JP2708600B2 - Control device for air conditioner - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a control method for an air conditioner, and more particularly to a control device for controlling a room temperature, an air flow, and the like by voice.

(Prior art)

Conventional air conditioners give a control command for room temperature, air volume, etc., by operating buttons on a remote control device or operating a button on an operation panel provided on the air conditioner body.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

In the above-mentioned conventional device, when giving a control command, it is necessary to obtain a remote control device or to stand up to the main body of the air conditioner and perform a button operation.

Also, when operating the buttons, it is necessary to be proficient in those functions or operation methods.
Or, if you do not understand, there is a possibility of erroneous operation, such as having to carefully read the instruction manual each time, or when operating in a room such as a bedroom, wrong selection of buttons will not be the intended driving, etc. In some cases, the user was confused.

An object of the present invention is to provide a control device for an air conditioner capable of controlling room temperature, air flow, and the like in an interactive manner between a user's voice and a synthesized sound from the air conditioner main body in order to solve the above-mentioned problem. Is to do.

[Means for solving the problem]

An object of the present invention is to provide an air conditioner including a portable operation unit and a control unit provided in an air conditioner main body controlled by the operation unit, wherein the operation unit has a sound for starting an audio input. An operation button, the control unit includes: a voice synthesis unit configured to output a synthesized voice from a speaker provided in the air conditioner body; a voice recognition unit configured to recognize an utterance of an operator; If the air conditioner is operating at the time of operation of the button, the voice synthesis unit is instructed to voice-synthesize the current operating state and guidance for changing the setting of the operating conditions such as room temperature and air volume, and the voice synthesis is performed. After exciting the synthesized speech from the speaker, the voice recognition unit is operated for a predetermined time to recognize the utterance of the operator according to the guidance, and the setting change of the driving condition is changed based on the recognition result. And an instruction to output the result of the change of the driving condition as a synthesized voice from the speaker, and operate the voice recognition unit for a predetermined time from the instruction to correct the driving condition after the setting change by uttering the operator. This is achieved by providing a main body control unit that enables the control.

[Action]

The air conditioner configured as described above can send control commands such as room temperature and air volume to the air conditioner main unit by voice button operation and voice of the remote control, and can be interactively controlled by synthesized sound from the air conditioner main unit. It is possible to confirm or change the control command.

〔Example〕

First Embodiment FIG. 1 shows a configuration of an air conditioner operation control unit of a first embodiment including a portable operation unit 1 and an air conditioner control unit 8 provided in an air conditioner body. The operation unit 1 has means for instructing the air conditioner control unit 8 to operate the air conditioner, and the air conditioner control unit 8 controls the air conditioner body.

In the operation unit 1, reference numeral 2 denotes a microphone circuit which, when a voice uttered by a user is input, amplifies the voice and changes it into an analog electric signal.

Reference numeral 3 denotes an FM transmission unit which converts the input analog electric signal
It has the function of FM modulation and sending in the air. Reference numeral 4 denotes a voice button, a voice operation button for transmitting the start of voice input to the air conditioner control unit 8, and 5 a key input unit for cooling / drying when operating and controlling the air conditioner by key operation. It is composed of a plurality of setting keys for transmitting set values such as an operation mode such as heating, room temperature, air volume, and time of timer operation to the air conditioner control unit 8.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a transmission control unit, and the voice button 4 and the key input unit 5
When it receives an output signal from the device, it has a processing function of creating transmission data corresponding to the input signal and converting it into a digital serial output signal, and is constituted by, for example, a microcomputer.

Reference numeral 7 denotes an infrared transmission unit which transmits the serial output signal from the transmission control unit 6 to the air conditioner control unit 8 at an infrared carrier frequency of, for example, about 40 KHz.

In the air conditioner control unit 8, reference numeral 9 denotes an FM receiving unit, which receives an FM radio signal transmitted from the FM transmitting unit 3 of the operation unit 1,
The part that amplifies and demodulates this, 10 is the voice recognition part,
Non-volatile memory unit that stores five standard voice patterns ("stop", "temperature", "air volume", "high", "low") to be recognized obtained from about 0 unspecified speakers, and FM reception And a control unit for analyzing the audio signal output from the unit 9, collating it with the audio standard pattern, and outputting the result.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a voice synthesizing unit, a non-volatile memory unit storing predetermined voice data, a control unit that creates a required synthesized voice pattern by combining the voice data, and outputs the digital output as a digital signal. And a D / A converter for converting the signal.

Reference numeral 12 denotes an infrared receiving unit that receives, amplifies, and demodulates the infrared carrier signal transmitted from the infrared transmitting unit 7 of the operation unit 1, 13 denotes a temperature sensor, detects a room temperature, 14 denotes a humidity sensor, A part that detects humidity, 21 is a temperature sensor, a part that detects outside air temperature, 22 is an optical sensor, a part that detects indoor illuminance, and 23 is a human detection sensor that detects the presence or absence and movement of a human Part.

Reference numeral 15 denotes a main body control unit which controls the operation of the voice recognition unit 10 and the voice synthesis unit 11. Further, based on the recognition result information input from the voice recognition unit 10, the operating conditions (operation stop, change of set temperature, change of air volume, etc.) of the air conditioner are controlled, and the synthesized voice is output to the voice synthesis unit 11 as appropriate. Has the function of instructing The air conditioner also has a function of controlling operating conditions (operation start / stop, operation mode setting, room temperature setting, timer operation time setting, etc.) based on an input signal obtained from the infrared receiving unit 12. Further, the temperature sensor 13,
Based on the humidity sensor 14, the temperature sensor 21, the optical sensor 22, the input signal detected by the human detection sensor 23 and the operating conditions obtained from the infrared receiving unit 12 or the voice recognition unit 10,
It has a function of appropriately outputting a control signal to the indoor fan motor 17, the outdoor fan motor 18, the four-way valve 19, and the compressor 20 to control the air conditioner. For example, it is constituted by a microcomputer.

Reference numeral 16 denotes a speaker which excites an analog electric signal output from the voice synthesis unit 11 into voice.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the control contents of the first embodiment,
The operation of each means in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

First, in step S1, the user presses the voice button 4 of the operation unit 1 to start the operation operation of the air conditioner by voice. When the voice button 4 is pressed, the transmission control unit 6
Creates corresponding transmission data (for example, 8-bit signal),
The signal is output to the infrared transmitter 7 as a digital serial signal. The serial output signal is converted into an infrared carrier signal by the infrared transmitter 7 and transmitted to the infrared receiver 12 of the air conditioner controller 8 in the air.

Next, in step S2, when the serial signal received and amplified and demodulated by the infrared receiving unit 12 is input, the main body control unit 15 determines the operating state of the air conditioner.

If stopped, the process proceeds to step S3, and based on the input signal from the temperature sensor 13 that detects the room temperature, the voice synthesis unit
For example, the voice synthesis instruction for “start cooling (drying, heating) operation at ** ° C.” is given to 11, and the synthesized sound is excited from the speaker 16. Here, the main body control unit 15, for example, a cooling operation start room temperature of 27 ° C or more, a dry operation start room temperature of 23 ° C to 27 ° C, a heating operation start room temperature of 23 ° C or less, and the initial values of the set temperatures are 27 ° C, respectively. It is assumed that a program of an operation start state in which the initial values of 25 ° C., 23 ° C., and the air volume are set to strong wind, weak wind, and weak wind respectively is stored in advance.

Thereafter, in step S4, the operation start process of the indoor fan motor 17, the outdoor fan motor 18, the four-way valve 19, and the compressor 20 is performed based on the operation mode corresponding to the synthesized voice and the input signals from the temperature sensor 13 and the humidity sensor 14. Execute to end voice input.

On the other hand, if the air conditioner is operating, the process proceeds to step S5, and the voice synthesizing unit 11 is instructed to perform “Now, cooling (dry, heating).
I'm driving. Do you want to stop? Do you want to change the temperature and air volume? Of the current operating state and the setting change of the operating condition are voice-synthesized, and after the synthesized sound is excited from the speaker 16, the voice recognition unit 10 is activated for a predetermined time.

After confirming the synthesized sound, the user proceeds to step S6.
The user instructs the microphone circuit 2 of the operation unit 1 to utter any of the words “stop”, “temperature”, and “air volume”. Since the words corresponding to the guidance of the synthesized sound are uttered in this manner, the recognition rate in the voice recognition unit 10 increases. The uttered voice sound is amplified by the microphone circuit 2,
After being modulated, it is transmitted to the FM receiver 9 of the air conditioner controller 8.

The signal transmitted from the FM transmission unit 3 is received by the FM reception unit 9, amplified, modulated, converted into an analog electric signal, and then input to the voice recognition unit 10 and analyzed. After the analysis, in step S7, the main body control unit 15
In response to this, a control operation for collating with three types of voice standard patterns of “stop”, “temperature”, and “air volume” among the five types of voice standard patterns registered in advance is instructed. As a result, a recognition process is executed in the voice recognition unit 10, and a matching distance with the three types of voice standard patterns is calculated. Next, the respective matching distances are compared, the smaller one is ranked as the first candidate, and the result is set as the recognition candidate. If all the matching distances are too large, there is no recognition candidate. The ranked recognition candidates are stored in the main body control unit 15.
Is input to

Next, in step S8, after the recognition candidates are input, the main body control unit 15 determines the recognition state of the speech recognition unit 10 based on the presence or absence of the recognition candidates.

If the result of determination is that there is no recognition candidate, in step S9, the voice synthesis unit 11 is instructed to perform voice synthesis, for example, "Please give me again." Based on the speech synthesis instruction, the speech synthesis unit 11 causes the speaker 16 to excite the synthesized sound. Thereafter, the main body control unit 15 activates the voice recognition unit 10 for a predetermined time, and returns to step S6.

If the result of determination in step S8 is that there is a recognition candidate, in step S10 the main body control unit 15 obtains a distance difference between the first candidate and the second candidate among the recognition candidates.

 Next, in step S11, the distance difference is determined.

As a result of the determination, if the distance difference is sufficiently large, the first candidate is set as the recognition result.

If the result of the determination is that the distance difference is not sufficiently large, the operation proceeds to step S12. At this time, output signals from the human detection sensor 23, the temperature sensor 13, the humidity sensor 14, the temperature sensor 21, and the optical sensor 22 are input to the main body control unit 15. Each of them is stored as information on presence / absence and movement of a person, room temperature, humidity, the air temperature, and room illuminance. In addition, information such as an operation mode, a setting mode, a timer, and a calendar is stored. Based on the information, the main body control unit 15 infers the validity of the first candidate and the second candidate. For example, the first candidate is “stop”, the second candidate is “temperature”, the room temperature has not reached the set temperature, and the elapsed time from the start of operation obtained from the timer information is short. Infer that the word is "temperature". The obtained inference result is used as a recognition result.

Next, in step S13, it is determined whether the recognition result is “temperature”, “air volume” or “stop”.

If the result of the determination is “stop”, the main control unit 15 instructs the speech synthesis unit 11 to, for example, “stop” in step S14. Based on the instruction, the voice synthesizer 10 excites the synthesized voice from the speaker 16. Next, in step S15, the main body control unit 15 outputs the indoor fan motor 17, the outdoor fan motor 18, the four-way valve 19,
The operation stop processing of the compressor 20 is executed, and the voice input ends.

If the determination result in step S13 is “temperature” or “air volume”, it is determined in step S16 whether the recognition result is “temperature” or “air volume”.

If the judgment result is “temperature”, in step S17,
The main body control unit 15 gives a voice synthesis instruction to the voice synthesis unit 11, for example, "Do you want to raise the temperature or lower it?" Based on the instruction, the voice synthesizer 11 excites the synthesized sound from the speaker 16, and then activates the voice recognizer 10 for a predetermined time.

If the determination result is “air volume”, in step S18,
The main body control unit 15 gives a voice synthesis instruction to the voice synthesis unit 11, for example, "Do you want to increase or decrease the air volume?"
Based on the instruction, the voice synthesis unit 11 activates the voice recognition unit 10 for a predetermined time after exciting the synthesized sound from the speaker 16.

After confirming the synthesized sound, the user utters one of the words “high” and “low” toward the microphone circuit 2 of the operation unit 1 in step S19. The uttered sound is amplified by the microphone circuit 2, converted into an analog electric signal, FM-modulated by the FM transmitter 3, and then transmitted to the FM receiver 9 of the air conditioner controller 8.

The signal transmitted from the FM transmission unit 3 is received by the FM reception unit 9, amplified, modulated, converted into an analog electric signal, and then input to the voice recognition unit 10 and analyzed. After the analysis, in step S20, the main body control unit 15
Is instructed to perform a control for collating with two types of voice standard patterns “high” and “low” among the five types of voice standard patterns registered in advance. As a result, a recognition process is performed in the voice recognition unit 10, and a matching distance between the two types of voice standard patterns is calculated. Next, the respective matching distances are compared, the smaller one is ranked as the first candidate, and the result is set as the recognition candidate. If all the matching distances are too large, there is no recognition candidate. The ranked recognition candidates are input to the main body control unit 15.

After the recognition candidate is input, in step S21,
Based on the presence or absence of a recognition candidate, the main body control unit 15
Is determined.

If there is no recognition candidate, in step S22, the main body control unit 15 instructs the speech synthesis unit 11 to give a speech synthesis instruction, for example, "Please ask again." Based on the speech synthesis instruction, the speech synthesis unit 11 causes the speaker 16 to excite the synthesized sound. Thereafter, the main body control unit 15 activates the voice recognition unit 10 for a predetermined time, and returns to step S19.

As a result of the determination in step S21, when there is a recognition candidate, in step S23, the main body control unit 15 obtains a distance difference between the first candidate and the second candidate of the recognition candidate.

 Next, in step S24, the distance difference is determined.

As a result of the determination, if the distance difference is sufficiently large, the first candidate is set as the recognition result.

If the result of the determination is that the distance difference is not sufficiently large, the operation proceeds to step S25. At this time, output signals from the human detection sensor 23, the temperature sensor 13, the humidity sensor 14, the temperature sensor 21, and the optical sensor 22 are input to the main body control unit 15. Each of them stores information on presence / absence and movement of a person, room temperature, humidity, outside sound, and room illuminance, and additionally stores information such as an operation mode, a setting mode, a timer, and a calendar. Main unit control
15 infers the validity of the first candidate and the second candidate based on the above information.

For example, the first candidate is “high”, the second candidate is “low”, the determination result in step S16 is “temperature”,
If cooling is being performed from the operation mode information and the room temperature is sufficiently lower than the outside temperature, the word uttered in step S19 is set to “high”.
Infer that

For example, the first candidate is “high”, the second candidate is “low”, the determination result in step S16 is “temperature”,
If the room temperature and the outside temperature are the same and the winter is based on the calendar information, it is inferred that the word uttered in step S19 is “high”.

For example, the first candidate is “high”, the second candidate is “low”, the determination result in step S16 is “air volume”,
If the room is dark and there is almost no movement of the user, step S1
The words uttered in 9 are inferred to be "low", and the inference result is used as the recognition result.

Next, in step S26, one of “temperature” and “air volume” is determined.

If the determination result in step 26 is “temperature”, the process proceeds to step S27. If “high” is recognized, for example, 1 ° C. is added to the current set temperature. If “low” is recognized, for example, 1 is added to the current set temperature. Change to the set temperature minus ℃,
For the voice synthesis unit 11, for example, the result of changing the operating conditions of "Start the cooling (dry, heating) operation at ** ° C. If the temperature is not the desired temperature, please try again" and the operating conditions after the change After instructing to perform voice synthesis of the setting change guidance, and exciting the synthesized sound from the speaker 16,
The voice recognition unit 10 is activated for a predetermined time. Such voice processing is necessary when prompting the user to determine whether the recognition result is correct or when the recognition result is correct but the desired set temperature has not been reached.

In the case of "air volume", the process proceeds to step S28. If the current air volume is recognized as "high", the current air volume is, for example, a weak wind (strong wind in a light wind) in a light wind, and the current air volume is recognized as "low". For example, the set air volume is changed to a weak wind in a strong wind (a weak wind in a weak wind), and the air conditioning (dry, heating) operation is started to the voice synthesizer 11 by, for example, "a weak wind (or a weak wind or a strong wind)". If the air volume is not the desired one, please ask again. "And instructed to synthesize the voice of the result of changing the operating conditions and the guidance on changing the operating conditions after the change, and excited the synthesized sound from the speaker 16. Thereafter, the voice recognition unit 10 is activated for a predetermined time. Such voice processing is necessary when prompting the user to determine whether the recognition result is correct or when the recognition result is correct but the desired set air volume has not been reached.

After confirming the synthesized sound from step S27 or step S28, the user determines in step S29 whether the temperature or air volume is the desired one. If it is not the desired temperature or air volume, the process returns to step S19. On the other hand, if the temperature or air volume is the desired temperature, the process proceeds to step S30, and after the start-up time of the voice recognition unit 10, the main control unit 15 proceeds to step S27.
Alternatively, the operation change process of the indoor fan motor 17, the outdoor fan motor 18, the four-way valve 19, and the compressor 20 is executed based on the operation mode corresponding to the synthesized voice in step S28 and the input signals from the temperature sensor 13 and the humidity sensor 14. To end the voice input processing.

In this embodiment, the driving operation by the key input unit 5 is also possible. When the key input unit is operated, the voice input operation is canceled. Therefore, in the case where there is an erroneous recognition in the steps S8 and S21, it can be avoided by the operation means of the key input unit.

Second Embodiment FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention in which the microphone circuit 2 in the operation unit 1 shown in FIG.

As a result of the microphone circuit 2 being housed in the air conditioner control unit 21, the FM transmission unit 3 and the FM reception unit 9 are omitted, and the air conditioner control unit 21 further outputs a voice by a voice input “voice”. , The voice button 4 in the operation unit 1 can be omitted. Therefore, the voice recognition unit 10 can recognize a voice standard pattern of "voice" in addition to "stop", "temperature", "air volume", "high" and "low" used in the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. ing.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing control contents of the second embodiment,
The function of each means in FIG. 2 will be described as follows with reference to FIG.

First, in step P1, the user utters the same word as "voice" twice at a sound volume effective for the air conditioner, and starts the operation operation of the air conditioner by voice. Before the start of the driving operation, the main body control unit 15 activates the voice recognition unit 10.

In step P2, the main body control unit 15 analyzes the audio signal output from the microphone circuit 2 to the audio recognition unit 10,
"Speech" 1 of 6 pre-registered speech standard patterns
The control operation for collating with the type of voice standard pattern is instructed. As a result, recognition processing is executed in the voice recognition unit 10, and the recognition result is input to the main body control unit 15.

In Step P3, the main body control unit 15
Is determined. If the recognition result is not obtained, return to step P1 and return to step P1.
Steps P2 and P3 are sequentially repeated. When the recognition result is obtained, the operation of the voice recognition unit 10 is stopped, and the process proceeds to step S2.

In the operation after step S2, the sound is output from the microphone circuit 2 and the FM
Air conditioner control unit directly without passing through transmitter 3 and FM receiver 9
Except for the point of being taken in by the microphone circuit 2 in 21, the operation is the same as the operation after step S2 in FIG.

〔The invention's effect〕

According to the present invention, when the air conditioner is operating at the start of the voice input, the current operating state is notified, and the guidance for changing the setting of the operating conditions such as the room temperature and the air volume is provided by the operator using the synthetic voice. , And if you speak according to the guidance, you can input voice,
Operation control can be performed without having to be familiar with the functions and operation methods of multiple keys. Thereby, the effect of preventing erroneous operation can be obtained. Further, the result of the change of the driving condition based on the recognition result of the utterance of the operator is output as a synthesized voice from the speaker, and thereafter, the voice recognition unit is operated for a predetermined time so that the driving condition after the setting change can be corrected by the utterance of the operator. By doing so, it is possible to determine whether the speech recognition result is correct or not, so that an error in the driving control operation can be reliably prevented. Moreover, when the result of the determination is not the desired operating condition, the operating condition can be corrected without returning to the start of the voice input, so that the correcting operation is easy.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a first embodiment according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a second embodiment according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing control contents of the first embodiment according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the control contents of the second embodiment according to the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Operation part, 2 ... Microphone circuit, 3 ... FM transmission part, 4 ... Voice button, 6 ... Transmission control part, 8, 21 ... Air conditioner control part, 9 ... FM reception part, 10 ... Voice recognition part, 11 ... Speech synthesis unit, 13 ... Main unit control unit.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Yoshinote Ota 292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside the Home Appliance Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Inventor Tetsuo Furuya 292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Stock (56) References JP-A-1-179855 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An air conditioner comprising a portable operation unit and a control unit provided in an air conditioner main body controlled by the operation unit, wherein the operation unit is for starting an input by voice. A voice synthesis button for outputting a synthesized voice from a speaker provided in the air conditioner main body; a voice recognition unit for recognizing an utterance of an operator; When the air conditioner is operating at the time of operating the operation button, the voice synthesizer is instructed to voice-synthesize the current operating state and the guidance for changing the setting of the operating conditions such as the room temperature and the air flow rate. After exciting the synthesized voice from the speaker, the voice recognition unit is operated for a predetermined time to recognize the utterance of the operator according to the guidance, and the setting change of the driving condition is changed based on the recognition result. And an instruction to output the result of the change of the driving condition as a synthesized voice from the speaker, and operate the voice recognition unit for a predetermined time from the instruction to correct the driving condition after the setting change by uttering the operator. A control device for an air conditioner, comprising: