JP5841093B2 - Information processing device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus having a sensor that can recognize a heat source in a non-contact manner.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a technique in which a ranging sensor is mounted on a personal computer (PC) to determine whether a user is present or absent. The distance measuring sensor has a transmitting unit (infrared LED) and a receiving unit (sensor), and the receiving unit receives infrared light that has been transmitted from the transmitting unit and then reflected by the receiving unit. Is detected.

  However, the reflection data detected by the distance measuring sensor varies depending on the tilt angle of the display screen of the PC. When the tilt angle of the display screen is 0 °, the reflected light interferes with the keyboard and the reflected data is high. When the tilt angle of the display screen is 15 ° and the screen is directed upward, the reflected light does not interfere with the keyboard and the reflected data is small.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for measuring interference data when a user is absent by manual calibration setting, regarding an interference amount of an object that is not a user as a detection level, and determining whether the user is present or absent based on the detected level. Is disclosed.

JP 2012-238093 A

  However, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, it is necessary to set manual calibration for measuring interference data when the user is absent, and there is a problem that the operation is complicated.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the object of the present invention is to estimate the tilt angle of the display screen from the detection area of the non-contact temperature sensor and to optimize the presence threshold and the away threshold. It is to provide an information processing apparatus that can be configured.

  In order to achieve this object, the present invention has the following features.

An information processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a display screen that displays an information processing result and a plurality of areas that are divided into at least upper and lower areas on the display screen on which the information processing result is displayed. It is large when the distance between the temperature sensor that measures the average temperature of an existing object in a non-contact manner and the object that exists on the display screen on which the information processing result is displayed is small, and is small when the distance is large. An information processing apparatus comprising: a distance measuring sensor that outputs a detection level ; and a control unit that turns off display of the display screen when the detection level input from the distance measuring sensor is smaller than a predetermined threshold. When the highest temperature area where the measured average temperature is the highest among the plurality of areas of the temperature sensor is above the plurality of areas, the threshold value is set to be large. Characterized in that it.

  According to the present invention, the tilt angle of the display screen can be estimated from the detection area of the non-contact temperature sensor, and the presence threshold and the away threshold can be optimized.

It is a front view which shows the external appearance of PC concerning this embodiment. It is a perspective view which shows the temperature sensor which concerns on this embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of this embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the information stored in a threshold value management table. It is a figure which shows an example of the information stored in a tilt angle management table. It is a figure which shows the detection area of the temperature sensor which concerns on this embodiment.

  Hereinafter, the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a front view showing an appearance of the PC 1 according to the present embodiment. The PC 1 of the present embodiment is a desktop PC in which a display unit and a main body unit are integrated. A temperature sensor 3 and a distance measuring sensor 4 for detecting the presence of the user are provided in an arrangement area such as a power button at the lower part of the display screen 2 for displaying the information processing result by the PC 1 on the screen. The display screen 2 is supported by the base 7 and can be rotated in the vertical and horizontal directions.

  In this embodiment, a desktop PC is used, but a notebook PC or the like may be used. Further, the temperature sensor 3 and the distance measuring sensor 4 may be installed in the upper part of the display screen 2.

  In order to mount the temperature sensor 3 and the distance measuring sensor 4 on the upper side of the display screen of the PC 1, it is necessary to increase the width of the upper side of the display screen of the PC 1, and a narrow frame cannot be realized, and it is necessary to increase the number of mounting circuits. . Further, when the temperature sensor 3 is mounted on the upper side of the display screen of the PC, the temperature of the ceiling lighting or the fluorescent lamp of the desk lamp is detected.

  Therefore, since the temperature sensor 3 measures the temperature of the user's face in the detection area, the temperature sensor 3 is good in performance when mounted in the center of the display screen 2 of the PC 1. However, since it is necessary to mount the distance measuring sensor 4 at the center of the display screen 2, it is difficult to mount the temperature sensor 3 at the upper center of the display screen 2. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the temperature sensor 3 is mounted at a location away from the center at the bottom of the display screen 2. For example, the display screen 2 can be detected by tilting the reaction range by tilting the display screen 2 by 15 ° upward and 4 ° counterclockwise in the left-right direction.

  FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the temperature sensor 3 according to the present embodiment. In the temperature sensor 3, a temperature sensor element 12 is attached to the electronic substrate 11. The temperature sensor element 12 detects the temperature of an object existing in the detection area 13 and can thereby measure the temperature of a heat source such as a human face or body. The temperature sensor 3 detects the temperature of a target object that faces the display screen 2 of the PC 1 in a non-contact manner. The detection area 13 of the temperature sensor element 12 is composed of p1 to p16 which are 4 × 4 areas.

  Note that the detection area 13 of the temperature sensor element 12 is not limited to a 4 × 4 area, and may be another number of areas.

The distance measuring sensor 4 includes a light emitting unit 5 that emits infrared rays and a light receiving unit 6 that receives infrared rays reflected by an object. The distance measuring sensor 4 can measure the distance to the user or object facing the display screen 2 of the PC 1 and can detect the presence or absence of the user.
The distance measuring sensor 4 is not limited to a sensor including an infrared light emitting unit and a light receiving unit, and may be an ultrasonic sensor or the like as long as it can detect a distance to an object.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the present embodiment. The PC 1 has a built-in control unit 21, and the control unit 21 includes a presence state determination unit 22. In addition to the control unit 21, the PC 1 includes a temperature sensor 3, a distance measuring sensor 4, and an input unit 23. The input means 23 is a part for inputting to the PC 1, and is a keyboard, a mouse, a touch pad, or the like. An operation at the input means 23 is converted into an input signal and transmitted to the control unit 21.

  The presence state determination unit 22 includes a threshold value determination unit 24, a threshold value management table 25, a threshold value recording unit 26, a tilt angle estimation unit 27, and a tilt angle management table 28, and includes a temperature sensor 3 and a distance measurement sensor. 4, the presence state of the user facing the display screen 2 of the PC 1 is determined based on the detection level of the sensor input from 4.

  The PC 1 determines that the user is present if the detection level of the sensor is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold, and determines that the user is away if it is equal to or lower than another predetermined threshold. The former is referred to as the “seating threshold” and the latter is referred to as the “seating threshold”.

  The presence threshold is a value that is considered to be present (present) before the PC 1 if the presence threshold is equal to or greater than that value. The away threshold is a value that is regarded as the absence of the user (seating) before the PC 1 below the value. The threshold value determination unit 24 determines such a presence threshold value and a away threshold value by the automatic calibration setting described below.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of information stored in the threshold management table 25. Information shown in the figure is stored in the threshold management table 25, and the threshold determination unit 24 refers to and appropriately changes the threshold when automatic calibration is set. In the automatic calibration setting, the tilt angle is estimated by the tilt angle estimation unit 27 and the tilt angle management table 28 using the detection level of the temperature sensor 3 when it is determined that the user is present.

  Then, the control unit 21 refers to the threshold management table 25 and operates the threshold determination unit 24 to determine a new seating threshold and a leaving threshold corresponding to the tilt angle estimated by the tilt angle estimation unit 27. The threshold recording unit 26 records the presence threshold and the away threshold determined by the threshold determination unit 24.

  The method of determining the presence threshold and the away threshold in the threshold management table 25 based on the tilt angle of the display screen 2 of the PC 1 is based on the presence threshold and the away threshold when the user is operating the PC 1 while being present. Is determined.

  If the tilt angle is small, interference is likely to occur due to reflection from obstacles such as a keyboard and a desk. Since the reaction value of the distance measuring sensor 4 is large even when the user is absent, the presence threshold value and the away threshold value in the threshold management table 25 are determined in consideration of some interference.

  For example, as a standard, the LCD tilt angle is set to about 10 °, and the value detected by the distance measuring sensor 4 when using the PC is 10 in consideration of interference, the presence threshold is 8, and the away threshold is 5. .

  Since the interference is large when the tilt angle is small, the value detected by the distance measuring sensor 4 due to the interference is assumed to be 6. When the away threshold is standard, the value detected by the distance measuring sensor 4 is 6 even if the user leaves the seat, and it is erroneously determined to be present. As shown in FIG. 4, when the tilt angle is small, the presence threshold value is set to 9 and the away threshold value is set to 8, so that even if the user leaves the seat, it is not erroneously determined to be present. When the maximum temperature area is above the plurality of areas, the threshold value is set large.

  If the tilt angle is large, the interference is small, so the value detected by the distance measuring sensor 4 due to the interference is assumed to be zero. When the threshold value is standard, the value is 0 when the user is away from the seat, and is normal when the user is away from the seat. Since there is a possibility of erroneous determination when the user is present, the presence threshold is set to 2 and the away threshold is set to 1 when the tilt angle is large. When the maximum temperature area is the center or the lower side of a plurality of areas, the threshold value is set small.

  Accordingly, the tilt angle estimation unit 27 and the tilt angle management table 28 estimate the tilt angle, and the threshold value determination unit 24 determines the presence threshold and the away threshold corresponding to the tilt angle from the threshold management table 25. The detection accuracy of the user's presence and absence can be improved.

  Next, a method for estimating the tilt angle will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the temperature sensor 3 measures the temperature of the human face, which is the highest temperature, in the detection area 13 and determines the position of the human face. From the position of the person's face in the detection area 13, the tilt angle of the display screen 2 of the PC 1 is estimated. The estimation of the tilt angle corresponds to the areas p1 to p16 indicating how much the display screen 2 of the PC 1 is inclined when a human face is recognized in any one of the detection areas p1 to p16 of the temperature sensor 3. The magnitude of the tilt angle can be estimated.

  In addition, when a person's face is straddling the area of 2 or 4, you may estimate the average magnitude | size of a tilt angle.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of information stored in the tilt angle management table 28. The tilt angles corresponding to the areas p1 to p16, which are the detection areas 13 of the temperature sensor 3, are set in two steps, ie, small in the vertical direction for p1 to p4 and large in the vertical direction for p5 to p16.
Note that the tilt angle estimated by the tilt angle management table 28 is not limited to two levels in the vertical direction, and the areas p1 to p16 may be set to other numbers of patterns in the vertical and horizontal directions, or not the areas p1 to p16. Alternatively, it may be set to a pattern with another number of areas.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a detection area 31 of the temperature sensor 3 according to the present embodiment. FIG. 6A shows a case where the face 33 of the user 32 is above the detection area 31 of the temperature sensor 3. When the tilt angle of the display screen 2 is 0 ° in the vertical direction and 4 ° in the counterclockwise direction in the horizontal direction, the face 33 of the user 32 is detected in the area p3. If the tilt angle of the display screen 2 is small from the tilt angle management table 28, the tilt angle estimation unit 27 estimates the tilt angle. Is recorded in the threshold recording unit 26.

  FIG. 6B shows a case where the face 33 of the user 32 is in the center of the detection area 31 of the temperature sensor 3. When the tilt angle of the display screen 2 is 15 ° upward and 4 ° counterclockwise in the left-right direction, the face 33 of the user 32 is in the area p7. The tilt angle estimation unit 27 estimates that the tilt angle of the display screen 2 is large from the tilt angle management table 28, and the threshold value determination unit 24 determines the presence threshold value 2 and the away threshold value 1 that are patterns of less interference from the threshold management table 25. Is recorded in the threshold recording unit 26.

  When the distance to the object measured by the distance measuring sensor 4 is smaller than the predetermined distance threshold and the temperature of the object detected by the temperature sensor 3 is larger than the predetermined temperature threshold, the control unit 21 of the PC 1 Is the user's human body.

  When the user leaves the chair, the temperature sensor 3 and the distance measuring sensor 4 do not recognize the user, and when a certain time elapses, the screen of the PC 1 is turned off, and the normal mode is changed to the power saving mode. Even when the distance measuring sensor 4 detects a chair, the temperature sensor 3 can distinguish between the user and the chair. When the user sits on the chair, the temperature sensor 3 and the distance measuring sensor 4 recognize the user, and when a certain time elapses, the screen of the PC is turned on, and the power saving mode is changed to the standard mode.

  According to the present embodiment, the tilt angle of the display screen can be estimated from the detection area of the non-contact temperature sensor and the presence threshold and the away threshold can be optimized, so that automatic calibration can be realized.

1 PC
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 2 Display screen 3 Temperature sensor 4 Distance sensor 11 Electronic board 12 Temperature sensor element 13 Detection area 21 Control part 22 Presence state determination means 24 Threshold value determination part 25 Threshold management table 27 Tilt angle estimation part 28 Tilt angle management table 31 Detection area 32 users 33 faces

Claims (5)

A display screen for displaying information processing results;
A temperature sensor for measuring, in a non-contact manner, an average temperature of an object present in the area for each of a plurality of areas divided at least in the vertical direction on the display screen on which the information processing result is displayed;
A distance measuring sensor that outputs a detection level that is large when the distance to an object existing on the display information display result side of the display screen is small and small when the distance is large ;
Control means for turning off the display of the display screen when the detection level input from the distance measuring sensor is smaller than a predetermined threshold,
The information processing apparatus, wherein the threshold value is set to be large when a maximum temperature area where the measured average temperature is the highest among the plurality of areas of the temperature sensor is above the plurality of areas. The highest temperature on the basis of the position of the area to estimate the tilt angle of the display screen, and sets the threshold value according to the tilt angle, claim 1 Symbol placement of the information processing apparatus. Wherein the temperature sensor and the distance measuring sensor is characterized by being installed in the lower portion of the display screen, the information processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 wherein. It is possible to operate in a normal mode in which no operation restriction is provided, and in a power saving mode in which part of the operation is restricted and power consumption is smaller than the normal mode,
When the human body and the object to be determined of the user is not detected for a predetermined time or more, the information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that shifts to the power saving mode from the normal mode.   5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein, when an object that is determined to be a human body of the user is detected during the operation in the power saving mode, the information processing apparatus shifts to the normal mode.

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