DEVICE CONTROL SYSTEM, DEVICE CONTROL METHOD, AND COMPUTER-READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM

• US 20140309752A1
• Filed: 11/09/2012
• Published: 10/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Hideaki Aratani
• Inventors: Yuzurihara, Hajime, Tsukamoto, Takeo, Inadome, Takanori, Aratani, Hideaki
• Application Number:
  US14/361,606
• Publication Number:
  US 20140309752A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/13
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/30 for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/46 Improving electric energy efficiency or saving
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/74 for controlling air flow rate or air velocity
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/79 for controlling the direction of the supplied air
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2120/10 Occupancy
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2120/12 Position of occupants
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2120/14 Activity of occupants
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/1654 with electromagnetic compass
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/1656 with passive imaging devices, e.g. cameras
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3287 by switching off individual functional units in the computer system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0304 Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means constructional details of pointing devices not related to the detection arrangement using opto-electronic means G06F3/033; optical digitisers G06F3/042
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/23 Recognition of whole body movements, e.g. for sport training
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/10 Controlling the intensity of the light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/115 by determining the presence or movement of objects or living beings
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/40 Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 : Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A device control system includes a positioning apparatus and a control apparatus connected to the positioning apparatus through a network. The positioning apparatus includes a receiver configured to receive detection data from an acceleration sensor, an angular velocity sensor, and a geomagnetic sensor that are carried by a person; a position identifying unit configured to identify a position of the person in a control target area based on the detection data; an action-state detecting unit configured to detect an action state of the person based on the detection data; and a transmitter configured to transmit the identified position and the detected action state to the control apparatus. The control apparatus includes a device control unit configured to control a device arranged in the control target area based on the position and the action state of the person.

Claims

1-17. -17. (canceled)

18. A device control system comprising:

a positioning apparatus configured to detect a position and an action state of at least one person; and

a control apparatus configured to control a device, the control apparatus being connected to the positioning apparatus;

wherein

the positioning apparatus includes

a first receiver configured to receive data from at least one sensor that is carried by the person, the data indicating the position and the action state of the person, and

a transmitter configured to transmit the position and the action state to the control apparatus based on the data;

the control apparatus includes

a second receiver configured to receive the position and the action state of the person from the positioning apparatus, and

a device control unit configured to control the device based on the position and the action state of the person;

the data includes an acceleration vector and an angular velocity vector received from the at least one sensor; and

the positioning apparatus further includes an action-state detecting unit that detects whether the action state of the person is a resting state or a walking state based on the acceleration vector and the angular velocity vector.

19. The device control system according to claim 18, wherein when the action state is the resting state, the action-state detecting unit detects an orientation of the person relative to the device based on the acceleration vector and the angular velocity vector.

20. The device control system according to claim 18, wherein when the action state is the resting state, the action-state detecting unit detects a posture of the person based on the acceleration vector and the angular velocity vector.

21. The device control system according to claim 20, wherein the action-state detecting unit further detects whether the posture of the person is a standing state or a sitting state based on the acceleration vector and the angular velocity vector.

22. The device control system according to claim 21, wherein the action-state detecting unit further detects whether an action of the person is a stand-up action or a squat action based on variation with time of a horizontal angular velocity component of the angular velocity vector.

23. The device control system according to claim 19, wherein the action-state detecting unit further detects an orientation-change action as an action of the person based on variation with time of a vertical angular velocity component of the angular velocity vector.

24. The device control system according to claim 23, wherein

the sensor includes a sensor worn at a head of the person and a sensor worn at a waist of the person, and

the action-state detecting unit detects whether the orientation-change action is an action of changing an orientation of the head or an action of changing an orientation of an entire body of the person based on variation with time of vertical angular velocity components of angular velocity vectors received from the sensors at the head and the waist.

25. The device control system according to claim 24, wherein the action-state detecting unit further detects an action of turning eyes up and an action of turning eyes down as the action of the person based on variation with time of a horizontal angular velocity component of the angular velocity vector received from the sensor at the head.

26. The device control system according to claim 18, wherein the positioning apparatus further includes a position identifying unit that identifies an absolute position of the person based on an acceleration vector, an angular velocity vector, and a geomagnetic vector received from the sensor.

27. The device control system according to claim 18, wherein

the first receiver receives an image of a control target area from an image capturing device, and

the positioning apparatus further includes a correcting unit configured to correct the position and the action state of the person based on the captured image.

28. The device control system according to claim 18, wherein the device to be controlled by the device control unit includes a lighting device, an outlet power strip to which a power supply of an electrical device is connected, and an air conditioner.

29. The device control system according to claim 28, wherein the device control unit controls an illuminating range and an illuminance of the lighting device.

30. The device control system according to claim 28, wherein the device control unit controls power on and off of the electrical device.

31. The device control system according to claim 28, wherein the device control unit controls a direction and intensity of air to be blown by the air conditioner.

32. A device control method to be performed by a device control system that includes a positioning apparatus configured to detect a position and an action state of at least one person, and a control apparatus configured to control a device, the control apparatus being connected to the positioning apparatus, the device control method comprising:

receiving, by the positioning apparatus, data from at least one sensor that is carried by the person, the data indicating the position and the action state of the person;

transmitting, by the positioning apparatus, the position and the action state to the control apparatus based on the data;

receiving, by the control apparatus, the position and the action state of the person from the positioning apparatus; and

controlling, by the control apparatus, the device based on the position and the action state of the person,

wherein the data includes an acceleration vector and an angular velocity vector received from the at least one sensor, and

the device control method further comprises detecting whether the action state of the person is a resting state or a walking state based on the acceleration vector and the angular velocity vector.

33. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium including an executable program stored thereon, wherein the program instructs a computer that detects a position and an action state of at least one person, to perform:

receiving data from at least one sensor that is carried by the person, the data indicating the position and the action state of the person; and

transmitting the position and the action state to a control apparatus that is connected to the computer and controls a device, based on the data,

wherein the data includes an acceleration vector and an angular velocity vector received from the at least one sensor, and

the program further instructs the computer to perform detecting whether the action state of the person is a resting state or a walking state based on the acceleration vector and the angular velocity vector.