Information providing method and information providing apparatus

• US 9,946,273 B2
• Filed: 11/08/2013
• Issued: 04/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Kusukame, Koichi, Funase, Kazuki, Fuchikami, Tetsuji
• Primary Examiner(s): Cao, Diem
• Application Number:
  US14/371,310
• Publication Number:
  US 20140365018A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,621 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 23/1917 using digital means
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 23/193 sensing the temperaure in different places in thermal relationship with one or more spaces
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 17/12 Actuation by presence of radiation or particles, e.g. of infrared radiation or of ions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2825 Reporting to a device located outside the home and the home network access arrangements H04L12/2856; for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025; telephonic communication systems adapted for combination with telemetering systems H04M11/002
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/105 in response to determined parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/19 via wireless transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/199 Commissioning of light sources

Abstract

A cloud server (104) receives environmental information of respective installation sites of a plurality of appliances (101a, 101b, 101c, 102a, 102b) via a network (1000), and determines one or more appliances that are installed in a same room among the plurality of appliances (101a, 101b, 101c, 102a, 102b), based on the received environmental information.

Claims

1. An information providing method, comprising:

causing a mobile appliance that moves between a plurality of rooms within a building to output sound in the plurality of rooms respectively;

receiving, at a server, from each of a plurality of appliances which are connected via a network and each include a sensor for detecting that a sound pressure of the sound output by the mobile appliance exceeds a threshold, environmental information relating to a time of detection that the sound pressure of the sound exceeds the threshold in one of the plurality of rooms where the mobile appliance is present;

determining, via the server, appliances, among the plurality of appliances, in which the time of the detection that the sound pressure of the sound exceeds the threshold is the same as appliances that are installed in a same room;

sending, via the server, a control signal for controlling one appliance of the appliances that have been determined, in the determining, as being installed in the same room;

creating a list of the appliances that have been determined as being installed in the same room;

receiving operating information of a first appliance included in the created list;

determining a control description of a second appliance which is the one appliance and is included in the list and operates in coordination with the first appliance based on a coordinated operation database for associating and storing an operation of one appliance among the plurality of appliances and an operation of another appliance that operates in coordination with the one appliance; and

sending the control signal for controlling the second appliance based on the determined control description to the second appliance.

2. The information providing method according to claim 1, further comprising:

providing information relating to the appliances that have been determined as being installed in the same room to a specific appliance among the plurality of appliances or to an information terminal other than the plurality of appliances.

3. The information providing method according to claim 1, further comprising:

sending information for confirming an intention of a user to a user'"'"'s portable terminal before the control signal is sent to the second appliance.

4. The information providing method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving position specifying information for specifying the location of the plurality of appliances in a predetermined room and specifying the location of a user in the room via a network;

specifying the location of the plurality of appliances in the room and the location of the user in the room based on the received position specifying information;

specifying a user that uses the appliances that have been determined as being installed in the same room among the plurality of appliances in the room based on the specified location of the plurality of appliances and the specified location of the user; and

providing information relating to the user to a service providing apparatus which provides an arbitrary service to the specified user and to family members of the user.

5. The information providing method according to claim 4, wherein:

the position specifying information includes an image within a room captured by an imaging device; and

the location of the plurality of appliances in the room is specified and the location of the user in the room is specified based on the captured image.

6. The information providing method according to claim 4, wherein:

the position specifying information includes a thermal radiation distribution within a room measured with a thermal radiation distribution measuring device; and

the location of the plurality of appliances in the room is specified and the location of the user in the room is specified based on the measured thermal radiation distribution.

7. The information providing method according to claim 6, further comprising:

blowing air of a temperature that is different from a room temperature toward an arbitrary appliance.

8. The information providing method according to claim 4, further comprising:

receiving information relating to a body shape of the user measured with a body shape measuring device, wherein

the user that uses the appliances that have been determined as being installed in the same room among the plurality of appliances in the room is specified based on the information relating to the body shape of the user, the location of the plurality of appliances, and the location of the user.

9. The information providing method according to claim 1, wherein:

one or more appliances installed in a first room among the plurality of appliances is determined based on the received environmental information; and

one or more appliances installed in a second room that is different from the first room among the plurality of appliances is determined based on the received environmental information;

the information providing method further comprising;

sending a command for displaying, in a first display area of a display unit equipped in a specific appliance among the plurality of appliances or in an information terminal other than the plurality of appliances, first information relating to the one or more appliances that have been determined as being installed in the first room; and

sending a command for displaying, in a second display area of a display unit equipped in a specific appliance among the plurality of appliances or in an information terminal other than the plurality of appliances, second information relating to the one or more appliances that have been determined as being installed in the second room.

10. The information providing method according to claim 9, further comprising:

receiving position specifying information for specifying the location of the plurality of appliances in a predetermined room and specifying the location of a person in the room via a network; and

sending a command for displaying an indication relating to the location of the person in the first display area together with the first information when the location of the person is in the first room, displaying an indication relating to the person in the second display area together with the second information when the location of the person is in the second room, and displaying an indication relating to the person in a third area other than the first display area and the second display area when the location of the person is in an area other than the first room and the second room based on the received position specifying information.

11. The information providing method according to claim 9, wherein:

at least one appliance among the plurality of appliances is provided with a thermal radiation distribution measuring device;

the information providing method further comprising

when a display area representing the thermal radiation distribution measuring device is selected by a user of the information terminal, displaying an image indicating a thermal radiation distribution acquired by the thermal radiation distribution measuring device on the information terminal.

12. The information providing method according to claim 1, wherein:

a positional relationship of a first room where the one or more appliances detected at a first time is installed, and a second room where the one or more appliances detected at a second time is installed is detected based on a difference between the first time and the second time.

13. The information providing method according to claim 1, wherein:

whether the plurality of appliances is installed in the same room is detected by the plurality of appliances detecting a sound produced from a plurality of sound sources which is connected to a network and disposed within a building.

14. The information providing method according to claim 13, wherein:

a part of the plurality of sound sources are disposed at locations of different heights; and

a distance in a horizontal direction between the plurality of appliances disposed at locations of different heights is closer than a distance in a horizontal direction between the plurality of appliances disposed at locations of the same height.

15. The information providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the mobile appliance includes a robot having a moving part that automatically moves between the plurality of rooms.

16. An information providing apparatus, comprising:

a server including;

a communication unit; and

a processor, wherein

the communication unit is configured to receive, from each of a plurality of appliances which are connected via a network and each include a sensor for detecting that a sound pressure of a sound output by a mobile appliance exceeds a threshold, environmental information relating to a time of detection that the sound pressure of the sound exceeds the threshold in one of a plurality of rooms, where the mobile appliance is present, in a building, the mobile appliance moving between the plurality of rooms to output the sound in the plurality of rooms respectively,

the processor is configured to determine appliances, among the plurality of appliances, in which the time of detection that the sound pressure of the sound exceeds the threshold is the same as appliances that are installed in a same room,

the communication unit is configured to send a control signal for controlling one appliance of the appliances that have been determined as being installed in the same room,

the processor is configured to create a list of the appliances that have been determined as being installed in the same room,

the communication unit is configured to receive operating information of a first appliance included in the created list,

the processor is configured to determine a control description of a second appliance which is the one appliance and is included in the list and operates in coordination with the first appliance based on a coordinated operation database for associating and storing an operation of one appliance among the plurality of appliances and an operation of another appliance that operates in coordination with the one appliance, and

the communication unit is configured to send the control signal for controlling the second appliance based on the determined control description to the second appliance.