CONTENT REPRODUCTION APPARATUS, MOBILE APPLIANCE, AND ABNORMALITY DETECTION METHOD

• US 20110202961A1
• Filed: 02/09/2011
• Published: 08/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: ASANO, Yasuharu
• Granted Patent: US 9,773,394 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/46
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0423 detecting deviation from an expected pattern of behaviour or schedule
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0469 Presence detectors to detect unsafe condition, e.g. infrared sensor, microphone G08B21/0476 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0484 Arrangements monitoring consumption of a utility or use of an appliance which consumes a utility to detect unsafe condition, e.g. metering of water, gas or electricity, use of taps, toilet flush, gas stove or electric kettle
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/182 Level alarms, e.g. alarms responsive to variables exceeding a threshold
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 29/185 Signal analysis techniques for reducing or preventing false alarms or for enhancing the reliability of the system
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18

Abstract

There is provided a content reproduction apparatus including a content reproduction unit for reproducing content, a habit detection unit for detecting a reproduction habit regarding content that uses the content reproduction unit, and an abnormality determination unit for determining there is an abnormality, in a case a reproduction action estimated from the reproduction habit detected by the habit detection unit is not carried out.

Claims

1. A content reproduction apparatus comprising:

a content reproduction unit for reproducing content;

a habit detection unit for detecting a reproduction habit regarding content that uses the content reproduction unit; and

an abnormality determination unit for determining there is an abnormality, in a case a reproduction action estimated from the reproduction habit detected by the habit detection unit is not carried out.

2. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the content is content delivered in real time,

wherein the content reproduction apparatus further includes a content comparison unit for comparing, in a case the reproduction action estimated from the reproduction habit detected by the habit detection unit is not carried out, first content currently being delivered and second content which was being delivered, at a time of detection of the reproduction habit, in a time slot same as that of the first content, and

wherein the abnormality determination unit determines there is an abnormality, in a case a reproduction starting action estimated from the reproduction habit detected by the habit detection unit is not carried out and a result of comparison by the content comparison unit indicates that the first content and the second content are of a same type.

3. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:

a taste detection unit for detecting a taste of a user by analyzing a type of content reproduced by the user by using the content reproduction unit; and

a taste determination unit for determining, in a case a content ending action estimated from the reproduction habit detected by the habit detection unit is not carried out and the result of comparison by the content comparison unit indicates that the first content and the second content are of different types, whether or not the first content matches the taste of the user detected by the taste detection unit,

wherein the abnormality determination unit determines there is an abnormality, in a case the reproduction ending action estimated from the reproduction habit detected by the habit detection unit is not carried out, the result of comparison by the content comparison unit indicates that the first content and the second content are of different types, and the taste determination unit determines that the first content does not match the taste of the user detected by the taste detection unit.

4. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:

a taste detection unit for detecting a taste of a user by analyzing a type of content reproduced by the user by using the content reproduction unit; and

a taste determination unit for determining, in a case a reproduced content changing action estimated from the reproduction habit detected by the habit detection unit is not carried out and the result of comparison by the content comparison unit indicates that the first content and the second content are of different types, whether or not the first content matches the taste of the user detected by the taste detection unit,

wherein the abnormality determination unit determines there is an abnormality, in a race the reproduced content changing action estimated from the reproduction habit detected by the habit detection unit is not carried out, the result of comparison by the content comparison unit indicates that the first content and the second content are of different types, and the taste determination unit determines that the first content does not match the taste of the user detected by the taste detection unit.

5. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising:

an abnormality notification unit for issuing, in a case the abnormality determination unit determines there is an abnormality, a notification of the abnormality to a specific external apparatus.

6. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising:

an abnormality notification unit for issuing, in a case the abnormality determination unit determines there is an abnormality, a notification of the abnormality to a specific external apparatus.

7. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising:

an advance notification unit for outputting, before the abnormality notification unit issues the notification of the abnormality to the specific external apparatus, a sound or an image indicating to an effect that the notification of the abnormality will be issued; and

a notification cancellation unit for performing control, according to a user operation, after the sound or the image is output by the advance notification unit, such that the notification of the abnormality is not issued to the specific external apparatus by the abnormality notification unit,

wherein the abnormality notification unit issues the notification of the abnormality to the specific external apparatus in a case a specific period of time has passed after the sound or the image was output by the advance notification unit without the notification cancellation unit performing control.

8. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the content comparison unit compares, based on metadata, the first content currently being delivered and the second content which was being delivered, at a time of detection of the reproduction habit, in a time slot same as that of the first content.

9. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising:

a presence sensor capable of detecting a movement of a person present within a specific range that allows viewing of content reproduced by the content reproduction unit,

wherein the abnormality determination unit determines there is no abnormality, in a case a movement of the person present within the specific range is detected by the presence sensor.

10. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising:

a human sensor for capturing an image of an object present within a specific range that allows viewing of content reproduced by the content reproduction unit, and detecting a part of a person in the image of the object captured; and

a movement sensor for detecting a movement of the person detected by the human sensor, based on positions of a face continuously detected by the human sensor at specific time intervals,

wherein the abnormality determination unit determines there is no abnormality, in a case a movement of the person present within the specific range is detected by the movement sensor.

11. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising:

a whereabouts acquisition unit for acquiring, from a location detection appliance for detecting a place a specific user is at, information on the place the specific user is at; and

a whereabouts determination unit for determining whether the specific user is present within a specific range that allows viewing of content reproduced by the content reproduction unit, based on the information on the place the specific user is at acquired by the whereabouts acquisition unit,

wherein the abnormality determination unit determines there is no abnormality, in a case the specific user is determined by the whereabouts determination unit to be not present within the specific range.

12. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising:

a power information acquisition unit for acquiring, from an electricity metre managing power consumption of a house, power information indicating the power consumption of the house; and

a power comparison unit for comparing average power consumption observed in a case a person is in the house and the power consumption acquired by the power information acquisition unit,

wherein the abnormality determination unit determines there is no abnormality, in a case a result of comparison by the power comparison unit indicates a discrepancy between the average power consumption and the power consumption currently acquired by the power information acquisition unit.

13. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising:

an other-apparatus information acquisition unit for acquiring other-apparatus information indicating reproduction state of content at another content reproduction apparatus,

wherein the abnormality determination unit determines there is no abnormality, in a case content is being reproduced by such another content reproduction apparatus, based on the other-apparatus information acquired by the other-apparatus information acquisition unit.

14. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising:

an other-appliance content reproduction information acquisition unit for acquiring information relating to content reproduced by another content reproduction apparatus and information relating to time of reproduction of the content by such another content reproduction apparatus,

wherein the habit detection unit detects the reproduction habit regarding content that uses the content reproduction unit and a reproduction habit regarding content of such another content reproduction apparatus, and

wherein the taste detection unit detects the taste of the user by analyzing a type of the content reproduced by the user by using the content reproduction unit and a type of the content reproduced by such another content reproduction apparatus.

15. A mobile appliance comprising:

a position information acquisition unit for acquiring position information;

a communication unit for exchanging information with an external appliance;

a first habit detection unit for detecting a habitual behaviour pattern of a user based on a history of the position information acquired by the position information acquisition unit;

a second habit detection unit for detecting a habit of exchanging the information using the communication unit; and

an abnormality determination unit for determining there is an abnormality, in a case exchange of the information estimated based on the habit detected by the second habit detection unit is not carried out and there is no discrepancy between position information estimated based on the habitual behaviour pattern detected by the first habit detection unit and the position information currently acquired by the position information acquisition unit.

16. An abnormality detection method comprising the steps of:

reproducing content;

detecting a reproduction habit regarding content reproduced in the step of reproducing; and

determining there is an abnormality, in a case a reproduction action estimated from the reproduction habit detected in the step of detecting is not carried out.

17. An abnormality detection method performed by a mobile appliance including a position information acquisition unit for acquiring position information and a communication unit for exchanging information with an external appliance, comprising the steps of:

detecting a habitual behaviour pattern of a user based on a history of the position information acquired by the position information acquisition unit;

detecting a habit of exchanging the information using the communication unit; and

determining there is an abnormality, in a case exchange of the information estimated based on the habit detected in the step of detecting a habit is not carried out and there is no discrepancy between position information estimated based on the habitual behaviour pattern detected in the step of detecting a habitual behaviour pattern and the position information currently acquired by the position information acquisition unit.