JP2005107425A - Notification sound production apparatus of household electrical appliance - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a notification sound production apparatus of household electrical appliances with which an operator can surely recognize an operating condition and is prevented from making erroneous operation. <P>SOLUTION: The notification sound production apparatus is built into the household electrical appliances and produces the notification sound according to the operation executed by the operation device installed in the household electrical appliances or the event generated in the household electrical appliances. The apparatus is equipped with a notification sound grammar data base defining the relation between the executed operation or the event generated in the household electrical appliances, an operating state detection means for detecting the state at the time of operating the operation device and a notification sound generating means. The apparatus is constituted to correct the notification sound selected from the notification sound grammar data base based on the executed operation or the event generated in the household electrical appliances in accordance with the output of the operating state detection means and to produce the notification sound through the notification sound generating means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

The present invention relates to a notification sound producing apparatus for a home appliance that performs confirmation of operation of the home appliance, determination of an operation state, or notification of recognition.

  Conventionally, an alarm sound producing device incorporated in home appliances such as a heating cooker or a washing machine has its own alarm sound set for each device in order to confirm the operation performed by the operator and to indicate the state of the device. However, most of them consisted of homogenous beeps produced using a device such as a piezoelectric buzzer. For this reason, it is difficult for the operator to understand the meaning of the notification sound, such as from which device it is emitted, and in what situation the device is, and there are many things that are annoying.

  For example, when setting the washing time in the washing machine and selecting the number of times of rinsing, the same beeping sound is emitted, and when selecting a menu with a microwave oven, the induction heating cooker The situation where a similar notification sound is generated also when adjusting the sound.

In addition, when cooking is completed with a rice cooker, a notification sound is generated by intermittent repetition of a long beeping sound, and a similar notification sound is also emitted when washing is completed in a washing machine. It has occurred. For this reason, measures such as changing the number of repetitions for each device have been taken, but which device has which one without the consciousness of the operator's attention to the notification sound such as counting the number of utterances from the beginning when the notification sound was uttered. It was difficult to recognize the situation.
In addition, inorganic beeps were overflowing throughout the house, often resulting in unpleasant situations.

  In order to solve such problems, a short symbolized notification sound that recognizes common concepts is generated, and multiple types of notification sounds such as operation sounds, adjustment sounds, warning sounds, etc. are given a scale and rhythm. Attempts have been made to distinguish and notify (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-101796

  The conventional alarm sound producing device for home appliances is configured as described above, and has the following problems.

Regardless of the relative positional relationship between the operator and the operation device and the operation status of the operator, the notification sound is always emitted with the same tempo, the same volume, and the same number of repetitions.For example, the operator quickly turns the operation dial. As in the case of the setting, there is a case where an operation that does not match the actual situation that the notification sound continues for a while even though the operation has already been completed may be exhibited. In addition, when the operator has to leave the place temporarily for some reason, the volume or the number of repetitions does not change, and the operator may miss the notification sound. Furthermore, even when the operator works beside the home appliance and the display is difficult to see, the display may be overlooked because there is no consideration of alerting the user with a notification sound. As a result, there has been a problem that the operator erroneously operates by reading the operation status.

  The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a notification sound producing apparatus for a home electric appliance that allows an operator to reliably grasp an operation state and does not cause an erroneous operation.

  In a notification sound uttering device that emits a notification sound in response to an operation performed by an operation device installed in the household electrical appliance and installed in the household electrical appliance or an event occurring in the household electrical appliance, A notification sound grammar database that defines a relationship between an event that has occurred and a notification sound, an operation state detection unit that detects a state when the operation device is operated, and a notification sound generation unit. The notification sound selected from the notification sound grammar database based on the event generated in the device is corrected based on the output of the operation state detection means, and uttered via the notification sound generation means.

  Because the operation status detection means detects the operation status of the operation device and the positional relationship between the operator and the operation device, and based on this detection result, the volume, length, number of repetitions, tempo, etc. of the notification sound are corrected. To provide a notification sound generating device that allows an operator to reliably grasp an operation situation, and to provide a home appliance with excellent operability that prevents an operator from erroneously operating (incorrectly reading the operation situation) I can do it.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a notification sound uttering device for home electric appliances and its peripheral portion according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
In the figure, a notification sound uttering device 101 includes an interaction determination means 102, a notification sound grammar database 103, and a notification sound utterance means 104, and is incorporated in a home appliance. The interaction determination means 102 is input with operation / operation status information regarding operation devices for operating home appliances such as dials and keys, and event information regarding events occurring in the home appliance after operation such as spilling. The interaction determination unit 102 selects a notification sound from the notification sound grammar database 103 based on the input operation information and event information, and based on the operator's action (operation status information) on the operation device such as the operation speed. Correction information for correcting the notification sound is created. The notification sound uttering means 104 determines the notification sound that is actually uttered based on the correction information and the selected notification sound (information), and then utters.
Hereinafter, this “interaction” is called “interaction (Interaction interaction)”, and “interaction discriminating means” is called “interaction discriminating means”.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the interaction discriminating means 102.
In the figure, the interaction discriminating means 102 performs operations performed by operation devices such as dials and keys and events occurring in home appliances (hereinafter collectively referred to as “operations / events”) according to the respective characteristics. Operation / event / category / function concept for classifying (mapping) categories / function concepts (hereinafter collectively referred to as “category / function concepts”) which are major / minor classification codes of the alarm sound grammar database 103 A mapping unit 202, an operation amount detection unit 203, an operation speed detection unit 204, an operator position detection unit 205, an operation state detection unit 206 for detecting an operation state of the device by the operator, and an operation / event-category A notification sound is selected based on the output of the functional concept mapping unit 202 and the output of the operation state detection unit 206. The interaction determining means 207 for creating a correction information to correct, and a.
Next, the function of each component will be described.

First, the operation / event-category / function concept mapping means 202 will be described.
The “operation performed by the operation device” is “operation by the operator” information, and is all collected in the control unit of the home appliance and can be obtained from here. Also, “events that occur in home appliances” are “events that are directly detected or inferred from the response outputs of various sensors incorporated in the home appliance main body” information, Aggregated and available here.
On the other hand, the mapping means holds a rule for associating these pieces of information obtained from the control unit with characteristics / functions / characteristics that characterize categories / function concepts that are major classification / minor classification codes of the notification sound grammar database 103. Software.

  Therefore, by using the software (operation / event-category / function concept mapping means), the operation / event can be mapped to the category / function concept. Since the mapped category / function concept (information) is used to select a notification sound corresponding to the operation / event, it can be handled in common by the notification sound uttering means 104 and the notification sound grammar database 103. It is converted into an internal ID (abbreviation of Identifier) and output (hereinafter, this ID is referred to as “category / function concept designation ID”). The notification sound grammar database 103 selects the notification sound using the output category / function concept designation ID.

Here, the categories that are the major classification codes in the notification sound grammar database 103 are composed of three categories: a primary response category, a secondary response category, and a tertiary response category.
First, the primary response category indicates all responses that are issued when an operation is received. This category includes a functional concept such as “operation acceptance response” in which an operation for pre-setting is accepted but an actual operation is not started unless the “start” key is pressed.

The secondary response category indicates all responses that are issued when the contents of the accepted operation are interpreted and the subsequent operation is determined.
In this category, “Accept response” to notify that it has been enabled, “Not response” to notify that it has not been enabled, and the “+” / “−” keys, for example, correspond to the increase / decrease in the operation amount. Functional concepts such as “Directional operation response” to notify that the operation amount has increased or decreased and “Selection operation response” to notify that one of the menus (keys) has been selected are included. .

  Further, the third response category refers to all responses that occur in response to events that occur during or as a result of operation of the home appliance. In this category, "Progress report report" that reports the status on the way of the set value, "Work instruction report" that reports to prompt the next operation when the status or set value on the way to the set value is reached, Functional concepts such as “end notification” for notifying that the set value has been reached and “alarm” for notifying that an abnormal situation has occurred are included.

  The operation amount detection unit 203 detects an operation amount (relative operation amount) for each operation operation and an accumulated operation amount (absolute operation amount) accumulated. For example, when performing thermal power adjustment with a rotary encoder, the rotational amount (relative rotational amount) of the rotary encoder for each thermal power adjustment and the cumulative rotational amount (absolute rotational amount) of the rotary encoder accumulated by the previous thermal power adjustment are detected. .

  The operation speed detection unit 204 detects a change in the operation amount per unit time, that is, an operation speed. For example, when adjusting the thermal power with a rotary encoder, the rotational speed of the rotary encoder is detected.

  Further, the operator position detection means 205 is whether the operator is near or far from the operation device, and whether the operator is in front of or at the side of the operation device even in the vicinity (relative to the operation device and the operator). (Such as human sensor, image sensor, sound sensor, etc.) or the output of a contact switch such as a foot switch. Or the response time at the previous notification time (the time from the notification until the operator's response returns) or the like.

  The detection result by the operation state detection unit 206 including the operation amount detection unit 203, the operation speed detection unit 204, and the operator position detection unit 205 is input to the interaction determination unit 207. The interaction determination unit 207 creates correction information for correcting the notification sound based on the input detection result. The created correction information is converted into an internal ID (hereinafter referred to as “notification sound correction information ID”) that can be handled by the notification sound utterance means 104, and together with the category / function concept designation ID described above, This is transmitted to the notification sound production means 104. The notification sound uttering means 104 utters a notification sound based on these transmitted IDs.

This point will be described by taking as an example a case where the notification sound for the operation of raising the temperature is a rising tone.
3 and 4 are explanatory diagrams showing the relationship between the operation and the notification sound. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 301 is a schematic diagram of the pitch, and the upper and lower sides of each horizontal line represent the pitch of the pitch. Reference numeral 302 is a schematic diagram of a pitch with respect to a notification sound of an ascending scale to be uttered (indicated by an arrow pointing upward in the drawing). The horizontal axis direction represents the direction of time.
Hereinafter, the notification sound as a unit indicated by one arrow in the figure is referred to as “unit notification sound”.

  Normally, as shown in FIG. 5A, a notification sound having the same pitch is produced with each operation. And when it is detected by the operation amount detection means 203 that the operation of the same direction is accumulated, it respond | corresponds by raising the whole pitch of a unit alerting | reporting sound. That is, as shown in FIG. 6B, while the unit notification sound is raised in order based on the correction information created by the interaction determination means 207 based on the detection result of the operation amount detection means 203, It is uttered.

  When a fast operation is performed, the interval between unit notification sounds is narrowed based on the correction information created by the interaction determination unit 207 based on the detection result of the operation speed detection unit 305, and the whole is compressed. become. When a faster operation is performed, midway speech is suppressed (unit notification sounds are thinned out at appropriate intervals), resulting in a shortened form.

  In this way, in a normal operation, for example, as shown in FIG. 4A, when the unit notification sound is uttered five times, when the fast operation is performed, the unit notification sounds are first kept five times. When the interval is compressed and a faster operation is performed, the utterance of the unit notification sounds 401 and 402 is suppressed and the shortened operation of uttering the unit notification sound only three times as shown in FIG. Become. In this way, the interval between the unit notification sounds is narrowed first, and then the unit notification sounds are thinned out at an appropriate interval, so that the utterance of the notification sound is ended simultaneously with the end of the operation of the operator. It is possible to confirm that the user's own operation is correctly reflected by the notification sound that matches the sense of the operation performed.

  In this example, the case where the unit notification sound is not changed is described in order to allow the operator to listen to the unit notification sound as a constant sound. However, it is necessary to always listen to the unit notification sound as a constant sound. This is not the case if there is none. A process of shortening the time of the unit notification sound itself and accelerating the tempo may be performed so as to finish within the operation time according to the operation speed.

When the operator position detected (estimated) by the operator position detection unit 205 is near, the volume of the unit notification sound or the number of repetitions is small, and when it is far away, the volume of the notification sound, the number of repetitions, etc. Should be set larger. In this way, the notification sound can be reliably transmitted even to an operator who is temporarily separated.
In addition, even when the operator is near the operator position detected by the operator position detection means 205 instead of the front side of the home appliance, the display portion is difficult to see and the display content may be overlooked. If the user is alerted, the display contents (information) can be reliably transmitted to the operator.

Next, an example of notification sound allocation for a specific functional concept will be described.
FIG. 5 shows the result of an evaluation test for 40 test subjects (20 men and 20 women) to select a notification sound suitable for each functional concept from a plurality of types of notification sound plans. Is.
In the figure, the vertical item column shows an assumed scene, and Case 1 has a “valid (possible)” scene of “notifying (when the key is pressed) that the key has been pressed (eg, turned ON)”. It corresponds to.

Case 2 corresponds to the “invalid (impossible)” scene of “notifying that the key is not valid even if a key is pressed (error operation)”.
Case 3 corresponds to the “increase” scene of “notifying that the value displayed on the display unit increases when a key is pressed for setting (such as temperature)”.

Case 4 corresponds to the “progress report” scene of “notifying that the temperature is close to a preset value (such as temperature) (for example, sounding when the set value is 90 degrees at 70 degrees)”. is there.
Case 5 corresponds to a “completion report” scene of “notifying that a preset value such as temperature has been reached”.
Furthermore, Case 6 corresponds to a “warning” scene of “warning that an unfavorable state has occurred (such as a heated pan boils out)”.

On the other hand, the sound 1, sound 2, sound 3, sound 4, sound 5, and sound 6 shown in the horizontal item column are “arpeggio (dispersed chord) with added melody”, “long harmonic double chord”, “ Corresponds to "Rise of chords", "Short harmonics", "Infinite tremolo (ditonal alternation or repetition of the same sound)", "undulation type arpeggio (distributed chords)".
Correspondence between each scene and the assumed notification sound is based on the notification sound rule system of the present invention. Case 1 and sound 2 “long harmonic sound 2 series”, Case 2 and sound 4 “short harmonic sound”, Case 3 and sound 3 “chord” “Rise”, Case 4 and sound 6 “undulation-type arpeggio (dispersed chord)”, Case 5 and sound 1 “Arpeggio with melody” (distributed chord), Case 6 and sound 5 “Infinite tremolo (two-tone alternation or identical sound repetition) ) ”As the correct answer.

Each subject was asked to select which scenario was recalled for each sound sample. The result of the experiment is shown in FIG. The numbers in each column in the figure represent the number of people who selected the corresponding vertical item and horizontal item columns. The correct answer rate is a value obtained by dividing the number of persons who selected the correct answer by the number of subjects (40 persons).
As a result, for all cases, the correspondence between the correct sound and the scene matches the correspondence between the sound selected by the most subjects and the scene, and the effectiveness of the notification sound rule system of the present invention can be confirmed. It was.
By this allocation, it can be expected with a correct answer rate of 77.5% to 97.5% (approximately 87.5% or more) to listen to the notification sound and analogize the function.

FIG. 6 shows a comparison of the results of an evaluation test for analogizing the function using the present notification sound plan and a notification sound based on a conventional beep sound. In the figure, the vertical axis is a total of the evaluation scores obtained by each subject who evaluated the ease of understanding by a five-step evaluation for 40 subjects.
From the comparison between the two, it can be seen that the notification sound plan is superior in terms of analogizing the function. In addition, it is considered that the superiority of the method for assigning sound to the functional concept based on the notification sound rule system of the present invention based on the harmony rule system is confirmed from this result.

Supplementing this point, for example, for the sound 1 and the sound 6 corresponding to Case 5 (end report) and Case 4 (progress report), the harmony resolution / unresolved rule in harmony studies is applied. For this reason, the operator can have a “feeling of ending” by recalling the concept of “the music context has been solved” while sensuously understanding the natural flow of chords for sound 1. As for the sound 6, the concept of “the music context is not solved” is recalled while understanding the natural flow of chords sensuously, and it can have a “continuity”.
In addition, since chords in major and minor are assigned to Case 1 (response possible) and Case 2 (response impossible), “success” and “failure” can be conveyed in terms of musical effects. .

An example of the notification sound grammar database constructed based on the notification sound plan assigned to the functional concept by such a method is shown in FIG. This notification sound grammar database is a matrix in which the relationship between the sound characteristics specified for each category and the sound characteristics specified for each functional concept, the notification sounds assigned to these sound characteristics, and the context for each home appliance is a matrix. It is expressed in shape. As shown in the figure, sound A, sound B1, sound B2,..., Sound U are defined in the notification sound instance (Instance entity, actual example, specific example) corresponding to the functional concept of each home appliance. These notification sounds are all given different symbols, but need not all be different sounds. For example, those belonging to the same functional concept may have the same sound.

  In the figure, “up”, “down”, and “invariant” are assigned to the sound B1, the sound B2, and the sound B3 corresponding to the “secondary response / directional operation response”, respectively. Here, “invariant” is assigned, for example, in the thermal power setting, the dial type operation device has only “up” or “down” direction, but the selection key type operation device has “up” or “down”. Besides the direction, the same key is pressed again and there is an “invariant” direction to keep the current state. The sound B3 is assigned in consideration of such a difference in operation devices. However, this does not apply to the case where only the selection operation (functional concept) is assigned to the selection key type operation device.

  As described above, in the notification sound producing apparatus, the operation state detection unit detects the operation state and positional relationship of the operation device by the operator, and based on the detection result, the volume, length, number of repetitions, tempo, etc. of the notification sound are determined. Since the correction is made, it is possible to emit a notification sound in a form suitable for the operator situation. As a result, there is an effect that it is possible to provide home appliances that are greatly improved in operability and convenience by reducing the number of erroneous operations by reducing the number of missed or misunderstood notification sounds by the operator.

  In addition, as the sound for each function concept, a sound based on a harmony rule system is assigned, so that the operability and convenience that can be used to analogize the function with a high correct answer rate by listening to the sound is greatly improved. There is an effect that equipment can be provided.

Note that the notification sound is corrected so that the operator can recognize the operation status, such as thinning out the unit notification sound for faster operation, and thinning out the unit notification sound for faster operation (notifying the operation status and positional relationship). The rules (reflected in the sound) are not limited to the above-mentioned example, but it goes without saying that the rules can be freely set for various sound characteristic values such as volume, length, number of repetitions, tempo, and combinations thereof. Yes.
Furthermore, it goes without saying that the sound assignment based on the harmony rule system can be freely set within the framework of the rule system.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
FIG. 8 shows a schematic diagram of a notification sound uttering device 801 for home appliances and its peripheral portion according to the present embodiment. Device discriminating means 802 and operation purpose discriminating means 803 are newly added to the configuration of the alarm sound producing apparatus 101 shown in the first embodiment.
The device discriminating unit 802 discriminates the home appliance in which the notification sound uttering unit itself is incorporated, and outputs the home appliance information. The operation purpose determination means 803 determines the operation purpose “what is going to be done” based on the operation history, and outputs this operation purpose information. Hereinafter, this “operation purpose” is referred to as “context (context context)”, and “operation purpose determination means” is also referred to as “context determination means”.

First, the device determination unit 802 will be described.
The device discriminating means 802 discriminates the installed home appliance, and is arranged assuming that the notification sound generation device is incorporated into various home appliances.
As a method for discriminating such home electric appliances, for example, information specifying the appliance ID of the electric home appliances or the device name / model name may be stored in advance in the memory in the speech device. Moreover, you may make it acquire these specific information from the outside via a communication means as an initial value.

  Furthermore, the ID of the device or model held in the software installed in the microcomputer mounted to control the home appliance, and the setting information (for example, DIPS) read from the hardware connected to the port of the microcomputer / W, etc.), the function list acquired from the read information, etc. (the home appliance) and the model ID or model-specific main function list stored in advance in the memory in the utterance device or acquired from the outside via communication means May be selected to match or match the home appliance with the closest configuration.

  The determination result is converted into an internal ID that can be handled in common by the notification sound uttering means 104, the notification sound grammar database 103, and the like, and output to the notification sound uttering means 104. . Hereinafter, this ID is referred to as “internal device ID”. Here, the internal device ID may be the same as the device ID obtained by acquiring from the device or the ID that can be acquired by the device determining means 101.

  Since the internal device ID is acquired from the home appliance thus incorporated, it is possible to reliably select an appropriate notification sound regardless of the home appliance. As a result, it is possible to provide a highly versatile notification sound uttering device.

Next, the context discriminating means 803 will be described by taking a heating cooker as an example.
FIG. 9 shows an example of processing by the context discrimination means 802 for the thermal power adjustment and timer setting. In the figure, an operation history held in the history data storage unit 902 and a context determination result 903 corresponding to the operation history are shown.

When the power is turned on, the heating cooker starts up in a mode in which the heating power can be adjusted, and is switched to the timer setting mode by pressing a timer key. The increase / decrease of the thermal power and the increase / decrease of the timer time are operated by the same “+” and “−” keys.
Hereinafter, the operation of the context determination unit will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, when the power is turned on (904), the device starts to operate in a form in which the default thermal power adjustment can be performed. Next, when the “+” key is pressed (905), the context discrimination means discriminates that the operation for increasing the thermal power is performed in the thermal power adjustment (906). Subsequently, when the “+” key or “−” key is depressed, the context discriminating unit discriminates the increase / decrease in the thermal power adjustment.
Next, when the timer key is pressed (907), the context determination means determines that the mode has been switched to the timer setting mode (timer setting context) (908).

  Thereafter, when the “+” or “−” key is pressed (such as 909), the context discrimination means discriminates an increase / decrease in time adjustment (910). The context information discriminated in this way is converted into an internal ID that can be handled in common by the notification sound utterance means 104, the notification sound grammar database 103, etc., and passed to the notification sound utterance means 104. Hereinafter, this ID is referred to as “context ID”.

The operation history data is usually unnecessary when the operation purpose is switched, but it is traced back to which operation purpose the current operation purpose is caused by key operations such as “Back” and “Cancel”. Sometimes. For this reason, it is necessary to maintain a hierarchical history connection.

Although the case where history data is stored has been described here, the history data is not stored while following the operation history, but the context at that time is determined or confirmed each time an operation is performed, and only the context is retained. May be.
In addition, for example, if the device can acquire the current operation mode in software or hardware, the operation mode may be acquired by the acquisition unit and the context may be determined each time.

  As described above, in this notification sound producing apparatus, the context ID is determined based on the operation history up to that time in each operation stage. Therefore, even when an operation change occurs midway, an appropriate notification sound can be surely obtained. You can choose. As a result, it is possible to provide home appliances with high operability.

Based on the above, the notification sound when the device determination unit 802, the context determination unit 803, and the interaction determination unit 102 are all provided will be described with reference to an example of the notification sound grammar database 701 shown in FIG.
First, the device ID is “induction heating cooker”, the context ID output from the context determination unit 803 is “timer setting”, and the category / function concept designation ID output from the interaction determination unit 102 is “third order”. Response / end notification ”, and the notification sound correction information ID is“ increase volume ”.

The notification sound utterance means 104 searches an example of the notification sound grammar database 701 based on the device ID, context ID, and category / function concept designation ID, and extracts the sound G. The sound G is “arpeggio with melody”, which has the sound characteristic of harmony resolution. This sound has the characteristics that the overall sound is long and the tempo is slow as the sound characteristics for each category. Furthermore, this sound is corrected by the notification sound correction information ID, and is uttered at a louder volume.
As a result, it is easy to understand even if it is heard from the middle, and the possibility of being missed is reduced, and a notification sound that can convey a “feeling of completion” is produced from the viewpoint of musical effect.

When a notification sound is uttered at an intermediate stage before the end, for example, the category / function concept designation ID becomes “third response / progress report notification”, and the sound E is extracted.
The sound E is a “undulation type arpeggio” having a sound characteristic that is unresolved in harmony. As a result, it is possible to tell that “it is still ongoing” in terms of musical effect. In addition, the sound characteristics for each category are also taken into account, and, as described above, it is easy to understand even from the middle, and the possibility of missing is reduced.

  When the context ID is “boiling” and an abnormal situation such as spilling occurs, the category / functional concept becomes “third response / alarm”, and the sound K is extracted from the notification sound grammar database example 701. The sound K is “infinite tremolo (repeated)”, and the tremolo sound with a tension feels infinite until the operator stops the induction heating cooker.

  Further, the notification sound when the device ID is “oven” will be described. Assuming that the context ID is “menu (selection)”, the category / function concept designation ID is “secondary response / selection operation response”, and the notification sound correction information ID is “no correction”, the notification sound grammar Sound L is extracted from an example database 701. The sound L is a “short sound” having a short overall sound length and a reverberation, so the notification sound does not get in the way when the menu is selected and the next operation is started immediately. In addition, since it has a reverberation, it can be confirmed firmly that it has been selected.

  Since any menu can be selected as long as it is in parallel, the same sound may be assigned, or all the sounds may be made different so that they can be distinguished by the notification sound. Furthermore, when the menu is weighted, such as a recommended menu, it is possible to make it easy to operate by changing the sound of only the important menu.

Next, the washing machine has a “normal operation mode” in which operation starts with a start key after completing a series of settings, and a “quick start mode” in which operation starts one after another while proceeding with the settings. Will be described as an example.
When operating in the normal operation mode, in the device ID = “washing machine” and the context ID = “water level setting”, the category / function concept designation ID is “primary response / operation acceptance response”, and the notification sound Sound R is extracted from an example 701 of the grammar database. Since the sound R is a short short sound and a short and fast-tempo sound, even if setting operations are performed one after another, the operation is not disturbed and a notification sound is output, so that the device accepts the operation. Communicate to the operator.

When all other settings are completed and the settings are all correct only after the start key is pressed, a “acceptable” notification sound is produced and the operation is started. If there is an error in the settings, a “not responding” notification sound is uttered, and measures such as prompting a setting change without taking action are taken.
Chords in major key are assigned to “acceptable” and minor chords are assigned to “impossible response”, and “success” and “failure” can be conveyed in terms of musical effect. .

On the other hand, when operating in the quick start mode, water injection starts immediately after the water level is set. Therefore, the category / function concept designation ID is “secondary response / selection operation response”, and the sound S is extracted from the example 701 of the notification sound grammar database. The sound S is assigned a "short single note with a reverberation" and can transmit a "selectivity response" from the viewpoint of musical effect.
In this way, it is also possible to use the notification sound properly and convey the state of the device more clearly to the operator.

  As described above, the notification sound utterance apparatus according to the present embodiment includes the device determination unit 802, the context determination unit 803, the interaction determination unit 102, the notification sound grammar database 103, and the notification sound utterance unit 104, and includes device determination, context, or interaction. Therefore, it is easy to confirm the operation and determine or recognize the device state, and the operability and comfort can be improved by the notification sound having the same feeling.

  In addition, each category of primary response, secondary response, tertiary response, and operation acceptance response, acceptable response, impossible response, direction operation response, selection operation response, progress report notification, work instruction notification, end notification , The alarm function is classified into each function concept, and for each, the musical elements such as resolution and unresolved harmony in harmony and the sound characteristics that recall the concept are defined, and the notification sound is configured. Confirmation, device state discrimination or recognition is easy, and operability and comfort can be improved.

In addition, the notification sound grammar database has a mechanism that can be managed from a device level in a collective manner so that it can be selected from the device level, so that it is possible to design a notification sound with a unified feeling across models and improve maintenance. .
In addition, since it is possible to divert the components related to the notification sound generation between models and devices, it is not necessary to develop many kinds of software, and the development load / cost and maintenance cost can be reduced.
Furthermore, since the alarm sound grammar database and the sound data can be separated and implemented, it is only necessary to install the necessary sound data and the alarm sound grammar database in an actual device, thereby further reducing the memory and cost. It is also possible to make it easier.

In addition, although the case where two of the device discrimination means and the context discrimination means are necessary has been described, when only one of them is sufficient, or when both are unnecessary, the ID relating to the unnecessary discrimination means is a notification sound grammar. What is necessary is just to fix to suitable ID in the database 103. At this time, the remaining IDs related to unnecessary determination means may be deleted from the database to simplify the database.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
In the first and second embodiments, it has been described that correction of the notification sound enables easy operation confirmation and device state determination or recognition.
However, there is a limit to the information that can be transmitted only by the notification sound, and it has been difficult to transmit complex information. In the present embodiment, complicated information can be transmitted by using display and voice guidance together with the notification sound.

This point will be described by taking an induction heating cooker as an example.
FIG. 10 shows an example of a graphic display representing a notification sound or the like, and an example of a context display. FIG. 11 shows an example of a graphic display representing a notification sound and an example of voice presentation. Both of these are displayed on a display unit such as a liquid crystal screen disposed in a home appliance (induction heating cooker), and the voice presentation is uttered through a speaker such as a speaker in the same manner as the notification sound.
Next, the operation of the notification sound producing means according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to these drawings.

In FIG. 10, (a) performs an operation of raising the temperature, and a figure 1002 indicating the direction of operation (upper right arrow) is displayed on the liquid crystal screen 1001 together with the temperature display to show that the information transmission by the notification sound is supplemented. It is a thing. This display may be displayed only during the sounding of the notification sound when operated, or may be displayed for a certain time after the operation.

FIG. 6B is an example of a display when an operation is performed to raise the temperature further than 200 ° C. for a device that cannot be set exceeding 200 ° C., and a figure 1003 (not shown) indicating that the operation is impossible. It shows a state in which (x) is displayed.
In addition, as a graphic representing a sound, a graphic that changes the size of the graphic as the physical quantity increases or decreases, a movement thereof, or a figure that represents an OK mark gesture by a human hand when a response is possible may be used.

As another example of assisting the notification sound by display, the character strings 1004 and 1005 “temperature setting”, which are the context of the current operation, are displayed in FIGS. As a result, the operator does not lose sight of what the current operation is for.
Further, these auxiliary displays are not presented as visual information on a liquid crystal screen or the like, but may be presented (voice guidance) by voice, for example, as shown in FIG. 11, “cannot be set beyond 200 ° C.”. good. Moreover, you may make it use both together.

In the same way, it will give a warning or an unacceptable response, and will display the text information on the LCD screen provided on the device, such as “The pan position is misaligned. Please place it in the center of the circle”. It may be presented.
In addition, at the end of boiling, an end notification may be uttered and a description of the state “hot water has boiled” may be displayed or presented by voice.
In addition, when the hot water reaches just the right temperature while the menu for boiling noodles is being executed, the work instruction may be displayed or voiced together with a notification sound of the work instruction notification and “Please put noodles”.
Also, one minute before the time set by the timer may be displayed or voiced with a notification sound of the progress report and “one more minute left”.

As described above, the presentation by voice is particularly effective for the visually impaired operator, and the visual display is particularly effective for the visually impaired operator. When sufficient information can be transmitted by voice guidance, the utterance of the notification sound may be suppressed, or the necessity of outputting the notification sound may be selectable according to the preference of the operator.

As described above, in the notification sound utterance apparatus according to the present embodiment, together with notification by notification sound, using the display unit of the home electric appliance incorporated, the device state, the operation result, the description of the operation, the next work instruction, The graphic representation of the notification sound, the context of the current operation, etc. are displayed visually, or voice guidance is used instead of the notification sound, so operation confirmation, device status discrimination or recognition is more reliable The operability can be improved.

It is the schematic diagram which showed the alerting sound production | generation apparatus of the household appliances which concern on Embodiment 1 of this invention, and its periphery part. It is a block diagram of the interaction discrimination | determination means based on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is an example of the notification sound correction | amendment by the interaction (operation amount) which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is an example of the notification sound correction | amendment by the interaction (operation speed) which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. This shows the result of an evaluation test for 40 test subjects (20 men, 20 women) who selected a functional concept to be recalled from a plurality of types for each notification sound plan. A comparison of the results of an evaluation test that evaluates the intelligibility of the notification sound for each functional concept using this notification sound plan and the conventional notification sound. It is an example of the notification sound grammar database which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is the schematic diagram which showed the alerting sound production | generation apparatus of the household appliances which concern on Embodiment 2 of this invention, and its peripheral part. It is an example of the process by the context discrimination | determination means concerning Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is an example of the display of the figure which represents the alerting sound which concerns on Embodiment 3 of this invention, and the display of a context. It is an example of the display of the figure which represents the notification sound which concerns on Embodiment 3 of this invention, and the presentation by an audio | voice.

Explanation of symbols

101 Notification sound utterance device 102 Interaction (interaction) discrimination means 103 Notification sound grammar database 104 Notification sound utterance means 202 Operation / event-category / function concept mapping means 203 Operation amount detection means 204 Operation speed detection means 205 Operator position detection means 206 Operation state detection means 207 Interaction determination means 301 Schematic diagram of pitch 302 Schematic diagram of pitch of notification sound 401 Thinned unit notification sound 402 Thinned unit notification sound 701 Example of notification sound grammar database 801 Notification sound utterance device 802 Device determination unit 803 Operation purpose (context) determination unit 1001 Example of device information display unit 1002 Example of figure representing notification sound 1003 Example of figure representing notification sound 1004 Example of context display 1005 Example of context display 1006 An example of the utterance by the voice display means

Claims (16)

In a notification sound uttering apparatus that utters a notification sound in response to an operation performed by an operation device installed in the home appliance, or an event occurring in the home appliance,
A notification sound grammar database that defines a relationship between an executed operation or an event occurring in a home appliance and a notification sound;
Operation state detection means for detecting a state when operating the operation device;
Notification sound generating means,
A notification sound selected from the notification sound grammar database based on an executed operation or an event occurring in the home appliance is corrected based on the output of the operation state detection means, and uttered through the notification sound generation means An alarm sound uttering device for home appliances characterized by that. The operation state detection means includes an operation amount detection means for detecting an operation amount when the operation device is operated, an operation speed detection means for detecting a speed when the operation device is operated, and the operation device and the operator. Including at least one operator position detecting means for detecting a relative positional relationship;
The notification sound uttering apparatus for home appliances according to claim 1, wherein the notification sound selected from the notification sound grammar database is corrected based on the output. Equipped with a device discriminating means for discriminating the type of home appliance,
The notification sound uttering device for home appliances according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a notification sound is selected from the notification sound grammar database including a determination result by the device determination means. An operation purpose determining means for determining the purpose of the operation from the operation history for the operation device is provided.
The notification sound uttering device for home appliances according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a notification sound is selected from the notification sound grammar database including a determination result by the operation purpose determination means. In the notification sound belonging to the response (primary response) issued at the time of accepting the operation,
The notification sound generating apparatus for home appliances according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a sound having a short tempo and a fast tempo is assigned as a whole. The notification sound that belongs to the response (secondary response) that is issued when the content of the accepted operation is interpreted and the subsequent action is determined,
The notification sound uttering device for home appliances according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a sound having a sound characteristic with a short sound length as a whole and having a reverberation or a longer tail sound is assigned. In the notification sound belonging to the response (tertiary response) that occurs in response to an event that occurs during operation of the home appliance or as a result of the operation,
The notification sound uttering apparatus for home appliances according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein a sound having a sound characteristic of a longer sound length and a slower tempo is assigned as a whole. The secondary response is
A response indicating that it has been activated,
An unresponsiveness to inform you that it was not activated,
Directional operation response to notify increase or decrease of operation amount,
And a selection operation response for notifying that one operation has been selected from a plurality of operation menus,
As a notification sound for these responses,
The notification sound uttering device for home appliances according to claim 6, wherein any one of chords / single notes or a scale composed of chords / single notes having a short overall sound length is assigned. The tertiary response is
A progress report to report the status on the way to the set value,
A work instruction notification to notify the next operation when the set value is reached or when the set value is reached,
An end notification to notify that the set value has been reached,
And classifying it to include an alarm that reports that an abnormal situation has occurred,
An arpeggio (distributed chord) is assigned as a notification sound to the progress report notification, the work support notification, and the end notification,
8. The alarm sound producing apparatus for home appliances according to claim 7, wherein tremolo (same sound repetition or two-tone alternation) is assigned to the alarm as an alarm sound. The selection operation response is
When selecting from multiple items of equal importance,
Assign the same note to all items,
9. The notification sound generating device for home appliances according to claim 8, wherein a single tone having at least one of scale / length is assigned to each item. The selection operation response is
When selecting from multiple items with different importance levels,
9. The notification sound generator for home appliances according to claim 8, wherein a single tone having at least one of scale / length / volume is assigned only to an important item. For the progress report notification and the work instruction notification,
The notification sound uttering device for home appliances according to claim 9, wherein the notification sound ends in a format that is not solved in harmony of harmony. In the end report,
The notification sound uttering device for home appliances according to claim 9, wherein the notification sound ends in a form solved in harmony of harmony. The apparatus state, operation result, operation description, next work instruction, and at least one of graphics representing notification sound are displayed via a display unit disposed in the home appliance. Item 14. A notification sound generator for home appliances according to any one of Items 1 to 13. 15. The notification sound generating device for home appliances according to claim 1, wherein an operation purpose at the present time is displayed at any time via a display unit provided in the home appliance. 16. The voice guidance is presented instead of at least one notification sound belonging to the primary response, the secondary response, and the tertiary response. The notification sound generator for home appliances described in 1.

Images