JPH10133709A - Work support system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a user with information that the user really requires at each point of time. SOLUTION: The current state, in which a user is put, is gathered by gathering means 6 to 11, the current state of the user is recognized by a current state recognizing means based on their output signals and information for supporting user's work is stored and held systematically in data bases 2 and 12 according to the recognition state. Information needed to support the work that the user performs is retrieved from the data bases 2 and 12 and the retrieved necessary information is guided by a guide means to a guide part 14. Thus since the information needed to support the work that the user performs is guided according to the current state wherein the user is placed, the user is provided with the information that the user really requires at each point of time.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a work support system such as a cooking guide for guiding a cooking procedure and a car navigation system for guiding an operation route.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, various work support systems have been researched and developed with the progress of information processing technology and the like, and the progress and development of these systems are remarkable. As such a work support system, there is a cooking guide or the like for guiding a cooking procedure by voice, as represented by a car navigation technology which has rapidly spread with the advancement of GPS technology.

An example of a cooking guide is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-201686. In this publication, cooking methods and ingredients are stored in an audio data memory,
There is disclosed an invention in which the amount of food and the cooking method for each dish are output as a sound by an advance command based on a voice input from a microphone or a key input by a push button. For example, when a certain dish is designated and guidance on the amount of ingredients is requested, the system inquires about the number of people, and when this is answered, the required amount of ingredients is output as voice. Then, when a guide for the cooking method is requested, the cooking method is output as voice.

As a car navigation system, for example, there is the following example. First, JP-A-62-2679
Patent Document No. 00 discloses an invention in which route guidance by voice is performed in addition to route guidance by image display. As a further advance, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2002-209555 discloses an invention in which the arrival time to an intersection at which a voice announcement is made is calculated according to the speed of a vehicle, and the start timing of the guidance voice is controlled by calculating backward from the end of reading the voice announcement. I have. That is, an object of the present invention is to accurately start the voice announcement at the preceding intersection. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 7-27569 discloses a more accurate route guidance by changing the output timing of the guidance voice according to the distance between the intersection to be rerouted and the intersection in front of the intersection. The invention as described above is disclosed. According to the present invention, a distance between an intersection to be rerouted and an intersection in front of the intersection is determined, and when the distance is equal to or longer than a predetermined distance, guidance voice is output at a point of a predetermined distance, and the distance is equal to or shorter than a predetermined distance. In this case, a guidance voice is output after passing through the preceding intersection. As a result, the intersection before the intersection to be changed is not mistaken for the intersection to be changed.

[0005]

If information on this work is required during any work, the person who has the information can be asked if it is nearby. It can be done very efficiently. On the other hand, if there is no person who has the necessary information nearby, it is necessary to search for an information source such as a manual, and in this case, it is difficult to perform an efficient operation. This is because there is a great gap in grasping the current situation on the information providing side unless there is a person who has the necessary information nearby. In other words, those who are close to the worker generally know whether they share the situation in which they are located and can easily understand what information the worker is requesting. Therefore, necessary information can be promptly provided. On the other hand, the information source itself such as a manual cannot naturally grasp the situation where the worker is located. For this reason, in order for workers to find necessary information from such information sources, much effort must be devoted to searching for a description part that fits their situation, which is extremely efficient. Will decrease.

Considering such a conventional work support system, there is no conventional work support system that recognizes a situation where a worker is placed. For this reason, there is a problem that it is difficult to provide the information that the operator really needs.

For example, considering the inventions described in the respective publications introduced in the section of the prior art, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-2016
The cooking guide described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 86 merely guides the ingredients of the dish and the cooking method in response to the user's request, and does not make any judgment on the situation where the cooking user is placed. For this reason, for example, when a situation change due to the use of a stove with a heating power different from the assumption of the system, a situation change due to a user mistake due to a mistake in listening, a situation change due to a variation in the size and quality of foodstuffs, etc. Can't respond. In addition, in actual cooking operations, there are many cases where a certain action such as turning off the fire when boiling occurs, and taking a certain action, but such a situation cannot be dealt with at all. Further, in an actual cooking operation, a plurality of operations generally proceed simultaneously, such as making a plurality of items at the same time or cutting vegetables while boiling the meat. However, since the order of the time when the contents of the pot boils and the time when the vegetables are completely cut cannot be predicted in advance, it is impossible to provide accurate guidance that can cope with such matters.

The car navigation systems disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 62-267900 and 7-27569 also disclose the fact that the situation where the user is placed is not determined. This is the same as the cooking guide described in Japanese Patent Publication No. Therefore,
In some cases, the user may be erroneously recognized. For example, in the invention disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-27569, the output timing of the guidance voice is changed according to the distance between the intersection to be rerouted and the intersection in front of the intersection.
Although the idea of eliminating the user's misunderstanding is excellent, there is a possibility that a voice announcement may be made far before an intersection to be changed due to traffic congestion, and this may cause misunderstanding to the user . In other words, the invention described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-27569 does not have the idea of grasping the situation where the user is located. In this regard,
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 4-1897 has grasped one of the situations where a user is placed, that is, the speed of a vehicle. However, as pointed out in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-27569, there is a lack of correspondence with respect to an intersection just before an intersection to be rerouted. That is, the level of grasping the situation where the user is located has not reached the level required for the car navigation system. Therefore, it can be said that the invention described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-1897 does not have the idea of grasping the situation where the user is located.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a work support system for guiding a user who is performing a predetermined work to information for supporting the work. Collecting means for collecting the current state, converting the current state into an electric signal, and outputting the electric signal; current state recognizing means for recognizing the current state where the user is located based on the output signal of the collecting means; and supporting the user's work. A database that systematically stores and retains information; an information search unit that searches the database for information necessary to support the work performed by the user according to the recognition result of the current state recognition unit; Guide means for guiding important information to the guide unit. Therefore, information necessary for supporting the work performed by the user is searched from the database according to the current state in which the user recognized by the current state recognition unit based on the output signal of the collection unit is located by the information search unit. This is guided to the guide section by the instruction of the guide means. Therefore, information required by the user is accurately guided.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the work support system according to the first aspect, the information retrieving means retrieves, from the database, information obtained by dividing a series of work contents into work units suitable for a human to grasp at once. The search and guidance means causes the guidance unit to guide the search information by voice. Therefore, information necessary for supporting the work performed by the user is divided into work units suitable for the human being to grasp at a time by the information search means, and the voice is announced by the guide means.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the work support system according to the second aspect, the database associates and stores at least information on a cooking object, its quantity, a processing method thereof, and a degree of processing, and performs cooking. Support the work. Therefore, information necessary for supporting the cooking operation performed by the user is searched from the database, and such information is divided into work units suitable for human beings to grasp at a time, and voice announcements are made. In this case, the collecting means includes a sensor for sensing a physical or chemical change of the object to be cooked, and the current state recognition means or the current state where the user is located is estimated and recognized based on the output signal of the sensor. The invention according to claim 4, wherein the collecting means includes a sound capturing device for capturing a sound generated during the cooking operation, and the current state recognizing means estimates a current state where the user is located based on an output signal of the sound capturing device. The invention according to claim 5, wherein the collecting means includes an utterance capture device for capturing the utterance of the user during the cooking operation,
7. The current state recognizing means estimates and recognizes a current state where the user is located based on an output signal of the speech capturing device.
According to the described invention, information necessary for supporting the cooking operation performed by the user is accurately retrieved from the database.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the work support system according to the first aspect, the information search means searches the database for general information on a certain work, and after the information is guided by the information guide means, the information search means relates to the same work. Retrieve local information from a database. Therefore, after global information on a certain task is retrieved from the database and guided by the guidance means, local information on the same task is retrieved from the database and guided by the guidance means.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the work support system according to the second aspect, the information retrieving means retrieves information in a geographically wide range including a predicted passing point in a process from the current location to the destination. After the voice guidance of this information, information of a geographically narrow range including the same expected passage point is searched to support the driving operation of the vehicle. Therefore, after a geographically wide range of information including a certain expected passing point is retrieved from the database and guided by the guidance means, a geographically narrow range of information including the same expected passing point is retrieved from the database and guided by the guidance means. Is done. In this case, the information search means includes prediction means for predicting the time from the current position to the predicted passage point, and determination means for determining whether there is a time margin based on the prediction result of the prediction means. 10. The work according to claim 9, wherein a geographically wide range of information is searched only when it is determined that there is a search, and only a geographically narrow range of information is searched when the determination means determines that there is no time margin. If configured as a support system, voice announcements are made more suited to the current state of the user.

[0014]

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention.
A description will be given with reference to FIG. This embodiment is an example of application to a dish navigation system.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an outline of a cooking navigation system. This system is based on a control unit 1 for centrally controlling each unit. The control unit 1 is connected to a cooking knowledge database 2 as a database, and is connected to an input / output unit for various information.

As an input unit connected to the control unit 1, a situation recognition unit 3, a cooking sound discrimination unit 4, and a voice recognition unit 5 are provided. The situation recognition unit 3 transmits to the control unit 1 various information collected from the temperature sensor 6, the gas sensor 7, the weight sensor 8, and the timer 9 as collection means and output in the form of electric signals. The temperature sensor 6 is a sensor for measuring the temperature in and around the cooking utensil, the gas sensor 7 is a sensor for measuring the flow rate and flow velocity of the gas used, and the weight sensor 8 is built in a kitchen scale for measuring weight. The timer 8 is a kitchen timer for measuring the time. Therefore, the temperature sensor 6, the gas sensor 7, the weight sensor 8, and the timer 9 function as sensors for sensing a physical or chemical change of the object to be cooked. Next, the cooking determination unit 4 transmits to the control unit 1 the acoustic information captured by the first microphone 10 as the collection unit and output in the form of an electric signal. The first microphone 10 is installed at any position in the kitchen, such as a position where a cooking operation is performed or a position where cooking utensils such as a pot are used, and picks up a sound generated during cooking. Then, the voice recognition unit 5 analyzes the voice information captured by the second microphone 11 as the collecting means and output in the form of an electric signal based on the information stored in the voice language database 12 as a database, The result is transmitted to the control unit 1. The second microphone 11 is installed near the user and picks up the utterance of the user during the cooking operation.

As an output unit connected to the control unit 1, a voice synthesizing unit 13 is provided. The speech synthesis unit 13 controls the speech language database 1 under the control of the control unit 1.
Based on the information stored in 2, necessary voice information is generated, and this voice information is output from a speaker 14 as a guide unit.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the electrical connection of each part. FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically illustrating an outline of a cooking navigation system according to the present embodiment.
Each unit is configured as shown in the block diagram of FIG.
In other words, a storage device including the ROM 16 and the RAM 17 of the CPU 15 that executes various arithmetic processes and intensively processes each unit is connected via the bus line 18, and this is a main constituent element of the control unit 1. I have. Further, sensors such as a temperature sensor 6, a gas sensor 7, a weight sensor 8, and a timer 9 as collecting means, and first and second microphones 10 and 11 as collecting means,
The A / D converter 19 connects to the bus line 18, and the speaker 14 as a guide unit is connected to the bus line 18 via a D / A converter 20, and these units are controlled by the CPU 15. . Here, the A / D converter 19 has a multi-channel configuration.
The channel is the input sound from the first microphone 10, the other channel is the input sound from the second microphone 10, and the other channel is from the sensors such as the temperature sensor 6, the gas sensor 7, the weight sensor 8, and the timer 9. The collected information is processed and output to the cooking sound determination unit 4, the voice recognition unit 5, and the situation recognition unit 3, respectively. Also,
The D / A converter 20 converts an output waveform from the voice synthesizer 13 into a signal suitable for driving the speaker 14. A CD-ROM drive 21 is connected to the bus line 18 connected to the CPU 15, and the contents of the CD-ROM are read by the CD-ROM drive 21. The CD-ROM stores a cooking knowledge database 2 and a speech language database 12.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a data structure of cooking knowledge stored in the cooking knowledge database 2. As shown in FIG. 3, the cooking knowledge database 2 stores and holds a cooking procedure, a cooking object, the number thereof, a processing method, a processing degree, and an end condition in association with each cooking. . That is, the cooking knowledge database 2 systematically stores and holds information for assisting the cooking operation of the user.

Here, the CD-ROM whose contents are read by the ROM 16 and the CD-ROM drive 21 include:
An operation program is fixedly stored, and various functions are executed by a general control function of the CPU 15 according to the operation program, that is, a microcomputer function. One of the functions executed in this way is a function performed by the situation recognition unit 3, the cooking determination unit 4, and the voice recognition unit 5. This function is generally based on a temperature sensor 6, a gas sensor 7, a weight sensor 8, a timer 9, and signals collected by two microphones 10 and 11 and output from an A / D converter 19 as collecting means. This is a function as a current state recognition means for recognizing the current situation where the user is placed. Among such current state recognition functions, the current state recognition function executed based on the voice picked up by the second microphone 11 is performed based on the existing voice recognition technology in the voice recognition unit 5. As the existing speech recognition technology, there is, for example, a technology described in “Current and Future of Speech Recognition by Mathematical Statistical Model” on page 26 to 32 of The Acoustical Society of Japan, Vol.

Other functions executed by the microcomputer function include an information search function and a guidance function. The information search function is a function as an information search means for searching the cooking knowledge database 2 for information necessary for supporting the work performed by the user. Information retrieval from the cooking knowledge database 2 and the speech language database 12 in the information retrieval function is performed according to the system of the cooking knowledge database 2, and in this case, information retrieval may be performed according to the recognition result of the current state recognition means. The system of the cooking knowledge database 2 is a cooking object associated with each cooking procedure for a certain cooking, its quantity, its processing method, degree of processing, and termination conditions. The cooking procedure is divided into work units suitable for human beings to grasp a series of work at a time. Therefore, the information search by the information search means is also performed by being divided into such work units. Next, the guidance function is a function as a guidance unit that announces necessary information retrieved by the information retrieval unit by voice using the speaker 14. The voice announcement by the speaker 14 is performed by the voice synthesizer 13 using the template to synthesize the voice based on the data stored in the voice language database 12. Existing speech synthesis technology is used for such processing. As the existing speech synthesis technology, for example, Journal of the Acoustical Society of Japan, Vol.
Examples include those described in “Present and Future of Speech Synthesis Research” on pages 9 to 45.

Here, work support processing by the dish navigation system of the present embodiment will be described. This work support process is to guide the cooking object and the quantity thereof for each dish together with the processing method and the degree of the processing.
At this time, the next process is determined and executed by observing the current state of the user. For example, when cooking curry, "Please cut two onions into fine pieces."
At this time, the current state of the user, for example, that silence has continued for 10 seconds or more is detected, and in this case, it is determined that the processing of cutting the two onions has been completed, and the next Work announcements such as voice announcement of the procedure are performed. Therefore, the actual processing will be described next with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an outline of the work support processing. First, as work support processing,
A search for work contents is performed (step S1). This processing is performed by the user declaring the name of the dish, searching for the next processing by ending a specific procedure for a certain dish, and the like. The user's declaration of the dish name is made by recognizing the user's utterance captured by the second microphone 11 by the voice recognition technology.

When the work content is retrieved, it is determined whether there is any work content (step S2). This is performed by determining whether or not there is a corresponding dish item in the cooking knowledge database 2 and whether or not all procedures for a certain dish have not been completed yet. For example,
If "curry" is declared, since the item of curry is in the cooking knowledge database 2, it is determined in step S2 that there is work content. On the other hand, if there is no item in the cooking knowledge database 2 called "tom curly", it is called "tom curly". When the dish name is declared, it is determined in step S2 that there is no work content. Similarly, assuming that curry cooking procedures stored in the cooking knowledge database 2 are 1 to 30, procedure 3
After the completion of 0, it is determined in step S2 that there is no work content. If there is no work content, an end notification is sent to another module (step S3), and the process ends.

If it is determined in step S2 that there is work content, the work content is retrieved by the information retrieving means and output by the guidance means (step S4). For example, when the work content is curry procedure 2, the data structure is “onion”, quantity “2”, processing “fried”, and processing degree “medium heat”. Therefore, audio data based on this data structure is used. For example, voice data such as “Please fry two onions over medium heat” is generated by the voice synthesizing unit 13 and output as voice from the speaker 14.

In the following step S5, a trigger condition is set. That is, in the example of step S4, if the work content is curry procedure 2, the cooking knowledge database 2
Since the end condition in the data structure of “report = amber” or “weight = １ ／”, this is set as the trigger condition. The setting is performed using the work area of the RAM 17. Thereafter, the presence or absence of an interrupt described later is determined based on the flowchart of FIG. 5 (Step S6),
If there is an interrupt, release the trigger condition (step S
7) The work content is searched again in step S1.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an outline of the condition setting process. This is a process executed every few ms as a subroutine of the work support process shown in FIG. First, it is determined whether there is an end notification (step S3 in FIG. 4) (step S11). If there is no end notification, it is determined whether there is a trigger condition (step S5 in FIG. 4) (step S1).
2). If there is no trigger condition, the process returns to the determination process in step S11. On the other hand, if there is a trigger condition, the current condition recognition means is caused to execute the current condition recognition function (step S13). That is, based on the signals collected by the temperature sensor 6, the gas sensor 7, the weight sensor 8, the timer 9, and the two microphones 10 and 11 and output from the A / D converter 19, the current situation where the user is placed is shown. Be recognized. In this case, in the information collected from the first microphone 10,
Sounds that are clues to the user's recognition of the current situation include sounds to be cooked, such as the sound of frying, the sound of boiling, the sound of steam in a pressure cooker,
There are mechanical sounds such as a food processor and a hand mixer, a user's sound such as a sound of a kitchen knife hitting a cutting board, and an end sound of a microwave oven.

After the current state of the user is recognized in step S13, the setting condition is determined (step S14). In the setting condition determination, it is determined whether the current state of the recognized user satisfies the trigger condition (step S7 in FIG. 4). For example, when the work content is curry procedure 2, “report =” in the data structure in the cooking knowledge database 2
Since “candy color” or “weight = １ ／” is set as the trigger condition, the situation recognition unit 3 determines whether the utterance of the user “it has become sweet color” has been recognized by speech or based on the output value of the weight sensor 8. When recognizing that the weight of the fried onion has been reduced to half, it is determined that the current state of the user satisfies the trigger condition. Then, if the trigger condition is satisfied, the control unit 1 is interrupted. Thereby, the trigger condition is canceled in the work support processing of FIG. 4 (step S7), and the work content is searched again (step S1). In the example of the operation content of the curry procedure 2 determined that the current state of the user satisfies the trigger condition, in step S1, the operation content of the curry procedure 3 is searched by searching for the operation content. here,
The function of the information search means is executed.

A second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. This embodiment is an example of application to a car navigation system.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing an outline of the car navigation system. This system is based on a control unit 31 for centrally controlling each unit, and a map database 32 as a database is connected to the control unit 31,
An input / output unit for various information is connected and configured.

As input units connected to the control unit 31, a position measuring unit 33, a geographic search unit 34, and a display / input control unit 35 are provided. The position measurement unit 33 processes various information collected from the GPS receiver 36, the direction sensor 37, and the vehicle speed sensor 38 as collection means and output in the form of electric signals, and transmits the processed information to the control unit 31. That is, the information processing in the position measurement unit 33 includes position information by triangulation based on radio waves from artificial satellites obtained from the GPS receiver 36, information on the traveling direction obtained from the direction sensor 37 such as an optical fiber gyro and a geomagnetic sensor, and vehicle speed. This is a process for integrating vehicle speed information and the like based on the vehicle speed pulse obtained from the sensor 38. The geographic search unit 34 includes the geographic database 32, and obtains a current position by using a so-called map matching technique of matching a signal from the position measurement unit 33 with information in the geographic database 32. The geographic search unit 34 also includes a route storage unit 39, and also has a function of causing the route storage unit 39 to store and hold a route from a certain point to another certain point. Such various processes are basic technologies of a car navigation system that is currently widely used, and thus detailed description is omitted. The display / input control unit 35 includes a display / input device 40, and controls input and output of necessary information to and from the control unit 31.

As an output section connected to the control section 31, a voice synthesis section 41 is provided. The voice synthesis unit 41 generates necessary voice information based on the information stored in the voice language database 42 under the control of the control unit 31, and outputs the voice information from a speaker 43 as a guide unit.

FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically showing the outline of the car navigation system according to the present embodiment.
Actually, each unit is configured in a form like a block diagram shown in FIG. 2 exemplifying a block diagram of the dish navigation system (not shown). That is, a microcomputer including a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM is provided, and the microcomputer includes a GPS receiver 36, a direction sensor 37, and a vehicle speed sensor 3.
8. The display / input device 40 and the speaker 43 are connected, and a large-capacity storage medium for storing and holding the map database 32 and the audio language database 42 is connected to form a system. A predetermined area in the RAM is used for the route storage unit 39, and the functions of the position measurement unit 33, the geographic search unit 34, and the display / input control unit 35 are executed by microcomputer control. Further, the method of speech synthesis in the speech synthesis unit 41 is the same as the speech synthesis technique in the first embodiment, and thus the description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a part of the map data structure stored in the map database 32. The map data structure is based on node information that is a branch point and link information that is a road connecting the branch points, and has a hierarchical structure that is divided into wide area route information and local route information.
The wide-area route information is outline information of a wide geographical area. In FIG. 7, "intersection A" and "B interchange"
Are the node information in the wide-area route information, and "prefectural road ... line" and "... highway" are the link information in the wide area route information. The local route information is detailed information in a geographically narrow range corresponding to the wide area route information. For example, in FIG.
"Prefectural road ... Route" in the wide area route information is link information "1 link" and "2 link" and "z intersection" between them.
Node information.

Here, various means executed by the microcomputer function include a current state recognizing means, an information searching means, a guiding means, a predicting means, and a judging means. The current status recognition means includes a GPS receiver 36 as a collection means,
Based on the signals collected and output by the azimuth sensor 37 and the vehicle speed sensor 38, the current state recognition function of recognizing the current situation where the user is located is performed. The information retrieving means performs an information retrieving function of retrieving information necessary for supporting the work performed by the user from the map database 32 and the speech language database 42 according to the recognition result of the current state recognizing means. The guidance means performs a guidance function of announcing the necessary information retrieved by the information retrieval means through the speaker 43. The voice announcement by the speaker 43 is performed by the voice synthesis unit 41 performing voice synthesis of the voice using the template based on the data stored in the voice language database 42,
For such processing, the existing speech synthesis technology as described in the first embodiment is used. The prediction means performs a function of predicting a time from the current position to a predicted passing point. That is, the current position is obtained by the position measurement unit 33 and the geographic search unit 34, and the time to the next node information point is calculated based on the traveling direction information obtained from the direction sensor 37 and the vehicle speed information obtained from the vehicle speed sensor 38. This is the function required by. The judging means is means for judging the presence or absence of a time margin based on a prediction result or the like of the prediction means.

Here, work support processing by the car navigation system according to the present embodiment will be described. This work support processing is generally performed with a general voice guide that determines a route to a destination before traveling and stores and holds the route in a route storage unit 39, and announces this route during actual traveling. This is a function of the car navigation system. Therefore, the description is omitted. On the other hand, among such work support functions, a function unique to the present embodiment is that the current state where the user is placed is recognized, and a voice announcement suitable for this is made. Thus, hereinafter, functions unique to the present embodiment will be described based on the flowchart of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an outline of the voice guidance processing. As a premise, it is assumed that in the map data structure stored in the map database 32, "1 link" of "prefectural road ... line" indicated in the wide area route information of FIG. 7 is traveling toward "z intersection". At this time, the time margin is predicted by the prediction means, and the presence or absence of the time margin is determined by the determination means according to the prediction result (step S1). The time margin means whether the voice announcement can be made hierarchically from the wide-area route information to the local route information during the time from the current location to the “z intersection” where the next voice announcement is scheduled. It means extra time. In this case, as the state where the user is currently placed, the average speed in a certain section is obtained by referring to the vehicle speed information from the vehicle speed sensor 38, and it is determined by the determining means whether the average speed is larger or smaller than a certain threshold.

Next, a guidance start hierarchy i and a template j are obtained by the information retrieval means using the time margin predicted by the predicted time as a parameter (step S).
2). The guidance start hierarchy i is the map database 3
2 means the wide area route information and the local route information in the map data structure stored in 2. In FIG. 7, there are two types of hierarchical structures, that is, wide-area route information and local route information, but in reality, it has a more multilayered structure. The template j means an utterance sentence template held as a typical voice pattern in the voice synthesis unit 41. For example, for the first wide area, a template such as “After this, go to <destination> through <link 1>,... <Link n>” is prepared, and for the second wide area, For <Link 1>, a template such as <Distance> ahead of <Intersection><Direction> direction is prepared, and for local use, a template such as <Forward <Distance><Intersection><Direction>direction> Is prepared.

Next, the information of the guidance start hierarchy i is guided by the guidance means based on the template j (step S3). For example, if it is determined in step S1 that there is enough time, the wide area route information is selected as the guidance start hierarchy i, and the first wide area template j is selected. Therefore, a voice announcement such as "I will go to the city through a highway, a highway, ... after this time" is made. Then, after the end of the voice announcement using the template j, it is determined whether or not there is a lower template j (step S4). If there is a lower template j, the template j is decremented (step S5), and the guidance start hierarchy i is returned. Is provided based on the information template j (step S3). That is, the guidance start hierarchy i
Since the wide area route information is selected and the second wide area template j is selected, "...
The connection will be made at the intersection A km ahead. "

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S1 that there is not enough time, in step S2, local route information is selected as the second wide-area template j or guidance start hierarchy i. That is, a voice announcement is made according to the current state where the user is located.

Next, when it is determined in step S4 that there is no lower template j, it is determined whether there is a lower guidance start hierarchy i (step S6). If there is a lower guidance start hierarchy i, the guidance start hierarchy i is incremented (step S7), and a template j corresponding to this is selected (step S8). Here, the local route information is selected as the guidance start hierarchy i, and the local template j is selected. Therefore, returning to step S4,
A voice announcement such as "It is going straight ahead at the z intersection 50 m ahead" is made. Then, step S6
If it is determined that there is no lower guidance start hierarchy i, the process ends.

[0042]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the current state where the user is placed is collected, and the support information corresponding to the current state is provided. It can provide the required information and enhance the work support effect. Further, in this case, since the current state where the user is placed is automatically collected, a work support system excellent in usability can be provided without imposing a burden on the user for explaining the situation.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the work support system according to the first aspect, a series of work contents is divided into work units suitable for human beings to grasp at a time, and support information suitable for the work unit is output by voice. Since the announcement can be made, the synchronization between the user's work content and the guide information can be improved, and in this case, since the guide method is by voice, accurate work support that does not miss the machine can be provided. .

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the work support system according to the second aspect, the cooking work is supported, and the objects to be cooked, the quantity thereof, the processing method thereof, and the degree of the processing are guided. In particular, fine-grained work support suitable for cooking work can be performed.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the work supporting system according to the third aspect of the present invention, guidance is provided in consideration of an objective quantity such as a physical or chemical change of a cooking object. Therefore, it is possible to more accurately recognize the current state where the user is located, and to improve the accuracy of the guide information.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the work support system according to the third aspect of the present invention, guidance is provided in consideration of a sound generated during the cooking operation. It is possible to more accurately recognize the current state of the vehicle and improve the accuracy of the guidance information.
In this case, since the behavior of the user itself can be estimated and recognized based on the sound generated during the cooking operation, a higher-dimensional situation can be grasped.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the work support system according to the third aspect of the present invention, guidance is provided in consideration of the utterance of the user during the cooking operation, so that the user is placed. It is possible to more accurately recognize the current state of the vehicle and improve the accuracy of the guidance information.
In this case, since a subjective criterion of utterance of the user during the cooking operation is included in the recognition target, a higher-dimensional situation can be grasped.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, guidance contents are continuously narrowed down from global information to local information. Guidance along the route can be provided, and the degree of understanding of the user can be increased.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, the driving information is provided as an object to be supported, and the supporting information is continuously announced from a geographically wide range of information to a narrow range of information, and the voice announcement of the support information is performed. Therefore, it is possible to provide guidance in accordance with a natural human information transmission method in real-time communication, and it is possible to enhance the user's understanding.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the invention in which the driving operation is supported as described in the eighth aspect, information in a wide geographical area is guided only when there is a time margin, and there is no time margin. In such a case, only information that is geographically narrow is provided, so that the driver can make a voice announcement with a margin, which contributes to improvement of safety.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an outline of a cooking navigation system as a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating electrical connection of each unit.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a data structure of a cooking knowledge database.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an outline of a work support process.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an outline of a condition setting process.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing an outline of a car navigation system as a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a part of the data structure of a map database.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an outline of a voice guidance process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2, 12, 32, 42 Database 6 to 9, 36 to 38 Collection means (sensor) 10 Collection means (sound capture device) 11 Collection means (speech capture device) 14, 43 Guide unit

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A work support system for guiding a user who is performing a predetermined task to information for assisting the task, wherein a current state where the user is placed is collected, converted into an electric signal, and output. Collecting means for performing, a current state recognizing means for recognizing a current state where a user is located based on an output signal of the collecting means, a database for systematically storing and holding information supporting a user's work, Information search means for searching the database for information necessary for supporting the work performed by the user in accordance with the recognition result of the recognition means; and guidance means for guiding the necessary information searched by the information search means to a guidance unit. And a work support system comprising: 2. An information search means searches a database for information obtained by dividing a series of work contents into work units suitable for a human to grasp at once, and a guide means guides the search information to a guide unit by voice. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein
The work support system described. 3. The cooking work according to claim 2, wherein the database stores and holds at least information on the cooking object, its quantity, its processing method, and the degree of processing in association with each other. Support system. 4. The collecting means includes a sensor for sensing a physical or chemical change of the object to be cooked, and the current state recognizing means estimates a current state where the user is located based on an output signal of the sensor. 4. The work support system according to claim 3, wherein the work is recognized. 5. The collecting means includes a sound capturing device for capturing a sound generated during a cooking operation, and the current state recognizing means includes a current state in which a user is placed based on an output signal of the sound capturing device. 4. The work support system according to claim 3, wherein the task support system estimates and recognizes the task. 6. The collecting means includes an utterance capturing device that captures an utterance of a user during a cooking operation, and the current state recognizing means includes a current state in which the user is located based on an output signal of the utterance capturing device. 4. The work support system according to claim 3, wherein the task support system estimates and recognizes the task. 7. The information search means searches the database for global information on a certain work, and searches the database for local information on the same work after guidance by the information guide means. Item 2. The work support system according to Item 1. 8. An information search means searches for a geographically wide range of information including a predicted passing point in the process of traveling from the current location to the destination, and after the voice guidance of the information, a geographically searched area including the same predicted passing point. 3. The work support system according to claim 2, wherein the operation target of the vehicle is a support target for searching for information in a narrow range. 9. A prediction device for predicting a time from a current position to a predicted passage point, and a determination device for determining whether there is a time margin based on a result of the prediction by the prediction device, wherein the information search device includes: Is to search for information in a geographically wide range only when it is determined that there is sufficient time, and to search only for information in a geographically narrow range when the determination means determines that there is no sufficient time. The work support system according to claim 8, wherein: