JP2016040609A - Information notification support apparatus, information notification support method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information notification support apparatus, an information notification support method and a program capable of notifying a message to a user at an appropriate timing.SOLUTION: An information notification support apparatus 101 includes a determination section 203 and an output control section 207. The determination section 203 determines a situation of a user whether the user can listen to a message by using at least one of voice information of the user, situation information or position information. Determining that the user is positioned in a situation where the user cannot listen to the message, the output control section 207 controls the timing to output the message depending on a relationship between the present situation of the user and the message.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  Embodiments described herein relate generally to an information notification support apparatus, an information notification support method, and a program.

  In recent years, with the spread of mobile terminals such as smartphones, it has become possible to use services on the network such as an information search service and a ticket reservation service whenever necessary. In addition, due to improved performance of speech recognition technology and speech synthesis technology, the number of electronic devices such as PCs (Personal Computers) and mobile terminals having speech input and speech output functions is increasing. For example, by using an input / output device such as a headset that can perform both input by voice recognition and output by voice synthesis, even when an electronic device such as a portable terminal or a PC is at a remote location, It is possible to issue a processing request and listen to the processing result. For this reason, the user can obtain necessary information even when both hands are occupied or when other work is performed.

  By the way, the situation where the operation is possible even if it is away from the electronic device that performs the actual processing is convenient, but it is not known when the message from the system (electronic device) is notified. For this reason, for example, during a conversation, a notification of the next meeting schedule may be received or a response to a user request such as a schedule confirmation may be returned. If the conversation voice (user's own utterance or the conversation partner's utterance) and the message from the system ("system response") overlap, the conversation will be hindered, and the system response will also be difficult to hear. For this reason, it is necessary to control the timing of outputting the system response so that the conversation and the system response do not overlap.

  For example, in Patent Document 1, a server device that grasps each user's business situation in real time presents each user's real-time business situation, so that each user can communicate with the person he or she is trying to communicate with. A technique that can grasp the situation is disclosed. However, this technique only presents the real-time business status of each user, and does not perform control of the timing for outputting a message. Further, for example, Patent Document 2 discloses a technique for performing control so that a user's utterance and a system response do not overlap when a user and a system interact. In this technique, when the user utters, the system classifies the user's utterance intention and selects response candidates according to the classified utterance intention. A waiting time until a response message message is output is set for each response candidate, and a response message message is output only when there is no new utterance from the user during the waiting time. However, with this technique, a response message message is not output unless the waiting time elapses, regardless of the current situation of the user.

JP 2009-20672 A JP 2010-152119 A

  The above-described conventional technique has a problem that it is difficult to notify a user of a message at an appropriate timing. The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide an information notification support apparatus, an information notification support method, and a program capable of notifying a user of a message at an appropriate timing.

  The information notification support apparatus according to the embodiment includes a determination unit and an output control unit. The determination unit determines whether or not the user can listen to the message using at least one of the voice information, the situation information, and the position information of the user. When it is determined that the situation is not such that the user can hear the message, the output control unit controls the timing of outputting the message based on whether or not the message is related to the current situation of the user. To do.

  The information notification support method of the embodiment is an information notification support method for notifying a user of a message, and the user can listen to the message using at least one of the user's voice information, status information, or position information. If it is determined that it is not possible for the user to listen to the message, the message is determined based on whether the user's current status is related to the message. Control the output timing.

  The program according to the embodiment is a program for causing a computer to execute the determination step and the output control step. In the determination step, it is determined whether or not the user can listen to the message using at least one of the voice information, the situation information, and the position information of the user. If it is determined that the message is not in a situation where the user can hear the message, the output control unit step determines the timing for outputting the message based on whether the message is related to the user's current situation. Control.

The block diagram which shows the structural example of the system of 1st Embodiment. The block diagram which shows the function structural example of the information notification assistance apparatus of 1st Embodiment. The figure which shows an example of the processing operation by the information notification assistance apparatus of 1st Embodiment. The figure which shows an example of the processing operation by the information notification assistance apparatus of 1st Embodiment. The figure which shows an example of the user's conversation in 1st Embodiment. The figure which shows an example of the voice input log | history information of 1st Embodiment. The flowchart which shows an example of the determination method by the determination part of 1st Embodiment. The figure which shows an example of the determination table of 1st Embodiment. The figure which shows an example of the received message list of 1st Embodiment. The block diagram which shows the function structural example of the information notification assistance apparatus of 2nd Embodiment. The figure for demonstrating an example of the determination method by the determination part of 2nd Embodiment.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of an information notification support apparatus, an information notification support method, and a program according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Each of the following embodiments will be described on the premise of a system configuration that provides an information providing service to a user via an information notification support device that is worn on the user's ear and that cooperates with a remote system body. In this system, for example, a message indicating schedule information can be notified to the user, and a message indicating a processing result in response to a voice request from the user can be notified to the user.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration example of a system 1 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the system 1 includes an information notification support apparatus 101 that can be worn on the ear of user A, a system main body 1001 connected to the information notification support apparatus 101, and an information notification that can be worn on the ear of user B. A support apparatus 102 and a system main body 1002 connected to the information notification support apparatus 102 are provided. In the example of FIG. 1, the number of each of the information notification support apparatus and the system main body included in the system 1 is two, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the information notification support apparatus included in the system 1 and The number of each system body is arbitrary. In the following description, the information notification support apparatus 101 that can be worn on the ear of user A and the system main body 1001 connected to the information notification support apparatus 101 will be described. The configurations of the support apparatus 102 and the system main body 1002 connected to the information notification support apparatus 102 are the same.

  The information notification support apparatus 101 is connected to a remote system main body 1001 via a wireless LAN or the like. The system main body 1001 can be configured by, for example, a PC (Personal Computer) or a smartphone. The system main body 1001 can provide various services such as search and ticket reservation via the Internet or the like. The information notification support apparatus 101 notifies the user A of the message received from the system main body 1001. That is, the user A can hear a message from the system main body 1001 through the information notification support apparatus 101. For example, the user A can also hear a message that the conference will start soon before the start time of the next conference. The user A can also hear a message indicating the result of a request to the system main body 1001. For example, if user A requests to search for the meaning of an unknown word, the result can be heard.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of the information notification support apparatus 101. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the information notification support apparatus 101 includes a voice input unit 201, an analysis unit 202, a determination unit 203, a communication unit 204, a communication control unit 205, a storage unit 206, and an output control unit 207. A reception notification unit 208 and an output unit 209.

  The voice input unit 201 receives the voice around the user A captured by a microphone or the like, for example. The voice input unit 201 accepts not only the voice of the user A wearing the information notification support apparatus 101 but also the voices of other users B existing around it as input.

  The analysis unit 202 analyzes the voice (input voice) received by the voice input unit 201. More specifically, the analysis unit 202 analyzes the time when the voice is received by the voice input unit 201 and whether or not the voice is the voice of the user A. Then, the analysis unit 202 registers audio information indicating the analysis result in the storage unit 206. As will be described later, the audio information includes at least an utterance start time indicating a time when the utterance is started and an utterance time indicating a time when the utterance is performed.

  The determination unit 203 determines the current situation of the user using the audio information stored in the storage unit 206. Then, the status information indicating the determination result is registered in the storage unit 206. Details of this will be described later.

  The communication unit 204 communicates with the system main body 1001. For example, the communication unit 204 can transmit information indicating a user request to the system main body 1001 to the system main body 1001 and can receive a message from the system main body 1001.

  The communication control unit 205 performs control related to transmission / reception of information by the communication unit 204. For example, the communication control unit 205 can perform processing for analyzing a message issuer, issue time, message content, and the like.

  The storage unit 206 stores various types of information. More specifically, the storage unit 206 stores voice information indicating the analysis result by the analysis unit 202 and status information indicating the determination result by the determination unit 203. In addition to the voice information and the situation information, the storage unit 206 can also store the schedule information of the user A, the position information of the user A obtained by using the GPS, and the information notification support apparatus 101. And the result of communication performed between the system main body 1001 and the time information can be stored.

  The output control unit 207 determines the timing for notifying the user A of the message from the system main body 1001 received by the communication unit 204. Although detailed contents will be described later, when the communication unit 204 receives a message from the system main body 1001, the output control unit 207 uses the status information stored in the storage unit 206 to allow the user to read from the system main body 1001. It is determined whether or not the message can be heard. When it is determined that the user can listen to the message from the system main body 1001, the output control unit 207 controls the output unit 209 to output the message received by the communication unit 204. On the other hand, if the user determines that the message from the system main body 1001 cannot be heard, the output control unit 207 first outputs a notification sound notifying that the message has been received. The timing of outputting the message content is controlled according to the degree of association between the received message and the current situation of the user and the importance of the message.

  The reception notification unit 208 outputs a notification sound notifying that a message has been received under the control of the output control unit 207. The pattern of the notification sound by the reception notification unit 208 varies depending on the degree of association between the received message and the current situation of the user and the importance of the message.

  The output unit 209 outputs a voice indicating the content of the message. More specifically, the output unit 209 outputs to the user A voice indicating the content of the message from the system main body 1001 received by the communication unit 204 under the control of the output control unit 207.

  Next, an example of a processing operation performed by the information notification support apparatus 101 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a processing operation when the information notification support apparatus 101 receives a voice input and when the current state of the user A is determined. As shown in FIG. 3, first, in a voice input receiving step S <b> 401, the voice input unit 201 receives a voice input around the user A. For example, when the user A and the user B have a conversation as shown in FIG. 5, the voice input unit 201 displays “Long time no see” indicating the utterance of the user A “Yes, that is ...”. Not only that, but also the user B ’s utterance “Did you go to Bali for the holidays?” Is also accepted.

  Next, in the voice analysis step S402, the analysis unit 202 analyzes the voice received in the voice input reception step S401. In the present embodiment, the analysis unit 202 can also be regarded as the utterance start time indicating the time when the utterance is started and the time when the utterance is performed (the time during which the voice input is continued) from the voice received in the voice input receiving step S401. ) Is specified. Further, the analysis unit 202 determines whether or not the received voice is a voice generated by the user A himself / herself. Whether or not the voice is the voice of the person himself / herself can be determined by, for example, comparing the voice sample of the user A registered in the storage unit 206 in advance with the received voice. Various determination methods can be used. Then, the analysis unit 202 records the analysis result of the voice analysis step S402 in the storage unit 206 (analysis result accumulation step S403).

  More specifically, it is as follows. When the analysis unit 202 detects a new voice input, the analysis unit 202 registers the time when the new voice input is detected in the voice input history information of the storage unit 206 as an utterance start time. Thereafter, an utterance ID for identifying an utterance, an utterer ID for identifying an utterer, and an utterance time are associated and added as needed. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of the voice input history information. The voice input history information is configured by sequentially registering unit information in which an utterance ID, an utterance start time, an utterance time, and an utterer ID are associated with each other. Here, the voice input history information can be regarded as voice information indicating an analysis result by the analysis unit 202. In the example of FIG. 6, voice input information corresponding to “Long time no see” indicating the first utterance of the user A shown in FIG. 5 is recorded as unit information in the first row. That is, the utterance ID for identifying “Long time no see” indicating the first utterance of the user A shown in FIG. 5 is “1”. Then, the utterance start time corresponding to the utterance ID “1” is “09:40:50 on September 8, 2011”, which corresponds to the time when the voice input of “Long time no see” is accepted. Further, the utterance time corresponding to the utterance ID “1” is “5 seconds”, which corresponds to the time during which the voice input of “Long time no see” continues. Furthermore, the speaker ID corresponding to the speech ID “1” is “0001”, which corresponds to the speaker ID indicating the user A himself / herself.

  In the example of FIG. 6, voice input information corresponding to the user B's “Did you travel to Bali?” Is recorded as unit information in the second row shown in FIG. 5. That is, the utterance ID for identifying the utterance of the user B shown in FIG. 5 that identifies “Did you go to Bali for consecutive holidays?” Is “2”. And the utterance start time corresponding to the utterance ID “2” is “09:40:57 am on September 8, 2011”, and the voice input “Did you travel to Bali during the consecutive holidays?” Was accepted. Corresponds to time. Further, the utterance time corresponding to the utterance ID “2” is “12 seconds”, which corresponds to the time during which the voice input “Did you travel to Bali for consecutive holidays?” Continues. Furthermore, the speaker ID corresponding to the speech ID “2” is “0002”, which corresponds to a speaker ID indicating a speaker other than the user A (in this case, the user B).

  In the example of FIG. 6, voice input information corresponding to “Yes, it is ...” of user A shown in FIG. 5 is recorded as unit information on the third line. That is, the utterance ID for identifying “Yes, that is ...” indicating the utterance of the user A shown in FIG. 5 is “3”. Then, the utterance start time corresponding to the utterance ID “3” is “09:41:15 am on September 8, 2011”, and the voice input “Yes, that is…” was accepted. Corresponds to time. Further, the utterance time corresponding to the utterance ID “3” is “15 seconds”, which corresponds to the time during which the voice input of “Yes, that is ...” is continued. Furthermore, the speaker ID corresponding to the speech ID “3” is “0001”, which corresponds to the speaker ID indicating the user A himself / herself. The above is an example of specific contents of the voice analysis step S402 and the analysis result accumulation step S403 in FIG.

  Returning to FIG. 3 again, the description will be continued. The process for determining the current state of the user is periodically executed separately from the reception of the voice input. That is, the situation determination step S404 in FIG. 3 is performed every time a predetermined time has elapsed. In the situation determination step S404, the determination unit 203 refers to the voice input history information stored in the storage unit 206, and checks the presence or frequency of the utterance of the latest user A himself or another person.

  In the present embodiment, the determination unit 203 determines that the user A is “conversation” based on the presence or absence of utterance (whether or not utterance is started) and the utterance interval indicating the time elapsed since the end of the previous utterance. It is determined whether it is “medium”. Here, “in conversation” can be understood as a situation in which utterances are repeated at an utterance interval equal to or less than a threshold value. That is, even when it is detected that the utterance is started, the determination unit 203 does not determine that the conversation is in progress if the interval (utterance interval) from the immediately preceding utterance is larger than the threshold value. The determination unit 203 detects that the utterance has been started, and determines that it is “in conversation” if the utterance interval with the next utterance is equal to or less than the threshold value.

  When the determination unit 203 determines that the user A is not “conversing”, the current state of the user A (by using the current time, the schedule information of the user A, the position information of the user A, and the like) For example, “sleeping” and “working (message notification is possible)” can be determined in detail.

  Next, in accumulated information update step S405, the determination unit 203 records the situation information indicating the determination result of the situation determination step S404 in the storage unit 206. For example, in the situation determination step S404, when it is determined that the user A is “in conversation”, the determination unit 203 associates the situation information indicating “in conversation” with the time information indicating the determination time. It can also be recorded in the storage unit 206. Thereby, by referring to the situation information stored in the storage unit 206 and the corresponding time information, when the situation of the user A changes to “in conversation” and the situation of “in conversation” continues. It is also possible to grasp the length of time.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a processing operation when the information notification support apparatus 101 receives a message from the system main body 1001. First, in message reception step S <b> 501, the communication unit 204 receives a message from the system main body 1001. Here, it is assumed that the message (“the next conference is about to start”), which is exemplified in FIG. In this example, when the system main body 1001 transmits a message to the information notification support apparatus 101, the priority of the message (an index indicating the priority of the content of the message, the higher the value, the higher the priority. Therefore, in the message reception step S501, the communication unit 204 receives the message from the system main body 1001 and the importance level of the message.

  In the present embodiment, the above-described importance is classified into three levels, “high”, “medium”, and “low”. Also, the correspondence between the priority and importance of the message is set in advance. When the priority of a message to be transmitted to the information notification support apparatus 101 is equal to or higher than the first reference value, the system main body 1001 assigns an importance level indicating “high” to the message and sends it to the information notification support apparatus 101. Send. Further, when the priority of the message to be transmitted to the information notification support apparatus 101 is less than the first reference value, the system main body 1001 assigns the importance indicating “medium” or “low” to the message. It transmits to the information notification support apparatus 101. More specifically, the system main body 1001 indicates “medium” when the priority of the message to be transmitted to the information notification support apparatus 101 is equal to or higher than the second reference value smaller than the first reference value. The degree is given to the message and transmitted to the information notification support apparatus 101. Further, when the priority of the message to be transmitted to the information notification support apparatus 101 is less than the second reference value, the system main body 1001 assigns an importance level indicating “low” to the message and supports the information notification Send to device 101.

  In this example, since the priority corresponding to the message notifying that the next meeting starts is set to be equal to or higher than the second reference value and lower than the first reference value, the importance indicating “medium” is the message. To be granted.

  Next, in message related information acquisition step S502, the communication control unit 205 acquires information related to the message received in message reception step S501. More specifically, the communication control unit 205 determines the importance assigned to the received message, the sender of the request corresponding to the received message, the request transmission time indicating the time when the request corresponding to the received message was transmitted, etc. Get information about. Then, the communication control unit 205 passes the acquired information to the determination unit 203.

  Here, in this embodiment, for each process that can be executed by the system main body 1001, an audio pattern is set in advance to request execution of the process and to request transmission of a message indicating the processing result. . When a plurality of types of voice patterns are registered in the storage unit 206 and at least a part of the voice input received by the voice input unit 201 matches the voice pattern registered in the storage unit 206, the voice pattern A request corresponding to the pattern (user explicit request, referred to as “user request”) is transmitted to the system main body 1001. Then, the system main body 1001 executes the processing requested by the received user request, and transmits a message indicating the processing result to the information notification support apparatus 101. In addition, even when the system main body 1001 does not receive a user request from the information notification support apparatus 101, the system main body 1001 refers to the schedule information of the user A and reaches a predetermined time, and a message to be notified at the time Is transmitted to the information notification support apparatus 101. Here, according to the schedule information of the user A, the time for notifying the message and the content of the message are set in advance.

  The message notifying that the next meeting is started as exemplified in FIG. 5 is not a response to the user's explicit request (“user request”), but is notified by the system main body 1001 based on the schedule information of the user A The sender of the request corresponding to this message is “system”. Further, since there is no explicit request from the user, the request transmission time is also “none”.

  Returning to FIG. 4, the description will be continued. In the message type determination step S503, the determination unit 203 determines that the received message is previously stored based on the degree of association between the current situation of the user A and the received message and the importance assigned to the received message. It is determined which message type is a message of a plurality of defined message types. More specifically, it is as follows.

  First, a method for determining the degree of association between the current situation of user A and the received message will be described with reference to FIG. In the example of FIG. 7, in step S <b> 701, the determination unit 203 determines whether the received message is a response to the user request. When it is determined that the received message is not a response to the user request (the result of step S701: NO), the determination unit 203 indicates that the received message is some notification from the system main body 1001, and the current state of the user A It is determined that the message is unrelated to (step S702). In this case, the degree of association between the current status of user A and the received message is set to “none” indicating that the current status of user A and the received message are not related.

  On the other hand, when it is determined that the received message is a response to the user request (the result of step S701: YES), the determination unit 203 has issued the user request under the current situation of the user A. It is determined whether or not (step S703). More specifically, the determination unit 203 refers to the information recorded in the storage unit 206, and in the current situation of the user A indicated by the situation information, a user request corresponding to the received message is sent to the system main body 1001. It is determined whether it has been transmitted. For example, the current situation of the user A is “in conversation”, and a request explicitly issued by the user during the conversation is highly likely to be related to the content of the current conversation. For this reason, when the user request corresponding to the received message is transmitted to the system main body 1001 under the current situation of the user A (result of step S703: YES), the determination unit 203 determines that the received message is Then, it is determined that the message is related to the current situation of the user A (step S704). In this case, the degree of association between the current status of user A (the current status of user A indicated by the status information) and the received message indicates that the current status of user A and the received message are related. Set to “Yes”. On the other hand, if the user request corresponding to the received message has not been transmitted to the system main body 1001 under the current situation of the user A (result of step S703: NO), the determination unit 203 determines that the received message is The message is determined to be unrelated to the current situation of the user A (step S702).

  Since the message notifying that the next meeting starts illustrated in FIG. 5 is not a response to the user request, the result of step S701 in FIG. 7 is “NO”, and this message indicates the current status of the user A. And the degree of association between the current situation of user A and the received message is set to “none”.

  After determining the relevance between the current situation of user A and the received message as described above, the determination unit 203 determines the importance of the received message, the current situation of user A, and the received message. Is used to determine which message type is a message of a plurality of predefined message types. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a determination table used for message type classification, and this determination table is stored in the storage unit 206. The determination unit 203 determines the message type of the received message while referring to the determination table read from the storage unit 206. In the determination table of the example of FIG. 8, the message type ID for identifying the message type, the importance level of the message, the degree of association between the current situation of the user A and the received message, and the notification sound indicating that the message has been received. The notification sound type for identifying the type of message is associated with the message output timing for identifying the type of timing for outputting the message. As described above, the importance of the message illustrated in FIG. 5 indicating that the next meeting starts is “medium”, and the relevance between the current situation of the user A and the received message is “none”. The received message is determined to be a message of message type ID “4”. Then, the determination unit 203 passes the determination result obtained in the above message type determination step S503 to the communication control unit 205.

  Returning to FIG. 4 again, the description will be continued. In received message information accumulation step S504 after message type determination step S503, the communication control unit 205 records message information regarding the received message in the received message list of the storage unit 206. The message information includes, for example, a message ID for identifying the message, a reception time indicating the time when the message was received, a request sender that transmitted a request corresponding to the message, a message type ID, and the like.

  FIG. 9 is an example of the received message list. The received message list includes a message ID, a request sender, a request transmission time, a reception time, a message type ID, a message content, and a reception notification indicating whether or not a message has been received, Unit information associated with a content notification indicating whether or not a message content has been notified is sequentially registered and configured. In the example of FIG. 9, the message identified by the message ID “0003” is the latest message recorded in the received message information accumulation step S504 (the message illustrated in FIG. 5 indicating that the next meeting starts). Correspond. In addition, the communication control unit 205 notifies the output control unit 207 that a new message has been received.

  Returning to FIG. 4 again, the description will be continued. The message notification timing determination step S505 after the received message information accumulation step S504 is performed every time the output control unit 207 receives a notification from the communication control unit 205 that a new message has been received, or a predetermined period of time is set. It is executed every time. When receiving a notification that a new message has been received, the output control unit 207 refers to the determination table of FIG. 8 to determine the message type ID of the received message (the latest message type ID recorded in the received message list). ) Notification sound type and message output timing are determined. On the other hand, when the predetermined period of time has elapsed and the message notification timing determination step S505 is started, the output control unit 207 has not yet output the message in the received message list held in the storage unit 206. The message with the highest priority is selected from the incomplete messages and processed.

  Here, since it is assumed that the message illustrated in FIG. 5 indicating that the next meeting starts (“the next meeting will start soon”) is received, the message type ID of the received message is “ 4 ”, the output control unit 207 refers to the determination table of FIG. 8 and determines the notification sound type and message output timing corresponding to the message type ID“ 4 ”. In this example, the notification sound type is determined as “5”, and the message output timing is determined as “normal”. The notification sound of the notification sound type “5” corresponds to the sound “beep” in FIG.

  Next, in message reception notification step S506 in FIG. 4, the output control unit 207 controls the reception notification unit 208 to output the notification sound determined in the message notification timing determination step S505. In this example, the output control unit 207 controls the reception notification unit 208 to output a notification sound “beep” corresponding to the notification sound type “5” determined in the message notification timing determination step 505. As a result, a notification sound of “beep” is notified to the user, and the user A can recognize that the message has been received. In the present embodiment, the type of notification sound is made different for each type of received message (for each message type ID), in other words, the importance level of the received message and the current status and reception of user A Since the type of notification sound differs depending on the combination of the degree of relevance with the received message, the user A who has heard the notification sound receives the importance of the received message, the current status of the user A and the received message The degree of relevance can be predicted. In this example, the user A listens to a notification sound of “beep” corresponding to the notification sound type “5”, and understands that the message is received with a medium importance and unrelated to the current situation. it can. Here, when the user A wants to listen to the received message, the message can be output by delaying the start of the utterance and making a period for listening to the message. If you want to prioritize the conversation, you can postpone the message output by continuing the conversation without any delay.

  In a message output step S507 after the message reception notification step S506, first, the output control unit 207 determines whether or not the content of the received message can be output. For example, the output control unit 207 uses the status information stored in the storage unit 206 to determine whether or not the user A can listen to the message. More specifically, when the current status of user A indicated by the status information stored in the storage unit 206 is “conversation”, the output control unit 207 allows the user A to listen to the message. On the other hand, if the current status of the user A indicated by the status information is a status other than “conversation”, it can also be determined that the user A can listen to the message. Note that, as described above, the situation information indicates a determination result (determination result by the determination unit 203) based on the audio information stored in the storage unit 206. It can also be understood that the user A determines whether or not the situation is such that the message can be heard using the voice information stored in 206 (based on the voice information). When the output control unit 207 determines that the user A can listen to the message, the output control unit 207 controls the output unit 209 to output the content of the received message. In this example, the output control unit 207 controls the output unit 209 to output the message (“the next conference will start soon”) illustrated in FIG. 5 and indicating that the next conference will start.

  On the other hand, when the output control unit 207 determines that the user A cannot hear the message, the output control unit 207 determines the importance of the received message and the degree of association between the current situation of the user A and the received message. To control the timing of outputting the received message. More specifically, the output control unit 207 performs processing according to the message output timing corresponding to the received message. In the determination table illustrated in FIG. 8, there are three types of message output timings: “priority”, “normal”, and “delay”, and the message output timing corresponding to the received message is the importance of the received message. And the combination of the current situation of user A and the degree of relevance of the received message.

  As can be understood from FIG. 8, in the present embodiment, when the importance of the received message is “high”, that is, when the priority of the message is equal to or higher than the first reference value, The message output timing is set to “priority” regardless of the degree of association with the received message. Further, the importance level of the received message is “medium” or “low”, that is, the message priority is less than the first reference value, and the current status of the user A is related to the received message. In this case, the message output timing is set to “normal”. Further, if the received message has a low importance level, that is, if the message priority is less than the second reference value and the current status of the user A is not related to the received message, the message It can be understood that the output timing is set to “delay”. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the combination of the importance level of the received message and the degree of association between the current situation of the user A and the received message for determining the message output timing can be arbitrarily changed.

  In this example, when the importance level of the received message indicates “high”, the message output timing corresponding to the received message is “priority” regardless of the degree of association between the current situation of the user A and the received message. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, when the received message is related to the current situation of the user A, the message output timing corresponding to the received message is “regardless of the importance of the received message”. It may be set to “priority”. In other words, if the received message is a message to be notified with priority over the current conversation, the message output timing corresponding to the message may be set to “priority”. The combination of the importance of the received message and the degree of association between the current situation of the user A and the received message for determining the message output timing can be arbitrarily set. Further, for example, the message output timing corresponding to the received message may be determined according to only one of the importance of the received message and the degree of association between the current situation of the user A and the received message. Good. In short, when it is not a situation in which the user A can hear the message, the output control unit 207 may control the timing of outputting the message using the importance of the received message, The timing of outputting a message may be controlled using the degree of association between the situation and the received message.

  The message whose message output timing is “priority” is a message to be notified to the user A in preference to the current conversation. When the message output timing corresponding to the received message is “priority”, the output control unit 207 outputs the content of the received message even if a new utterance has already started (to output the message content). To control the output unit 209). In other words, in the present embodiment, the output control unit 207 determines that the user A cannot hear the message, and the received message priority is equal to or higher than the first reference value (the importance level of the received message is If “high”), a message is output regardless of the current situation of the user. In this case, the content of the message received from the system main body 1001 is notified to the user A in the form of interrupting the conversation. For example, in the message reception notification step S506, a notification sound type indicating that a message having priority over the conversation is received. A notification sound corresponding to “1” is notified to the user A, and it is made known in advance that the message having priority over the current conversation has also arrived at the conversation partner (for example, the user B). Thereby, it is possible to avoid the overlap between the conversation and the voice output of the message. For example, a notification sound is output so that it can be heard by the conversation partner, or a part of the information notification support apparatus 101 of the user A is lit, so that a message having priority over the current conversation reaches the user A. You can also notify the person you are talking to.

  The message whose message output timing is “normal” is a message that should be notified to the user A using the interval between conversations so as not to disturb the current conversation. When the message output timing corresponding to the received message is “normal”, the output control unit 207 delays the timing of outputting the received message (does not output the received message immediately). When the message output timing corresponding to the received message is “normal”, the output control unit 207 sets the output unit 209 to output the received message before the current state of the user A changes to another state. It is preferable to control. That is, the output control unit 207 determines that the user A cannot listen to the message, and the priority of the received message is less than the first reference value (the importance of the received message is “medium” or “ If the current status of user A is related to the received message, it is preferable to output a message before the current status of user A changes to another status. In the present embodiment, the output control unit 207, when a new utterance is not started during a predetermined period (a value smaller than the above-described utterance interval threshold) after the new utterance ends. The received message is output. On the other hand, the output control unit 207 does not output the received message when a new utterance is started after a predetermined period elapses after the new utterance ends. In this example, since the message output timing corresponding to the received message is “normal”, the output control unit 207 indicates that the next conference illustrated in FIG. 5 starts using the current conversation. The output unit 209 is controlled to output a message (“the next meeting will start soon”).

  The message whose message output timing is “delayed” is a message that may be notified to the user A after the current conversation ends. That is, the message may be notified to the user A after waiting for the user A to change to a situation where the message can be heard. When the message output timing corresponding to the received message is “delayed”, the output control unit 207 further delays the timing of outputting the received message as compared to the “normal” case. In the present embodiment, the output control unit 207 determines that the user A cannot listen to the message, and the message priority is less than the second reference value (the importance of the received message is “low”). If it indicates that the current situation of the user A is not related to the received message, the received message is output after the user A changes to a situation where the message can be heard. More specifically, the output control unit 207 determines that the conversation has ended when the length of time that has elapsed since the end of the utterance exceeds a threshold (the above-described threshold of the utterance interval). In this case, since the current situation of the user A is not “conversation”, the output control unit 207 determines that the user A has changed to a situation where the message can be heard, and outputs the received message. The output unit 209 is controlled.

  In the received message information update step S508 after the message output step S507 described above, the output control unit 207 records “reception notification” and “content notification” in the received message list held in the storage unit 206, so that Update the received message list. In the received message list illustrated in FIG. 9, the reception notification entry corresponding to the message ID “0003” that identifies the message indicating the start of the next conference illustrated in FIG. 5 has received the message. “OK” indicating that notification (notification of notification sound) has been performed is recorded. In the content notification entry corresponding to the message ID “0003”, “OK” indicating that the message content notification (message content output) has been performed is recorded. In the received message list, messages for which “OK” is not recorded in the “reception notification” or “content notification” entry are subjected to timing determination in the subsequent message notification timing determination step S505. Which message is targeted is determined according to a predetermined rule.

  As described above, in this embodiment, when a message from the system main body 1001 is received, the output control unit 207 first allows the user A to listen to the message using the voice information stored in the storage unit 206. It is determined whether or not the situation is possible. When it is determined that the user A can listen to the message, the output control unit 207 immediately outputs the received message, so that no waiting time elapses regardless of the current state of the user A. As long as the received message is not output, the user A can be notified of the message at an appropriate timing.

  On the other hand, if it is determined that the situation is not such that the user A can hear the message, the output control unit 207 determines the importance of the received message and the relevance between the current situation of the user A and the received message. The output unit 209 is controlled to output the received message according to the message output timing set accordingly. For example, when the message output timing corresponding to the received message is set to “priority” indicating that the message is output in preference to the current conversation, the output control unit 207 relates to the current situation of the user A. First, the received message is output immediately. Further, for example, when the message output timing corresponding to the received message is set to “normal” or “delay” indicating that the output of the message may be delayed, the output control unit 207 displays the received message Delay the output timing. That is, in this embodiment, the message is received by variably controlling the timing of outputting the message according to the importance of the received message and the degree of association between the current situation of the user A and the received message. There is an advantageous effect that the timing of notifying the user of the message can be appropriately controlled.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, a second embodiment will be described. In the present embodiment, whether the message received from the system main body 1001 is related to the current situation of the user A by performing speech recognition processing on the speech received by the speech input unit 201 and converting it to text. This is different from the first embodiment described above in that it can be determined in more detail. Hereinafter, although it demonstrates centering on difference with 1st Embodiment, about the element which has the same function as 1st Embodiment, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected and the overlapping description is abbreviate | omitted suitably.

  FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of the information notification support apparatus according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 10, the information notification support apparatus is different from the first embodiment in that it further includes a voice recognition unit 310. The speech recognition unit 310 converts the input speech received by the speech input unit 201 into text by performing speech recognition processing, and registers the text obtained by the speech recognition processing in the storage unit 206. For example, time information (for example, the time when the utterance is started and the time when the utterance is ended) indicating the time when the utterance was performed and the text obtained by the speech recognition processing are associated with each other sequentially (time series). The configuration may be registered in the storage unit 206.

  Assume that the current situation of user A indicated by the situation information stored in the storage unit 206 is “conversation”. In this case, the determination unit 311 compares the received message with the text indicating the current conversation content stored in the storage unit 206 in the message type determination step S503 described above, and a predetermined keyword matches. It is determined whether or not. If the predetermined keyword matches, it is determined that the current conversation content is related to the received message.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining an example of a method by which the determination unit 311 determines the degree of association between the received message and the current situation of the user A. First, a case where the sender of the user request is the user himself (user A in this example) will be described. As illustrated in FIG. 11, the determination unit 311 indicates that the sender of the user request is the user himself and the timing at which the user request is issued (timing at which the user request is transmitted to the system main body 1001) is the current situation of the user A. If the current conversation content is related to the received message, it is determined that the received message is related to the current situation of the user A. In addition, the determination unit 311 is that the sender of the user request is the user himself / herself, the timing at which the user request is issued is under the current situation of the user A, and the current conversation content and the received message are related. If not, it is determined that the received message is not related to the current situation of user A.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 11, the determination unit 311 is configured so that the sender of the user request is the user himself / herself, and the timing at which the user request is issued indicates a situation before the current situation of the user A. If the current conversation content is related to the received message, it is determined that the received message is related to the current situation of the user A. In addition, the determination unit 311 indicates that the sender of the user request is the user himself / herself, the timing at which the user request is issued is under the previous situation of the user A, and the current conversation content and the received message are related. If not, it is determined that the received message is not related to the current situation of user A.

  Next, a case where the sender of the user request is a system (in this example, the system main body 1001) will be described. In this case, the timing at which the user request is issued is the timing at which the system main body 1001 transmits a message to the information notification support apparatus 101 (that is, the timing at which the information notification support apparatus 101 receives a message from the system main body 1001). ). The determination unit 311 is a case where the sender of the user request is a system, the timing when the user request is issued is under the current situation of the user A, and the current conversation content is related to the received message Determines that the received message is related to the current situation of user A. Further, the determination unit 311 is that the sender of the user request is the system, the timing at which the user request is issued is under the current situation of the user A, and the current conversation content is related to the received message. If not, it is determined that the received message is not related to the current situation of user A.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 11, the determination unit 311 is a system in which the sender of the user request is the system, the timing when the user request is issued is under the previous situation of the user A, and the current conversation content and reception If the received message is related, it is determined that the received message is related to the current situation of the user A. In addition, the determination unit 311 is that the sender of the user request is the system, the timing when the user request is issued is under the previous situation of the user A, and the current conversation content is related to the received message. If not, it is determined that the received message is not related to the current situation of user A.

  In short, if the determination unit 311 determines that the current state of the user A is “conversation” and the current conversation content is related to the received message, the determination unit 311 It is determined that the current situation is related.

  In the present embodiment, for each process that can be executed by the system main body 1001, a keyword or key phrase (text) indicating that the process is requested to be executed and a message indicating the result of the process is requested is stored in advance. Is set. More specifically, text data of a plurality of types of keywords (or key phrases) is registered in the storage unit 206. If at least a part of the recognition result of the input speech received by the speech input unit 201 (result of speech recognition processing by the speech recognition unit 310) matches the keyword registered in the storage unit 206, the keyword is included in the keyword. A corresponding request (user explicit request, “user request”) is transmitted to the system main body 1001. Then, the system main body 1001 executes the processing requested by the received user request, and transmits a message indicating the processing result to the information notification support apparatus.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, each above-mentioned embodiment was shown as an example and is not intending limiting the range of invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. These embodiments and modifications thereof are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalents thereof.

  The information notification support apparatus of the present invention may be an apparatus including at least the analysis unit 202, the determination unit 203, the storage unit 206, the output control unit 207, and the output unit 209 among the above-described functions. For example, the system main body described above includes at least an analysis unit 202, a determination unit 203, a storage unit 206, an output control unit 207, and an output unit 209, thereby functioning as the information notification support apparatus of the present invention. Also good.

  The information notification support apparatus described above has a hardware configuration including a CPU (Central Processing Unit), ROM, RAM, and a communication I / F device. The voice input unit 201, the communication unit 204, and the storage unit 206 described above are hardware elements, while the analysis unit 202, the determination unit 203, the communication control unit 205, the output control unit 207, the reception notification unit 208, and the output unit described above. The function 209 is realized by the CPU developing and executing a program stored in the ROM on the RAM. In addition, the present invention is not limited to this, and at least some of the functions of the analysis unit 202, the determination unit 203, the communication control unit 205, the output control unit 207, the reception notification unit 208, and the output unit 209 described above may be configured as individual circuits (hardware). ).

  The program executed by the information notification support apparatus described above may be provided by being stored on a computer connected to a network such as the Internet and downloaded via the network. The program executed by the information notification support apparatus described above may be provided or distributed via a network such as the Internet. Further, the program executed by the information notification support apparatus described above may be provided by being incorporated in advance in a ROM or the like.

1 System 101 Information Notification Support Device 102 Information Notification Support Device 201 Voice Input Unit 202 Analysis Unit 203 Determination Unit 204 Communication Unit 205 Communication Control Unit 206 Storage Unit 207 Output Control Unit 208 Reception Notification Unit 209 Output Unit 310 Voice Recognition Unit 311 Determination Unit 1001 System body 1002 System body

Claims (16)

A determination unit that determines whether or not the user can listen to the message using at least one of the user's voice information, situation information, or position information;
When it is determined that the user is not in a situation where the message can be heard, the timing of outputting the message is controlled based on whether the user's current situation is related to the message. An output control unit for
Information notification support device. When it is determined that the user is not in a situation where the user can hear the message, the output control unit uses a relevance level indicating whether the current situation of the user is related to the message. To control the timing of outputting the message,
The information notification support apparatus according to claim 1. When it is determined that the user is not in a situation where the user can hear the message, the output control unit outputs the message, the degree of importance determined according to the priority of the message, and the message With reference to the correspondence table in which the timing is associated in advance, the user's current situation and the degree of association between the received message and the importance of the received message are used to receive the received Control when messages are output,
The information notification support apparatus according to claim 2. When the output control unit determines that the user can hear the message, the output control unit performs control to output the message.
The information notification support apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3. When the priority is equal to or higher than the first reference value, the output control unit causes the output unit to output the message to output the message regardless of the current situation of the user, while the priority is the first reference value. If it is less than one reference value, the output unit delays the output timing of the message,
The information notification support apparatus according to claim 3. A storage unit for storing the history of the voice information;
The determination unit determines the current situation of the user using the voice information stored in the storage unit, stores the situation information indicating the determination result in the storage unit,
The output control unit is determined not to be a situation in which the user can hear the message, the priority is less than a first reference value, and the current situation of the user indicated by the situation information When the received message is related, the message is output to an output unit that outputs the message before the current status of the user changes to another status.
The information notification support apparatus according to claim 3. The output control unit is determined not to be in a situation where the user can hear the message, the priority is less than a second reference value lower than the first reference value, and the user's current If the situation is not related to the received message, the message is output to the output unit after the user changes to a situation where the message can be heard.
The information notification support device according to claim 6. In the determination unit, the received message is a response to a user request indicating a request from the user, the current status of the user indicated by the status information is in conversation, and in the middle of the conversation If the user request has been issued, determine that the current status of the user is associated with the received message;
The information notification support device according to claim 6 or 7. A speech recognition unit that performs speech recognition processing on the input speech and registers the text obtained by the speech recognition processing in the storage unit;
When the current status of the user indicated by the status information is in conversation, the determination unit compares the text indicating the current conversation content with the message, thereby comparing the current conversation content of the user. Determining whether the message is associated with the message;
The information notification support device according to claim 6. The determination unit determines that the current conversation content of the user is related to the message when a predetermined keyword is included in each of the text indicating the current conversation content and the message. ,
The information notification support apparatus according to claim 9. A receiving unit for receiving the message from an external device;
A reception notifying unit for notifying the user that the message has been received when the receiving unit receives the message;
The information notification support apparatus according to claim 3. The notification pattern by the reception notification unit varies depending on the degree of association.
The information notification support apparatus according to claim 11. The notification pattern by the reception notification unit is different depending on the importance.
The information notification support apparatus according to claim 12. An analysis unit for analyzing the input voice and identifying the voice information indicating information related to the utterance;
The information notification support apparatus according to claim 1. Using at least one of the user's voice information, status information or location information to determine whether the user can hear the message;
When it is determined that the user is not in a situation where the message can be heard, the timing of outputting the message is controlled based on whether the user's current situation is related to the message. To
Information notification support method. Computer
Determination means for determining whether or not the user can listen to the message using at least one of the user's voice information, status information, or position information;
When it is determined that the user is not in a situation where the message can be heard, the timing of outputting the message is controlled based on whether the user's current situation is related to the message. Function as output control means
Information notification support program.

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