JP7626636B2 - Office environment control method and system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to office environment control technology that takes into account the health and productivity of office users.

In recent years, as the working population has decreased, there has been increasing attention being paid to not only improving productivity but also to management that includes worker health management, and various office environment control systems have been proposed for this purpose. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a system that calculates health management indicators based on employee health data and work data.

Regarding employee health management, a health management support system has been proposed that uses employees' vital data and surrounding environmental data to determine the health status of employees (Patent Document 2). Regarding environmental control, a building management system has been proposed that allows occupants to request changes to temperature or lighting from their own terminals, enabling temperature control or lighting control to suit the physical sensations of the occupants (Patent Document 3).

JP 2019-185416 A JP 2020-149150 A JP 2019-207050 A

However, in the background technologies mentioned above, the current situation is that users (employees or people present) themselves individually control air conditioning and lighting, and the effects of introducing the system are understood subjectively through questionnaires, etc. In other words, these systems are premised on the user noticing and acting consciously, and since awareness always lags behind changes in the body's condition, appropriate environmental control is difficult. Furthermore, systems that collect vital data and use it for health management simply measure it, and when data indicating fatigue or the like appears, the condition is notified to the worker, or it is merely used as a management indicator.

In short, in the background technology described above, either the system provides services to users in response to conscious requests from office users, or the system collects health data, etc. from users and uses it for management or user notifications. Since the system is not configured to provide feedback on the effects of productivity improvement or health management, it is not possible to efficiently improve productivity while taking health conditions into consideration.

The object of the present invention is to provide a method and system for objectively obtaining the effects of improved productivity and health management and automatically controlling the office environment.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a system for controlling an office environment includes a vital data acquisition device that acquires vital data of a user engaged in work within the office, and a control device that controls an environment of at least a part of the office, wherein the control device estimates an emotion of the user from the vital data using an emotion estimation model in which a plurality of emotions are arranged, and when the estimated emotion is included in a predetermined emotion area, the control device can control the environment of at least a part of the office in a direction that improves the productivity of the user's work, based on a predetermined model that indicates the relationship between the vital data and productivity.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the control device can determine whether the estimated emotion is suitable for the user's task based on a plurality of emotion areas into which the plurality of emotions are classified according to task type.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the user's emotion can be estimated from data regarding the user's pulse rate included in the vital data.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the emotion estimation model can use a Russell Circumference Model in which the multiple emotions are arranged using arousal and pleasantness as indices.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for controlling an office environment, in which a vital data acquisition device acquires vital data of a user engaged in work in the office, and a control device estimates the user's emotion from the vital data using an emotion estimation model in which a plurality of emotions are arranged, and if the estimated emotion is included in a predetermined emotion area, the environment of at least a part of the office can be controlled in a direction that improves the productivity of the user's work, based on a predetermined model that indicates the relationship between the vital data and productivity.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the control device can determine whether the estimated emotion is suitable for the user's task based on a plurality of emotion areas into which the plurality of emotions are classified according to task type.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for controlling an office environment, comprising an interface for network connection to a vital data acquisition device that acquires vital data of a user engaged in work within the office, and a processor for controlling the environment of at least a part of the office, wherein the processor estimates the emotion of the user from the vital data of the user received from the vital data acquisition device using an emotion estimation model in which a plurality of emotions are arranged, and when the estimated emotion is included in a predetermined emotion area, controls the environment of at least a part of the office in a direction that improves the productivity of the user's work based on a predetermined model that indicates the relationship between the vital data and productivity.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program for causing a computer to function as a device for controlling an office environment, the program being characterized in that the computer is provided with the following functions: a function for acquiring vital data of a user engaged in work in the office from a vital data acquisition device; a function for estimating an emotion of the user from the vital data of the user using an emotion estimation model in which a plurality of emotions are arranged ; and a function for controlling an environment of at least a part of the office in a direction that improves the productivity of the work of the user based on a predetermined model that indicates the relationship between the vital data and productivity, if the estimated emotion is included in a predetermined emotion area.

The office environment control system according to one aspect of the present invention can quantitatively estimate the user's emotions to provide feedback on the effects of the environment control, and can automatically optimize the work environment based on quantitative data. In other words, the entire or part of the office space can be optimized for each type of work while grasping the user's health condition, and productivity can be improved while taking into consideration the user's health condition.
According to one aspect of the present invention, by using a plurality of emotion areas in which a plurality of emotions are classified according to the type of task, it is possible to easily determine whether or not a user's emotion is suitable for the task on an emotion estimation model.
According to one aspect of the present invention, pulse rate data is used to estimate emotions, so that necessary vital data can be easily obtained, for example, from the user's wrist.
According to one aspect of the present invention, by using a Russell circle model in which emotions are arranged on a plane, it becomes easy to classify emotional areas, and it is easy to determine whether the user's estimated emotions are appropriate for work.
The method for controlling the office environment according to one aspect of the present invention can quantitatively estimate the user's emotions to provide feedback on the effect of the environmental control, and can automatically optimize the work environment based on quantitative data. In other words, the entire or part of the office space can be optimized for each type of work while grasping the user's health condition, and productivity can be improved while taking into consideration the user's health condition.
The office environment control device according to one aspect of the present invention can be connected to other devices such as a vital data acquisition device through a network, and can quantitatively estimate the user's emotions and feed back the effects of the environmental control to automatically optimize the work environment based on the quantitative data. In other words, the entire or part of the office space can be optimized for each type of work while grasping the user's health condition, thereby achieving improved productivity that takes the user's health condition into consideration.
A program according to one aspect of the present invention can cause a computer to function as an office environment control device, and a general-purpose server or the like can be configured as the office environment control device of the present invention. This makes it possible to quantitatively estimate the user's emotions and feed back the effects of environmental control, thereby automatically optimizing the work environment based on quantitative data. In other words, the entire or part of the office space can be optimized for each type of work while grasping the user's health condition, thereby achieving productivity improvement that takes the user's health condition into consideration.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic overall configuration of an office environment control system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a detailed functional configuration of the main server in the office environment control system according to this embodiment. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of mapping of vital data to an emotion estimation model in this embodiment. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of mapping of intellectual activity to an emotion estimation model in this embodiment. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the intellectual activity-environmental performance causal model used in this embodiment. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the relationship between wakefulness and productivity used in this embodiment. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the office environment control method according to the present embodiment.

The following describes in detail an embodiment of the present invention with reference to the drawings. However, the components described in the following embodiment are merely examples and are not intended to limit the technical scope of the present invention to these alone.

1, one or more users 2 are engaged in work as workers, employees or office workers in an office space 1 in a building, and the lighting, temperature, humidity and sound in the office space 1 can be adjusted by environmental equipment 3. The environmental equipment 3 is made up of lighting equipment LC, air conditioning equipment AC and sound equipment SC, and may be capable of adjusting not only the environment of the entire office space 1, but also the environment of a part of the office space 1 or of an individual user.

A vital data acquisition device is provided near user 2 or worn by user 2 himself to acquire vital data (biological information) of user 2. As illustrated in this embodiment, an example of a vital data acquisition device is a wearable device 201. That is, when user 2 wears the wearable device 201, the wearable device 201 can acquire the user's own vital data. In addition, multiple environmental sensors 202 are installed around user 2, and environmental data such as the temperature and brightness around the user is acquired.

One or more parent units 4 of the measuring equipment are installed in the office space 1, and the parent units 4 are connected to the wearable device 201, the environmental sensor 202, and the environmental equipment 3 via a wireless LAN or the like. The parent units 4 of the measuring equipment are connected to an edge server 5, which receives vital data and environmental data through the parent units 4 and transmits them to the main server 10 via the building network. The main server 10 is a control device that executes the office environment control according to this embodiment, as described below. The building management server 11 controls the lighting equipment LC, air conditioning equipment AC, and/or audio equipment SC of the environmental equipment 3 according to instructions from the main server 10. The edge server 5 may also control the lighting equipment LC, air conditioning equipment AC, and/or audio equipment SC of the environmental equipment 3 according to instructions from the main server 10 or the building management server 11.

Vital data includes facial color, heart rate, heart rate variability, LF/HF values of heart rate variability, R-R interval (RRI), pulse wave, pulse rate variability, brain wave, respiratory rate, respiratory volume, blood flow, blood flow variability, blood pressure, blood pressure variability, oxygen saturation, body temperature, and skin temperature. As described below, however, it is desirable to have data that allows emotion estimation and is as easy to measure as possible.

The wearable device 201 should not cause stress to the user 2, and is preferably a wristwatch-type or glasses-type device. In particular, various wristwatch-type wearable devices 201 are commercially available, and can acquire vital data such as the user 2's heart rate, pulse measurement, and activity level. Glasses-type wearable devices 201 can detect the user's eye movements and body movements to measure concentration and drowsiness. Clothing-type wearable devices 201 can measure vital data such as heart rate and respiratory rate. In this embodiment, a wristwatch-type wearable device 201 that can measure pulse and pulse waves that can be used to estimate emotions, as described below, is used, but glasses-type or clothing-type wearable devices may also be used, or a combination of these may be used.

As shown in FIG. 2, vital data of user 2 acquired by wearable device 201 and environmental data acquired by environmental sensor 202 are transmitted to main server 10 via parent measuring device 4 and edge server 5.

The main server 10, which acts as a control device for controlling the office environment, is composed of a computer equipped with a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and, together with the edge server 5 and the building management server 11, constitutes an in-building network. The main server 10, edge server 5, and building management server 11 are equipped with an interface (not shown) that enables network communication. The functions realized by the main server 10 are as follows.

The data collection unit 101 collects vital data and environmental data from the edge server 5 and outputs it to the data analysis unit 102. The data analysis unit 102 analyzes the vital data, and if there is no abnormality, outputs components that can be used to estimate emotions to the emotion estimation unit 103, as described below. The emotion estimation unit 103 estimates the emotion indicated by the vital data based on a predetermined emotion estimation model. In this embodiment, the Russell Circumplex model, the validity of which has been verified in many studies, is used as the emotion estimation model.

The determination unit 104 classifies the emotion groups of the emotion estimation model into areas suitable for each type of work, as described below, and determines whether the estimated emotion of user 2 falls within the area suitable for the work of user 2. The optimization control unit 105 controls the building management server 11 based on the determination result of the determination unit 104, a causal model 106 between a predetermined intellectual activity and the environment, and the past vital data of user 2, and adjusts the environmental equipment 3 so that the environment of user 2 is optimal for user 2. Details will be described later. The past vital data of user 2 is stored in the vital data storage unit 107 from the data analysis unit 102.

The functions of the data collection unit 101, data analysis unit 102, emotion estimation unit 103, judgment unit 104 and optimization control unit 105 can be realized by executing a program read from the program memory 109 on the processor 108.

2. Mapping to Emotion Inference Model As illustrated in FIG. 3, the emotion inference unit 103 infers emotions indicated by vital data based on the Russell Circumplex Model. The Russell Circumplex Model arranges various emotions felt by a person on a plane with the degree of arousal (arousal level) on the Y axis (vertical axis) and the degree of pleasantness (comfort level) on the X axis (horizontal axis). The emotion of the user can be inferred by detecting the arousal level and comfort level from the vital data of the user 2, particularly data related to the pulse rate, and mapping the detected arousal level and comfort level to the Russell Circumplex Model. The arousal level and comfort level can be detected from the vital data by various methods.

As an example, the HF (High Frequency) component of the pulse can be used as an index of alertness. HF is the magnitude of the high frequency component obtained by frequency analysis of the pulse interval. The HF value is generally known to correlate with the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system, and indicates a high value when relaxed. In this embodiment, the HF value of the pulse is used as an index of alertness on the Y-axis.

Comfort level can also be calculated using pulse data. As the average skin temperature rises, the heart rate increases, and the heart rate interval and its variance tend to become smaller as the temperature and humidity increase, and it is known that high temperatures and humidity produce biological reactions similar to those seen when one is under mental stress. In addition, according to Ikeda Yuhei's "Supporting awareness by visualizing emotions using biological information" (Information Processing Society of Japan Interaction 2017, pp. 634-637), it is proposed to use pNN50 calculated from the pulse rate as an index for the horizontal axis (comfort level) of the Russell Circle model. In this embodiment, the pulse rate is used as an index for comfort level on the X-axis.

The data analysis unit 102 calculates the HF value as the alertness level and the pulse rate as the comfort level from the pulse rate or pulse wave, which is vital data of the user 2. The emotion estimation unit 103 estimates the emotion of the user 2 by mapping the calculated alertness and comfort levels to a Russell circle model. Note that the vital data is not limited to the pulse wave. As long as it is vital data from which emotions can be estimated, the above-mentioned voice, face image, blood oxygen concentration, blood pressure, body temperature, etc. may also be used, and emotion estimation may be performed by combining these.

In this embodiment, the determination unit 104 classifies the Russell circle model into three emotion regions (i.e. emotion groups) and performs the judgment of the suitability depending on which emotion region the estimated emotion of the user 2 belongs to. The following description will be given with reference to Figs. 4 and 5.

As shown in FIG. 4, the plane consisting of the X-axis (comfort) and Y-axis (arousal) of the Russell Circle Model is divided into the first quadrant 301, the fourth quadrant 302, and the second and third quadrants 303. Here, the tasks are classified into clerical and creative tasks as an example, but they can be further classified. In any case, if the comfort level is low, that is, if the task is mapped to unpleasant emotions, the efficiency of the task decreases, so the emotional areas in the second and third quadrants are the unsuitable areas 303. Among the emotional areas with high comfort levels, the one with high arousal level is the clerical task area 301, and the one with low arousal level is the creative task area 302. This is because clerical tasks 401 involve a lot of tasks in the first layer (information processing) and second layer (knowledge processing), which require increased attention to memorize and calculate. In creative tasks 402, the tasks involve analysis, synthesis, recall, and inspiration, which are tasks in the third layer (knowledge creation). However, this classification is just one example, and classification from other perspectives is also possible.

The judgment unit 104 judges that the estimated emotion of a user engaged in clerical work is suitable if it is in the clerical work suitable area 301 on the Russell circle model, but judges that it is unsuitable if it is in the unsuitable area 303 or the creative work suitable area 302. If it is judged to be unsuitable, the optimization control unit 105 controls the environment (temperature, humidity, lighting, etc.) so that the estimated emotion of the user moves to the clerical work suitable area 301 on the Russell circle model, as described below. Similarly, if the estimated emotion of a user engaged in creative work is in the creative work suitable area 302 on the Russell circle model, it is judged to be suitable, but if it is in the unsuitable area 303 or the clerical work suitable area 301, it is judged to be unsuitable. If it is judged to be unsuitable, the optimization control unit 105 controls the environment (temperature, humidity, lighting, etc.) so that the estimated emotion of the user moves to the creative work suitable area 302 on the Russell circle model, as described below.

The classification shown in FIG. 4 is merely one example, and in this embodiment, the emotional area of the Russell Circle model can be divided differently and the judgment unit 104 can make a judgment. In addition, the hierarchy of intellectual activities and task classifications in clerical work 401 and creative work 402 are part of the causal network of intellectual activities and environmental performance illustrated in FIG. 5, and are exemplified by those described in the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's FY2009 Intellectual Productivity Research Committee Report.

4. Optimal Control As shown in FIG. 5, it is known that intellectual activities in clerical work 401 and creative work 402 are influenced by various environmental conditions through human reactions. Therefore, the conditions suitable for the hierarchy or work contents of the intellectual activities of the user 2 can be controlled based on past accumulated data by changing the thermal environment and air environment by air conditioning, the light environment by lighting, and the sound environment by acoustics. When the optimal control unit 105 determines that the estimated emotion of the user is incompatible, it controls the environmental equipment 3 based on the causal model 106 of intellectual activities and environmental performance and the past vital data of the user 2, and adjusts the estimated emotion of the user 2 so that it falls within the area suitable for the user 2 on the Russell circle model. The specific method of adjusting the environmental equipment 3 may be determined by reflecting the past vital data of the user 2.

Furthermore, it is desirable that the optimal control unit 105 takes into consideration the relationship between alertness and productivity, particularly in clerical work 401, and controls the environmental equipment 3 based on a causal model 106 of intellectual activity and environmental performance and the past vital data of the user 2. The Yerkes-Dodson law is known as a model that shows the relationship between alertness and productivity in clerical work.

As shown in Figure 6, according to the Yerkes-Dodson Law, when arousal exceeds a certain amount Aoptimal, which is the optimal level, productivity tends to decrease. Normally, as arousal increases, productivity also tends to increase, but if arousal exceeds the appropriate level due to strong emotions, productivity decreases instead. Therefore, in particular for clerical work 401, productivity can be further improved by adjusting the environmental equipment 3 in consideration of the Yerkes-Dodson Law.

5. Office Environment Control Hereinafter, the operation of the processor 108 in the office environment control system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 7, when the processor 108 collects vital data and environmental data of user 2 from the edge server 5 (operation 501), it determines whether there is an abnormality in the vital data or environmental data that would cause problems in performing work (operation 502). If there is no abnormality (NO in operation 502), the processor 108 analyzes the vital data to detect components that can be used for emotion estimation, and uses these to estimate the emotion indicated by the vital data of user 2 through an emotion estimation model (operation 503). In one example of this embodiment, as described in FIG. 3, emotion estimation is performed by detecting the HF value and pulse rate from the vital data, and mapping them to the Russell Circumplex model as arousal and comfort levels.

Then, the processor 108 determines which of the pre-classified emotion areas the estimated emotion of the user 2 belongs to (operation 504). In one example of this embodiment, it is determined whether the estimated emotion falls into the clerical suitability area 301, the creative suitability area 302, or the unsuitable area 303 shown in FIG. 4. The processor 108 then determines whether the determined emotion area matches the type of work of the user 2 (operation 505). In one example of this embodiment, it is determined whether the determined emotion area falls into the clerical suitability area 301 if the work of the user 2 is clerical, and whether the determined emotion area falls into the creative suitability area 302 if the work of the user 2 is creative, as described in FIG. 4.

If the determined emotional area does not match the type of work of the user 2 (NO in operation 505), the processor 108 controls the environmental equipment 3 through the building management server 11 based on the relationship between intellectual activity and the environment and the user 2's past accumulated data, and changes the office space 1 or the environment around the user 2 (temperature, humidity, lighting, sound, etc.) in a direction that matches the emotional area of the user 2 with the type of work (operation 506). If the control has not ended (NO in operation 508), the processor 108 repeats operations 501 to 506 until the determined emotional area matches the type of work of the user 2. It is preferable that the amount of change in the environment (temperature, humidity, lighting, sound, etc.) per time is not so large that the user notices it.

If the determined emotional area matches the type of work of the user 2 (YES in operation 505), the processor 108 controls the environmental equipment 3 through the building management server 11 so as to maximize productivity in the emotional area of the matched work (operation 507). In particular, in the case of clerical work 401, since the relationship between alertness and productivity, as illustrated in FIG. 6, is known, it is desirable to control the environmental equipment 3 so that alertness is in the optimal range.

If an abnormality is detected in operation 502 (YES in operation 502), processor 108 issues an alert, notifies user 2 and the system administrator of the abnormality detection (operation 509), and can terminate control if necessary (YES in operation 508). If user 2's vital data is outside the normal range, user 2 may be notified individually, or the administrator of the relevant task may be notified. Furthermore, if the environmental data indicates an abnormality, appropriate measures such as issuing an alert or notifying the system administrator can be taken depending on the level of urgency.

6. Effects As described above, according to this embodiment, the effects of environmental control can be fed back by quantitatively grasping the emotions of each user, and the optimization of the work environment based on quantitative data can be automatically realized. That is, the entire or part of the office space, or the environment of each user, can be optimized for each type of work while grasping the health condition of the user, and productivity improvement that takes into consideration the health condition of the user can be achieved.

The present invention is generally applicable to systems that control the office environment.

1 Office space 2 User 3 Environmental equipment 4 Master unit of measuring device 5 Edge server 10 Main server 11 Building management server 101 Data collection unit 102 Data analysis unit 103 Emotion estimation unit 104 Judgment unit 105 Optimization control unit 106 Intellectual activity-environmental performance causal model 107 Vital data accumulation unit 108 Processor 109 Program memory 201 Wearable device 202 Environmental sensor

Claims (8)

A system for controlling an office environment, comprising:
A vital data acquisition device that acquires vital data of a user who is engaged in work in the office;
A control device for controlling an environment of at least a part of the office;
Equipped with
The control device includes:
Estimating the emotion of the user from the vital data using an emotion estimation model in which a plurality of emotions are arranged;
If the estimated emotion is included in a predetermined emotion area, an environment of at least a part of the office is controlled in a direction to improve the productivity of the user's work based on a predetermined model indicating a relationship between the vital data and productivity.
An office environment control system comprising: The office environment control system according to claim 1, characterized in that the control device determines whether the estimated emotion is suitable for the user's task based on a plurality of emotion areas in which the plurality of emotions are classified according to the task type. The office environment control system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the user's emotions are estimated from data related to the user's pulse rate included in the vital data. The office environment control system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the emotion estimation model is a Russell Circumplex model in which the multiple emotions are arranged using arousal and comfort levels as indicators. 1. A method for controlling an office environment, comprising:
a vital data acquisition device acquires vital data of a user who is engaged in work in the office;
The control device,
Estimating the emotion of the user from the vital data using an emotion estimation model in which a plurality of emotions are arranged;
If the estimated emotion is included in a predetermined emotion area, an environment of at least a part of the office is controlled in a direction to improve the productivity of the user's work based on a predetermined model indicating a relationship between the vital data and productivity.
13. An office environment control method comprising: The office environment control method according to claim 5, characterized in that the control device determines whether the estimated emotion is suitable for the user's task based on a plurality of emotion areas into which the plurality of emotions are classified according to task type. An apparatus for controlling an office environment, comprising:
an interface for network connection to a vital data acquisition device that acquires vital data of users working in the office;
a processor for controlling an environment of at least a portion of the office;
It consists of:
The processor,
Estimating an emotion of the user from the vital data of the user received from the vital data acquisition device using an emotion estimation model in which a plurality of emotions are arranged;
If the estimated emotion is included in a predetermined emotion area, an environment of at least a part of the office is controlled in a direction to improve the productivity of the user's work based on a predetermined model indicating a relationship between the vital data and productivity.
An office environment control device comprising: A program for causing a computer to function as a device for controlling an office environment, comprising:
A function of acquiring vital data of a user who is engaged in work in the office from a vital data acquisition device;
A function of estimating an emotion of the user using an emotion estimation model in which a plurality of emotions are arranged based on the vital data of the user;
a function of controlling an environment of at least a part of the office in a direction that improves the productivity of the user's work based on a predetermined model showing a relationship between the vital data and productivity when the estimated emotion is included in a predetermined emotion area;
A program for causing the computer to execute the above.

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