JP2007272440A - Behavior advice providing system and behavior advice providing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide energy/water saving advice for a user to achieve an energy/water consumption target, which can be implemented in situ, in an easy-to-understand manner. <P>SOLUTION: A behavior advice providing device includes: an advice database 24 wherein pieces of advice 26 for energy/water consumption reduction, energy/water reduction effect 27 for each advice, and a history of energy/water consumption are stored; an energy/water reduction effect calculation part 31 for calculating degrees of energy/water reduction effect for each advice; a person/behavior discrimination part 22 for discriminating persons and behavior types; and an advice selection part which selects a piece of advice to be displayed to a user, from the advice database on the basis of a person/behavior type discriminated by the person/behavior discrimination part 22. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to energy saving and water saving activities of a user acting indoors, and more particularly to an action advice providing system and an action advice providing apparatus for providing advice on actions being performed by a user.

  In recent years, various so-called energy saving systems have been developed to reduce the consumption of energy and water, such as household electricity and gas, and have been introduced in some households. For example, according to Patent Document 1 described below, a technique for presenting an energy saving action schedule that can achieve a target in the remaining days with respect to a monthly energy saving (hereinafter abbreviated as energy saving) target is described.

Further, Patent Document 2 below describes a technology having a mechanism for displaying an action guide when the actual value exceeds the target value with respect to the monthly energy saving target, and forcibly executing energy saving in an emergency.
JP 2005-266873 A JP 2001-56804 A

  By the way, in general, in order for a user to perform an energy saving action based on the advice provided by the system, it is necessary to memorize the advice content until the time when the action is performed. However, as the time and space distance from the point of advice provision to the point of advice execution increases, the memory fades. Therefore, the user may not be able to take action according to the advice. This is especially true when the amount of advice information provided is large.

  In the technique described in Patent Document 1 described above, the user needs to confirm the posted schedule, and for the reasons described above, it may be difficult for the user to take an appropriate action according to the advice. .

  Further, in the conventional technology, the diminishing of the advice effect when the user comes to follow the customarily provided advice has not been considered. In Patent Document 2, the effectiveness of advice is given as a fixed value. Moreover, although the said patent document 1 has the mechanism which correct | amends to an advice effect level, it is only the correction based on weather forecast data, and is not provided with the mechanism which diminishes an advice effect for every advice provision.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to reduce the burden on the user because the time and space distance from receiving the advice until the user performs an action is not large. To provide an action advice providing system and an action advice providing apparatus having high energy saving and water saving effects.

  That is, the present invention provides advice on reducing the amount of energy medium used including at least one of electricity, gas, and water, the degree of effectiveness of reducing the energy medium for each advice, and a history of the amount of energy medium used. , An energy medium reduction effect calculating unit that calculates the energy medium reduction effect for each advice, a person / behavior identifying unit that identifies the target person and the action type of the target person, and the person An advice selection unit that selects an advice to be provided to the user from the advice database based on the subject identified by the behavior identification unit and the behavior type of the subject.

  In addition, the present invention provides advice on the usage reduction of electricity, gas and water, the effect of reducing the electricity, gas and water for each advice, and the history of the usage of electricity, gas and water. An advice database to be stored; an energy medium reduction effect calculating unit for calculating an effect of reducing electricity, gas and water for each advice; a person / behavior identifying unit for identifying a target person and a behavior type of the target person; An advice selection unit that selects advice to be provided to the user from the advice database based on the target person identified by the person / behavior identification unit and the action type of the target person, and the advice selected by the advice selection unit An output device.

  Furthermore, the present invention provides an electricity, gas, and water reduction importance setting unit for measuring the amount of electricity, gas, and water used in a room and setting a reduction importance level to be a target based on the usage amount, An advice database for storing advice on reducing the amount of water used, the degree of effect of reducing electricity, gas and water for each advice, and a history of the amount of electricity, gas and water used, and for each advice Electricity, gas, and water reduction effect calculation unit that calculates the degree of reduction effect of electricity, gas, and water, a person / behavior identification unit that identifies the target person and the action type of the target person, and the electric, gas, and water reduction importance Based on the reduction importance set by the degree setting unit, the target person identified by the person / behavior identification part and the action type of the target person, advice to be provided to the target person from within the advice database And advice selection unit for-option, characterized by comprising an output unit that outputs the advice selected by the advice selection unit.

  In this invention, the action which the user is performing is identified using the sensor group installed indoors. Next, energy-saving / water-saving advice for the identified action is provided to an output device that can be recognized by the user among a plurality of installed output devices. The advice provided here selects from the advice database an advice that has a particularly high energy / water reduction effect when the user aims to achieve the energy / water use target. Specifically, an energy / water reduction importance degree indicating which energy / water should be reduced intensively is calculated from the ratio of the energy / water usage record to the usage target. Next, the latest average energy / water usage when advice is provided is measured, and the energy / water reduction effect is calculated based on the past average energy / water usage. Then, an advice evaluation value is calculated by multiplying the calculated importance level of energy / water reduction and the reduction effect level, and advice to be provided is determined based on the evaluation value.

  According to the present invention, the user is less burdensome than before, the time and space distance from when the user receives the advice to the action is not large, the burden on the user is reduced, and the energy / water is reduced. It is possible to provide an action advice providing system and an action advice providing apparatus having high energy saving and water saving effects toward the achievement of the use target.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a behavior advice providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, this behavior advice providing system will be described as an example installed for home use.

  In the following description, energy refers to electricity and gas.

  In FIG. 1, the action advice providing system 10 includes an energy / water reduction importance setting unit 11, an action measurement unit 21, a person / behavior identification unit 22, an action-specific energy / water measurement unit 23, and an advice. The database 24 includes an advice selection unit 30, an energy / water reduction effect calculation unit 31, an environment measurement unit 33, an advice output unit 34, and an output device 35.

  The energy / water reduction importance setting unit 11 is a block for measuring the amount of energy / water used in the home and setting the energy / water reduction importance based on the amount used and the energy / water usage target. is there. The energy / water reduction importance setting unit 11 includes an overall energy / water measurement unit 13, an overall energy / water usage database 14, an energy / water usage target input unit 15, an energy / water usage target database 16, The reduction importance degree calculation unit 17 is configured.

  The total energy / water measurement unit 13 continuously measures the energy / water usage of the entire installed house. This total energy / water measuring unit 13 can measure electricity, gas, water, and each meter installed in a general household. Alternatively, for example, for the amount of water used, it may be calculated based on the open / close status of all faucets in the home and the open time. The various measured data is recorded in the total energy / water usage database 14.

  Although not shown, the energy / water usage target input unit 15 is a personal computer terminal, and includes a data input device such as a mouse and a keyboard, an information output device, an arithmetic device, a main storage device, an auxiliary storage device, and the like. The When the information output device prompts the user to set an energy usage target for this month, the user sets an energy / water usage target for this month using the input device. The set energy / water usage target is recorded in the energy / water usage target database 16.

  The reduction importance calculation unit 17 calculates the reduction importance of electricity, gas, and water based on data recorded in the overall energy / water usage database 14 and the energy / water usage target database 16. The reduction importance calculated here is output to the advice selection unit 30.

  The behavior measuring unit 21 measures the behavior of the target person. As a measuring instrument for measuring the behavior of these persons, for example, in a home to be measured, an existing non-contact type sensor such as an infrared sensor, a CMOS, a CCD video device, a pressure sensor, or an existing wireless An ID tag (RFID) system is installed. The behavior measuring unit 21 is always operated when the user is in the room, and the data measured here is transmitted to the person / behavior identifying unit 22.

  In the person / behavior identification unit 22, based on the data received from the behavior measurement unit 21, the identification of the user, the location of the user, and the action being performed by the user are identified by an existing method. For identification of users, for example, there are cases where it is appropriate to differentiate advice provided by children and adults, so identification is performed for all users. Thereby, the advice provided for every user differs. The existence position data is used when identifying the action type and selecting the advice output device. The identified person data and action data are transmitted to the action-specific energy / water measurement unit 23, and the position data are transmitted to the advice selection unit 30.

  The behavior-specific energy / water measurement unit 23 includes sensors such as a power meter and a flow meter for measuring energy / water usage. These power meters and flow meters are installed in various places where energy and water use occurs in the home. And the combination of the sensor used is changed for every action to measure. For example, if water is used during bathing, it is measured using a flow meter installed in the original piping connected to a shower or faucet. The action-specific energy / water measurement unit 23 starts measurement at the same time when new action type data is received from the person / behavior identification unit 22 and continues to be measured until the action type data is changed. At the end of each measurement, the energy / water measurement amount is recorded in the energy usage amount 28 in the advice database 24.

  The advice database 24 includes an advice 26 for storing the content of the advice, a reduction effect 27 for storing the energy / water reduction effect by providing the advice, and an energy for each action type transmitted from the energy / water measurement unit 23 for each action. -It is comprised from the energy usage-amount 28 which preserve | saves a water usage-amount. The reduction effect 27 and the energy usage 28 preferably store all past histories as long as the capacity of the database permits.

  The advice selection unit 30 is for selecting one appropriate advice from the advice 26 in the advice database 24. Here, information indicating which advice has been selected is transmitted to the energy / water reduction effect calculating unit 31. Further, the temporarily stored advice is transmitted to the advice output unit 34. Details of the advice selection unit 30 will be described later.

  The energy / water reduction effect calculation unit 31 calculates the energy / water reduction amount for a certain advice by the following equation (1).

However, i is electricity, gas, and water, U _{i, j} is the j-th usage amount of advice provision of i, m is the number of times of advice provision one month ago, and n is the number of times of advice provision.

E _{i obtained} by converting the value of R _i calculated here into money is recorded in the reduction effect degree 27 in the advice database 24 as the energy / water reduction effect degree. Even if the initial value of E _i is 0, the system operates. However, it is desirable to set the expected value from the content of the advice.

  Here, with reference to FIG. 2, the example of water reduction effect degree calculation regarding bathing action is demonstrated.

  FIG. 2A shows an example of provided advice. FIG. 2B is a table showing an example of the reduction effect for each day when the advice “Let's stop shower water frequently” shown in FIG. 2A is provided. In this case, it is provided once in January, and the same advice is provided 8 times in February and 3 times in March. Here, the past average water usage is the average water usage over the past month. For example, in the case of March 1, water for one month from February 1 to February 28 is used. Refers to the average usage.

  In the present invention, the energy / water reduction effect is calculated based on the past average energy / water usage and the recent average energy / water usage. For this reason, if the provided advice is not followed, the water reduction effect is low. On the other hand, even when the user habitually performs energy saving / water saving behavior according to the provided advice, the water reduction effect is reduced. For example, the reduction effect level (1.7) on March 9 is the previous reduction effect level (2.4) although it was provided as shown in the table of FIG. ) Has decreased. This is because if the same advice continues to be provided, the action may not be effective. In such a case, advice having a higher reduction effect may be provided to the same user.

  In other words, in the present invention, providing advice with a high energy / water reduction effect preferentially means providing advice that has a high probability of user behavior change by providing it. Become.

  The environment measurement unit 33 measures data related to the environment where the user is placed. For example, time data is acquired from a clock. In addition, temperature data and humidity data may be acquired from a thermometer or hygrometer, or weather forecast data may be acquired by connecting to the Internet.

  In the advice output unit 34, an output device that can be recognized by the user is selected from among a plurality of output devices 35 that are installed based on the position information of the user sent from the behavior measurement unit 21. Then, the advice received from the advice selection unit 30 is transmitted to the selected output device.

  Next, an example of processing operation using the action advice providing system 10 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, before starting this sequence, the energy / water use target input unit 15 in the energy / water reduction importance setting unit 11 sets, for example, a target monthly energy / water use target in the home. . This goal is, for example,
Setting example 1) Electricity consumption is 90% month-on-month and water and gas usage is month-on-month
Setting example 2) This month will focus on reducing electricity
It is set like this. The energy / water usage target set here is recorded in the energy / water usage target database 16 as described above.

Based on the data recorded in the energy / water usage target database 16 and the overall energy / water usage database 14 in the reduction importance calculation unit 17, the reduction importance G _{i for} electricity, gas, and water is as follows. Calculated by equation (2).

However, i is electricity, gas, and water, A _i is the actual usage value of _i converted to the amount of money this month, and T _i is the usage target value of i converted to the amount of money of this month.

FIG. 4 is a table showing an example of calculating the reduction importance G _i .

  In step S1, position identification and person / behavior identification are performed. Here, the person / behavior identification unit 22 first identifies the user based on the data received from the behavior measurement unit 21. As identification methods, existing methods are used such as i) a method of registering facial photographs of all family members in advance and identifying them based on the degree of compatibility with video data, and ii) a user acting with an RFID tag. . Note that this user identification is not performed for a single household.

  Next, based on the data received from the behavior measurement unit 21, the user location is specified. This position data is used when identifying the action type and selecting the advice output device. Furthermore, based on the data received from the behavior measuring unit 21, the behavior being executed by the user is identified. This identification method is as follows. i) Extract actions that can be performed on the spot from the position data. ii) Identify the behavior by the sensor response that captures the behavior specific to each behavior.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of an action to be identified and a correspondence relationship between the identification device and the action.

  For example, in the case of the action of brushing, if a user exists in a place where brushing is possible and a sensor response to an RFID tag attached to the toothbrush is recognized, it is identified that brushing is being performed.

  Next, advice selection is executed in step S2.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the detailed operation of the subroutine “advice selection” in step S2 of the flowchart of FIG.

  When this subroutine is entered, first, in step S11, it is determined whether there is any advice that has not been taken out. Since there is advice that has not been taken out at first, the process proceeds to step S12. In this step S12, one piece of advice that has not yet been taken out is taken out from the advice 26 in the advice database 24 at random.

  Next, in step S13, it is determined whether or not the target action of the advice extracted in step S12 is compatible with the action received from the person / behavior identification unit 22. Here, if it is matched, the process proceeds to step S14, and if it is not matched, the process proceeds to step S11. In step S <b> 14, it is determined based on the environmental data received from the environmental measurement unit 133 whether or not the conditions set for the extracted advice (some advices are not set) are satisfied. Here, if it is matched, the process proceeds to step S15, and if it is not matched, the process proceeds to step S11.

  That is, the evaluation value of the advice satisfying the conditions of steps S13 and S14 is obtained by using the reduction effect 27 in the advice database 24 and the data received from the energy / water reduction importance setting unit 11 in step S15. And calculated by the advice selection unit 30.

  The advice evaluation value V is calculated by the following equation (3).

However, i is electricity, gas, and water, G _i is the reduction importance level of _i , and E _i is the reduction effect of i.

  FIG. 7 shows an example of calculating an advice evaluation value regarding the use of water for bathing. The value shown in FIG. 4 is used for the importance of reduction. For example, when the advice content is “Let's stop shower water frequently”, the respective reduction importance values shown in FIG. 4 are weighted to the advice effects of water, electricity, and gas. As a result, the evaluation value based on the advice content is 4.55. Similarly, an evaluation value is calculated for each of other advice contents. As will be described later, the advice content with the highest evaluation value is provided to the output device 35.

  Next, in step S16, the advice whose evaluation value is calculated is compared with the evaluation value of the advice stored temporarily. Here, if the advice whose evaluation value is calculated is higher than the temporarily stored advice, the process proceeds to step S17 and the advice whose evaluation value is calculated is temporarily stored. Proceeds to step S11. Even when there is no stored advice, the advice whose evaluation value is calculated is temporarily stored.

  If all the advices are extracted in step S11, the process proceeds to step S18, where the advice temporarily stored at that time is advised as an advice to be output to the output device 35. 34. Thereafter, the present subroutine is exited and the process proceeds to step S3 in the flowchart of FIG.

  Returning to the flowchart of FIG. 3, if the advice for the user is selected and determined in step S2, the advice is output to the output device 35 in the subsequent step S3. In this case, if the output device 35 is a display device, the advice output from the advice output unit 34 is displayed, thereby prompting the user to take an action.

  In step S4, the energy / water reduction effect is updated. This is newly calculated (updated) by the energy / water reduction effect calculation unit 31 in response to a change in the amount of energy / water reduction caused by the output of the advice.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, a plurality of persons in the home are identified, and appropriate advice is provided when the user takes action according to the identification result. Even without this, it is possible to obtain an energy saving and water saving effect toward achieving the energy / water use target.

  Further, since only one advice is provided, it is clear what the user should do now for energy saving and water saving effect. Furthermore, when the energy / water reduction effect is low, the content of the advice is changed according to the evaluation value and provided, so that the energy saving and the water saving effect can be effectively performed.

  As described above, in the above-described embodiment, the example in which only the advice content is provided has been described, but the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, when there are a plurality of users at a short distance, the display of the output device may be divided and advice may be output to the plurality of users in the form of name and advice content.

  Note that the output device 35 does not have to be a display device, and may be, for example, a speaker that provides advice by audio output.

  Further, in the advice selection flowchart of FIG. 6, the advice having the maximum evaluation value is transmitted to the advice output unit 34, but the advice to be probabilistically transmitted based on the evaluation value is selected and transmitted. It may be.

  Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the content of the advice is described as an example for water, but it goes without saying that the same effect can be obtained by performing the same processing operation for electricity and gas. . Moreover, although the action advice providing system described above provides advice on the use of electricity, gas energy, and water, it is not necessarily limited to these media.

  In the above-described embodiment, the example applied to the home has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. As described above, since different advice can be provided to a plurality of users, for example, the present system can be provided for the behavior of an employee working at a factory or the like during a holiday. Moreover, it is effective to apply the present invention to a place where the number of target users is large, such as application to school holidays.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, in the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention other than embodiment mentioned above, this invention can be variously modified.

  Further, the above-described embodiments include inventions at various stages, and various inventions can be extracted by appropriately combining a plurality of disclosed constituent elements. For example, even if some constituent requirements are deleted from all the constituent requirements shown in the embodiment, the problem described in the column of the problem to be solved by the invention can be solved, and the effect described in the column of the effect of the invention Can be extracted as an invention.

It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the action advice provision system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It explains the water reduction effect calculation example regarding bathing behavior, (a) is a diagram showing an example of advice provided, (b) is shown in (a) "Let's stop shower water frequently It is the table | surface which showed the example of the reduction effect every day for which the advice "was provided. It is a flowchart explaining the example of the processing operation using the action advice provision system 10 in this embodiment. It is a table showing a calculation example of reduced value level G _i. It is the figure which showed the example of the correspondence of the action to identify, and the identification apparatus with respect to this action. It is a flowchart explaining the detailed operation | movement of the subroutine "advice selection" in step S2 of the flowchart of FIG. It is the table | surface which showed the example of calculation of the advice evaluation value regarding water use of bathing action.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Action advice provision system, 11 ... Energy / water reduction importance setting part, 13 ... Whole energy / water measurement part, 14 ... Whole energy / water usage database, 15 ... Energy / water use target input part, 16 ... Energy -Water usage target database, 17 ... Reduction importance calculation unit, 21 ... Action measurement unit, 22 ... Person / action identification unit, 23 ... Energy / water measurement unit by action, 24 ... Advice database, 26 ... Advice, 27 ... Reduction Effectiveness 27, 28 ... energy usage, 30 ... advice selection unit, 31 ... energy / water reduction effect calculation unit, 33 ... environment measurement unit, 34 ... advice output unit, 35 ... output device.

Claims (10)

Advice for storing advice on reducing the amount of energy medium used including at least one of electricity, gas and water, the degree of energy medium reduction effect for each advice, and the history of energy medium usage A database,
An energy medium reduction effect calculating unit for calculating an energy medium reduction effect for each advice;
A person / behavior identifying unit for identifying the target person and the action type of the target person;
An advice selecting unit for selecting advice to be provided to the user from within the advice database, based on the subject identified by the person / behavior identifying unit and the behavior type of the subject;
An action advice providing system characterized by comprising:   The energy medium reduction effect calculation unit calculates an energy medium reduction effect degree of the advice database based on an average usage amount of past energy media and an average usage amount of recent energy media from the advice database. The behavior advice providing system according to claim 1, wherein   The advice selection unit calculates an advice evaluation value based on an energy medium reduction importance level to be supplied and an energy medium reduction effect level supplied from the advice database, and based on the calculated advice evaluation value The action advice providing system according to claim 2, wherein advice to be provided is selected.   The behavior advice providing system according to claim 3, further comprising an output device that outputs the advice to be provided selected by the advice selecting unit.   The energy medium reduction effect calculation unit, when the target person and the action type of the target person are identified by the person / action identification unit based on the advice provided to the output device, the energy medium of the advice database The action advice providing system according to claim 4, wherein the reduction effect level is updated.   The advice selection unit can change advice to be provided to the output device when the energy medium reduction effect calculation unit updates the energy medium reduction effect degree of the advice database. 5. The action advice providing system according to 5. An advice database for storing advice on reducing the amount of electricity, gas and water used, the degree of effect of reducing electricity, gas and water for each advice, and a history of the amount of electricity, gas and water used;
An energy medium reduction effect calculation unit for calculating the reduction effect of electricity, gas and water for each advice;
A person / behavior identifying unit for identifying the target person and the action type of the target person;
An advice selecting unit for selecting advice to be provided to the user from within the advice database, based on the subject identified by the person / behavior identifying unit and the behavior type of the subject;
An output device for outputting the advice selected by the advice selection unit;
An action advice providing device characterized by comprising:   The electricity, gas, and water reduction effect calculation unit calculates the electricity, gas, and water reduction effect of the advice database based on the past average usage and the latest average usage from the advice database. The behavior advice providing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the degree is calculated. It further comprises an electricity, gas and water reduction importance setting unit for measuring the electricity, gas and water usage and setting a target from the usage,
The advice selection unit includes a reduction importance degree of electricity, gas, and water supplied from the electricity, gas, and water reduction importance degree setting part, and a reduction effect degree of electricity, gas, and water supplied from the advice database. 9. The action advice providing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein an advice evaluation value is calculated based on the advice, and advice to be output to the output device is selected based on the calculated advice evaluation value. Electricity, gas and water reduction importance setting unit for measuring the usage of electricity, gas and water in the room and setting the reduction importance to be a target from the usage;
An advice database for storing advice on reducing the amount of electricity, gas and water used, the degree of reduction in electricity, gas and water for each advice, and a history of the amount of electricity, gas and water used;
An electricity, gas and water reduction effect calculation unit for calculating the degree of electricity, gas and water reduction effect for each advice;
A person / behavior identifying unit for identifying the target person and the action type of the target person;
Based on the reduction importance set by the electricity, gas and water reduction importance setting unit, the target identified by the person / behavior identification unit, and the action type of the target, the target from the advice database An advice selection unit for selecting advice to be provided to the person,
An output unit for outputting the advice selected by the advice selection unit;
An action advice providing device characterized by comprising:

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