JP2007179857A - Apparatus controller - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus controller allowing operation of various kinds of apparatuses by a user without disturbing a relax effect by entertaining illumination. <P>SOLUTION: The apparatus controller includes: a liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel for detecting a contact operation of a user to generate an operation input signal for operating a luminaire 2a installed in a predetermined region; non-contact type operation input means 101, 11 and 12 for detecting a non-contact operation based on sound of the user or the like to generate an operation input signal for operating the luminaire 2a; and a luminance determination part 16 for operating the luminaire 2a according to the operation input signal. The luminance determination part 16 sets, in starting entertaining illumination, the luminance of the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel lower than the luminance before the entertaining illumination is carried out, and starts detection of the non-contact operation based on the sound of the user by the non-contact type operation input means 101, 11 and 12. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a production control device for controlling the operation of an electrical appliance provided in the production lighting fixture and the living space in the living space provided with the production lighting fixture.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a production lighting technique that provides a user with a relaxation effect by installing a production lighting fixture such as an indirect lighting fixture in a predetermined space in a house and making the luminance of the production lighting fixture adjustable in several stages. . On the other hand, a technique using light emitting means such as an LED or a liquid crystal backlight is known in order to clearly show the operating state of a production lighting fixture or the like to a user.

  As such a technique, as described in Patent Document 1 below, there is one that performs effect lighting by operating an effect lighting device such as an LED and an indoor lighting device in conjunction with each other. In Patent Document 1, when performing effect lighting, the LED in the operation switch is caused to emit light so that the position of the operation switch operated to operate the effect lighting apparatus can be easily recognized by the user. Are listed.

Conventionally, a technique for reducing the brightness of the LED of the instrument panel when a headlight or the like is turned on at night in order to make the display contents of the instrument panel of the vehicle easier to see is also known.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-297887

  However, the effect lighting device described in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1 causes the LED to emit light so that the position of the operation switch can be easily recognized while the brightness of the indoor illuminator is reduced or turned off for the purpose of relaxing. Therefore, the relaxation effect by effect lighting may be prevented by the light emission of the LED.

  Therefore, the present invention has been proposed in view of the above-described circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a device control apparatus that enables a user to operate various devices without hindering the relaxation effect by effect lighting.

  The device control apparatus according to the present invention is based on contact-type operation input means that detects a user's contact operation and generates an operation input signal for operating an electric device installed in a predetermined area, and the user's voice or operation. A non-contact type operation input unit that detects a non-contact operation and generates an operation input signal for operating the electric device, and a light emitting unit that presents the operating state of the electric device to the user or illuminates the contact type operation input unit Control means for operating the electric device according to the display means and the operation input signal generated by the contact type operation input means or the operation input signal generated by the non-contact type operation input means and controlling the state of the display means With.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the device control apparatus is configured such that when the operation input signal for starting the operation of the effect lighting fixture among the electric devices is input from the contact-type operation input unit by the control unit, the luminance of the light emitting unit. Is made lower than the luminance before inputting the operation input signal, and detection of a non-contact operation based on the user's voice or action is started by the non-contact type operation input means.

  According to the device control device of the present invention, when the operation input signal for starting the operation of the effect lighting fixture among the electric devices is input from the contact-type operation input unit, the luminance of the light emitting unit in the display unit is determined as the operation input. Since the brightness before the signal is input is made lower and the detection of the non-contact operation based on the user's voice or operation is started by the non-contact type operation input means, the relaxation effect by the effect lighting is hindered by the light from the light emitting unit. Therefore, even if the display content on the display means becomes difficult to visually recognize, the user can operate various devices.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment]
The present invention is applied to a home equipment system as shown in FIG. 1, for example. The control target of this home equipment system includes at least the lighting fixture 2a shown in FIG. 1, and is an electrical equipment group 2 such as a home water heater, crime prevention equipment, disaster prevention equipment, and video / audio equipment.

  The in-home equipment system includes a device control unit 1, an electric device group 2 installed in a living space such as a bedroom, a living room, and a bathroom, which are predetermined areas, a lighting device 2 a that is installed in the same space and can perform stage lighting, and a contact type A liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel, which is an operation input means, is connected. In addition, the device control unit 1 includes microphones 101a and 101b that are installed in a predetermined area and input a user's voice, and a speaker that is assembled to a wall or ceiling of the predetermined area and presents various information to the user by voice. 102 is connected.

  Such a device control unit 1 detects a user's contact operation with respect to the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel, or a non-contact operation that is an utterance state to the speaker 102 or a user's operation, and directs the operation of the lighting fixture 2a. In addition to performing control for switching between normal illumination and various controls of the electric device group 2, the brightness of the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel is changed.

  The equipment control unit 1 includes a fire sensor, a gas leak sensor, an earthquake sensor that can receive and detect the occurrence of an earthquake, etc. A security sensor 104 such as a human sensor for detecting an intruder or the like is connected. Further, the device control unit 1 can communicate with the mobile phone 5 and the notification center 6 via the communication line network 4. This in-house equipment system can notify a resident in a predetermined living space when a disaster such as an earthquake or a fire, or a situation such as intruder detection has been detected by the disaster prevention sensor 103 or the crime prevention sensor 104. . Furthermore, the disaster state is reported to the external mobile phone 5 via the wired or wireless communication line network 4 and to the notification center 6 that stores a large number of in-home situations at the time of the disaster. Can be received.

  Further, a brightness sensor 105 for detecting brightness in a predetermined area where the electrical equipment group 2, the lighting fixture 2a, and the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel are provided is connected to the equipment control unit 1. The brightness detected by the brightness sensor 105 is supplied to the device control unit 1 and is referred to when the mode of the lighting fixture 2a is switched.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel has a predetermined area of the liquid crystal screen 30 as a touch panel 31, and operates the electrical equipment group 2, the lighting equipment 2a, the electrical equipment group 2, and the lighting equipment 2a. The operation options for displaying are displayed. When a touch operation of the user on the touch panel 31 is detected, it is determined which operation option the touch operation corresponds to, and an operation input signal based on the touch operation of the user is supplied to the device control unit 1. .

  The liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel can adjust the user's favorite liquid crystal luminance, and can adjust the luminance according to the environment of the installation location. The liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel can adjust the brightness of the liquid crystal screen 30 with a backlight, and the display content of the liquid crystal screen 30 can be visually recognized by the user. The brightness of the liquid crystal screen 30 can be adjusted by increasing or decreasing the brightness of the backlight in accordance with a control signal from the device control unit 1. Further, the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel is provided with a microphone 33 corresponding to the microphones 101 a and 101 b and a speaker 32 corresponding to the speaker 102.

  In addition, in this example, although the case where the operation state of the electric equipment group 2 and the lighting fixture 2a was displayed on the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel was demonstrated, it is not restricted to this, The on-off which controls the electric equipment group 2, the lighting fixture 2a The switch may be configured to illuminate the operation portion with an LED or the like.

  The lighting fixture 2a has a relaxation effect by lowering the illuminance in the predetermined region by lowering the light emission luminance than the normal illumination mode in which the light emission luminance is a normal value and the brightness in the predetermined region is normal. It operates in the effect lighting mode given to the user or the emergency mode for controlling the light emission luminance so that the emergency can be visually recognized from outside the house. In response to the control signal from the device control unit 1, the lighting fixture 2a is switched between the normal lighting mode, the effect lighting mode, and the emergency mode.

  The device control unit 1 is configured to transmit various information to the user by voice and to input the voice, and the direction estimation unit 11, the voice recognition unit 12, the acoustic model storage unit 12a, the dialogue control unit 13, and the vocabulary operation association database 13a, An audio generation unit 14 and an echo canceller 15 are provided. In addition, the device control unit 1 includes a liquid crystal brightness adjustment unit 17, a lighting control unit 18, device control, and a brightness determination unit 16 that is a control unit that controls the states of the electrical device group 2, the lighting fixture 2 a, and the liquid crystal display 3 with touch panel. The part 22 is connected. Further, in the device control unit 1, a sensor control unit 19, an emergency transmission / reception unit 20, and a communication control unit 21 are connected to the luminance judgment unit 16 as a configuration for sending and receiving emergency conditions inside and outside the house.

  The brightness determination unit 16 is supplied with an operation input signal based on a touch operation on the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel. The luminance determination unit 16 supplies the illumination control unit 18 with a control signal for switching on / off / operation mode of the lighting fixture 2a in accordance with an operation input signal from the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel. The lighting control unit 18 operates the lighting fixture 2 a by supplying a control signal to the lighting fixture 2 a according to the control of the luminance judgment unit 16, detects the state of the lighting fixture 2 a, and notifies the luminance judgment unit 16. Similarly, the luminance determination unit 16 supplies various control signals for the electric device group 2 to the device control unit 22 in accordance with an operation input signal from the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel. The device control unit 22 operates the electric device group 2 based on the control signal, detects the state of the electric device group 2, and notifies the luminance determination unit 16 of the detected state.

  In addition, the luminance determination unit 16 is supplied with an operation input signal representing a non-contact operation based on the voice uttered by the user to the microphones 101 a and 101 b via the direction estimation unit 11, the voice recognition unit 12, and the dialogue control unit 13. . The brightness determination unit 16 supplies the illumination control unit 18 with a control signal including a signal for turning on / off the lighting fixture 2a, switching the operation mode, or dimming according to an operation input signal based on sound. Similarly, the luminance determination unit 16 supplies the device control unit 22 with control signals for various controls of the electrical device group 2 in accordance with the operation input signal based on the audio signal. As described above, in the home equipment system, the microphones 101a and 101b, the direction estimation unit 11, the voice recognition unit 12, and the dialogue control unit 13 can be contactlessly output without touching the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel. It functions as a mold operation input means.

  Furthermore, the brightness determination unit 16 controls the start and stop of the operations of the dialog control unit 13, the voice generation unit 14, and the voice recognition unit 12 by controlling the dialog control unit 13. The luminance determination unit 16 starts the operation of the azimuth estimation unit 11, the dialogue control unit 13, and the voice recognition unit 12 when the lighting fixture 2a is set to the effect lighting mode according to the operation input signal from the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel. Input of an operation input signal based on voice is started.

  Furthermore, the brightness determination unit 16 receives a sensor signal indicating that a disaster has occurred in the house from the disaster prevention sensor 103 or a sensor signal indicating that an intruder has been detected in the house from the security sensor 104. Is supplied through. When any one of the sensor signals is input, the luminance determination unit 16 determines that an emergency has occurred, and controls the operation mode of the lighting fixture 2a to the normal lighting mode or the emergency mode.

  Furthermore, the brightness determination unit 16 is notified of an emergency situation outside the home via the communication control unit 21 and the emergency transmission / reception unit 20 from the external mobile phone 5 or the notification center 6. In this case, the brightness determination unit 16 controls the operation mode of the lighting fixture 2a to the normal lighting mode or the emergency situation mode.

  The azimuth estimation unit 11 is supplied with acoustic signals detected by the plurality of microphones 101a and 101b, and performs predetermined signal processing on the acoustic signals by an amplifier, a digital audio processing encoding circuit, and a peripheral circuit. This azimuth estimation unit 11 estimates the position of a one-dimensional sound source using the acoustic signals of the microphones 101a and 101b, and uses the acoustic signals from the two or more microphones 101a and 101b. The two-dimensional position (position of the person) of the sound source is estimated. Thereby, the direction estimation part 11 estimates the location where the audio | voice generate | occur | produced in the predetermined area | region. Then, the azimuth estimation unit 11 outputs azimuth information and an acoustic signal representing the estimated direction of the sound source to the voice recognition unit 12.

  The acoustic signal input by the azimuth estimation unit 11 is processed by the echo canceller 15 to prevent the sound output from the speaker 102 from entering the microphones 101a and 101b and causing echo and howling. Is given.

  The speech recognition unit 12 performs speech recognition processing based on the acoustic signal from the direction estimation unit 11. At this time, the speech recognition unit 12 refers to the acoustic model stored in the acoustic model storage unit 12a, creates a speech recognition result that is a speech having content matching the acoustic signal input from the orientation estimation unit 11, Output to the dialog control unit 13.

  When the control signal for starting the operation is supplied from the luminance determination unit 16, the dialogue control unit 13 starts the operation of the azimuth estimation unit 11 and the voice recognition unit 12 and inputs the voice recognition result from the voice recognition unit 12. To do. The dialogue control unit 13 accepts the voice recognition result from the voice recognition unit 12 only when the luminance determination unit 16 sets the lighting fixture 2a to the effect lighting mode, and the voice recognition result is stored in the vocabulary operation association database 13a. If the operation vocabulary representing the operation instruction to the stored electrical equipment group 2 and the lighting fixture 2a is applicable, an operation input signal for the electrical equipment group 2 and the lighting fixture 2a is generated and supplied to the luminance determination unit 16. .

  In addition, when the lighting fixture 2a is set to the effect lighting mode, the dialogue control unit 13 uses the voice to indicate an operation state indicating whether the electric device group 2 or the lighting fixture 2a has been operated according to an operation input signal based on voice. Present to the user. At this time, the dialogue control unit 13 supplies an operation input signal based on voice to the luminance determination unit 16 and then inputs a control signal representing the operating state of the electrical equipment group 2 and the lighting fixture 2a from the luminance determination unit 16. The response voice to be output from the speaker 102 is determined. Then, the dialogue control unit 13 supplies the determined response voice information to the voice generation unit 14 and causes the speaker 102 to output the response voice.

  The voice generation unit 14 generates a voice signal representing response voice information from the dialogue control unit 13 by performing voice synthesis processing. Then, the sound generation unit 14 supplies a sound signal to the echo canceller 15, drives the speaker 102 with the sound signal, and outputs a response sound.

  Further, the dialog control unit 13 determines whether or not the fixed vocabulary stored in the vocabulary operation association database 13a is uttered from the dialog status with the user, and determines the safety state of the user in the predetermined area. When the dialogue control unit 13 determines that the safety situation is such that it cannot be specified that the person is safe, the dialogue control unit 13 determines to contact the outside by an emergency call to the outside or email transmission. Conversely, when an emergency situation occurs outside the house from the emergency transmission / reception part 20 due to a report from the mobile phone 5 or the notification center 6, the dialogue control part 13 notifies the user of the emergency situation by voice.

  When the emergency transmission / reception unit 20 receives an instruction from the dialogue control unit 13 to notify the safety status of the person to the outside, the notification data to the notification center 6 and the mail data addressed to the mail address of the mobile phone 5 Create Moreover, when the signal which notifies an emergency situation is supplied from the mobile telephone 5 or the notification center 6 via the communication control part 21, the emergency transmission / reception part 20 notifies that to the brightness | luminance judgment part 16 and the dialog control part 13. Notice. Thereby, the emergency transmission / reception part 20 can make the lighting fixture 2a be in emergency mode by the brightness | luminance judgment part 16, when an emergency situation is received by the notification from the mobile telephone 5 or the notification center 6. FIG.

  The communication control unit 21 is configured to perform processing conforming to a communication protocol for transmitting mail data to the mobile phone 5 via the communication line network 4 or a communication protocol for reporting to the notification center 6 via the communication line network 4, 5 and a process of receiving a report from the report center 6.

  Next, the operation of the home equipment system configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  When the lighting equipment 2a is set to the effect lighting mode, the home equipment system first determines whether or not an emergency has occurred in step S1. At this time, it is determined whether or not an emergency situation has been notified by a signal from the sensor control unit 19 and whether or not an emergency situation has been notified by a signal from the emergency transmission / reception unit 20. Then, the brightness determination unit 16 has not received an emergency from the home because no emergency has occurred in the house based on the signal from the sensor control unit 19 and has not received a signal from the emergency transmission / reception unit 20. If it is determined, the process proceeds to step S2. On the other hand, if it is determined from one of the signals that an emergency has occurred, the process proceeds to step S12, the lighting fixture 2a is controlled to enter the normal lighting mode, and the process is terminated. In step S12, it is desirable to return the luminance of the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel to normal luminance.

  In step S1, a fixed vocabulary called a magic word is stored in the vocabulary operation association database 13a, and the user speaks the fixed vocabulary via the microphones 101a and 101b and the direction estimating unit 11. Is recognized by the voice recognition unit 12, the dialogue control unit 13 may determine that an emergency has occurred, and the lighting fixture 2a may be switched to the normal lighting mode in step S12. As a result, the device control unit 1 can recognize sudden illnesses, accidents, and criminal abnormalities when the user is alone or the user is alone in the home, and the lighting device 2a can be switched to the normal lighting mode. Further, when the voice from the user corresponds to the standard vocabulary, the lighting device 2a is not switched to the normal lighting mode in step S12, but the lighting device 2a is switched to the emergency mode to visually recognize the emergency from outside the house. You may be able to do it. As a result, an emergency situation can be communicated to people outside the house, and the effect can be exerted in an emergency where every moment is contested.

  In step S2, the brightness determination unit 16 determines whether or not the lighting fixture 2a has been operated to start effect lighting on the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel. If so, the brightness determination is performed in step S3. Production lighting is started by the unit 16.

  In the next step S4, the brightness determination unit 16 reads the sensor signal of the brightness sensor 105, inputs the brightness in a predetermined area, and determines the brightness target value of the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel. The brightness of the predetermined area that can be recognized by the sensor signal from the brightness sensor 105 is a brightness obtained by adding the brightness of the luminaire 2a in the effect lighting mode set in step S3 and the brightness of the outside light. Then, the luminance determination unit 16 determines a luminance target value that is a low luminance at which the luminance of the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel does not interfere with the effect lighting in a predetermined area of the brightness detected by the brightness sensor 105. For example, since the brightness of the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel is higher when the brightness of the predetermined area is lower and the brightness of the predetermined area is lower, the effect illumination is hindered. Set lower.

  In the next step S5, the luminance determination unit 16 detects the current luminance of the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel, and whether the luminance of the current liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel is higher than the luminance target value determined in step S4. If not, it is determined that the brightness adjustment of the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel is necessary, and the process proceeds to step S6.

  In step S6, the luminance determination unit 16 supplies a control signal for controlling the liquid crystal display with a touch panel 3 to the luminance target value determined in step S4 to the liquid crystal luminance adjustment unit 17, and in step S7, the liquid crystal luminance The adjusting unit 17 is driven so as to reduce the luminance of the backlight of the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel. Thereby, the brightness of the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel can be lowered to the brightness target value determined in step S4, which is lower than that in the normal illumination mode, and the reduction of the relaxation effect due to the effect lighting is avoided. Further, not only when the luminance of the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel is lowered to a luminance that does not hinder the effect lighting, the backlight of the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel may be turned off.

  In the next step S8, the brightness determination unit 16 uses the brightness target value determined in step S4 as the brightness of the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel, so that it is estimated that the display content of the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel is difficult to view from the user. Then, it is determined whether or not a voice recognition process for generating an operation input signal based on the voice from the user is necessary. At this time, the luminance determination unit 16 compares the luminance of the predetermined liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel 3 that is determined that the display content of the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel is difficult for the user to visually recognize, and the luminance target value. If the value is lower, it is determined that voice recognition processing is necessary, and the process proceeds to step S9.

  In step S9, a control signal for starting dialogue control is supplied from the luminance judgment unit 16 to the dialogue control unit 13, and the dialogue control unit 13 performs voice recognition processing of the voice recognition unit 12 and voice synthesis processing of the voice generation unit 14. To start. That is, the dialogue control unit 13 corresponds to the operation vocabulary stored in the vocabulary operation association database 13a after the speech recognition result based on the speech from the user by the speech recognition unit 12 is supplied after the control signal for starting the dialogue control is supplied. If the speech recognition result corresponds to the operation vocabulary, an operation input signal based on the speech is supplied to the luminance determination unit 16.

  As shown in FIG. 4, for example, the vocabulary operation association database 13a includes a home ID for specifying a predetermined area such as a bathroom in the house, a washbasin, etc., and an electric device in the predetermined area specified by the home ID. Group 2, a recognition vocabulary operation table in which a device ID for identifying the lighting fixture 2a, an operation vocabulary, and operation contents are associated is stored. Therefore, when the speech recognition result is supplied from the speech recognition unit 12 during the production illumination, the dialogue control unit 13 refers to the recognition vocabulary operation table from the installation position of the microphones 101a and 101b and the home ID and the device. When the ID is specified and the voice recognition result corresponds to the operation vocabulary, an operation input signal specified by the operation content is generated and supplied to the luminance determination unit 16.

  Further, in step S9, the dialogue control unit 13 generates a voice to respond to the user with the operating state as a result of controlling the electric device group 2, the lighting fixture 2a and other devices by an operation input signal based on the voice from the user. The operation of the unit 14 is started. At this time, the dialogue control unit 13 refers to the vocabulary operation association database 13a and selects a synthesized vocabulary to be output from the speech generation unit 14. The vocabulary operation association database 13a stores not only the recognized vocabulary operation table shown in FIG. 4 but also the synthesized vocabulary table shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 5, in the synthesized vocabulary table, in order to select synthesized speech that is a response to an operation input signal based on speech from the user, a control target device ID, operation ID, and synthesized vocabulary ID are associated with each other. It has been. The recognition vocabulary operation table shown in FIG. 5 and the composite vocabulary table shown in FIG. 4 are associated as shown in FIG. 6, and after the operation input signal corresponding to the recognition vocabulary operation table is output, As a response to the operation input signal, the optimum synthetic vocabulary ID of the synthetic vocabulary table can be selected.

  Then, when the operation state of the electric device group 2 and the lighting fixture 2a is supplied from the luminance determination unit 16 as a response to the operation input signal based on the voice from the user, the dialogue control unit 13 first determines the luminance determination unit 16. The ID of the electric device group 2, the lighting fixture 2a controlled by the operation input signal supplied to the electric device group 2, the lighting fixture 2a in the composite vocabulary table corresponding to the operation content, and the ID of the operation content are acquired, and the voice generation unit 14 Can be used to select a composite vocabulary to be output.

  In the next step S <b> 10, the luminance determination unit 16 determines whether or not effect lighting is continued. For example, when an operation input signal is supplied from the dialogue control unit 13 from the operation input signal based on the voice from the user, the effect lighting is stopped and the normal lighting is returned to the normal lighting, the process proceeds to step S11 and the luminaire 2a is set. Switch to normal lighting mode. In step S10, if a failure detection sensor (not shown) detects a failure in the electrical equipment group 2, such as a housing facility device or a bus device, or the lighting fixture 2a, the process proceeds to step S11 to proceed to the lighting fixture. 2a may be set as the normal illumination mode. On the other hand, if the operation input signal for stopping the effect lighting and returning to the normal lighting is not input, the process returns to step S1.

  As described above, according to the in-house equipment system to which the present invention is applied, the brightness of the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel that hinders the relaxation effect is reduced when performing the effect lighting. It can avoid that the relaxation effect by illumination reduces. Moreover, even if the brightness of the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel is lowered and the display content of the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel becomes difficult to visually recognize, the operation input signal based on the voice from the user starts to be received. The non-contact operation of the electric equipment group 2 and the lighting fixture 2a by the user is enabled. Furthermore, it is not necessary to perform a touch operation on the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel when effect lighting is performed, and the electric device group 2 and the lighting fixture 2a can be operated without interrupting the relaxation effect.

  Furthermore, according to the in-house equipment system, when a disaster in the house, an emergency such as an intruder, or an emergency notified from the outside from the mobile phone 5 or the reporting center 6 occurs, the lighting fixture 2a is illuminated. Since the mode can be switched to the normal lighting mode or the emergency mode, the emergency can be surely notified to the user. Further, by setting the lighting fixture 2a to the emergency mode, it is possible to visually recognize the emergency situation uttered in the house from outside the house.

  Next, in the in-home equipment system to which the present invention is applied, when the lighting fixture 2a is in the production lighting mode, the touch operation to the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel is not performed, and the non-contact of the electrical equipment group 2, the lighting fixture 2a is not performed. Another example of executing the operation will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 7, this in-home equipment system is an infrared camera (a night vision camera) that takes an image of a user instead of the microphones 101a and 101b, the azimuth estimation unit 11, the speech recognition unit 12, and the acoustic model storage unit 12a in FIG. 106, an image recognition unit 41 for detecting the user's action and a gesture target image database 41a. In this in-home equipment system, when the lighting fixture 2a is set to the effect lighting mode, the luminance of the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel is lowered, and the user's operation is imaged by the infrared camera 106, and the user's operation is image recognition unit. In 41, the analysis process is started.

  When the imaging signal is input from the infrared camera 106, the image recognition unit 41 extracts a body image of the user included in the imaging signal and recognizes the user's gesture. Then, the image recognition unit 41 determines whether the recognized gesture corresponds to a gesture stored in the gesture target image database 41a. In the gesture target image database 41a, the user's gesture, the ID of the electric device group 2 to be controlled 2, the lighting fixture 2a, and the operation content are associated with each other. Then, when the recognized user gesture is registered in the gesture target image database 41a, the image recognition unit 41 sends an operation input signal to be executed with the operation content corresponding to the gesture via the dialogue control unit 13. This is supplied to the luminance judgment unit 16.

  In this way, the in-home equipment system can generate an operation input signal representing a non-contact operation based on the user's gesture and recognize the user's gesture as well as the user's voice, and can supply the operation input signal to the luminance determination unit 16. The non-contact operation of the electrical equipment group 2 and the lighting fixture 2a is made possible even during production lighting. As a result, the same effects as described above can be exhibited.

  Moreover, in the home equipment system to which the present invention is applied, when the lighting fixture 2a is set to the effect lighting mode, the non-contact operation of the electrical equipment group 2 and the lighting fixture 2a is performed without touching the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel. As another example to be executed, as shown in FIG. 8, a plurality of human sensors 107 are connected to the device control unit 1 instead of the microphones 101a and 101b of FIG. A signal pattern may be used. Note that the sensor is not limited to the human sensor 107 and may be a thermal sensor or a pressure sensor installed in a home facility as long as the signal pattern can be detected by the user's action.

  The device control unit 1 to which the human sensor 107 is connected is replaced with the signal input unit 51 connected to the human sensor 107, instead of the azimuth estimating unit 11, the voice recognition unit 12, and the acoustic model storage unit 12a in FIG. A pattern recognition unit 52 and a signal pattern database 52a are provided.

  In this in-home equipment system, when the lighting fixture 2a is set to the effect lighting mode, the luminance of the liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel is lowered and the signal input unit 51 starts to input a plurality of sensor signals from the human sensor 107. The pattern recognition unit 52 transfers the signal pattern to the pattern recognition unit 52 and starts the process of analyzing the signal pattern.

  When a plurality of sensor signals are input from the human sensor 107 via the signal input unit 51, the pattern recognition unit 52 recognizes signal patterns of the plurality of sensor signals. As this signal pattern, for example, the number of times of inputting a plurality of sensor signals, the period, and the like are included. Then, the pattern recognition unit 52 determines whether the recognized signal pattern corresponds to the signal pattern stored in the signal pattern database 52a. In the signal pattern database 52a, the input signal pattern, the ID of the electric device group 2, the lighting fixture 2a, and the operation content are associated with each other. When the input signal pattern is registered in the signal pattern database 52a, the pattern recognition unit 52 transmits an operation input signal for executing the operation content corresponding to the signal pattern via the dialogue control unit 13. This is supplied to the determination unit 16.

  As described above, the in-home equipment system recognizes not only the user's voice but also the signal pattern from the human sensor 107 based on the user's action, and thereby receives the operation input signal representing the non-contact operation based on the user's action. It can be generated and supplied to the luminance judgment unit 16, and the non-contact operation of the electric device group 2 and the luminaire 2a is made possible even during production lighting. As a result, the same effects as described above can be exhibited.

  The above-described embodiment is an example of the present invention. For this reason, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made depending on the design and the like as long as the technical idea according to the present invention is not deviated from this embodiment. Of course, it is possible to change.

  In other words, the above-described in-home equipment system has been described on the assumption that the device control unit 1 and devices connected to the device control unit 1 exchange signals using a general-purpose communication protocol. The device control unit 1 may be used to control and monitor various devices using a device embedded network technology (EMIT (Embedded Micro Internetworking Technology), hereinafter referred to as EMIT technology). This EMIT technology incorporates EMIT middleware into network equipment such as equipment control unit 1, mobile phone 5, reporting center 6, electrical equipment group 2, lighting equipment 2a, and liquid crystal display 3 with a touch panel, and communication connection is established by communication between the EMIT middleware. Is realized.

  According to this EMIT technology, the device control unit 1 is mounted with an OAS (Object Access Server) function unit that performs routing processing between EMIT middleware, device recognition processing, and the like, and includes an electrical device group 2, a lighting fixture 2a, and a touch panel. Attached liquid crystal display 3, microphones 101a and 101b, speaker 102, disaster prevention sensor 103, and security sensor 104 have MOS (Micro Object Server) function units that transmit and receive various device control signals and device status signals between EMIT middleware. The OAL (Object Access Library) function unit that outputs the control / monitoring request to the device to be controlled and displays the status of the device is mounted on the mobile phone 5 and the reporting center 6.

It is a system diagram which shows the structure of the household equipment system containing the apparatus control unit to which this invention is applied. It is a front view which shows the external appearance structure of a liquid crystal display with a touch panel. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure which controls a lighting fixture, a dialog control part, etc. by the apparatus control unit to which this invention is applied. It is a figure which shows the structure of the recognition vocabulary operation table of the apparatus control unit to which this invention is applied. It is a figure which shows the structure of the synthetic | combination vocabulary table of the apparatus control unit to which this invention is applied. It is a figure for demonstrating the relationship between a recognition vocabulary operation table and a synthetic | combination vocabulary table. It is a system diagram which shows the other structure of the in-home installation system containing the apparatus control unit to which this invention is applied. It is a system diagram which shows the other structure of the in-home installation system containing the apparatus control unit to which this invention is applied.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Device control unit 2 Electric equipment group 2a Lighting fixture 3 Liquid crystal display with a touch panel 4 Communication network 5 Mobile telephone 6 Notification center 11 Direction estimation part 12 Speech recognition part 12a Acoustic model memory | storage part 13 Dialog control part 13a Database 14 Voice generation part 15 Echo canceller 16 Brightness determination unit 17 Liquid crystal brightness adjustment unit 18 Illumination control unit 19 Sensor control unit 20 Emergency transmission / reception unit 21 Communication control unit 22 Device control unit 30 Liquid crystal screen 31 Touch panel 102, 32 Speaker 101a, 101b, 33 Microphone 41 Image recognition unit 41a Gesture target image database 51 Signal input unit 52 Pattern recognition unit 52a Signal pattern database 103 Disaster prevention sensor 104 Security sensor 105 Sensor 106 Infrared camera 107 Human sensor

Claims (4)

Contact-type operation input means for detecting a user's contact operation and generating an operation input signal for operating an electrical device installed in a predetermined area;
Non-contact type operation input means for detecting a non-contact operation based on a user's voice or operation and generating an operation input signal for operating the electric device;
Presenting the operating state of the electrical device to the user, or display means having a light emitting unit for illuminating the contact-type operation input means;
Control means for operating the electric device according to an operation input signal generated by the contact-type operation input means or an operation input signal generated by the non-contact-type operation input means, and controlling the state of the display means; With
When the control means inputs an operation input signal for starting the operation of the effect lighting fixture among the electric devices from the contact-type operation input means, the brightness of the light emitting unit is input before the operation input signal is input. A device control apparatus characterized in that the non-contact operation is started based on a user's voice or action by the non-contact type operation input means while lowering the brightness. Voice synthesis means for transmitting information to the user by voice;
The control means is a voice of a user detected by the voice synthesizing means at least by the non-contact type operation input means when operating the effect lighting apparatus by an operation input signal generated by the contact type operation input means. Alternatively, the device control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a response to a non-contact operation based on an operation is transmitted. It further comprises emergency detection means for detecting an emergency situation to be presented to the user,
The said control means stops the operation | movement of the said effect lighting fixture, and switches to a normal lighting state, when an emergency situation is detected by the said emergency detection means when operating the said effect lighting fixture. Item 2. The device control apparatus according to Item 1. Voice recognition means for inputting voice uttered by the user and determining whether or not the voice corresponds to a predetermined fixed vocabulary;
The control means stops the operation of the effect lighting apparatus and stops the voice from the user when the sound recognition means determines that the predetermined fixed vocabulary is uttered while the effect lighting apparatus is operating. The apparatus control device according to claim 1, wherein the device control device is switched to a lighting operation that transmits the light to the outside.

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