JP7200003B2 - Monitoring system, monitoring method and program - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a watching system, a watching method, and a program for notifying a message from a center operator to a user to be watched.

In recent years, devices with voice input/output functions (e.g., interactive robots) have been installed, especially in the homes of elderly people living alone. A dialogue system that fosters

In this system, for example, for a user whose wake-up time is roughly decided, by having the device utter a greeting sentence such as "Good morning." It is possible to create a feeling.

In relation to such technology, Patent Literature 1 discloses a technology for transmitting a predetermined message to a user (mainly an elderly person living alone) according to predetermined schedule information as part of a safety confirmation system.

JP 2010-141445 A

However, in the technique of Patent Document 1, since the content of the message is fixed, it gives a mechanical impression to the user who receives the message every day, making it difficult to foster a "feeling of connection" and a "feeling of being watched over." put away.

On the other hand, creating a new message every time it is sent to each user is a big hassle for the operator.

In view of the circumstances as described above, an object of the present invention is to provide a watching system that can flexibly change the contents of the message while reducing the operator's labor when creating a message to the user to be watched over. It is to provide a watching method and program.

In order to achieve the above object, a watching system according to one aspect of the present invention includes a user terminal having output means for outputting a message to a user who is a watching target, and a center device communicably connected to the user terminal.
The center device has storage means, input means, partial change means, and transmission means. The storage means stores a message template including a variable word/phrase region to which classification information is added and a plurality of word/phrase groups each having a plurality of words/phrases for each of the classification information. The input means receives an operator's operation input for selecting a word/phrase group to be used for creating the message from the plurality of word/phrase groups. The part changing means creates the message by changing at least the variable word/phrase area in the message template to one of the words/phrases included in the word/phrase group selected corresponding to the classification information of the variable word/phrase area. . The transmission means transmits the created message to the user terminal.

In the watching system, the part changing means may change the variable word/phrase area to a word/phrase selected at random from the selected word/phrase group.

This eliminates the need for the operator to select words and phrases, thereby further reducing the operator's labor.

A monitoring system according to another aspect of the present invention includes a user terminal having output means for outputting a voice message including seasonal greetings to a user to be monitored, and a center device communicably connected to the user terminal. have.
The center device has storage means, input means, partial change means, and transmission means. The storage means includes a message template including a greeting phrase region to which seasonal information is added and associated with the greeting time to the user, and a plurality of greetings each including a plurality of greeting phrases related to seasonal greetings for each of the seasonal information. Memorize phrases. The input means receives operation input from an operator who selects a group of greeting phrases to be used for creating the message from the plurality of groups of greeting phrases. The part changing means changes at least the greeting phrase area in the message template to any greeting phrase included in the greeting phrase group selected corresponding to the season information of the greeting phrase area, and outputs the message. create. The transmission means transmits the created message to the user terminal at the greeting time.

The part changing means may change the greeting phrase area to a greeting phrase randomly selected from the selected greeting phrase group.

A message creation method according to another aspect of the present invention includes:
storing a message template including a variable phrase region to which classification information is added and a plurality of phrase groups each having a plurality of phrases for each of the above classification information;
Receiving operation input from an operator who selects a group of words and phrases to be used for creating a message to a user who is a watching target from the plurality of groups of words and phrases;
creating the message by changing at least the word/phrase area in the message template to any word/phrase included in a word/phrase group selected corresponding to the classification information of the variable word/phrase area;
Sending the created message to the user terminal,
outputting a message from the user terminal to the user;

A program according to another aspect of the present invention provides a center device communicatively connected to a user terminal having output means for outputting a message to a user to be watched over,
a step of storing a message template including a variable phrase region to which classification information is added and a plurality of phrase groups each having a plurality of phrases for each of the above classification information;
a step of receiving operation input by an operator who selects a group of words and phrases to be used for creating a message to the user to be watched over from the plurality of groups of words and phrases;
creating the message by changing at least the variable word/phrase area of the message template to any word/phrase included in a word/phrase group selected corresponding to the classification information of the variable word/phrase area;
and sending the composed message to the user terminal.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to flexibly change the content of the message while reducing the operator's labor when creating a message to the user to be monitored. However, this effect does not limit the invention.

It is a figure showing composition of a watching system concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is the figure which showed the hardware constitutions of the server apparatus which the said watching system has. It is the figure which showed the example of the schedule information which the said server apparatus memorize|stores. It is the figure which showed the example of the phrase group which the said server apparatus memorize|stores. It is the flowchart which showed the flow of the phrase group setting processing in a message by the said server apparatus. It is the figure which showed the example of the phrase group setting screen which the said server apparatus displays. It is the figure which showed the example of the phrase group setting screen which the said server apparatus displays. It is the figure which showed the example of the phrase group setting screen which the said server apparatus displays. It is the figure which showed the example of the phrase group setting screen which the said server apparatus displays. It is the flowchart which showed the flow of the message creation process by the said server apparatus.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[System configuration]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a monitoring system according to this embodiment.

As shown in the figure, the monitoring system comprises a center device including a server device 100 installed in a management center, and a user terminal 200 communicably connected to the server device 100 via a network.

The user terminal 200 is installed in the home of a user (for example, an elderly person) who is to be monitored in this system. It has output means for notification.

As for the output means, a speaker S as a device for outputting sound is suitable, considering that it is difficult for the elderly to operate complicated machines, and that the user should feel connected. Alternatively, a display device using a liquid crystal panel may be used so that users who have hearing loss due to aging can visually recognize messages.

The user terminal 200 may have at least the components described above, but may be an interactive robot that resembles a small doll with an appearance that allows the user to associate with people and feel familiar.

Also, when a message is delivered to the user by voice, the user terminal 200 may be appropriately vibrated according to the utterance, or the eyes and mouth may be brightly displayed by built-in light emitting means (LED, etc.).

The user terminal 200 has a function of transmitting the message transmitted from the server device 100 to the user aurally or visually. It may also have a function of converting it into a character string using voice recognition technology and transmitting it to the server device 100 .

The server device 100 is a device used by an operator who resides in the management center and exchanges messages with users, and functions as a message creation device that creates messages for the users to be watched over.

The server device 100 has at least flag setting means 110 , partial change means 120 and transmission means 130 . It also has control means for controlling those means. Although the details will be described later, these are appropriately realized by well-known hardware and software stored in storage means.

A storage unit 140 is also connected to the server device 100 . The storage means 140 stores schedule information S indicating a notification schedule of a message to a user, a message template M having a variable phrase area, and a plurality of phrase groups W having a plurality of phrases that can be inserted into the variable phrase region. ing. Also connected to the server device 100 is an input means 150 for receiving operator input by means of, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, other pointing devices, or a touch panel. is configured.

The flag setting means 110 sets a flag indicating whether or not each word/phrase group W is used for creating a message.

The part changing means 120 changes the variable word/phrase area of the message template M to a word/phrase selected from the word/phrase group W set by the flag to create a message.

The transmitting means 130 transmits the message to the user terminal 200 according to the schedule information S described above.

The input means 150 accepts an operator's operation input for selecting a word/phrase group W to be used for creating a message to the user from a plurality of word/phrase groups W. FIG.

[Hardware Configuration of Server Device]
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of the server device 100. As shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the server apparatus 100 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 12, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 13, an input/output interface 15, and a bus 14 connecting these to each other. Prepare.

The CPU 11 appropriately accesses the RAM 13 or the like as necessary, and performs overall control of each block of the server device 100 while performing various kinds of arithmetic processing. The ROM 12 is a non-volatile memory that permanently stores firmware such as an OS, programs, and various parameters to be executed by the CPU 11 . The RAM 13 is used as a work area for the CPU 11, and temporarily holds the OS, various applications being executed, and various data being processed.

The CPU 11 also functions as the flag setting means 110 and the portion changing means 120 described above.

The input/output interface 15 is connected to a display unit 16, an operation reception unit 17, a storage unit 18, a communication unit 19, and the like.

The display unit 16 is a display device using, for example, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), an OELD (Organic ElectroLuminescence Display), a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), or the like.

The operation reception unit 17 is, for example, a pointing device such as a mouse, a keyboard, a touch panel, or other input device. The operation reception unit 17 functions as the input means 150 described above.

The storage unit 18 is, for example, a non-volatile memory such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), a flash memory (SSD; Solid State Drive), or other solid state memory. In addition to the OS, the storage unit 18 stores schedule information, various flags, parameters, and software for realizing each means of the server device 100 . The storage unit 18 functions as the storage unit 140 described above.

In the present embodiment, the storage unit 18 stores data such as the schedule information S and the group of words W, applications for interaction with the user terminal 200 including message generation, and other programs and databases, as described above. ing.

The communication unit 19 is, for example, a NIC (Network Interface Card) for Ethernet (registered trademark) or various modules for wireless communication such as a wireless LAN, and is responsible for communication processing with the user terminal 200 . The communication unit 19 functions as the transmitting means 130 described above.

The hardware configuration of the user terminal 200 is basically the same as the hardware configuration of the server device 100, but the user terminal 200 has the microphone M and the speaker S on the front as described above.

[Schedule Information]
Next, details of the schedule information S stored in the storage means 140 (storage unit 18) will be described. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of user A's schedule information S. As shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 4A, the schedule information S includes the user name of the user scheduled to notify the message, the terminal ID of the user terminal 200 of the user, the scheduled time of message notification, the scheduled day of the week, and the date of the scheduled message. It has data for each item.

In FIG. 4A, each message is indicated by a message name (notification after waking up, notification during the day, etc.) that identifies it. The messages include daily greetings, seasonal greetings, events on specific days of the week (such as taking medicine), seasonal events (such as New Year's), and messages related to bits of knowledge.

The messages stored as the schedule information S are the above message templates M rather than completed messages. As a specific example of the message template M, a message template M for notification after waking up is shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 4B, the message template M has a plurality of variable word/phrase areas R. FIG. In the variable phrase area R, "today's date" and "today's day of the week" are appropriately replaced with the date and day of the week fetched from the clock means of the server device 100. ("random@morning greeting", "random@seasonal chat") for classifying is provided, and the word/phrase group W corresponding to the classification information is randomly selected and replaced.

[Phrase group]
Next, the details of the word/phrase group W stored in the storage means 140 (storage unit 18) will be described. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a specific example of the word/phrase group W. As shown in FIG.

FIG. 3(a) shows the normal message in winter, (b) in the exceptional message in winter, and (c) in the normal message in summer.

Each word/phrase group W includes a plurality of words/phrases (greeting sentences and notification sentences) for each of the classification information of "random@morning greeting" and "random@seasonal chat". In the example of FIG. 1, morning greetings and seasonal chats are included in a group of phrases, but they may be stored separately. In this case, classification information is added according to the word/phrase group name, such as morning greetings for normal messages in winter and seasonal chats for exception messages in winter.

[Monitoring system operation]
Next, the operation of the watching system configured as described above will be described. The operation is executed by cooperation between hardware such as the CPU 11 and the communication unit 19 of the server device 100 and software stored in the storage unit 18 . In the following description, for the sake of convenience, the CPU 11 of the server device 100 is assumed to be the operating body.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the flow of phrase group setting (selection) processing in the watching system. 6 to 9 are diagrams showing examples of word group setting screens displayed by the server apparatus 100 in the word group setting process.

As shown in FIG. 6, the word/phrase group setting screen includes a user name input field 51, a word/phrase group list display button 52, a word/phrase group list 53, a word/phrase group detail display button 54, a flag change button 55, a setting end button 56, and a cancel button. 57.

As shown in FIG. 5, first, the CPU 11 of the server device 100 receives input of the user name of the user to be notified of the message from the user name input field 51 by the operation receiving unit 17, and presses the phrase group list display button 52. A pressing operation is accepted (step 101). The user name input field 51 can be directly input by the operator, or, for example, a list of user names may be displayed in a pull-down window or another window, and then any user name can be selected.

Subsequently, the CPU 11 reads out the word/phrase group W corresponding to the input user name from the storage means 140 and displays the word/phrase group list 53 as shown in FIG. 6 (step 102).

Subsequently, the CPU 11 receives the pressing operation of the word group detailed display button 54 by the operation receiving unit 17 (step 103).

In response to the depression of the word group detailed display button 54, the CPU 11 displays a word group detailed display screen as shown in FIG. 8 (step 104). The word group detail display screen includes a user name display field 61, a flag status display field 62, a flag change button 63, a word group name display field 64, a variable word/phrase area selection box 65, a variable word/phrase edit box 66, a setting end button 67, and a It has a cancel button 68 .

In the word/phrase group detailed display screen, when an input to edit the words/phrases of the word/phrase group W is received via the operation receiving unit 17, the CPU 11 changes the words/phrases of the word/phrase group W according to the input (step 105). .

Further, when the flag change button 63 is pressed via the operation reception unit 17 on the word group detail display screen, the CPU 11 changes the flag corresponding to the flag state display column 62 to another flag, and the flag state The display in the display column 62 is changed (step 106).

In the word group setting screen shown in FIG. 6, if any word group column on the word group list 53 is selected instead of the word group selection button 54, for example, by right-clicking the mouse, A pop-up menu 58 is displayed as shown at 7 .

The pop-up menu 58 has menus for word group detail display and flag change menus, and their functions are the same as those of the word group detail display button 54 and flag change button 55 . The pop-up menu 58 is used when only the flag is changed without editing the words in the word group W. FIG.

Then, when the CPU 11 accepts the pressing operation of the setting end button 67 (step 107), as shown in FIG. It is updated according to the flag change operation (step 108).

FIGS. 8 and 9 show an example in which the operator wants to utter a winter exception message that reflects this fact on a warm day despite the winter, and has changed the flag of the winter exception message to valid. ing. As can be seen by comparing FIG. 6 and FIG. 9, the above flag change operation changes the setting of the winter normal message flag, which had been set to valid until then, to invalid, and instead enables the winter exception message flag. has been changed to Also, at that time, as shown in FIG. 8, the words of the word/phrase group W are edited to add the word/phrase of "Morning Greetings."

The CPU 11 executes the processing described above each time a setting (selection) operation is input for any word group.

Next, the process of creating a message using the set word/phrase group will be described. FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing the flow of the message creating process.

As shown in the figure, the CPU 11 first refers to the schedule information S and determines whether or not there is a message notification schedule that matches the current day of the week and the current time (step 111).

If there is a notification schedule that matches the current day of the week and current time, the corresponding message template M (for example, notification after waking up) is read from the storage unit 18 (step 112).

Subsequently, the CPU 11 identifies the word/phrase group W (for example, the normal message in winter) flagged as "valid" in the read message template M (step 113).

Subsequently, the CPU 11 randomly selects words from the specified word group W (step 114), and changes the variable word/phrase area in the read message template M to the randomly selected words/phrases (step 114). 115). This completes the creation of the message.

Then, the CPU 11 transmits the created message to the user terminal 200 through the communication section 19 (step 116). The user terminal 200 outputs the message as voice.

The CPU 11 executes the above processing each time the day of the week and the time set by the schedule information S come.

[summary]
As described above, according to the present embodiment, the watching system creates a message using the message template M and the word group W for each classification information, so that the operator can It is possible to flexibly change the contents of the message while reducing the time and effort, and prevent the deterioration of the "feeling of connection" and "feeling of being watched over". In addition, since it is easy to change the message in the event of an irregular situation such as a cheerful out-of-season, a discrepancy between the content of the message and the actual situation will occur, giving the impression that "after all, it is just a machine talking". It is possible to easily prevent the user from being overwhelmed, and it becomes easy to continue to foster a "feeling of connection" and a "feeling of being watched over".

[Modification]
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be modified in various ways without departing from the gist of the present invention.

In the above-described embodiment, a flag is set for each word/phrase group W to indicate whether or not it should be used (valid/invalid). A phrase group W to be used may be selected.

In the above-described embodiment, the necessity (valid/invalid) of use of each word group W is set. If the setting is changed from invalid to valid for any of the word/phrase groups in the group, the setting may be changed so that other word/phrase groups are automatically invalidated from valid. As a result, it is possible to prevent simultaneous notification of words and phrases that would give the user a sense of incongruity if they were notified at the same time.

Also, in the word group setting screen shown in FIG. 6, an example in which each user is specified individually has been described. good. For example, if the "winter exception message" includes useful information for the residents of the area, it can contribute to fostering the above-mentioned "sense of connection".

In the above-described embodiment, the classification information of the word/phrase group W is exemplified by seasons (seasonal greetings, etc.). However, as classification information, for example, there are more specific periods than the season such as the month, events according to the period such as New Year, Obon, Christmas, Golden Week, etc., word groups according to classification information such as disaster / emergency, weather, temperature, etc. W may be provided. When weather and temperature are used as the classification information, the server apparatus 100 automatically acquires the weather and temperature of the day from the weather forecast information on the network, thereby automatically generating the word/phrase group W corresponding to the weather and temperature of the day. You may choose.

Also, when the user terminal 200 is an interactive robot, the character (personality) of the robot may be used as the classification information (the manner of speaking and the content of the speech differ for each character).

Among the inventions claimed in the scope of claims of the present application, the invention described as a "monitoring method" automatically performs each step by at least one device such as a computer through information processing by software. , It is not performed by a human using a device such as a computer. That is, the "monitoring method" is an information processing method using computer software, and is not a method of manipulating a computing tool called a computer.

11 CPU
18... Storage unit 19... Communication unit 100... Server device 110... Flag setting means 120... Part change means 130... Transmission means 140... Storage means 150... Input means 200... User terminal S... Notification schedule information M... Message template W... Phrase group R: variable phrase area

Claims (6)

A watching system comprising a user terminal having output means for outputting a message to a user to be watched over and a center device communicably connected to the user terminal,
The center device
storage means for storing a message template including a variable word/phrase area classified by classification information and a plurality of word/phrase groups corresponding to the classification information ;
Input means for receiving operation input by an operator who selects a group of words and phrases used to create the message from the plurality of groups of words and phrases corresponding to the classification information ;
Part changing means for creating the message by changing at least the variable word/phrase area of the message template to any word/phrase included in a word/phrase group selected corresponding to the classification information of the variable word/phrase area, and transmitting means for transmitting the created message to the user terminal ;
The plurality of word/phrase groups are provided for each situation assumed at the time of outputting the message, and each word/phrase group is composed of the plurality of words/phrases reflecting the situation.
monitoring system. The part changing means sets two or more word groups out of the plurality of word groups as a group, and when one word group out of the group is selected, other word groups in the group cannot be selected. set to
The watching system according to claim 1. A watching system comprising a user terminal having output means for outputting a message including seasonal greetings to a user to be watched over and a center device communicably connected to the user terminal,
The center device
A message template including a greeting phrase area classified by seasonal information and associated with the greeting time to the user, and a plurality of greeting phrases each composed of a plurality of greeting phrases related to seasonal greetings and associated with the seasonal information. a storage means for storing groups;
input means for receiving operation input by an operator who selects a group of greeting phrases to be used for creating the message from the plurality of groups of greeting phrases corresponding to the seasonal information ;
Part changing means for creating the message by changing at least the greeting phrase region of the message template to any greeting phrase included in a greeting phrase group selected in correspondence with the season information of the greeting phrase region; and transmitting means for transmitting the created message to the user terminal at the greeting time ,
The plurality of greeting phrase groups are provided for each seasonal situation assumed when the message is output, and each greeting phrase group is composed of the plurality of greeting phrases reflecting the seasonal situation.
monitoring system. The part changing means sets two or more greeting phrase groups out of the plurality of greeting phrase groups as a group, and when one greeting phrase group is selected from the group, other greeting phrases in the group are selected. set groups to non-selectable
The watching system according to claim 3. storing a message template including a variable phrase region classified by classification information and a plurality of phrase groups each made up of a plurality of phrases and associated with the classification information ;
Receiving operation input by an operator who selects a group of words and phrases to be used for creating a message to a user to be watched over from the plurality of groups of words and phrases corresponding to the classification information ;
creating the message by changing at least the variable word/phrase area in the message template to any word/phrase included in a word/phrase group selected corresponding to the classification information of the variable word/phrase area;
sending the created message to a user terminal;
A watching method for outputting a message from the user terminal to the user ,
The plurality of word/phrase groups are provided for each situation assumed at the time of outputting the message, and each word/phrase group is composed of the plurality of words/phrases reflecting the situation.
watch over method . A center device communicably connected to a user terminal having output means for outputting a message to a user to be watched over,
a step of storing a message template including a variable phrase region classified by classification information and a plurality of phrase groups each composed of a plurality of phrases and associated with the classification information ;
a step of receiving operation input by an operator for selecting a group of words and phrases to be used for creating a message to the user from the plurality of groups of words and phrases corresponding to the classification information ;
creating the message by changing at least the variable word/phrase area of the message template to any word/phrase included in a word/phrase group selected corresponding to the classification information of the variable word/phrase area;
a step of sending the created message to a user terminal ; and
The plurality of word/phrase groups are provided for each situation assumed at the time of outputting the message, and each word/phrase group is composed of the plurality of words/phrases reflecting the situation.
program .

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