JPH07253237A - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To input an operation command by speech and to exclude noise disturbance due to the input of the speech command in an air conditioner which can be remotely operated by the speech command. CONSTITUTION:The air conditioner comprises a microphone 8 for detecting a command speech, speech recognition means 10 for recognizing the detected speech signal, control means 11 for generating a remote operation signal according to the meaning of the recognized speech signal, and transmitting means 4 for converting the generated remote operation signal to a radio signal to output it at an operation end.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air conditioner equipped with a wireless remote control device, and more particularly to an air conditioner which can be remotely operated by voice commands.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, there is known an air conditioner which can be remotely controlled wirelessly by a radio signal of an infrared transmission signal. In these air conditioners, the operation terminal of the remote control device is provided with a manual input operation button, and the operating state of the air conditioner body can be arbitrarily controlled by pressing the operation button corresponding to the command. There is.

[0003]

However, it would be convenient and strongly desired to be able to input a command by voice instead of manually.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an air conditioner capable of inputting an operation command by a voice input and eliminating noises accompanying the voice command as much as possible.

[0005]

In order to solve the above problems, the invention according to claim 1 is a remote control including an air conditioner main body and an operation terminal capable of remotely operating the air conditioner main body by a radio signal. A microphone for detecting a command voice in the operation terminal, a voice recognition means for recognizing the detected voice signal, and a control means for generating a remote control signal according to the content of the recognized voice signal. And a transmitting means for converting the generated remote control signal into a radio signal and outputting the radio signal.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the operation terminal is provided with an operation switch means for manually inputting an operation command.

According to a third aspect of the invention, in the second aspect of the invention, the voice operation command word is displayed in characters on the operation switch means.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the invention, the operation terminal is configured to be displayed in characters on the operation terminal.

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the invention, when the command voice is emitted, the voice wave is detected by the microphone and converted into a voice signal which is an electric signal. The voice signal is recognized by the voice recognition means, and the recognized voice signal is input to the control means. The control means generates a remote control signal corresponding to the content of the input voice signal. The generated remote control signal is converted into a wireless signal by the transmitting means and output to the outside. This wireless signal is received by the air conditioner body side, and the air conditioner body is operated according to the transmitted operation content.

Here, since the microphone is provided in the operation terminal, the microphone is separated from the main body of the air conditioner, which is a noise source such as noise and vibration, and it is possible to suppress voice recognition error.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, manual input other than voice is possible, which is convenient when a voice command is impossible.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the characters displayed on the operation switch means and the voice command word match, the command input is standardized, and the command word is skipped, while sleeping, and when listening to music. ， Allow remote operation even when it is not desirable to occur in conversation with people.

According to the fourth aspect of the invention, since the voice command word is displayed at any part of the operation terminal, remote operation is possible even when the command word is forgotten.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the appearance of the air conditioner according to the present invention. The air conditioner remotely controls the air conditioner body 1 by wirelessly transmitting an operation command to the air conditioner body 1 including a device mechanism for air conditioning operation (cooling and heating ventilation). And a remote control device for operating the remote control device. FIG. 1 shows an operating terminal 3 of the remote control device.

The air conditioner main body 1 is provided with a receiving device 2, which receives a transmission signal such as infrared rays transmitted from the transmitting device 4 of the operation terminal 3 and converts the received signal into an electric signal. By converting and decoding the signal, a necessary signal is generated in the air conditioning apparatus body 1 and sent to a controller (not shown) in the air conditioning apparatus body 1.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of main elements incorporated in the operation terminal 3. The operation terminal 3 is a means for inputting an operation command voice, detects a command voice wave and converts it into an electric signal,
The voice signal is output to the voice recognition processing circuit 10.

The voice recognition processing circuit 10 includes a microphone 8
The voice signal Vin from is processed to perform voice recognition. As the voice recognition method, either an unspecified speaker speech recognition method or a specified speaker recognition method may be used and may be set according to the application.
Here, an example of the voice recognition processing circuit 10 by the similarity determination method by pattern matching with a general standard pattern will be disclosed.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the voice recognition processing circuit 10 by the pattern matching method. That is, the feature extraction circuit 12 extracts the feature of the voice pattern from the input voice signal Vin by acoustic analysis, and the extracted feature amount is compared with the standard pattern prepared in the standard pattern memory 14 in advance in the pattern matching circuit 13. Then, the pattern having the highest degree of similarity is output to the determination circuit 15. The determination circuit 15 outputs the input most similar pattern as a recognition result as a determination output signal Vout. This determination output signal Vout is sent to the controller 11.

The controller 11 is a voice recognition processing circuit 1
An operation command signal corresponding to the command input based on the determination result signal Vout from 0 is generated by encoding. This operation command signal is sent to the transmitter 4. The transmitter 4 converts the transmitted operation command signal into infrared rays and radiates the infrared rays into the air. This infrared ray is used as a transmission signal.
It is transmitted to the receiving device 2 of the air conditioner body 1.

On the other hand, an operation switch 7 as a manual operation means is connected to the controller 11 in addition to the microphone 8.

The operation switch 7 is a microphone 8
This is effective in that it is required when it is impossible to input a command from the voice.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the operation switch 7. As shown in FIG. 4, the operation switch 7 is provided with an operation button 16 for each operation command or function, and when the operation button 16 is pressed, a corresponding command signal is output to the controller 11. . On the upper surface of each operation button 16, the same command word as that used when a command is input by voice from the microphone 8 is displayed in characters (or displayed in characters). In this way, by making the manual operation command word by the operation button 16 and the voice command word by the microphone 8 the same, it is possible to perform the remote operation even if the voice command word is forgotten.

The operation switch 7 is provided separately from the display device 5 as shown in FIG. 1, but the display device 5 may be used as a transparent touch panel switch so that the operation switch 7 can also be used. In that case, the command word characters may be displayed on the liquid crystal display unit of the transparent touch panel switch.

Returning to FIG. 2 again, the audio output circuit 17 is connected to the controller 11, and the audio output circuit 1
The audio output from 7 is given to the speaker 9, and the speaker 9
A predetermined guidance voice is output from.

That is, for example, when the time setting of the operation terminal 3 is performed, the voice output circuit 17 gives a command by sounding "time set", or the operation button 16 of the "time set" of the operation switch 7. Press to give an instruction, but it is necessary to set "hour, minute" as the next instruction.

Therefore, at the time when the first time set command is input, the speaker 9 then asks "What time, what minute is the desk?"
A guidance voice like that is output. as a result,
It is possible to prevent forgetting to operate.

The mode of the voice guidance is not limited to this example, and the guidance necessary for operating the operation terminal 3 can be output in various modes. Alternatively, a confirmation guidance voice for command input is also effective. For example, if a confirmation voice such as "Blown and strengthened" is obtained at the time of inputting the command "Strengthen", the user can feel secure.

[0029]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the remote operation of the air conditioner can be performed by the voice command, and the voice recognition is disturbed by the noise generated by the air conditioner at that time. Smooth operation is possible without receiving any damage.

Further, according to the invention described in claims 2 to 4, it is possible to improve the operability in inputting a command from the operation terminal.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an appearance example of an air conditioner according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of main elements incorporated in the operation terminal.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a voice recognition processing circuit based on a pattern matching method.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of operation switches.

[Explanation of symbols] 1 air conditioner main body 2 receiving device 3 operating terminal 4 transmitting device 7 operating switch 8 microphone 9 speaker 10 voice recognition processing circuit 11 controller 12 feature extraction circuit 13 pattern matching circuit 14 standard pattern memory 15 judgment circuit 16 operation Button 17 Audio output circuit

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An air conditioner main body, and a remote control device including an operation terminal capable of remotely operating the air conditioner main body by a wireless signal, wherein the operation terminal includes a microphone for detecting a command voice. Voice recognition means for recognizing the detected voice signal, control means for generating a remote control signal according to the content of the recognized voice signal, and transmission means for converting the generated remote control signal into a radio signal and outputting the radio signal. An air conditioner comprising: 2. An air conditioner main body, and a remote control device including an operation terminal capable of remotely operating the air conditioner main body by a radio signal, wherein the operation terminal includes a microphone for detecting a command voice. Voice recognition means for recognizing the detected voice signal, control means for generating a remote control signal according to the content of the recognized voice signal, and transmission means for converting the generated remote control signal into a radio signal and outputting the radio signal. And an operation switch means for manually inputting an operation command, the air conditioner. 3. An air conditioner body, and a remote control device including an operation terminal capable of remotely operating the air conditioner body portion by a radio signal, wherein the operation terminal includes a microphone for detecting a command voice. Voice recognition means for recognizing the detected voice signal, control means for generating a remote control signal according to the content of the recognized voice signal, and transmission means for converting the generated remote control signal into a radio signal and outputting the radio signal. And an operation switch means for manually inputting an operation command, wherein a voice operation command word is displayed in characters on the operation switch means for manual input. 4. An air conditioner body, and a remote control device including an operation terminal capable of remotely operating the air conditioner body portion by a radio signal, wherein the operation terminal includes a microphone for detecting a command voice. Voice recognition means for recognizing the detected voice signal, control means for generating a remote control signal according to the content of the recognized voice signal, and three transmitting means for converting the generated remote control signal into a radio signal and outputting the radio signal. And an operation switch unit for manually inputting an operation command, wherein the operation terminal displays voice operation command characters in characters.