JP2017033226A - Aroma generation apparatus, aroma generation method, aroma learning server, aroma generation system and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an aroma generation apparatus, etc. capable of generating appropriate aroma according to a situation of a user.SOLUTION: An aroma generation apparatus 1 is configured to: when a predetermined aroma generation time comes (step S1), determine a user situation based on biological information and/or peripheral environment information determined by a sensor (step S2); decide aroma information according to the determined user situation (step S3); and generate aroma based on the decided aroma information (step S4). Thus, appropriate aroma can be generated according to the user situation.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

  The present invention relates to a scent generating device that generates a scent, and more particularly to a scent generating device that generates a scent according to a user's situation.

  The olfactory sense is the only one of the five senses that is directly connected to the limbic system that creates emotions, and it is said that the “scent” directly affects emotions such as human mood. Physiological and psychological effects of these scents on human beings are attracting attention, and scents are being used in various situations.

  For example, conventionally, a system for generating a scent having a desired effect has been proposed. In Patent Literature 1, the terminal receives information on a scent having a desired effect from a server connected via a network, and generates a scent having an “effect of calming annoyance” based on the received information. An aromatherapy system that generates a scent having an effect of inducing a sleep is disclosed.

  In recent years, fragrance has begun to be used as a means of building corporate brand images and as a means of sales promotion. For example, by directing the entrance of a company with a scent developed based on the company's brand image, the company's brand image is impressed by visitors, or space production is performed with a scent in a product sales area of a department store, etc. Some attempts have been made to promote purchasers' desire to purchase.

JP 2010-257126 A

  However, none of the means for generating the scent described above takes into account the user's situation such as the mood and physical condition of the user who actually smells the scent. Therefore, the intended effect may not be obtained depending on the user's situation, and the generated scent may change the user's mood.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a scent generating device or the like that generates an appropriate scent according to a user's situation.

According to a first aspect of the present invention for achieving the above-described object, the storage unit that stores the user situation and the scent information in association with each other, the determination unit that determines the user situation, and the storage unit, the user situation A scent generating apparatus comprising: a determining unit that determines scent information according to the scent; and a generating unit that generates a scent based on the determined scent information.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, a scent generating device that generates an appropriate scent according to a user's situation is provided.

In the first invention, the determination means may determine a user situation when a predetermined scent occurrence time comes.
Furthermore, a means for learning the association between the scent occurrence time and the user situation based on the scent occurrence time and the user situation determined by the judgment means, and the judgment means performs the association. You may make it judge a user condition with reference.
Thus, when a predetermined scent occurrence time such as a preset time or a timing when a person is detected is reached, the user situation is determined. In addition, by learning the association between the scent generation time and the user situation, the user learns what kind of situation the user tends to become, and generates an optimal scent based on the learned tendency Can be made.

Moreover, in 1st invention, based on the selection means which makes a user select fragrance information, the user situation judged by the said judgment means, and the fragrance information selected by the said selection means, a user situation and fragrance information Means for learning association, and the determining means may determine the scent information with reference to the association.
Accordingly, it is possible to learn what kind of fragrance the user tends to select in what kind of situation, and to generate an optimal fragrance based on the learned tendency.

In the first invention, the determining means may determine the user situation based on the biological information of the user, or may determine the user situation based on the surrounding environment information of the user. Good.
Accordingly, the user situation can be determined based on biological information such as body temperature and heart rate, and surrounding environment information such as room temperature and humidity.

The second invention for achieving the above-mentioned object refers to a step of associating and storing a user situation and scent information in a storage unit, a step of determining a user situation, and referring to the storage unit, A scent generating method comprising: determining scent information according to the user status; and generating a scent based on the determined scent information.
According to the second invention, there is provided a scent generating method for generating an appropriate scent according to the user's situation.

According to a third aspect of the invention for achieving the above-described object, the computer refers to the storage unit that holds the user status and the scent information in association with each other, the determination unit that determines the user status, and the storage unit. It is a program characterized by functioning as determining means for determining scent information according to the user situation and generating means for generating scent based on the determined scent information.
By installing the program according to the third invention in a computer, the scent generating device according to the first invention can be obtained.

A fourth invention for achieving the above-described object is a scent learning server connected to a plurality of scent generation devices via a network, and the scent generation time and user status transmitted from the plurality of scent generation devices And receiving means for receiving learning data in which the scent information is associated with, and learning means for learning the correspondence between the scent occurrence time, the user situation, and the scent information based on the received learning data. It is a characteristic scent learning server.
According to the fourth aspect of the invention, learning data is collected from a plurality of scent generating devices connected via a network, and it is learned what kind of situation and what kind of scent tends to be selected. A scent learning server is provided.

4th invention WHEREIN: The said receiving means further receives the attribute information of the user transmitted from the said fragrance generating apparatus, The said learning means matches the fragrance generating time, the user situation, and the fragrance information for each attribute. May be learned.
Thereby, the tendency can be learned for each attribute.

  A fifth invention for achieving the above-described object is a scent generating system comprising a scent learning server connected to a plurality of scent generating devices via a network, wherein the scent generating device includes a scent generating time and a user. A storage unit that holds learning data in which a situation and scent information are associated with each other, a transmission unit that transmits the learning data to the server, a scent occurrence time learned by the server, a user situation, and scent information. And generating means for generating a scent, wherein the server receives learning data in which a scent generation time, a user situation, and scent information transmitted from the scent generating device are associated with each other. A scent generation system comprising: learning means for learning association between scent generation time, user status, and scent information based on the learned data A.

  According to the fifth aspect of the invention, the scent learning server collects learning data from a plurality of scent generating devices connected via a network, and the user selects what kind of situation and what kind of scent. There is provided a scent generation system that learns whether or not there is a tendency to scent and the scent generation device generates an optimal scent based on the learned tendency.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the scent generator etc. which generate | occur | produce an appropriate scent according to a user's condition are provided.

Hardware configuration diagram of the scent generator 1 The figure which shows the scent generation schedule 30 The figure which shows the fragrance selection table 40 The flowchart which shows the fragrance generation process of the fragrance generator 1 The flowchart which shows the learning process of the fragrance generator 1 (A) The figure which shows the situation learning table 60 (b) The figure which shows the fragrance learning table 70 System configuration diagram of scent generation system 10 Hardware configuration diagram of the scent learning server 5 The flowchart which shows the learning process of the fragrance generation system 10 (A) The figure which shows the situation learning table 80 (b) The figure which shows the fragrance learning table 90 The flowchart which shows the fragrance generation process of the fragrance generation system 10 The figure which shows another structure of the fragrance generating apparatus 1

[First Embodiment]
First, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  The first embodiment relates to a scent generating apparatus 1 that generates a scent, and particularly relates to a scent generating apparatus 1 that generates a scent according to a user situation. The user situation is obtained by quantifying the state of the user's mood, physical condition and the like based on biological information such as the user's body temperature and heartbeat, and surrounding environment information such as room temperature and humidity. In the present invention, it is possible to create a suitable scent space considering the user situation by judging the user situation and generating an appropriate scent according to the user situation.

<Hardware configuration of scent generator 1>
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the scent generating apparatus 1. As shown in FIG. 1, the scent generating device 1 includes a control unit 11, a storage unit 12, a communication control unit 13, an input unit 14, a display unit 15, a peripheral device I / F unit 16, a scent cartridge 17, and a scent discharge unit 18. Are connected via the bus 21. One or more sensors 19 are connected to the peripheral device I / F unit 16.

  The control unit 11 is a microcomputer or the like, and a program for controlling each unit mounted on the scent generating apparatus 1 is incorporated in advance, and executes all processes of the scent generating apparatus 1 described later.

The storage unit 12 is, for example, a RAM (Random Access Memory) or an external memory such as a memory card.
The storage unit 12 holds a “scent generation schedule 30”, a “scent selection table 40”, and the like, which will be described later.

  The communication control unit 13 has a communication control terminal, a communication port, and the like, and is a communication interface that mediates communication between the scent generating device 1 and the network, and controls data communication with other computers and the like via the network. Do.

The input unit 14 is, for example, an input device such as a touch panel or an operation button, and the user can perform setting input of various information, operation instructions, and the like to the scent generating device 1 via the input unit 14. .
For example, setting of fragrance generation time, selection of fragrance information, setting and adjustment of fragrance generation amount, setting of fragrance release time, and the like can be performed.

The display unit 15 includes a display device such as a liquid crystal panel and a logic circuit or the like (video adapter or the like) for realizing a video function of the computer in cooperation with the display device. The input unit 14 and the display unit 15 may be integrated like a touch panel display.
The display unit 15 displays, for example, the user status, information on the scent being generated (scent name and type, utility, etc.), the remaining component amount of the scent cartridge 17, and the like.

  The peripheral device I / F (interface) unit 16 is a port for connecting the fragrance generating device 1 and peripheral devices such as the sensor 19, and performs data communication via the peripheral device I / F unit 16. The peripheral device I / F unit 16 includes a USB, HDMI (registered trademark), MHL, earphone microphone connector, and the like. The connection form with the peripheral device may be wired or wireless.

The scent cartridge 17 includes a plurality of scent component tanks that store a plurality of scent components. Each scent component tank is filled with each scent component (essential oil) such as “lavender”, “ylang ylang”, “bergamot”, “jasmine”,. The scent cartridge 17 is preferably detachable from the scent generator 1.
The scent discharge unit 18 is connected to each scent component tank of the scent cartridge 17 through an introduction path, and generates a desired scent by introducing each scent component from each scent component tank and blending it at an appropriate blending ratio. And discharged to the outside of the scent generator 1.

  The sensor 19 is one or a plurality of sensors that measure the user's biological information and the user's surrounding environment information. For example, as a sensor for measuring a user's biological information, a temperature sensor that measures body temperature, a heart rate (pulse) sensor that measures a heart rate (pulse), a sweat sensor that measures the amount of sweat, an acceleration sensor that measures body movement, and the like. Can be adopted. In addition, a blood flow sensor, a blood glucose level sensor, an electrocardiogram sensor, a respiration sensor, or the like may be employed.

In addition, as a sensor that measures the user's surrounding environment information, a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, an image sensor that captures a surrounding image, a microphone that captures surrounding sounds, and the like can be employed.
The sensor data measured by the sensor 19 is stored in the storage unit 12 via the peripheral device I / F unit 16, and the control unit 11 acquires the sensor data from the storage unit 12 and analyzes it to determine the user situation. .
As the sensor 19 for measuring biological information, a sensor mounted on a wearable device may be used. In this case, the control unit 11 receives sensor data measured by the sensor 19 mounted on the wearable device by short-range wireless communication such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) and stores the data in the storage unit 12.

  Next, the “scent generation schedule 30” and the “scent selection table 40” held in the storage unit 12 of the scent generating device 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.

<Scent generation schedule 30>
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a “scent generation schedule 30” that holds a “scent generation time”. “Scent generation time” refers to the time when the scent generation device 1 starts the scent generation process. In the case of the figure, the “scent generation schedule 30” includes “time t ₁
The fragrance generation time is held as “time t ₂ ” “time t ₃ ”.

  The “scent generation time” can be arbitrarily set in advance by the user via the input unit 14. For example, “specific date and time” can be set such as “October 1, 2015 PM 22:00”, “Today PM 22:00”, and the like. In addition, “periodic date and time” such as “every Friday PM 23:00”, “every day PM 23:00” can be set. Also, a “time interval” from the scent occurrence start time to the scent occurrence end time can be set like “Today's PM 22: 00 to PM 23:00”. When the scent generation time is set in the “time interval”, the scent generation device 1 generates the scent when the scent generation start time is reached, and ends the generation of the scent when the scent generation end time is reached.

  In addition, if the scent generating device 1 has a general-purpose calendar function (for example, Google (registered trademark) calendar), the event time (event start time and end time) registered in the calendar by synchronizing with the calendar. The “scent generation time” can be set based on the above. Moreover, it is also possible to synchronize with the “scent generation time” set in the other scent generating device 1 by connecting to the other scent generating device 1 via a network.

<Aroma selection table 40>
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a “scent selection table 40” that holds “user status” and “scent information” in association with each other. In the case of the figure, in the “scent selection table 40”, each scent information (“scent A” “scent B”...) Is associated with each user situation (“situation 1” “situation 2”...). Is retained. The scent generating apparatus 1 can determine appropriate scent information according to the user situation by referring to the “scent selection table 40”. A plurality of scent information may correspond to one user situation. For example, in the case of FIG. 3, “situation 3” corresponds to two scent information {“scent C” “scent D”}.

As described above, the “user situation” is a quantification of the state of the user such as mood and physical condition. For example, the user's tension state is “high tension”, “medium tension”, “low tension”, the user's blood pressure state is “high blood pressure”, “low blood pressure”, and the user's body temperature state is “low heat”, “normal heat”, “ It is quantified such as "low body temperature" and room temperature in the room such as "high temperature", "appropriate temperature", and "low temperature". The quantified user situation is registered in the “scent selection table 40” in association with the scent information suitable for the situation.

The “scent information” includes information related to the scent suitable for each user situation, and includes, for example, “scent identification information”, “component composition information”, “scent generation control information”, “utility information”, and the like.
Of these, “scent identifying information” is information for identifying the scent to be generated. The control unit 11 can uniquely specify the scent to be generated with reference to the “scent specifying information”.
The “component blending information” is information on the blending ratio of each scent component (essential oil) for generating the scent specified by the “scent specifying information”. The controller 11 can generate the scent specified by the “scent specifying information” by blending each scent component at an appropriate blending ratio with reference to the “component blending information”.

The “scent generation control information” is a set value for controlling the generation of scent, and includes information such as “scent generation amount” and “scent release time”. The “scent generation amount” is a discharge amount of a scent released from the scent discharge unit 18 per unit time, and is related to the strength of the scent. The “scent release time” is the time from the start of scent generation to the stop. These setting values are preferably set to appropriate values according to the user situation.
The “utility information” is information related to the effect of fragrance (effect of reducing tension / anxiety, effect of inviting sleep, effect of enhancing concentration, etc.).

  In addition, although the appropriate fragrance information corresponding to a user condition is preset by default, a user can change fragrance information arbitrarily via the input part 14, or in addition to the fragrance information set by default itself You can additionally set your favorite fragrance information.

<Aroma generation processing of the aroma generator 1>
Next, with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 4, operation | movement of the fragrance generation process of the fragrance generator 1 is demonstrated.
Here, it is assumed that the scent generating apparatus 1 is turned on and activated. In addition, it is assumed that the sensor 19 is wirelessly or wired connected to the scent generating device 1 so that the user's biological information and / or surrounding environment information can be measured.

  First, the control unit 11 of the scent generating apparatus 1 waits for processing until a predetermined “scent generating time” is reached (step S1). When the control unit 11 determines that the predetermined “scent generation time” has been reached (step S1; YES), the process proceeds to a process of determining the user situation (step S2).

For example, when the current time is any “scent generation time” held in the “scent generation schedule 30”, the control unit 11 proceeds to step S2. Taking FIG. 2 as an example, the control unit 11 proceeds to step S2 when the fragrance generation time is any one of “time t ₁ ”, “time t ₂ ”, “time t ₃ ”,.
Further, as described above, when the “scent generation time” is set in the “time section” from the scent generation start time to the scent generation end time, the process proceeds to step S2 when the “scent generation start time” is reached. If the “scent generation start time” has already passed, it is determined whether or not the current time is within the set time interval, and if it is within the time interval, the process similarly proceeds to step S2.

  The “scent generation time” is not limited to the time set in advance in the “scent generation schedule 30”. For example, the timing at which the scent generating device 1 detects a person can be set as the “scent generating time”. Specifically, the control unit 11 sequentially measures sound data with a microphone (sensor 19) connected via the peripheral device I / F unit 16, and the size of the sound data exceeds a predetermined threshold value. The timing may be the timing at which a person is detected, that is, the “scent generation time”.

  Alternatively, the timing at which the control unit 11 sequentially acquires image data by the image sensor (sensor 19) connected via the peripheral device I / F unit 16 and detects a person from the image data by the image processing technique is “ It can also be referred to as “scent generation time”. As described above, when the scent generating apparatus 1 detects a person, the process may proceed to step S2.

  The timing at which the control unit 11 receives a user operation via the input unit 14 may be a “scent generation time”. The user operation is, for example, an operation of pressing a “scent generation start button” (not shown) of the scent generation apparatus 1.

  When the control unit 11 detects the “scent generation time” by various means as exemplified above, the control unit 11 proceeds to step S2.

Subsequently, the control unit 11 of the scent generating apparatus 1 determines the user situation based on the biological information and / or the surrounding environment information (step S2).
Specifically, the control unit 11 determines the user situation by acquiring and analyzing biological information such as the user's heartbeat, body temperature, and sweating amount measured by the sensor 19. Alternatively, the user situation is determined by acquiring and analyzing the surrounding environment information of the user such as room temperature and humidity measured by the sensor 19. Further, the user situation may be determined using both the biological information and the surrounding environment information.

As an example, a case will be described in which the user's tension state (user situation) is determined based on the heart rate measured by the heart rate sensor (sensor 19). It is assumed that the user's tension state (user situation) is quantified and registered in the scent generator 1 in advance as “high tension”, “medium tension”, and “low tension”.
First, the control unit 11 measures the heart rate for a predetermined time by the heart rate sensor (sensor 19), and evaluates the degree of tension based on the measured heart rate. The tension is, for example, the difference from the average heart rate in normal times (measured heart rate-average heart rate in normal times) or the ratio to the average heart rate in normal times (measured heart rate / average heart rate in normal times) ) Etc. It is assumed that the average heart rate in normal times is registered in the scent generator 1 in advance. Then, based on the evaluated degree of tension, it is determined whether the user's tension state (user situation) belongs to “high tension level”, “medium tension level”, or “low tension level”. User status).

If a user situation is judged in Step S2, then control part 11 will determine fragrance information according to a user situation (Step S3).
Specifically, the control unit 11 refers to the “scent selection table 40” held in the storage unit 12 and determines the scent information corresponding to the user situation determined in step S2.

  For example, it is assumed that the user situation determined in step S2 is “situation 2”. In this case, the control unit 11 refers to the “scent selection table 40” illustrated in FIG. 4 and determines “scent B” corresponding to “situation 2” as appropriate scent information.

  As described above, there may be a plurality of scent information corresponding to the user situation. In this case, although the control part 11 may select and determine any fragrance information automatically, you may make a user select desired fragrance information by accepting user operation. For example, in FIG. 4, when the user situation is “situation 3”, there are two types of corresponding scent information {“scent C” “scent D”}. In this case, the control unit 11 displays a selection screen (not shown) for selecting either “scent C” or “scent D” on the display unit 15. Then, by selecting “scent C” or “scent D” by the user operation from this selection screen, the scent information is uniquely determined.

  Moreover, the control part 11 may determine fragrance information by making a user's favorite fragrance information select by user operation, without referring to the "fragrance selection table 40" at all. In this case, after determining the user situation in step S <b> 2, the control unit 11 displays a selection screen (not shown) for allowing the user to select arbitrary scent information on the display unit 15. And fragrance information is determined by selecting a desired fragrance by user operation from this selection screen. In this way, the scent information may be determined based on the user's preference.

In step S4, the control unit 11 of the scent generating apparatus 1 generates a desired scent based on the scent information determined in step S3.
Specifically, the control unit 11 refers to “component blending information” included in the scent information, acquires an appropriate blending ratio of each scent component for generating a desired scent, and based on the obtained blending ratio. Then, each scent component of the scent cartridge 17 is blended and discharged to the outside of the scent generator 1 through the scent discharge unit 18.

  In addition, the structure which mix | blends a fragrance component and produces | generates and generates a desired fragrance is well-known, For example, it is disclosed by Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 2010-257126. The present invention is not particularly limited with respect to means for generating a scent, and a desired scent can be generated and generated using a method disclosed in the above document or other existing methods.

In step S4, the controller 11 can automatically control the amount of scent generated by various means.
For example, the generation of scent may be automatically controlled based on the above-described “scent generation control information”. In other words, referring to the “scent generation amount” included in the scent generation control information, the scent generation amount is automatically controlled according to the user situation, or “scent release time” included in the scent generation control information is referred to. And the timing which stops generation | occurrence | production of fragrance can be automatically controlled according to a user condition.

Moreover, based on the biometric information of the sensor 19 acquired from time to time, the scent generation amount and the timing for stopping the scent generation may be automatically controlled in real time. For example, when it is determined from the heart rate data that the user is in a high tension state, the amount of scent generation is controlled to be increased, while when the user is determined to be in a relaxed state, the amount of scent generation is decreased. Can be controlled. When a scent is generated during sleep, the user's body movement is observed by the acceleration sensor (sensor 19), and when the body movement is large (when it is estimated that the person is not in a sleep state), the amount of scent generation On the other hand, when the body movement is small (when it is estimated that the patient is in a sleep state), the amount of scent can be controlled to be small.
Moreover, after determining that the user has entered the sleep state from the biometric information, when a predetermined time has elapsed (for example, when 1 hour has elapsed after sleep), control may be performed to automatically stop the generation of scent.

It is not always necessary to automatically control the generation of the scent. For example, the “scent generation amount” is manually increased or decreased by rotating a “generation amount adjustment knob” (not shown) provided in the scent generation apparatus 1. It may be adjusted, or the generation of the scent may be manually stopped by pressing a “scent stop operation button” (not shown) provided in the scent generator 1.
In addition, when the “scent generation time” is set in advance in the “time interval” from the scent generation start time to the scent generation end time, such as “Today PM22: 00 to PM23: 00”, the scent generation time ends. When time is reached (in the above example, when PM23: 00 is reached), the generation of fragrance is stopped.
As described above, the generation of scent can be controlled by various means.

  The first embodiment has been described above. The scent generating apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment determines the user situation based on the biological information and / or the surrounding environment information (step S2) when the predetermined scent occurrence time is reached (step S1), and the determined user situation. Is determined (step S3), and a scent is generated based on the determined scent information (step S4). Thereby, it is possible to generate an appropriate scent according to the user situation, and to create a suitable scent space considering the user situation. In addition, you may make it generate | occur | produce optimal fragrance, determining a user condition in real time by repeatedly performing the process of step S2-step S4.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, the scent generating apparatus 1 according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
The scent generating apparatus 1 according to the second embodiment learns the association between “scent occurrence time” and “user situation” and the association between “user situation” and “scent information”, and the learning result Based on the above, a scent is automatically generated.

The hardware configuration of the scent generating apparatus 1 is the same as the hardware configuration of the scent generating apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment (see FIG. 1).
However, it is assumed that “study data” in which “scent generation time”, “user situation”, and “scent information” when a scent is generated in the past is stored in the storage unit 12 is stored. In addition, it is desirable to delete the learning data used for the learning process from the storage unit 12 after the learning process to be described later is executed. Thereby, only the learning data which has not always been subjected to the learning process is held in the storage unit 12.

<Learning process of scent generator 1>
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the learning process of the scent generating apparatus 1. This process may be executed each time during or after execution of the scent generation process (see the flowchart of FIG. 4) in the first embodiment, or may be executed as a separate process independent of the scent generation process. Good.

  First, in step S <b> 11, the control unit 11 of the scent generating apparatus 1 learns the association between “scent generation time” and “user status” based on the learning data held in the storage unit 12 and performs “situation learning”. Table 60 "is created. If learning processing has already been performed in the past, the created “situation learning table 60” is learned and updated.

  Further, in step S12, the control unit 11 of the scent generating apparatus 1 learns the association between the “user situation” and the “scent information” based on the learning data held in the storage unit 12, and the “scent learning table”. 70 "is created. Here, the “scent information” used for learning is not the scent information determined by referring to the “scent selection table 40” in which the scent information is set by default, but the scent information selected by the user via the input unit 14. It is desirable to be. As a result, the user's preference is reflected to the maximum in the “scent learning table 70”. As in step S11, when the learning process has already been executed in the past, the created “fragrance learning table 70” is learned and updated.

  6A shows the learned “situation learning table 60”, and FIG. 6B shows the learned “scent learning table 70”. As shown in the figure, the “situation learning table 60” learns and holds the probability that each user situation is determined with respect to the scent occurrence time, and the “scent learning table 70” stores each probability for each user situation. The probability that scent information is selected is learned and maintained. With the “situation learning table 60” and the “scent learning table 70”, the three pieces of information “scent occurrence time”, “user situation”, and “scent information” are stochastically associated.

<Aroma generation processing of the aroma generator 1>
Since the flow of the scent generating process of the scent generating apparatus 1 is similar to the case of the first embodiment (see FIG. 4), the operation will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, in step S <b> 1, the control unit 11 of the scent generating apparatus 1 waits for processing until a predetermined “scent generating time” is reached. And the control part 11 will transfer to step S2, if it becomes predetermined | prescribed "fragrance generation | occurrence | production time" (step S1; YES). Here, the predetermined “fragrance generation time” is any fragrance generation time of the learned “situation learning table 60”. For example, in the case of FIG. 6A, when the fragrance generation time is any one of “time T ₁ ”, “time T ₂ ”, “time T ₃ ”,...

Subsequently, in step S <b> 2, the control unit 11 refers to the learned “situation learning table 60” and determines a “user situation” corresponding to the “scent occurrence time”. For example, if the scent occurrence time is “time T ₁ ” in FIG. 6A, the control unit 11 can determine “situation 1” having the highest probability as the user situation. Or you may determine a user situation according to each probability of each user situation. That is, the user situation may be determined so that “situation 1”, “situation 2”, and “situation 3” are selected with a probability of 50%, 40%, and 10%, respectively.

  Subsequently, in step S <b> 3, the control unit 11 refers to the learned “scent learning table 70” and determines “scent information” corresponding to the “user situation”. For example, if the user situation determined in step S2 is “situation 1”, “scent A” having the highest probability is determined as scent information with reference to the “scent learning table 70” in FIG. it can. Or you may determine fragrance information according to each probability of each fragrance information similarly to the case of step S2. That is, the scent information may be determined so that “scent A”, “scent B”, and “scent C” are selected with a probability of 70%, 20%, and 10%, respectively.

  In step S4, the control unit 11 of the scent generating apparatus 1 generates a desired scent based on the scent information determined in step S3.

  As described above, according to the second embodiment, what kind of situation the user tends to become and what kind of fragrance tends to be selected in what kind of situation. Learning, based on the learning result, the user situation is judged and the scent information is determined. Thereby, based on the user's tendency accumulated in the past, it is possible to determine the user situation and determine the scent information. Further, since there is no need to perform measurement by the sensor 19, convenience is improved.

  In the second embodiment, both the “situation learning table 60” and the “scent learning table 70” are learned in the learning process, and the scent is generated by referring to both learning tables in the scent generation process. However, only one of the learning tables may be learned and referenced.

  For example, when only the “situation learning table 60” is learned, the processing (step S1 and step S2) until the user situation is determined is performed with reference to the learned “situation learning table 60” to determine the scent information. The process (step S3) follows the process of the first embodiment. On the other hand, when only the “scent learning table 70” is learned, the processing (step S1 and step S2) until the user situation is determined is processing (step S3) for determining scent information according to the processing of the first embodiment. ), The scent information is determined with reference to the learned “scent learning table 70”.

  In the second embodiment, the “situation learning table 60” and the “scent learning table 70” are created as separate learning tables, but “scent occurrence time”, “user situation”, and “scent information” 3 One learning table in which two pieces of information are associated may be learned and created. Further, the association between “scent generation time” and “scent information” may be learned.

[Third Embodiment]
Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

<Schematic diagram of fragrance generation system 10>
FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of a scent generating system according to the third embodiment. As shown in the figure, in the scent generating system 10 according to the second embodiment, a plurality of scent generating devices 1 (1a, 1b, 1c,...) Are connected to a scent learning server 5 via a network 7. Composed.

  The scent learning server 5 learns learning tables by collecting learning data sequentially transmitted from the plurality of scent generating devices 1. In particular, the third embodiment is characterized in that the user's tendency is learned for each attribute by including “attribute information 50” in the learning data. Thereby, each scent generator 1 can generate an optimal scent based on a learning result corresponding to each attribute.

<Hardware configuration of scent learning server 5>
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the scent learning server 5. As shown in the figure, the scent learning server 5 includes a control unit 51, a storage unit 52, a communication control unit 53, an input unit 54, a display unit 55, and a peripheral device I / F unit 56 connected via a bus 59. Yes.

  The controller 51 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and the like.

  The CPU calls and executes a program stored in the ROM, the storage unit 52, and the like in the work memory area on the RAM, drives and controls each device connected via the bus 59, and realizes processing performed by the computer.

The storage unit 52 stores a program executed by the control unit 51, data necessary for program execution, an OS (Operating System), and the like. The program is a processing program of the scent generating system 10 according to the second embodiment. The program code is read by the control unit 51 as necessary, transferred to the RAM, and executed by the CPU.
The storage unit 52 holds a “situation learning table 80”, a “scent learning table 90”, and the like which will be described later.

  The communication control unit 53 includes a communication control device, a communication port, and the like, and controls communication with the scent generating device 1 performed via the network 7.

The input unit 54 inputs data and includes, for example, a keyboard, a pointing device such as a mouse, and an input device such as a numeric keypad.
The display unit 55 is a display device such as a CRT monitor or a liquid crystal panel.

The peripheral device I / F unit 56 is a port for connecting peripheral devices, and is configured by USB, IEEE1394, RS-232C, or the like, and the connection form may be wired or wireless.
The bus 59 is a path that mediates transmission / reception of control signals, data signals, and the like between the devices.

The hardware configuration of the scent generating apparatus 1 is the same as the hardware configuration of the scent generating apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment (see FIG. 1).
However, “attribute information 50” is held in the storage unit 12 of each scent generating device 1. The attribute information 50 is information that categorizes users such as the gender, age / age, blood type, nationality, occupation, community (a group that shares specific information) of the user of the scent generating device 1, Location information and surrounding weather information.

  Thereby, in the third embodiment, the tendency for each attribute can be reflected in the learning result. For example, trends by age such as “woman in 20s”, “woman in 30s”, etc., trends by nationality such as “Japanese”, “Chinese”, “Korean”, etc., “sunny”, “cloudy” The tendency for each weather such as “rain”, the tendency for each location information (region) such as “Tokyo”, “Hokkaido”, “Okinawa”, etc. can be reflected in the learning result. And each user of each scent generation device 1 can generate an optimal scent based on a learning result according to his / her attribute.

  Similarly to the second embodiment, the storage unit 12 stores learning data that associates “scent generation time”, “user status”, and “scent information” when a scent is generated in the past. It is assumed that

<Learning process of scent generation system 10>
The operation of the learning process of the scent generating system 10 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, in step S <b> 51, the control unit 11 of each scent generating device 1 transmits learning data together with the attribute information 50 to the scent learning server 5. Subsequently, in step S52, the scent learning server 5 receives learning data transmitted from the scent generating device 1. In step S53, the received learning data is learned for each attribute based on the attribute information 50, and the “situation learning table 80” and “study of association between“ scent occurrence time ”and“ user situation ”are stored. It is reflected in the “scent learning table 90” that holds the association between the “user status” and “scent occurrence information”.

  The learning process described above is executed every time learning data is transmitted from the scent generating apparatus 1, and the “situation learning table 80” and the “scent learning table 90” are learned and updated each time.

  FIG. 10A shows the learned “situation learning table 80”, and FIG. 10B shows the learned “scent learning table 90”. As shown in the figure, the “situation learning table 80” learns and holds the probability that each user situation is judged with respect to the scent occurrence time for each attribute, and the “scent learning table 90” contains each attribute. In addition, the probability that each scent information is selected for the user situation is learned and held. With the “situation learning table 80” and the “scent learning table 90”, the three pieces of information “scent occurrence time”, “user situation”, and “scent information” are stochastically associated.

<Scent generation processing of the scent generation system 10>
Next, with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 11, the operation example of the fragrance generation process of the fragrance generation system 10 is demonstrated. In FIG. 11, a certain scent generating device 1 receives a learning table ("situation learning table 80" and "scent learning table 90") learned by the scent learning server 5, and generates a scent based on this learning table. An example is shown.

  First, the control unit 11 of the scent generating apparatus 1 requests the scent learning server 5 for a learning table corresponding to the attribute information 50 (step S61). The control unit 51 of the scent learning server 5 receives the request (step S62), and acquires a learning table corresponding to the attribute information 50 from the storage unit 52 (step S63). For example, when the attribute information of the scent generating device 1 is “attribute α”, the learning table of “attribute α” out of the “situation learning table 80” and the “scent learning table 90” in FIG. 10 is extracted and acquired. And the control part 51 of the fragrance learning server 5 transmits the learning table of the acquired "attribute (alpha)" with respect to the fragrance generator 1 (step S64). The control unit 11 of the scent generating apparatus 1 receives the learning table (step S65), and executes the scent generating process with reference to the received learning table (step S66). The scent generation process in step S66 is substantially the same as that in the second embodiment, and thus the details are omitted. However, in the second embodiment, the “scent generation device 1” learns from the second embodiment. On the other hand, in the third embodiment, the “scent learning server 5” learns based on the learning table (“situation learning table 60” and “scent learning table 70” in FIG. 6). The scent generation process is executed based on the learned tables ("situation learning table 80" and "scent learning table 90" in FIG. 10).

  As described above, according to the scent generating system according to the third embodiment, the scent learning server 5 collects learning data from a plurality of scent generating devices connected via a network and learns the user's tendency. And the fragrance generator 1 generates the optimal fragrance based on the learned tendency. In particular, in the third embodiment, since the tendency described above is learned for each attribute, the user of each scent generating device 1 can generate an optimal scent based on a learning result corresponding to his / her attribute. Further, since there is no need to perform measurement by the sensor 19, convenience is improved.

  As in the second embodiment, only the “situation learning table 80” or “scent learning table 70” may be learned and referenced. In addition, “situation learning table 80” and “scent learning table 90” are created as separate learning tables, but three information of “scent occurrence time”, “user situation”, and “scent information” are associated with each other. One learning table may be learned and created. Further, the association between “scent generation time” and “scent information” may be learned.

  The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited to such examples. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes or modifications can be conceived within the scope of the technical idea disclosed in the present application, and these naturally belong to the technical scope of the present invention. Understood.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 12, the scent generating device 1 may be composed of a “control device 2” and a “scent generator 3” specialized in the function of generating a scent. In this case, the control apparatus 2 is implement | achieved by a general purpose smart phone, a tablet terminal, etc. The hardware configuration of the control device 2 is equivalent to the configuration in which the scent cartridge 17 and the scent discharge unit 18 are removed from the hardware configuration of FIG. On the other hand, the scent generator 3 includes a scent cartridge 17 and a scent discharge part 18. Other configurations are substantially the same as the hardware configuration in FIG. 1 except for the sensor 19. The outline of the operation of the scent generation process is as follows. First, when the predetermined scent occurrence time is reached, the control device 2 determines the user situation based on the biological information and / or the surrounding environment information measured from the sensor 19, and determines the scent information according to the determined user situation. Subsequently, the control device 2 transmits the determined scent information to the scent generator 3 by short-range wireless communication such as Bluetooth (registered trademark). Then, the scent generator 3 generates a desired scent based on the received scent information.

  Moreover, you may operate the fragrance generating apparatus 1 so that it may cooperate with other air conditioners, such as an air conditioner and a humidifier / dehumidifier. For example, the user status is determined by the temperature sensor (sensor 19) according to the temperature in the room, the scent according to the user status is generated, and the air conditioner is controlled so that the room has an appropriate temperature. Further, the user situation is determined by the humidity sensor (sensor 19) according to the humidity in the room, and a scent according to the user situation is generated, and the air conditioner is controlled so that the room has appropriate humidity. Thus, it is also possible to provide a more suitable space for the user by linking the scent generating apparatus 1 and another air conditioning apparatus.

  Further, the scent generating apparatus 1 may be linked with a content reproducing apparatus that reproduces music or video, a lighting apparatus, or the like. For example, music or video such as BGM may be reproduced while generating a scent by cooperating with a content reproduction apparatus. In this case, it is desirable that the content reproduction apparatus reproduces the type of music or video suitable for the user situation at a volume suitable for the user situation. Moreover, you may generate | occur | produce a fragrance, lighting up illumination by making it cooperate with an illuminating device. In this case as well, it is desirable that the lighting device illuminates a type of illumination suitable for the user situation with a light intensity suitable for the user situation. In this way, by linking the scent generating device 1 with the content reproduction device or the lighting device, it is possible to produce a space with an auditory effect or a visual effect in addition to the olfactory effect due to the scent.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1; Fragrance generating apparatus 5; Fragrance learning server 7; Network 10; Fragrance generation system 30; Fragrance generation schedule 40; Fragrance selection table 50; Attribute information 60, 80; Situation learning table 70, 90;

Claims (11)

A storage unit that associates and holds user status and scent information;
A determination means for determining a user situation;
Deciding means for deciding fragrance information according to the user situation with reference to the storage unit;
A generating means for generating a scent based on the determined scent information;
A scent generating device comprising: The scent generation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines a user situation when a predetermined scent generation time is reached. Means for learning the association between the scent occurrence time and the user situation based on the scent occurrence time and the user situation judged by the judgment means;
The scent generating apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the determining unit determines a user situation with reference to the association. Selection means for allowing the user to select scent information;
Means for learning the association between the user situation and the scent information based on the user situation judged by the judgment means and the scent information selected by the selection means;
The scent generating apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the determining unit determines scent information with reference to the association. The scent generating apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the determination unit determines a user situation based on a user's biological information. The scent generating apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the determining unit determines a user situation based on the surrounding environment information of the user. A step of associating the user situation with the scent information in the storage unit;
A step of determining a user situation;
Determining the scent information according to the user situation with reference to the storage unit;
A generation step for generating a scent based on the determined scent information;
A method for generating a scent characterized by comprising Computer
A storage unit that associates and holds user status and scent information;
A determination means for determining a user situation;
Deciding means for deciding fragrance information according to the user situation with reference to the storage unit;
Based on the determined scent information, generating means for generating a scent,
A program characterized by making it function. A scent learning server connected to a plurality of scent generating devices via a network,
Receiving means for receiving learning data associating scent generation time, user status and scent information transmitted from the plurality of scent generating devices;
Based on the received learning data, learning means for learning the correspondence between the scent occurrence time, the user situation, and the scent information;
A scent learning server comprising: The receiving means further receives user attribute information transmitted from the scent generating device,
The scent learning server according to claim 9, wherein the learning unit learns a correspondence between a scent occurrence time, a user situation, and scent information for each attribute. A scent generation system comprising a scent learning server connected to a plurality of scent generation devices via a network,
The scent generator is
A storage unit for storing learning data in which the scent occurrence time, the user situation, and the scent information are associated;
Transmitting means for transmitting the learning data to the server;
Based on the association between the scent generation time learned by the server, the user situation, and the scent information, generating means for generating a scent,
With
The server
Receiving means for receiving learning data in which the scent generation time, the user status, and the scent information transmitted from the scent generating device are associated;
Based on the received learning data, learning means for learning the association between the scent occurrence time, the user situation, and the scent information;
A fragrance generating system characterized by comprising:

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