WO2016052018A1

WO2016052018A1 - Home appliance management system, home appliance, remote control device, and robot

Info

Publication number: WO2016052018A1
Application number: PCT/JP2015/074117
Authority: WO
Inventors: 圭司坂; 実雄阪本; 俊介山縣; 前田　隆宏
Original assignee: シャープ株式会社
Priority date: 2014-10-03
Filing date: 2015-08-26
Publication date: 2016-04-07
Also published as: JP2016076799A

Abstract

　The present invention heightens convenience for a user. In this home appliance management system (1), an utterance management server 10 is provided with an output control unit (18) for outputting status information acquired from a home appliance (20) to at least one home appliance (20) among a plurality of home appliances (20) connected to a communication network.

Description

Home appliance management system, home appliance, remote control device, robot

The present invention relates to a home appliance management system, a home appliance, a remote control device, and a robot.

In recent years, home appliances that use voice recognition technology to perform operations corresponding to voice commands by the user and notify the user of status information indicating the status of the device by voice are the latest information via a communication network such as the Internet. Network-compatible home appliances have been proposed (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-228707) that reproduces messages from smartphones via a communication network.

Japanese Patent Publication “Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-046424 (published on Feb. 28, 2008)”

However, the network-type home appliances as described above are convenient for the user, but have the following problems, and thus are not convenient for the user.

(1) For home appliances having a conventional utterance function, the utterance content is set on a one-to-one basis for each home appliance, and utterances are missed when there is no user, or the utterance content cannot be heard at an appropriate timing. There is a problem.

For example, as an example of missed hearing, a case where the washing machine utters a completion notification in a laundry room away from the living room can be cited.

Further, as an example of inappropriate timing, when the recording start process of the recorder fails, an error notification indicating that the recording start process has failed when the recorder is operated next time can be given.

Also, as an example of stress due to useless utterances, there can be mentioned a case where a plurality of home appliances each have utterance content, so that the user hears the same information over and over again. For example, a case where the air conditioner / refrigerator / air purifier separately gives the weather forecast can be mentioned.

Furthermore, with home appliances that have the function of playing back messages from smartphones, the user who listens to the message cannot be recognized / designated, so the message may not be transmitted correctly.

(2) In a conventional remote control system that performs home appliance operation corresponding to a voice command by voice recognition, there is a problem that it is impossible to recognize the position of the home appliance to be operated.

Also, in the above remote control system, there is no way to confirm whether the home appliance has operated according to the operation command when an operation instruction is given to the home appliance, and it is not possible to provide feedback when the operation fails Occurs.

Normally, a notification sound (beep sound) sounds when the home appliance itself notifies the state, but since it is not a voice, it is necessary for a person to get used to understanding intuitively.

(3) When the operation is performed only with a voice command as in the above-described remote control system, there is a possibility that the home appliance operation not intended by the user may be performed. For example, when the user is talking near the remote control system, if the user does not intend to be a voice command and utters a voice corresponding to the voice command, the remote control system recognizes that the voice command has been input. You can mention doing home appliance operation.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a home appliance management system, a home appliance, a remote control device, a robot, and a facial expression data distribution system that can improve convenience for the user. Is to provide.

In order to solve the above problems, a home appliance management system according to an aspect of the present invention includes a home appliance management system in which a plurality of home appliances and a management server that manages the home appliances are connected to each other via a communication network. Respectively reports the state information acquired from the management server via the communication network and the first state information output unit that outputs the state information indicating the state of the own device to the management server via the communication network. A second status information output unit that outputs status information acquired from the home appliance to at least one home appliance of the plurality of home appliances connected to the communication network. It is characterized by having a part.

According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible to notify the user of the status information of another home appliance from the home appliance that acquired the status information of the other home appliance.

It is a schematic block diagram of the household appliance management system which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a schematic block diagram of the household appliance and speech management server which comprise the household appliance management system shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the speech content stored in the speech management server in the household appliance management system shown in FIG. It is a schematic block diagram of the household appliance which comprises the household appliance management system which concerns on the modification of Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a schematic block diagram of the remote control system which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration block diagram of a robot constituting the remote control system shown in FIG. 5. It is a timing chart which shows the flow of the remote processing in the remote control system shown in FIG. It is a figure explaining operation | movement of the robot shown in FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the malfunction prevention of the robot by the dialog of the robot shown in FIG. 6, and a user. 6 is a timing chart showing the flow of remote processing for the purpose of preventing malfunction of the robot in the remote control system shown in FIG. It is a schematic block diagram of the remote control system which concerns on Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a schematic block diagram of the robot which comprises the remote control system shown in FIG. It is a figure explaining download of the facial expression data for changing the facial expression of the robot shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the normal state of the facial expression data downloaded in FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the specific state of the facial expression data downloaded in FIG.

[Embodiment 1]
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail.

(Configuration of home appliance management system)
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a home appliance management system 1 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the home appliance management system 1 includes an utterance management server (management server) 10 on the cloud and a plurality of home appliances 20 (A, B, C, D,...) On the local. They are connected to each other via a communication network. The utterance management server 10 is connected to an external content server 30 that provides content such as weather forecasts in the cloud, and is connected to a smartphone (terminal device) 40 locally via the communication network. Yes. For example, the Internet can be used as the communication network. Further, a telephone line network, a mobile communication network, a CATV (Cable TeleVision) communication network, a satellite communication network, or the like can be used.

In the home appliance management system 1, the utterance management server 10 acquires state information indicating the state (such as driving status) of a certain home appliance 20 (for example, home appliance A) via the communication network, and another home appliance 20 (for example, home appliance B). ) Is transmitted via the communication network to notify the user of the status information of the home appliance A from the home appliance B. Details of this mechanism will be described later.

Details of the utterance management server 10 and the home appliance 20 will be described below. FIG. 2 shows a schematic block diagram of the utterance management server 10 and the home appliance 20.

(Speech management server)
As shown in FIG. 2, the speech management server 10 includes a control unit 11, a storage unit 12, and a communication unit 13.

The control unit 11 is a block that controls the operation of each unit of the utterance management server 10. That is, the control unit 11 includes, for example, a computer device that includes an arithmetic processing unit such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or a dedicated processor, and performs various controls in the utterance management server 10 stored in the storage unit 12. By reading out and executing a program for performing the operation, the operation of each unit of the utterance management server 10 is comprehensively controlled.

Further, the control unit 11 has functions as a state information acquisition unit (information acquisition unit) 14, a state identification unit 15, an utterance content selection unit 16, an output destination selection unit 17, an output control unit 18, and a content acquisition unit 19.

The state information acquisition unit 14 is a block that acquires state information indicating the state of the home appliance 20 from the home appliance 20. Specifically, the status information acquisition unit 14 acquires status information transmitted from any one of the plurality of home appliances 20 connected to the communication network via the communication unit 13. This state information includes identification information for identifying the home appliance 20. Thereby, the state information acquisition unit 14 sends state information including identification information indicating which home appliance 20 of the plurality of home appliances 20 is the acquired state information to the state specifying unit 15.

The state identification unit 15 is a block that identifies the state of the home appliance 20 from the state information sent from the state information acquisition unit 14. Here, the state of the home appliance 20 is, for example, when the home appliance is a refrigerator, when the door is open, when the home appliance is an air conditioner, stopped due to an error, and when the home appliance is a TV, the power is An on state or the like, and various states exist depending on home appliances. Therefore, the state specifying unit 15 specifies from the state information whether the home appliance is in the state as described above, and sends specific state information indicating the specified state of the home appliance to the utterance content selection unit 16. The specific state information indicates states 1 to 3 described later.

The utterance content selection unit 16 is a block for selecting the utterance content corresponding to the specific state information sent from the state specification unit 15 from the utterance content storage unit 121 in the storage unit 12.

Here, the utterance content is explained. Utterance content can be classified into the following three types.

(1) Notification from each home appliance 20: For example, operation completion, error, timer start, etc.

(2) Cloud information from the external content server 30: weather forecast, news, etc. (3) Information by operation from the smartphone 40 or PC (not shown): for example, setting change, message, timer setting, etc.

The utterance content is stored in the utterance content storage unit 121 in the storage unit 12. In the utterance content storage unit 121, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, the utterance content is stored in association with the state of the home appliance 20 specified by the state specifying unit 15. Here, the utterance content shown in FIG. 3 is the content corresponding to the notification from each home appliance of (1) described above, and states 1 to 3 are specified by the state specifying unit 15 described above. Specific status information is shown. Specifically, state 1 indicates that the home appliance is a recorder and recording has failed, state 2 indicates that the air conditioner has stopped abnormally, state 3 indicates that the refrigerator door is open, The utterance content corresponds to these states 1 to 3. Note that the utterance content is normally stored as text data, but may be stored as an audio file. If the voice file is stored, the voice synthesis process in the home appliance 20 is not required.

The output destination selection unit 17 is a block for selecting the output destination of the utterance content selected by the utterance content selection unit 16. Specifically, the output destination selection unit 17 selects the home appliance 20 that is the output destination stored in the output destination database 122 in the storage unit 12 according to the utterance content. Details of the output destination selection criteria will be described later.

The output control unit (second state information output unit) 18 uses, as state information, the utterance content selected by the utterance content selection unit 16 for the home appliance 20 that is the output destination selected by the output destination selection unit 17. It is a block that causes the communication unit 13 to transmit (output).

The speech management server 10 includes a content acquisition unit 19 in the control unit 11. The content acquisition unit 19 is a block that acquires external content from the external content server 30 shown in FIG. Specifically, when receiving an instruction for acquiring a weather forecast from the smartphone 40 or the like, the content acquisition unit 19 acquires weather information as external content from the external content server 30 connected to the utterance management server 10.

(Household appliances)
In this embodiment, what is assumed as the home appliance 20 is an air conditioner, a television, a recorder, a refrigerator, a lighting device, or the like. In addition, the household appliance 20 shown in FIG. 2 describes only a component required in this embodiment, and has abbreviate | omitted about the function for every other household appliance.

The home appliance 20 includes a control unit 21, an audio output unit 22, and a communication unit 23 as shown in FIG.

The control unit 21 is a block that controls the operation of each unit of the home appliance 20. The control unit 21 includes, for example, a computer device configured by an arithmetic processing unit such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or a dedicated processor, and performs various controls in the home appliance 20 stored in a data storage unit (not shown). By reading out and executing a program for execution, the operation of each unit of the home appliance 20 is comprehensively controlled.

Further, the control unit 21 has functions as a state information extraction unit 24, an utterance content acquisition unit 25, a speech synthesis unit 26, and an output control unit 27.

The state information extraction unit 24 is a block that extracts state information indicating the state of the home appliance 20. Specifically, the state information extraction unit 24 extracts state information from a sensor or the like that the home appliance has stopped abnormally, that the recording reservation has failed, or that the door is in an open state. The state information extraction unit 24 transmits the extracted state information to the utterance management server 10 via the communication unit 23. Therefore, the status information extraction unit 24 and the communication unit 23 function as a first status information output unit that outputs status information indicating the status of the own device to the utterance management server 10 via the communication network.

The utterance content acquisition unit 25 is a block that acquires the utterance content transmitted from the utterance management server 10. Here, the utterance content acquired by the utterance content acquisition unit 25 is the utterance content derived from the state information indicating the state of the home appliance 20 other than the home appliance 20 that is the own device. As shown in FIG. 3, this utterance content is text data, and is sent to the speech synthesizer 26 for output as speech.

The speech synthesizer 26 is a block that generates speech data (speech synthesis). Specifically, the speech synthesizer 26 generates utterance content composed of text data as speech data.

The output control unit 27 is a block that performs voice output by causing the voice output unit 22 to output the voice data generated by the voice synthesis unit 26.

The audio output unit 22 is, for example, a speaker or the like, and operates the home appliance 20 to output audio data or outputs audio data to a user near the home appliance 20 to notify the utterance content. To do.

Therefore, the output control unit 27 and the voice output unit 22 function as a state information notification unit that notifies the state information acquired from the utterance management server 10 via the communication network. In addition, when notifying state information, you may make it alert | report by an image | video other than notifying by audio | voice as mentioned above. In this case, if the household appliance 20 to alert | report is a television, it is possible to display the image | video, for example, a character, for the status information which should be alert | reported on the display screen of a television.

(Select home appliances as output destination)
Next, selection of a home appliance as an output destination of the utterance content will be described. The criteria for selecting the output destination are roughly divided into five as follows, but are not limited to these criteria.

(1) Selecting home appliance operated by user as output destination Specifically, the utterance management server 10 selects an active home appliance as a home appliance (output destination) operated by the user. Alternatively, the utterance management server 10 selects, as a home appliance (output destination) operated by the user, a home appliance in which the presence of the user near the home appliance is detected by a human sensor included in the home appliance. Furthermore, the utterance management server 10 detects the timing when the home appliance is operated, and selects the home appliance as the home appliance (output destination) operated by the user. For example, when the user is watching television, the television is selected as an output destination, and for example, the fact that washing by the washing machine has been completed is displayed on the display screen of the television.

(2) Selecting a home appliance preset by the user as an output destination Specifically, a home appliance installed in a room where the user is frequently present is preset as an output destination. For example, when the user is frequently in the living room, the air conditioner installed in the living room is set to speak. That is, the air conditioner is selected as the output destination.

(3) Select a home appliance according to the content to be notified as an output destination Specifically, each home appliance is set to speak the most suitable content for each merchandise. For example, if the content is related to the weather, home appliances such as an air conditioner and a washing machine are set, and if the content is related to ingredients, the home appliances such as a refrigerator and a range are set to speak. That is, these home appliances are selected as the output destination of the utterance content.

(4) Select household appliance according to target user as output destination Specifically, the household appliance which speaks according to a user is set. For example, if the user is a mother, the kitchen appliance is selected as the output destination, and if the user is a child, the air conditioner in the child room is selected as the output destination. Here, the user is specified using a camera provided in the home appliance, a method using voice recognition by a voice recognition function, a wearable device or a mobile phone (including a smartphone) worn by each user. There is a way. In wearable devices and mobile phones, communication is performed using Bluetooth (registered trademark). In Bluetooth (registered trademark), since the approximate distance (the distance between the user and the home appliance) can be determined from the strength of the radio wave, it can be determined that the device is near the home appliance if the distance is within a predetermined distance.

(5) Select the output destination so that there is a one-to-many relationship between the information source of the information to be notified and the home appliance that is actually notified. Specifically, if the content to be notified is error-related information of the home appliance , All home appliances are set as output destinations. For example, if the notified content is information indicating an abnormal stop of the air conditioner, all home appliances constituting the home appliance management system 1 are selected as output destinations, and the abnormal stop of the air conditioner is notified to the user from all the home appliances. In this case, all home appliances are selected as output destinations, but it is not necessary to broadcast content from each home appliance all at once. For example, when the user is moving, first, a notification may be given from the home appliance closest to the user at the present time, and notification may be made from a nearby home appliance as the user moves.

In addition to the output destination selection methods described in (1) to (5) above, for example, content that needs to be broadcasted (recording reservation information) and content that does not need to be repeated (weather forecast) ) And the output destination may be selected. In the case of content that needs to be repeated, after the first notification, the content having the same content is again notified after a predetermined time has elapsed. In this case, the home appliance used for re-notification may be a currently active home appliance as described in (1) above or a preset home appliance as described in (2) above.

Moreover, you may make it change the household appliance which alert | reports a content according to time. For example, when the content to be notified is a morning alarm, the home appliance for notifying the content is set as an air conditioner in a bedroom.

Here, in the present embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the example of the home appliance management system 1 provided with the utterance management server 10 on the cloud has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, for example, The home appliance 20 may have the function of the utterance management server 10. Below, the household appliance which has the function of the speech management server 10 is demonstrated.

[Modification 1]
FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the home appliance 50 having the function of the utterance management server 10. In FIG. 4, parts having the same functions as the parts included in the speech management server 10 and the home appliance 20 shown in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

The home appliance 50 includes a control unit 51, an audio output unit 22, a communication unit 23, and a storage unit 12, as shown in FIG.

The control unit 51 includes a state information acquisition unit 14, a state specification unit 15, an utterance content selection unit 16, an output destination selection unit 17, a state information extraction unit 24, an utterance content acquisition unit 25, a speech synthesis unit 26, and an output control unit 27. Function. That is, the control unit 51 functions as the same state information acquisition unit 14, state specifying unit 15, utterance content selection unit 16, and output destination selection unit 17 as the utterance management server 10 shown in FIG. 20 functions as the same state information extraction unit 24, utterance content acquisition unit 25, speech synthesis unit 26, and output control unit 27 as in FIG.

The home appliance 50 can send and receive data to and from a plurality of other home appliances via a communication network (not shown). Accordingly, the home appliance 50 transmits the status information of its own device to the other home appliance 50 via the communication network, while receiving the status information of the other home appliance 50 via the communication network. In other words, the home appliance 50 does not transmit / receive data to / from another home appliance 50 via the utterance management server 10 as shown in FIG.

When the home appliance 50 transmits the status information of its own device, the selection criterion for the transmission destination (output destination) is the same as the selection criterion described in the first embodiment. Therefore, the household appliance 50 selects the output household appliance 50 in an own apparatus using the said selection criteria, and transmits status information to the selected household appliance 50. FIG.

Thus, the home appliance 50 itself may set the notification destination of the state information. The setting of the notification destination is performed in the output destination selection unit 17. That is, in the home appliance 50, the output destination selection unit 17 functions as a notification destination setting unit that sets a notification destination of state information. For example, there are the following two methods for setting the notification destination, but the notification destination is not limited to these.

(6) For the information source of information to be notified (notified) by the user, the home appliance to be actually notified is set by voice. That is, the output destination selection unit (notification destination setting unit) 17 sets the notification destination of the state information according to the user's voice. The home appliance 50 realizes the above setting by recognizing a user's voice by a voice recognition function (not shown).

More specifically, for the home appliance 50 that is the acquisition destination (information source) of the state information, for example, a washing machine, the user sets the end of washing to be notified to the refrigerator that is another home appliance 50 by speaking. Thereby, the end of the washing machine is notified (notified) to the user from the refrigerator.

(7) The information source to be notified (notified) by the user is set according to the location where the home appliance to be notified is notified. That is, the output destination selection unit (notification destination setting unit) 17 sets the notification destination of the state information in a room in which at least one home appliance connected to the communication network is installed. The setting here may be set by the user by voice as in (6), but may be set manually.

Specifically, for the home appliance 50 that is the acquisition source (information source) of the state information, for example, the washing machine, the user sets the kitchen (room) to notify the end of washing by speaking. Thereby, the end of the washing machine is notified (notified) to the user from the refrigerator in the kitchen. When home appliances in the kitchen include not only a refrigerator but also a microwave oven and lighting, the microwave oven and lighting may be set together with the refrigerator as a household appliance group that informs the user.

[Modification 2]
If this invention is used, the status information of the household appliance which does not have a speech function can be alert | reported from the household appliance which has a speech function. That is, a home appliance that does not have an utterance function uses another home appliance (home appliance that has an utterance function) near the user to convey the status information of the own device to the user. For example, in a living room, when the air conditioner does not have an utterance function, the state information of the air conditioner is notified using the utterance function of a television set in the same living room.

This makes it possible to notify the user of the status information of home appliances without the speech function by having the home appliances with the speech function speak for them without having the speech function.

In Embodiment 1 and

Modifications

1 and 2, the output destination is selected in units of home appliances, but the output destination may be selected in units of rooms. In this case, the content may be notified using a home appliance that is operating in the selected room. Accordingly, it is possible to avoid a notification impossible state due to the fact that the home appliance for notifying the content is not operating, and it is possible to reliably notify the user of the content.

Moreover, in the said Embodiment 1 and the

modification

1, 2, when alerting | reporting content from a household appliance, it alert | reports at the timing of a household appliance side, However, A user instructs a household appliance and alert | reports the status information of another household appliance You may make it make it. For example, a user who has moved from a room where an air conditioner is installed to another room instructs a home appliance installed in the destination room to notify the state information of the air conditioner.

Furthermore, in the first embodiment and the first and second modifications, the description has mainly been given of the output by voice as the means for notifying the content, that is, the example in which the home appliance utters, but it is not necessary to utter as the means for notifying the content. As described in the first embodiment, it may be displayed as an image, or a sound having a meaning such as an alarm sound may be generated instead of an utterance.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the utterance content of each utterance-compatible home appliance is aggregated on the cloud server, and by selecting the delivery destination home appliance, the user can surely convey the utterance content. .

Furthermore, according to the present embodiment, the user can miss information on home appliances at a distant location or can listen to information at an appropriate timing. In addition, it is possible to manage the utterance content by collecting the information, and the same utterance content is not heard many times. Furthermore, when there are a plurality of users (such as homes), it is possible to obtain an effect that an appropriate user can listen to the utterance content by linking and setting a user who frequently uses each home appliance.

[Embodiment 2]
Hereinafter, other embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail.

(Configuration of remote control system)
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of the remote control system 2 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 5, the remote control system 2 includes a robot (remote control device, operation instruction unit) 60 having a voice utterance function, a voice recognition function, and an infrared transmission function, and a voice utterance function instructed by the robot 60. , A first home appliance 70 having an infrared reception function, a second home appliance 8 having a voice utterance function and a voice recognition function, a third home appliance 90 having a notification sound output function and an infrared reception function.

The robot 60 utters to the user by the voice utterance function, gives an operation instruction by utterance to the second home appliance 8 having the voice recognition function, recognizes the utterance content of the user by the voice recognition function, The utterances of the first home appliance 70 and the second home appliance 8 having the function are recognized, and infrared rays indicating operation instructions are transmitted to the first home appliance 70 and the third home appliance 90 having the infrared reception function by the infrared transmission function.

That is, the robot 60 gives an operation command to the second home appliance 8 by voice, and gives an operation command to the first home appliance 70 and the third home appliance 90 by infrared rays. In addition, the robot 60 receives a state notification from the first home appliance 70 and the second home appliance 8 by voice and receives a state notification from the third home appliance 90 by a notification sound. That is, the robot 60 functions as an acquisition unit that acquires notification sound or sound output from the home appliance. Furthermore, the robot 60 performs a state check on the second home appliance 8 by voice.

Here, the status notification is notification of status information indicating the status of the home appliance. Moreover, state confirmation is confirming the state information of a household appliance. That is, the robot 60 checks the state of the second home appliance 8 by voice, and receives the state information of the own device from the second home appliance 8 by voice.

Therefore, the robot 60 in the remote control system 2 gives an operation instruction to each home appliance, then receives a state notification (voice or notification sound) from each home appliance, analyzes the state notification, and the home appliance operates according to the operation instruction. If it is determined that the home appliance is not operating, the operation instruction is given to the home appliance again, and if the home appliance is operating in accordance with the operation instruction, the operation instruction is stopped. At this time, the robot 60 may transmit the result of the operation instruction to the user.

(robot)
FIG. 6 shows a schematic configuration of the robot 60. As shown in FIG. 6, the robot 60 includes a control unit 61, a data storage unit 62, an infrared transmission / reception unit 63, a microphone 64, a speaker 65, a display unit 66, an operation unit 67, a camera 68, and a sensor (human sensor, temperature sensor). Etc.) 69).

The control unit 61 includes a computer device configured by an arithmetic processing unit such as a CPU or a dedicated processor, and is a block that controls the operation of each unit of the robot 60. Further, the control unit 61 functions as a voice recognition unit 611, a notification sound analysis unit (analysis unit) 612, a state specification unit 613, an output control unit 614, a voice synthesis unit 615, an operation command specification unit 616, and a determination unit 617.

The voice recognition unit 611 is a block that recognizes input voices from the user, the first home appliance 70, and the second home appliance 8. Specifically, the voice recognition unit 611 converts voice data input from the microphone 64 into text data, analyzes the text data, and extracts words and phrases. A known technique can be used for voice recognition processing.

The notification sound analysis unit 612 is a block that analyzes the notification sound from the third home appliance 90. Specifically, the notification sound analysis unit 612 identifies which notification sound that indicates the state of the home appliance from the notification sound input from the microphone 64. Here, a plurality of types of notification sounds are prepared according to the state of home appliances, such as “peep” that outputs a sound of a predetermined frequency for a certain period of time, and “peep, peep,... ing.

The state specifying unit 613 is a block that specifies the state of the home appliance from the voice recognized by the voice recognition unit 611 and the notification sound (analysis result) specified by the notification sound analysis unit 612. Specifically, the state specifying unit 613 specifies the state of the home appliance from the recognized voice, the specified notification sound, and the state information stored in the state information storage unit 621 of the data storage unit 62.

The output control unit 614 is a block that determines whether to give an operation instruction to the home appliance again from the state of the home appliance specified by the state specifying unit 613. Specifically, the output control unit 614 determines whether or not the specified home appliance state is operating according to the operation instruction. When the output control unit 614 determines that the specified home appliance state is not operating according to the operation instruction, infrared transmission / reception is performed again. The operation instruction is given to the home appliance by voice using the infrared ray or the speaker 65 and the voice synthesis unit 615 using the unit 63. On the other hand, when it is determined that the operation is performed according to the operation instruction, nothing is done or the user is notified that the operation is performed according to the operation instruction. In this case, since it is only necessary to know that the user is operating according to the operation instruction, it may be transmitted by voice using the speaker 65 or may be displayed on the display unit 66 and transmitted.

The voice synthesizer 615 is a block that generates (synthesizes) voice data. Specifically, the voice synthesizer 615 synthesizes voice data to be output from the speaker 65 from text data indicating an operation instruction.

The operation command specifying unit 616 is a block that specifies an operation command for the home appliance from the operation instruction content by voice from the user. Specifically, the operation command specifying unit 616 extracts an operation command corresponding to the content of the operation command by voice from the user from the operation command storage unit 622 of the data storage unit 62.

The determination unit 617 is a block that determines whether to accept a recognized voice command. Details of the determination unit 617 will be described later.

(Retry processing)
Retry processing of operation instructions to home appliances using the robot 60 having the above configuration will be described below with reference to FIG.

First, the user outputs a voice command to the robot 60. When receiving the voice command, the robot 60 specifies the operation command from the voice command by the operation command specifying unit 616 as described above, and transmits the operation command to another home appliance (home appliance specified by the voice command) by the infrared signal. . Other home appliances accept operation instructions by infrared signals. Here, the other home appliance is a home appliance having a voice utterance function like the first home appliance 70.

Next, the other home appliances make voice utterances according to the accepted operation command. This voice utterance is received by the robot 60. Here, if the voice utterance includes content indicating that the home appliance has been operated according to the operation command, it is confirmed that the operation command has been completed, and the content that the home device has not been operated according to the operation command is indicated. If it is included, an infrared signal is transmitted to another home appliance in order to execute the operation command again.

In this way, retry processing is performed until it is confirmed that the home appliance has been operated in accordance with the operation instruction.

In the above example, if the robot 60 confirms that the home appliance has been operated in accordance with the operation command, the process is to be terminated. However, the robot 60 has confirmed that the home appliance has been operated in accordance with the operation command. May be notified to the user.

In the above example, the robot 60 confirms whether or not the home appliance has been operated according to the operation command by voice utterance from another home appliance. If the home appliance does not have the voice utterance function, the notification sound Therefore, it is confirmed whether the home appliance has been operated according to the operation instruction.

For example, when the robot 60 having heard a certain notification sound asks the user “what happened?” And the user says “the air conditioner has stopped”, the robot sends the notification sound “air conditioner stopped”. The notification sound is stored in the notification sound storage unit 624 of the data storage unit 62 as a notification sound. Thereafter, the robot 60 understands that the air conditioner is stopped when it hears the same notification sound.

As described above, the robot 60 can perform operations according to the detected notification sound by storing the notification sounds in various situations in association with the respective situations. Thereby, the robot 60 can determine whether or not to retry only by hearing the notification sound.

By the way, although the operation command by the robot 60 is performed by transmitting infrared rays, the operation command does not reach the home appliances if the transmission direction of the infrared rays is suitable for the home appliances targeted by the operation commands. In such a case, the robot 60 does not emit a voice utterance or a notification sound from the home appliance that is the target of the operation command.

Therefore, as described above, in a situation where the voice utterance and the notification sound are not emitted from the home appliance that is the target of the operation command, the robot 60 transmits the operation command and then performs voice utterance or When the notification sound is not emitted, it is conceivable to retry by changing the direction of the robot 60 or the like. Even if the orientation of the robot 60 is changed, the retry process is terminated when no voice utterance or notification sound is produced within a predetermined time after the operation command is transmitted. Then, the user is notified that the retry process has been completed.

In order to realize such processing, the robot 60 includes a display unit 66 and an operation unit 67. The display unit 66 is a block that displays an image of the facial expression of the robot 60. In the present embodiment, the display unit 66 performs display by the rear projection method, but is not limited thereto. The operation unit 67 is a block that executes the operation of the robot 60.

The operation unit 67 rotates the robot 60. As illustrated in FIG. 8, the operation unit 67 rotates the robot 60 to a position where an operation command can be issued to the first home appliance 70. The operation unit 67 rotates the robot 60 to a position where the voice utterance output from the speaker 70a of the first home appliance 70 can be heard.

That is, the robot 60 estimates the position of the first home appliance 70 from the direction in which a voice utterance is emitted from the speaker 70a of the first home appliance 70. In this way, the robot 60 estimates the position of each home appliance and stores it in the arrangement direction storage unit 623 of the data storage unit 62, so that the operation unit 67 moves in the direction in which the home appliance to be operated is installed. Rotate to execute the operation command.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible not only to produce an effect as if the robot is talking to other home appliances, but also to realize home appliance operations by voice naturally without the user indicating the position of each home appliance every time. There is an effect.

(Malfunction prevention)
The robot 60 having the above-described configuration is configured to issue an operation command to a home appliance to be operated by a voice command from a user.

By the way, in a room where the robot 60 is installed, when the user is performing a general conversation (a conversation not intended for an operation command), the robot 60 recognizes the words uttered by the user as voice commands, On the other hand, there is a risk of operating instructions. That is, there is a possibility that a household appliance not intended by the user operates. For example, when the robot 60 recognizes a voice command to turn on the air conditioner according to a word uttered by the user, the air conditioner may be turned on by an operation command.

Therefore, when the robot 60 recognizes the voice command by the judgment unit 617 in the control unit 61, the robot 60 judges whether to accept the voice command and give an operation instruction to the home appliance based on a preset judgment criterion. Here, as one of the above judgment criteria, an example in which whether or not to accept a voice command is a result of speaking back to the user from whom the voice command is obtained by speaking using the speech function Is described below.

For example, as shown in FIG. 9, when the user 80 says “Turn on the air conditioner?” 80a, the robot 60 hears back “Turn on? OK?” 60a. "Says 80b. As a result, the robot 60 executes an operation command to turn on the air conditioner on the air conditioner. The processing in this case is as shown in FIG. FIG. 10 shows that, in the process shown in FIG. 7, two-stage exchange is performed between the robot 60 and the user 80 before the robot 60 transmits an infrared signal to execute a transmission command. Have been added.

As described above, when the robot 60 recognizes the voice command, the robot 80 listens back to the user 80 and further determines whether or not to accept the voice command based on the answer from the user 80. Can prevent malfunction.

Note that the user 80 may be stressed if he / she listens to the same response from the robot 60 at any time. Therefore, when the user is asked whether or not to accept a voice command, if the voice command is the same voice command as the previous time, the content of the utterance for listening back is made different from the previous time. For example, when the robot 60 first asks, “Do you turn on the air conditioner?”, The robot 60 will ask “Would you like to turn on the air conditioner?” Or “Would you like to turn on the air conditioner?” After the second time. Thereby, even if the same content as the previous time is heard back, since the utterance content is different, the stress felt by the user 80 can be reduced. In this case, it is preferable that the content of the utterance is a content that does not cause a sense of incongruity by listening back.

The above method is a method in which the robot confirms with the user. Other confirmation methods include the following methods.

(1) A method to increase variations with a phrase to confirm, such as “I'll turn on the air conditioner?”.

(2) A method to increase variations with a phrase to ask back, such as "Do you turn on the air conditioner?"

(3) A method of increasing variations with a phrase indicating a reaction using a temperature sensor.
For example, depending on the temperature detected by the temperature sensor, “Is it hot? Do you turn on the air conditioner?”, “Is it cold?

As a method for determining whether or not to accept a voice command, a method using a camera 68 and a sensor 69 provided in the robot 60 can be mentioned. The camera 68 is used for photographing the user 80 and confirming whether or not the user 80 is facing the front with respect to the camera 68. Note that the robot 60 according to the present embodiment is rotated by the operation unit 67 so as to face the direction in which the voice is caught, so that the camera 68 can take a picture from the front of the user. The sensor 69 uses a human sensor that detects the presence of a person and detects whether or not the user 80 is nearby. Also in this case, the above-described determination unit 617 determines whether to accept a voice command.

Specifically, when the robot 60 recognizes a voice command and the robot 80 recognizes that the user 80 photographed by the camera 68 is facing the front, the determination unit 617 accepts the voice command and turns the front. If not, it is determined that the voice command is not accepted. In addition, when the user 80 is not facing the front, as described above, it may be confirmed whether or not the user 80 can accept a voice command using the speech function.

The determination unit 617 determines that the user 80 is nearby if the robot 60 detects a person when the robot 60 recognizes the voice command, receives the voice command, and detects the person using the sensor 69. If not, it is determined that the user 80 is not nearby and the voice command is not accepted. That is, the voice operation is not effective unless it is detected that there is a person.

Note that it is not clear from the detection result of the sensor 69 whether or not the user 80 has issued the voice command. Therefore, the user 80 has issued the voice command using the video imaged by the camera 68 described above. It may be clearly determined whether or not.

As described above, when the camera 68, the sensor 69, and the like are used, when the robot 60 recognizes the voice command, whether to accept the voice command without confirming whether the voice command may be accepted from the user 80. It can be determined whether or not.

When the robot 60 includes a touch sensor, the voice operation may be validated with a hand held over the touch sensor. Specifically, when the user 80 recognizes the voice command while holding the hand over the touch sensor of the robot 60, the voice command is accepted without confirming with the user 80. An operation command based on the voice command is executed.
As described above, when there is only a voice command, there is a possibility of home appliance operation by recognition, but according to the present embodiment, there is an effect that malfunction can be prevented by adding confirmation exchange.

[Embodiment 3]
Hereinafter, other embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail. For convenience of explanation, members having the same functions as those described in the second embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.

(Character data distribution system configuration)
FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a configuration of the character data distribution system 3 according to the present embodiment. In the character data distribution system 3, as shown in FIG. 11, a robot 100 and a server (distribution server) 300 are connected to each other via a communication network. The server 300 is connected to an external content server 400 that provides content (characters), and is connected to a smartphone (terminal device) 201 and a PC 202 via the communication network. For example, the Internet can be used as the communication network. Further, a telephone line network, a mobile communication network, a CATV (Cable TeleVision) communication network, a satellite communication network, or the like can be used.

In the character data distribution system 3, the robot 100 downloads character data associated with the account 301 set in advance from the server 300, and facial expression data corresponding to emotions such as emotions from the downloaded character data. A face image is projected from the inside to a face region 100a corresponding to the face of the person. That is, the robot 100 in the character data distribution system 3 estimates its own emotions such as emotions by using a predetermined algorithm, and includes the facial expressions according to the estimated emotions such as emotions. Expression data is displayed on the face area 100a using the projector 66a and the reflecting mirror 66b of the display unit 66.

Here, the emotion of the robot is parameterized by the internal state of the main unit (battery remaining amount, etc.), the external environment (temperature / humidity / brightness / time, etc.), the number of conversations, frequency, and content, Comprehensively calculated and determined by probability table. For example, if the remaining battery level is abundant and the temperature is comfortable, and if the relationship with the user is good (speaking well / being praised), the user is in a good mood, and smile facial expression data is selected. Also, at midnight or early morning, the time is used as a parameter to select a sleepy expression.

(robot)
FIG. 12 shows a schematic configuration of the robot 100. The robot 100 has substantially the same configuration as the robot 60 shown in FIG. 6 described in the second embodiment, and is different in that it includes a communication unit 101 and a facial expression database (download buffer) 102. Description of the same components is omitted, and only different components are described below.

The communication unit 101 is a means for communicating with the server 300 in the character data distribution system 3. Here, the character data is a set of facial expression data corresponding to emotions such as emotions. That is, character data = display data group.

The facial expression database 102 stores downloaded character data. It should be noted that a facial expression data group corresponding to emotions such as basic emotions is stored in the facial expression database 102 as basic character data in the initial state.

(Character data download)
FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating the download of character data for changing the expression of the robot. The server 300 stores a plurality of types of character data for each account 301, and downloads and distributes the character data to the robot 100 as necessary.

FIG. 13 shows an example in which two types of character data (1) and character data (2) are stored in one account 301 of the server 300, and the downloaded character data (1) or (2) is The basic character data already stored in the facial expression database 102 in the robot 100 is replaced and stored.

It should be noted that the download distribution may be performed not in character data units but in facial expression data units. In this case, the facial expression data distributed by download is stored by replacing the facial expression data corresponding to the basic character.

An instruction to distribute character data or display data to the server 300 is issued from the smartphone 201 or the PC 202 operated by a user using the robot 100. Specifically, the user instructs distribution of character data or display data stored in a predetermined account 301 in the server 300 from the smartphone 201 or the PC 202.

Since one account 301 can correspond to a plurality of robots 100, the same character data is downloaded and distributed to the robot 100 that can access the same account.

If the smartphone 201 or the PC 202 operated by the user can access an account 301 (account (B)) different from the account 301 (account (A)) in the server 300, another account that can access the account (B) The character data can be downloaded and distributed to the robot 100. If this is used, the character data can be downloaded to another person's robot, so that a trial version of the character data can be downloaded by a company. The user can purchase the trial version of the character data if they like it.

(Expression display)
When new character data is stored in the expression database 102 by download distribution from the server 300, the robot 100 randomly extracts the expression data of the new character data stored in the expression database 102 and displays it in the face area 100a. Let

Note that the robot 100 normally has no emotion, but when an utterance is made by associating the emotion with the utterance content set in advance in the dialog with the user, the robot 100 shows the emotion associated with the utterance content. By extracting facial expression data from the facial expression database 102 and displaying it in the facial region 100a, the robot 100 can appear to have emotion.

Specifically, a numerical value is assigned to each facial expression data of the character data stored in the facial expression database 102 in advance, and the numerical value given to the display data in accordance with the emotion linked to the utterance content spoken by the robot 100. The same numerical value is given. Thus, when a certain utterance is made by the robot 100, facial expression data having the same numerical value as the numerical value assigned to the emotion associated with the utterance content is extracted from the facial expression database 102 and displayed on the facial region 100a.

(Creation of facial expression data)
The character data distributed from the server 300 includes facial expression data corresponding to emotions such as emotions. In this case, character data is created so that one type of facial expression data corresponds to one type of emotion, such as a feeling of joy, an emotion of anger, a feeling of sadness, and a pleasant emotion.

However, human emotions are very complex and various types of emotions may be combined. Therefore, by further increasing the variation of facial expression data, it is possible to express emotions that are closer to humans with facial expressions.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a variation of facial expression data in a normal state (easy / joyful state).

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing variations in facial expression data in a specific state (an angry / sad / trouble state, specific mode).

That is, when creating facial expression data in the normal state, that is, in a fun state and a joyful state, as shown in FIG. It is possible to create facial expression data indicating emotions caused by comfort and pleasure such as facial expression data indicating a state and facial expression data indicating a state of comfort.

On the other hand, the facial expression data in a specific state, that is, an angry state, a sad state, and a troubled state, as shown in FIG. 15A, each level, that is, an anger level, a sadness level, and a troubled degree. Is divided into four levels, and facial expression data corresponding to each level is created.

Also, facial expression data in a specific mode can be given as facial expression data in a specific state. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 15B, the specific mode includes an answering machine mode, a sleep mode, a dozing mode, and a remote control operation mode, and facial expression data corresponding to each mode is created.

(Billing)
Here, as shown in FIG. 11, the server 300 downloads and distributes the character data to the robot 100 accessible for each user account 301. In this case, as described above, the user instructs the server 300 to perform download distribution using the smartphone 201 and the PC 202.

Further, the character data downloaded and distributed to the account 301 of the server 300 is distributed from the external content server 400. Also in this case, using the smartphone 201 and the PC 202, the server 300 is instructed to download distribution from the external content server 400.

Here, when the robot 100 downloads and distributes the character data that has already been downloaded to the server 300, the user who operates the smartphone 201 and the PC 202 that instructs download distribution is not charged.

On the other hand, when the character data is downloaded and distributed from the external content server 400 to the account 301 of the server 300, the user who operates the smartphone 201 and the PC 202 that instruct the download distribution is charged.

In this case, what is actually charged is on the smart phone 201 and PC 202 side instructing the server 300 to perform download distribution, not on the robot 100 side using the character data downloaded and distributed.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to create a face, distribute characters according to preferences, develop into a face content distribution business, and develop characters according to user preferences. It is possible, and the robot can be personalized without changing the hardware configuration.
[Example of software implementation]
The control blocks (particularly the control unit 21 and the control unit 61) of the home appliance 20, the robot 60, and the robot 100 may be realized by a logic circuit (hardware) formed on an integrated circuit (IC chip) or the like. It may be realized by software using a Central Processing Unit.

In the latter case, the home appliance 20, the robot 60, and the robot 100 include a CPU that executes instructions of a program, which is software that implements each function, and a ROM (in which the program and various data are recorded so as to be readable by a computer (or CPU)) Read Only Memory) or a storage device (these are referred to as "recording media"), a RAM (Random Access Memory) for expanding the program, and the like. And the objective of this invention is achieved when a computer (or CPU) reads the said program from the said recording medium and runs it. As the recording medium, a “non-temporary tangible medium” such as a tape, a disk, a card, a semiconductor memory, a programmable logic circuit, or the like can be used. The program may be supplied to the computer via an arbitrary transmission medium (such as a communication network or a broadcast wave) that can transmit the program. The present invention can also be realized in the form of a data signal embedded in a carrier wave in which the program is embodied by electronic transmission.

[Summary]
The home appliance management system according to aspect 1 of the present invention is the home appliance management system 1 in which a plurality of home appliances 20 and a management server (utterance management server 10) that manages the home appliances 20 are connected to each other via a communication network. 20 is a first status information output unit (status information extraction unit 24 and communication unit 23) that outputs status information indicating the status of the device itself to the management server (utterance management server 10) via the communication network. And a status information notification unit (output control unit 27 and voice output unit 22) for reporting status information acquired from the management server (speech management server 10) via the communication network, the management server (speech The management server 10) uses the status information acquired from the home appliance 20 as at least one of the plurality of home appliances 20 connected to the communication network. It is characterized in that a second status information output unit that outputs to the home appliance 20 (output control section 18).

According to the above configuration, the management server outputs the state information acquired from the home appliance via the communication network to at least one home appliance among the plurality of home appliances connected to the communication network. Status information of other home appliances can be acquired.

Thereby, it becomes possible to notify the user of the status information of the other home appliances from the home appliance that acquired the status information of the other home appliances to the user. Note that home appliances acquire not only the status information of other home appliances but also the status information of their own devices from the management server.

Here, in order to surely notify the user of the status information of the home appliance, the following may be considered.

The home appliance management system according to aspect 2 of the present invention is the home appliance management system according to aspect 1, wherein the second state information output unit outputs state information to home appliances that are turned on among the home appliances connected to the communication network. Is preferred.

According to the above configuration, a household appliance that is turned on, that is, a household appliance in an active state, is likely to be operated by the user or the user is close to the household appliance in the active state. If the status information of home appliances is notified, the user can surely know the status information of other home appliances.

For example, when the active home appliance is a TV and the other home appliance is a refrigerator, status information of the refrigerator (for example, the door is open) is notified from the TV to the user watching the TV. Thereby, the user can know the status information of the refrigerator, which is another home appliance, even though he / she is watching TV.

The home appliance management system according to aspect 3 of the present invention is the home appliance management system according to aspect 1, in which the second state information output unit is set in advance according to the content of the acquired state information among home appliances connected to the communication network. It is preferable to output status information for.

According to the above configuration, since the state information is output to the home appliance set in advance according to the content of the acquired state information, the user can know the state information corresponding to the home appliance from the home appliance.

In the home appliance management system according to aspect 4 of the present invention, in any one of aspects 1 to 3, it is preferable that the first state information output unit notifies (notifies) the state information by voice.

According to the above configuration, since the notification (notification) of the state information becomes a voice, the user can surely know the contents of the state information.

The household appliance which concerns on aspect 5 of this invention is the information acquisition which acquires the status information which shows the state of the said household appliance from the other household appliances connected to the said communication network in the household appliance connected to the communication network with several other household appliances And a state information notifying unit for notifying the state information acquired by the information acquiring unit.

The household appliance which concerns on aspect 6 of this invention is further provided with the alerting | reporting destination setting part which sets the alerting | reporting destination which alert | reports the status information acquired by the said information acquisition part by the said status information alerting | reporting part in aspect 5, The said alerting | reporting destination setting The unit preferably sets the notification destination of the state information according to the user's voice.

The household appliance which concerns on aspect 7 of this invention is further equipped with the alerting | reporting destination setting part which sets the alerting | reporting destination which alert | reports the status information acquired by the said information acquisition part by the said status information alerting | reporting part in aspect 5, The said alerting | reporting destination Preferably, the setting unit sets the notification destination of the state information in a room in which at least one home appliance connected to the communication network is installed.

In the household appliance according to aspect 8 of the present invention, in any one aspect of aspects 5 to 7, it is preferable that the state information notification unit notifies the state information by voice.

The remote control device according to aspect 9 of the present invention includes an operation instruction unit that gives an operation instruction to a home appliance, an acquisition unit that acquires notification sound or sound output by the home appliance in response to the operation instruction of the operation instruction unit, An analysis unit that analyzes the notification sound or voice acquired by the acquisition unit, and a state specifying unit that specifies the state of the home appliance from the analysis result of the analysis unit are provided.

According to said structure, after performing the operation instruction with respect to a household appliance by the state specific | specification part, the operation instruction was performed by specifying the state of the said household appliance from the result of having analyzed the alert sound or audio | voice emitted. The remote control device itself can know the state of the home appliance.

A remote control device according to aspect 10 of the present invention further includes a determination unit that determines whether or not to perform an operation instruction on the home appliance again from the state of the home appliance specified by the state specifying unit in aspect 9, The instruction unit preferably performs the operation instruction again on the home appliance when the determination unit determines to perform the operation instruction on the home appliance again.

According to the above configuration, the operation instruction unit is configured to perform the operation instruction again on the home appliance when the determination unit determines to perform the operation instruction on the home appliance again. Operation instructions can be given. That is, the home appliance can be reliably operated.

The remote control device according to aspect 11 of the present invention is the remote control device according to aspect 10, wherein the installation direction specifying unit that specifies the installation direction of the home appliance as viewed from the device from the notification sound or voice acquired by the acquisition unit, and the installation direction A storage unit that stores the installation direction of the home appliance specified by the specifying unit, and the operation instruction unit is stored in the storage unit when the determination unit determines that the home appliance is to be operated again It is preferable to give an operation instruction to the home appliance toward the installation direction of the home appliance.

According to the above configuration, the operation instruction unit issues an operation instruction to the home appliance toward the installation direction of the home appliance stored in the storage unit when the determination unit determines to perform the operation instruction to the home appliance again. The operation instruction can be surely given to the home appliance.

The remote control device according to the twelfth aspect of the present invention is a robot that gives an operation instruction to a home appliance from the received voice command. When the remote command device recognizes the voice command, the remote command device accepts the voice command according to a preset criterion. Is provided with a determination unit for determining whether or not to give an operation instruction.

According to the above configuration, when the voice command is recognized by the judgment unit, the voice that is not intended by the user is determined by judging whether to accept the voice command and give an operation instruction to the home appliance based on a preset judgment criterion. It is possible to prevent malfunction of home appliances due to commands. The following can be cited as the above criteria.

The remote control device according to aspect 13 of the present invention further includes an utterance function in aspect 12, and the determination unit utters whether or not to accept the recognized voice command by using the utterance function. It is preferable to make a determination according to the utterance content obtained by listening back to the user from whom the voice command is obtained.

According to the above configuration, since the user can hear the voice response from the remote control device, the user can surely understand the content of the voice response. Thereby, the malfunction of a household appliance can be prevented reliably.

When the remote control device according to aspect 14 of the present invention asks the user whether to accept a voice command in aspect 13, when the voice command is the same voice command as the previous time, the content of the utterance to be heard back is set as the previous time. It is preferable to make them different.

According to the above configuration, even if the same content is confirmed, since the content of the utterance is different, the user is less likely to feel stress.

A robot according to an aspect 15 of the present invention is a robot that displays a face image in a predetermined region, and stores a facial expression data indicating emotion and the facial expression data corresponding to the emotion determined by a predetermined criterion. And a control unit that is acquired from the storage unit and displayed as the face image in the predetermined area.

According to the above configuration, the display unit acquires the facial expression data in accordance with the emotion determined by a predetermined reference from the storage unit and displays it as the facial image. Therefore, the robot itself selects and changes the facial expression of the facial image. be able to.

The facial expression data distribution system according to aspect 16 of the present invention is characterized in that the robot having the above configuration and a distribution server that distributes facial expression data indicating emotions such as emotions to the robot are connected to a communication network. It is said.

According to the above configuration, the facial expression data that changes the display of the robot's face is distributed from the distribution server, so the display of the robot's face can be changed according to the user's preference. Allows customization of facial expressions.

In the expression data distribution system according to aspect 17 of the present invention, in the aspect 16, the communication network further includes an expression data providing server that provides expression data to the distribution server according to a charge, and the expression data providing server. It is preferable that a terminal device that provides facial expression data to the distribution server is connected by charging the terminal.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible within the scope shown in the claims, and embodiments obtained by appropriately combining technical means disclosed in different embodiments. Is also included in the technical scope of the present invention. Furthermore, a new technical feature can be formed by combining the technical means disclosed in each embodiment.

The present invention can be suitably used for a system in which a plurality of home appliances are connected to a communication network, a remote control device for operating home appliances with voice commands, and the like.

1 Home Appliance Management System 2 Remote Control System 3 Character Data Distribution System (Display Data Distribution System)
8 Second household appliance 10 Utterance management server (management server)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Control part 12 Storage part 13 Communication part 14 State information acquisition part 15 State specific | specification part 16 Utterance content selection part 17 Output destination selection part (notification destination setting part)
18 Output control unit 19 Content acquisition unit 20 Home appliance 21 Control unit 22 Audio output unit 23 Communication unit 24 State information extraction unit 25 Speech content acquisition unit 26 Speech synthesis unit 27 Output control unit 30 External content server 40 Smartphone 50 Home appliance 51 Control unit 60 Robot 61 Control unit 62 Data storage unit 63 Infrared transmission / reception unit 64 Microphone 65 Speaker 66 Display unit 66a Projector 66b Reflector 67 Operation unit 68 Camera 69 Sensor 70 First home appliance 70a Speaker 80 User 90 Third home appliance 100 Robot 100a Face area 101 Communication Unit 102 facial expression database 121 utterance content storage unit 122 output destination database 201 smartphone 300 server 301 account 400 external content server 611 voice recognition unit 612 notification sound analysis unit 613 state identification unit 614 Output control unit 615 Speech synthesis unit 616 Operation command specifying unit 617 Judgment unit 621 Status information storage unit 622 Operation command storage unit 623 Arrangement direction storage unit 624 Notification sound storage unit

Claims

In a home appliance management system in which a plurality of home appliances and a management server that manages the home appliances are connected to each other via a communication network,
Each of the above appliances
A first status information output unit that outputs status information indicating the status of the device to the management server via the communication network;
A state information notifying unit for notifying the state information acquired from the management server via the communication network,
The management server
A home appliance management system comprising: a second state information output unit that outputs state information acquired from the home appliance to at least one of a plurality of home appliances connected to the communication network.
In home appliances connected to a communication network together with other home appliances,
An information acquisition unit that acquires state information indicating the state of the home appliance from other home appliances connected to the communication network;
A status information notification unit for reporting the status information acquired by the information acquisition unit;
Home appliances characterized by comprising.
An operation instruction unit for operating instructions to home appliances;
An acquisition unit that acquires notification sound or sound output by the home appliance according to the operation instruction of the operation instruction unit;
An analysis unit for analyzing the notification sound or voice acquired by the acquisition unit;
From the analysis result by the analysis unit, a state specifying unit for specifying the state of the home appliance,
A remote control device comprising:
A remote control device that gives operation instructions to household appliances from received voice commands,
A remote control device comprising a determination unit that, when recognizing a voice command, determines whether to accept the voice command and give an operation instruction to a home appliance based on a predetermined determination criterion.
A robot displaying a face image in a predetermined area,
A storage unit for storing facial expression data indicating emotions;
A control unit that acquires the facial expression data corresponding to the emotion determined by a predetermined reference from the storage unit, and displays the facial expression data as the face image in the predetermined region;
A robot characterized by comprising: