JP2012222586A - Information processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information terminal clearly notifying a user of a program/content presentation state by enabling switching to a mode fit to a user and displaying on a user-by-user basis.SOLUTION: A user-by-user mode switching and presentation device, having a combination of information terminal such as a DTV device with personal recognition means such as a camera and an IC tag reader, includes: a user recognition unit for controlling at least an input by the personal recognition means; a user information storage unit for storing recognized user information; and a mode determination unit for controlling the mode, based on a personal recognition result by the personal recognition means and the user information stored in the user information storage unit. By a recognized user or the combination of a plurality of users, the user-by-user mode switching and presentation device switches to a mode suitable for the user or the combination of users, and notifies the switch to the mode.

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and an information processing method, and more particularly to an information processing apparatus that recognizes a user and performs display according to the user.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, user preferences are collected from information of content used by users, and content that is presumed to be most suitable for the user is selected from a large number of contents.

  In recent years, in digital television (hereinafter, abbreviated as DTV) in which digital broadcasting has become widespread and has become multi-channel, the user can automatically recognize the user without performing a special operation, and the electronic selected by the user 2. Description of the Related Art Information processing apparatuses and the like have been developed that provide each user with a program that matches the user's preference from stored information such as program information in a guide (Electric Program Guide, EPG for short). (For example, see Patent Document 1)

JP 2006-324809 A

  However, in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, it is possible to automatically recognize a user and recommend content suitable for the user, but the recommended content recommended to which user or combination of users. There is no disclosure of a means for knowing what the current operation mode is, that is, a notification method. In addition, a mode determination method when a plurality of users are simultaneously using is not disclosed.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and an object of the present invention is to appropriately select a plurality of users when an information terminal such as a DTV device recognizes content. It is to provide an information processing apparatus and an information processing method capable of selecting a user and determining a mode, or clearly notifying which user the mode is intended for.

  In order to achieve the above object, for example, the configuration described in the claims is adopted.

  According to the present invention, in an information processing apparatus provided with person identification means, an information processing apparatus that allows a user who uses the apparatus to easily determine to which user content or the like is presented. Can be provided. In addition, it is possible to provide an information processing apparatus capable of presenting appropriate content even when a plurality of users are simultaneously using it.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the information processing apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process outline | summary of the information processing apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the information processing apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the registered user information list accumulate | stored in the information processing apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process outline | summary at the time of the new user participation of the information processing apparatus in Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the information processing apparatus in Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the mode determination and determination process (subroutine) which the information processing apparatus in Embodiment 1 thru | or 5 of this invention performs. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a result of a user priority list determined by the process of FIG. 7 in the embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the mode determination and mode switching process in case the information processing apparatus in Embodiment 3 of this invention includes the guest. It is explanatory drawing of the information processing apparatus in Embodiment 3 of this invention, and a display apparatus. It is explanatory drawing of the information processing apparatus in Embodiment 3 of this invention, and a display apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the mode switching process in case the user does not exist for a fixed time which the information processing apparatus in Embodiment 4 of this invention does. It is an example of the screen which the information processing apparatus in Embodiment 4 of this invention displays on a display. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the information processing apparatus in Embodiment 5 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process outline | summary which the information processing apparatus in Embodiment 5 of this invention performs. It is explanatory drawing of the information processing apparatus in Embodiment 5 of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts. Further, the present invention is not limited to the illustrated example.

  In the present embodiment, a DTV apparatus will be described as an example of the information processing apparatus according to the present invention.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a DTV apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. Reference numeral 101 denotes a user image signal captured by the camera 102 or a signal from a reader 103 that receives a signal such as a short-range wireless communication transmitted from an individual identification mark such as an IC tag 321 or a portable terminal worn by the user. A user recognition unit that analyzes information and outputs a user determination result, 104 is a mode determination unit that determines and determines a mode for each user based on the determination result received from 101, 105 is a broadcast reception unit that receives a digital broadcast, 106 is a control unit that performs broadcast data reception and display output, audio output, user information collection and storage, mode reception, etc., and controls overall operations, 107 is a recommendation unit that recommends programs / contents, and 108 is a display or the like display An output unit 109 is an audio output unit such as a speaker, 110 is a user information storage / control unit, and 111 is a database for storing user information. (Hereinafter abbreviated as DB) it consists of.

  In FIG. 1, the camera 102 is attached to the DTV apparatus main body, or is attached to the vicinity of the DTV apparatus main body. The communication means with the user recognition unit 101 may be wired or wireless. Further, the imaging range is fixed, manually set by the user, or automatically variable. The reader 103 is attached to the apparatus main body in the same manner as the camera 102, or is installed in the vicinity of the apparatus main body, and the communication means with the user recognition unit 101 is wired or wireless. Also good. The camera 102 or the reader 103 that is the user recognition unit may be provided with either one. The display output unit 108 displays images such as menus displayed on the display, display colors, brightness, display patterns, and the like of additional display elements such as light emitting diodes (hereinafter abbreviated as LEDs) provided on the outer frame portion of the display. Is configured to change in accordance with a control signal from the control unit 106. The audio output unit 109 includes a speaker or the like, and is configured such that sound pressure, tone color, frequency, pattern, and the like change according to a control signal from the control unit 106.

  Next, the operation at the time of starting the DTV in the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure performed in the entire DTV apparatus 100. FIG. 3 is an overall environment diagram including the DTV apparatus 100, and shows a situation in which three users 301 to 303 view as an initial state. In this situation, if any of the users 301 to 303 turns on the main power of the DTV device 100 with a remote controller (not shown) or a switch on the DTV device 100 main body, the following processing is performed.

  S202: The user recognition unit 101 identifies a user who is viewing using the user identification unit of either the camera 102 or the reader 103. For example, in the identification in the camera 102, feature quantities such as the number of people, face, gender, age, etc. included in the image captured within the imaging range 310 shown in FIG. 3 are analyzed. For identification by the reader 103, personal identification information transmitted from the IC tags 321 to 323 worn by the user is analyzed. As a result of these analyses, three users 301 to 303 are specified as viewing users, and the determination result is transmitted to the mode determination unit 104. In the identification by the reader 103, instead of using a special IC tag, personal identification information or a terminal unique number transmitted by a short-distance wireless communication from a mobile phone or the like that is normally carried by the user is used as user information. May be used.

  S203: The mode determination unit 104 searches the user identification result transmitted from the user identification unit 101 for a corresponding user from the data stored in the user information storage DB 111. If there is a corresponding user, the process proceeds to S204. Here, in this embodiment, the operation is terminated without doing anything when it is not registered in the user information storage DB 111.

  S204: The mode determination unit 104 determines a mode according to a procedure described later according to the determined user. Here, the mode (user preference mode, hereinafter referred to as a mode similar to the above) is a program / content presentation method (recommended program / content genre) determined for each user or each combination thereof, and The settings of the display output unit and the audio output unit associated therewith. For example, in the father mode, the recommended genre is sports and the display color is blue, and in the child mode, the recommended genre is animation and the display color is yellow. The correspondence is registered in the user information storage DB 111 in advance as will be described later. It is assumed that Then, the display / sound setting indicating the color or sound according to the mode is designated to the control unit 106, and the genre setting of the program / content is designated to the recommendation unit 107.

S205, S206: In accordance with the display setting designated by the control unit 106, the display output unit 108 changes the color, brightness, etc. of the screen displayed on the display, changes in the configuration of the menu screen, and / or outside the display. The LED of the frame portion is turned on and blinked to notify the user which mode is selected.

  S205, S207: The audio output unit 109 changes the volume, height, and pattern of the sound effect output from the speaker in accordance with the audio setting designated by the control unit 106, and the user is informed which mode is selected. Let me know.

  S208: The recommendation unit 107 selects a program / content such as a digital terrestrial broadcast received from the broadcast receiving unit 105 according to the user's preference according to the genre setting specified by the mode determination unit 104. The control unit 106 presents the selected program / content to the user via the display output unit 108 and the audio output unit 109.

  Here, the user information registered in the user information accumulation DB 111 will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 400 denotes a feature amount of the user's face, which is obtained by extracting the face feature from the shooting data obtained by shooting the user in the imaging area in advance by the camera 102 and digitizing it. . Reference numerals 401 to 407 are information previously input by the user as user information items using the display 108 of the DTV apparatus 100 and a remote controller (not shown). Items to be entered are a user name 401, age 402, gender 403, genre 404, theme color 405, main viewing time zone 406, and user priority 407. Here, the genre is a genre of programs / contents often viewed by the user, and is data used by the recommendation unit 107. For example, the user is allowed to select one from options such as drama, sports, and animation. The main viewing time period is a time when the user does not passively watch but actively watches, for example, one of the options such as early morning, morning, noon, evening, night, midnight, etc. The user is made to select the above. Subsequently, the user sets sounds such as sound effects and notification sounds, such as a color of a user interface such as a menu screen of his / her preference. This setting is applied by the display output unit 108 and / or the audio output unit 109 when the mode for the user is selected by the mode determination unit 104. Finally, which user is given priority when presenting a program / content is set. The priority is set as a numerical value, and the smaller number is the priority, and is a value that determines which user's mode is prioritized when a plurality of users are detected. For example, if the priority set for a family of three people, father, mother, and child, is mother 1, child 2, and father 3, it means that the priority is given in the order of mother, child, and father.

  Next, a detailed flow of mode determination and determination processing performed by the mode determination unit 104 in step S204 of FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIG. Here, the mode determination is performed according to the following procedure using one or more user identification results specified by the user recognition unit 101 and the corresponding user information registered in the DB 111.

  S702: The mode determination unit 104 reads the user priority 407 of each user in FIG.

  S703: The mode determination unit 104 reads the main viewing time zone 406 of each user in FIG.

  S704: Using the information read in S702 and S703, prioritization of users is performed. First, the main viewing time zone read in step S703 and the current time are compared for each user to check whether they match. Next, the matched users are arranged in descending order of priority. Subsequently, non-matching users are arranged in order of priority, and are added under the matching user group. For example, in FIG. 4, when the current time is in the evening time zone, the priority order is child, mother, father as shown in FIG.

  S705: Based on the priority determined in S704, the registration information of the user with the highest priority is determined as the mode. For example, in the above example, the child with the highest priority is the “child mode”. Since the genre 404 is set to animation and the theme color 405 is set to yellow, the color displayed by the LED or the like is yellow, and the presented program / content is animation.

  Here, the viewing time zone has been described as the determination information for prioritizing, but the determination information for determining the priority order may be the viewing day of the week or a combination of the viewing day of the week and the viewing time zone. You may do it.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, in the DTV apparatus provided with the person recognition means, when there are a plurality of users who want to view the program / content, it is indicated to which user the program / content is presented. Or a sound effect from a speaker. Also, when a plurality of users are watching at the same time, an appropriate user can be selected according to the time zone and the user's behavior pattern, and the program / content can be presented.

  Next, a processing flow in the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is obtained by adding processing for a case where a new user participates during viewing to the processing flow of FIG. 2 in the first embodiment. In the situation as shown in FIG. 6, when the user 301 is newly added while the user 301 is watching the DTV, the control is performed as follows.

  S502: The user currently viewing is identified in the same manner as in S202 described above. Detailed description is omitted.

  S503: The mode determination unit 104 receives a user determination result including newly joined users from the user identification unit 101, and searches information registered in the user information storage DB 111 for each recognized user. For users who are not registered in the user information storage DB 111, the presence is ignored as in S203.

  S504: Based on the user search result including the new participating user in S503, the mode determination unit 104 determines a new mode candidate in the same procedure as in S204. If the candidate is a mode different from the previous mode, the process proceeds to S510, and if the candidate is the same, the current state is maintained and the process ends.

  S510: A question as to whether or not to switch the current mode to a new mode candidate determined in S504 is displayed on the display 108, and the user is allowed to select. When the user operates the remote controller (not shown) and selects to switch modes, the current mode is changed and the changed mode is transmitted to the control unit 106. If you choose not to switch modes, continue with the current mode.

  Since S505 to S508 are the same as S205 to S208 described above, description thereof is omitted here.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, whether or not to switch to the new mode even when the timing of user recognition is different, such as when another user newly participates while a user is viewing a program / content, Can be selected, and the inconvenience that the mode is arbitrarily switched during viewing of the program can be solved.

  Next, the processing flow in Embodiment 3 of this invention is demonstrated using FIG. The processing flow of FIG. 9 corresponds to the processing flow of FIG. 2 of the first embodiment, and mode discrimination when the user recognition result includes a user who is not registered in the user information storage DB 111 (hereinafter referred to as a guest). In addition, a switching process is added. Portions other than the processing for the guest are the same as in the first embodiment.

  S <b> 901: The mode determination unit 104 searches the user identification result transmitted from the user identification unit 101 for a corresponding user from the data stored in the user information storage DB 111. In this embodiment, if it is registered in the user information storage DB 111, the process proceeds to S902, and if not registered, the process proceeds to S903.

  S902: The mode determination unit 104 searches the registration category for the user registered in S901. If the registration category is a user (regular user) who has registered user information in the DTV device, the process proceeds to S906, and if the user is a guest, the process proceeds to S904.

  S903: If the user is not registered, it is registered as a guest in the user information storage DB 111.

  S904: When the user recognition unit 101 detects a guest, the number of times the guest is recognized is counted. The number of times the guest has been recognized (hereinafter referred to as a recognition count) is stored in the user information storage DB 111 if it has been recognized in the past, and if it has not been recognized in the past, new guest information is stored. Is stored in the user information storage DB 111.

  S905: In order to determine the degree of friendship between the registered user and the guest, it is determined whether or not the guest recognition count exceeds a predetermined threshold (reliability condition). For example, the reliability condition is set to 3 times or more within one month, 5 times or more within 3 months, 7 times or more within 12 months, etc., and the user inputs and sets numerical values in advance in the setting menu of the DTV device, etc. Shall. If the guest recognition count is greater than or equal to the number of times of the trust condition, the process proceeds to S906, and if less than the number of times of the trust condition, the process proceeds to S907.

  S906: If the guest recognition count is equal to or greater than the number of times of the trust condition, it is assumed that the guest has a high degree of friendship with the registered user, and the program / content to be presented is continued and continues in the mode set for the registered user Continue without change. For example, when the current mode is a child mode, the number of times of the trust condition is 5, and the guest recognition count is 5 times or more, the current mode child mode is continued and the program / content to be presented Continue without change. Here, an example in which the mode is continued has been shown, but the mode may be changed and the program / content to be presented may be changed. A good example of applying this setting is when the preferences of registered users and guests are the same, and it is more enjoyable to change the program / content to be presented.

  S907: If the guest recognition count is less than the number of times of the trust condition, the guest is assumed to have a low degree of friendship with the registered user, and preparation for switching to the guest mode (the display color for the guest set in advance in the setting menu or the like, Set to output sound effects). At this time, settings are made so that the guest does not know that switching to the guest mode is not displayed as text on the display 108, or is not output from the voice output unit 109 as guidance voice. This is to prevent the guest from knowing that the mode has been switched for the guest and feeling uncomfortable.

  S908: Switch to the guest mode, and change the program / content to be presented to one suitable for guests.

  10A and 10B are examples of mode switching when a guest is included. In FIG. 10A, the camera 102 detects the father 1001 and the guest 1002 in the situation where the father 1001 and the guest 1002 that are registered users in the user information storage DB 111 are facing in front of the DTV device 100, and the recognition count of the guest 1002 is reliable. Suppose that the number of times is less than the number of conditions. At this time, only the father 1001 has switched to the guest mode using information that is recognized by the user of the DTV device on a daily basis, such as the display color or sound effect set in advance for the guest. The display output unit 108 outputs display colors and the like, and the audio output unit 109 outputs sound effects and the like so that they can be recognized. As an example, the father 1001 sets the display color when the guest comes to green, and when the father 1001 and the guest 1002 come in front of the DTV device at the same time, the guest 1002 can only know that some display has been made. The father 1001 recognizes that the mode has been switched to the guest mode because the color set by the father 1001 is displayed. FIG. 10B shows a situation where the mode is switched to the guest mode and the program / content is displayed.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when a person other than the user who uses the DTV device on a daily basis is recognized, the person is positioned as a guest and a program / content suitable for the guest is presented. Can do. In addition, it is possible to prevent the presentation of programs / contents that are highly preferred by the users who use the DTV device on a daily basis, and the privacy of the users can be protected from the guests. Furthermore, by setting the number of times of trust conditions, when a close friend or the like visits, it is recognized in the same way as a registered user in the DTV device, so that each user who is watching at the same time can normally It is possible to present programs / contents in consideration of preferences. Note that each user's preference may reflect the history information of programs / contents viewed in the past. Accordingly, it is possible to consider the taste of the guest who has been recognized in the same manner as the user registered in the DTV device.

Next, the processing flow in Embodiment 4 of this invention is demonstrated using FIG. FIG. 11 corresponds to FIG. 2 of the first embodiment, to which a mode switching process is added when the user who is watching is absent. Here, in any one of the situations described in the first embodiment, the second embodiment, and the third embodiment, one or more of the users who are viewing the program / content have left the currently recognized user combination. The operation of will be described. (For example, in the case of person identification by a camera, away from the front of the DTV device, etc.)
S1101: Recognize user combination. The recognizing means is basically the camera 102, and the DTV apparatus automatically recognizes at regular intervals (for example, every 60 seconds) to determine whether the combination of the viewing users has changed.

  S1102: If there is a change in the combination, the process proceeds to S1103, and if there is no change, the process returns to S1101. Note that the reader 103 may recognize the user combination being viewed, instead of the camera 102. In this case, the DTV device may manually notify the DTV device that the user is leaving due to the user's voluntary action, or the DTV device may indicate that the connection has become impossible, for example, the IC tag has been removed from the communicable area. May be automatically detected.

  S1103: It is determined whether the combination of users re-recognized even after the elapse of a certain time (for example, 10 minutes) (the missing user does not return). If the combination is a re-recognized user, the process proceeds to S1104. If the combination is not a re-recognized user (the missing user returns), the process proceeds to S1107. When the missing user returns with another user or guest, the mode redetermination process including the new user is performed according to the flow described in the second or third embodiment.

S1104: A screen for prompting mode switching is presented. (For example, see FIG. 12)
S1105: A user's response to an inquiry as to whether or not to switch modes is determined. If the user selects “Yes”, the process proceeds to S1106. If the user selects “No”, the process proceeds to S1107.

  S1106: As in S204 of the second embodiment, the mode discrimination / switching process shown in FIG. 7 is performed, and the mode selected for the remaining user combination is switched.

  S1107: The current mode is continued and terminated.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the user temporarily leaves his / her seat, the user can continue to enjoy the program / content even when returning to his / her seat by continuing the mode without switching the mode immediately. be able to. Further, if the user does not return after a certain period of time, it is possible to switch to a mode suitable for the remaining one or a plurality of users, and a more appropriate program / content can be presented.

  FIG. 13 is a block diagram of a DTV apparatus according to Embodiment 5 of the present invention.

  Reference numerals 101 to 111 denote the same configurations as those in the block diagram of FIG. Reference numeral 1301 denotes a network control unit. A surveillance camera 1302 is generally used for crime prevention. The surveillance camera 1302 is installed at a remote location such as the entrance of a house and is connected to the DTV apparatus 100 via a network by wired or wireless communication.

  In FIG. 13, user information captured by the monitoring camera 1302 is input to the user recognition unit 101 via the network control unit 1301. Thereafter, the same operation as described in the first embodiment is performed.

  Next, a processing flow when performing user recognition using network control will be described with reference to FIG. In addition, although a present Example takes as an example the case where the user in a house greets a visitor, it is not limited to this.

  S1401: In the situation as shown in FIG. 15, the surveillance camera 1302 captures and detects a visitor 1501 standing in front of the entrance door 1511 of the house 1510. Note that the number of visitors is not limited to one, and may be a plurality of visitors.

  S1402: The user recognition unit 101 receives a visitor detection result detected via the network control unit 1301, and performs person identification in the same manner as the processing in the camera 102 in S202 of FIG.

  S1403: The person identification is terminated. The user recognition unit 101 transmits a person identification result to the mode determination unit 104. At this time, in addition to the person identification result, the detection result of the monitoring camera 1302 is added to the person identification result.

  S1404: Within a certain time (for example, 30 seconds), in the second embodiment, the mode change determination and the switchability inquiry are performed in the same manner as the processing flow of S503 to S508 described with reference to FIG. The switching process is performed.

  In addition, although the present embodiment has been described with a configuration that can automatically detect and identify a visitor by using a surveillance camera, the user himself / herself identifies the visitor by video or audio output from an intercom or the like, Visitor identification information may be manually input using a button or the like provided on an intercom or the like.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, even if a person who is supposed to use the DTV device is not in proximity, the user can be recognized remotely by connecting the camera to the network. -Mode switching similar to that in the third embodiment can be performed. Also, by setting the mode for each user before the person recognized by the surveillance camera approaches the DTV device, an appropriate program / content is provided when standing in front of the DTV device, so that the user can enjoy without waiting. be able to. Furthermore, if the person recognized by the surveillance camera is a guest, programs / contents that strongly reflect the user's individual preferences can be switched more quickly to content suitable for guests, thus further strengthening privacy protection be able to.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 DTV apparatus 101 User recognition part 102 Camera 103 Reader 104 Mode determination part 105 Broadcast receiving part 106 Control part 107 Recommendation part 108 Display output part 109 Audio | voice output part 110 User information storage / control part 111 User information storage DB
1301 Network control unit 1302 Surveillance camera

Claims (7)

An information processing apparatus for recommending a broadcast program to a plurality of users,
A receiving unit for receiving the broadcast program;
An output unit for outputting video and / or audio;
A user recognition unit for extracting user feature data;
A user information accumulating unit for accumulating data relating to user characteristics for each of a plurality of users, data relating to a genre of a program preferred by the user and video and / or audio modes set by the user, and data relating to priority for each user;
A mode determination unit that identifies a user according to the user characteristics extracted by the user recognition unit from the data stored in the user information storage unit, and determines a user mode to be given priority among the identified users;
In accordance with the mode determined by the mode determination unit, a control unit that causes the output unit to output a broadcast program corresponding to the genre and set video and / or audio;
An information processing apparatus comprising: The user information storage unit further stores a user usage time zone,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the mode determination unit prioritizes a user whose current time corresponds to the usage time zone.   When there is a user who is not registered in the user information storage unit, the mode determination unit is for a guest that is set separately from the user mode registered in the user information storage unit with the user as a guest. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a mode is determined.   The mode determination unit stores the feature data extracted by the user recognition unit and the number of times of extraction for the user who is the guest in the user information storage unit, and the number of times of extraction of the user who is the guest exceeds a predetermined number of times. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the information processing apparatus determines that the user is a registered user.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the mode determination unit determines a mode based on a new combination when a change occurs in the specified combination of users.   6. The information processing according to claim 5, wherein the mode determination unit determines a mode based on a new combination after a predetermined time has elapsed since a change has occurred in the specified combination of users. apparatus.   The said control part makes the output part output the information regarding the inquiry about whether it can switch to a new mode, before the new mode is determined in the said mode determination part. Information processing device.

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