Object state sensing apparatus, object state sensing method, home electronic appliance, network adapter and medium

• US 6,754,561 B2
• Filed: 10/01/2002
• Issued: 06/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Matsui, Masaru, Matsubayashi, Shigeaki, Nagamitsu, Sachio
• Primary Examiner(s): Picard, Leo
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shechtman, Sean P.
• Application Number:
  US10/148,012
• Publication Number:
  US 20030112139A1
• Time in Patent Office: 630 Days
• Field of Search: 700/19, 700/20, 700/47, 700/276, 700/277, 340/501, 340/517, 340/521, 340/522, 340/573.1, 367/93, 165/11.1, 165/200, 165/205, 165/208, 165/237
• US Class Current: 700/277
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 8/10 Detecting, e.g. by using light barriers by reflection from the object G01S17/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/181 using active radiation detection systems
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2491 Intrusion detection systems, i.e. where the body of an intruder causes the interference with the electromagnetic field
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/22 responsive to presence or absence of persons
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/00 Alarm systems in which the location of the alarm condition is signalled to a central station, e.g. fire or police telegraphic systems

Abstract

In a room exit determination, a determination of presence of a body in a room is made if a movement pattern vector consisting of a room ID of movement origin, a room ID of movement destination and a movement period of time is not received from the a non-specified room response sensor within a predetermined period of time. A determination of exit from the room of a body is made only when the movement period of time in the movement pattern vector agrees with a movement period of time of past exits from the room stored in the a movement time storage if this vector is received from the non-specified room response sensor.

Claims

1. An object state sensing apparatus comprising:

a state sensing information generation part for generating state sensing information showing a state of an object in two or more rooms in a house by means of moving body sensors installed in the rooms; and

a determination part for specifying a room wherein said state sensing information has changed and for determining the state of said object in said specified room;

wherein said state sensing information includes a sensed condition indicating that said object is sensed, and a non-sensed condition indicating that said object is not sensed;

said determination part includes (a) a state sensing information change monitoring part for specifying a room within said house, where said state sensing information has changed from the sensed condition to the non-sensed condition, and (b) a non-specified room response sensing part for finding a movement pattern between respective rooms, when said state sensing information change monitoring part specifies a room that has changed from the sensed condition to the non-sensed condition;

a room exit determination part for determining that the object exited from said specified room by comparing said found movement pattern to a reference movement pattern wherein the comparison of said found movement pattern to said reference movement pattern indicates a movement between the respective rooms; and

said non-specified room response sensing part assumes the room, where said state sensing information has converted to the sensed condition from the non-sensed condition, to be a movement destination room and the period of time between the time when the non-sensed condition is specified in said room that has changed from the sensed condition to the non-sensed condition and the time when said movement destination room is converted to the sensed condition to be a movement period of time, and

said found movement pattern includes an ID of said specified room, an ID of said movement destination room and said movement period of time.

2. The object state sensing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

said reference movement pattern includes the ID of said specified room, the ID of said movement destination room and a reference period of time, measured in advance, required for the object to move from said specified room to said movement destination rooms, and

said determination part includes determination means to determine that said object exited from the room if said movement period of time of said found movement pattern is substantially equal to said reference period of time of said reference movement pattern.

3. The object state sensing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

said reference movement pattern includes a probability of said object exiting from said specified room, and

said determination means determines that said object exited from the room if said probability of said reference movement pattern is greater than a predetermined value.

4. The object state sensing apparatus according to claim 1, including a movement pattern learning part for learning said reference movement pattern,

wherein said reference movement pattern is a result of learning in said movement pattern learning part and

said determination means determines based on a learning value corresponding to said reference movement pattern.

5. The object state sensing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said movement pattern learning part learns by using a self-organizing algorithm.

6. The object state sensing apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, wherein said reference movement pattern is a reference pattern specified by the ID of said specified room and by the ID of said movement destination room.

7. The object state sensing apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein said state sensing information generation part generates said state sensing information of each of said rooms from response of a moving body sensor of each of said rooms, and

said determination part has a state sensing information change monitoring part for specifying a room, from among the respective rooms within said house, wherein said state sensing information changed from the non-sensed condition to the sensed condition.

8. A home electronic appliance comprising:

an object state sensing apparatus according to any of claims 1 or 5 and

a control part for changing the operational condition of said home electronic appliance if said determination part determines that said object exited from said specified room.

9. The home electronic appliance according to claim 8, wherein said home electronic appliance is an air conditioner.

10. The home electronic appliance according to claim 8,

wherein said control part changes the operational condition of said home electronic appliance in said specified room to a first operational condition if said determination part determines that said object exited from said specified room,

said control part changes the operational condition of said home electronic appliance to a second operational condition that is different from said first operational condition if said state sensing information in said specified room is in a condition of non-sensed state for a predetermined period of time, or longer, since a determination is made that said object exited from the specified room, and

said control part returns the operational condition of said home electronic appliance to the operational condition before the change to said first operational condition if said state sensing information of said specified room is converted from the non-sensed state to the sensed state within said predetermined period of time.

11. A network adapter comprising:

an object state sensing apparatus according to any of claims of 1 to 5;

said moving body sensors; and

a communication part for communicating with a home electronic appliance having a function part that performs predetermined functions based on a determination result of said object state sensing apparatus.

12. The network adapter according to claim 11, comprising a control part for changing an operational condition of said function part if said determination part determines that said object exited from said specified room.

13. The network adapter according to claim 12,

wherein said control part changes the operational condition of said function part in said specified room to a first operational condition if said determination part determines that said object exited from said specified room,

said control part changes the operational condition of said function part to a second operational condition that is different from said first operational condition if said state sensing information in said specified room is in a condition of non-sensed state for a predetermined period of time, or longer, since said determination is made that an exit from the room occurred, and

said control part returns the operational condition of said function part to the operational condition before the change to said first operational condition if said state sensing information of said specified room is converted from the non-sensed state to the sensed state within said predetermined period of time.

14. In a structure having multiple rooms, a method for sensing a body exiting from a room comprising the steps of:

(a) identifying at least first and second rooms in the structure with first and second IDs, respectively;

(b) sensing presence of a body in the first room;

(c) sensing a change in step (b) by a non-sensing of the body in the first room;

(d) sensing presence of a body in the second room;

(e) determining at least one movement pattern between the first room having the first ID and the second room having the second ID, including a movement period of time between sensing of change in step (c) and first sensing of presence of a body in step (d);

(f) determining, in advance, a predetermined reference movement pattern from the first room to the second room, including a movement period of time for moving from the first room to the second room; and

(g) comparing the movement patterns of step (e) and step (f) to determine that a body exited from the first room and is in the second room.

15. An apparatus for sensing a body exiting a room of a structure comprising:

an identifier identifying at least first and second rooms in the structure with first and second IDs, respectively,

a first sensor sensing presence of a body in the first room and, subsequently, sensing a change, after non-sensing of the body in the first room,

a second sensor sensing presence of a body in the second room,

a memory storing a predetermined reference movement pattern from the first room to the second room, including a movement period of time for moving from the first room to the second room,

a calculator determining at least one movement pattern between the first room having the first ID and the second room having the second ID, including a movement period of time between sensing of change of the first sensor and first sensing of presence of a body in the second room, and

a comparator comparing the predetermined reference movement pattern with the at least one movement pattern to determine that a body exited from the first room and is in the second room.

16. A machine-readable storage medium containing a set of instructions for causing a general purpose computer to determine that a body exited a room in a structure, by performing the following steps:

(a) identifying at least first and second rooms in the structure with first and second IDs, respectively;

(b) sensing presence of a body in the first room;

(c) sensing a change in step (b) by a non-sensing of the body in the first room;

(d) sensing presence of a body in the second room;

(e) determining at least one movement pattern between the first room having a first ID and the second room having a second ID, including a movement period of time between sensing of change in step (c) and first sensing of presence of a body in step (d);

(f) determining, in advance, a predetermined reference movement pattern from the first room to the second room, including a movement period of time for moving from the first room to the second room; and

(g) comparing the movement patterns of step (e) and step (f) to determine that a body exited from the first room and is in the second room.