JP2018123989A - Thermal comfort device and control content determination method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a thermal comfort device capable of achieving thermal comfort suitable for an individual user.SOLUTION: A thermal comfort device 100 includes: a first acquisition unit 110 for acquiring first indoor environment information; a determination unit 120 for (i) determining control content of equipment 500 for performing indoor environment control for thermal comfort from the first indoor environment information according to a control content determination rule or for (ii) determining the control content of the equipment 500 randomly; an output unit 130 for outputting the control content; a second acquisition unit 140 for acquiring comfort information which shows comfort of a user indoors; and an update unit 150 for updating the control content determination rule based on the first indoor environment information and the comfort information. The determination unit 120 selects the determination of (ii) with the probability ε.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a thermal comfort apparatus and a control content determination method for determining a control content of a device that performs inside climate control for thermal comfort.

  Conventionally, a system has been proposed that realizes energy saving and thermal comfort by controlling the operating condition of the floor air conditioning based on the detection result of the human sensor and controlling the operating condition of the underfloor air conditioning based on the time schedule data. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

JP2015-117929A

  However, in the prior art, since the operating condition of the air conditioner is controlled based on a predetermined time schedule or the like, even if a comfortable indoor environment can be provided for one user, it is uncomfortable for another user. There are cases in which only a comfortable indoor environment can be provided. That is, it is difficult for the conventional technology to realize thermal comfort adapted to individual users.

  Therefore, the present invention provides a thermal comfort device capable of realizing thermal comfort adapted to individual users and a control content determination method for thermal comfort.

  A thermal comfort apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention includes: a first acquisition unit that acquires first indoor environment information; and (i) control content of a device that performs indoor environment control for thermal comfort according to a control content determination rule. A determination unit that determines from the first indoor environment information, or (ii) a determination unit that randomly determines the control content of the device, an output unit that outputs the determined control content, and a comfort that indicates the comfort of the user indoors A second acquisition unit that acquires sex information; and an update unit that updates the control content determination rule based on the first indoor environment information and the comfort information, and the determination unit has the probability ε Select decision (ii).

  A control content determination method for thermal comfort according to one aspect of the present invention includes: a first acquisition step of acquiring first indoor environment information; and (i) indoor environment control for thermal comfort according to a control content determination rule. The control content of the device to be determined is determined from the first indoor environment information, or (ii) a determination step of randomly determining the control content of the device, an output step of outputting the determined control content, and an indoor user A second acquisition step of acquiring comfort information indicating comfort, and an update step of updating the control content determination rule based on the first indoor environment information and the comfort information, the determination step Then, the determination of (ii) is selected with probability ε.

  Note that these comprehensive or specific modes may be realized by a recording medium such as a system, an integrated circuit, a computer program, or a computer-readable CD-ROM, and the system, the integrated circuit, the computer program, and the recording medium. You may implement | achieve in arbitrary combinations.

  The thermal comfort apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention can realize thermal comfort adapted to individual users.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the thermal comfort system according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a neural network in the thermal comfort apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of a plurality of control contents in the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing processing of the thermal comfort apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a graphical user interface for inputting comfort information according to the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the thermal comfort apparatus according to the second embodiment. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of a plurality of control contents and notice difficulty level information in the second embodiment. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing processing of the thermal comfort apparatus according to the second embodiment. FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the thermal comfort apparatus according to the third embodiment. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing processing of the thermal comfort apparatus according to the third embodiment.

  Hereinafter, embodiments will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.

  It should be noted that each of the embodiments described below shows a comprehensive or specific example. Numerical values, shapes, materials, components, arrangement positions and connection forms of components, steps, order of steps, and the like shown in the following embodiments are merely examples, and are not intended to limit the scope of the claims. In addition, among the constituent elements in the following embodiments, constituent elements that are not described in the independent claims indicating the highest concept are described as optional constituent elements.

  Each figure is a mimetic diagram and is not necessarily illustrated strictly. Moreover, in each figure, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected about the same or similar component and process step.

(Embodiment 1)
[Configuration of thermal comfort system]
First, the overall configuration of the thermal comfort system will be described. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a thermal comfort system 10 according to the first embodiment. The thermal comfort system 10 according to the present embodiment includes a thermal comfort apparatus 100, a sensor 200, an input device 300, a control device 400, and a device 500.

  The thermal comfort device 100 determines the control content for the device 500 and outputs the control content to the control device 400. Details of the thermal comfort device 100 will be described later.

  The sensor 200 detects an indoor environment and outputs the detection result as indoor environment information. Indoor environment information is information on the environment in a partitioned space. Specifically, the indoor environment information is, for example, information related to indoor temperature, humidity, or airflow controlled by the device 500.

  The input device 300 receives comfort information indicating indoor comfort from a user. For example, the input device 300 is a smartphone and a tablet computer, and receives comfort information input via a touch display. For example, the input device 300 may be a microphone. In this case, the input device 300 receives voice input from the user. For example, the input device 300 may be a mechanical push button, a keyboard, a mouse, or the like.

  The control device 400 controls the device 500 based on the control content output from the thermal comfort device 100. Specifically, the control device 400 transmits a control signal corresponding to the control content to the device 500. The control device 400 may be built in the device 500.

  The device 500 performs indoor environment control for thermal comfort. Specifically, the device 500 performs indoor air conditioning. The device 500 is, for example, an air conditioner, an air cleaner, a ventilation fan, a fan, or floor heating. In the present embodiment, the case where the device 500 includes a plurality of types of devices will be described. However, the device 500 may be a single device.

[Configuration of thermal comfort device]
Next, a detailed configuration of the thermal comfort device 100 will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the thermal comfort apparatus 100 includes a first acquisition unit 110, a determination unit 120, an output unit 130, a second acquisition unit 140, and an update unit 150.

  The thermal comfort apparatus 100 is realized by, for example, a processor and a memory. For example, when the processor executes a software program stored in the memory, the processor functions as the first acquisition unit 110, the determination unit 120, the output unit 130, the second acquisition unit 140, and the update unit 150. Further, the thermal comfort device 100 may be realized as one or more dedicated electronic circuits corresponding to the first acquisition unit 110, the determination unit 120, the output unit 130, the second acquisition unit 140, and the update unit 150.

  The first acquisition unit 110 acquires indoor environment information (first indoor environment information) from the sensor 200. For example, the first acquisition unit 110 acquires indoor environment information by processing the output signal of the sensor 200.

  The determination unit 120 (i) determines the control content of the device 500 from the indoor environment information according to the control content determination rule, or (ii) determines the control content of the device 500 at random. That is, the determination unit 120 selectively executes one determination from among a plurality of determinations including the determination of (i) and the determination of (ii). At this time, the determination unit 120 selects the determination of (ii) with the probability ε. ε is a predetermined value larger than 0 and smaller than 1. For example, the determination unit 120 selects the determination of (i) with a probability of 1−ε, and selects the determination of (ii) with a probability of ε.

  The control content determination rule is represented by, for example, a neural network for estimating the value of each of a plurality of control content from indoor environment information. The control content determination rule is stored in a storage unit (not shown). Details of the neural network will be described later with reference to FIG.

  The output unit 130 outputs the control content determined by the determination unit 120. Here, the output unit 130 outputs the control content to the control device 400.

  The second acquisition unit 140 acquires comfort information indicating the comfort of the user indoors. This comfort information includes information input from the user via the input device 300. For example, the second acquisition unit 140 acquires a value indicating the comfort of the indoor environment input by the user from the input device 300.

  Further, for example, the second acquisition unit 140 may acquire the comfort information by receiving a voice signal from the input device 300 and detecting a predetermined keyword by voice recognition. The predetermined keyword is a predetermined keyword indicating the comfort of the user. For example, the predetermined keyword is “hot” or “cold”.

  The update unit 150 updates the control content determination rule used by the determination unit 120 based on the indoor environment information acquired by the first acquisition unit 110 and the comfort information acquired by the second acquisition unit 140. Specifically, the update unit 150 updates the values of the plurality of control contents using a value based on the comfort information as a reward. Then, the updating unit 150 updates a neural network parameter (for example, weight w) based on the updated value. That is, the update unit 150 learns the determination of the control content adapted to the user by reinforcement learning based on the values of the plurality of control content.

[Description of neural network]
Here, the neural network in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a neural network in the thermal comfort device 100 according to the first embodiment. This neural network is a multi-layer artificial neural network and is a mathematical model for estimating the value Qai of a plurality of control contents ai (i = 1 to n) in the environment s indicated by the indoor environment information.

[Specific examples of control contents]
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of a plurality of control contents in the first embodiment. Here, the case where the apparatus 500 includes an air conditioner and floor heating will be described.

  The plurality of control contents a1 to an are a plurality of control contents sets including a plurality of control contents of a plurality of devices. For example, the control content a1 includes the wind power “weak” of the air conditioner, the target temperature “25 degrees Celsius” of the air conditioner, and the target temperature “25 degrees Celsius” of the floor heating. The value of each of the plurality of control contents a1 to an in the environment s is estimated by a neural network.

[Operation of thermal comfort device]
Next, the operation of the thermal comfort device 100 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing processing of the thermal comfort apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment. This process is periodically executed at predetermined time intervals, for example. Further, for example, this process may be executed according to a predetermined time schedule, or may be executed based on an instruction from the user.

  First, the first acquisition unit 110 acquires indoor environment information (S110). The determination unit 120 estimates the value of each control content from the indoor environment information based on the neural network (S120).

  Subsequently, the determination unit 120 performs branch processing using the probability ε (S130). Here, the determination unit 120 selects the determination (i) with a probability of 1−ε, and selects the determination (ii) with a probability of ε.

  Here, when the determination of (ii) is selected (ε in S130), the determination unit 120 determines the control content at random (S140). That is, the determination unit 120 randomly selects a control content from among a plurality of control details. In other words, the determination unit 120 determines the control content without depending on the value estimated based on the neural network.

  On the other hand, when the determination of (i) is selected (1-ε of S130), the determination unit 120 determines the control content based on the estimated value (S150). For example, the determination unit 120 selects the control content having the highest value from the plurality of control contents.

  The output unit 130 outputs the control content determined in step S140 or step S150 (S160). Thereby, the apparatus 500 is controlled based on the determined control content.

  Thereafter, the second acquisition unit 140 acquires comfort information (S170). For example, when the input device 300 includes a display, the second acquisition unit 140 acquires a value indicating the comfort of the user indoors via a graphical user interface (GUI) as illustrated in FIG. In the GUI of FIG. 5, the comfort value is input using a slider, but it is not necessary to be limited to this. The GUI may include a text box in which a numerical value is directly input, a numerical value increase / decrease button, or a combination thereof.

  Subsequently, the updating unit 150 updates the values of the plurality of control contents based on the indoor environment information and the comfort information (S180). At this time, a value based on the comfort information is used as a reward in reinforcement learning. The value based on the comfort information is a value indicating comfort, for example, a value that increases as the comfort increases.

  Furthermore, the update unit 150 updates the parameters of the neural network based on the updated value (S190). That is, the update unit 150 learns the parameters of a neural network having a plurality of layers by inputting the value of each updated control content as a teacher signal.

  So-called deep reinforcement learning is performed by internally repeating the processes in steps S180 and S190. The deep reinforcement learning is not particularly limited, and a conventional technique may be used. Therefore, detailed description of the deep reinforcement learning is omitted.

  In addition, acquisition of comfort information does not need to be performed every time the content of control is determined. That is, step S170 may be skipped. In this case, the update unit 150 may learn the value of each control content using a predetermined value (for example, 0) as a reward.

[effect]
As described above, the thermal comfort device 100 according to the present embodiment performs the indoor environment control for thermal comfort according to the first acquisition unit 110 that acquires the first indoor environment information and (i) the control content determination rule. The control content of the device 500 to be determined is determined from the first indoor environment information, or (ii) the determination unit 120 that randomly determines the control content of the device 500, the output unit 130 that outputs the determined control content, The determination unit 120 includes a second acquisition unit 140 that acquires comfort information indicating user comfort, and an update unit 150 that updates the control content determination rule based on the first indoor environment information and the comfort information. Selects the decision of (ii) with probability ε.

  With this configuration, the update unit 150 can update the control content determination rule based on the comfort information. Therefore, the thermal comfort device 100 can learn the control content determination rule suitable for improving the user's comfort, and can realize the thermal comfort adapted to each user. Furthermore, since the determination unit 120 selects a random determination with the probability ε, the optimal control content can be searched without being bound by the current control content determination rule. That is, the thermal comfort apparatus 100 can balance the exploration and the use of the learning result, and can effectively update the control content determination rule.

  Moreover, in the thermal comfort apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, the control content determination rule is represented by a neural network for estimating the value of each of the plurality of control content from the indoor environment information, and the update unit 150 is configured to provide comfort. A value based on information is used as a reward to update the values of a plurality of control contents, and the parameters of the neural network are updated based on the updated values.

  With this configuration, so-called deep reinforcement learning can be applied to the thermal comfort device 100, and the thermal comfort device 100 can construct a control content determination rule more suitable for the user. As a result, the thermal comfort device 100 can realize thermal comfort suitable for individual users.

  Moreover, in the thermal comfort apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, the second acquisition unit 140 may acquire comfort information by detecting a utterance of a predetermined keyword by voice recognition.

  With this configuration, the thermal comfort device 100 can reduce the burden of input of user comfort information, and can improve user convenience.

(Embodiment 2)
Next, a second embodiment will be described. In the second embodiment, one or more control contents are extracted from a plurality of control contents based on the degree of difficulty of noticing indicating difficulty of the user noticing a change in the control contents, and the extracted one or more control contents The main difference from the first embodiment is that the control content is randomly determined from the above. The second embodiment will be described below with a focus on differences from the first embodiment.

[Configuration of thermal comfort device]
A detailed configuration of the thermal comfort device according to the second embodiment will be described. FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the thermal comfort device 100A according to the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 6, the thermal comfort device 100A includes a first acquisition unit 110, a determination unit 120A, an output unit 130, a second acquisition unit 140, an update unit 150A, and a detection unit 160A.

  120 A of determination parts determine the control content of the apparatus which performs indoor environment control for thermal comfort from indoor environment information according to (i) control content determination rules, or (ii) determine the control content at random. Here, in the case of (ii), the determining unit 120A refers to the notice difficulty level information, and randomly determines the control contents from one or more control contents that satisfy the predetermined condition.

  The notice difficulty level information is information in which a notice difficulty level is associated with each of a plurality of control contents. The notice difficulty level is a value indicating the difficulty of the user noticing the change in the control content. For example, the difficulty level information is a table in which a value representing the difficulty level of the user is associated with each of a plurality of control contents. The difficulty level information is stored in a storage unit (not shown).

  The predetermined condition is a condition for determining a control content that is difficult for the user to notice the change. For example, the predetermined condition is that the value of the difficulty level of awareness is larger than a predetermined threshold value.

  For example, the determination unit 120A refers to the difficulty level information and extracts one or more control contents having a value of the difficulty level of awareness that is larger than the threshold from a plurality of control contents. And the determination part 120A determines a control content at random from the extracted 1 or more control content.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of a plurality of control contents and notice difficulty level information in the second embodiment. In FIG. 7, each control content is defined by a relative value (amount of change) with respect to the previous control content. For example, the control content a2 indicates that the wind power of the air conditioner is “5 increase”, the target temperature of the air conditioner is “no change”, and the target temperature of the floor heating is “1 degree increase”. The degree of difficulty in recognizing this control content a2 is “50”.

  160 A of detection parts detect whether the user noticed the change of the control content. That is, when the control content is randomly determined, the detection unit 160A determines whether or not the user has noticed a change in the control content due to the determination. For example, when the user instructs to change the control content manually, the detection unit 160A detects that the user has noticed the change in the control content. The user's manual control content instruction indirectly indicates that the user feels uncomfortable in the indoor environment. Therefore, the detection unit 160A can detect whether or not the user is uncomfortable by randomly determining the control content.

  The update unit 150A updates the control content determination rule based on the indoor environment information and the comfort information as in the first embodiment. The update unit 150A according to the present embodiment further updates the notice difficulty level information based on the detection result by the detection unit 160A when the control content is randomly determined. For example, when it is detected that the user has noticed a change in the control content, the updating unit 150A decreases the value of the difficulty level of noticing the determined control content. On the other hand, for example, when it is not detected that the user has noticed a change in the control content, the update unit 150A increases the value of the degree of difficulty in recognizing the determined control content.

[Operation of thermal comfort device]
Next, the operation of the thermal comfort apparatus 100A configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing processing of the thermal comfort apparatus 100A according to the second embodiment.

  When the determination of (ii) is selected in step S130 (ε of S130), the determination unit 120A extracts one or more control contents from a plurality of control contents based on the notice difficulty level information (S132A). . For example, the determination unit 120A refers to the notice difficulty level information of FIG. 7, and the control contents having a notice difficulty level value larger than a predetermined threshold (for example, 50) from among the plurality of control contents a1 to an. (Eg, a1, a2) are extracted.

  Then, the determination unit 120A randomly determines the control content from the extracted control content (S140A).

  Thereafter, Steps S160 to S190 are executed, and if the control content is not determined at random (No in S192A), the process is terminated as it is. On the other hand, when the control content is determined at random (Yes in S192A), the detection unit 160A detects whether the user has noticed a change in the control content (S194A). The update unit 150A updates the notice difficulty level information based on the detection result by the detection unit 160A (S196A).

[effect]
As described above, in thermal comfort device 100A according to the present embodiment, determination unit 120A indicates the difficulty of the user noticing a change in control content for each of a plurality of control details in a random determination. With reference to the difficulty level information associated with the difficulty level of awareness, the control content is randomly determined from one or more control content conditions that satisfy the predetermined level of difficulty level of awareness.

  With this configuration, the determination unit 120A can reduce the possibility that the user will notice a change in the control content when the control content is randomly determined. That is, the determination unit 120 </ b> A can suppress the determination of the control content that causes discomfort to the user in the random determination.

  Moreover, the thermal comfort apparatus 100A according to the present embodiment further includes a detection unit 160A that detects whether or not the user has noticed a change in the control content, and the update unit 150A has a control content that is randomly determined. Further, the notice difficulty level information is updated based on the detection result by the detection unit 160A.

  With this configuration, the update unit 150A can update the difficult-to-understand information based on the detection result of whether or not the user has noticed the change in the control content, and can improve the difficult-to-see information. Therefore, the determination unit 120A can further suppress the determination of the control content that causes discomfort to the user in the random determination.

(Embodiment 3)
Next, Embodiment 3 will be described. In the third embodiment, one or more control contents are extracted from a plurality of control contents based on a response time which is a time until the control contents are reflected in the indoor environment, and the extracted one or more control contents The main difference from Embodiment 1 is that the contents of control are determined at random from the inside. The third embodiment will be described below with a focus on differences from the first embodiment.

[Configuration of thermal comfort device]
A detailed configuration of the thermal comfort device according to the third embodiment will be described. FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the thermal comfort device 100B according to the third embodiment. As shown in FIG. 9, the thermal comfort apparatus 100B includes a first acquisition unit 110, a determination unit 120B, an output unit 130, a second acquisition unit 140, and an update unit 150B.

  The determination unit 120B determines (i) the control content of the device that performs indoor environment control for thermal comfort from the indoor environment information according to the control content determination rule, or (ii) randomly determines the control content. Here, in the case of (ii), the determination unit 120B refers to the response time information, and randomly determines the control content from one or more control details that satisfy the predetermined condition.

  The response time information is information for deriving the time (hereinafter referred to as response time) until each control content is reflected in the indoor environment for each of the plurality of control details. The response time information is stored in a storage unit (not shown). For example, the response time information indicates a function for each control element included in a plurality of control contents. In this case, for example, the response time T when changing from the control content ax to the control content ay is derived according to the following Equation 1.

  Here, i is a value for identifying each control element included in the control content. For example, when i is “1”, the wind power of the air conditioner is indicated, when i is “2”, the target temperature of the air conditioner is indicated, and when i is “3”, the target temperature of the floor heating is indicated. axi and ayi are values (for example, wind power value and target temperature) indicating the control contents of the control elements included in the control contents ax and ay, respectively. fi is the response time function for the control element identified by i. For example, f1 is a function for deriving the response time of the wind power of the air conditioner.

  For example, the response time information defines the function fi so that a short response time is derived for a change in wind power and a long response time is derived for a change in target temperature.

  The predetermined condition is a condition for determining a control content with a short response time. For example, the predetermined condition is that the response time is smaller than a predetermined threshold time.

  Specifically, the determination unit 120B refers to response time information, for example, and extracts one or more control contents having a response time smaller than the threshold time from a plurality of control contents. And the determination part 120B determines a control content at random from the extracted 1 or more control content.

  Update unit 150B updates the control content determination rule based on the indoor environment information and the comfort information, as in the first embodiment. The updating unit 150B according to the present embodiment further updates the response time information based on the indoor environment information (second indoor environment information) acquired after the control content is output. For example, the update unit 150B detects the time from when the control content is output based on the indoor environment information until the indoor environment matches the control content, and updates the response time information based on the detected time. .

[Operation of thermal comfort device]
Next, the operation of the thermal comfort apparatus 100B configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing processing of the thermal comfort apparatus 100B according to the third embodiment.

  When the determination of (ii) is selected in step S130 (ε of S130), the determination unit 120B derives the response time of each of the plurality of control contents based on the response time information (S132B). Then, the determination unit 120B extracts one or more control contents from a plurality of control contents based on the derived response time (S134B). For example, the determination unit 120B extracts one or more control contents having a response time smaller than a predetermined threshold time from a plurality of control contents.

  Then, the determination unit 120A randomly determines control contents from the extracted one or more control contents (S140B).

  Thereafter, Steps S160 to S190 are executed, and when the control content is not determined at random (No in S192B), the process is ended as it is. On the other hand, when the control content is determined at random (Yes in S192B), the first acquisition unit 110 acquires indoor environment information (S194B). The updating unit 150B updates the response time information based on the indoor environment information acquired in step S194B (S196B).

[effect]
As described above, in thermal comfort device 100B according to the present embodiment, determination unit 120B derives a response time that is a time until each control content is reflected in the indoor environment for each of the plurality of control details. With reference to the response time information, the control content is randomly determined from one or more control details that satisfy the predetermined condition.

  With this configuration, the determination unit 120B can restrict the determination of the control content having a long response time when determining the control content at random. That is, the determination unit 120B can determine the control content that can be learned in a relatively short time in the random determination, and can reduce discomfort given to the user by the determination of the random control content.

  Moreover, in the thermal comfort apparatus 100B according to the present embodiment, the first acquisition unit 110 further acquires the second indoor environment information after the control content is output, and the update unit 150B includes the second indoor environment information. Update response time information based on

  With this configuration, the updating unit 150B can update the response time information based on the second indoor environment information, and can improve the response time information. Therefore, the determination unit 120B can further reduce discomfort to the user by determining a random control content.

(Other embodiments)
As described above, the thermal comfort device according to one or more aspects of the present invention has been described based on the embodiment, but the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. Unless it deviates from the gist of the present invention, one or more of the present invention may be applied to various modifications that can be conceived by those skilled in the art, or forms constructed by combining components in different embodiments. It may be included within the scope of the embodiments.

  For example, in each of the above embodiments, the second embodiment and the third embodiment may be implemented in combination. That is, in the determination of (ii), the determination unit refers to the difficulty level information and the response time information, and the difficulty level of the notification satisfies the first predetermined condition, and the response time is the second predetermined condition. The control content may be determined at random from one or more control content satisfying the above.

  In each of the above embodiments, the second acquisition unit 140 acquires comfort information based on information received from the input device 300. However, the second acquisition unit 140 acquires not only the input device 300 but also information received from the sensor 200. Based on this, comfort information may be acquired. For example, the second acquisition unit 140 may acquire the comfort information by correcting the information received from the input device 300 using the information received from the sensor 200. Specifically, the second acquisition unit 140 may correct the information received from the input device 300 based on the user's facial expression, brain wave, or heart rate. In this case, the sensor 200 may include an image sensor, an electroencephalogram sensor, or a heart rate sensor.

  In each of the above embodiments, the determination of the control content adapted to the user is learned using the deep reinforcement learning. However, the embodiment is not limited to the deep reinforcement learning. For example, the control content determination rule may be represented not by a multi-layer neural network but by a single-layer neural network. Further, the control content determination rule may be expressed not by a neural network but by another mathematical model (for example, linear regression, support vector machine, etc.).

  In each of the above embodiments, the control content of the device 500 is determined from the indoor environment information according to two decisions ((i) control content determination rules) or (ii) the control content of the device 500 is determined at random. However, the determination is not necessarily limited to two decisions. For example, one decision may be selected from three or more decisions. In other words, the determination unit only needs to selectively execute one of a plurality of determinations including the determination of (i) and the determination of (ii). At this time, the determination of (ii) is selected with the probability ε. Just do it.

  In each of the above-described embodiments, the thermal comfort device is realized by a single device, but may be realized by a plurality of devices connected to each other. For example, the thermal comfort device may be realized by cloud computing.

  In the second embodiment, the notice difficulty level information is updated. However, the notice difficulty level information does not necessarily have to be updated. In this case, the thermal comfort device 100A may not include the detection unit 160A.

  In the third embodiment, the response time information is updated. However, the response time information may not necessarily be updated. In this case, the thermal comfort device 100B may not include the detection unit 160A.

  In the third embodiment, the response time T is derived according to Equation 1. However, the calculation method and the calculation equation are not limited to this. For example, in Expression 1, the response time is the sum of fi (axi, ayi), but may be the maximum value of fi (axi, ayi). Further, it may be defined by a table or a neural network instead of a mathematical expression.

  In addition, some or all of the components included in the thermal comfort apparatus in each of the above embodiments may be configured by a single system LSI (Large Scale Integration). For example, the thermal comfort apparatus 100 may be configured by a system LSI having a first acquisition unit 110, a determination unit 120, an output unit 130, a second acquisition unit 140, and an update unit 150.

  The system LSI is an ultra-multifunctional LSI manufactured by integrating a plurality of components on one chip. Specifically, a microprocessor, a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and the like. It is a computer system comprised including. A computer program is stored in the ROM. The system LSI achieves its functions by the microprocessor operating according to the computer program.

  Although the system LSI is used here, it may be called IC, LSI, super LSI, or ultra LSI depending on the degree of integration. Further, the method of circuit integration is not limited to LSI's, and implementation using dedicated circuitry or general purpose processors is also possible. An FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) that can be programmed after manufacturing the LSI, or a reconfigurable processor that can reconfigure the connection and setting of circuit cells inside the LSI may be used.

  Furthermore, if integrated circuit technology comes out to replace LSI's as a result of the advancement of semiconductor technology or a derivative other technology, it is naturally also possible to carry out function block integration using this technology. Biotechnology can be applied.

  Moreover, one aspect of the present invention may be a control content determination method for thermal comfort using not only such a thermal comfort device but also a characteristic component included in the thermal comfort device as a step. Further, one aspect of the present invention may be a computer program that causes a computer to execute each characteristic step included in the control content determination method. One embodiment of the present invention may be a computer-readable non-transitory recording medium in which such a computer program is recorded.

  In each of the above embodiments, each component may be configured by dedicated hardware or may be realized by executing a software program suitable for each component. Each component may be realized by a program execution unit such as a CPU or a processor reading and executing a software program recorded on a recording medium such as a hard disk or a semiconductor memory. Here, the software that realizes the thermal comfort apparatus of each of the above embodiments is the following program.

  That is, the program stores, in the computer, the first acquisition step of acquiring first indoor environment information, and (i) the control content of the device that performs indoor environment control for thermal comfort according to the control content determination rule. Determination from indoor environment information, or (ii) a determination step for randomly determining the control content of the device, an output step for outputting the determined control content, and comfort information indicating the comfort of the user indoors is acquired A control content determination method including: a second acquisition step that includes: an update step of updating the control content determination rule based on the first indoor environment information and the comfort information. Select decision (ii) above for ε.

100, 100A, 100B Thermal comfort device 110 First acquisition unit 120, 120A, 120B Determination unit 130 Output unit 140 Second acquisition unit 150, 150A, 150B Update unit 160A Detection unit

Claims (9)

A first acquisition unit for acquiring first indoor environment information;
(I) According to the control content determination rule, the control content of the device that performs indoor environment control for thermal comfort is determined from the first indoor environment information, or (ii) the control portion that randomly determines the control content of the device When,
An output unit for outputting the determined control content;
A second acquisition unit that acquires comfort information indicating the comfort of the user indoors;
An update unit that updates the control content determination rule based on the first indoor environment information and the comfort information,
The determination unit selects the determination of (ii) with a probability ε.
Thermal comfort device. The control content determination rule is represented by a neural network for estimating the value of each of a plurality of control content from indoor environment information,
The update unit updates a value of the plurality of control contents using a value based on the comfort information as a reward, and updates a parameter of the neural network based on the updated value.
The thermal comfort apparatus according to claim 1. The second acquisition unit acquires the comfort information by detecting an utterance of a predetermined keyword by voice recognition.
The thermal comfort apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. In the determination of (ii), the determination unit refers to notice difficulty level information in which a difficulty level of the user indicating difficulty in noticing a change in the control contents is associated with each of the plurality of control contents. Then, the control content is determined at random from one or more control content in which the degree of difficulty of awareness satisfies a predetermined condition.
The thermal comfort apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The thermal comfort apparatus further includes a detection unit that detects whether or not the user notices a change in control content,
The update unit, when the determination of (ii) is selected, further updates the difficulty level information based on the detection result by the detection unit,
The thermal comfort apparatus according to claim 4. In the determination of (ii), the determination unit refers to response time information for deriving a response time that is a time until each control content is reflected in the indoor environment, The control content is randomly determined from one or more control details satisfying a predetermined condition for the response time.
The thermal comfort apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5. The first acquisition unit further acquires second indoor environment information after the control content is output,
The update unit updates the response time information based on the second indoor environment information.
The thermal comfort apparatus according to claim 6. A first acquisition step of acquiring first indoor environment information;
(I) A determination step of determining control content of a device that performs indoor environment control for thermal comfort from the first indoor environment information according to a control content determination rule, or (ii) determining control content of the device at random When,
An output step for outputting the determined control content;
A second acquisition step of acquiring comfort information indicating the comfort of the user indoors;
Updating the control content determination rule based on the first indoor environment information and the comfort information, and
In the determination step, the determination of (ii) is selected with probability ε.
Control content determination method.   A program for causing a computer to execute the control content determination method according to claim 8.

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