JP7162169B2 - processor, remote control system, program - Google Patents

Description

The present disclosure relates to a processing device, a remote control system, and a program that execute processing based on voice.

Voice input controls various appliances in the home. However, it is desirable not to allow a speaker who does not want to control the device to control the device by voice. Therefore, the speaker information about the speaker who uttered the voice is identified, and the device to be controlled among the plurality of devices is identified based on the speaker information and the voice command (see Patent Document 1, for example). .

WO 15/029379

Not only when the operation device that receives voice and the device to be controlled are placed in the same house, but even if they are placed in different houses, the device can be controlled by voice input. If possible, it will be possible to control devices from outside the home. As a result, for example, a device placed in a house where an elderly person resides is controlled from a house other than the said house. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to specify the destination of voice control content.

The present disclosure has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present disclosure is to provide a technique for specifying the destination of voice control content.

In order to solve the above problems, a processing device according to one aspect of the present disclosure provides an operation device installed in a first house, in which voice including control details for equipment installed in a second house different from the first house is provided. is received, and based on the first communication unit that receives information corresponding to the voice from the first house side, and the control content included in the information received by the first communication unit, installed in the second house A processing unit that executes conversion into a command for controlling the device, and a second communication unit that transmits the command converted by the processing unit to the second house side. The operation device also receives a voice containing the control details for the equipment installed in the first house, and the processing unit transmits information to the first house based on the control details included in the information received by the first communication unit. The command is converted into a command for controlling the installed equipment, and the second communication unit transmits the command to the first house.

It should be noted that any combination of the above-described components and expressions of the present disclosure converted between methods, devices, systems, computer programs, recording media recording computer programs, etc. are also effective as aspects of the present disclosure. be.

According to the present disclosure, it is possible to specify the destination of control content by voice.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the remote control system which concerns on an Example. 2(a) and 2(b) are diagrams showing formats of signals used in the remote control system of FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a processing device in FIG. 1; FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the data structure of a table stored in the storage unit of FIG. 3; FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram showing a processing procedure by the remote control system of FIG. 1; FIG.

Before specifically describing the embodiments of the present disclosure, an outline of the present embodiments will be described. The embodiment relates to a remote control system for remotely controlling equipment installed in a consumer such as a house. The device can execute communication by ECHONET Lite (registered trademark), which is one of the communication protocols in the power control system (EMS: Energy Management System), for example. Such devices include home fixtures, home appliances, building and store fixtures, i.e. lighting, air conditioning, refrigeration, power fixtures, general white goods, sensors, actuators, and the like. More specifically, equipment here includes, for example, air conditioners, televisions, and lighting equipment.

An operating device such as a smart speaker is used to operate such equipment. The operating device has a microphone and is placed in a house (hereinafter referred to as "first house"). A terminal device such as a smartphone may be used instead of the operating device. The user utters an instruction to control the device as a voice to the operating device. The instruction to control the device also includes an instruction to check the state of the device. The operating device converts the voice into an electrical signal and transmits the voice converted into the electrical signal (hereinafter referred to as "voice information") to the voice conversion server device. The speech conversion server device converts the content of the speech information into text information by performing speech recognition on the speech information received from the operating device, and transmits the text information to the processing device. The processing device generates a command corresponding to the contents of the text information received from the speech conversion server device. Messages generated in the processor are sent to the control system via a router in the first residence. The control system connects the devices via ECHONET Lite (registered trademark) and controls the devices according to the instructions indicated in the messages. That is, in the first house, control is performed from the operating device to the equipment.

On the other hand, it is desired to control devices installed in a house different from the first house (hereinafter referred to as "second house") from the operating device installed in the first house. For example, when an elderly person lives in the second house, this corresponds to executing a service to watch over the elderly person's house. Therefore, it is required to control the equipment installed in the first house and to control the equipment installed in the second house from the operating device installed in the first house. In order to realize this, it is necessary to specify the destination of the content of voice control, as described above.

Therefore, the operating device in the remote control system according to the present embodiment transmits identification information for identifying the first house (hereinafter referred to as "first identification information") together with voice information. In addition, the voice and the voice information include a keyword indicating the installation position of the device and the control content uttered by the user. The processing device receives first identification information in addition to text information containing control content and keywords. The processing device stores the correspondence relationship between the combination of the first identification information and the keyword and the identification information indicating the installation position of the device (hereinafter referred to as "second identification information"), and stores the received first identification information and The second identification information is specified from the keyword. The second identification information is used as the destination of the command.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a remote control system 1000. As shown in FIG. The remote control system 1000 includes an operating device 100, a router 110, a voice conversion server device 120, a processing device 130, a router 140, a control system 200, a first device 300a, a second device 300b, and an Nth device 300n, which are collectively referred to as devices 300. , a control system 400, a first device 500a, a second device 500b, and an Mth device 500m, collectively referred to as devices 500. Here, operating device 100 , router 110 , control system 200 and device 300 are arranged in first house 600 , and router 140 , control system 400 and device 500 are arranged in second house 610 . On the other hand, voice conversion server device 120 and processing device 130 are arranged outside first house 600 and second house 610 .

The first residence 600 and the second residence 610 are consumers different from each other. The consumer is a facility that receives power supply from an electric power company or the like, and may be an office, a store, a factory, a park, or the like, in addition to a house. For example, a user lives in the first house 600, and an elderly person or the like to be watched over lives in the second house 610. FIG. In other words, assume that the first house 600 is the "home" and the second house 610 is the "grandmother's house".

The operating device 100 arranged in the first house 600 corresponds to the smart speaker described above. The operation device 100 is a device that includes at least a microphone, a processing unit, and a communication unit (not shown). The microphone of operation device 100 receives the voice uttered by the user who is the speaker. The voice includes the contents of control for device 300 or device 500 (hereinafter referred to as “control content”). The voice also includes a keyword indicating the installation position of device 300 or device 500 . The installation position of the equipment 300 or the equipment 500 is the first house 600 or the second house 610 .

The voice is, for example, "Turn on the air conditioner at home" or "Turn off the TV at grandma's house". Here, "home" and "grandma's house" indicate keywords, and "air conditioner" and "television" indicate names of devices 300 and 500 to be controlled, and "turn on" and "turn off". ” indicates the control contents for the device 300 or the device 500 . Here, the control content may be information for confirming the state of the device 300 or the device 500 . The information for confirming the state is, for example, "Confirm the set temperature" of the air conditioner.

The processing unit of the operation device 100 generates audio information by converting audio received by the microphone into electrical signals. The communication unit of the operation device 100 transmits voice information to the voice conversion server device 120 via the router 110 . At that time, the communication unit also transmits the first identification information for identifying the first house 600 in which the operation device 100 is installed to the voice conversion server device 120 via the router 110 . 2(a)-(b) show the format of signals used in the remote control system 1000. FIG. FIG. 2(a) shows the format of the signal transmitted from the operating device 100. FIG. As shown, the first identification information and the control content (keyword) are arranged. Here, the content of control (keyword) corresponds to voice information. FIG. 2B will be described later, and returning to FIG.

Router 110 is installed in first residence 600 and separates a local area network including first residence 600 from a network outside first residence 600 . Router 110 transmits the voice information and the first identification information received from operation device 100 to voice conversion server device 120 .

Voice conversion server device 120 is installed outside first house 600 and second house 610 and receives voice information and first identification information. The voice conversion server device 120 performs voice conversion on voice information. A known technique may be used for voice conversion, so the description is omitted here. Through speech conversion, the speech conversion server device 120 generates text information corresponding to the contents of the speech information. The speech conversion server device 120 transmits the text information and the first identification information to the processing device 130 . The format of the signal transmitted from the voice conversion server device 120 is the same as in FIG. 2A, but the control content (keyword) corresponds to text information.

Processing device 130 is installed outside first house 600 and second house 610 and is connected to voice conversion server device 120 . FIG. 3 is used here to describe the configuration of the processing unit 130 . FIG. 3 shows the configuration of the processing device 130. As shown in FIG. Processing device 130 includes communication unit 10 , processing unit 20 , and storage unit 30 . The communication section 10 includes a first communication section 12 and a second communication section 14 . Although the first communication unit 12 and the second communication unit 14 are shown separately in order to distinguish the connection destinations, they are actually configured integrally as the communication unit 10 . The first communication unit 12 is connected to the voice conversion server device 120 in FIG. 1, and the second communication unit 14 is connected to the routers 110 and 140 in FIG.

The first communication unit 12 receives the text information and the first identification information from the speech conversion server device 120 . That is, the first communication unit 12 receives the text information corresponding to the voice and including the keyword from the first house 600 side. As described above, the control content included in the text information received by the first communication unit 12 may be information for confirming the state of the device. The first communication section 12 outputs the text information and the first identification information to the processing section 20 .

The storage unit 30 stores a table relating to first identification information and keywords. FIG. 4 shows the data structure of a table stored in the storage unit 30. As shown in FIG. The table shows the correspondence relationship between the combination of the first identification information and the keyword and the second identification information. “A0001” in the first identification information indicates the first residence 600 . The first identification information may include a value indicating another residence. The second identification information indicates the installation position of the device 300 or device 500 to be controlled. The installation position of the device 300 or the device 500 is the first house 600 or the second house 610, like the keywords described above. “B0001” in the first identification information indicates the first residence 600 and “B0002” indicates the second residence 610 . The second identification information may also include values indicating other houses. Return to FIG.

The processing unit 20 receives text information and first identification information from the first communication unit 12 . The processing unit 20 identifies the keyword, the name of the device 300 or device 500 to be controlled, and the content of control by executing recognition processing on the text information. A known technique may be used for the recognition process, so the explanation is omitted here. Based on the table stored in the storage unit 30, the processing unit 20 identifies the second identification information from the combination of the keyword included in the text information and the received first identification information. The processing unit 20 also converts the control content included in the text information into a command corresponding to the control content. For example, the storage unit 30 stores in advance the correspondence between the control content and the command, and the processing unit 20 identifies the command from the control content included in the text information based on the correspondence. A command is a predetermined instruction for controlling device 300 or device 500 .

Following this, the processing unit 20 generates a message as a signal. FIG. 2(b) shows the format of the signal generated in the processing section 20. As shown in FIG. As shown, the second identification information, device name, and command are arranged. Return to FIG. The processing unit 20 outputs the generated message to the second communication unit 14 .

The second communication section 14 transmits the message received from the processing section 20 . This corresponds to transmitting the second identification information, device name, and command. When the second identification information indicates the first house 600, the second communication unit 14 transmits the message to the first house 600 side, and when the second identification information indicates the second house 610, the second communication unit 14 sends the message is transmitted to the second house 610 side. Return to FIG.

A message to the first house 600 side is received by the router 110 , and a message to the second house 610 side is received by the router 140 . Router 140 is installed in second residence 610 and configured similarly to router 110 .

The control system 200 is installed in the first house 600 , connected to the router 110 and connected to the plurality of devices 300 . That is, the control system 200 is connected to the processor 130 and controls the device 300 . The control system 200 can be said to be a gateway within the first residence 600 . The control system 200 may be composed of one device, or may be composed of a plurality of devices connected to each other. In the former case, the control system 200 can be said to be a control device. Control system 200 receives messages from processor 130 via router 110 . The control system 200 performs an authentication process on the second identification information included in the message. Since a known technique may be used for the authentication process, the explanation is omitted here. If authentication fails, control system 200 terminates the process. On the other hand, if the authentication succeeds, control system 200 extracts the device name and command from the message.

The control system 200 communicates with each device 300 according to a predetermined communication protocol. An example of the predetermined communication protocol is ECHONET Lite (registered trademark), as described above. Control system 200 transmits a control signal corresponding to the extracted command. A well-known technique may be used to transmit such a control signal, and the destination is the device 300 with the extracted device name. As a result, based on the command transmitted from the second communication unit 14, the device 300 installed in the first house 600 and having the extracted device name is controlled.

The control system 400 is installed in the second house 610 , connected to the router 140 and connected to a plurality of devices 500 . Control system 400 performs the same processing as control system 200 , and device 500 performs the same processing as device 300 . As a result, based on the command transmitted from the second communication unit 14, the device 500 installed in the second house 610 and having the extracted device name is controlled.

Here, when the command transmitted from the second communication unit 14 of the processing device 130 is information for confirming the state of the device 500, the control system 400 transmits a control signal for confirming the state of the device 500. Send to device 500 . Upon receiving the control signal from the control system 400 , the device 500 checks the state of the device 500 . As the state of the device 500, for example, the setting content of the device 500 is confirmed. The device 500 generates state information indicating the state of the device 500 as a result of confirmation, and transmits the state information to the control system 400 .

Upon receiving the state information from the device 500 , the control system 400 transmits the state information to the processing device 130 via the router 140 . When the second communication unit 14 of the processing device 130 receives the state information from the control system 400, the first communication unit 12 of the processing device 130 transmits the state information received by the second communication unit 14 to the voice conversion server device 120. do. The voice conversion server device 120 transmits the state information received from the processing device 130 to the operation device 100 via the router 110 . The operating device 100 receives the state information. The operating device 100 has, for example, a speaker, and outputs the contents of the state information as voice from the speaker. Further, the operation device 100 has, for example, a monitor, and displays the contents of the state information on the monitor. Similar processing is performed when the command transmitted from the second communication unit 14 of the processing device 130 is information for confirming the state of the device 300 .

The subject of an apparatus, system, or method in this disclosure comprises a computer. The main functions of the device, system, or method of the present disclosure are realized by the computer executing the program. A computer has a processor that operates according to a program as its main hardware configuration. Any type of processor can be used as long as it can implement functions by executing a program. The processor is composed of one or more electronic circuits including a semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) or LSI (Large Scale Integration). A plurality of electronic circuits may be integrated on one chip or may be provided on a plurality of chips. A plurality of chips may be integrated into one device, or may be provided in a plurality of devices. The program is recorded in a non-temporary recording medium such as a computer-readable ROM, optical disk, hard disk drive, or the like. The program may be pre-stored in a recording medium, or may be supplied to the recording medium via a wide area network including the Internet.

The operation of the remote control system 1000 configured as above will be described. FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing a processing procedure by the remote control system 1000. As shown in FIG. The operating device 100 receives voice input (S10) and transmits voice information (S12). The voice conversion server device 120 generates text information (S14) and transmits the text information (S16). The processing device 130 generates a command (S18) and transmits the command (S20). The control system 200 transmits a control signal corresponding to the command to the equipment 300 (S22), and the equipment 300 transmits status information according to the control signal to the control system 200 (S24). The control system 200 transmits state information (S26), the processing device 130 transmits state information (S28), and the voice conversion server device 120 transmits state information (S30).

The operation device 100 receives voice input (S40) and transmits voice information (S42). The voice conversion server device 120 generates text information (S44) and transmits the text information (S46). Processing device 130 generates a command (S48) and transmits the command (S50). The control system 400 transmits a control signal corresponding to the command to the equipment 500 (S52), and the equipment 500 transmits status information according to the control signal to the control system 400 (S54). The control system 400 transmits state information (S56), the processing device 130 transmits state information (S58), and the voice conversion server device 120 transmits state information (S60).

According to the present embodiment, when the operation device 100 installed in the first residence 600 receives a voice containing control details for the equipment installed in the second residence 610, a command corresponding to the control details is issued. Since it is transmitted to the second house 610 side, devices in different houses can be controlled. Also, since devices in different homes are controlled, it is possible to provide monitoring services to different homes. In addition, when the operation device 100 receives a voice containing control details for equipment installed in the first house 600, the command is transmitted to the side of the first house 600, so equipment in the same house can be controlled. .

Also, the voice received by the operation device 100 includes a keyword indicating the installation position of the device, and the second identification information is specified from the keyword, so a command is transmitted to the desired control system based on the second identification information. can. Also, since the second identification information is specified from the keyword, the destination of the voice control content can be specified. Also, since the control content is information for confirming the state of the device, it is possible to acquire state information indicating the state of the device.

A summary of one aspect of the present disclosure is as follows. In the processing device 130 according to one aspect of the present disclosure, the operation device 100 installed in the first residence 600 receives a voice including control details for equipment installed in the second residence 610 different from the first residence 600. , based on the first communication unit 12 that receives information corresponding to the voice from the first house 600 side, and the control contents included in the information received by the first communication unit 12, and a second communication unit 14 for transmitting the command converted by the processing unit 20 to the second house 610 side.

The operation device 100 also receives a voice containing control details for the equipment installed in the first house 600, and the processing unit 20, based on the control details included in the information received by the first communication unit 12, The command is converted into a command for controlling the equipment installed in the first house 600, and the second communication unit 14 transmits the command to the first house 600 side.

The voice received by the operation device 100 includes a keyword indicating the installation position of the device, the information received by the first communication unit 12 also includes the keyword, and the processing unit 20 receives the keyword and the installation position of the device. Based on the correspondence relationship with the identification information indicating, the identification information is specified from the keyword included in the information received by the first communication unit 12, and the second communication unit 14 identifies the identification information specified by the processing unit 20 and , to send commands and

Another aspect of the present disclosure is processing unit 130 . (1) a first communication unit 12 that receives a voice including a keyword indicating the installation position of the device and control content for the device in the operation device 100, and receives information corresponding to the voice; 1) Based on the control contents contained in the information received by the communication unit 12, conversion into a command for controlling the device is executed, and (2) the keyword and the identification information indicating the installation position of the device are converted. Based on the correspondence relationship, the processing unit 20 that identifies identification information from the keyword included in the information received by the first communication unit 12, the command converted by the processing unit 20, and the identification information identified by the processing unit 20 and a second communication unit 14 that transmits the

The control content included in the information received by the first communication unit 12 is information for confirming the state of the device, and the state of the device is confirmed based on the command transmitted from the second communication unit 14. , the second communication unit 14 receives state information indicating the state of the device, and the first communication unit 12 transmits the state information received by the second communication unit 14 .

The processing device 130, the operating device 100, the device, and a control system connected to the processing device 130 to control the device may be provided.

The present disclosure has been described above based on the embodiments. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that this embodiment is an example, and that various modifications are possible in the combination of each component or each treatment process, and such modifications are within the scope of the present disclosure. .

In this embodiment, the voice conversion server device 120 and the processing device 130 are configured separately. However, not limited to this, for example, the voice conversion server device 120 may be included in the processing device 130 . In that case, the first communication unit 12 of the processing device 130 receives the audio information. According to this modified example, the degree of freedom in configuration can be improved.

10 communication unit 12 first communication unit 14 second communication unit 20 processing unit 30 storage unit 100 operation device 110 router 120 voice conversion server device 130 processing device 140 router 200 control system 300 equipment , 400 control system, 500 equipment, 600 first house, 610 second house, 1000 remote control system.

Claims (5)

The operation device installed in the first house receives a voice including control details for the equipment installed in the second house different from the first house, and information corresponding to the voice is transmitted from the first house. a first communication unit for receiving;
a processing unit that executes conversion into a command for controlling the device installed in the second house based on the control content included in the information received by the first communication unit;
a second communication unit that transmits the command converted by the processing unit to the second house ,
In the operating device, a voice including control contents for the equipment installed in the first house is also received,
The processing unit executes conversion into a command for controlling the device installed in the first house based on the control content included in the information received by the first communication unit,
The second communication unit transmits a command to the first housing side,
processing equipment. The voice received by the operation device includes a keyword indicating the installation position of the device,
The information received by the first communication unit also includes the keyword,
The processing unit identifies identification information from the keyword included in the information received by the first communication unit based on a correspondence relationship between the keyword and identification information indicating the installation position of the device,
wherein the second communication unit transmits the identification information specified by the processing unit and the command;
2. The processing apparatus of claim 1 . The control content included in the information received by the first communication unit is information for confirming the state of the device,
confirming the state of the device based on the command transmitted from the second communication unit;
The second communication unit receives state information indicating the state of the device,
wherein the first communication unit transmits the state information received by the second communication unit;
3. The processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 . A processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3 ;
the operating device;
the device;
a control system connected to the processing device and controlling the equipment;
remote control system. The operation device installed in the first house receives a voice including control details for the equipment installed in the second house different from the first house, and information corresponding to the voice is transmitted from the first house. receiving;
a step of converting into a command for controlling the device installed in the second house based on the control content included in the received information;
a step of transmitting the converted command to the second housing ;
In the operation device, a voice including control details for the equipment installed in the first house is also received, and based on the control contents included in the received information, the equipment installed in the first house performing a conversion to a command for controlling the
A program for causing a computer to execute a step of transmitting the converted command to the first housing side .

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