System and method for adapting the ambience of a local environment according to the location and personal preferences of people in the local environment

• US 7,298,871 B2
• Filed: 06/07/2002
• Issued: 11/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Lee, Mi-Suen, Strubbe, Hugo
• Primary Examiner(s): Bella; Matthew C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lu; Tom Y
• Application Number:
  US10/165,286
• Publication Number:
  US 20030227439A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,992 Days
• Field of Search: 382/115, 382/118, 382/155, 700/47, 700/48
• US Class Current: 382/115
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/16 Human faces, e.g. facial parts, sketches or expressions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2829 involving user profiles according to which the execution of a home appliance functionality is automatically triggered
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42202 environmental sensors, e.g. for detecting temperature, luminosity, pressure, earthquakes
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/125 by using cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/175 by remote control
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/40 Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection

Abstract

A system and method for automatically controlling systems and devices in a local environment, such as a home. The system comprises a control unit that receives images associated with one or more regions of the local environment. The one or more regions are each serviced by one or more servicing components. The control unit processes the images to identify, from a group of known persons associated with the local environment, any one or more known persons located in the regions. For the regions in which one or more known person is identified, the control unit automatically generates a control signal for at least one of the servicing components associated with the region, the control signal reflecting a preference of at least one of the known persons located in the respective region.

Claims

1. A system comprising a control unit that receives images associated with one or more regions of a home, the one or more regions each being serviced by one or more servicing components, the control unit processing the images to identify, from a group of known persons associated with the home, any one or more known persons located in the regions and, for the regions in which one or more known person is identified, automatically generating a control signal for at least one of the servicing components associated with the region, the control signal reflecting a preference of at least one of the known persons located in the respective region.

5. The system as in claim 1, wherein the control unit retrieves preferences stored for the one or more known persons identified as located in the regions.

6. The system as in claim 5, wherein, for the regions in which one or more known person is identified, the control signal generated for the at least one of the servicing components associated with the region is based upon at least one of the preferences retrieved for at least one of the known persons located in the region.

7. The system as in claim 1, further comprising a memory that interfaces with the control unit, the memory storing preferences for each of the group of known persons relating to the one or more servicing components servicing the one or more regions, the preferences for an identified person being retrievable from the memory by the control unit.

8. The system as in claim 1, wherein the servicing components are selected from a group comprised of lights, heating units and audio systems.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein one of the servicing components associated with one of the regions is a heating unit, the control signal generated for the heating unit reflecting a room temperature preference of at least one of the known persons located in the one region.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein one of the servicing components associated with one of the regions is a light, the control signal generated for the light reflecting a lighting preference of at least one of the known persons located in the one region.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein one of the servicing components associated with one of the regions is an audio system, the control signal generated for the audio system reflecting at least one of an audio volume preference and a music type preference of at least one of the known persons located in the one region.

18. The system of claim 1 wherein the preference is a function of a time of day, a day of the week, or a time of the year.

2. A system comprising a control unit that receives images associated with one or more regions of a stationary structure, the one or more regions each being serviced by one or more servicing components, the control unit processing the images to identify, from a group of known persons associated with the stationary structure, any one or more known persons located in the regions and, for the regions in which one or more known person is identified, automatically generating a control signal for at least one of the servicing components associated with the region, the control signal reflecting a preference of at least one of the known persons located in the respective region, the system further comprising at least one camera associated with each of the one or more regions of the stationary structure that provide the control unit with the images associated with the one or more regions, images captured by the at least one camera associated with each region being processed to identify any known persons located in the region.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the control unit applies image recognition software to the received images to identify any one or more known persons located in the regions.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the image recognition software uses stored reference image data of the known persons associated with the stationary structure to identify any one or more known persons located in the regions.

17. The system of claim 2 wherein the stationary structure is selected from the group comprising a dwelling and a building.

12. A method for controlling a servicing component located in a region of a stationary structure, the method comprising the steps of:

a) capturing images associated with the region;

b) identifying, from a group of known persons each associated with the stationary structure, a known person in the region from the captured images associated with the region;

c) retrieving a preference of the identified person, the preference related to the servicing component, wherein the step of retrieving a preference includes retrieving the preference from a memory using the identity determined in the identifying step; and

d) controlling the servicing component according to the retrieved preference of the identified person;

wherein steps a)-d) are performed for one or more additional regions in the stationary structure.

13. The method as in claim 12, wherein the step of identifying a known person in the region from the captured images includes the step of processing the captured images with image recognition software.

14. The method as in claim 12, wherein the step of controlling the servicing component according to the retrieved preference of the identified person includes generating a control signal for the servicing component that reflects the preference and transmitting the control signal to the servicing component.

15. The method as in claim 12, wherein steps c) and d) are performed for one or more additional servicing components in the region.

16. A computer readable storage medium including instructions which, when executed by a computer, carries out a method comprising:

receiving an image input associated with one or more regions of a home, the one or more regions each being serviced by one or more servicing components;

processing the images input in conjunction with data comprising a group of known persons associated with the home, to identify any one or more known persons located in the regions;

for the regions in which one or more known person is identified, accessing a memory to retrieve a preference of at least one of the known persons located in the respective region for at least one of the servicing components associated with the region; and

generating a control signal for the at least one of the servicing components associated with the region based upon the retrieved preference.

19. The method of claim 16 including using, for a region in which more than one person is identified, a priority rule to establish a preference, and wherein the control signal is based on the established preference.

20. A system comprising a control unit that receives images associated with one or more regions of a building, the one or more regions each being serviced by one or more servicing components, the control unit processing the images to identify, from a group of known persons associated with the building, any one or more known persons located in the regions and, for the regions in which one or more known person is identified, automatically generating a control signal for at least one of the servicing components associated with the region, the control signal reflecting a preference of at least one of the known persons located in the respective region.

21. The system according to claim 20, wherein the preferences are pre-established and the system includes a memory that interfaces with the control unit, the memory storing pre-established preferences for each of the group of known persons relating to the one or more servicing components servicing the one or more regions, the pre-established preferences for an identified person being retrievable from the memory by the control unit, wherein the controller includes a preference input mode, and wherein the pre-established preferences for each of the group of known persons relating to the one or more servicing components servicing the one or more regions are input manually via an external input interface with the control unit when the controller is in the preference input mode.

22. The system according to claim 20, wherein the system includes a memory that interfaces with the control unit, the memory storing preferences for each of the group of known persons relating to the one or more servicing components servicing the one or more regions, the preferences for an identified person being retrievable from the memory by the control unit, and wherein the preferences for each of the group of known persons relating to the one or more servicing components servicing the one or more regions are generated by the control unit in a learning mode.

23. The system according to claim 20, wherein at least one of the one or more regions of the building is defined by a room of the building.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the control unit receives images associated with a first room of the building and wherein at least one of the servicing components has an extent of coverage which includes the first room and a second room of the building.