Equipment control device, equipment control system, and equipment control method

• US 9,342,770 B2
• Filed: 04/27/2012
• Issued: 05/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Oami, Ryoma, Ikeda, Hiroo
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, NGON BINH
• Application Number:
  US14/115,468
• Publication Number:
  US 20140098397A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,481 Days
• Field of Search: 358/1.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 15/4055 Managing power consumption, e.g. standby mode computer driven power saving management for a printer G06F3/1221; power saving in a data processing device in general G06F1/32
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2829 involving user profiles according to which the execution of a home appliance functionality is automatically triggered

Abstract

Provided is an equipment control device capable of performing more appropriate equipment control in accordance with detection by a user.

The present invention includes: an equipment layout information storage unit for storing equipment layout information including positional information of control-target equipment to be controlled within a managed space; related ID information storage unit for storing related ID information representing the correspondence relationship between the control-target equipment and IDs given to users of the control-target equipment; an ID-affixed motion line information acquisition unit for acquiring ID-affixed motion line information, in which the ID of a user is associated with the time series of the positional information of the user in the managed space; and an equipment controller for acquiring, on the basis of the related ID information, the control-target equipment associated with the ID in the ID-affixed motion line information, generating control information for controlling, on the basis of the ID-affixed motion line information and equipment layout information, the state of the control-target equipment, and outputting the control information to the control-target equipment.

Claims

1. An equipment control device comprising:

a controller; and

a memory coupled to the controller,

wherein the memory stores;

equipment layout information including positional information of control-target equipment which becomes a control target in a space of management target;

related ID information representing correspondence relationship between the control-target equipment and an ID (identification) given to a user of the control-target equipment;

wherein the controller is configured to;

acquire ID-affixed trajectory information which associates ID of the user with time series of positional information of the user in the space of the management target;

acquire the control-target equipment associated with the ID in the ID-affixed trajectory information on the basis of the related ID information,

generate control information for controlling a state of the control-target equipment on the basis of the ID-affixed trajectory information and the equipment layout information, and outputting it to the control-target equipment;

determine whether or not the related ID information including the ID in the ID-affixed trajectory information is stored in said memory;

determine a specific area, representing a positional relationship between the user and the control-target equipment, in which the state of the control-target equipment is changed in accordance with an intrusion situation of the user in the space of management target on the basis of the equipment layout information, and

generate specific area intrusion information representing the intrusion situation of the user to the specific area on the basis of the ID-affixed trajectory information and the specific area when the related ID information includes the ID in the ID-affixed trajectory information; and

generate the control information for controlling the control-target equipment on the basis of the specific area intrusion information that was generated.

2. The equipment control device according to claim 1, wherein the memory stores information representing ID of the user changed dynamically in the control-target equipment from the control-target equipment and updates the related ID information.

3. The equipment control device according to claim 1, wherein

the controller is configured to decide a predetermined range based on a position of the control-target equipment in the space of the management target as the specific area.

4. The equipment control device according to claim 1, wherein the memory stores information representing a direction based on a position of the control-target equipment in the space of the management target including the equipment layout information;

and

wherein the controller is configured to decide the predetermined range of the direction based on the position of the control-target equipment as the specific area.

5. The equipment control device according to claim 1, wherein the memory stores aisle information representing an aisle area in the space of the management target further included in the equipment layout information;

and

wherein the controller is configured to decide the specific area based on a position of the control-target equipment and the aisle information.

6. The equipment control device according to claim 1, wherein the memory stores information representing a use area of the control-target equipment in the space of the management target further included in the equipment layout information;

and

wherein the controller is configured to use the use area included in the equipment layout information as the specific area.

7. The equipment control device according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to:

generate specific area intrusion information representing intrusion to the specific area when the positional information of a predetermined period included in the ID-affixed trajectory information is included in the specific area.

8. The equipment control device according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to:

calculate passing speed when the user crosses a boundary of the specific area on the basis of the ID-affixed trajectory information, and change an intrusion judgment criterion for judging the intrusion situation on the basis of the passing speed.

9. The equipment control device according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to:

calculate a passing direction on the boundary representing whether the user intrudes inside from outside of the specific area or goes away from inside to outside on the basis of the ID-affixed trajectory information, and change the intrusion judgment criterion for judging the intrusion situation on the basis of the passing direction.

10. The equipment control device according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to:

acquire the state of the control-target equipment from the control-target equipment and output it; and

change the intrusion judgment criterion for judging the intrusion situation on the basis of the state of the control-target equipment.

11. The equipment control device according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to:

generate a parameter representing a degree of intrusion to the specific area of the user included in the specific area intrusion information on the basis of the ID-affixed trajectory information; and

generate the control information on the basis of the parameter.

12. The equipment control device according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to:

generate the control information on the basis of a number of the specific area intrusion information representing an intrusion of the specific area.

13. The equipment control device according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to:

judge whether or not the related ID information including the ID in the ID-affixed trajectory information is stored;

analyze the ID-affixed trajectory information and the equipment layout information when the controller judges that there is the related ID information including the ID in the ID-affixed trajectory information, and acquire action analysis information representing classification of an action of the user to the control-target equipment; and

generate the control information on the basis of the action analysis information.

14. The equipment control device according to claim 13, wherein the controller is configured to:

acquire the state of the control-target equipment from the control-target equipment and outputs it; and

change an action pattern dictionary used for analysis of the ID-affixed trajectory information and the equipment layout information on the basis of the state of the control-target equipment.

15. The equipment control device according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to:

acquire current equipment state information of the control-target equipment which is associated with the ID in the ID-affixed trajectory information, and generate the control information by considering the current equipment state information.

16. The equipment control device according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to:

acquire an image in which the space of the management target is captured, and

generate the control information by considering the image.

17. The equipment control device according to claim 16, wherein the controller is configured to:

acquire information related to a state of the user by analyzing the image, and generate the control information by considering the state of the user.

18. A method for equipment control devices, the method comprising:

acquiring ID-affixed trajectory information which associates ID (identification) of a user with times series of positional information of the user in a space of management target;

acquiring a control-target equipment to which the ID in the ID-affixed trajectory information is related on a basis of control-target equipment which becomes a control target in the space of the management target and related ID information representing correspondence relationship of the ID related to the control-target equipment;

generating control information which controls a state of the related control-target equipment on the basis of equipment layout information including positional information of the control-target equipment in the space of the management target and the ID-affixed trajectory information, and outputting it to the control-target equipment;

judging whether or not the related ID information including the ID in the ID-affixed trajectory information is stored;

deciding a specific area, representing a positional relationship between the user and the control-target equipment, in which the state of the control-target equipment is changed in accordance with an intrusion situation of the user in the space of management target on the basis of the equipment layout information, and generating specific area intrusion information representing the intrusion situation of the user to the specific area on the basis of the ID-affixed trajectory information and the specific area when judging that there is the related ID information including the ID in the ID-affixed trajectory information; and

generating the control information on the basis of the specific area intrusion information.

19. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a program, said program causing an equipment control device to perform a method, said method comprising:

acquiring ID-affixed trajectory information which associates ID (identification) of a user with time series of positional information of the user in a space of management target;

acquiring a control-target equipment to which the ID in the ID-affixed trajectory information is related on a basis of control-target equipment which becomes a control target in the space of the management target and related ID information representing correspondence relationship of the ID related to the control-target equipment;

generating control information which controls a state of the related control-target equipment on the basis of equipment layout information including positional information of the control-target equipment in the space of the management target and the ID-affixed trajectory information, and outputting it to the control-target equipment;

judging whether or not the related ID information including the ID in the ID-affixed trajectory information is stored;

deciding a specific area, representing a positional relationship between the user and the control-target equipment, in which the state of the control-target equipment is changed in accordance with an intrusion situation of the user in the space of management target on the basis of the equipment layout information, and generating specific area intrusion information representing the intrusion situation of the user to the specific area on the basis of the ID-affixed trajectory information and the specific area when judging that there is the related ID information including the ID in the ID-affixed trajectory information; and

generating the control information on the basis of the specific area intrusion information.