although the SP speaker 42 connected via the example is illustrated, the present invention is not limited to this example. The second speaker connected to the set top box 20 wirelessly or by wire may be, for example, a DV speaker connected to the set top box 20 wirelessly such as BLE included in the smart phone 40. The DV speaker may be connected to the set top box 20 via the network 2 and the smart phone 40. When the remote controller for the television 10 is equipped with a speaker (hereinafter referred to as an RC speaker), the second speaker may be an RC speaker wirelessly connected to the set top box 20 such as BLE. Good. In addition, the meaning of “A and B are connected via a wireless or wired” means that at least one of a wireless portion and a wired portion exists in a communication path in which A and B are communicably connected. It means that there is.

The first speaker included in the television 10 may be a built-in speaker of the television 10 or a speaker externally attached to the television 10. Further, instead of the smart phone 40, a communication device such as a tablet or a wearable device may be used.
Further, in the above-described embodiment, when the voice of the operator is picked up by the DV microphone 21, the voice data is transmitted to the server device 50, the server device 50 performs voice recognition, and under the control of the server device 50. Although the control content according to the voice recognition result is executed in the television 10, the voice recognition may be performed by a device other than the server device 50 (for example, the set top box 20).

[Modification 2]
In the above-described embodiment, the instruction to the television 10 by the operator is voice, but the instruction may be other than the voice of the operator. For example, an arbitrary instruction method such as text input by an operator, operation by an operator such as a key or switch, or so-called gesture input can be adopted.

[Modification 3]
In the above embodiment, the determination unit 52 sets the volume of the sound from the television 10 collected by the DV microphone 31 or the SP microphone 41 and the volume of the sound from the operator collected by the DV microphone 31 or the SP microphone 41. Although the speaker that performs the voice response is determined based on the above, the direction in which the operator is present may be used in addition to the volume. In this case, the DV microphone 31 or the SP microphone 41 is a directional microphone, and the DV microphone 31 or the SP microphone 41 can specify the direction of the sound source (that is, the operator) of the collected sound. For example, when there is an operator between the television 10 and the DV microphone 31 or the SP microphone 41, even if the distance between the operator and the television 10 is estimated to be long based on the volume, the DV microphone 31 Alternatively, since the direction from the SP microphone 41 to the operator is closer to the television 10, the determination unit 52 determines the TV speaker 11 as a speaker that makes a voice response.

[Modification 4]
In the above embodiment, the server device 50 includes the determination unit 52 and the response control unit 53, but the configuration is not limited to this, and any of the devices included in the control system 1 may be the determination unit 52 or the response control unit 53. Should be provided. For example, the server device 50 may include the determination unit 52 and the set top box 20 may include the response control unit 53, or the set top box 20 may include the determination unit 52 or the response control unit 53.

[Modification 5]
The algorithm for determining the speaker that performs the voice response is not limited to the example in which the volume of the voice of the television 10 and the operator is used as in the embodiment. For example, the speaker that performs the voice response may be determined by using the attribute of the time zone in which the operator's instruction is given. That is, the determination unit 52 determines the speaker that performs the voice response based on the time zone. Specifically, in the case of a time zone in which it is estimated that the operator will be watching the broadcast program of the television 10 in front of the television 10 (for example, after lunch or after dinner), the TV speaker. 11 is determined as a speaker that responds. On the other hand, in the case of a time zone in which it is estimated that the operator may be watching TV from time to time while moving from place to place (for example, a time zone such as housework), the DV speaker 32 or the SP speaker 42 serves as a speaker to respond. It is determined. An algorithm based on such a time zone, that is, the relationship between the time zone and the speaker that makes a voice response is stored by the determination unit 52, and the above determination is made based on this relationship.

[Modification 6]
The algorithm for determining the speaker that makes a voice response is not limited to the example of using the volume of the television 10 and the voice of the operator as in the embodiment, and for example, a speaker that makes a voice response based on the noise for the operator may be used. You may decide. That is, the determination unit 52 determines the speaker that performs the voice response based on the volume of the noise heard by the operator. Specifically, when the noise picked up by the DV microphone 31 or the SP microphone 41 exceeds the threshold value, the DV speaker 32 or the SP speaker 42, which is generally assumed to be near the operator, is determined as the speaker that responds. It On the other hand, when the noise picked up by the DV microphone 31 or the SP microphone 41 is less than the threshold value, the TV speaker 11 that is easy for the operator to easily understand which home appliance the instruction is given and the instruction is received gives a response. It is decided as the speaker to perform. An algorithm based on such noise, that is, the relationship between the loudness of the noise and the speaker performing the voice response is stored by the determining unit 52, and the above determination is made based on this relationship.

[Modification 7]
The algorithm for determining the speaker that performs the voice response is not limited to the example of using the volume of the television 10 and the voice of the operator as in the embodiment. For example, the voice response is determined by a method based on the presence or absence of a person other than the operator. You may decide the speaker to perform. That is, the determination unit 52 determines the speaker that performs the voice response based on the presence/absence of a person other than the operator. Specifically, the television 10, the set top box 20, the audio device 30, or the smart phone 40 includes a unit that detects the presence or absence of a person other than the operator. This is, for example, detection by a human sensor or image recognition. When a person other than the operator is in the same room as the operator, the DV speaker 32 or the SP speaker 42, which is generally assumed to be near the operator, is determined as the speaker to respond. On the other hand, when a person other than the operator is not present in the same room as the operator, the TV speaker 11 which makes it easy for the operator to easily understand which home appliance has been instructed and which instruction has been received responds. Is decided as. Such an algorithm based on the presence/absence of a person other than the operator, that is, the relationship between the presence/absence of a person other than the operator and the speaker performing the voice response is stored by the determination unit 52, and the above determination is made based on this relationship. ..

[Modification 8]
The algorithm for determining the speaker that performs the voice response is not limited to the example of using the volume of the television 10 and the voice of the operator as in the embodiment. For example, the voice response is based on the control content instructed by the operator. You may decide the speaker to perform. That is, the determination unit 52 determines the speaker that performs the voice response, based on the control content instructed by the operator. Specifically, if the control content instructed by the operator is the control content that is not desired to be shared with others other than the operator (for example, the control content based on personal reasons), it is generally located near the operator. The DV speaker 32 and the SP speaker 42, which are assumed to be present, are determined as the speaker that responds. On the other hand, if the control content instructed by the operator is control content that may be shared with others other than the operator (for example, control content based on a reason other than personal reasons), the operator himself The TV speaker 11 that gives an instruction to the home electric appliance and makes it easy to understand whether the instruction has been accepted is determined as the speaker to make a response. An algorithm based on such control content, that is, the relationship between the control content instructed by the operator and the speaker that makes a voice response is stored by the determining unit 52, and the above determination is made based on this relationship.

[Modification 9]
The algorithm for determining the speaker that makes a voice response is not limited to the example of using the volume of the voice of the television 10 and the operator as in the embodiment. For example, a speaker that makes a voice response based on the broadcast program of the television 10 is selected. You may decide. That is, the determination unit 52 determines the speaker to which the audio response is to be made, based on the content of the program output by the television 10. When the contents of the program output by the television 10 are not to be known to others other than the operator, the DV speaker 32 or the SP speaker 42, which is generally assumed to be near the operator, is determined as the speaker to respond. To be done. On the other hand, when the contents of the program may be known to others other than the operator, the TV speaker 11 which is easy for the operator to understand which home appliance the instruction is given and the instruction has been accepted gives a response. It is decided as the speaker to perform. An algorithm based on the content of such a program, that is, the relationship between the content of the program and the speaker that makes a voice response is stored by the determination unit 52, and the above determination is made based on this relationship.

[Modification 10]
The algorithm for determining the speaker that makes a voice response is not limited to the example of using the volume of the television 10 and the voice of the operator as in the embodiment. For example, a speaker that makes a voice response based on the speaking speed of the operator is selected. You may decide. That is, the determination unit 52 determines the speaker that performs the voice response, based on the speed of the voice utterance by the operator. Specifically, when the speech speed of the operator picked up by the DV microphone 31 or the SP microphone 41 exceeds the threshold, the DV speaker 32 or the SP speaker 42, which is generally assumed to be near the operator, responds. Determined as a speaker. When the speech rate exceeds the threshold, it is assumed that the operator is busy doing other work such as housework, and therefore the DV speaker 32 and the SP speaker 42 supposed to be near the operator responds. Is better. On the other hand, when the speech speed of the operator picked up by the DV microphone 31 or the SP microphone 41 is less than the threshold value, it is easy to understand which home appliance the operator himself has instructed and the instruction has been accepted. 11 is determined as a speaker that responds. When the speech rate is less than the threshold value, for example, it is assumed that the operator is relaxing and watching the TV 10. Therefore, it is preferable that the TV speaker 11 of the TV 10 that the operator is watching respond. An algorithm based on such a speech rate, that is, the relationship between the speech rate and the speaker that makes a voice response is stored by the determination unit 52, and the above determination is made based on this relationship.

[Other modifications]
The block diagram used in the description of the above embodiments shows blocks of functional units. These functional blocks (components) are realized by an arbitrary combination of hardware and/or software. Further, the means for realizing each functional block is not particularly limited. That is, each functional block may be implemented by one device that is physically and/or logically coupled, or directly and/or indirectly by two or more devices that are physically and/or logically separated. Physically (for example, by wire and/or wirelessly), and may be realized by a plurality of these devices.

Each aspect/embodiment described in this specification is LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE-A (LTE-Advanced), SUPER 3G, IMT-Advanced, 4G, 5G, FRA (Future Radio Access), W-CDMA. (Registered trademark), GSM (registered trademark), CDMA2000, UMB (Ultra Mobile Broadband), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, UWB (Ultra-WideBand), It may be applied to Bluetooth (registered trademark), a system using other appropriate systems, and/or a next-generation system extended based on these.

As long as there is no contradiction, the order of the processing procedures, sequences, flowcharts, etc. of each aspect/embodiment described in this specification may be changed. For example, the methods described herein present elements of the various steps in a sample order, and are not limited to the specific order presented.
The aspects/embodiments described in the present specification may be used alone, in combination, or may be switched according to execution. Further, the notification of the predetermined information (for example, the notification of “being X”) is not limited to the explicit notification, and is performed implicitly (for example, the notification of the predetermined information is not performed). Good.

As used herein, the terms “system” and “network” are used interchangeably.

The information, parameters, and the like described in this specification may be represented by an absolute value, a relative value from a predetermined value, or may be represented by another corresponding information. The names used for the above parameters are not limiting in any way. Moreover, the mathematical formulas and the like using these parameters may differ from those explicitly disclosed herein.

The terms "determining" and "determining" as used herein may encompass a wide variety of actions. “Judgment” and “decision” are, for example, judgment, calculation, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up (eg, table). , Searching in a database or another data structure), and ascertaining what is considered to be “judgment” or “decision”. In addition, "determination" and "decision" include receiving (eg, receiving information), transmitting (eg, transmitting information), input (input), output (output), and access. (Accessing) (for example, accessing data in a memory) may be regarded as “judgment” and “decision”. In addition, "judgment" and "decision" mean that things such as resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, establishing, and comparing are regarded as "judging" and "deciding". May be included. That is, “determination” and “decision” may include considering some action as “determination” and “decision”.

The present invention may be provided as an information processing method including steps of processing performed in the control system 1 or the server device 50. Further, the present invention may be provided as a program executed by the server device 50. Such a program may be provided in the form of being recorded in a recording medium such as an optical disk, or may be provided in such a form that it is downloaded to a computer via a network such as the Internet and the program is installed for use. It is possible.

Software, instructions, etc. may be sent and received via a transmission medium. For example, the software may use a wired technology such as coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair and digital subscriber line (DSL) and/or wireless technology such as infrared, wireless and microwave to websites, servers, or other When transmitted from a remote source, these wireline and/or wireless technologies are included within the definition of transmission medium.

The information, signals, etc. described herein may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, chips, etc. that may be referred to throughout the above description include voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, optical fields or photons, or any of these. May be represented by a combination of

The terms described in the present specification and/or the terms necessary for understanding the present specification may be replaced with the terms having the same or similar meanings.

As used herein, any reference to elements using the designations "first," "second," etc. does not generally limit the amount or order of those elements. These designations may be used herein as a convenient way of distinguishing between two or more elements. Thus, references to the first and second elements do not mean that only two elements may be employed there or that the first element must precede the second element in any way.

As long as the terms "including", "comprising", and variations thereof are used herein or in the claims, these terms are inclusive, as well as the term "comprising." Intended to be objective. Furthermore, the term "or" as used in the specification or claims is not intended to be an exclusive OR.

Throughout the disclosure, where translations add articles, such as a, an, and the in English, unless these articles clearly indicate otherwise, Multiple items shall be included.

Although the present invention has been described in detail above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described herein. The present invention can be implemented as modifications and determination modes without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention defined by the description of the claims. Therefore, the description of the present specification is for the purpose of exemplifying explanation, and does not have any restrictive meaning to the present invention.

1... Control system, 2... Network, 10... Television receiver, 11... TV speaker, 20... Set top box, 30... Audio device, 31... DV microphone, 32... DV speaker, 40... Smartphone, 41... SP Microphone, 42... SP speaker, 4001... Processor, 4002... Memory, 4003... Storage, 4004... Smartphone, 4005... Input device, 4006... Output device, 50... Server device, 51... Acquisition unit, 52... Determination unit, 53 ... response control unit, 5001... processor, 5002... memory, 5003... storage, 5004... communication device, 5005... input device, 5006... output device.

Claims (9)

A first speaker included in the television receiver or a wireless or wired connection to a control device that converts a broadcast signal into a signal that can be viewed by the television receiver and controls the television receiver. A determination unit that determines any one of the second speakers as a speaker that performs a voice response to the control content instructed by the operator to the television receiver;
A response control unit that performs control for performing the voice response from the speaker determined by the determination unit. The control system according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines a speaker that performs the voice response based on a distance between the operator and the television receiver. The deciding unit estimates the distance between the operator and the television receiver based on the volume of the voice from the operator and the volume of the voice from the television receiver. 2. The control system described in 2. The control system according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines a speaker that performs the voice response based on a volume of noise heard by an operator. The control system according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines a speaker that performs the voice response based on a time zone. The control system according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines a speaker that performs the voice response based on the presence or absence of a person other than the operator. The control system according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines a speaker that performs the voice response based on a control content instructed by the operator. The control system according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines the speaker that performs the audio response based on the content of the program output by the television receiver. The control system according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines a speaker to perform the voice response based on a speed of voice utterance by the operator.

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