JP2015108464A - Operation control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a new operation control system capable of operating a control amount adjusting device more properly by improving correctness of operation control information by speech utterance input from an operator.SOLUTION: Operation control information is acquired by performing voice recognition of the operation control information input by speech utterance to an external information terminal, the acquired operation control information is corrected by environment information and it is notified from the external information terminal, and then, after notifying the operation control information from the external information terminal, when the operation control information is confirmed by the operator, the confirmed operation control information is transmitted to control means of a control amount adjusting device. Thereby, correctness of the operation control information can be improved.

Description

  The present invention relates to an operation control system for a control amount adjusting device, and more particularly to an operation control system for remotely controlling the operation of a control amount adjusting device using an external information terminal.

  In various industrial fields, operation control is performed by remotely operating a control amount adjusting device. For example, an air conditioner that is a cooling / heating machine device is known as a representative example of a control amount adjusting device. Hereinafter, an operation according to the present invention will be described with an air conditioner system that controls the operation of the air conditioner using an external information terminal as an example. A control system will be described.

  Generally, in order to adjust the temperature and humidity of a living room such as a home or office, an indoor unit of an air conditioner is provided in the living room. This air conditioner cools the interior of the room by guiding the refrigerant cooled by the outdoor unit provided outside the room or the heated refrigerant to the indoor unit and exchanging heat with the room air using the heat exchanger in the indoor unit, or I try to heat it. Furthermore, in addition to these cooling and heating functions, a dehumidifying function for adjusting the humidity in the room is also provided.

  By the way, recently, an air conditioning system capable of inputting operation control information by voice utterance of an operator has been proposed. For example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-161746 (Patent Document 1), voice recognition processing of voice utterance input performed by an operator is performed by a voice recognition unit provided in an indoor unit, and the voice-recognized driving control information is recorded. An air conditioning system that performs air-conditioning control according to an operator's voice utterance by outputting a remote control signal corresponding to the above to a remote control signal receiving circuit from a remote control signal generating circuit is shown.

  However, in the air conditioning system of Patent Document 1, since the sound is collected by the indoor unit main body, the cold air blown from the indoor unit, the blowing sound or wind noise of the hot air, or noise other than the sound generated in the indoor environment As a result, there were problems such as misrecognition and voice utterances not being recognized due to the influences of. Further, when it is desired to create a comfortable air-conditioning environment when the room is heated or cooled in advance, if the voice recognition processing unit is provided in the indoor unit, operation control cannot be instructed from the outside.

  Furthermore, since the content of the operation control information by voice utterance is replaced with the operation signal of the remote controller, it cannot be set to an operation mode other than the operation control that can be operated by the remote controller. That is, there is a problem that the advantage of voice utterance that the user can instruct operation control with a higher degree of freedom cannot be enjoyed by inputting the operation control content by voice utterance.

JP 2000-161746 A

  In order to solve the problem of the air conditioning system described in Patent Document 1, an indoor unit control device and an external information terminal such as a smartphone are connected by a communication line, and the voice recognition means built in the smartphone is used. It has been proposed that voice control is performed to input driving control information, and the driving control information is transmitted to a control device for an indoor unit via communication means.

  In this way, when the operation control information is input using the voice recognition means provided in the external information terminal such as a smartphone, the influence of the blowing sound and wind noise of the indoor unit or the noise generated in the indoor environment is eliminated. Problems such as the occurrence of misrecognition can be eliminated. In addition, since an operation control instruction can be given to the indoor unit from the outside, a comfortable air-conditioning environment can be created when the room is heated or cooled in advance. Furthermore, by inputting the driving control information by voice utterance, it becomes possible to instruct driving control with a higher degree of freedom.

  However, if operation control information is input using voice recognition means provided in an external information terminal such as a smartphone, the effects of blowing sound, wind noise, indoor environment noise, etc. can be considerably suppressed, and misrecognition can be reduced. Also, the accuracy of the operation control information of the air conditioner based on the essential operator's voice utterance was not sufficient.

  For example, even if it is the summer season, if the voice operation is mistakenly entered as a heating operation, it will be recognized as it is and sent to the indoor unit. This is an erroneous speech recognition from the operation control.

  Also, for example, if “19:00, cooling” is input by voice utterance, the voice recognition itself can be recognized, but whether this operation control information starts cooling at 19:00 or is it set at a predetermined cooling temperature at 19:00? Since it is ambiguous as operation control information such as whether to keep cooling until 19:00, this is also erroneous voice recognition from the operation control of the air conditioner.

  As described above, when the operation control information is input using the voice recognition means provided in the external information terminal such as a smartphone, it can be sufficiently recognized as voice recognition. However, when viewed from the air conditioner, the accuracy of the operation control information is still not good. It was insufficient.

  In addition, input by voice utterance has many advantages over remote controllers, but the voice recognition software being used is affected by the voice quality of the operator and how it is spoken. May be recognized. For this reason, when only the operation control information is input by voice utterance using the voice recognition software, the voice recognition software erroneously recognizes and performs an air conditioning operation different from the actual operation control information. In order to avoid such misrecognition, the occurrence of misrecognition is reduced by reducing the number of vocabulary that can be input by speech utterance, but the accuracy of driving control information by speech utterance is still insufficient. .

  An object of the present invention is to provide a novel driving control system capable of improving the accuracy of driving control information based on voice utterances input from an operator and driving the control amount adjusting apparatus more appropriately. .

  The first feature of the present invention is to determine whether or not the driving control information obtained by recognizing the input voice is corrected based on environmental information, and when it is determined that correction is necessary, the driving control information Is corrected to obtain the corrected operation control information, and this corrected operation control information is transmitted to the control means of the control amount adjusting device.

  The second feature of the present invention is to notify the external information terminal of the driving control information obtained by recognizing the input voice, and when the driving control information is determined by the operator after the notification, The control information is transmitted to the control means of the control amount adjusting apparatus.

  According to the present invention, the accuracy of operation control information can be improved.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the air conditioning system to which this invention is applied. It is a sectional side view which shows the cross section of the indoor unit shown in FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the system configuration | structure of the air conditioning system of this invention. It is a flowchart figure which shows the control flow which implements the driving | operation instruction | indication by the voice utterance which becomes the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart figure which shows the control flow which implements the driving | operation instruction | indication by voice utterance which becomes the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart figure which shows the control flow which implements the driving | operation instruction | indication by voice utterance which becomes the 3rd Embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments, and various modifications and application examples are included in the technical concept of the present invention. Is also included in the range.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the air conditioner as a control amount adjusting device includes an indoor unit 10 and an outdoor unit 12. The indoor unit 10 is provided in a room of a home or office, and air-conditions the air in the room by cooling or heating the room. The outdoor unit 12 that cools or heats the refrigerant sent to the indoor unit 10 is connected to the indoor unit 10 through a communication cable and a power supply cable (not shown), and transmits and receives control information through these cables. In addition, it is designed to supply power.

  The remote controller 14 is operated by an operator, and transmits a signal to the remote controller transmission / reception unit 16 of the indoor unit 10. The contents of this transmitted / received signal are commands such as an operation request, a change in set temperature, a timer, an operation mode change, and a stop request. The air conditioner executes an air conditioning operation mode such as a cooling mode, a heating mode, and a dehumidifying mode based on the operation control information. In addition, a configuration in which status information such as room temperature information, humidity information, and electricity bill information is transmitted from the remote control transmission / reception unit 16 of the indoor unit 10 to the remote control 14 may be employed.

  In addition, indoor environment detection means 20 is installed in the lower part near the center of the front panel 18 of the indoor unit 10 when viewed in the left-right direction. The environment detection means 20 includes an image processing means using image processing software capable of detecting a camera and a human body, an activity amount detection sensor including a Fresnel lens and an infrared sensor, and an illuminance for detecting the brightness in the air-conditioned room. A sensor or the like is provided. These sensors only need to be provided in accordance with the specifications of the function mode of the air conditioner.

  Furthermore, the indoor unit 10 is provided with a speaker, and the operation control information and the like are notified by voice through the speaker. Further, as will be described later, since the control means of the indoor unit 10 can communicate with the external information terminal, it is possible to notify the driving information sent from the external information terminal, and the control means is necessary. Accordingly, the speaker can be controlled so as to notify the information from the external information terminal.

  FIG. 2 shows a side cross section of the indoor unit 10, and the housing base 22 accommodates internal structures such as a heat exchanger 24, a blower fan 26, and a filter 28. The heat exchanger 24 has a plurality of heat transfer tubes 24a, and heats the air taken into the indoor unit 10 by the blower fan 26 with the refrigerant flowing through the heat transfer tubes 24a to heat or cool the air. It is configured. The heat transfer tube 24a communicates with a refrigerant pipe (not shown) and constitutes a part of a known refrigerant cycle (not shown).

  The left and right wind direction plates 30 follow a command from an operation control means (not shown) provided in the indoor unit 10 and a left and right wind direction plate motor (not shown) with a rotating shaft (not shown) provided at the lower part as a fulcrum. ). The vertical wind direction plate 32 is rotated by a vertical wind direction plate motor (not shown) with pivot shafts (not shown) provided at both ends as fulcrums according to instructions from the operation control means.

  The front panel 34 is installed so as to cover the front surface of the indoor unit 10 and is configured to be rotatable by a front panel motor (not shown) with the lower end as an axis. Incidentally, you may comprise the front panel 34 as what is fixed to a lower end.

  When the blower fan 26 shown in FIG. 2 rotates, the room air is taken in through the air suction port 36 and the filter 28, and the air heat-exchanged by the heat exchanger 24 is guided to the blowout air path. Furthermore, the air direction of the air guided to the blowout air path is adjusted by the right and left wind direction plates 30 and the up and down air direction plates 32 and is sent to the outside from the air blowing port 38 to air-condition the room.

  In addition, the air conditioner has a configuration in which a plurality of indoor units are connected not only to the wall-mounted indoor unit 10 but also to a ceiling-embedded indoor unit or one outdoor unit. Is also good.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an air conditioning system as an operation control system including an air conditioning apparatus including the control means 40 included in the air conditioning apparatus and an external information terminal 42 such as a smartphone or a tablet.

  The load 44 of the air conditioner is, for example, an indoor fan motor (not shown) included in the indoor unit 10, a compressor motor (not shown) included in the outdoor unit 12, or a left / right wind direction plate installed on the left / right wind direction plate 30. A motor (not shown) is included. These loads 44 are driven in accordance with a drive signal from the control means 40.

  The control means 40 of the indoor unit 10 receives a detection signal of an indoor environment detection means 46 that includes a room temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, and other various sensors described above built in the indoor unit 10. The control means 40 communicates with the outdoor unit 12 for each set air conditioning operation mode to control the operation of the compressor and the like, and the operation control of the entire air conditioner such as the management of the wind speed, the wind direction, and the air conditioning output. 48. The drive control unit 48 includes a microcomputer, a ROM, an input / output LSI, and the like.

  In the present embodiment, a storage means 50 is provided separately from the storage means provided in the drive control section 48. In this storage means 50, various kinds of information, for example, the current indoor environment detection means are provided. 46 detection information, operation information and setting information executed in the previous air conditioning operation, detection information of the indoor environment detection means 46 at that time, and the like are stored. Such environmental information is used for analysis of driving control information by voice recognition at an external information terminal 42 described later.

  In addition, a occupant detection means may be provided as the indoor environment detection means 42. For example, as a sensor for detecting the environment in the air-conditioned room, a thermopile that measures the radiant heat in the air-conditioning room or a life scene in the air-conditioned room by performing light source identification A light source identification sensor that determines the presence of a room, a sound sensor that determines a living scene from the pattern recognition of the ambient sound in the room, and an image that detects the occupant by performing face recognition and body recognition by photographing the room with a camera A recognition sensor or the like may be used. The detailed operation control of the air conditioning operation is well known, and although not described here, the operation control suitable for each air conditioning apparatus to which the present embodiment is applied may be performed.

  The control unit 40 is configured to be capable of information communication with an external information terminal 42 including a voice recognition unit, for example, a smartphone or a tablet PC, separately from the remote controller 14, and from the operator of the air conditioner through the external information terminal 42. When the operation control information is received, the air-conditioning operation and data communication are performed according to the received operation control information. As for this communication method, any communication method such as infrared communication, wireless LAN, JIGBEE, radio communication by specific low power radio, communication by FM radio wave or AM radio wave can be used.

  From the operator of the air conditioner, the operation control information can be transmitted to the control means 40 of the indoor unit 10 of the air conditioner via the remote controller 14 and the external information terminal 42. Since the operation control information by the remote controller 14 is not related to the present embodiment, the description thereof is omitted.

  The input from the operator to the external information terminal 42 includes manual input by key operation using the key 52, and voice utterance by the microphone 54 and voice recognition means (by voice recognition software) 56 provided in the external information terminal 42. It is possible to input by In this embodiment, the input by the microphone 54 and the voice recognition means 56 is the target of the driving control information. The external information terminal 42 includes a speaker 58 for performing voice notification and a display unit 60 including a liquid crystal display and the like, so that various information can be notified to the operator. Further, as described above, it is possible to send audio data by communication from the external information terminal 42 to the control means 40 of the indoor unit 10. Thereby, the operation control information of the external information terminal 42 can be notified from the speaker of the indoor unit 10.

  The external information terminal 42 includes a control unit 62 inside, and input information from the key 52, the microphone 54, and the voice recognition unit 56 is input. These input information is a microcomputer (not shown) provided in the control unit 62. And is converted into a predetermined control signal. This predetermined control signal is a drive signal for the load of the air conditioner in this embodiment.

  The control means 62 includes voice synthesis means (by voice synthesis software) 64, and can send operation information corresponding to the control signal to the speaker 58 to perform voice notification. In addition to the voice, the display unit 60 can notify the driving information by character data.

  The control means 62 is provided with predetermined correction parameter generation means 66. The predetermined correction parameter is environmental information, and will be described later in detail. The predetermined correction parameter is a parameter for correcting the driving control information input by voice utterance to corrected driving control information with higher accuracy. For example, calendar information, time information, temperature information, and the like possessed by the external information terminal 42 correspond to the correction parameters. The correction parameter may be other than this, and the point is that it is only necessary to improve the accuracy of the operation control information input by voice utterance.

  Further, the correction parameter generation means 66 may be provided in the control means 40 of the indoor unit 10. In this case, the correction parameter can be transmitted to the control means 62 and used for calculation.

  Next, the input of the driving control information using the voice recognition means of the smartphone or tablet PC which is the external information terminal 42 will be described. Smartphones and tablet PCs that are currently in widespread use are configured to allow input by voice utterance using voice recognition software that is voice recognition means. Hereinafter, the external information terminal 42 will be described as a smartphone 42.

  In the present embodiment, the control unit 40 of the indoor unit 10 is configured to be capable of information communication with the smartphone 42, and therefore, the control of the indoor unit 10 is performed using voice recognition software built in the smartphone 42. Air conditioning control can be performed by giving operation control information to the means 40. This is realized by combining voice recognition software built in the smartphone 42 and communication software that gives operation control information to the control means 40 of the indoor unit 10. Thus, the operator can remotely control the air conditioning operation by sending the operation control information of the air conditioner to the air conditioner by an input by voice utterance to the smartphone 42.

  The advantage of the input of the operation control information by voice utterance is that the operation control information is input by voice utterance instead of the button selection of the remote controller 14. Air-conditioning operation can be performed even with ambiguous operation control information, which can input complicated operation control information that is troublesome to input, can easily input complicated operation control information that is difficult to realize with the input of the remote controller 14. , Etc. can be considered.

  As described above, the input by voice utterance has many advantages compared to the remote controller 14, but the voice recognition software used is affected by the voice quality of the operator, the way of speaking, etc. It may be mistakenly recognized. For this reason, when only the operation control information is input by voice utterance using the voice recognition software, the voice recognition software erroneously recognizes and performs an air conditioning operation different from the actual operation control information. In order to avoid such misrecognition, the occurrence of misrecognition is reduced by reducing the number of vocabulary that can be input by speech utterance, but it is still insufficient for driving control information by speech utterance.

  On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the above-described problem is solved by causing the smartphone 42 to perform an operation capable of confirming the driving control information input by voice utterance. For this reason, the confirmation by the smartphone 42 is a method in which the recognized vocabulary is displayed on the screen of the display unit 60, and the operator determines final driving control information by selecting driving control information on the screen.

  In addition to this, in order to further improve the accuracy of the above-described operation control information, the environmental information stored in the storage means 50 provided in the control means 40 of the indoor unit 10 and the timing function provided in the smartphone 42 Further, a predetermined correction parameter determined by environmental information such as time information and calendar information based on the calendar function is used, and the operation control information is corrected or corrected to derive the corrected operation control information.

  That is, whether or not the driving control information recognized by the voice utterance is appropriate is determined by the correction parameter described above. If the driving control information recognized by the voice is appropriate, the uncorrected driving control information can be used as it is. If the operation control information displayed on the screen and voice-recognized is not valid, the corrected operation control information corrected or corrected is displayed on the screen of the external information terminal 42.

  As described above, it is possible to further improve the accuracy of the driving control information recognized by the voice recognition software by executing the control for correcting or correcting the driving control information input by the voice utterance using the correction parameter. Become.

  In general, the air conditioner can maintain comfort in the room by dehumidifying operation in the summer season, and can reduce the risk of heat stroke by cooling operation, and in the winter season, It is operated so as to maintain comfort in the living room. For this reason, if the operation control information by voice recognition is mistakenly performed, for example, the heating operation mode in summer, the cooling operation mode in winter, the air blowing operation mode, or the air conditioning that is not intended by the operator such as incorrect operation timer setting Driving will cause a great deal of inconvenience.

  In order to avoid such a problem, the present embodiment is provided with the correction parameter generating means 66 provided in the smartphone 42 described above. This is provided in the operation control application software for performing the operation control of the air conditioner installed in the smartphone 42. When an instruction for air conditioning operation is input to the smartphone 42 by voice utterance, a correction parameter request signal is transmitted to the control means 40 of the indoor unit 10 via the communication line.

  The correction parameters, which are environmental information, are intended not only for the time information and calendar information described above, but also for information stored in the storage means 50 of the control means 40. These correction parameters are those of the microcomputer of the smartphone 42. The data is transferred to and stored in a work area formed in the RAM, and is used for the determination of the validity of the operation control information and the calculation for correcting the operation control information.

  For example, environmental information such as room temperature information and humidity information in the living room, operation setting data of the previous or immediately preceding air conditioner can be used as the correction parameter. Therefore, when setting the operation control content of the air conditioner, the control means 40 provided in the indoor unit 10 reads out necessary information from the storage means 50 and transmits it to the smartphone 42 via the communication line.

  The above-mentioned information (correction parameter) sent from the control means 40 is stored in the RAM work area of the microcomputer of the smartphone 42, and the correction parameter is reflected by the calculation of the operation control application software. New operation control information (for example, operation mode) is derived.

  The one or more appropriate operation control information is corrected operation control information corrected by the correction parameter, or uncorrected operation control information that does not need to be corrected by the correction parameter. This result is displayed on the display unit 60 of the smartphone 42, and the operator selects and confirms the displayed operation control information, so that the control unit 40 of the indoor unit 10 finally controls the operation of the air conditioner. Operates to send information.

  When the control means 40 of the indoor unit 10 receives the determined operation control information from the smartphone 42, based on the operation control information, the control unit 40 drives the refrigeration cycle including the compressor of the outdoor unit 12 to air-condition the room. It will be.

  In general, in an air conditioner, a heat exchange cycle is executed by the indoor unit 10 and the outdoor unit 12 during the air conditioning operation. If the air conditioning operation mode is changed during this operation, or the changed mode is incorrect. When returning to the original air-conditioning operation mode or the like, a stabilization time of the refrigeration cycle is required, and it takes a lot of time from the input of the operation control information to the start of the actually input air-conditioning operation mode.

  Therefore, when the driving control information by voice utterance using voice recognition is input, when the driving control information by voice recognition is incorrect, as described above, an unnecessary waiting time for executing the required air conditioning operation mode. It was necessary to use and was unusable.

  On the other hand, in the air conditioning apparatus according to the present embodiment, the input content can be confirmed on the display unit 60 after input by voice utterance, and erroneous operation control information is obtained. Can be solved, so that the problem that the stable time of the refrigeration cycle unintended by the operator is entered can be solved, and an unnecessary waiting time can be prevented.

  Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the driving control information input by voice utterance is displayed on the display unit 60 by correcting the validity of the driving control information and correcting the driving control information by using the correction parameter to improve the accuracy of the driving control information. It is possible to obtain an effect that appropriate operation control information can be obtained.

  The remote controller 14 includes a liquid crystal screen, displays the setting state of the air conditioning operation transmitted to the air conditioner by the remote controller 14 and displays the contents of the air conditioning operation to the operator. After confirming this, the operator changes the air-conditioning operation.

  Therefore, similarly to this, also when setting the air conditioning operation by voice utterance using the smartphone 42, the contents of the current air conditioning operation of the air conditioner can be displayed to the operator. In the present embodiment, since the control means 40 of the indoor unit 10 can communicate with the smartphone 42, when the driving control information is input by voice utterance using the smartphone 42, the smartphone 42 is synchronized with this. The request signal for transmitting the content of the air-conditioning operation can be transmitted to the control means 40 of the indoor unit 10.

  Thus, the information regarding the current operation setting is transmitted from the air conditioning apparatus to the smartphone 42 and displayed on the display unit 60 of the smartphone 42, whereby the current control state of the air conditioning operation can be shown to the operator.

  In addition, each person's voice has the characteristics of a voiceprint. The voice recognition software of the smartphone 42 detects the characteristics of the voiceprint, thereby estimating and specifying the operator who performed the driving input by voice utterance. It can be carried out. Specifically, the characteristics of the voiceprint when the voice utterance input is performed are stored in the storage means of the smartphone 42, and the voiceprint characteristics when the voice utterance input is performed thereafter and the memory of the smartphone 42 are stored. The operator can be specified by collating the characteristics of the voice print stored in the means. In addition to this, it is also possible to register the operator of the air conditioner in advance and register the voiceprint characteristics at that time.

  The voice print of the operator and the set operation control information of the air conditioner can be associated and stored in the storage means. That is, the tendency of the driving control information set based on the correction parameter is extracted and associated with voiceprint information, and when driving input is performed by voice utterance, the characteristics of the voiceprint of the speaker and the stored voiceprint information Compares the features, reads the air-conditioning driving tendency (driving control information) stored in association with the matching voiceprint features, and corrects the driving control information with this information when extracting detailed driving modes on the smartphone 42 By doing so, it becomes possible to further set the air conditioning operation according to the preference of the operator.

  Further, by performing control for extracting the characteristics of the voiceprint, a child lock function for preventing erroneous setting of driving control information due to mischief of a child or the like can be provided. This can be realized by setting a command in the voice recognition software to invalidate the input of driving control information by speech when a child voice feature is detected from the voiceprint feature.

  As described above, in the air conditioning apparatus according to the present embodiment, novel air that can improve the accuracy of the operation control information based on voice utterances input from the operator and can operate the air conditioning apparatus more appropriately. A harmony system can be provided.

  In the above description, the driving control information input by voice utterance on the smartphone 42 is corrected by using the correction parameters to correct the driving control information and improve the accuracy of the driving control information. However, similar control can be executed by the control means 40 provided in the indoor unit 10.

  In this case, the operation control information input by voice utterance is sent by the smartphone 42 to the control unit 40 of the indoor unit 10 via the communication unit, and the control unit 40 determines whether the operation control information is valid based on the correction parameter. Thus, if the operation control information recognized by voice is appropriate, it is transmitted to the smartphone 42 as it is, and if the operation control information recognized by voice is not appropriate, the corrected operation control information corrected or corrected is transmitted to the smartphone 42. Then, the transmitted driving information is confirmed and corrected by the smartphone 42. The confirmed and corrected operation control information is sent again from the smartphone 42 to the control unit of the indoor unit 10, and the control unit 40 controls the indoor unit and the outdoor unit based on the operation control information.

Next, specific embodiments will be described below with reference to the drawings. However, the following embodiments show typical examples, and other embodiments are also included in the technical concept of the present invention. It is what
<Example 1 of operation control setting input by voice utterance>
An example in the case of setting operation control by voice utterance is shown in FIG. In this example, for example, when the indoor temperature is 30 ° C. and the outdoor temperature is 28 ° C., the calendar information is August 7, and the time information is 18:00, simply “cooling operation” and cooling operation by voice utterance to the smartphone 42. Consider the case where there is an instruction for operation control for mode execution.

  In FIG. 4, in step 40 (hereinafter, step is abbreviated as “S”), “cooling operation” and operation control information are input to the smartphone 42 by voice utterance from the operator. The input by the voice utterance is sent from the smartphone 42 to the control means 40 of the outdoor unit 10. This is a request signal for the air conditioning operation information stored in the storage means 50.

  When this signal is received by the control means 40, the control means 40 sets the air conditioning operation such as the room temperature information detected by the temperature sensor of the air conditioner in accordance with the operation condition at the previous cooling operation as in S41. Information necessary for the transmission is transmitted to the smartphone 42.

  The control means 62 of the smart phone 42 that has received this is, for example, if the setting at the previous cooling operation is set to 28 ° C. and the wind speed of the indoor fan is set to “strong”, the current room temperature is 30 ° C. Therefore, comparing the set temperature 28 ° C during the previous cooling operation with the current room temperature 30 ° C, if the set temperature during the previous cooling operation remains the same, the room temperature lowered by cooling is only 2 ° C. Judge that the effect is weak. Therefore, in this case, the current room temperature is used as the correction parameter, and it is determined that the set temperature for proper cooling operation for enhancing the cooling effect is 26 ° C. That is, it is corrected to the operation control information that increases the temperature difference from the current room temperature of 30 ° C. and increases the cooling capacity.

  When such a determination is made by the control means 62 of the smartphone 42, the control means 62 reads the uncorrected “cooling operation, set temperature 28 ° C.” information that is the read operation control information during the previous cooling operation, The information “cooling operation, set temperature 26 ° C.”, which is the corrected operation control information corrected by the correction parameter, is set, and these two operation control information are set as candidates for air conditioning operation setting.

  Next, in order to notify the operator of the obtained two driving control information, the two driving control information is displayed on the display unit 60 of the smartphone 42 in S42.

  If two driving control information is displayed on the display part 60 of the smart phone 42, an operator will select arbitrary driving control information by S43 from two driving control information displayed on the screen of the display part 60 of the smart phone 42. Then, the operation control information is determined by voice utterance and transmitted to the control means 40 of the indoor unit 10. The operation control information selected by the smartphone 42 is received by the control means 40, and the control means 40 starts the air conditioning operation of the air conditioner based on the operation control information selected in S44.

  Here, in the case of notification by voice instead of notification by the display unit 60, for example, two operation control information is obtained by voice guidance from the speaker 58 of the smartphone 42, “operation mode 1, cooling operation, set temperature 28 ° C.”, and “ “Operation mode 2, cooling operation, set temperature 26 ° C.” is notified, and “operating mode 2” is input by voice utterance from the operator, thereby starting the cooling operation at the set temperature 26 ° C. of operation mode 2. You may do it.

  On the other hand, if the driving control information is not selected in S43, the process proceeds to S45 to determine whether or not the driving control information is corrected by voice utterance. Since the driving control information is not finalized in S45, the smartphone 42 notifies the operator that the driving control information is corrected, and when the operator inputs new information along with this, the process returns to S41 again. The operation control information is calculated.

  If the set temperature is corrected to 25 ° C. by manual input of the operation control information by the operator in S45, it is determined that the operation control information has been confirmed by confirming the correction, and the control unit 40 of the indoor unit 10 is determined. Send. The operation control information selected by the smartphone 42 is received by the control means 40, and the control means 40 starts the air conditioning operation of the air conditioner based on the operation control information corrected in S45.

In this way, even with a simple input based on the utterance “cooling operation”, the control means 62 of the smartphone 42 obtains appropriate operation control information using the correction parameter, and the operator is displayed on the display unit 60 and the speaker 58 of the smartphone 42. The air conditioning operation according to the operator's intention can be realized by informing the operator and selecting and confirming the operation control information.
<Example 2 of operation control setting input by voice utterance>
An example of setting operation control by voice utterance will be further described. This example is basically the same control as the control flow shown in FIG.

  For example, when the room temperature is 5 ° C., the room humidity is 30%, the outdoor temperature is −2 ° C., the calendar information is February 2 and the time information is 10:00, the season is winter and the room temperature is low. Then, it is normal that a driving instruction of “heating operation” is given to the smartphone 42 by voice utterance. And when there is such operation control information, for some reason, the input content is erroneously recognized to execute the cooling operation mode as “cooling operation, set temperature 20 ° C.” by voice recognition by the smartphone 42. Think.

  The voice recognition input erroneously recognized by the smartphone 42 is sent to the control means 62 of the smartphone 42. The control means 62 corrects the correction parameter acquired by the temperature sensor of the indoor unit 10 with respect to the operation control information “cooling operation”. Since the room temperature is 5 ° C., it is determined that the operation control information input from the smartphone 42 is inappropriate.

  This determination is made based on a reference temperature set as a condition for permitting the cooling operation. For example, if 25 ° C. is set as the reference temperature permitting the cooling operation, the reference temperature 25 ° C. and the room temperature 5 ° C. are compared and judged. As a result, the room temperature does not exceed 25 ° C. The operation control information “cooling operation” is determined to be inappropriate.

  This reference temperature is stored in advance in the storage means of the control means 62 of the smartphone 42, but can also be set by the smartphone 42 itself. In this case, a rewritable flash memory or the like is used as the storage means. The reference temperature can be corrected based on the humidity information. If the humidity is low, it can be corrected by calculating so as to increase the reference temperature based on the humidity information sent from the control means 40 of the indoor unit 10.

  Then, from the detected room temperature, the control means 46 assumes that the operation control information of the “cooling operation” mode is the misrecognition of the operation control information of the “heating operation” mode, and the “cooling operation” is the uncorrected operation control information. Two operation control information of “operation, set temperature 20 ° C.” and “heating operation, set temperature 20 ° C.” which is corrected operation control information obtained by correcting the operation control information are displayed on the display unit 60 of the smartphone 42 or the speaker 58. To inform.

  Thus, as described above, the operator can select the two notified driving control information and confirm the driving control information. In the present embodiment, the corrected operation information and the uncorrected operation control information are notified, but only the corrected operation control information may be notified when priority is given and correction is made. At this time, if there is no correction, uncorrected operation control information is notified. The control of these notifications is determined by one of the notification methods by the control means 46 of the smartphone 42.

  In addition, when the first operation control information by the operator is “heating operation, set temperature 22 ° C.”, the current operation control information is “heating operation, set temperature 20 ° C.”. By correcting the set temperature of the operation control information on the screen to 22 ° C., the corrected operation control information such as “heating operation, set temperature 22 ° C.” is transmitted from the smartphone 42 to the control means 40 of the indoor unit 10, The air conditioning operation can be started based on the corrected operation control information. As described above, even when the operation control information of the voice utterance by the voice recognition software of the smartphone 42 is erroneously recognized, the air conditioning setting in accordance with the intention of the operator can be realized.

  Although the case where the cooling operation and the air blowing operation are erroneously input in the winter has been described above, the operation control information can be corrected and confirmed in the same manner when the heating operation is erroneously input in the summer. In this case, it may be performed based on a reference temperature set as a condition for permitting the heating operation. For example, if 15 ° C. is set as the reference temperature for permitting the heating operation, when the room temperature is 28 ° C., the reference temperature 15 ° C. and the room temperature 28 ° C. are compared and judged. As a result, the room temperature is 15 ° C. or less. Therefore, the inputted operation control information such as heating operation is judged to be inappropriate.

  In addition, although room temperature was illustrated as a correction parameter, this is an example and appropriate operation control information can be derived using the detection results of various environment detection sensors. Furthermore, when the utterance content is confirmed by the smartphone 42, the input content may be corrected again by utterance as shown in FIG.

The basic example of the input of the driving control setting by voice utterance has been described above. Next, another driving control setting method will be described.
When performing voice input by utterance from the smartphone 42, (1) input by an ambiguous voice utterance that does not include information necessary for the utterance content, or (2) input by voice utterance with complicated conditions for driving control information. is there. Even in such a case, the accuracy of the operation control information can be improved by using the correction parameter. Hereinafter, an embodiment related to this will be described.

When there is such an ambiguous input or a conditional input, in this embodiment, predetermined correction parameters such as sensor information for detecting the air-conditioning environment stored in the storage means 50, calendar information and time information of the smartphone 42, and the like. Based on the above, at least one or more appropriate driving control information is derived by the control means 62 of the smartphone 42, and the driving control information is notified by the smartphone 42. Then, by confirming and correcting the operation control information with the smartphone 42, it becomes possible to realize the air conditioning setting according to the operator's intention.
This air conditioning setting is not only for basic air conditioning control such as set temperature, wind speed, wind direction, etc., but also when operating additional functions of the air conditioner using information such as timer settings, personal information, objective sensors, heat source sensors, etc. Can also be used.
Hereinafter, a specific example of input by an ambiguous voice utterance that does not include information necessary for the above-described (1) utterance content will be described.
<Example of driving control setting input based on ambiguous driving control information>
As an ambiguous input example, let us consider a case in which driving control information is input to the smartphone 42 by “19:00, cooling” and voice utterance. At this time, the state of the air-conditioning operation related to the ambiguous input of “19:00, cooling” is, for example, “starting cooling at 19:00”, “keep it in a state where it reaches the set temperature until 19:00”, or “19 A state such as “cooling until time” can be considered, and it can be assumed that the operator intends any one of these operation control information.

  Therefore, the control means 62 of the smartphone 42 detects the three driving control information as shown in S41 of FIG. 4 by the correction parameter based on the driving control information that is ambiguous with respect to the ambiguous input of “19:00, cooling”. As shown in S43 of FIG. 4, the three driving control information can be notified to the operator by the smartphone 42 and confirmed. When the operator's intention is “to keep the set temperature at 19:00”, from the three operation control information displayed on the display unit 60 of the smartphone 42, the “set temperature is set until 19:00”. Select the operation control information “Keep it reached”.

  The selected operation control information is transmitted to the control means 40 of the indoor unit 10, and the control means 40 reads, for example, the room temperature stabilization time in the past cooling operation stored in the storage means 50, and calculates backward from 19:00. Set the operation start timer to start cooling operation. The air conditioning operation can be started according to the timer setting.

  In addition, when selecting the driving control information displayed on the smartphone 42, in addition to operating and determining the smartphone 42, a method of selecting again by input by voice utterance after informing the operator from the smartphone 42 is adopted. You can also.

  In this embodiment, not only (1) input by ambiguous voice utterance as described above, but also (2) conditional operation control information input is possible. This is because it is possible to realize more complicated driving control by recognizing voice by associating conditions added to driving setting input by voice utterance and setting driving control information according to the input contents. Become.

  The type of operation control information input from the remote controller to the indoor unit control means 40 is limited by the number of buttons on the remote controller, but input by voice utterance is not limited. In addition, in a terminal that is originally used for a telephone call such as the smartphone 42, the accuracy of voice input such as a microphone is high. Furthermore, since the software of the smartphone 42 can be easily updated to the latest software by communication or the like, it is possible to improve the voice recognition accuracy of input by voice utterance, add a vocabulary, and the like. Therefore, the convenience of the operation setting of the air conditioner can be greatly improved by using the smartphone 42.

Hereinafter, a specific example of operation control setting input based on the above-described (2) conditional operation control information will be described.
<Example 1 of operation control setting input based on conditional operation control information>
As an example of operation control setting based on conditional operation control information, operation control when there is a person in the room and when there is no person in the room will be described with reference to FIG.

  The indoor unit 10 is equipped with an activity amount detection sensor for detecting a person's activity amount as a occupant detection means, and the time at this time is 14:00 and the cooling temperature is 25 ° C. It will be explained on the assumption.

  In FIG. 5, a case is considered in which a complicated input such as “stop operation. Restart at 19 o'clock. Restart if a person returns” is performed by the voice utterance of the operator.

  In S50, the smartphone 42 performs an operation to make a timer reservation so as to stop the current air-conditioning operation and restart the air-conditioning operation at 19:00 from the input of the voice utterance “operation stop. Based on this, the smartphone 42 notifies the operator and confirms.

  Further, the smartphone 42 extracts the content of “performs occupancy detection” from the content of the correction parameter “when a person returns” from the input of “re-run when a person returns” of the voice utterance, If it is extracted from the content of the correction parameter “if”, this is used as a judgment condition, and the content “starts air-conditioning operation when an occupant is detected by the occupant detection means” is derived. Based on this, the operator is notified and confirmed.

  After notifying these results from the smartphone 42 and confirming the operator, the smartphone 42 (1) an instruction to stop the current air conditioning operation, and (2) an instruction to resume the air conditioning operation at 19:00 , (3) A command to detect the occupant and (4) a command to start the air conditioning operation when the occupant is detected by the occupant detection means are transmitted to the control means 40 in S50 of FIG. It is supposed to be.

  The control unit 40 stops the air-conditioning empty operation in S51 and continues the occupant detection operation by the occupant detection unit. If the occupant is detected in this state, the process proceeds to S53 and the air conditioning operation is started. In this case, the control means 40 transmits to the smartphone 42 information indicating that “the occupant has been detected, so that the cooling operation is started and the set temperature is set to 20 ° C.”. Make announcements.

  On the other hand, if the occupant is not detected, the process proceeds to S54 to determine whether the time has reached 19:00. If it is determined that the time has reached 19:00, the process proceeds to S55 to start the cooling operation. . In this case, the cooling operation is performed by resetting to the set temperature before stopping. If it is determined in S54 that 19:00 has not been reached, the process proceeds again to S52 and the same operation is repeated.

In this way, the air conditioning apparatus is stopped by the input by the voice utterance described above, and the timer reservation for starting the operation at 19:00 is performed, and the occupant detection means is operated even in the stopped state, so that When it is detected that there is a person, it is possible to add a condition to start driving even if the reserved time for starting driving has not been reached.
<Example 2 of operation control setting input using conditional operation control information>
Next, as an example of operation control setting based on conditional operation control information, control for performing operation control information based on the intensity of light in a room will be described with reference to FIG.

  The indoor unit 10 is equipped with a light source identification sensor that detects sunlight as a light source identification means. The time at this time is 15:00, and the indoor temperature is assumed to be 12 ° C.

  In FIG. 6, a case is considered in which a complicated input such as “heating operation, set temperature 20 ° C., set temperature 25 ° C. when the sun goes down” is performed by the voice utterance of the operator.

  In S50, the smartphone 42 performs an operation to start the air-conditioning operation so as to reach the set temperature 20 ° C. from the input of “heating operation, set temperature 20 ° C.” of the voice utterance, and the smartphone 42 operates based on this. The operator sees this and confirms and confirms.

  In addition, the content of the speech utterance “detects the attenuation of sunlight by the light source identification means” from the input of the voice utterance “set temperature 25 ° C. when the sun goes down” and the correction parameter “when the sun goes down”. Then, the use of this as a determination condition is extracted, and the content of performing the heating operation at the set temperature of 25 ° C. is derived from the input of “set temperature 25 ° C.”, and the smartphone 42 notifies the operator based on this. It is the structure which confirms.

  After notifying the operator of these results from the smartphone 42 and confirming the operator, the smartphone 42 (1) starts the air-conditioning operation and (2) sets the set temperature to 20 ° C. An instruction to set, (3) an instruction to detect sunlight, and (4) an instruction to change the set temperature to 25 ° C. when the attenuation of sunlight is below a predetermined value in S60 of FIG. To be sent to.

  The control means 40 starts the heating operation so that the set temperature becomes 20 ° C. in S11, and continues the detection operation of detecting the attenuation of sunlight by the light source identification means. In this state, the process proceeds to S62, and if it is determined that the amount of sunlight has attenuated to a predetermined value, the process proceeds to S63, where the set temperature is raised to 25 ° C. and the heating operation is started. If the heating operation is being performed at this time, this state is continued until the set temperature reaches 25 ° C. In this state, the process proceeds to S <b> 64, and the control means 40 transmits information indicating that “heating operation is performed and the set temperature is changed from 20 ° C. to 25 ° C.” to the smartphone 42. To make this announcement.

  On the other hand, if it is determined that the amount of sunlight is not attenuated to a predetermined amount, the process proceeds to S62 again and the same operation is repeated.

  In this way, the heating operation is started at the set temperature of 20 ° C. by the input by the voice utterance described above, the sunlight entering the room is detected by the light source identification means during the heating operation, and the light amount of the sunlight is predetermined. By performing the operation of changing the set temperature to 25 ° C. at the time point below, complicated operation control in line with the operator's intention can be realized.

  In the embodiment described above, the external information terminal such as a smartphone or tablet PC that is widely used and the air conditioner are connected to each other using the mutual communication, so that the air can be easily transmitted from the external information terminal. The operation control of the harmony device is possible, and a highly convenient air conditioning system can be obtained.

  In addition, driving control information input by voice utterances from an external information terminal is derived from at least one driving control information by a predetermined correction parameter, and these driving control information is notified to an operator from the external information terminal and selected. By confirming and transmitting the confirmed operation control information to the control means of the air conditioner to perform the air conditioning operation, the air conditioning operation in accordance with the operator's intention can be performed.

  In addition, since it is a method of selecting and confirming driving control information with an external information terminal, it is possible to create ambiguous driving control information while confirming the contents of ambiguous driving control information by voice utterance, so ambiguous driving control The advantage of the original voice recognition that information can be corrected to specific driving control information can be enjoyed.

  Furthermore, by using a smartphone that is originally used to input a voice utterance as an input terminal, it is possible not only to perform voice recognition with high accuracy, but also to a microphone or voice recognition software on the air conditioner body. It is possible to provide a lean air conditioning system.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the driving control information inputted by voice utterance to the external information terminal is recognized by voice to obtain driving control information, and the obtained driving control information is obtained based on the environmental information. Fixed it. According to this, when it is determined that the driving control information is not appropriate, the driving control information is corrected, so that the accuracy of the driving control information can be improved.

  Further, according to the present invention, the operation control information input by voice utterance to the external information terminal is recognized by speech to obtain the operation control information, and after the obtained operation control information is notified from the external information terminal, the operation is performed. When the operation control information is confirmed by the person, this confirmation signal is transmitted to the control means of the indoor unit. According to this, after the operation control information is notified from the external information terminal, when the operation control information is confirmed by the operator, the confirmation signal is transmitted to the control unit of the indoor unit. It will be possible to improve.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Indoor unit, 12 ... Indoor unit, 14 ... Remote control, 22 ... Housing base, 24 ... Heat exchanger, 30 ... Left and right wind direction plate, 32 ... Up and down wind direction plate, 34 ... Front panel, 40 ... Control means of indoor unit, 42 ... External information terminal, 44 ... Load, 46 ... Indoor environment detection means, 48 ... Drive control section, 50 ... Storage means, 54 ... Microphone, 56 ... Voice recognition means, 58 ... Speaker, 60 ... Display section, 62 ... External Information terminal control means, 64... Speech synthesis means, 66... Correction parameter generation means.

Claims (9)

It comprises an apparatus-side control means for controlling the operation of the control amount adjusting apparatus and an external information terminal communicated with each other by a communication means provided in the apparatus-side control means, and the external information terminal can be input by voice utterance A voice recognition means, and an external information terminal side control means for analyzing the operation control information recognized by the voice recognition means and transmitting it to the apparatus side control means (hereinafter referred to as terminal side control means), and In the operation control system in which the device-side control means performs operation control of the control amount adjusting device based on the operation control information transmitted from the external information terminal,
The terminal-side control means determines whether or not to correct the driving control information recognized by the voice recognition means based on environmental information, and corrects and corrects the driving control information when it is determined that correction is necessary. An operation control system for obtaining operation control information and transmitting the corrected operation control information to the device-side control means to perform operation control of the control amount adjusting device. In claim 1,
The control amount adjusting device is an air conditioner, and the device side control means is an air conditioner side control means (hereinafter referred to as an air conditioning side control means) provided in an indoor unit of the air conditioner, and the external information The operation control system, wherein the air conditioning side control means controls the operation of the air conditioner based on the corrected operation control information transmitted from a terminal. In claim 2,
The terminal-side control means informs at least the operation control information and the corrected operation control information input by voice by the notification means provided in the external information terminal, and the operation control information notified from the notification means, or When the corrected operation control information is determined by an operator, the determined operation control information is transmitted to the air conditioning side control means. In claim 3,
The environment information is at least one of calendar information, time information, operation setting information of the air conditioner stored in the air conditioning side control means, and temperature information of a room, which is provided in the external information terminal. The control means corrects the operation control information recognized by the voice recognition means according to one or more of the calendar information, the time information, the operation setting information, and the temperature information to obtain the corrected operation control information. Operation control system. It comprises an apparatus-side control means for controlling the operation of the control amount adjusting apparatus and an external information terminal communicated with each other by a communication means provided in the apparatus-side control means, and the external information terminal can be input by voice utterance A voice recognition means, and an external information terminal side control means for analyzing the operation control information recognized by the voice recognition means and transmitting it to the apparatus side control means (hereinafter referred to as terminal side control means), and In the operation control system in which the device-side control means performs operation control of the control amount adjusting device based on the operation control information transmitted from the external information terminal,
The terminal-side control means notifies the driving control information recognized by the voice recognition means from notifying means provided in the external information terminal, and the driving control information notified from the notifying means is confirmed by an operator. Then, the determined operation control information is transmitted to the device-side control means. In claim 5,
The control amount adjusting device is an air conditioner, and the device side control means is an air conditioner side control means (hereinafter referred to as an air conditioning side control means) provided in an indoor unit of the air conditioner, and the external information The operation control system, wherein the air-conditioning side control means controls the operation of the air conditioner based on the operation control information transmitted from a terminal. In claim 6,
The terminal-side control means determines whether or not to correct the driving control information recognized by the voice recognition means based on environmental information, and corrects and corrects the driving control information when it is determined that correction is necessary. The operation control information is obtained, the operation control information recognized by the voice recognition unit and the corrected operation control information are notified from the notification unit provided in the external information terminal, and the operation control notified from the notification unit When the information or the corrected operation control information is determined by an operator, the determined operation control information is transmitted to the air conditioning side control means. In either claim 2 or claim 7,
The environment information is at least one vocabulary of driving control information by voice utterance detected by the voice recognition means, and the terminal-side control means is recognized by the voice recognition means by the one or more vocabularies. A plurality of the corrected operation control information is obtained from the operation control information. In any one of Claims 1 to 8,
The voice recognition means includes voiceprint analysis means for performing voiceprint analysis of voice input by voice utterance, and the voice recognition means extracts voiceprint by the voiceprint analysis means when input is made by voice utterance, and the voice recognition is performed. And storing the driving control information and the voiceprint,
Further, the voiceprint analyzing means includes voiceprint comparison means for comparing the stored voiceprint with a voiceprint of a voice newly input by voice utterance, and the stored voiceprint and the new voiceprint are the same. When judged, the terminal-side control means reads the driving control information stored together with the stored voiceprint.

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