JP2007124240A - Equipment management device and equipment management method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an equipment management device capable of managing influence on an actual environment when equipment is made to operate, and to provide an equipment management method. <P>SOLUTION: The equipment management device for managing the influence on the environment of the equipment connected to a network comprises an equipment management means (12) for recognizing the connection of the equipment to the network and acquiring the operation item information of the connected equipment, an environmental change detection means (14) for acquiring environment information, before and after the operation of the equipment by operating the equipment, on the basis of the operation item information and outputting the change information of the environment, before and after the operation; and an influence management means (16) for relating and managing the operation of the equipment and the change of the environment. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a device management apparatus and a device management method for detecting an indirect interaction through the environment.

  With the spread of information home appliances, services using these information home appliances connected to a network are spreading into ordinary homes and offices. These services include security services that actually detect the intrusion of a suspicious person into a building, and unnecessary equipment (information home appliances and other equipment connected to a network. An energy management service having a function of automatically cutting off the power source is started to be provided. As these services become widespread, it is generally considered that a plurality of services coexist in one building. Therefore, when multiple services coexist in a limited space such as an office or home, it is necessary to resolve the interaction between these services in order for each service to perform its desired function. .

  The interaction between these services includes direct interaction between multiple services, and indirect interaction caused by changes in the environment caused by the operation of the device infringing the operation of other services. It is generally known to have an effect. An example of the latter indirect interaction is caused by the operation of an air conditioner when a home security service that detects an intruder using a motion sensor and an air conditioning management service that adjusts the room temperature by operating the air conditioner coexist. For example, the motion sensor detects the movement of the air conditioner itself and other movements, and the home security service detects that there is an intruder.

  A technique for solving such indirect interaction has been proposed (see Non-Patent Document 1). In this technology, the environmental impact caused by the operation of the device is managed in association with commonly considered rules (for example, movement occurs when an electric blind is operated, brightness increases when a light is applied, etc.) . Furthermore, a mechanism for detecting and eliminating an environment-mediated interaction caused by the operation of the device by managing the use state of the device and the environment has been proposed.

M. Kolbergetal., “Compatibility Issues between Services Supporting Networked Appliances”, Commun. Mag., IEEE, vol. 41, no. 11, Nov. 2003, pp. 136 − 147.

  However, the conventional technology relates the influence on the environment caused by the operation of the device only by a rule that can be generally considered, and handles the influence on the environment in a fixed manner. However, how the environment is affected by the operation of the equipment depends on the characteristics of the equipment, the structure of the building, the location of the equipment, or the detection method of each sensor installed in the building. Usually it is different. For example, an interaction occurs if a region where motion occurs due to the operation of the air conditioner overlaps a region where the motion sensor detects, but if there is no overlap, no interaction occurs. Therefore, since the environment created by the operation of the equipment is not fixed, it is possible to appropriately manage how the operation of the equipment affects the environment for each building (ie, how it affects the environment). is necessary.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a device management apparatus and a device management method capable of managing the influence on the actual environment when a device is operated.

  The invention according to one aspect of the present invention does not fixedly manage the effects on the environment due to the operation of the device, but actually operates the device to detect changes in the environment before and after the operation of the device. By doing so, the effect on the environment by the operation of the device is appropriately recognized.

Specifically, the invention according to the aspect of the present invention is a device management apparatus that manages the environmental impact of a device connected to a network, and recognizes the connection of the device to the network and the connected device. The device management means for acquiring the operation item information, and by operating the device based on the operation item information, the environment information before and after the operation of the device is acquired and the change information of the environment before and after the operation is output. And an influence management means for managing the operation of the device and the environmental change in association with each other.
In addition, this invention is materialized not only as an apparatus but as invention of the method which concerns on the procedure implement | achieved by said apparatus.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the apparatus management apparatus and apparatus management method which can manage the influence on the actual environment at the time of operating an apparatus can be provided.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a device management apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the device management apparatus 10 recognizes a newly connected device 20, acquires operation item information of the newly connected device 20, and manages a device management unit 12 that manages the operation item information of the device 20. , Operating the device 20, acquiring environment information before and after the operation, detecting an environment change due to the operation, an environment in which the operation of the device 20 is affected, and the type of the effect And an influence management unit 16 that manages the information in association with each other. It should be noted that it is preferable to consider the change of the environment as a variable (respective environmental factors, such as temperature, illuminance, etc.), and in this embodiment, the type of influence is not considered when there is no influence on the environment. For example, a positive effect such as an increase or an increase in environmental factors and a negative effect such as a decrease or decrease are presented as examples.

  When the device management unit 12 recognizes the connection of the new device 20 to the network, the device management unit 12 acquires information necessary for operating the device 20 and notifies the environment change detection unit 14 of the information. Information necessary for the operation of the device 20 includes, for example, an identifier of the device 20, a device type and an operation item, and a protocol included in the device 20. Here, the connection of the new device 20 can be recognized by a method of using a notification from the device 20 or periodically checking, but an appropriate method can be selected according to the protocol of the device 20. It is preferable to use it. For example, in UPnP, when the device 20 starts to operate, there is a mechanism for advertising its own features to the surroundings. Therefore, the server can recognize the new device 20 by receiving this advertisement. The operation item of the device 20 can be acquired by using a protocol included in each device 20. For example, in UPnP, information related to the operation items of each device 20 is managed in advance in each device 20, and such information can be acquired by inquiring from the outside. Further, in ECHONET, it is not possible to acquire information on the operation items included in each device 20 by making an inquiry to the device 20, but the manufacturer and serial number can be acquired. By specifying 20, it is possible to specify the action item.

  The environmental change detection unit 14 is connected to a plurality of sensors 30 for acquiring environmental information (that is, detecting environmental changes). The environment change detection unit 14 executes all the operations of the device 20 one by one based on the information notified from the device management unit 12, and acquires the environment information before and after the operation with the sensor 30. If there is an environment where the value has increased or increased before and after the operation, information regarding the operation at that time (device identifier, device type, operation, and argument), the environment in which the change has occurred, and the type of impact are indicated as “positive direction. To the impact management unit 16. If there is an environment where the value decreases or decreases before and after the operation, the information about the operation at that time (device identifier, device type, operation, and argument), the environment in which the change occurred, and the type of impact are “minus” Direction ”is notified to the impact management unit 16. If there is no environment that has changed before and after the operation, the effect management unit 16 may be notified that the operation is not related to the environment, or may be ignored. It is assumed that the environment change detection unit 14 recognizes in advance which environment information can be acquired by using which sensor 30.

  The impact management unit 16 reports the device identifier, device type, operation type, argument, affected environment, and impact type notified from the environment change detection unit 14, for example, in FIG. Manage in tabular form as shown.

  Next, a specific example of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In this specific example, as shown in FIG. 2, the device management apparatus 10, the electric blind 21, the electric fan 22, the illumination 23, the motion sensor 31, and the illuminance sensor 32 exist in the building 100. Shall. In FIG. 2, it is assumed that the electric fan 22 is disposed in the detection area 35 of the motion sensor 31. In addition, the environment change detection unit 14 of the device management apparatus 10 can acquire motion information by using the motion sensor 31 and brightness information by using the illuminance sensor 32.

In this case, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, the electric blind 21 has a device identifier “1”, an operation type of “open / close”, and has “open” and “close” as arguments. .
The electric fan 22 has a device identifier “2”, an operation type “power” and an operation type “operation mode setting”, and arguments “ON” and “OFF”, “weak” and “medium”, respectively. It has “strong”.
The illumination 23 has a device identifier “3”, an operation type of “power”, and has “ON” and “OFF” as arguments.

Next, each sensor is managed by the environment change detection unit 14, and the motion sensor 31 has an identifier “11” and can determine the presence or absence of motion within the detection area 35, and is external (in this specific example, In response to an inquiry from the environment change detection unit 14) regarding the presence or absence of movement in the area 35, a response “with movement” is returned when there is movement, and a response “without movement” is returned when there is no movement.
The illuminance sensor 32 has an identifier of “12” and returns a numerical value (unit: lux) representing brightness in response to an inquiry from the outside (in this specific example, the environment change detection unit 14).

  These devices and sensors (hereinafter referred to as “devices”) have some device control protocol such as ECHONET, UPnP, LonWorks, etc. It is possible to execute an operation. These devices are connected to the device management apparatus 10 via a network.

  Also, in this specific example, in the operation based on the protocol provided for each device for the sake of simplification, the difference in the protocol and the identifier do not affect the essential operation of the present invention, so that they are particularly described. It is omitted.

  In the configuration as shown in FIG. 2, the operation of the device management apparatus 10 when the electric blind 21 is connected to the network will be described first.

  1) When the device management unit 12 of the device management apparatus 10 recognizes the connection of the electric blind 21, the device management unit 12 obtains all operation items included in the electric blind 21 by inquiring of the electric blind 21. In this case, power (ON / OFF) and open / close (open / close) are acquired as the operation type. Then, the environmental change detection is performed for the identifier “1” of the electric blind 21, the device type “electric blind”, the protocol (not shown), and all the operation items (“power”, “open / close”) included in the electric blind 21. Notification to the unit 14.

2) The environment change detection unit 14 of the device management apparatus 10 performs all the operations of the electric blind 21 based on the operation items and the like notified from the device management unit 12.
In this case, the value of the motion sensor 31 is “no motion” and the value of the illuminance sensor 32 is “100” before performing the operation set to the argument “open” in the operation type “open / close” (that is, the open operation). After the opening operation, the value of the motion sensor 31 is “no motion”, the value of the illuminance sensor 32 is “1000”, and the value of the illuminance sensor 32 is increased. Then, since the brightness has increased before and after the operation, the environment change detection unit 14 has the identifier “1” of the electric blind 21, the device type “electric blind”, the operation type “open / close”, and the argument “open”. ”And the environment“ brightness ”and“ plus direction ”in which the influence has occurred are notified to the influence management unit 16.
In addition, in the “open / close” operation type of the electric blind 21, if the operation with the argument “closed” (ie, the close operation) is performed, and the value of the illuminance sensor 32 decreases, the environment change detection unit 14. Affects the identifier “1” of the electric blind 21, the device type “electric blind”, the operation type “open / close”, the argument “open”, and the affected environment “brightness” and “minus direction”. Notify the management unit 16.
In this case, since the environmental change does not occur when the “power supply” is turned ON / OFF, it is not necessary to notify the influence management unit 16 that this operation can ignore the influence on the environment. This operation type is ignored.

  3) As shown in FIG. 3, the influence management unit 16 uses the identifier “1” of the electric blind 21 and the device type “electric” when the electric blind 21 is opened as shown in FIG. “Blind”, operation type “open / close”, argument “open”, affected environment “brightness” and effect type “plus direction” are registered, and identifier “1” of the electric blind 21 at the time of closing operation And the device type “electric blind”, the operation type “open / close”, the argument “open”, the affected environment “brightness”, and the influence type “minus direction” are registered. Manage the environmental impact of

  Next, the operation of the device management apparatus 10 when the electric fan 22 is connected to the network will be described.

  1) When the device management unit 12 of the device management apparatus 10 recognizes the connection of the electric fan 22, the device management unit 12 obtains all the operation items included in the electric fan 22 by making an inquiry to the electric fan 22. In this case, the power source (ON / OFF) and the operation mode (weak / medium / strong) are acquired as the operation type. Then, the identifier “2” of the electric fan 22, the device type “electric fan”, the protocol (not shown), and all the operation items (“power supply”, “operation mode”) included in the electric fan 22 are stored in the environment change detection unit 14. To notify.

2) The environment change detection unit 14 of the device management apparatus 10 performs all the operations of the electric fan 22 based on the operation items and the like notified from the device management unit 12.
In this case, when the operation set to the argument “ON” in the operation type of “power” (that is, ON operation) is performed, the value of the motion sensor 31 is “no motion” before the operation, and the illuminance sensor 32 It is assumed that the value is “100”, the value of the motion sensor 31 is “with motion” after the operation, the value of the illuminance sensor 32 is “100”, and the value of the motion sensor 31 is increased. Then, since the movement of the environment change detection unit 14 increases before and after the operation, the identifier “2” of the fan 22, the device type “fan”, the operation type “power”, the argument “ON”, The influence management unit 16 is notified of the environment “movement” and “plus direction” in which the influence has occurred.
Further, it is assumed that the value of the motion sensor 31 is decreased when an operation with the argument “OFF” (ie, an OFF operation) is performed in the operation type “power”. Then, the environment change detection unit 14 identifies the fan 22 identifier “2”, the device type “fan”, the operation type “power”, the argument “OFF”, the affected environment “movement”, and “minus direction”. To the influence management unit 16.

  3) As shown in FIG. 3, the influence management unit 16 sets the information notified from the environment change detection unit 14 to the identifier “2” of the fan 22 and the device type “fan” when the fan 22 is turned on. The operation type “power”, the argument “ON”, the affected environment “movement” and the effect type “plus direction” are registered, and when the operation is OFF, the identifier “2” of the electric fan 22 and the device type “ “Fan”, operation type “power”, argument “OFF”, affected environment “movement” and effect type “minus direction” are registered, thereby managing the influence of the operation of the fan 22 on the environment. .

  Next, the operation of the device management apparatus 10 when the illumination 23 is connected to the network will be described.

  1) When the device management unit 12 of the device management apparatus 10 recognizes the connection of the illumination 23, the device management unit 12 obtains all the operation items included in the illumination 23 by inquiring the illumination 23. And in the illumination 23, it recognizes that it is power supply setting (ON / OFF). The identifier “1” of the illumination 23, the device type “illumination”, the protocol (not shown), and all the operation items (“power”) included in the illumination 23 are notified to the environment change detection unit 14.

2) The environment change detection unit 14 of the device management apparatus 10 performs an operation (ie, an ON operation) in which the “power” operation type of the illumination 23 is set to the argument “ON”.
In this case, before the ON operation, the values of the motion sensor 31 and the illuminance sensor 32 were acquired, and the motion sensor 31 obtained “no motion” and the illuminance sensor 32 obtained “100”. Shall. Then, the operation type of the “power source” of the illumination 23 is set to the argument “ON”, the ON operation is performed, and the value of the environment after the operation is acquired using the motion sensor 31 and the illuminance sensor 32. At this time, it is assumed that a value of “no motion” is obtained from the motion sensor 31 and a value of “2000” is obtained from the illuminance sensor 32. As a result, the environment change detection unit 14 recognizes that the value of the illuminance sensor 32 is increasing before and after the operation, and when the operation type of “power” of “illumination” is set to the argument “ON”. In addition, it recognizes that “brightness” is increasing.
Accordingly, the environment change detection unit 14 identifies the identifier “3” of the illumination 23, the device type “illumination”, the operation type “power”, the argument “ON”, and the affected environment “brightness” and “ The influence management unit 16 is notified of “positive direction”.
Further, it is assumed that the value of the illuminance sensor 32 is decreased when an operation with the argument “OFF” (ie, an OFF operation) is performed in the operation type “power”. Then, the environment change detection unit 14 identifies the identifier “3” of the illumination 23, the device type “illumination”, the operation type “power”, the argument “OFF”, the affected environment “brightness”, and “minus”. Direction ”is notified to the influence management unit 16.

  3) As shown in FIG. 3, the impact management unit 16 uses the identifier “3” of the illumination 23 and the device type “illumination” when the illumination 23 is turned on, as shown in FIG. , The operation type “power”, the argument “ON”, the affected environment “brightness”, and the effect type “plus direction” are registered, and in the OFF operation, the identifier “3” of the illumination 23 and the device type “Lighting”, operation type “power”, argument “OFF”, affected environment “brightness” and influence type “minus direction” are registered, and thereby the influence of the operation of the illumination 23 on the environment is registered. to manage.

In each of the above specific examples, the device management apparatus 10 is installed in the building 100, but may be installed outside the building 100 as long as it can communicate with each device 20.
In this specific example, the identifier of the device 20 and the device type are illustrated as information necessary for the operation of the device 20, but other combinations are possible. For example, the operation and influence management of each device 20 can be performed only by registering only the identifier of the device 20.
In the above-described embodiments and specific examples, the influence on the environment (that is, the change in the environment) when a device is newly connected to the network is detected. However, the device that affects the environment is fixed. In addition to when a device is newly connected to the network, it can be used regularly (for example, once a month, once every six months, once a year). It is preferable to operate each device individually to detect their influence on the environment.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention at the stage of implementation. Further, the above embodiments include inventions at various stages, and various inventions can be extracted by appropriately combining a plurality of disclosed constituent elements.

  In addition, for example, even if some structural requirements are deleted from all the structural requirements shown in each embodiment, the problem described in the column of the problem to be solved by the invention can be solved, and the effect described in the effect of the invention Can be obtained as an invention.

1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a device management apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The figure for demonstrating the specific example of this invention in case the some apparatus is arrange | positioned in a building. The figure which shows the example of the management table for managing an influence.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Equipment management apparatus 12 ... Equipment management part 14 ... Environmental change detection part 16 ... Influence management part 20 ... Equipment 21 ... Electric blind 22 ... Electric fan 23 ... Illumination 30 ... Sensor 31 ... Motion sensor 32 ... Illuminance sensor 35 ... Detection area 100 …building

Claims (3)

In a device management device that manages the environmental impact of devices connected to the network,
Recognizing the connection of the device to the network and acquiring the operation item information of the connected device;
By operating the device based on the operation item information, obtaining environmental information before and after the operation of the device, and outputting environmental change information before and after the operation;
An apparatus management apparatus comprising: an influence management unit that manages the operation of the apparatus and an environmental change in association with each other.   The device management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the environment change detection unit acquires environment information before and after the operation of the device by operating the device based on the operation item information for each predetermined period. Then, the change information of the environment before and after the operation is output, and the influence management means manages the operation of the device and the change of the environment in association with each other. In the device management method for managing the environmental impact of devices connected to the network,
Recognizing the connection of the device to the network, obtaining the operation item information of the connected device,
By operating the device based on the operation item information, to obtain environmental information before and after the operation of the device, to output environmental change information before and after the operation,
A device management method comprising: managing an operation of the device and an environmental change in association with each other.

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