JP2019216474A - Information notification method and voice output device - Google Patents

Abstract

To solve the problem in which: in notifying a user of a plurality of pieces of information by using voice, the user may move to a range outside the reach of the voice in the middle of the notification.SOLUTION: An information notification method in an information notification system that connects to a voice output device and notifies a user of voice information includes: when determining that the user is not present around the voice output device after notifying the user of first notification information; determining the presence or absence of unnotified information that is notification information not notified to the user from among the plurality of pieces of notification information; receiving, from a detector, second detection information indicating that the user moves to a predetermined area outside a range within the reach of a voice from the voice output device; and when determining that the unnotified information is present and when receiving the second detection information, notifying the user of the unnotified information via an information terminal.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an information notification device that notifies information by reading aloud a voice, and more particularly to a technology that adaptively controls the amount of information and the number of information to be notified according to the situation of a user.

  2. Description of the Related Art An information notification device that notifies a user of information required or desired by a user in a daily life in a PUSH type via a home electric appliance has been studied.

JP 2007-132551 A JP 2012-27679 A

  However, the information notification device described above required further improvement.

  One embodiment of an information notification method in an information notification system for solving the above-described problem is an information notification method in an information notification system that connects to an audio output device and notifies a user of audio information. Receiving the first detection information indicating whether or not the user is present around the audio output device, and determining that the user is present around the audio output device based on the first detection information In this case, the content indicated by the first notification information in the plurality of pieces of notification information is notified to the user using the audio output device, and when the notification of the first notification information by voice is completed, the When it is determined that the user is present around the audio output device, the content indicated by the second notification information different from the first notification information is notified to the user using the audio output device. The audio output device is installed in a house, and the information notification system further connects to an information terminal and a detection device, and notifies the user of the first notification information. When it is determined that the notification information does not exist around the output device, it is determined whether or not there is unnotified information that is notification information not notified to the user among the plurality of notification information. When the second detection information indicating that the user has moved to a predetermined area outside the range where the sound of the output device reaches is received, and it is determined that the unnotified information is present, the second detection information is If received, the non-notification information is notified to the user via the information terminal.

  According to the above aspect, further improvement was realized.

The figure which shows the whole structure of the information notification apparatus in Embodiment 1. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the information notification device according to the first and second examples of the first embodiment. The figure which shows the whole structure of the information notification apparatus in the 2nd example of this Embodiment 1. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of an information notification device according to a third example of the first embodiment. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the information notification device according to the first embodiment. The figure which shows the setting screen displayed on the information terminal in the 1st example of Embodiment 2 FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a text conversion table stored in a text creation unit according to the second embodiment. FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of an information notification device according to second to fourth examples of the second embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a setting file stored in an information control unit according to a second example of the second embodiment. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a condition table stored in an information control unit according to a second example of the second embodiment. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a condition table stored in an information control unit according to a second example of the second embodiment. The figure which shows the table of the weather information recorded on the weather history information database in the 2nd example of Embodiment 2 FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a condition table stored in an information control unit according to a fifth example of the second embodiment. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the information notification device according to the third embodiment. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a schedule of a user in the fourth embodiment. 9 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the information notification device according to the fourth embodiment. Block diagram showing the internal configuration of the information notification device according to the fifth embodiment. 16 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the information notification device according to the sixth embodiment.

(Knowledge that became the basis of the present invention)
Patent Literature 1 discloses that a refrigerator having a function of communicating with an external device notifies a user of information obtained from the external device by voice when it detects that the door of the refrigerator is opened or an operation switch is pressed. There is disclosed a technology related to an information notification system.

  According to the technology disclosed in Patent Literature 1, when a refrigerator door is opened or an operation switch is pressed, it is presumed that a user is present near the refrigerator, so that short information is stored in the refrigerator. Can be conveyed using voice. However, since information is notified using sound, it takes a certain amount of time to complete the notification of one piece of information. Takes a very long time, so even if multiple pieces of information are reported in succession, for example, if the user moves to another room while notifying the information, Nevertheless, the user keeps notifying all the information scheduled to be notified to the user. In this case, since many users do not want to be notified of the same information many times, the configuration of the information notification system may be such that the information once notified is not notified again. At this time, the information notification system cannot determine whether or not the user has heard the notified information, and information that has been notified while the user is not present at the place is regarded as already notified information. Will be treated. Then, when the user opens the refrigerator door again, the information notified in a state where the user is not listening is not notified, and another information is notified. Therefore, even if the user wants to hear the information, the user cannot receive the notification of the information that has already been notified in a situation in which the user has not heard. Also, in a state where information is continuously notified, and before the user starts notifying the next information, if the user has started moving from the place, the next information is notified. It is also conceivable that the content of the information is not transmitted accurately, for example, the user moves to a range where the voice does not reach, and the user hears only the beginning of the information and mistakes the content.

  Therefore, the following improvement measures were studied to improve the function of the information notification system.

  One aspect of the information notification method in the information notification system is an information notification method in an information notification system that connects to an audio output device and notifies audio information to a user, wherein the user receives a plurality of pieces of notification information, and the user Receiving detection information indicating whether or not the user is present around the output device, based on the detection information, when it is determined that the user is present around the audio output device, the plurality of notification information in the The content indicated by the first notification information is notified to the user using the audio output device, and when the notification of the first notification information by voice is completed, it is determined that the user is present around the audio output device. If so, the content indicated by the second notification information different from the first notification information is notified to the user using the audio output device.

  According to the above aspect, when it is determined that the user is present around the audio output device, the first notification information is notified to the user, and even when the notification of the first notification information has been completed, the user is positioned around the audio output device. When it is determined that the information exists, the second notification information is notified to the user. That is, when the notification of the individual notification information is completed, it is determined whether or not the user is present around the audio output device, and it is determined whether to continuously notify the notification information. Therefore, even when there are a plurality of pieces of information to be notified, if the user moves from the place on the way, the user does not keep reporting the information without being at the place. Also, it is possible to prevent information that the user has notified in a state where he / she is not present from being managed as already notified information. Furthermore, since the notification of the next information is started when the user is present around the audio output device, the information is not heard during the notification of the information unless it takes an extremely long time to complete the notification. It can be prevented that the user moves to a place where no user exists.

  In the above aspect, for example, the information notification system is further connected to a motion sensor that detects the presence or absence of the user, and the motion sensor determines whether the user is present around the audio output device. May be detected. Accordingly, since it is determined whether or not the user is present around the audio output device using the human sensor, the area for detecting the presence of the user can be adjusted by adjusting the sensitivity of the human sensor.

  In the above aspect, for example, while the motion sensor is detecting the presence of the user, it may be determined that the user is present around the audio output device. Thus, the notification of the notification information can be started when the user is surely present around the audio output device.

  In the above aspect, for example, when the state of the human presence sensor changes from a state in which the presence of the user is detected to a state in which the presence of the user is not detected, the state of the human presence sensor has changed. Within a predetermined time from the time point, it may be determined that the user is present around the audio output device. Thus, when the detection area of the human sensor is smaller than the output range in which the sound output from the audio output device reaches, when the user is in the detection area of the human sensor but exists in the output range, The user can be notified without missing an opportunity to notify the user of the notification information.

  In the above aspect, for example, the information notification system is further connected to a refrigerator including the audio output device, the refrigerator includes an opening / closing door, and an opening / closing sensor that detects an open / closed state of the opening / closing door. The information may be information indicating the open / closed state detected by the open / close sensor. When the door of the refrigerator provided with the audio output device is in a physically opened state, it is determined that a user exists around the audio output device, so a configuration for newly detecting the presence of the user is added. It is not necessary and can be realized by diverting the door open / close sensor provided in the refrigerator.

  In the above aspect, for example, while the open / closed state is the open state, it may be determined that the user is present around the audio output device. Notification of the notification information can be started when the user is surely present around the audio output device.

  In the above aspect, for example, when the open / close sensor detects that the open / close state has changed from the open state to the closed state, the user may be able to input the audio output device within a predetermined time from the time when the open / close state changes. May be determined to be around. Even if the user is about to leave the place with the refrigerator door closed, if the user is within the output range where the sound output from the audio output device reaches, the notification information is notified to the user. You can be notified without missing an opportunity to do it.

  In the above aspect, for example, the first notification information and the second notification information include text information, and using a notification voice synthesized based on the text information, the first notification information and the second notification information are used. The content to be indicated may be notified to the user. Since a plurality of pieces of notification information are received in a text format, the capacity of a memory for storing the plurality of pieces of received notification information can be reduced.

  In the above aspect, for example, the plurality of pieces of notification information may be audio information, and the first notification information and the second notification information may be notified to the user by reproducing the audio information. Since a plurality of pieces of notification information are received in the form of audio information, there is no need to provide a configuration for synthesizing audio in the system, and the system can be simply constructed.

  In the above aspect, for example, a priority may be assigned to each of the plurality of pieces of notification information, and the first notification information may be selected from the plurality of pieces of notification information based on the priority. Since the priority is used, for example, important information can be notified to the user preferentially.

  In the above aspect, for example, the priority may be arbitrarily set by a user for each type of the notification information. Since the user receiving the notification sets the priority, appropriate information that the user wants to be notified can be given priority.

  In the above aspect, for example, the priority is set in advance for each type of the notification information, the weather information at the date and time of notifying the notification information, or the content indicated by the weather information based on the weather information, or When the content indicated by the weather information matches a predetermined condition, the priority may be changed for each type of the notification information. For example, even if the user has set to give priority to the information indicating the temperature, if there is a possibility that a disaster will occur due to the weather or weather conditions of the day, the user will be able to identify himself / herself. It is presumed that the user wants to preferentially know disaster information that may pose a danger. In the above aspect, the information to be notified with priority can be changed in response to the case where the important information changes every day depending on the weather or weather condition.

  In the above aspect, for example, the first notification information may be the notification information having the highest priority among the plurality of notification information. Since the highest priority information among the plurality of notification information is notified first, it is possible to prevent the user from moving around the audio output device before notifying important information.

  In the above aspect, for example, the second notification information may be notification information having the second highest priority after the first notification information among the plurality of notification information. Since the notification is performed in order from the information having the highest priority among the plurality of notification information, it is possible to prevent the user from moving around the audio output device before notifying the important information.

  In the above aspect, the audio output device is installed in a house, and the information notification system further connects to an information terminal and an outside detection device, and notifies the user of the first notification information, When it is determined that the user is not present around the audio output device, the presence / absence of non-notification information, which is notification information not notified to the user among the plurality of notification information, is determined, and the out-of-home detection is performed. From the device, when the outside output detection information indicating that the user has gone out of the house where the audio output device is installed is received, and it is determined that the unnotified information is present, the outgoing detection information May be notified to the user via the information terminal. If the audio output device is installed in a house, for example, if the user goes out, the user does not exist around the audio output device for a while, and there is no notification in a plurality of pieces of notification information. Information cannot be notified to the user. According to the above aspect, when the user goes out, the non-notification information is transmitted to the information terminal, so that it is possible to prevent the user from going out without notifying the user of the information to be notified.

  In the above aspect, when there is a plurality of the unreported information, at least one of the plurality of unreported information may be notified to the user via the information terminal. When a large amount of unreported information exists, even if all of them are transmitted to the information terminal, the user does not know what information is important, and it is considered confusing. The above aspect can prevent such a situation.

  In the above aspect, destination information indicating a destination to which the user goes out for each date is received, and the plurality of pieces of notification information are based on the destination information, and weather information at a destination where the user goes out on the date of notifying the notification information. Alternatively, weather information may be received. For example, when the user goes far, the user wants to obtain information about the destination area instead of his / her place of residence. According to the above aspect, such a request can be met.

  In the above aspect, the information notification system further connects to a voice collection device, receives utterance information representing the utterance of the user from the voice collection device, and outputs any one of the plurality of pieces of notification information. If the utterance information is received during the notification, the notification of the notification information being notified may be interrupted. If the user starts a conversation with someone while notifying information, it is possible to prevent the conversation from being interrupted.

  In the above aspect, the information notification system further connects to a voice collection device, receives utterance information representing the utterance of the user from the voice collection device, and, based on the received utterance information, When the notification is completed, when it is determined that the user is present around the audio output device, and when it is determined that the user is speaking, the second notification information indicates The content may not be notified to the user. It is possible to prevent the user from notifying new information during the conversation and interrupting the conversation.

  Further, in another aspect, an audio output device that notifies information to a user, wherein a communication unit that receives one or more pieces of notification information to notify the user, and whether the user exists around the audio output device An information acquisition unit that acquires detection information indicating whether or not the user is present around the audio output device based on the detection information; a first notification in the one or more notification information; Information is notified to the user, and when the notification of the first notification information is completed, when it is determined that the user is present around the audio output device, second notification information different from the first notification information And an information notification control unit that notifies the user of the above.

  According to the above aspect, when it is determined that the user is present around the audio output device, the first notification information is notified to the user, and even when the notification of the first notification information has been completed, the user is positioned around the audio output device. When it is determined that the information exists, the second notification information is notified to the user. That is, when the notification of the individual notification information is completed, it is determined whether or not the user is present around the audio output device, and it is determined whether to continuously notify the notification information. Therefore, even when there are a plurality of pieces of information to be notified, if the user moves from the place on the way, the user does not keep reporting the information without being at the place. Also, it is possible to prevent information that the user has notified in a state where he / she is not present from being managed as already notified information. Furthermore, since the notification of the next information is started when the user is present around the audio output device, the information is not heard during the notification of the information unless it takes an extremely long time to complete the notification. It can be prevented that the user moves to a place where no user exists.

  In the information notification by voice, it is important to adjust not only the communication timing but also the amount of information to be notified, for example, the reading time of the information to be notified to the user and the number of information included in one notification. No matter how good the timing of the notification is, it is conceivable that even if the user keeps notifying the user with very long information, the user stops at the place and cannot listen to the end depending on the situation.

  Also, if there is a large amount of information to be notified to the user on that day, for example, the conditions such as the number of times the user approaches the home electric appliance do not always satisfy the number of information to be notified, so all the scheduled information is notified. It may not be possible. Therefore, it is necessary to determine which information is to be given priority to the user in a priority order.

  In the above-mentioned prior art documents, only the information required by the user is notified at an appropriate timing based on the situation of the user, and the request described above is not satisfied.

  Further, the above-described problem is not limited to a plurality of pieces of information having different properties, and may occur even when information having various elements such as weather information is notified.

  For example, if the user desires to notify daily of weather information including three weather elements such as “today's weather”, “highest temperature”, and “precipitation probability”, the information provider responds with “today is Sunny, the expected maximum temperature will be 29 degrees and the chance of precipitation will be 20%. "

  However, the weather information above might be "Sunny today, the expected maximum temperature will be 29 degrees," or "Today's expected maximum temperature will be 29 degrees, the chance of precipitation will be 20%." It can be said that the content of the information to be notified to the user is not so different even if the number of information is changed to a text having a shorter reading time. In other words, in such a case, the information "clear" is information having the same value as the information "precipitation probability 20%", and it is considered that any one of the information can be omitted.

  From such a viewpoint, it is possible to suppress omission of notification by reducing the amount of information according to the situation of the user at that time. Furthermore, if a notification method capable of adaptively controlling the order of information to be notified can be provided, effective information notification can be performed to the user.

  Therefore, conventionally, a system has been proposed that automatically creates a sentence of weather information in which the upper limit of reading is determined in advance (for example, see Patent Document 2). However, the technology described in Patent Literature 2 is a system provided for a weather forecast program broadcast on a television or a radio, for example. Although the content of information is changed according to the weather situation, The content of the information to be notified and the amount of the information to be notified are not adjusted in accordance with the circumstances. In other words, this conventional technique is a system for controlling sentences read out in a program in accordance with a predetermined broadcast time of a nationwide weather condition. It is not a system for adjusting the amount of information such as reading time. The conventional system described above cannot be used for such a purpose.

  2. Description of the Related Art A technology for providing information required by a user in daily life through a home appliance having a communication function with an external device has been studied. However, while users find it convenient to save the trouble of operating the terminal themselves to check the required information and setting reminders to manage the information, users are not comfortable with excessive information notification. is there. No technical solution to this problem has been considered.

  An information notification device or an information notification method according to one embodiment of the present invention adaptively controls the amount of information and the number of pieces of information to be read out by voice according to the situation at the time of the user, and notifies the information in descending order of priority. It is possible.

  Each of the embodiments described below shows a specific example of the present invention. Numerical values, shapes, components, steps, order of steps, and the like shown in the following embodiments are merely examples, and do not limit the present invention. 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. Further, in all the embodiments, the respective contents can be combined.

(Embodiment 1)
In the embodiment described below, as an example, an example in which the information notification function of the information notification device of the present invention is applied to home electric appliances in a house will be described. Not limited to the device, any device may be used. In the description of the first embodiment, the information to be notified is described as weather information. However, the information to be notified is not limited to weather information, but may be any information such as traffic information, garbage day information, fortune-telling information, and the like. It may be information.

  First, an outline of the information notification system will be described below.

[Overview of Information Notification System in First Embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of the information notification system.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the information notification system includes a home appliance 500, a home gateway 600, a network 700, an external server 800, and an information terminal 900. Here, the home electric appliance 500 includes, in addition to a configuration (not shown) for executing a function mounted for an intended use, an information notification device 200, a human sensor 100, an operation unit 300, and a speaker 400. Prepare. The home electric appliance 500 has a function of communicating with the external server 800 and the information terminal 900 from the home gateway 600 via the network 700. The communication at this time may be executed using a wired or wireless communication protocol, or may be executed using both. The type of the home electric appliance 500 is not particularly limited, for example, in addition to general electric home appliances such as a refrigerator, a washing machine, and a microwave oven, an AV appliance and a household equipment are also assumed.

  The human sensor 100 can automatically detect whether the user approaches the human sensor 100 using infrared rays or ultrasonic waves, or the presence or absence of the user in a predetermined area.

  The operation unit 300 can detect that the user operates the home electric appliance, such as a button mounted on the electric home appliance 500 or an opening / closing sensor for a door or a lid.

  The speaker 400 is used for notifying the information generated by the information notification device 200 by voice.

  The information terminal 900 is, for example, a portable terminal such as a smartphone or a tablet, and acquires a dedicated application for using a function of the information notification system, or setting information input by a user on a web browser related to the information notification system. Used to get the In addition, as described later, it is also used to receive information that could not be notified to the user.

  Home gateway 600 converts a communication method (protocol) between a communication method supported by network 700 and a communication method supported by home electric appliance 500. As a method supported by the home electric appliance 500, for example, a wired LAN can be adopted as long as it is a wired communication. In the case of a wireless communication method, for example, a wireless LAN, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (registered trademark), Zigbee (registered trademark), or the like can be adopted.

  The external server 800 is a server that provides the latest weather information like a server of the Japan Meteorological Association, for example, and is used by the information notification device 200 to acquire the weather information notified to the user. The weather information received from the external server 800 is, for example, weather information including various weather elements such as "weather information" such as "sunny" and "rain", "temperature", "humidity", "precipitation probability", and "wind speed". is there.

  In the above example, the information notification device 200 is included in the home electric appliance 500, but the information notification device 200 may be an independent device. Further, the motion sensor 100 and the speaker 400 may be included in the information notification device 200. Alternatively, the home appliance 500, the information notification device 200, the speaker 400, and the motion sensor 100 may be configured as independent devices each having a communication function. In this case, each device exchanges information via the home gateway 600.

[Internal Configuration of Information Notification System in First Embodiment]
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration of the information notification device according to the present embodiment.

  The information notification device 200 includes a communication unit 210, a user presence determination unit 220, an information acquisition unit 230, a text creation unit 240, a storage unit 250, an information control unit 260, a voice synthesis unit 270, and a home appliance operation detection unit 280.

  The communication unit 210 is a communication interface that manages information input / output of the information notification device 200. The communication unit 210 receives the information indicating the presence or absence of the user detected by the motion sensor 100 or the operation unit 300, or the information stored in the external server 800, and is generated by the information notification device 200. The information of the sound can be transmitted to the speaker 400.

  The home appliance operation detection unit 280 accesses the motion sensor 100 or the operation unit 300 to acquire information indicating the presence or absence of a user, and transmits the information to the user presence determination unit 220.

  User presence determining section 220 determines whether or not a user is present based on information obtained from home appliance operation detecting section 280. When determining that a user exists, the user presence determination unit 220 requests the information control unit 260 to notify information.

  The information acquisition unit 230 is used to acquire the latest weather information stored in the external server 800 via the communication unit 210, or personal information or setting information input by the user on the information terminal 900. Here, it is estimated that the information acquired by the information acquiring unit 230 is in any one of voice data, numerical data, and text data. When the weather information acquired by the information acquisition unit 230 from the external server 800 is in the form of numerical data, a text creation unit 240 described later needs to be included in the information notification device 200. On the other hand, when the weather information acquired from the external server 800 is voice data or text data, the text creating unit 240 may not be included in the information notification device 200.

  The storage unit 250 is a memory for temporarily storing a plurality of pieces of weather information acquired by the information acquisition unit 230 from the external server 800.

  When the user presence determination unit 220 determines that a user is present, the information control unit 260 extracts first notification information to be notified to the user from a plurality of pieces of information stored in the storage unit 250, and sends the first notification information to the voice synthesis unit 270. Send.

  The voice synthesis unit 270 performs a voice conversion process based on the information acquired by the information acquisition unit 230, and notifies the user using the speaker 400.

  When the weather information obtained from the information obtaining unit 230 is in the form of numerical data, the text creating unit 240 converts the text data using a text conversion table (described later) defined in advance based on the obtained weather information. create.

  The example of the specific internal configuration of the information notification device 200 has been described above.

  The outline of the information notification device 200 has been described above.

[Specific Example of Information Notification Device in First Embodiment]
Hereinafter, a method of determining the presence or absence of a user in the information notification system according to the present embodiment will be specifically described with reference to three examples of first to third examples. Note that the description here corresponds to a case where there is only one user, and the weather information to be notified to the user is assumed to be related to weather information of an area where the information notification device 200 is installed.

[First example]
First, the first example corresponds to the following situation.

  The operation unit 300 is an open / close sensor, and the home appliance 500 is, for example, a refrigerator provided with an open / close door having an open / close sensor. Here, the information notification device 200 detects whether or not the open / close door of the refrigerator is open by using the operation unit 300, and determines whether or not a user is present based on this. That is, while detecting that the opening / closing door of the refrigerator is open, it is determined that the user is present around the refrigerator. Further, when it is detected that the door of the refrigerator is open, it may be determined that a user exists around the refrigerator within a predetermined time after the door of the refrigerator is closed.

  For example, it is assumed that the user opens the door of the refrigerator to take out drinks, cooking ingredients, and the like in the refrigerator. In response, the operation unit 300 causes the information notification device 200 to generate an interrupt. The home appliance operation detection unit 280 accesses the operation unit 300 to acquire information, and transmits the information to the user presence determination unit 220. At this time, operation unit 300 may transmit information indicating that the open / close door has been opened to home appliance operation detection unit 280. User presence determining section 220 determines whether or not a user is present based on information obtained from home appliance operation detecting section 280. When determining that the user exists, the user presence determination unit 220 requests the information control unit 260 to notify the weather information. In response, the information control unit 260 extracts the weather information stored in the storage unit 250 and transmits the weather information to the speech synthesis unit 270. The voice synthesis unit 270 performs a voice conversion process on the received weather information, and notifies the user of the weather information using the speaker 400. Here, the weather information stored in the storage unit 250 is the latest weather information acquired by the information acquisition unit 230 from the external server 800. When the weather information acquired from the external server 800 is in the form of numerical data, the text creating unit 240 creates text data of the weather information with reference to a predefined text conversion table (described later). Based on the created text data, the weather information is subjected to voice conversion processing in the voice synthesis unit 270. According to the above example, the information is provided naturally in the operation that the user performs in daily life. Also, since the information is automatically provided, the user does not need to actively access the information using an information terminal or the like in order to obtain the information, and no special operation is required for the information acquisition. An information notification system that is highly convenient for the user can be provided.

  In the above-described example, the operation unit 300 is described as an example of the open / close sensor mounted on the home appliance 500. However, the operation unit 300 can be used instead of operation functions mounted on the home appliance 500, such as operation buttons and a touch panel.

[Second example]
Next, in the second example, it is determined whether or not a user exists when the information notification system includes a home appliance 501 installed in the same space as the home appliance 500 and connected in the same network environment as the home appliance 500. An example of the method will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 3 further includes a home appliance 501 in addition to the configuration of the information notification system in FIG. 1 described in the first example. Home appliance 501 has a communication function (not shown) with home gateway 600, and includes human sensor 101 and operation unit 301.

  In the second example, it is assumed that home appliance 500 is installed in a kitchen and home appliance 501 having a communication function exists in the same space. The home appliance 501 is, for example, a microwave oven, a dishwasher, a rice cooker, an IH cooking heater, or the like. The home appliance 500 can exchange information with the home appliance 501 via the home gateway 600, and it is assumed that the distance between the home appliance 500 and the other home appliance 501 is a predetermined range within which the sound of the speaker 400 can reach.

  Here, it is assumed that operation unit 300 and operation unit 301 are operation buttons mounted on home electric appliance 500 and home electric appliance 501, respectively. The information notification device 200 detects whether or not the operation button is operated by the operation unit 300 or the operation unit 301, and determines whether or not the user is present based on the detection. That is, while detecting that the operation button is being operated, it is determined that the user exists around the home appliance 500 or the home appliance 501. Further, when it is detected that the operation button is operated, it is determined that the user exists around the home appliance 500 or the home appliance 501 within a predetermined time after the operation button is not operated. You may decide. For example, suppose that the user operated the operation button of the household appliance 501 in the kitchen to cook. In response, the operation unit 301 causes the information notification device 200 to generate an interrupt via the home gateway 600. The information notification device 200 that has received the interrupt notifies the user of the weather information. The operation inside the information notification device 200 is the same as that of the first example, and the description is omitted here.

  According to the above example, if it is possible to detect that the user has been staying for a long time due to cooking work or the like in a kitchen or the like, the chances of notifying information will increase. As a result, even when there is a large amount of information to be notified, omission of information notification can be reduced.

[Third example]
Next, in a third example, an example of a method of determining the presence or absence of a user using the human sensor 100 provided in the household electric appliance 500 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the information notification device according to the third example of the first embodiment. The information notification device 201 includes a user state detection unit 290 instead of the home appliance operation detection unit 280, as compared with the configuration of the information notification device 200 illustrated in FIG. The user state detection unit 290 receives information indicating the presence or absence of the user from the human sensor 100, and transmits the information to the user presence determination unit. User presence determining section 220 determines whether or not a user exists around home electric appliance 500 based on the information received from user state detecting section 290. That is, in the third example, the presence or absence of a user is detected using the human sensor 100. In addition, when the motion sensor 100 detects the presence of the user, it is determined that the user is present around the home appliance 500 within a predetermined time after the motion sensor 100 no longer detects the presence of the user. Is also good. This assumes a case where the user is far from the range where the human sensor 100 can detect the user, but the user is still around the home appliance 500.

  Here, a specific example in the third example will be described. It is assumed that the human sensor 100 detects that the user is approaching the home electric appliance 500. In response, the motion sensor 100 causes the information notification device 201 to generate an interrupt. In the information notification device 201, the sensor state detection unit 290 accesses the human sensor 100 to acquire information, and transmits the information to the user presence determination unit 220. At this time, the human sensor 100 may transmit information indicating that the presence of the user has been detected to the sensor state detection unit 290. The user presence determination unit 220 determines whether a user is present based on the information obtained from the sensor state detection unit 290. When determining that the user exists, the user presence determination unit 220 requests the information control unit 260 to notify the weather information. In response, the information control unit 260 reads out the weather information stored in the storage unit 250 and transmits it to the voice synthesis unit 270. The voice synthesis unit 270 performs a voice conversion process on the received weather information, and notifies the user of the weather information using the speaker 400. Here, the method of acquiring the weather information stored in the storage unit 250 is the same as the description of the first example, and thus the description is omitted.

  According to the above example, the same effect as in the second example can be obtained, and it is not necessary to detect the operation of a plurality of home electric appliances. Therefore, it is possible to detect the presence or absence of the user without having a complicated configuration.

  The method of determining the presence or absence of a user according to the first embodiment has been described using the first to third examples. Any of these may be used in Embodiments 1 to 5 described below.

  In the second example, an example has been described in which the presence of a user is detected by using an operation function mounted on the home appliance 500 or the home appliance 501. For example, the information terminal 900 carried by the user has the same network environment as the home appliance 500. If the information notification device 200 can acquire the user's indoor location information, the information terminal 900 can be used instead of the operation unit 300. The operation unit 300 may have any operation function, such as an open / close sensor or a touch panel mounted on the home appliance 500 or the home appliance 501, as long as it can detect that the home appliance has been operated.

  Hereinafter, a processing procedure of information notification of the information notification device 200 or 201 (hereinafter, described as the information notification device 200) in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

[Processing procedure of information notification device]
FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of the information notification device according to the first embodiment. Here, the information notification device 200 previously acquires a plurality of pieces of notification information to be notified to the user from the external server 800 or the like via the network 700, stores the notification information in the storage unit 250 of the information notification device 200, and stores The description will be made on the assumption that the notification information stored in the unit 250 is read and the information is notified to the user. However, the acquisition form of the notification information is not limited to this. When it is necessary to newly notify the information, the information is acquired from the external server 800 via the network 700 and the acquired information is notified each time. It may be.

  In FIG. 5, when it is determined in step S2001 that the user is present around the home electric appliance 500 using the method described in the first to third examples, the user presence determination unit 220 sends the weather information to the information control unit 260. Request notification of information. In response, in step S2002, the information control unit 260 determines whether or not there is unreported weather information in the information stored in the storage unit 250. In step S2003, notification of the first weather information is started. Then, in step S2004, it is determined whether or not the notification of the first weather information has been completed. When the notification has been completed, the process returns to step S2001, and the presence of the user is detected again. Here, when the information control unit 260 determines that there is a user and there is unreported information through steps S2001 and S2002, the information control unit 260 starts reporting the second weather information continuously in step S2003. On the other hand, if it is determined that the user does not exist around home electric appliance 500 or that there is no unnotified information at the time when the notification of the first notification information is completed, the second information is not notified.

  According to the above processing procedure, the information notification device 200 can accurately notify information by adaptively controlling the number of information to be notified to the user. In addition, even when there is a large number of pieces of information to be notified to the user, it is possible to notify a plurality of pieces of information in a lump, and the user can be notified without missing an opportunity to be notified.

  In the case where new information needs to be notified, the information is obtained from the external server 800 via the network 700 and the obtained information is notified in each case. Whether or not there may be information may be managed, or information indicating whether or not information has been notified may be managed in the storage unit 250.

  In the present embodiment, the example in which the motion sensor 100 and the operation unit 300 are mounted on the household electric appliance 500 has been described, but each may be configured as an independent device.

  The first embodiment has been described above.

(Embodiment 2)
In the first embodiment, the method of sensor-controlling the number of pieces of weather information notified by the operation unit 300 or the human sensor 100 mounted on the home electric appliance 500 has been described. Was not considered in the output order of the notification information. For example, when the number of times the user exists around the home electric appliance 500 or when the user exists for a short time, it is necessary to give priority to information important to the user. Therefore, in the present embodiment, a method of setting the priority of information to be notified when a user determines that the user is present around home electric appliance 500 will be specifically described with reference to first to sixth examples.

[First example]
First, in the first example, an example will be described in which the content and priority of the weather information to be notified to the user can be arbitrarily set by the user using the information terminal 900. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a setting screen displayed on the information terminal 900 by a dedicated application for using the function of the information notification device 200 or a WEB browser related to the information notification system.

  In the setting screen shown in FIG. 6, specifically, for example, the user inputs information of his / her current residence in a text field 901 in the form of a postal code or the like, and selects a desired notification frequency of the weather information in one day in a select field 902. Of the desired weather information, check the corresponding check box 904 from the list 903 classified by the weather element, and select the priority order for notifying each of the selected weather elements from the select field 905. After that, when the registration button 906 is clicked, all the setting information input by the user is transmitted from the information terminal 900 to the information notification device 200 via the network 700.

  In the information notification device 200, the information acquisition unit 230 receives the setting information input by the user via the communication unit 210, and acquires the corresponding weather information from the external server 800 according to the received setting information. When the weather information acquired from the external server 800 is in the form of numerical data, text data is created by the text creating unit 240 according to the acquired numeric data.

  FIG. 7 shows an example of a text conversion table in which the text data generated by the text creating unit 240 according to the type of weather information acquired from the external server 800 is associated with user setting information. In FIG. 7, the information is generated according to the number assigned to manage the weather information, the information of the desired weather element set by the user, the numerical data of the weather information acquired from the external server 800, and the type of the weather information. The configuration of the text data and the priority set by the user are included.

  Here, within the information notification device 200, the text creation unit 240 in FIG. 4 stores the text conversion table shown in FIG. Then, when receiving the notification request from the user presence determination unit 220, the information control unit 260 extracts the first notification information from the storage unit 250 according to the priority set by the user.

  As described above, according to the first example, information desired by the user can be notified in descending order of priority, and information important to the user can be prevented from being omitted.

[Second example]
In the first example, a method has been described in which the user sets the information to be notified to the user and the priority of each piece of information. However, this method imposes a very heavy burden on the user if the number of information increases. Further, the content of weather information fluctuates greatly in each season, and it is considered that the user needs to change the setting each time. Therefore, it is preferable to use a method in which the setting of the priority order is flexibly changed according to the content of the weather information on that day. Thus, in a second example, an example will be described in which the priority of information to be notified is automatically set according to a condition created in advance by the information provider without requiring the user to set the priority.

  FIG. 8 shows an internal configuration of the information notification device 202 used to realize the second example of the present embodiment. FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the information notification device according to the second to fourth examples of the second embodiment. The information notification device 202 is newly provided with a weather history information DB 2100 and a user action history information DB 2200 as compared with the configuration of the information notification device 201 shown in FIG. Each database (DB) includes weather history information which is a history of weather information acquired from the external server 800, and user action history information which is a history of information indicating the presence or absence of a user detected by the human sensor 100. Is stored. Since the user action history information DB 2200 is required in the third example and subsequent embodiments of the second embodiment, the description is omitted here.

  Here, the priority order initialization file shown in FIG. 9 and the notification condition tables shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 are stored in the information acquisition unit 230, and the priority order setting method of the second example is described with reference to these figures. Will be described.

  First, FIG. 9 shows a priority setting file set in advance by the information provider for each weather information in an initial state. In FIG. 9, disaster prevention information such as “heavy rain”, “flood”, and “tsunami” has the highest notification priority, followed by “sunny”, “rain”, and “cloudy” in second place. , And the subsequent priorities are set in ascending order according to the direction indicated by the symbol “>”.

  Next, FIG. 10 shows a condition table regarding notification of disaster prevention information, which is a type of weather information. In FIG. 10, a number assigned for managing the condition, a condition relating to the content of the disaster prevention information, second weather information to be notified in connection with the disaster prevention information, and a change content of the priority of the second weather information are shown. Is a condition table that includes.

  FIG. 11 shows a condition table for notifying weather information that is not included in FIG. In FIG. 11, a number assigned to manage the condition, a condition related to the content of the weather information, weather information to be changed in priority when the condition is satisfied, and a priority of the weather information corresponding to the condition are displayed. Changes are included.

  8, the information acquisition unit 230 acquires the latest weather information from the external server 800, and sets a priority value for each of the acquired weather information with reference to the priority setting file shown in FIG. Then, when the disaster prevention information is announced among the information obtained from the external server 800, the information acquisition unit 230 refers to the condition table shown in FIG. 10 to determine whether there is a condition related to the content of the disaster prevention information. Search for. When there is a condition that satisfies the content of the disaster prevention information, the priority of the second weather information to be notified in connection with the disaster prevention information is updated.

  The information acquiring unit 230 refers to the history of the weather information stored in the weather history information DB 2100 and the condition table shown in FIG. 11 in addition to the condition of FIG. 10 to determine whether there is another condition related to the content of the weather information. Search for no. If there is a condition that satisfies the content of the weather information, the priority of the weather information that meets the condition is updated.

  The example described above will be specifically described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 12, for example, a list of weather information acquired from the external server 800, weather history information for two days stored in the information acquisition unit 230, and setting of respective priorities are included. As shown in FIG. 9, the priorities in the initial state are set in the order of “disaster prevention information, weather, probability of precipitation, maximum temperature, minimum temperature, and ultraviolet rays” in ascending order. In the weather information on July 27, since the contents of "disaster prevention information" and "precipitation probability" satisfy the conditions of C001 and C005 shown in FIG. 11, notification of disaster prevention information and precipitation probability is not performed on that day. As a result, the weather information having the next highest priority can be sequentially raised. Also, in the weather information on July 28, the disaster prevention information of “high temperature” is announced, and the condition of E005 in FIG. 10 is satisfied. Therefore, the priority of the “highest temperature” is notified after the “disaster prevention information”. To be ranked higher. Further, since the “weather” information on July 28 is “sunny” for two consecutive days after July 27, the condition of C002 in FIG. 11 is satisfied, and the information of “weather” is not notified on that day.

  As described above, according to the second example, the information to be notified with priority can be changed in response to the case where the information that is regarded as important every day changes according to the weather condition, so that effective information notification can be performed. Can be realized.

  In the second example described above, the example in which the initialization file of the priority shown in FIG. 9 is set by the information provider has been described. However, the initialization file may be set by the user.

[Third example]
In the third example, the user's response to the information notification is learned based on whether or not the user is staying around the home appliance 500 while the information is being notified using the human sensor 100, and based on the learned information. An example in which the priority of the weather information to be notified is determined will be described.

  First, as shown in FIG. 8 of the second example described above, the information notification device 202 here is newly provided with a user action history information DB 2200. Also, the user action history information DB 2200 detects whether or not the user has left the detection range of the human sensor 100 while the information notification device 202 is notifying weather information, and when it is determined that the user has left, The weather information being notified is stored in association with the current time. In the information notification device 202, upon detecting the presence of the user, the information control unit 260 compares the weather information extracted from the storage unit 250 with the matching weather history information from the weather history information stored in the user action history information DB 2200. When searching and notifying the weather history information at the same time in the past, the user determines whether or not the user is staying in the detection range of the human sensor 100 until the notification is completed.

  If the user does not stay within the detection range of the human sensor 100 when the weather information to be notified has been notified in the same time zone in the past, the information control unit 260 deletes the information to be notified. Then, the weather information to be notified next is extracted from the storage unit 250. Here, the information control unit 260 repeats the above-described procedure until the user finds the weather information staying within the detection range of the human sensor 100 in the time zone.

  As described above, according to the above-described third example, it is possible to specify information necessary for the user during that time period by learning whether or not the user is staying nearby when notifying the information. Will be possible.

[Fourth example]
In a fourth example, an example will be described in which the user's preference is estimated using a learning method, and the priority of weather information to be notified when the user is detected is determined accordingly.

  First, the information notification device 202 includes a user action history information DB 2200 as in the third example described above. Further, the home electric appliance 500 has a notification stop button dedicated to the information notification device 202 separately from the operation unit 300. Here, for example, when the notification stop button is pressed while the information is being notified, the information notification device 202 accumulates the notifying weather information in the user action history information DB 2200 in association with the current time, and To stop. When the presence of the user is detected in the information notification device 202, the information control unit 260 stops the weather information extracted from the storage unit 250 by the user in the past based on the history information accumulated in the user preference history information 2100. It is determined whether or not it has been performed. If the weather information to be notified has been stopped by the user at the time of notifying at the same time, the information control unit 260 deletes the weather information to be notified and stores the next weather information from the storage unit 250. Extract information. Here, the information control unit 260 repeats the above-described procedure until it finds weather information for which notification has not been stopped by the user in the past during the time period.

  As described above, according to the fourth example, it is possible to specify information necessary for the user in the time zone by learning whether or not the notification stop button is pressed when notifying the information. Become.

[Fifth example]
Next, in the fifth example, there is a device capable of detecting an environmental state such as “temperature” and “humidity” in the house where the home appliance 500 is installed, and the priority order when communication with the information notification device 200 is possible. The setting method will be described. FIG. 13 shows a condition table relating to the environmental state in the house. In FIG. 13, a number assigned to manage a condition, a condition related to an environmental condition in the house, weather information to be changed in priority when the condition is satisfied, and a priority order of weather information corresponding to the condition. Changes are included.

  For example, the information notification device 200 periodically monitors the environmental status of the house. It is assumed that the temperature inside the house suddenly exceeds 30 ° C. during a certain time when no disaster prevention information is announced on that day. In response, inside the information system 200, the information control unit 260 accesses the storage unit 250 and raises the priority of the “highest temperature” to the highest. Thus, when the information notification device 200 detects the presence of the user, the information notification device 200 notifies the user of the “highest temperature”.

  As described above, according to the fifth example, more effective information notification can be performed by determining the weather information necessary for the user according to the environmental condition inside the house as well as the weather information outside the house. .

[Sixth example]
Next, in a sixth example, an example of a notification method when the information notification system 200 can acquire history information of a web screen or an application viewed by a user on the information terminal 900 via the network 700 will be described. Here, it is presumed that the information notification device 200 stores information described in advance on a website or an application related to weather information. For example, when the user views a website of a predetermined weather information on the information terminal 900, the information notification device 200 does not notify the user of the already confirmed weather information from the above-described website, Only the information that is not listed in the is notified to the user.

  As described above, according to the sixth example described above, the information notification device 200 determines whether or not the user already knows the weather information to be notified from now on, and notifies the user of the information. Can be reduced.

  In the above example, the information notification device 200 performs information notification in cooperation with the information terminal 900 in order for the user to determine the weather information that has been confirmed on another terminal. If the broadcast time of the weather program and the content of the weather information to be broadcast are stored in advance, it is possible for the user to determine the confirmed weather information based on whether the television or radio is activated at the broadcast time. Is also conceivable.

  The second embodiment has been described above.

  In this embodiment, the method of setting the priority of the weather information may be set in the order of shorter or longer reading time included in the table of FIG. Further, the priority order of the notification may be set based on the first to fourth combinations described above.

(Embodiment 3)
Next, Embodiment 3 will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In the above first and second embodiments, methods for adaptively controlling the information amount and the priority in the notification of weather information are described, and it is possible to suppress omission of necessary weather information by these methods. Did not consider notification of all weather information. Therefore, in the present embodiment, a notification method that enables a user to be notified of all weather information managed by the information acquisition unit 230 will be described.

  First, the first example corresponds to the following situation.

  When an electric lock having a communication function is attached to a front door of a house where the household electric appliance 500 is installed, and the electric lock is locked from the outside of the door, it detects that the user has gone out. When the electric lock detects that the user has gone out, the electric lock notifies the information notification device 200 via the home gateway 600. Further, after being notified that the user has gone out, the information notification device 200 notifies the information terminal 900 carried by the user of the information in the form of text data.

  Specifically, in FIG. 14, when the electric lock detects that the user goes out in step S6001, the home gateway 600 causes the information notification device 200 to generate an interrupt. In the information notification device 200, the user presence determination unit 220 determines the received interrupt and transmits a request for notification to the information terminal 900 to the information control unit 260. In step S6002, the information control unit 260 determines whether the storage unit 250 has weather information that is currently not notified. If there is unreported weather information in step S6002, the information control unit 260 extracts information from the storage unit 250 and transmits it to the information terminal 900 via the communication unit 210 in step S6003. As a result, the user can check the unreported weather information on the information terminal 900.

  As described above, according to the above example, even when there is a large amount of information to be notified, it is possible to notify all information, and it is possible to prevent information to be notified from being left unnotified to a user. it can.

  The third embodiment has been described above.

  In the present embodiment, an example has been described in which the user goes outside is detected by the electric lock of the entrance door. For example, the information terminal 900 carried by the user has a GPS function capable of detecting position information, and the information notification device 200 If the user can obtain the position information of the user from the external server 800, the electric lock can be used instead of the information terminal 900. Further, when home appliances such as lighting having a communication function are present in the house, for example, the information notification device 200 acquires the lighting status via the home gateway 600, and when the acquired lighting status is off, the user is notified. Can go out.

(Embodiment 4)
Next, a fourth embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the above-described first to third embodiments, the method of adaptively controlling the information amount and the priority in the notification of the weather information regarding the area where the user lives is described. However, the notification of the weather information of the different area desired by the user is considered. Did not. For example, since the user has a business trip on that day, there may be a request for notifying the user of weather information on a business trip destination different from the residential area.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, a method of notifying weather information when the information notification device 200 is linked with schedule management software used for managing a work or a private schedule by the user via the network 700 will be described. . Here, the user uses the information terminal 900 to register information such as the address of the currently used schedule software in the information notification device 200, and the schedule includes at least a date and a place.

  Hereinafter, a specific example of this embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 15 shows an example of information extracted from the user's schedule. In FIG. 15, the date, the content of the event, and the location are included.

  FIG. 16 shows a processing procedure of a method of acquiring weather information to be notified according to information extracted from a user's schedule.

  In FIG. 16, in step S5001, the information acquisition unit 230 acquires the user's schedule for the day via the communication unit 210. Next, in step S5002, the information acquisition unit 230 extracts information on the place associated with each acquired schedule, and compares it with the information on the residence of the user stored in advance in step S5003. If it is determined in step S5003 that the location is different from the place of residence of the user, the information acquisition unit 230 acquires weather information of the area from the external server 800 in step S5005, and transmits the information to the information control unit 260. Here, it is estimated that the priority of the weather information in different areas can be set by the method described in the second embodiment.

  As described above, according to the above-described example, it is possible to notify the weather information of different regions in the extraordinary event of the user.

  The fourth embodiment has been described above.

  The schedule described in this embodiment is an example of a schedule used by a user to manage his / her work and private schedule. For example, the schedule is used by a user to manage the operation of home electric appliances existing in a house. Home appliance operation schedule. Specifically, for example, when the user inputs the operation schedule of the washing machine on that day, the information notification device 201 gives priority to the weather information of the “precipitation probability” and notifies the user accordingly.

(Embodiment 5)
Next, a fifth embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIG. In the first to fourth embodiments, the content of the weather information to be notified to the user, the information amount, and the control method of the priority are described. However, is it possible for the user to listen to the information when notifying the information? I didn't care. For example, when detecting the user, when the information notification device 200 notifies the information even though the user is talking on the mobile phone, the effect of the information notification is weak because the user is not in a situation where the information can be heard at that time. It can be said. Further, in the above-described situation, the information notification device 200 hinders the user's action, and thus gives the user discomfort.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, in FIG. 17, the home appliance 502 further includes a microphone 1100, and the information notification device 200 sets the user within a predetermined range from the home appliance 502 immediately before or during notification of information. When the voice of the user is recognized, the notification of the information is interrupted. Here, it is estimated that the interrupted information is reproduced from the beginning of the sentence when the user is detected next.

  The fifth embodiment has been described above.

  Since the information notification method described in the embodiment of the present invention has been described by taking as an example the home appliance 500 including the speaker 400, the information notification method is performed by determining whether a user is present around the home appliance 500. However, when the speaker 400 is installed independently of the household electric appliance 500, it may be determined whether or not a user is present around the speaker 400 to perform information notification.

  Although the information notification method described in the embodiment of the present invention has been described with an example in which weather information or weather information is notified as notification information, the notification information is not limited to these contents, and sports, politics, performing arts, and the like. Alternatively, all types of information may be notified. Further, the type of the notification information may be arbitrarily set by the user.

  The information notification method described in the embodiment of the present invention can be applied to a plurality of users by applying the above-described information notification method, for example, when a camera that can identify a user is used. Needless to say.

(Embodiment 6)
Next, a sixth embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In this case, for example, while the first notification information notified by using the voice from the information notification device 200 is notified, the user detection unit such as the human sensor 100 detects the presence of the user around the information notification device. The operation of the information notification device 200 when it becomes impossible to detect the information will be described.

  FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the information notification device according to the sixth embodiment. Here, the information notification device 200 acquires a plurality of pieces of notification information to be notified to the user from the external server 800 or the like via the network 700 in advance, and stores the information notification device 200 in the same manner as in the above-described embodiment. The description will be made on the assumption that the notification information stored in the storage unit 250 is read out, and the user is notified of the information by reading out the notification information stored in the storage unit 250. However, the acquisition form of the notification information is not limited to this. When it is necessary to newly notify the information, the information is acquired from the external server 800 via the network 700 and the acquired information is notified each time. It may be.

  In FIG. 18, when it is determined in step S7001 that the user is present around the home electric appliance 500 using the method described in the first to third examples, the user presence determination unit 220 sends the weather information to the user. Request notification. In response, in step S7002, information control section 260 determines whether or not there is unreported weather information in the information stored in storage section 250. When it is determined that there is unreported information, it is further determined whether or not there is any information being reported in the information stored in the storage unit 250. The processing in the middle of notification and the processing when it is determined in S7003 that there is information in the middle of notification will be described later.

  In S7003, when it is determined that there is no information in the middle of the notification, the notification of the first weather information is started. Thereafter, while notifying the first weather information, it is determined in step S7006 whether or not the user is no longer around the home electric appliance 500. If it is detected in step S7006 that the user is present around the home electric appliance 500 while notifying the first weather information, it is determined in step S7008 whether the notification of the first weather information has been completed. to decide. If it is determined that the notification of the first weather information has not been completed, the process returns to step S7006, and the determination as to whether or not the user is no longer around the home electric device 500 is repeated. If the notification of the first notification information has been completed, the process returns to step S7001, and the presence of the user is detected again. Here, the information unit control unit 260 determines that the user is present around the home appliance crisis 500 in step S7001, determines that there is unreported information in step S7002, and determines that there is no notification middle information in step S7003. If so, notification of the second weather information is started. On the other hand, when the notification of the first notification information is completed, it is determined that the user is not present around the home electric appliance 500, that it is determined that there is no unreported information, or that there is information in the middle of notification. In this case, the second information is not notified.

  Here, a case will be described where it is detected in step S7006 that the user is no longer present around home appliance 500 while notifying the first weather information. At this time, the information control unit 260 stores the first weather information in the storage unit 250 as notification middle information. At this time, for example, in the case where the first weather information is output as a sound through the speaker 400, any part of the text of the first weather information is detected until it is detected that the user is no longer present around the home electric appliance 500. Output-completed information indicating whether or not the audio has been output is stored in the storage unit 250 together with the above-described notification middle information.

  After that, in step S7001, if it is detected that the user is present around the home electric appliance 500 again, in step S7002, it is determined whether or not unreported information exists in the information stored in the storage unit 250. to decide. At this time, it is determined that the notification-in-progress information is a type of the non-report information, and if the notification-progress information exists in the storage unit 250, it is determined that the non-report information exists.

  At this time, in step S7003, it is determined that the information in the middle of notification exists in the information stored in the storage unit 250, and thus the process shifts to step S7004. In step S7004, notification of the notification in-progress information is started. At this time, the notification of the information in the middle of the notification is started based on the output completed information. That is, the notification is restarted from the middle of the first weather information. At this time, the notification may be resumed from a location in the first weather information indicated by the output completed information, or the notification may be resumed from a location before or after a predetermined period.

  When the notification of the information in the middle of the notification is started, the process proceeds to step S7006. After that, the same flow is repeated as described above.

  As described above, in the sixth embodiment, for example, during the notification of the first weather information, the user leaves once around the home appliance 500 and then returns to around the home appliance 500 again. When it comes, the information notification device 200 restarts the notification from the middle of the first weather information. This can prevent the user from missing information notified from the information notification device 200 from the middle.

  As a modification of the sixth embodiment, in the above-described step S7004, the middle information is not notified, and the next information after the middle information (first weather information), that is, the second weather information is notified. You may start. At this time, even if the user leaves the home appliance 500 in the middle of the notification of the first weather information, the first weather information is treated as having already been notified, and the user returns to the home appliance 500 again. When it is determined that the first weather information is present around 500, the information notification device 200 does not restart the notification from the middle of the first weather information, but starts the notification of the second weather information that is the next notification information. I do.

  Thereby, for example, it is possible to prevent the user from being notified again of the information notified from the information notification device 200, the information which the user has already heard halfway.

  As described above, the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to the embodiments, and includes a design and the like without departing from the gist of the present invention.

  The information notification method according to the present invention is useful for an information notification system or an information notification device that is connected to an audio output device and notifies a user of audio information.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 human sensor 200 information notification device 210 communication unit 220 user presence determination unit 230 information acquisition unit 240 text creation unit 250 storage unit 260 information control unit 270 voice synthesis unit 280 home appliance operation detection unit 290 sensor state detection unit 300 operation unit 400 speaker 500 home appliance 600 home gateway 700 network 800 external server 900 information terminal 1100 microphone 2100 weather history information DB
2200 User action history information DB

Claims (19)

An information notification method in an information notification system for connecting to an audio output device and notifying a user of audio information,
Receive multiple notification information,
Receiving first detection information indicating whether or not the user is present around the audio output device;
Based on the first detection information, when it is determined that the user is present around the audio output device, the content indicated by the first notification information among the plurality of pieces of notification information is written using the audio output device. Notify the user,
At the time when the notification of the first notification information by voice is completed, when it is determined that the user is present around the voice output device, the content indicated by the second notification information different from the first notification information, Notify the user using the audio output device,
The audio output device is installed indoors,
The information notification system is further connected to an information terminal and a detection device,
After notifying the user of the first notification information, if it is determined that the user is not present around the audio output device, the notification information not notified to the user among the plurality of notification information Judge the existence of certain unreported information,
From the detection device, receiving second detection information indicating that the user has moved to a predetermined area outside the range in which the sound of the sound output device reaches,
When it is determined that the unreported information is present, when the second detection information is received, the user is notified of the unreported information via the information terminal,
Information notification method. The information notification system is further connected to a human sensor for detecting the presence or absence of the user,
The human sensor detects whether the user is present around the audio output device.
The information notification method according to claim 1. While the motion sensor is detecting the presence of the user, it is determined that the user is present around the audio output device,
The information notification method according to claim 2. When the state of the presence sensor changes from a state where the presence of the user is detected to a state where the presence of the user is not detected, within a predetermined time from the time when the state of the presence sensor changes Determining that the user is present around the audio output device;
The information notification method according to claim 2. The information notification system is further connected to a refrigerator including the audio output device,
The refrigerator has an open / close door and an open / close sensor that detects an open / close state of the open / close door,
The first detection information is information indicating the open / closed state detected by the open / close sensor.
The information notification method according to claim 1. While the open / closed state is the open state, it is determined that the user is present around the audio output device,
The information notification method according to claim 5. When the open / close sensor detects that the open / close state has changed from the open state to the closed state, it is determined that the user is present around the audio output device within a predetermined time from the time when the open / close state changes. Do
The information notification method according to claim 5. The first notification information and the second notification information include text information,
Using the notification sound synthesized based on the text information, the content indicating the first notification information and the second notification information is notified to the user,
The information notification method according to claim 1. The plurality of notification information is audio information,
The first notification information and the second notification information are notified to the user by reproducing the audio information.
The information notification method according to claim 1. A priority is assigned to each of the plurality of pieces of notification information,
Selecting the first notification information from the plurality of notification information based on the priority;
The information notification method according to claim 1. The priority is arbitrarily set by a user for each type of the notification information,
The information notification method according to claim 10. The priority is set in advance for each type of the notification information,
Based on the weather information at the date and time of notifying the notification information, or based on the weather information, when the content indicated by the weather information or the content indicated by the weather information matches a predetermined condition, the priority for each type of the notification information Change the
The information notification method according to claim 10. The first notification information is notification information having the highest priority among the plurality of notification information,
The information notification method according to claim 10. The second notification information is notification information having the second highest priority after the first notification information among the plurality of notification information,
The information notification method according to claim 13. When there is a plurality of the unreported information, at least one of the unreported information among the plurality of unreported information is notified to the user via the information terminal,
The information notification method according to claim 1. Receiving destination information indicating a destination where the user goes out for each date,
The plurality of pieces of notification information are based on the destination information, and weather information or weather information at a destination where the user goes out on a date notifying the notification information is received.
The information notification method according to claim 1. The information notification system is further connected to a voice collection device,
Receiving utterance information representing the utterance of the user from the voice collection device,
While notifying any of the plurality of pieces of notification information, when receiving the utterance information, suspending the notification of the notification information being notified,
The information notification method according to claim 1. The information notification system is further connected to a voice collection device,
Receiving utterance information representing the utterance of the user from the voice collection device,
When the notification of the first notification information is completed based on the received utterance information, it is determined that the user is present around the audio output device, and the user is uttering. Is not notified to the user of the content indicated by the second notification information,
The information notification method according to claim 1. An audio output device that notifies information to a user,
A communication unit that receives one or more pieces of notification information to notify the user,
An information acquisition unit that acquires first detection information indicating whether the user is present around the audio output device;
When it is determined based on the first detection information that the user is present around the audio output device, the first notification information in the one or more notification information is notified to the user, and the first notification information is notified. When the notification is completed, when it is determined that the user is present around the audio output device, an information notification control unit that notifies the user of second notification information different from the first notification information, With
The audio output device is installed indoors,
The audio output device is connected to an information terminal and a detection device,
The communication unit receives, from the detection device, second detection information indicating that the user has moved to a predetermined area outside a range in which the sound of the sound output device reaches,
The information notification control unit, after notifying the user of the first notification information, if it is determined that the user is not present around the audio output device, the user notification in the one or more notification information It is determined whether or not there is unnotified information that is notification information that has not been notified to the information terminal, and when it is determined that the unnotified information is present, and when the second detection information is received, the information terminal is Notifying the user of the unnotified information via
Audio output device.