Electronic device, notification control method, program, and communication system

Abstract

To perform effective notification.SOLUTION: The electronic device includes a control unit and a communication unit that communicates with an external device, and the control unit causes the communication unit to transmit, to the external device, control information for causing the external device to perform notification in a notification mode according to a situation of a user on the basis of user information related to the situation of the user. A notification control method executed by a computer of an electronic device including a communication unit that performs communication with an external device includes causing the communication unit to transmit, to the external device, control information for causing the external device to perform notification in a notification mode corresponding to a state of a user on the basis of user information regarding the state of the user.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an electronic device, a notification control method, a program, and a communication system. [Background technology]

[0002] BACKGROUND ART Conventionally, there are electronic devices equipped with a function of notifying a user that a set time has arrived by sound or the like (for example, Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2019-20367 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, small electronic devices such as wristwatches can only be equipped with small and simple notification units, which limits the notification modes (e.g., volume) that the notification unit can adopt, making it difficult to provide effective notifications to users.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide an effective notification. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to solve the above problems, the electronic device according to the present invention comprises: A control unit; a communication unit that communicates with an external device, The control unit causes the communication unit to transmit to the external device, based on user information relating to the user's situation, control information for causing the external device to make a notification in a notification mode according to the user's situation. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] According to the present invention, effective notification can be performed. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a communication system. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the electronic timepiece. [Figure 3] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the contents of notification setting information. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the smartphone. [Figure 5] 10 is a flowchart showing a control procedure of a notification control process. [Figure 6] 10 is a flowchart showing a control procedure of a notification control process. [Figure 7] 10 is a flowchart showing a control procedure of a notification control process. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0009] An embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in Figure 1, a communication system 1 of this embodiment comprises an electronic watch 10 (electronic device) and a smartphone 20 (external device). The electronic watch 10 is a wristwatch (wearable device) worn on the user's wrist. The smartphone 20 is carried and used by the same user as the electronic watch 10.

[0010] The electronic watch 10 is capable of communicating with the smartphone 20 via short-range wireless communication to exchange data. In this embodiment, BLE (Bluetooth (registered trademark) Low Energy) is used as the short-range wireless communication. However, other types of short-range wireless communication may also be used. The electronic watch 10 and smartphone 20 work in conjunction by communicating and sending and receiving data via BLE. For example, the electronic watch 10 receives time information from the smartphone 20 at predetermined times throughout the day (e.g., four times every six hours) and corrects its internal time. In addition, by configuring settings for the electronic watch 10 (such as alarm time and world time) using a collaboration application program (hereinafter referred to as the "collaboration app") installed on the smartphone 20, these settings can be reflected in the connected electronic watch 10. In addition, when the electronic watch 10 issues various notifications, the smartphone 20 can also issue notifications in conjunction with these notifications. Notifications issued by the smartphone 20 in conjunction with the electronic watch 10 are hereinafter referred to as "linked notifications."

[0011] 2, the electronic watch 10 includes a CPU 11 (Central Processing Unit) (control unit, control means), a RAM 12 (Random Access Memory), a storage unit 13, a display unit 14, an operation unit 15, a timekeeping unit 16, a short-range wireless communication unit 17 (communication unit), a first notification unit 18, and a motion sensor 19 (detection unit). The various units of the electronic watch 10 are connected via a data transmission path such as a bus.

[0012] The CPU 11 is a processor that functions as a control unit that controls the operation of the electronic timepiece 10 by reading and executing the program 131 stored in the memory unit 13 and performing various arithmetic processing. The electronic timepiece 10 may have multiple processors (e.g., multiple CPUs), and the multiple processes performed by the CPU 11 of this embodiment may be executed by these multiple processors. In this case, the control unit is made up of the multiple processors. In this case, the multiple processors may be involved in a common process, or the multiple processors may independently execute different processes in parallel. The RAM 12 provides working memory space for the CPU 11 and stores temporary data.

[0013] The storage unit 13 is a non-transitory recording medium readable by the CPU 11 as a computer, and stores a program 131 and various data. The storage unit 13 has a non-volatile memory such as a flash memory. The program 131 is stored in the storage unit 13 in the form of a computer-readable program code. The data stored in the storage unit 13 includes notification setting information 132 related to notification of the alarm time, and movement information 133 (user information) related to the detection results of the user's body movement.

[0014] As shown in FIG. 3, the notification setting information 132 includes setting items for "linked notification on / off," "alarm time," "alarm duration," "snooze on / off," "number of snoozes," and "snooze interval." "Linked notification on / off" indicates whether the smartphone 20 will issue a linked notification, and is set to "1" if the linked notification will be issued, and "0" if the linked notification will not be issued. "Alarm time" indicates the time at which the notification will start. "Alarm duration" indicates the duration for which the notification will continue at the alarm time and the snooze time, respectively. "Snooze on / off" indicates whether the snooze function is enabled, and is set to "1" if the snooze function is enabled, and to "0" if the snooze function is disabled. The snooze function is a function that issues a second or subsequent notification at a specified snooze time after the first notification at the alarm time has ended. Hereinafter, a notification using the snooze function will be referred to as a "snooze notification." "Number of snoozes" indicates the number of times snooze notifications will be issued. The "snooze interval" indicates the interval between the end of the first alarm at the alarm time or the end of a subsequent snooze alarm and the start of the next snooze alarm. The contents of each setting item in the alarm setting information 132 may be registered by a user's operation on the operation unit 15, or may be registered by a method in which the contents entered by a user's operation on an associated app on the smartphone 20 are reflected in the electronic watch 10.

[0015] Display unit 14 displays information such as the time, date, and day of the week in analog or digital format in accordance with control signals sent from CPU 11. When an analog format is used, display unit 14 includes rotating hands such as hour, minute, and second hands, a mechanism for rotating the hands, and a drive circuit for the mechanism. When a digital format is used, display unit 14 includes a display panel such as a liquid crystal panel capable of displaying in a segment format or a dot matrix format, and a drive circuit for the display panel. Analog and digital displays may be used together.

[0016] The operation unit 15 has operation means such as operation buttons and a crown, and outputs operation signals corresponding to operations on the operation means to the CPU 11. The operation unit 15 may also have other operation means such as a touch panel provided over the display screen of the display unit 14.

[0017] The timekeeping unit 16 includes an oscillation circuit, a frequency dividing circuit, a timekeeping circuit, etc. The frequency dividing circuit divides the clock signal generated by the oscillation circuit, and the timekeeping circuit counts the divided signal, thereby calculating and storing the current date and time.

[0018] The short-range wireless communication unit 17 is a communication module having an antenna, a modulation / demodulation circuit, a signal processing circuit, etc., and performs short-range wireless communication with the smartphone 20 using BLE.

[0019] The first notification unit 18 includes a first speaker 181 and a first vibrator 182. The first speaker 181 outputs sound at a timing according to a control signal sent from the CPU 11, with a volume and sound quality according to the control signal. The first vibrator 182 vibrates at a timing and with a vibration intensity according to the control signal sent from the CPU 11. The first vibrator 182 is positioned so that its vibrations are transmitted to the user's wrist via the housing of the electronic timepiece 10. The first notification unit 18 issues various notifications by sound from the first speaker 181 and / or vibration from the first vibrator 182.

[0020] The motion sensor 19 is equipped with a three-axis acceleration sensor and a three-axis angular velocity sensor. The motion sensor 19 detects the acceleration and angular velocity occurring in the electronic watch 10 and outputs the detection data to the CPU 11. Based on the detection data from the motion sensor 19, the CPU 11 determines the wrist movement of the user wearing the electronic watch 10 and the magnitude of that movement. The user's movement and the magnitude of that movement determined in this way are recorded in movement information 133. The movement information 133 is one aspect of "user information related to the user's situation."

[0021] 4, the smartphone 20 includes a CPU 21, a RAM 22, a storage unit 23, a display unit 24, an operation unit 25, a telephone communication unit 26, a short-range wireless communication unit 27, a second notification unit 28, and a location information acquisition unit 29. The various units of the smartphone 20 are connected to each other via a data transmission path such as a bus.

[0022] The CPU 21 is a processor that controls the operation of the smartphone 20 by reading and executing the program 231 stored in the storage unit 23 and performing various arithmetic processing. The smartphone 20 may have multiple processors (e.g., multiple CPUs), and the multiple processes performed by the CPU 21 of this embodiment may be executed by the multiple processors. In this case, the multiple processors may be involved in a common process, or the multiple processors may independently execute different processes in parallel. The RAM 22 provides a working memory space for the CPU 21 and stores temporary data.

[0023] The storage unit 23 is a non-transitory recording medium readable by the CPU 21 as a computer, and stores the program 231 and various data. The storage unit 23 has a non-volatile memory such as a flash memory. The program 231 is stored in the storage unit 23 in the form of computer-readable program code. The program 231 includes various apps such as the above-mentioned linked app and a schedule app. Data stored in the storage unit 23 includes schedule information 232 (user information). The schedule information 232 includes information related to the user's schedule registered in the schedule app. The schedule information 232 is one aspect of "user information related to the user's situation."

[0024] The display unit 24 includes a display panel such as a liquid crystal panel capable of displaying in a dot matrix format, and a drive circuit for the display panel. The display unit 24 displays various menus, application screens, and the like in accordance with control signals transmitted from the CPU 21.

[0025] The operation unit 25 has operation means such as a touch panel and operation buttons that are provided over the display panel of the display unit 24, and outputs operation signals to the CPU 21 corresponding to operations on the operation means.

[0026] The telephone communication unit 26 is a communication module having an antenna, a modulation / demodulation circuit, a signal processing circuit, etc., and communicates with mobile phone base stations, etc., and transmits and receives voice data for telephone communication and packet data related to Internet connection.

[0027] The short-range wireless communication unit 27 is a communication module that includes an antenna, a modulation / demodulation circuit, a signal processing circuit, etc., and performs short-range wireless communication with the electronic timepiece 10 using BLE.

[0028] The second notification unit 28 includes a second speaker 281 and a second vibrator 282. The second speaker 281 outputs sound at a timing according to a control signal sent from the CPU 21, with a volume and sound quality according to the control signal. The second vibrator 282 vibrates at a timing and with a vibration intensity according to the control signal sent from the CPU 21. The second vibrator 282 is positioned so that its vibrations are transmitted to the outside via the housing of the smartphone 20. The second notification unit 28 issues various notifications by sound from the second speaker 281 and / or vibration from the second vibrator 282. In this embodiment, the second notification unit 28 only issues a sound from the second speaker 281 in linked notifications. The maximum volume of the sound output from the second speaker 281 (maximum intensity of the second notification) is greater than the maximum volume of the sound output from the first speaker 181 of the electronic timepiece 10 (maximum intensity of the first notification). The maximum vibration strength of the second oscillator 282 (maximum strength of the second notification) is greater than the maximum vibration strength of the first oscillator 182 of the electronic timepiece 10 (maximum strength of the first notification).

[0029] The position information acquisition unit 29 receives and decodes radio waves transmitted from positioning satellites of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) such as a global positioning system (GPS) to calculate the current position. The position information acquisition unit 29 calculates the current position under the control of the CPU 21 and outputs the result to the CPU 21.

[0030] Next, the operation of announcing the alarm time in the communication system 1 will be described. In the communication system 1 of this embodiment, in order to perform the various cooperative operations described above, a "pairing" process is performed in advance to mutually register the electronic watch 10 and the smartphone 20 as devices to connect to via BLE. This pairing process registers the identification information of the smartphone 20 in the storage unit 13 of the electronic watch 10, and registers the identification information of the electronic watch 10 in the storage unit 23 of the smartphone 20. In this embodiment, the electronic watch 10 corresponds to a peripheral (child device) in BLE, and the smartphone 20 corresponds to a central (parent device) in BLE. When a communication connection via BLE is initiated, the CPU 11 of the electronic watch 10 operating as a peripheral first controls the short-range wireless communication unit 17 to transmit a predetermined advertising signal (announcement signal). The advertising signal is a signal that notifies the central of the presence of the electronic watch 10. Meanwhile, when the CPU 21 of the smartphone 20 operating as the central receives an advertising signal via the short-range wireless communication unit 27, it returns a connection request signal to the electronic watch 10. In response to the electronic watch 10 receiving this connection request signal, one-to-one mutual communication is established between the electronic watch 10 and the smartphone 20. The electronic watch 10 and smartphone 20 may maintain a constant BLE communication connection when located within a BLE communication range. Alternatively, to reduce power consumption, a BLE communication connection may be established whenever data communication is required, and the communication connection may be terminated once the data communication is complete. This embodiment will explain an example in which a communication connection is established whenever data communication is required.

[0031] When the setting is to perform linked notification (i.e., when "linked notification" is set to "1" in the notification setting information 132), the CPU 11 of the electronic watch 10 starts a communication connection with the smartphone 20 via BLE a predetermined time before the alarm time (for example, 30 seconds before).

[0032] When the smartphone 20 is to perform a linked alert during a BLE communication connection, the CPU 11 of the electronic timepiece 10 causes the short-range wireless communication unit 17 to transmit predetermined control information to the smartphone 20 to cause the smartphone 20 to sound an alert (announcement). Upon receiving this control information, the CPU 21 of the smartphone 20 causes the second speaker 281 of the second alert unit 28 to sound an alert in an alert mode according to the control information. The control information may include, for example, information specifying the volume (alert intensity) of the alert sound from the second speaker 281 and may also include information specifying the tone of the alert sound from the second speaker 281. In other words, the alert mode controlled by the control information may include the volume of the alert sound and may also include the tone. In this way, linked alerts by the smartphone 20 are achieved by transmitting a control signal from the electronic timepiece 10 to the smartphone 20. Hereinafter, for convenience, "the CPU 11 causes the short-range wireless communication unit 17 to transmit control information to the smartphone 20" will be simply referred to as "the CPU 11 transmits control information."

[0033] The control signal may be used when a search function (Phone Finder) is executed to search for the location of the smartphone 20. The search function is executed in response to a predetermined operation by the user on the operation unit 15 of the electronic timepiece 10 when the user loses sight of the smartphone 20. When the search function is executed, a control signal is sent from the electronic timepiece 10 to the smartphone 20, and in response, the second notification unit 28 of the smartphone 20 sounds at a predetermined loud volume. This allows the user to determine the location of the smartphone 20.

[0034] When performing linked alerts, the CPU 11 of the electronic timepiece 10 generates control information for causing the smartphone 20 to sound an alert in an alert mode (volume, in this embodiment) appropriate to the user's situation, based on user information related to the user's situation, and transmits the control information to the smartphone 20. The user information includes, for example, movement information 133 related to the magnitude of the user's movement determined based on detection data from the motion sensor 19. In this embodiment, the alert at the alarm time is used as an alarm. Furthermore, in order to reflect the user's movement in the alert mode, in this embodiment, the user is assumed to sleep while wearing the electronic timepiece 10. When using the alert at the alarm time as an alarm, it is effective to have the smartphone 20 sound an alert at a higher volume the deeper the user's sleep. In this embodiment, the magnitude level of the user's movement (wrist movement) detected during sleep is represented on a four-level scale, from "Level 0 (no movement)" to "Level 3." Generally, the deeper the user's sleep, the lower the magnitude level of the user's movement. For this reason, the CPU 11 generates and transmits control information so that the volume of the alarm sound from the smartphone 20 increases as the level of the magnitude of the movement decreases. That is, the CPU 11 issues the linked notification at a predetermined high volume when the magnitude of the movement is the minimum, "Level 0," and issues the linked notification at a predetermined low volume when the magnitude of the movement is the maximum, "Level 3." When the magnitude of the movement is intermediate between these levels, "Level 1" and "Level 2," the linked notification is issued at a predetermined intermediate volume corresponding to the level. When the magnitude of the movement is the maximum, "Level 3," the linked notification may not be issued, and only the first notification unit 18 of the electronic timepiece 10 may issue a notification. The maximum magnitude of the movement may be "Level 3" when the user is in light sleep (about to wake up), or when the user is awake (wakes up) but has not turned off the alarm function (forgot to turn it off). In the latter case, the linked notification may be issued at a predetermined low volume, or only the first notification unit 18 of the electronic timepiece 10 may issue a notification, as in the case of light sleep. This prevents the user from feeling uncomfortable due to a loud sound being emitted even though the user is awake.Note that if a movement exceeding "Level 3" (for example, a movement equivalent to swinging an arm while walking) is detected before the alarm time, the alarm time notification itself may be canceled (cancelled). If the snooze function is enabled, at each snooze notification, the CPU 11 determines the magnitude of the user's movement based on the detection data of the motion sensor 19 after the end of the previous notification. This allows the smartphone 20 to issue a linked notification at a volume that corresponds to the magnitude of the user's movement immediately before the snooze notification.

[0035] If the user is sleeping with the electronic watch 10 off their wrist and on their bed, the magnitude of the bed movement corresponding to the user's movement can be determined from the data detected by the motion sensor 19. In this case, the magnitude of the bed movement can be used instead of the magnitude of the user movement. In this case, the movement detected by the motion sensor 19 will be significantly smaller than when the electronic watch 10 is being worn, making it difficult to determine the precise magnitude of the movement. For this reason, the number of levels of movement magnitude can be reduced to, for example, two. For example, a "low level" can be defined as no movement at all within a predetermined time or only movement below a predetermined magnitude is detected, and a "high level" can be defined as movement equal to or greater than a predetermined magnitude within a predetermined time. A "low level" of movement can be sounded at a high volume, and a "high level" of movement can be sounded at a low volume. A sensor for acquiring biometric information such as heart rate can be provided near the back cover of the electronic watch 10, and whether the electronic watch 10 is being worn or not can be determined based on the biometric information detected by the sensor. In this case, if it is determined that the device is not being worn, the number of movement levels may be reduced to the above two levels or the like.

[0036] When the snooze function is enabled, the CPU 11 may generate control information for each snooze notification so that the volume of the notification sound from the smartphone 20 increases each time a snooze notification is issued by the snooze function. In other words, when the CPU 11 transmits control information multiple times to cause the smartphone 20 to issue multiple snooze notifications, the CPU 11 may determine the content of each piece of control information so that the volume of the multiple snooze notifications gradually increases.

[0037] The CPU 11 of the electronic timepiece 10 causes the first notification unit 18 of the electronic timepiece 10 to make a timepiece-side notification (first notification) in parallel with the linked notification (second notification) made by the second notification unit 28 of the smartphone 20 in response to the control information. In this embodiment, the timepiece-side notification is an audible alarm from the first speaker 181. Note that for at least some of the first notification at the alarm time and each snooze notification at the snooze time, only the timepiece-side notification from the electronic timepiece 10 may be made, without the linked notification from the smartphone 20. In this embodiment, for the first notification at the alarm time, only the timepiece-side notification from the electronic timepiece 10 is made, without the linked notification from the smartphone 20. In other words, the first notification at the alarm time is made by the electronic timepiece 10 alone at a low volume, and subsequent snooze notifications are made by adding the linked notification from the smartphone 20 at a higher volume. This reduces the discomfort of being woken up suddenly by a loud notification, promoting a more pleasant awakening.

[0038] However, for example, if an important event is registered in the schedule information 232 within a predetermined time from the alarm time, the smartphone 20 may be configured to issue linked notifications at a predetermined volume from the first notification at the alarm time. Whether an event is important or not may be determined, for example, by referring to the importance value assigned by the user to that event in the schedule information 232. In this way, the user information referenced by the CPU 11 of the electronic timepiece 10 when generating control information may include the schedule information 232. This allows for effective notification when an important event exists, improving user satisfaction.

[0039] When both the electronic timepiece 10 and the smartphone 20 issue a timepiece-side notification at the alarm time or snooze time, the electronic timepiece 10 may issue the timepiece-side notification using a first notification method that is different from the second notification method used by the smartphone 20. The first and second notification methods are each selected from, for example, sound and vibration. If the first notification unit 18 and / or the second notification unit 28 are equipped with a light source capable of emitting light, the first and / or second notification method may be light emission. In this embodiment, the smartphone 20 issues a sound notification, and the electronic timepiece 10 may issue a timepiece-side notification using vibration using the first vibrator 182. This reduces the likelihood of the timepiece-side notification being drowned out by the linked notification.

[0040] Furthermore, when both the electronic timepiece 10 and the smartphone 20 issue a time-based notification at the alarm time or snooze time, the CPU 11 may cause the electronic timepiece 10 to issue the time-based notification at a different timing than the smartphone 20. For example, if the smartphone 20's time-based notification cycles on and off every five seconds, the electronic timepiece 10 may issue a time-based notification during the off period of the time-based notification. This also makes it less likely that the time-based notification will be drowned out by the time-based notification.

[0041] Next, with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7, the notification control process executed by the CPU 11 of the electronic timepiece 10 to realize the above-described operation will be described. Here, it is assumed that the notification setting information 132 is as shown in FIG. 3. Furthermore, it is assumed that the second speaker 281 issues a sound as a linked notification by the smartphone 20, and the first speaker 181 issues a sound as a timepiece-side notification by the electronic timepiece 10. Furthermore, the volume V of the sound from the second speaker 281 of the smartphone 20 is set to 10 levels, ranging from a maximum value of "10" to a minimum value of "1." If the second speaker 281 does not issue a sound, the volume V is set to "0." Furthermore, if the user performs a predetermined notification stop operation during a sound notification, the current sound notification is stopped, and any subsequent scheduled snooze notifications are also canceled. In other words, if the user does not perform a notification stop operation even once, the snooze notification is issued a set number of times (five times in FIG. 3).

[0042] 5, when the notification control process starts, the CPU 11 of the electronic timepiece 10 references the "alarm time" in the notification setting information 132 and repeatedly determines whether the current time is a predetermined time before the alarm time (for example, 30 seconds before) (step S101). If it is determined that the current time is a predetermined time before the alarm time ("YES" in step S101), the CPU 11 starts a communication connection with the smartphone 20 via BLE using the method described above (step S102).

[0043] The CPU 11 repeatedly determines whether the current time is the alarm time (step S103). If it is determined that the current time is the alarm time ("YES" in step S103), the CPU 11 acquires the schedule information 232 from the smartphone 20 and determines whether an important event has been registered within a predetermined time from the alarm time in the schedule information 232 (step S104). If it is determined that an important event has been registered ("YES" in step S104), the CPU 11 determines the volume V of the linked notification by the smartphone 20 to be "3" (step S105). Furthermore, the CPU 11 generates control information instructing linked notification at the volume V (here, "3") and transmits it to the smartphone 20 (step S106). As a result, the smartphone 20 starts to sound an alarm at the volume V of "3" from the second speaker 281. When step S106 is completed, or when it is determined in step S104 that there is no important event ("NO" in step S104), the CPU 11 sends a control signal to the first notification unit 18 to start the timepiece notification (step S107). Here, the CPU 11 causes the first speaker 181 to emit a notification sound at a predetermined volume.

[0044] Thereafter, as shown in Fig. 6, the CPU 11 determines whether or not a predetermined notification stop operation has been performed on the operation unit 15 (step S108). If it determines that a notification stop operation has not been performed (NO in step S108), the CPU 11 determines whether or not the notification duration time (one minute in Fig. 3) set in the notification setting information 132 has elapsed since the start of the linked notification and the timepiece-side notification (step S109). If it determines that the notification duration time has not elapsed (NO in step S109), the CPU 11 returns the process to step S108. If it determines that the notification duration time has elapsed (YES in step S109), the CPU 11 sends a control signal to the first notification unit 18 to stop the timepiece-side notification, i.e., the notification sound from the first speaker 181 (step S110). Furthermore, when the smartphone 20 is performing linked notification ("YES" in step S111), the CPU 11 generates control information instructing the smartphone 20 to stop the linked notification and transmits the control information to the smartphone 20 (step S112). As a result, the notification sound from the second speaker 281 in the smartphone 20 stops.

[0045] Next, the CPU 11 references the notification setting information 132 and determines whether the snooze function is enabled (step S113). Here, the CPU 11 determines that the snooze function is enabled if the "snooze enabled / disabled" in the notification setting information 132 is "1" and the number of snooze notifications that have been issued up to this point is less than the value of the "number of snoozes." If it determines that the snooze function is enabled ("YES" in step S113), the CPU 11 sets the next snooze time (step S114). The next snooze time is the time when the notification duration has elapsed in step S109 plus the "snooze interval" in the notification setting information 132. The CPU 11 may transmit information about the set next snooze time to the smartphone 20. The CPU 11 also starts detecting the movement of the electronic timepiece 10 (detecting acceleration and angular velocity) using the motion sensor 19 (step S115). If the motion sensor 19 has already started detecting the motion at the start of step S115, the CPU 11 continues the detection.

[0046] 7, the CPU 11 repeatedly determines whether the current time is the snooze time (step S116). If it is determined that the current time is the snooze time ("YES" in step S116), the CPU 11 determines whether an important event has been registered within a predetermined time from the alarm time in the schedule information 232 (step S117). If it is determined that an important event has been registered ("YES" in step S117), the CPU 11 proceeds to step S126 and determines the volume V of the linked notification by the smartphone 20 to be "3."

[0047] If it is determined that no important schedule is registered ("NO" in step S117), the CPU 11 identifies the magnitude of the user's movement based on the detection data of the motion sensor 19 up to that point, and records the result in the movement information 133 (step S118). For example, the CPU 11 derives a representative value (e.g., average, median, or maximum value) of the acceleration and / or angular velocity in the detection data after the last execution of step S115 in FIG. 6, and determines whether the magnitude of the user's movement is "Level 0" to "Level 3" based on the obtained representative value. For example, based on preset thresholds T1 to T3 for the representative value, the CPU 11 may determine "Level 0" if the representative value is less than threshold T1, "Level 1" if the representative value is equal to or greater than threshold T1 and less than threshold T2, "Level 2" if the representative value is equal to or greater than threshold T2 and less than threshold T3, and "Level 3" if the representative value is equal to or greater than threshold T3. The latest level value determined in this manner is recorded in the movement information 133.

[0048] If the magnitude of the movement is "Level 3," it is determined that the user is in light sleep and is about to wake up, and therefore an linked sound alert is not necessary. Therefore, if the magnitude of the identified movement is "Level 3" ("YES" in step S119), the CPU 11 determines the volume V of the smartphone 20 to be "0" (step S120). On the other hand, as the magnitude of the movement decreases from "Level 2," to "Level 1," to "Level 0," it is determined that the user is in a deeper sleep and is less likely to be woken up, and therefore it is preferable to provide a louder linked sound alert. Therefore, if the magnitude of the movement is "Level 2" ("YES" in step S121), the CPU 11 determines the volume V of the smartphone 20 to be "1" (step S122). Furthermore, if the magnitude of the movement is "Level 1" ("YES" in step S123), the CPU 11 determines the volume V of the smartphone 20 to be "2" (step S124). If the magnitude of the movement is "level 0" ("NO" in step S123), the CPU 11 determines that the user is hardly moving (step S125), and sets the volume V of the smartphone 20 to "3" (step S126).

[0049] When any of steps S120, S122, S124, and S126 is completed, the CPU 11 determines whether the current snooze is the nth snooze (where n≧2) (step S127). If it is determined that the current snooze is the nth snooze (n≧2) ("YES" in step S127), the CPU 11 adds (n−1) to the volume V of the smartphone 20 and changes the volume V to "V+(n−1)" (step S128). That is, for the second and subsequent snoozes, the CPU 11 adjusts the volume V so that the lower limit of the volume V increases by 1 each time a snooze is performed. Note that if the volume V after the addition exceeds "10," the volume V is set to "10."

[0050] When step S128 is completed or when it is determined that this is the first snooze ("NO" in step S127), the CPU 11 determines whether the volume V of the determined smartphone 20 is equal to or greater than "1" (step S129). When it is determined that the volume V is equal to or greater than "1" ("YES" in step S129), the CPU 11 generates control information instructing linked notification at volume V and transmits it to the smartphone 20 (step S130). As a result, the smartphone 20 starts to sound an alert at volume V from the second speaker 281. When step S130 is completed or when it is determined in step S129 that the volume V is "0" ("NO" in step S129), the CPU 11 sends a control signal to the first alert unit 18 to start timepiece-side notification (step S131). That is, the CPU 11 causes the first speaker 181 to sound an alert at a predetermined volume. When step S131 is completed, the CPU 11 advances the process to step S108 in FIG.

[0051] If it is determined in step S108 that an alarm stop operation has been performed during the sound of the alarm ("YES" in step S108), the CPU 11 sends a control signal to the first alarm unit 18 to stop the timepiece-side alarm, i.e., the sound of the alarm from the first speaker 181 (step S132). Furthermore, if the smartphone 20 is performing linked alarms ("YES" in step S133), the CPU 11 generates control information instructing the smartphone 20 to stop the linked alarm and to reset the volume V, and sends this control information to the smartphone 20 (step S134). This stops the sound of the alarm from the second speaker 281 in the smartphone 20, and resets the volume V of the second speaker 281. When step S134 is completed, if the smartphone 20 is not performing linked notification ("NO" in step S133), or if it is determined in step S113 that the snooze function is not enabled ("NO" in step S113), the CPU 11 terminates detection of the movement of the electronic timepiece 10 by the motion sensor 19 (step S135). The CPU 11 also terminates the communication connection with the smartphone 20 via BLE (step S136). When step S136 is completed, the CPU 11 terminates the notification control process.

[0052] In the notification control process described above, only when an important schedule has been registered ("YES" in step S104 of FIG. 5), the smartphone 20 issues a linked notification from the first notification at the alarm time. However, this is not limited to this, and the linked notification may be issued depending on the magnitude of the user's movement from the first notification. In this case, the motion sensor 19 may start detecting movement at a predetermined time point before the alarm time, and steps S104 to S107 of FIG. 5 may be replaced with steps S117 to S131 of FIG. 7.

[0053] Furthermore, for the second and subsequent snoozes, the volume V is adjusted so that the lower limit of the volume V increases by 1 each time a snooze is performed (steps S127, S128), but these steps may be omitted and the lower limit of the volume V for each snooze may be kept constant.

[0054] Furthermore, steps S118 to S126 in FIG. 7 are executed for each snooze to determine the volume V of the linked notification based on the movement information 133 and the schedule information 232, but for the second and subsequent snoozes, steps S118 to S126 may be omitted, and only the volume V may be increased for each snooze in steps S127 and S128.

[0055] Although the example has been described in which the communication connection via BLE is maintained until the series of snooze notifications is completed, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the communication connection via BLE may be maintained only during the execution period of the first notification at the alarm time and during the execution period of each subsequent snooze notification, and the communication connection may be disconnected during other standby periods.

[0056] Next, a modified example of the above embodiment will be described. Differences from the above embodiment will be described below, and commonalities with the above embodiment will be omitted. When a user goes to sleep, they may not place the smartphone 20 near their bed or may not bring the smartphone 20 into their bedroom. In these cases, if the linked notification of the above embodiment is performed, the volume of the linked notification may be insufficient. Therefore, in this modified example, the CPU 11 acquires distance information related to the distance between the electronic timepiece 10 and the smartphone 20 using a predetermined method. Based on the acquired distance information, the CPU 11 then generates and transmits control information to the smartphone 20 so that the volume of the linked notification from the smartphone 20 increases as the distance increases. The distance information may be the strength of radio waves transmitted and received between the electronic timepiece 10 and the smartphone 20. The strength of radio waves increases as the distance between the electronic timepiece 10 and the smartphone 20 decreases, and since the strength of radio waves has a negative correlation with the distance, it corresponds to distance information. For example, the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) is used as the strength of radio waves. Alternatively, the electronic watch 10 may also be provided with a location information acquisition unit, and the distance between the electronic watch 10 and the smartphone 20 may be calculated based on the current location of the electronic watch 10 acquired by this location information acquisition unit and the current location of the smartphone 20 acquired by the location information acquisition unit 29 of the smartphone 20. Also, the electronic watch 10 and the smartphone 20 may be provided with altimeters, and the distance may be calculated taking into account the difference in altitude. Note that the type of alarm (tone, sound pattern, etc.) in addition to the volume may be changed depending on the distance between the electronic watch 10 and the smartphone 20. This allows the user to recognize that the smartphone 20 is not nearby or to determine which room the smartphone 20 is in, depending on the type of alarm.

[0057] As described above, the electronic timepiece 10 according to this embodiment includes a CPU 11 and a short-range wireless communication unit 17 that communicates with the smartphone 20. The CPU 11 transmits control information from the short-range wireless communication unit 17 to the smartphone 20 to cause the smartphone 20 to issue linked notifications at a volume appropriate to the user's status, based on the movement information 133 and / or schedule information 232, which serve as user information relating to the user's status. This allows the smartphone 20 to issue linked notifications in addition to or instead of the watch-side notifications issued by the electronic timepiece 10. This allows for loud notifications and notifications with a variety of tones, resulting in more effective notifications than notifications issued by the electronic timepiece 10 alone. This allows the user to wake up comfortably with a pleasant notification, thereby achieving good performance after waking up. Furthermore, because the control information can be transmitted to cause the smartphone 20 to issue linked notifications, linked notifications can be implemented without any special notification-related settings being configured on the smartphone 20.

[0058] The electronic watch 10 also includes a motion sensor 19 that detects the movement of the electronic watch 10, and the CPU 11 detects the user's movement as the user's status identified from the detection data of the motion sensor 19, and transmits control information from the short-range wireless communication unit 17 to the smartphone 20 based on movement information 133 relating to the user's movement. This allows for appropriate and effective linked notifications to be made in accordance with the user's movement.

[0059] Furthermore, the CPU 11 identifies the magnitude of the user's movement based on the detection data of the motion sensor 19, and transmits control information from the short-range wireless communication unit 17 to the smartphone 20 to cause the smartphone 20 to issue a notification at a volume corresponding to the magnitude of the user's movement. This allows for appropriate and effective linked notification to be issued according to the magnitude of the user's movement. For example, it is possible to control the linked notification to be issued at a louder volume the deeper the user's sleep (the smaller the movement).

[0060] Furthermore, the CPU 11 may transmit control information to the smartphone 20 from the short-range wireless communication unit 17 multiple times to cause the smartphone 20 to issue multiple notifications, and may determine the content of each piece of control information to be transmitted multiple times so that the volume of the multiple linked notifications gradually increases. This allows the volume of the linked notifications from the smartphone 20 to increase each time a snooze notification is issued.

[0061] The electronic timepiece 10 also includes a first notification unit 18, and the CPU 11 causes the first notification unit 18 to issue a timepiece notification in parallel with the linked notification issued by the smartphone 20 in response to control information. This allows for multiple notifications by the electronic timepiece 10 and the smartphone 20. This allows the user to more reliably recognize the notification.

[0062] Furthermore, the CPU 11 may cause the smartphone 20 to transmit control information from the short-range wireless communication unit 17 to make a linked notification using the second notification method, and may cause the first notification unit 18 to make a watch-side notification using the first notification method, which is different from the second notification method, in parallel with the linked notification made by the smartphone 20. This makes it less likely that the watch-side notification will be drowned out by the linked notification.

[0063] Furthermore, the CPU 11 may cause the first notification unit 18 to issue a watch-side notification at a timing different from the linked notification issued by the smartphone 20 in response to the control information. This also makes it less likely that the watch-side notification will be drowned out by the linked notification.

[0064] Furthermore, since the maximum intensity of the notification by the second notification unit 28 of the smartphone 20 is greater than the maximum intensity of the notification by the first notification unit 18 of the electronic watch 10, linked notifications can provide effective notifications that are easy for the user to recognize.

[0065] In a modified example, the CPU 11 acquires distance information relating to the distance between the electronic timepiece 10 and the smartphone 20 using a predetermined method, determines the content of control information based on the acquired distance information so that the volume of the linked notification by the smartphone 20 increases the longer the distance, and transmits the control information from the short-range wireless communication unit 17 to the smartphone 20. This makes it easier for the user to recognize the linked notification even when the smartphone 20 is located far away from the user.

[0066] Furthermore, the notification control method executed by the CPU 11 of the electronic timepiece 10 according to this embodiment transmits control information from the short-range wireless communication unit 17 to the smartphone 20 to cause the smartphone 20 to issue linked notifications at a volume appropriate to the user's situation, based on the movement information 133 and / or schedule information 232 as user information relating to the user's situation. This allows for effective notifications to be issued.

[0067] The program 131 according to this embodiment also causes the CPU 11 of the electronic timepiece 10 to function as control means, and the control means transmits control information from the short-range wireless communication unit 17 to the smartphone 20 to cause the smartphone 20 to issue linked notifications at a volume appropriate to the user's situation, based on movement information 133 and / or schedule information 232 as user information relating to the user's situation. This allows for effective notifications to be issued.

[0068] The communication system 1 according to this embodiment also includes an electronic watch 10 equipped with a CPU 11 and a short-range wireless communication unit 17, and a smartphone 20. The CPU 11 transmits control information from the short-range wireless communication unit 17 to the smartphone 20 to cause the smartphone 20 to issue linked notifications at a volume appropriate to the user's situation, based on movement information 133 and / or schedule information 232 as user information relating to the user's situation. This allows for effective notifications to be issued.

[0069] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment and various modifications are possible. For example, in the above-described embodiment, an electronic watch 10 is used as an example of an electronic device, and a smartphone 20 is used as an example of an external device that performs linked notifications. However, the present invention is not limited to these. For example, the electronic device may be a wearable device such as a sensing device that detects body movement or an activity monitor, or may be a small portable device such as a smartphone. Furthermore, the external device may be any device that is capable of data communication with the electronic device and capable of notifying the user. For example, the external device may be a sound source device (speaker) or a lighting device that can communicate with the electronic device.

[0070] The external device may be communicatively connected to the electronic device via a predetermined relay device. For example, in a configuration in which the electronic watch 10 is used as the electronic device and the smartphone 20 is used as the relay device, the external device may be a sound source device or a lighting device that can communicate with the smartphone 20. In this case, control information transmitted from the electronic device is transmitted to the external device via the relay device, causing the external device to perform linked notification.

[0071] Furthermore, while the movement information 133 and schedule information 232 have been exemplified as examples of user information relating to the user's situation, this is not limited to these. For example, the user information may also include the user's location information or biometric information such as heart rate. When biometric information is used as user information, a sensor for acquiring the biometric information may be provided in the electronic timepiece 10. Furthermore, while the motion sensor 19 is used as a detector for detecting body movement, a tilt switch or the like may alternatively be used as the detector. The tilt switch may include, for example, a metal ball, a passageway through which the metal ball can move in one direction, and a contact point provided at one end of the passageway. When the electronic timepiece 10 is tilted in a predetermined position, the metal ball moves to one end of the passageway, establishing electrical contact and outputting an ON signal to the CPU 11.

[0072] In addition, an example has been given in which the watch-side notification from the electronic watch 10 and the linked notification from the smartphone 20 are used to notify the alarm time, but this is not limited to this, and the watch-side notification and the linked notification can be applied to any notification to the user (for example, a timer alarm, notifications from various apps, etc.).

[0073] Furthermore, while the above example illustrates a case in which both the watch-side notification and the linked notification are sound notifications, this is not limited to this. The watch-side notification and the linked notification may each be sound notifications, vibration notifications, or light notifications, or may be a combination of two or more of these. When the notification method is vibration, the notification intensity may be vibration intensity, and when the notification method is light notifications, the notification intensity may be light emission brightness. Furthermore, the control information sent by the CPU 11 of the electronic watch 10 to the smartphone 20 may include information specifying the notification method as the notification mode for the linked notification. In other words, the CPU 11 may select the notification method for the linked notification based on user information.

[0074] Furthermore, the timepiece notification sound from the electronic timepiece 10 and the linked notification sound from the smartphone 20 may be combined to complete a melody and / or chord.

[0075] In the above description, an example has been disclosed in which flash memory is used as the computer-readable medium for the program according to the present invention in the storage units 13 and 23, but this is not limiting. Other computer-readable media may include information recording media such as HDDs (Hard Disk Drives), SSDs (Solid State Drives), and CD-ROMs. Furthermore, carrier waves may also be used as a medium for providing data for the program according to the present invention via a communication line.

[0076] Furthermore, it goes without saying that the detailed configurations and operations of the components of the electronic device and external device in the above-described embodiments can be modified as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0077] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but includes the scope of the invention described in the claims and its equivalents. [Explanation of symbols]

[0078] 1...Communication system, 10...Electronic watch (electronic device), 11...CPU (control unit, control means), 17...Near-field wireless communication unit (communication unit), 18...First notification unit (notification unit), 19...Motion sensor (detection unit), 20...Smartphone (external device), 133...Movement information (user information), 232...Schedule information (user information)

Claims

1. A control unit; a communication unit that communicates with an external device, the control unit causes the communication unit to transmit to the external device control information for causing the external device to make a notification in a notification mode according to the user's situation, based on user information relating to the user's situation; electronic equipment.

2. a detection unit that detects the user's movement, the control unit causes the communication unit to transmit the control information to the external device based on the user information related to the user's movement identified from the detection data of the detection unit. The electronic device according to claim 1 .

3. the notification manner includes an intensity of the notification, the control unit identifies a magnitude of the user's movement based on the detection data of the detection unit; transmitting, from the communication unit to the external device, the control information for causing the external device to perform the notification at an intensity corresponding to the magnitude of the user's movement; The electronic device according to claim 2 .

4. the notification manner includes an intensity of the notification, The control unit transmitting the control information from the communication unit to the external device a plurality of times in order to cause the external device to make the notification a plurality of times; determining content of each piece of control information to be transmitted multiple times so that the intensity of the notification multiple times gradually increases; The electronic device according to claim 1 .

5. Equipped with a notification unit, the control unit causes the notification unit to make a first notification in parallel with a second notification made by the external device in response to the control information; The electronic device according to claim 1 .

6. The control unit transmitting the control information for causing the external device to perform the second notification by a second notification method from the communication unit to the external device; In parallel with the second notification performed by the external device, the notification unit performs the first notification using a first notification method different from the second notification method. The electronic device according to claim 5 .

7. Equipped with a notification unit, the control unit causes the notification unit to make a first notification at a timing different from a second notification made by the external device in response to the control information; The electronic device according to claim 1 .

8. Equipped with a notification unit, the control unit causes the notification unit to make a first notification using the same notification method as a second notification made by the external device in response to the control information; The maximum intensity of the second notification is greater than the maximum intensity of the first notification. The electronic device according to claim 1 .

9. the notification manner includes an intensity of the notification, the control unit acquires distance information relating to a distance between the electronic device and the external device using a predetermined method; determining content of the control information based on the acquired distance information such that the intensity of the notification by the external device increases as the distance increases, and transmitting the control information from the communication unit to the external device; The electronic device according to claim 1 .

10. A notification control method executed by a computer of an electronic device having a communication unit that communicates with an external device, comprising: transmitting, from the communication unit to the external device, control information for causing the external device to make a notification in a notification mode according to the user's situation, based on user information relating to the user's situation; Notification control method.

11. a computer of an electronic device having a communication unit for communicating with an external device is made to function as a control means; the control means causes the communication unit to transmit to the external device control information for causing the external device to make a notification in a notification mode according to the user's situation, based on user information relating to the user's situation; program.

12. A communication system including an electronic device and an external device, The electronic device includes: A control unit; a communication unit that communicates with the external device, the control unit causes the communication unit to transmit to the external device control information for causing the external device to make a notification in a notification mode according to the user's situation, based on user information relating to the user's situation; Communication system.

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