Content reproduction apparatus, mobile appliance, and abnormality detection method

• US 9,773,394 B2
• Filed: 02/09/2011
• Issued: 09/26/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Asano, Yasuharu
• Primary Examiner(s): Bee, Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): Daramola, Israel
• Application Number:
  US13/023,741
• Publication Number:
  US 20110202961A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,421 Days
• Field of Search: 3405731, 34053922, 386344, 705 3, 600301, 709205, 382217
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0423 detecting deviation from an expected pattern of behaviour or schedule
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0469 Presence detectors to detect unsafe condition, e.g. infrared sensor, microphone G08B21/0476 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0484 Arrangements monitoring consumption of a utility or use of an appliance which consumes a utility to detect unsafe condition, e.g. metering of water, gas or electricity, use of taps, toilet flush, gas stove or electric kettle
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/182 Level alarms, e.g. alarms responsive to variables exceeding a threshold
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 29/185 Signal analysis techniques for reducing or preventing false alarms or for enhancing the reliability of the system
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18

Abstract

There is provided a content reproduction apparatus including a content reproduction unit for reproducing content, a habit detection unit for detecting a reproduction habit regarding content that uses the content reproduction unit, and an abnormality determination unit for determining there is an abnormality, in a case a reproduction action estimated from the reproduction habit detected by the habit detection unit is not carried out.

Claims

1. A content reproduction apparatus comprising:

a content reproduction unit operable by a user for reproducing content;

a habit detection unit for accumulating indications of the user'"'"'s past operation of the content reproduction unit to calculate a probability value of type of content reproduced by the user, time that the content is reproduced and delivery channel over which the content is reproduced, thereby determining the user'"'"'s reproduction habit based on the calculated probability value when the user operated the content reproduction unit; and

an abnormality determination unit for receiving information relating to current operation of the content reproduction unit by the user, for comparing the received information to the determined user'"'"'s reproduction habit, and for determining an abnormality in the user'"'"'s actual use of the content reproduction unit when an actual user operation differs from an expected user operation as estimated from the calculated probability value.

2. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the content is content delivered in real time,

wherein the content reproduction apparatus further includes a content comparison unit for comparing, when the actual user operation differs from the expected reproduction action, a type of first content currently being delivered from the content reproduction unit and a type of second content which had been delivered, at a time when the user'"'"'s reproduction habit was determined, and in a time slot that is the same as the time slot during which the first content is being delivered, and

wherein the abnormality determination unit determines the abnormal condition when the actual user operation differs from the expected estimated user operation and the content comparison unit indicates that the first content and the second content are of the same type.

3. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:

a taste detection unit for detecting a user'"'"'s taste in content by analyzing a type of content reproduced from the content reproduction unit by the user; and

a taste determination unit for determining, when an expected change in the content reproduced by the content reproduction unit estimated from the user'"'"'s reproduction habit is not carried out and the content comparison unit indicates that the first content and the second content are of different types, whether or not the first content matches the user'"'"'s taste for content,

wherein the abnormality determination unit determines the abnormal condition when the expected change in the content reproduced by the content reproduction unit is not carried out, the content comparison unit indicates that the first content and the second content are of different types, and the taste determination unit determines that the first content does not match the user'"'"'s taste for content.

6. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising:

an abnormality notification unit for issuing, when the abnormality determination unit determines there is an abnormal condition, a notification of the abnormality to a specific external apparatus.

4. A content reproduction apparatus comprising:

a content reproduction unit for reproducing content;

a habit detection unit for detecting a user'"'"'s reproduction habit regarding content that uses the content reproduction unit to estimate the reproduction of content;

a content comparison unit for comparing, when the reproduction of content estimated from the detected reproduction habit is not carried out, first content currently being delivered and second content which was being delivered, at the time of detection of the reproduction habit, in a time slot same as that of the first content;

a taste detection unit for detecting a user'"'"'s taste in content by analyzing a type of content reproduced by the user'"'"'s use of the content reproduction unit;

a taste determination unit for determining, when an estimated content ending action is not carried out and the result of comparison by the content comparison unit indicates that the first content and the second content are of different types, whether or not the first content matches the taste of the user detected by the taste detection unit; and

an abnormality determination unit for determining there is an abnormality when the estimated content ending action is not carried out, the result of comparison by the content comparison unit indicates that the first content and the second content are of different types, and the taste determination unit determines that the first content does not match the detected taste of the user.

5. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising:

an abnormality notification unit for issuing, when the abnormality determination unit determines there is an abnormality, a notification of the abnormality to a specific external apparatus.

7. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising:

an advance notification unit for outputting, before the abnormality notification unit issues the notification of the abnormality to the specific external apparatus, a sound or an image indicating that the notification of the abnormality will be issued; and

a notification cancellation unit for performing control, according to a user operation, after the sound or the image is output by the advance notification unit, such that the notification of the abnormality is not issued to the specific external apparatus by the abnormality notification unit,

wherein the abnormality notification unit issues the notification of the abnormality to the specific external apparatus when a specific period of time has passed after the sound or the image was output by the advance notification unit without the notification cancellation unit performing control.

8. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising:

an other-appliance content reproduction information acquisition unit for acquiring information relating to content reproduced by another content reproduction apparatus and information relating to time of reproduction of the content by said another content reproduction apparatus,

wherein the habit detection unit detects the reproduction habit regarding content that uses the content reproduction unit and detects a reproduction habit regarding content of said another content reproduction apparatus, and

wherein the taste detection unit detects the taste of the user by analyzing the type of the content reproduced by the user by using the content reproduction unit and the type of the content reproduced by said another content reproduction apparatus.

9. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the content comparison unit compares, based on metadata, the first content currently being delivered and the second content which was being delivered, at the time of detection of the reproduction habit, in a time slot that is the same as the time slot of the first content.

10. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising:

a presence sensor capable of detecting movement of a person present within a specific range that allows viewing by the person of content reproduced by the content reproduction unit,

wherein the abnormality determination unit determines there is no abnormality when movement of the person present within the specific range is detected by the presence sensor.

11. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising:

a human sensor for capturing an image of an object present within a specific range that allows content reproduced by the content reproduction unit to be viewed, and detecting a part of a person in the image of the captured object; and

a movement sensor for detecting a movement of the person detected by the human sensor, based on positions of the person'"'"'s face detected by the human sensor at specific time intervals,

wherein the abnormality determination unit determines there is no abnormality when movement of the person present within the specific range is detected by the movement sensor.

12. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising:

a whereabouts acquisition unit for acquiring, from a location detection appliance that detects the location of a specific user, information on said location; and

a whereabouts determination unit for determining whether the specific user is present within a specific range that allows content reproduced by the content reproduction unit to be viewed, based on the information acquired by the whereabouts acquisition unit,

wherein the abnormality determination unit determines there is no abnormality when the specific user is determined to be not present within the specific range.

13. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising:

a power information acquisition unit for acquiring, from an electric meter that measures power consumption of a house, power information indicating the power consumption of the house; and

a power comparison unit for comparing average power consumption measured when a person is in the house to the power consumption currently acquired by the power information acquisition unit,

wherein the abnormality determination unit determines there is no abnormality, when there is a discrepancy between the average power consumption and the currently acquired power consumption.

14. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising:

an other-apparatus information acquisition unit for acquiring other-apparatus information indicating reproduction of content by another content reproduction apparatus,

wherein the abnormality determination unit determines there is no abnormality when said other-apparatus information indicates that content is being reproduced by said another content reproduction apparatus.

15. An abnormality detection method comprising the steps of:

reproducing content;

accumulating indications of a user'"'"'s past operation to reproduce content to calculate a probability value of type of content reproduced by the user, time that the content is reproduced and delivery channel over which the content is reproduced, thereby determining the user'"'"'s reproduction habit based on the calculated probability value when the user reproduced content;

receiving information relating to the current reproduction of content by the user;

comparing the received information to the determined user'"'"'s reproduction habit; and

determining an abnormality in the manner in which the user actually reproduces content when an actual user operation differs from an expected user operation as estimated from the calculated probability value.