ENVIRONMENT CONTROL SYSTEM, METHOD FOR PERFORMING THE SAME AND COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM

• US 20140114493A1
• Filed: 09/30/2013
• Published: 04/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Hideaki Aratani, Takeo Tsukamoto
• Inventors: TSUKAMOTO, Takeo, Inadome, Takanori, Tomono, Hidenori, Fujiwara, Yukio, Kameyama, Kenji, Oshima, Yukiko, Aratani, Hideaki, Higuchi, Hiroto
• Application Number:
  US14/040,876
• Publication Number:
  US 20140114493A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/295
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05F 1/66 Regulating electric power

Abstract

An environment control system comprising: a positioning system; and an electric facility control system, the positioning system comprising: at least one sensor configured to detect the location and the motion of the human being; and an operation unit configured to compute at least a value of a motion activity of the human being, the electric facility control system comprising: a determining unit configured to determine whether the human being is in a moving state or a resting state by comparing the value of the motion activity with a predetermined threshold value; and a controller configured to control the electric facility to change the environment of the given space, wherein the operation unit computes the value of the motion activity based on the operation result.

Claims

1. An environment control system for automatically controlling a space environment with an electric facility according to a location and a motion of a human being in a given space, the environment control system comprising:

a positioning system; and

an electric facility control system communicated with the positioning system,

the positioning system comprising;

at least one sensor configured to detect the location and the motion of the human being; and

an operation unit communicated with the at least one sensor and configured to compute, based on the detection result from the at least one sensor, at least a value representing an absolute location of the human being from a reference point, a value representing a motion activity indicating a degree of the motion, and a value representing posture of the human being, and configured to transmit the computed values to the electric facility control system,

the electric facility control system comprising;

a determining unit configured to receive a signal from the operation unit, to compare the value of the motion activity with a predetermined threshold value and to determine that the human being in the given space is in a moving state if the value of the motion activity of the human being is higher than the predetermined threshold value, and to determine that the human being in the given space is in a resting state if the value of the motion activity of the human being is equal to or lower than the predetermined threshold value; and

a controller communicated with the determining unit and configured to control the electric facility to change, according to the result of the determination, the environment of the given space containing the absolute position, wherein

the operation unit performs the operation based on the detection result from the at least one sensor associated with a body of the human being, and

the operation unit computes the value of the motion activity based on the operation result.

2. The environment control system set forth in claim 1, wherein

if the human being is in the resting state, the determining unit further determines whether the human being is in a standing state or in a sitting state based on the value of posture of the human being, and

when the human being is in the standing state, the controller controls the electric facility present in the given space in the first state, and when the human being is in the sitting state, the controller controls the electric facility present in the given space in the second state different from the first state.

3. The environment control system set forth in claim 1, wherein

the electric facility control system further comprises an estimating unit connected to the determining unit and the controller, and configured to estimate the absolute position where the human being in the moving state comes to the resting state, and

the controller controls the electric facility associated with the given space containing the absolute position in the second state.

4. The environment control system set forth in claim 3, wherein the estimating unit estimates the absolute position where the human being is to be at work as the absolute position where the human being in the moving state comes to the resting state.

5. The environment control system set forth in claim 3, wherein

the electric facility control system further comprises a history storage unit that stores motion history of the human being in the given space, and

the estimating unit estimates the absolute position where the human being in the moving state comes to the resting state based on the motion history.

6. The environment control system set forth in claim 1, wherein if the electric facility present in the given space containing the absolute position where the human being is in the moving state is identical to the electric facility present in the given space containing the absolute position where the human being is in the resting state, the controller controls the electric facility in the second state.

7. The environment control system set forth in claim 1, wherein the operation includes a vector operation based on a movement amount of the body of the human being in a horizontal direction.

8. The environment control system set forth in claim 1, wherein the operation includes a vector operation based on a movement amount of the body of the human being in a vertical direction.

9. The environment control system set forth in claim 1, wherein the operation includes a vector operation based on a change amount of orientation of the body of the human being in a horizontal direction.

10. The environment control system set forth in claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor associated with the body of the human being is carried by the human being and comprises an acceleration sensor, an angular velocity sensor, and a geomagnetic field sensor.

11. The environment control system set forth in claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor includes at least one monitoring camera that monitors the given space.

12. An electric facility control system configuring the environment control system set forth in claim 1.

13. A method for performing an environment control system for automatically controlling a space environment with an electric facility according to a location and a motion of a human being in a given space, the environment control system comprising:

a positioning system; and

an electric facility control system communicated with the positioning system,

the positioning system comprising;

at least one sensor configured to detect the location and the motion of the human being; and

an operation unit communicated with the at least one sensor and configured to compute, based on the detection result from the at least one sensor, at least a value representing an absolute location of the human being from a reference point, a value representing a motion activity indicating a degree of the motion, and a value representing posture of the human being, and configured to transmit the computed values to the electric facility control system,

the electric facility control system comprising;

a determining unit configured to receive a signal from the operation unit, to compare the value of the motion activity with a predetermined threshold value and to determine that the human being in the given space is in a moving state if the value of the motion activity of the human being is higher than the predetermined threshold value, and to determine that the human being in the given space is in a resting state if the value of the motion activity of the human being is equal to or lower than the predetermined threshold value; and

a controller communicated with the determining unit and configured to control the electric facility to change, according to the result of the determination, the environment of the given space containing the absolute position,

the method comprising;

by the operation unit, performing the operation based on the detection result from the at least one sensor associated with the body of the human being, and computing the value of the motion activity based on the operation result;

by the determining unit, comparing the value of the motion activity with the predetermined threshold value and determining that the human being in the given space is in a moving state if the value of the motion activity of the human being is higher than the predetermined threshold value, and determining that the human being in the given space is in a resting state if the value of the motion activity of the human being is equal to or lower than the predetermined threshold value; and

by the controller, controlling the electric facility to change, according to the result of the determination, the environment of the given space containing the absolute position.

14. A computer readable medium including a computer program product, the computer program product comprising instructions which, when caused by a computer, causes the computer to perform operations for performing an environment control system for automatically controlling a space environment with an electric facility according to a location and a motion of a human being in a given space, the environment control system comprising:

a positioning system; and

an electric facility control system communicated with the positioning system,

the positioning system comprising;

at least one sensor configured to detect the location and the motion of the human being; and

an operation unit communicated with the at least one sensor and configured to compute, based on the detection result from the at least one sensor, at least a value representing an absolute location of the human being from a reference point, a value representing a motion activity indicating a degree of the motion, and a value representing posture of the human being, and configured to transmit the computed values to the electric facility control system,

the electric facility control system comprising;

a determining unit configured to receive a signal from the operation unit, to compare the value of the motion activity with a predetermined threshold value and to determine that the human being in the given space is in a moving state if the value of the motion activity of the human being is higher than the predetermined threshold value, and to determine that the human being in the given space is in a resting state if the value of the motion activity of the human being is equal to or lower than the predetermined threshold value; and

a controller communicated with the determining unit and configured to control the electric facility to change, according to the result of the determination, the environment of the given space containing the absolute position,

the operations comprising;

by the operation unit, performing the operation based on the detection result from the at least one sensor associated with the body of the human being, and computing the value of the motion activity based on the operation result;

by the determining unit, comparing the value of the motion activity with the predetermined threshold value and determining that the human being in the given space is in a moving state if the value of the motion activity of the human being is higher than the predetermined threshold value, and determining that the human being in the given space is in a resting state if the value of the motion activity of the human being is equal to or lower than the predetermined threshold value; and

by the controller, controlling the electric facility to change, according to the result of the determination, the environment of the given space containing the absolute position.