Air blower

Abstract

To provide an air blower capable of improving convenience.SOLUTION: An air blower comprises a ventilation unit that blows out air, an imaging unit that images at least a part of the periphery of the ventilation unit, and a control unit that controls ventilation operation of the ventilation unit. The control unit changes a control condition for the ventilation operation in response to detecting a predetermined signal made by a person with his / her body from an image obtained by the imaging unit.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a blower. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 describes an electric fan equipped with a human sensor unit. The electric fan described in Patent Document 1 is configured to be able to set automatic swing control that controls the swing angle of the blower unit so as to blow air only in the direction of a person detected by the human sensor unit. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 5658836 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In a typical blower (e.g., a fan), a user changes the settings (blowing operation) of the blower by operating an operation unit provided on the blower itself or a remote controller (remote control). However, to operate the operation unit of the blower, the user needs to approach the blower, and if the remote control is not located near the user, the user needs to search for the remote control. Therefore, there is a demand for further improvements in convenience of the blower so that the settings of the blower can be easily performed without using the operation unit or remote control of the blower.

[0005] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a blower that can improve convenience. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a blower according to one aspect of the present invention comprises a blowing unit that blows out air, a drive unit that drives the blowing unit to perform a swinging motion that changes the blowing direction of the blowing unit, a photographing unit that photographs at least a portion of the area around the blowing unit, and a control unit that controls the blowing operation of the blowing unit in response to detection of a predetermined signal made by a person with their body from an image obtained by the photographing unit, wherein the predetermined signal is a gesture and / or a hand sign, and the control unit changes the swing range of the blowing unit caused by the drive unit in response to detection of a first type of signal from the image as the predetermined signal while the drive unit is performing the swinging motion. Effect of the Invention

[0007] According to the present invention, for example, it is possible to provide a blower that can improve convenience. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a blower according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a control block of the blower according to the embodiment; [Diagram 3] 1 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the blower according to the present embodiment. [Figure 4] Diagram for explaining the swing operation in mode A [Diagram 5] Diagram for explaining the swing operation in mode B [Figure 6] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a relationship between a predetermined cue and a control condition for an air blowing operation. [Figure 7] FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a head-swinging operation when a first type of signal is detected; DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] Hereinafter, the embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that the following embodiments do not limit the invention according to the claims, and not all combinations of features described in the embodiments are essential to the invention. Two or more features among the multiple features described in the embodiments may be arbitrarily combined. In addition, the same reference numbers are used for the same or similar configurations, and duplicated descriptions are omitted.

[0010] A blower 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. The blower 10 according to the present embodiment may include, for example, an electric fan, a circulator, and / or a tower fan. In the following, a blower 10 will be described by taking an electric fan as an example.

[0011] First, an example of the configuration of blower 10 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 1 shows an example of the configuration (appearance) of blower 10 of the present embodiment. Fig. 2 shows a control block for controlling blower 10 of the present embodiment. Blower 10 of the present embodiment includes blower section 11 that blows out air, drive section 12 that drives blower section 11, imaging section 13 that images at least a portion of the periphery of blower section 11 (blower 10), and control section 14 that controls the blowing of air by blower section 11.

[0012] Blower 11 includes fan section 11a having a propeller (fan, blades) and motor section 11b having a motor. The motor of motor section 11b is connected to the propeller of fan section 11a, and blower 11 can blow out air by driving the propeller of fan section 11a to rotate with the motor of motor section 11b. Blower 11 is supported by a support 16 erected from base 15, and is configured to be rotatable (swivelable) around an axis parallel to the extending direction of support 16.

[0013] The drive unit 12 is a mechanism for driving the blower 11 to perform a swinging motion that changes the blowing direction of the blower 11, and is sometimes called a swinging mechanism. The drive unit 12 may include a motor or the like. In the case of this embodiment, the drive unit 12 is provided in the motor section 11b of the blower 11, and is configured to drive the blower 11 to rotate relative to the support 16. However, the drive unit 12 may be provided in the support 16 or in the base 15. When the drive unit 12 is provided in the base 15, the blower 11 and the support 16 can be integrally formed, that is, the blower 11 can be driven to rotate together with the support 16.

[0014] The photographing unit 13 includes a camera that sequentially photographs at least a part of the periphery of the blower 11 (blower 10). In this embodiment, the photographing unit 13 photographs at least a range around the blower 11 that includes the blowing direction of the blower 11. The photographing range of the photographing unit 13 is arbitrary, but is, for example, 120°. In the example of FIG. 1, the photographing unit 13 is provided on the support 16, but may be provided on the blower 11 or on the base 15.

[0015] The control unit 14 has, for example, one or more processors 14a and memory 14b, and controls the blowing operation by the blower unit 11. The processor 14a may be, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or a microcontroller. The control unit 14 of this embodiment detects a person present around the blower unit 11 from an image (video) obtained by the photographing unit 13, and detects a predetermined signal shown by the person using his / her body (hereinafter, may be simply referred to as a "predetermined signal"). The predetermined signal is a signal shown by a person using the whole body or a part of the body (for example, a hand) that is registered (set) in advance in the blower 10, and may include a gesture and / or a hand sign. For example, the control unit 14 can detect a person and a predetermined signal from the image obtained by the photographing unit 13 by performing known image processing on the image obtained by the photographing unit 13 and identifying multiple feature points in the image. The control unit 14 can also detect a person and a predetermined signal by storing a template image for pattern matching in advance and performing pattern matching between the image obtained by the photographing unit 13 and the template image. The template image may be such that a user of blower 10 can register his / her own image. In the example of Fig. 1, control unit 14 is provided on base 15, but the location of control unit 14 is arbitrary, and control unit 14 may be provided on blower unit 11 or on support 16.

[0016] In addition, base 15 is provided with an operation unit 17 that accepts user operations. Operation unit 17 is provided with a plurality of types of buttons (operators), such as a button for turning on / off the operation (blowing) of blower 10, a button for changing the amount of blowing air, a button for setting a mode of the oscillation operation, and a button for setting a timer. In blower 10 of the present embodiment, operation unit 17 is provided on base 15, but may be provided on blower unit 11 or on support 16. Operation unit 17 may be configured as a remote controller.

[0017] Next, an example of the operation of blower 10 of this embodiment will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of blower 10. The flowchart shown in FIG. 3 starts when a user instructs blower 10 to be turned on, and ends when a user instructs blower 10 to be turned off. The flowchart shown in FIG. 3 can be executed by control unit 14. Blower 10 of this embodiment is configured to change the control conditions for the blowing operation of blower unit 11 in response to detection of a predetermined signal from an image obtained by imaging unit 13, even without using operation unit 17. An example in which a hand sign is used as the predetermined signal will be described below.

[0018] In step S101, the control unit 14 acquires an image obtained by the photographing unit 13. Next, in step S102, the control unit 14 determines whether or not a person has been detected in the image acquired in step S101. For example, the control unit 14 can detect (recognize, identify) a person from the image acquired in step S101 by performing known image processing on the image. In this step S102, all people included in the image can be detected. That is, there are cases where only one person is detected from the image, and cases where multiple people are detected. If no person is detected, the process returns to step S101, and if a person is detected, the process proceeds to step S103.

[0019] In step S103, control unit 14 determines the oscillation mode. The oscillation mode is a mode of the oscillation operation of blower unit 11 by drive unit 12. The oscillation mode immediately after starting operation of blower 10 may be, for example, the mode last set, or may be a mode set by the user via operation unit 17, or may be a state in which the oscillation operation is turned off. In the case of this embodiment, the oscillation mode may include mode A and mode B.

[0020] If the swing operation is turned off, the process proceeds to step S 104. In this case, the control unit 14 does not cause the drive unit 12 to swing the blower unit 11, and fixes the blowing direction of the blower unit 11.

[0021] If the swing mode is "mode A", the process proceeds to step S105. Mode A is a mode in which the swing operation of blower 11 is controlled to follow the movement of a person detected from an image. For example, as shown in FIG. 4(a), controller 14 controls the blowing direction of blower 11 based on an image obtained by imager 13 so as to blow air only toward one person 20 detected from the image. Then, controller 14 controls the swing operation of blower 11 by driver 12 based on an image obtained by imager 13 so as to change the blowing direction of blower 11 to follow the movement of person 20 detected from the image, as shown in FIG. 4(b). In this way, in mode A, the swing operation of blower 11 is controlled so as to always blow air toward person 20 even if person 20 moves.

[0022] If the swing mode is "mode B", the process proceeds to step S106. Mode B is a mode in which the swing operation of the blower unit 11 is controlled in a blowing range that covers a person detected from an image. The blowing range is a range in which the blowing direction of the blower unit 11 is changed, and may be understood as a swing range (swing angle) of the blower unit 11 by the drive unit 12. In the case of this embodiment, the blowing range can be changed between a first blowing range R1 that covers multiple people and a second blowing range R2 that is narrower than the first blowing range R1 and covers only one person. For example, when two people 21-22 are detected from an image obtained by the image capture unit 13, the control unit 14 sets the blowing range to the first blowing range R1 as shown in FIG. 5(a), and controls the swing operation of the blower unit 11 so that the first blowing range R1 covers the two people 21-22. In mode B, as shown in Fig. 5(b), if person 22 moves and person 22 is no longer detected in the image obtained by image capture unit 13, control unit 14 changes (narrows) the air blowing range from first air blowing range R1 to second air blowing range R2, and controls the swinging operation of air blowing unit 11 so that second air blowing range R2 covers the remaining person 21. This makes it possible to efficiently blow air to the person detected in the image obtained by image capture unit 13. Note that, as an example, the maximum angle of the air blowing range in mode B is 120°, and the angle of the air blowing range (second air blowing range R2) when only one person is detected is 30°.

[0023] In step S107, the control unit 14 judges whether or not a predetermined signal is detected in the image acquired in step S101. For example, the control unit 14 can detect (recognize, identify) a predetermined signal from the image acquired in step S101 by performing known image processing on the image. In the present embodiment, the predetermined signal can be defined by a combination of the type of signal (hand sign) shown by the person and the detection time (presentation time) of the signal shown by the person. If the predetermined signal is detected, the process proceeds to step S108, where the control unit 14 changes the control conditions of the air blowing operation corresponding to the type of the predetermined signal detected in step S107. On the other hand, if the predetermined signal is not detected, the process returns to step S101.

[0024] 6 is a diagram showing an example of the relationship between a predetermined signal and a control condition for the air blowing operation that is changed in response to the predetermined signal. In the present embodiment, first to fourth types of signals are used as the predetermined signals, and an OK sign, a scissors sign, and a right sign are used as hand signs for these signals.

[0025] The first type of signal is registered in advance as a signal that continuously shows an OK sign as a hand sign for a specified time (for example, 3 seconds) or more. When the control unit 14 detects the first type of signal based on an image obtained by the photographing unit 13 while the driving unit 12 is performing a swinging operation of the blower unit 11, the control unit 14 changes the swinging operation of the blower unit 11 by the driving unit 12 as a control condition for the blowing operation. In the case of the present embodiment, the control unit 14 changes the swinging operation of the blower unit 11 based on the image obtained by the photographing unit 13 so as to selectively blow air toward the person showing the first type of signal, as shown in FIG. 5(a), when the control unit 14 detects a plurality of people 21-22 based on the image obtained by the photographing unit 13, the control unit 14 sets the blowing range of the blower unit 11 to a first blowing range R1, and controls the swinging operation of the blower unit 11 so that the first blowing range R1 covers the plurality of people 21-22. Then, when the control unit 14 detects that one of the people 21-22, person 21, has given a first type of signal, the control unit 14 changes the air-blowing range of the air-blowing unit 11 from the first air-blowing range R1 to the second air-blowing range R2, as shown in Fig. 7, and changes the swing operation of the air-blowing unit 11 so that the second air-blowing range R2 covers the person 21. In this case, the control unit 14 may control the swing operation of the air-blowing unit 11 so as to change the air-blowing direction of the air-blowing unit 11 in accordance with the movement of the person 21 who has given the first type of signal, similar to the control of the mode A described above.

[0026] The second type of signal is registered in advance as a signal showing a scissors sign as a hand sign for less than a specified time. When the control unit 14 detects the second type of signal based on the image obtained by the photographing unit 13, the control unit 14 switches the swing operation of the air blowing unit 11 on / off. For example, when the second type of signal is detected in a state where the swing operation of the air blowing unit 11 is off, the control unit 14 turns on the swing operation of the air blowing unit 11. On the other hand, when the second type of signal is detected in a state where the swing operation of the air blowing unit 11 is on, the control unit 14 turns off the swing operation of the air blowing unit 11. In addition, when the control unit 14 detects the second type of signal, the control unit 14 may switch the swing mode (mode A, mode B). For example, the control unit 14 may switch the swing operation in the order of off → mode A → mode B → off → . . . every time the second type of signal is detected.

[0027] The third type of signal is registered in advance as a signal showing an OK sign as a hand sign for less than a specified time. When the control unit 14 detects the third type of signal based on the image obtained by the photographing unit 13, the control unit 14 changes the airflow volume of the blower unit 11. For example, when the airflow volume of the blower unit 11 is defined by a plurality of levels, the control unit 14 changes the level of the airflow volume by one step each time the third type of signal is detected. The change in the airflow volume of the blower unit 11 can be performed by changing the rotation speed of the propeller of the fan unit 11a by the motor unit 11b.

[0028] The fourth type of signal is registered in advance as a signal showing a par sign as a hand sign for less than a specified time. When the control unit 14 detects the fourth type of signal based on the image obtained by the photographing unit 13, the control unit 14 switches the operation of the blower 10 (blowing of the air by the blower unit 11) on / off. For example, when the fourth type of signal is detected while the operation of the blower 10 is on, the control unit 14 turns off the operation of the blower 10. On the other hand, when the fourth type of signal is detected while the operation of the blower 10 is off, the control unit 14 turns on the operation of the blower 10. Note that, when the photographing unit 13 cannot be used while the operation of the blower 10 is off, the operation of the blower 10 does not have to be turned on in response to the detection of the fourth type of signal. That is, the fourth type of signal may be used only to turn off the operation of the blower 10.

[0029] Here, the predetermined signal may be arbitrarily registerable (settable) by the user. For example, the user may register a combination of the type of the predetermined signal and the control condition of the blowing operation to be changed by the type of the predetermined signal in blower 10 via an information terminal (e.g., a smartphone) communicably connected to blower 10 (controller 14). As an example, when a plurality of signal candidates related to the type of the predetermined signal and a plurality of condition candidates related to the control condition of the blowing operation are stored in advance in the information terminal, the user may register a combination of one of the plurality of signal candidates and one of the plurality of condition candidates in blower 10 via the information terminal.

[0030] As described above, blower 10 of the present embodiment changes the control conditions for the blowing operation of blower unit 11 in response to detection of a predetermined signal from an image obtained by imaging unit 13. This allows blower 10 to be easily set without using operation unit 17 or a remote control of blower 10, thereby improving the convenience of blower 10.

[0031] The invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications and variations are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0032] 10: Blower, 11: Blower unit, 12: Driving unit (swivel mechanism), 13: Shooting unit (camera), 14: Control unit, 15: Base, 16: Support, 17: Operation unit

Claims

1. The air blower unit that sends out air, A drive unit drives the air blower to perform an oscillating motion that changes the direction of airflow from the air blower, A camera unit that photographs at least a portion of the area surrounding the aforementioned air blower unit, A control unit controls the air blowing operation according to the type of signal detected from the image obtained by the aforementioned imaging unit and the duration of the signal's presentation. Equipped with, The aforementioned signal is a gesture and / or hand sign made by a person in the vicinity of the air blower, The control unit, when the drive unit is performing the oscillating motion, If a first type of signal is detected from the image over a specified period of time, the fan operation will be performed by changing the oscillation range of the fan unit by the drive unit. A blower characterized in that, if the first type of signal is detected from the image within the specified time, the amount of air blown by the blowing unit is changed as the blowing operation.

2. The blower according to Claim 1, characterized in that when the control unit is performing the oscillation operation, and the control unit detects the first type of signal from the image over a specified period of time, it changes the oscillation range to selectively blow air toward the person who gave the signal.

3. The blower according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the first type of signal is a predetermined hand sign.

4. The airflow range obtained by the oscillating motion of the drive unit can be changed between a first airflow range and a second airflow range that is narrower than the first airflow range. The blower according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, while the control unit is controlling the oscillation operation in the first airflow range, if it detects a first type of signal from the image over a specified period of time, it changes the airflow range from the first airflow range to the second airflow range and controls the oscillation operation so that the second airflow range covers the person who gave the first type of signal.

5. The control unit, When multiple people are detected from the image, the airflow range is set to the first airflow range so as to cover the multiple people. The blower according to claim 4, characterized in that, when a person among the plurality of persons who has shown the first type of signal for the specified period of time is identified from the image, the blowing range is changed from the first blowing range to the second blowing range so as to cover the person who has shown the first type of signal.

6. The blower according to claim 5, characterized in that the control unit controls the oscillation operation of the blower unit to change the direction of airflow in accordance with the movement of the person who has shown the first type of signal over a predetermined period of time, based on the image obtained by the imaging unit.

7. The blower according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the control unit, when it detects a second type of signal from the image in less than the specified time, switches the on / off or mode of the oscillation operation by the drive unit.

8. The blower according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the control unit switches the operation of the blower on or off if it detects a third type of signal from the image within the specified time.

Images