Information processing device, information processing method, and program

Abstract

The present invention provides an information processing device that can accurately determine the occurrence of a first life event. [Solution] An information processing device comprising: an acquisition unit that acquires power consumption data showing the amount of power consumed at predetermined time intervals for each of a plurality of branch circuits in a house, in association with acquisition date and time information indicating the time of acquisition; a determination condition generation unit that generates determination conditions for determining whether or not a first life event has occurred based on the power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit within a predetermined period in the past; a determination unit that determines whether or not the first life event has occurred based on the power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit and the determination conditions generated by the determination condition generation unit; and an output unit that outputs information showing the determination result by the determination unit to another device.

Description

【Technical Field】 【0001】 The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program. 【Background Art】 【0002】 Research and development have been conducted on a technique for detecting the occurrence of a life event of a resident living in a house. Here, in this specification, a life event is an action of a resident in the life of the resident, such as waking up, cooking, cleaning, and the like. 【0003】 Regarding this, there is known an apparatus for estimating whether or not a life event by a resident has occurred, including: device state detection means for detecting the state of a device used by the resident; storage means for storing a reference behavior entry dictionary that holds one or more reference behavior entries; matching means for searching for a corresponding reference behavior entry from the reference behavior entry dictionary based on the state of the device detected by the device state detection means; and output means for outputting the search result of the matching means. The reference behavior entry holds data representing the correspondence between a life event by the resident and the state of the device used at the time of occurrence of the life event. The matching means searches for a corresponding reference behavior entry from the reference behavior entry dictionary using the device state detected by the device state detection means as a key, and estimates whether or not a life event by the resident has occurred based on the correspondence represented by the reference behavior entry obtained by the search (see Patent Document 1). 【Prior Art Documents】 【Patent Documents】 【0004】 【Patent Document 1】 Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-026305 【Summary of the Invention】 【Problems to be Solved by the Invention】 【0005】 Here, the reference activity entries used in the estimation device described in Patent Document 1 cannot be said to accurately represent the correspondence between a life event by a resident and the state of the equipment used when that life event occurs. This is because the reference activity entries are not generated based on past data about the resident in question. As a result, the estimation device was sometimes unable to accurately estimate whether or not a life event had occurred. 【0006】 This invention has been made in consideration of these circumstances, and aims to provide an information processing device, an information processing method, and a program that can accurately determine the occurrence of a first life event. [Means for solving the problem] 【0007】 One aspect of the present invention is an information processing device comprising: an acquisition unit that acquires power consumption data indicating the amount of power consumed at predetermined time intervals for each of a plurality of branch circuits in a house, in association with acquisition date and time information indicating the time of acquisition; a determination condition generation unit that generates determination conditions for determining whether or not a first life event has occurred based on the power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit within a predetermined period in the past; a determination unit that determines whether or not the first life event has occurred based on the power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit and the determination conditions generated by the determination condition generation unit; and an output unit that outputs information indicating the determination result by the determination unit to another device. 【0008】 One aspect of the present invention is an information processing method in which an information processing device acquires power consumption data indicating the amount of power consumed at predetermined time intervals for each of a plurality of branch circuits in a house, in association with acquisition date and time information indicating the time of acquisition; generates determination conditions for determining whether a first life event has occurred based on the power consumption data acquired within a predetermined period in the past; determines whether the first life event has occurred based on the acquired power consumption data and the generated determination conditions; and outputs information indicating the determination result to another device. 【0009】 One aspect of the present invention is a program that causes a computer in an information processing device to acquire power consumption data indicating the amount of power consumed at predetermined time intervals for each of a plurality of branch circuits in a house, associated with acquisition date and time information indicating the time of acquisition; generates a determination condition for determining whether a first life event has occurred based on the power consumption data acquired within a predetermined period in the past; determines whether the first life event has occurred based on the acquired power consumption data and the generated determination condition; and outputs information indicating the determination result to another device. [Effects of the Invention] 【0010】 According to the present invention, the occurrence of the first life event can be determined with high accuracy. [Brief explanation of the drawing] 【0011】 [Figure 1] This figure shows an example of the configuration of the information processing device 1. [Figure 2] This figure shows an example of the hardware configuration of the information processing device 1. [Figure 3] This figure shows an example of the functional configuration of the information processing device 1. [Figure 4] This diagram shows an example of the process flow in which the information processing device 1 acquires power consumption data from each of the N branch circuits. [Figure 5] This figure shows an example of the process flow in which the information processing device 1 generates the judgment conditions. [Figure 6] This figure shows an example of the processing flow in step S220. [Figure 7] This figure shows an example of how power consumption changes over time, excluding constant power consumption. [Figure 8] This figure shows an example of how power consumption, including constant power consumption, changes over time. [Figure 9] This figure shows another example of the temporal variation in power consumption, including constant power consumption. [Figure 10]This is a diagram for explaining the process of associating a first flag at each predetermined time interval. [Figure 11] This is a diagram for explaining the process of associating a second flag at each predetermined time interval. [Figure 12] This is a diagram showing an example of the aggregation result regarding which of the nine time zones included in the target time zone on Monday each of the predetermined time intervals associated with the first daily life event flag of a certain second target branch circuit is included in. [Figure 13] This is a diagram showing an example of the determination condition generated by the determination condition generation unit 143 through the process of step S380. [Figure 14] This is a diagram showing an example of the flow of the process of determining whether a first life event has occurred by the information processing apparatus 1 based on the determination condition. [Figure 15] This is a diagram showing an example of the flow of the process of updating the determination condition by the information processing apparatus 1. [Figure 16] This is a diagram showing an example of the determination result of the living habits of the first resident H1 by the information processing apparatus 1. 【Mode for Carrying Out the Invention】 【0012】 <Embodiment> Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the embodiments, the house indicates one of the multiple households in an apartment building such as a condominium or an apartment, or the single-family house itself. 【0013】 <Outline of Information Processing Apparatus> First, the outline of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment will be described. 【0014】 The information processing apparatus according to the embodiment includes an acquisition unit, a determination condition generation unit, a determination unit, and an output unit. 【0015】 The acquisition unit acquires power consumption data indicating the power consumption of each of the plurality of branch circuits of the house at each predetermined time interval, in association with the acquisition date and time information indicating the acquisition time. The determination condition generation unit generates determination conditions for determining whether or not a first life event has occurred, based on power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit within a predetermined period in the past. The determination unit determines whether or not a first life event has occurred based on the power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit and the determination conditions generated by the determination condition generation unit. The output unit outputs information indicating the judgment result from the judgment unit to other devices. 【0016】 As a result, the information processing device according to the embodiment can generate determination conditions based on past data about the first resident. Consequently, the information processing device can accurately determine the occurrence of the first life event. 【0017】 The configuration of the information processing device according to the embodiment and the processing performed by the information processing device will be described in detail below. 【0018】 <Configuration of the information processing device> The configuration of the information processing device according to the embodiment will be described below, using the information processing device 1 as an example. Figure 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the information processing device 1. 【0019】 The information processing device 1 detects the occurrence of lifestyle events for residents living in a certain house. Below, as an example, we will describe the case where the information processing device 1 detects the occurrence of a lifestyle event for resident H1, who lives in house H shown in Figure 1. House H is a detached house with six residents. One of the rooms on the first floor of house H is configured as a living-dining-kitchen area. Resident H1 is one of the six residents of house H, and is, for example, the male head of household in house H, but is not limited to this. Resident H1's lifestyle events are actions performed by resident H1 in their daily life in house H, such as waking up, cooking, and doing laundry, but are not limited to these. Below, as an example, we will describe the case where the lifestyle event detected by the information processing device 1 is resident H1 waking up. Also, for the sake of explanation, resident H1 waking up will be referred to as the first lifestyle event. When the information processing device 1 detects the occurrence of a first life event, it outputs information indicating that the first life event has occurred to other devices. This allows the information processing device 1 to have other devices perform processing in response to the occurrence of the first life event. This is useful as it contributes to improving the quality of life of the first resident H1. In this embodiment, detecting the occurrence of a first life event is equivalent to determining that a first life event has occurred. Note that the first resident H1 is an example of a resident. 【0020】 The information processing device 1 acquires power consumption data, which shows the power consumption of each of the N branch circuits of the house H at predetermined time intervals, and associates this data with acquisition date and time information indicating the time the data was acquired. Here, the predetermined time interval is, for example, 15 minutes, but it may be a shorter time interval or a longer time interval. The acquisition date and time information is, for example, a timestamp, but it may be other information indicating the time when the information processing device 1 acquired the power consumption data. Also, N may be any integer greater than or equal to 2. 【0021】 Each of the N branch circuits supplies power to various devices, such as the outlets in the living-dining-kitchen, hallway, entrance, the first Western-style room (Room 1), the second Western-style room (Room 2), the bathroom, the toilet, a dishwashing and drying machine in the kitchen, a washer-dryer in the bathroom, the air conditioner in Room 1, the air conditioner in Room 2, an electric vehicle outside House H, the air conditioner in the living-dining-kitchen, the underfloor heating in the living-dining-kitchen, and an electric water heater outside House H. In Figure 1, to avoid making the diagram too complex, only four of these N branch circuits, branch circuits A1 to A4, are shown. Branch circuit A1 supplies power to the outlet in Room 1. Branch circuit A2 supplies power to the outlet in Room 2. Branch circuit A3 supplies power to the air conditioner in the living-dining-kitchen. Branch circuit A4 supplies power to the outlet in the living-dining-kitchen. The information processing device 1 acquires power consumption data, which shows the power consumption at predetermined time intervals for each of the N branch circuits, including the four branch circuits, and associates this data with acquisition date and time information indicating the time the data was acquired. 【0022】 The information processing device 1 generates determination conditions for determining whether or not a first life event has occurred, based on power consumption data acquired from each of the N branch circuits within a predetermined past period. This allows the information processing device 1 to generate determination conditions corresponding to past data for the first resident H1. As a result, the information processing device 1 can accurately determine whether or not a first life event has occurred. Details of the determination conditions will be described later. The predetermined period may be any period in the past, for example, from two weeks ago to the present, but is not limited to this. For the sake of explanation, the predetermined period will be referred to as the target period below. After generating the determination conditions, the information processing device 1 determines whether or not a first life event has occurred based on the power consumption data acquired from each of the N branch circuits and the generated determination conditions. If it determines that a first life event has occurred, the information processing device 1 outputs information indicating that a first life event has occurred as information indicating the determination result to other devices. The other devices mentioned include, but are not limited to, devices that perform processing in response to the occurrence of the first life event, and information processing devices of companies that manage devices that perform processing in response to the occurrence of the first life event. 【0023】 Here, the power consumption data described above is associated with branch circuit identification information that identifies the branch circuit from which the power consumption data was obtained among the N branch circuits. For example, the power consumption data acquired by the information processing device 1 from branch circuit A1 is associated with branch circuit identification information that identifies branch circuit A1. Also, for example, the power consumption data acquired by the information processing device 1 from branch circuit A2 is associated with branch circuit identification information that identifies branch circuit A2. Also, for example, the power consumption data acquired by the information processing device 1 from branch circuit A3 is associated with branch circuit identification information that identifies branch circuit A3. Also, for example, the power consumption data acquired by the information processing device 1 from branch circuit A4 is associated with branch circuit identification information that identifies branch circuit A4. 【0024】 The information processing device 1 stores first correspondence information for each of the N branch circuits, which associates branch circuit name information indicating the name of the branch circuit with branch circuit identification information identifying the branch circuit. For example, in the first correspondence information, branch circuit name information indicating the name of branch circuit A1 is associated with branch circuit identification information identifying branch circuit A1. Also, for example, in the first correspondence information, branch circuit name information indicating the name of branch circuit A2 is associated with branch circuit identification information identifying branch circuit A2. Also, in the first correspondence information, branch circuit name information indicating the name of branch circuit A3 is associated with branch circuit identification information identifying branch circuit A3. Also, in the first correspondence information, branch circuit name information indicating the name of branch circuit A4 is associated with branch circuit identification information identifying branch circuit A4. The names of certain branch circuits include, but are not limited to, the kitchen outlet, the living-dining-kitchen outlet, the hallway outlet, the entrance outlet, the outlet in the first Western-style room (Room 1), the outlet in the second Western-style room (Room 2), the washroom outlet, the toilet outlet, the dishwashing and drying device in the kitchen, the washer-dryer in the washroom, the air conditioner in Room 1, the air conditioner in Room 2, the electric vehicle outside of House H, the air conditioner in the living-dining-kitchen, the electric water heater outside of House H, etc. 【0025】 The information processing device 1 selects one or more branch circuits from among N branch circuits that can be used to detect whether or not a first life event has occurred, based on the first corresponding information, and generates the above determination conditions based on the power consumption data obtained from the selected one or more branch circuits. As a result, the information processing device 1 can generate highly accurate determination conditions, and as a result, can accurately determine whether or not a first life event has occurred. 【0026】 Here, the information processing device 1 may be a server installed in the house H, a server on the cloud that is communicatively connected to each of the N branch circuits, or another information processing device that is communicatively connected to each of the N branch circuits. For this reason, the information processing device 1 may be any information processing device that can function as a server, such as a workstation, desktop PC (Personal Computer), notebook PC, etc., but is not limited to these, and may also be a tablet PC, multifunction mobile phone terminal (smartphone), PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), or other mobile device. Furthermore, the information processing device 1 is communicatively connected to some or all of the N branch circuits by wireless or wired means. The communication method between the information processing device 1 and each of the N branch circuits may be any communication method. 【0027】 <Hardware configuration of the information processing device> The hardware configuration of the information processing device 1 is described below. Figure 2 shows an example of the hardware configuration of the information processing device 1. 【0028】 The information processing device 1 includes, for example, a processor 11, a storage unit 12, and a communication unit 13. These components are connected to each other via a bus so that they can communicate with one another. The information processing device 1 also communicates with other devices, each of the N branch circuits, etc., via the communication unit 13. 【0029】 The processor 11 controls the entire information processing device 1, for example. For example, the processor 11 is a CPU (Central Processing Unit). The processor 11 may also be another type of processor, such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). The processor 11 executes various programs stored in the memory unit 12. 【0030】 The storage unit 12 includes, for example, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), SSD (Solid State Drive), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), ROM (Read-Only Memory), RAM (Random Access Memory), etc. Alternatively, the storage unit 12 may be an external storage device connected via a digital input / output port such as USB (Universal Serial Bus), instead of being built into the information processing device 1. The storage unit 12 stores various types of information processed by the information processing device 1 (for example, the first correspondence information described above), various images, various programs, etc. 【0031】 The communication unit 13 is comprised of, for example, an antenna, digital input / output ports such as USB, and an Ethernet (registered trademark) port. 【0032】 The information processing device 1 may also be configured to include other input devices such as a keyboard, mouse, or touchpad. Furthermore, the information processing device 1 may also be configured to include a display device such as a liquid crystal display panel or an organic EL (ElectroLuminescence) display panel. 【0033】 <Functional Configuration of Information Processing Devices> The following describes the functional configuration of the information processing device 1. Figure 3 shows an example of the functional configuration of the information processing device 1. 【0034】 The information processing device 1 comprises a storage unit 12, a communication unit 13, and a control unit 14. 【0035】 The control unit 14 controls the entire information processing device 1. The control unit 14 includes, for example, an acquisition unit 141, a selection unit 142, a determination condition generation unit 143, a determination unit 144, and an output unit 145. These functional units of the control unit 14 are realized, for example, by the processor 11 executing various programs stored in the storage unit 12. Furthermore, some or all of these functional units may be hardware functional units such as LSIs (Large Scale Integration) or ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits). 【0036】 The acquisition unit 141 acquires power consumption data, which shows the power consumption of each of the N branch circuits at predetermined time intervals, in association with the acquisition date and time information. 【0037】 The selection unit 142 selects one or more branch circuits from among the N branch circuits that can be used to detect whether or not a first life event has occurred, based on the first correspondence information, etc. 【0038】 The determination condition generation unit 143 generates determination conditions based on the power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit 141 within the target period from each of the one or more branch circuits selected by the selection unit 142, based on the first correspondence information, etc. 【0039】 The determination unit 144 determines whether or not a first life event has occurred based on the power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit 141 and the determination conditions generated by the determination condition generation unit 143. 【0040】 The output unit 145 outputs information indicating the determination result from the determination unit 144 to another device. 【0041】 <Processing by which the information processing device acquires power consumption data> The following describes the process by which the information processing device 1 acquires power consumption data from each of the N branch circuits. Figure 4 is a diagram showing an example of the process flow for acquiring power consumption data from each of the N branch circuits. In the following, as an example, we will describe a case where the information processing device 1 receives an operation to start the process at a timing before the process of step S110 shown in Figure 4 is performed. The information processing device 1 repeatedly performs the process of the flowchart shown in Figure 4, for example, after a predetermined time interval has elapsed. The method by which the information processing device 1 acquires power consumption data from each of the N branch circuits may be a known method or a method to be developed in the future. In the following, as an example, we will describe a case in which, in response to a request from the information processing device 1, each of the N branch circuits outputs information indicating the power consumption from the start time to the end time of each predetermined time interval as power consumption data to the information processing device 1. 【0042】 When it is determined that a predetermined time interval has elapsed, the acquisition unit 141 acquires power consumption data from each of the N branch circuits, associating it with acquisition date and time information indicating the current date and time (step S110). 【0043】 Next, the acquisition unit 141 stores the power consumption data acquired in step S110 in the storage unit 12 (step S120). At this time, the acquisition unit 141 stores the power consumption data acquired from a certain branch circuit in the storage unit 12, associating it with branch circuit identification information that identifies the branch circuit. For example, in step S120, the acquisition unit 141 stores the power consumption data acquired from branch circuit A1 in the storage unit 12, associating it with branch circuit identification information that identifies branch circuit A1. After the processing in step S120 is completed, the acquisition unit 141 finishes the processing shown in the flowchart in Figure 4 and waits until the next predetermined time interval has elapsed. 【0044】 As described above, the information processing device 1 acquires power consumption data from each of the N branch circuits, associating it with the acquisition date and time information. 【0045】 <Processing by which the information processing device generates the judgment conditions> The following describes the process by which the information processing device 1 generates the judgment conditions. Figure 5 is a diagram showing an example of the flow of the process by which the information processing device 1 generates the judgment conditions. In the following, as an example, we will describe the case in which, prior to the processing of step S210 shown in Figure 5, power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit 141 between two weeks or more ago and the present is stored in the storage unit 12. That is, in the following, as an example, we will describe the case in which, at that timing, power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit 141 within the target period is stored in the storage unit 12. Furthermore, in the following, as an example, we will describe the case in which, at that timing, the first correspondence information is stored in the storage unit 12. Furthermore, in the following, as an example, we will describe the case in which, at that timing, the second correspondence information is stored in the storage unit 12. The second correspondence information is information in which, for each resident identification information that identifies each resident of the house H, the resident identification information and branch circuit identification information that identifies each of the one or more branch circuits mainly used by the resident indicated by the resident identification information are associated. The information processing device 1 can use this second correspondence information to generate determination conditions for each resident of house H, and as a result, it can determine whether or not a life event has occurred for each resident of house H. Furthermore, as an example, the following describes a case in which the information processing device 1 receives a processing start operation to initiate the process at that timing. Furthermore, as an example, the following describes a case in which the processing start operation includes an operation to select the information processing device 1 to generate determination conditions for the first resident H1 among the residents of house H. Such a selection may be made in the information processing device 1 by any process. 【0046】 After receiving the processing start operation, the determination condition generation unit 143 reads the second correspondence information previously stored in the storage unit 12, and based on the read second correspondence information, reads from the storage unit 12 the power consumption data that has been acquired by the acquisition unit 141 within the target period from the power consumption data stored in the storage unit 12 and is associated with the branch circuit identification information corresponding to the resident identification information that identifies the first resident H1 (step S210). In step S210, the determination condition generation unit 143 may be configured not to read the second correspondence information, but to read from the storage unit 12 the power consumption data that has been acquired by the acquisition unit 141 within the target period from the power consumption data stored in the storage unit 12. In this case, the storage unit 12 may not be configured to store the second correspondence information. 【0047】 Next, the determination condition generation unit 143 generates determination conditions for the first resident H1 based on the power consumption data read from the storage unit 12 in step S210 (step S220). Now, with reference to Figure 6, the process of step S220 will be explained in detail. Figure 6 is a diagram showing an example of the flow of the process in step S220. 【0048】 The judgment condition generation unit 143 reads the first corresponding information, which is pre-stored in the storage unit 12, from the storage unit 12 (step S310). 【0049】 Next, the selection unit 142, based on the first correspondence information read from the storage unit 12 by the judgment condition generation unit 143 in step S310, excludes branch circuits that satisfy the first exclusion condition from among the branch circuits that are the source of each of the multiple power consumption data read from the storage unit 12 in step S210 shown in Figure 5, and selects one or more remaining branch circuits as one or more first target branch circuits (step S320). For the sake of explanation, in the following, the branch circuits that are the source of each of the multiple power consumption data read from the storage unit 12 in step S210 shown in Figure 5 will be referred to as one or more 0th target branch circuits. Note that if the judgment condition generation unit 143 does not read the second correspondence information in step S210 shown in Figure 5, the selection unit 142, in step S320, excludes branch circuits that satisfy the first exclusion condition from among the N branch circuits, and selects one or more remaining branch circuits as one or more first target branch circuits. The first exclusion condition is the condition that a branch circuit must satisfy when it cannot be used to detect that the first life event has occurred, and includes, for example, the following three conditions (1) to (3). 【0050】 (1) The branch circuit is identified by branch circuit identification information to which branch circuit name information that is different from any of the one or more branch circuit name information associated with the first life event is associated. (2) The branch circuit is one in which electricity is consumed only during certain seasons of the year. (3) The branch circuit is one in which the frequency of use during the time period corresponding to the first life event is below a predetermined threshold. 【0051】 The first exclusion condition is a condition that includes at least condition (1) of the three conditions (1) to (3) above. For this reason, the first exclusion condition may be a condition that includes one or more other conditions in place of conditions (2) and (3), or in addition to conditions (1) to (3). Furthermore, the time period associated with the first life event may be configured to be pre-registered in the information processing device 1, or it may be configured to be received by the information processing device 1 from the administrator, user, etc. For the sake of explanation, in the following, the predetermined time period will be referred to as the target time period. Furthermore, in the following, as an example, the case in which the target time period is from 3:00 to 11:00 will be explained. This is because the first life event in this example is waking up. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the frequency of use of a certain branch circuit in the target time period may be expressed by the number of times the branch circuit was used, by the ratio of the number of target time periods in which the branch circuit was used within the target period to the total number of target time periods included in the target period, or by other values ​​that indicate the frequency of use of the branch circuit. In the following, as an example, we will explain a case where the frequency of use of the branch circuit within the target period is expressed as the ratio of the number of target time slots within the target period to the total number of target time slots included in the target period. Also, for the sake of explanation, in the following, the frequency of use of the branch circuit within the target time slot will be referred to as the target usage frequency. In this case, the predetermined threshold is, for example, 80%, but it may be a lower percentage or a higher percentage. 【0052】 The selection unit 142 identifies branch circuits that satisfy at least one of the three conditions (1) to (3) above as branch circuits to be excluded. Here, for example, the storage unit 12 of the information processing device 1 may have in advance stored third correspondence information indicating one or more branch circuit name information associated with the first life event. In this case, the selection unit 142 reads the third correspondence information from the storage unit 12 and identifies the branch circuits to be excluded by comparing the first correspondence information with the third correspondence information. As a result, the selection unit 142 excludes the branch circuits to be excluded that satisfy condition (1) from one or more target branch circuits of the 0th category. This is because if the determination conditions are generated based on power consumption data obtained from branch circuits that consume power independently of the occurrence of the first life event, it will not be possible to accurately determine whether or not the first life event has occurred. Note that the selection unit 142 may be configured to identify branch circuits to be excluded that satisfy condition (1) by other methods. Furthermore, for example, the selection unit 142 identifies the temporal change in power consumption within the target period for each of the one or more target zero branch circuits, based on the power consumption data read from the storage unit 12 by the determination condition generation unit 143 in step 110 shown in Figure 5. Based on the waveform showing the temporal change in power consumption identified for each of the one or more target zero branch circuits, the selection unit 142 identifies branch circuits that consume power only during certain seasons of the year as branch circuits to be excluded. This is because if the determination conditions were generated based on power consumption data obtained from branch circuits that consume power only during certain seasons of the year, it would not be possible to accurately determine whether or not the first life event occurred during seasons other than those certain seasons. Branch circuits to be excluded that satisfy condition (2) are, for example, branch circuits that supply power to the air conditioner in the first Western-style room, the air conditioner in the second Western-style room, the air conditioner in the living-dining-kitchen, the floor heating in the living-dining-kitchen, etc., but are not limited to these. The selection unit 142 may also be configured to identify the excluded branch circuits that satisfy condition (2) by other means.Furthermore, for example, the selection unit 142 identifies branch circuits whose target usage frequency is below a predetermined threshold from among the one or more target branch circuits of the first target branch circuits, based on waveforms showing the temporal change in power consumption identified for each of the first target branch circuits, as branch circuits to be excluded. This is because if the determination conditions are generated based on power consumption data obtained from branch circuits that primarily consume power during times other than the time when the first life event occurs, it will not be possible to accurately determine whether or not the first life event has occurred. Note that the selection unit 142 may be configured to identify branch circuits to be excluded that satisfy the conditions of (3) by other methods. 【0053】 After the processing in step S320 is completed, the determination condition generation unit 143 identifies one or more second target branch circuits from among the one or more first target branch circuits selected in step S320 (step S330). The second target branch circuits are described below. The second target branch circuits are branch circuits that satisfy both of the following two conditions (A) and (B). 【0054】 (A) It is a branch circuit that is the source of power consumption data, which includes power consumption that is constantly being consumed. (B) The branch circuit must be capable of detecting changes in power consumption in response to the residents' behavior. 【0055】 The above-mentioned constant power consumption refers to the power consumed by devices that consume power continuously even when not receiving input, such as refrigerators. 【0056】 For example, Figure 7 shows an example of the temporal change in power consumption, excluding constant power consumption. Two graphs are superimposed in Figure 7. Graph G1 in Figure 7 is a timing chart showing the timing when the first resident H1 wakes up. On the other hand, graph G2 in Figure 7 shows the temporal change in power consumed in a branch circuit that supplies power to the lighting in the room used as the first resident H1's bedroom. The horizontal axis of graphs G1 and G2 in Figure 7 is common and shows elapsed time. The vertical axis of graph G1 in Figure 7 shows 1 for the waking state and 0 for all other states. The vertical axis of graph G2 in Figure 7 shows the power consumed in the branch circuit. As shown in Figure 7, the branch circuit starts consuming power in conjunction with the first resident H1 waking up. The branch circuit also supplies power to a device that starts consuming power by receiving an operation from the first resident H1. This is because graph G2 shows that the branch circuit does not consume power constantly. More specifically, in graph G2, the median power consumption is 0 for 8 out of the 9 hours within the target time period. This indicates that the branch circuit in question cannot be the source of power consumption data that includes constant power consumption. 【0057】 On the other hand, Figure 8, for example, shows an example of the temporal change in power consumption, including constant power consumption. Two graphs are superimposed in Figure 8. Graph G1 shown in Figure 8 is the same as graph G1 shown in Figure 7. On the other hand, graph G3 shown in Figure 8 is a graph showing the temporal change in power consumed in branch circuit A4, which supplies power to the outlets in the living-dining-kitchen area. The horizontal axis of graphs G1 and G3 in Figure 8 is common and shows elapsed time. The vertical axis of graph G3 in Figure 8 shows the power consumed in branch circuit A4. As shown in Figure 8, the power consumption of branch circuit A4 increases in conjunction with the waking of the first resident H1. However, branch circuit A4 supplies power to devices that constantly consume power even without receiving operation from the first resident H1. This is because graph G3 shows that branch circuit A4 constantly consumes power. More specifically, in graph G3, the median power consumption for each hour within the 9-hour period is 6 to 24 Wh. This indicates that branch circuit A4 is the source of power consumption data, which includes power consumption at all times. 【0058】 Accordingly, the determination condition generation unit 143 identifies one or more branch circuits that satisfy the above condition (A) from among the one or more first target branch circuits, based on the temporal change in power consumption during the target period indicated by the power consumption data obtained from each of the one or more first target branch circuits selected in step S320. Specifically, the determination condition generation unit 143 determines that constant power consumption is not included in the power consumption if the power consumption for the 9 hours of the target time period includes a period in which the median power consumption is 0 Wh. On the other hand, the determination condition generation unit 143 determines that constant power consumption is included in the power consumption if the power consumption for the 9 hours of the target time period does not include a period in which the median power consumption is 0 Wh. As a result, in step S330, the determination condition generation unit 143 can identify a branch circuit that satisfies the above condition (A) from among the one or more first target branch circuits. 【0059】 Next, the determination condition generation unit 143 identifies one or more branch circuits that satisfy condition (B) from among one or more branch circuits that satisfy condition (A). Here, among the branch circuits that satisfy condition (A), the branch circuits that can detect changes in power consumption in accordance with the behavior of residents are those in which the ratio of the maximum value of the median power consumption to the minimum value of the median power consumption for each hour within the 9 hours of the target time period is greater than or equal to a predetermined ratio. For the sake of explanation, below, the ratio of the maximum value of the median to the minimum value of the median will be referred to as the target ratio. The predetermined ratio is a ratio that is determined in advance by experiments conducted beforehand to improve the accuracy of identifying branch circuits that can detect changes in power consumption in accordance with the behavior of residents, for example, it is 1.35, but it may be a ratio smaller than 1.35 or a ratio greater than 1.35. For example, in the example shown in Figure 8, the median power consumption for each hour within the 9 hours of the target time period is 6 to 24 Wh, so the ratio of the maximum value of the median to the minimum value of the median is greater than 1.35. Therefore, branch circuit A4, which supplies power to the outlet in the living-dining-kitchen area, is a branch circuit that satisfies both conditions (A) and (B). On the other hand, Figure 9 is a diagram showing another example of the temporal change in power consumption, including constant power consumption. Graph G4 in Figure 9 is a graph showing the temporal change in power consumed in branch circuit A1, which supplies power to the outlet in the first Western-style room. The horizontal axis of graph G4 in Figure 9 shows elapsed time. The vertical axis of graph G4 in Figure 9 shows the power consumed in branch circuit A1. However, in graph G4, the temporal change in power consumption on Saturday and Sunday, which are weekend days, is masked. In graph G4 in Figure 9, the median power consumption for each hour within the 9-hour period is 18Wh in all cases. This means that it is difficult to detect the change in power consumption corresponding to the operation received from the first resident H1 from the temporal change in power consumption shown in the power consumption data obtained from branch circuit A1.Based on these factors, the determination condition generation unit 143 can identify one or more branch circuits that satisfy condition (B) from among one or more branch circuits that satisfy condition (A), depending on whether the target ratio is equal to or greater than a predetermined ratio. The determination condition generation unit 143 then identifies one or more branch circuits that satisfy both condition (A) and condition (B) identified in this way as one or more second target branch circuits. 【0060】 Furthermore, the second target branch circuit may be a branch circuit that satisfies only condition (A), instead of a branch circuit that satisfies both conditions (A) and (B). Also, the second target branch circuit may be a branch circuit that satisfies condition (A) and one or more conditions different from condition (B), or a branch circuit that satisfies both conditions (A) and (B) and one or more other conditions. 【0061】 After the processing in step S330 is completed, the determination condition generation unit 143 identifies one or more branch circuits from the one or more first target branch circuits selected in step S320 as the source of one or more power consumption data indicating power consumption excluding constant power consumption, as one or more third target branch circuits (step S340). Note that the processing in step S340 may be executed in the reverse order of the processing in step S330, or it may be executed in parallel with the processing in step S330. 【0062】 Next, the determination condition generation unit 143 associates the first life event flag with each of the one or more second target branch circuits identified in step S330 and the one or more third target branch circuits identified in step S340 (step S350). Figure 6 shows the process of step S350 as "flag matching". Here, the details of the process of step S350 will be explained along with the details of the first life event flag. 【0063】 The judgment condition generation unit 143 performs the process described below as the process of step S350. 【0064】 For example, the judgment condition generation unit 143 generates a first waveform that shows the temporal change in power consumption data acquired from a certain second target branch circuit. After generating the first waveform, the judgment condition generation unit 143 identifies a predetermined time interval within the target period, for each day within the target period, where it is estimated that a first life event occurred, based on the generated first waveform. After identifying this predetermined time interval for each day within the target period, the judgment condition generation unit 143 associates a first life event flag, indicating that a first life event is estimated to have occurred, with the predetermined time interval identified for each day within the target period. For example, if the judgment condition generation unit 143 estimates that a first life event occurred at a predetermined time interval on a certain day within the target period, it associates the first life event flag with the date and time information indicating that predetermined time interval on that day. The judgment condition generation unit 143 then associates the date and time information to which the first life event flag is associated with branch circuit identification information that identifies the second target branch circuit. The determination condition generation unit 143 associates the date and time information to which such a first life event flag is associated with the branch circuit identification information on a daily basis within the target period. This allows the determination condition generation unit 143 to associate the first life event flag with the second target branch circuit. The first life event flag is, for example, 1, but it may be any other value that can be used as a flag. Here, a certain predetermined time interval on a given day is specified, for example, by the date of that day and the start time of that predetermined time interval. Therefore, the date and time information indicating a certain predetermined time interval on a given day within the target period is information indicating a combination of the date of that day and the start time of that predetermined time interval. Here, in order to specify a predetermined time interval on which the first life event is estimated to have occurred within the target period on a daily basis within the target period, the determination condition generation unit 143 determines, based on the generated first waveform, whether or not the power consumption of the second target branch circuit has changed at each predetermined time interval within the target period. Specifically, the judgment condition generation unit 143 standardizes the generated first waveform.After standardizing the first waveform, the judgment condition generation unit 143 calculates the difference between the power consumption in a predetermined time interval and the power consumption in the previous predetermined time interval at each predetermined time interval based on the standardized first waveform, and generates a difference waveform that shows the temporal change of the calculated difference. After generating the difference waveform, the judgment condition generation unit 143 determines, based on the generated difference waveform, whether the difference in a predetermined time interval exceeds a predetermined first threshold at each predetermined time interval. In other words, this determination determines whether the power consumption of the second target branch circuit has changed at each predetermined time interval within the target period. After performing this determination, the judgment condition generation unit 143 associates a first flag corresponding to the result of this determination with each predetermined time interval in the first waveform. For example, if the difference in a certain predetermined time interval in the first waveform exceeds the first threshold, the judgment condition generation unit 143 associates a first flag (for example, 1) indicating that the difference in that predetermined time interval exceeded the first threshold with that predetermined time interval. Here, the initial value of the first threshold is, for example, 0.6, but it may be a value lower than 0.6 or a value higher than 0.6. The first threshold is updated each time the flowchart shown in Figure 6 is processed. For the sake of explanation, here we will describe the case where the first threshold is 0.6. On the other hand, for example, if the difference of a predetermined time interval in the first waveform is less than or equal to the first threshold, the determination condition generation unit 143 associates a first flag (for example, 0) indicating that the difference of the predetermined time interval was less than or equal to the first threshold with that predetermined time interval. Such a first flag is a flag that indicates whether or not it is estimated to be a predetermined time interval in which the power consumption changed. Here, each of the predetermined time intervals in the first waveform is connected in chronological order, spanning across days. Therefore, the first flag associated with each of the predetermined time intervals in the first waveform can be identified as the first flag for each day. Therefore, the determination condition generation unit 143 identifies the earliest predetermined time interval among the predetermined time intervals to which a first flag indicating that the difference of predetermined time intervals exceeded a first threshold was associated for each day in the first waveform as the predetermined time interval in which the first life event is estimated to have occurred.As a result, the judgment condition generation unit 143 can associate the first life event flag with the second target branch circuit, as described above. The judgment condition generation unit 143 then performs this association of the first life event flag with the second target branch circuit for each of the second target branch circuits. 【0065】 Here, Figure 10 is a diagram illustrating the process of associating the first flag at predetermined time intervals. Figure 10 shows five graphs, G5 to G9. The horizontal axis of each of the graphs G5 to G9 is common and represents elapsed time. However, in the example shown in Figure 10, for the sake of clarity, the range of the horizontal axis is limited to one day, from 00:00 on December 16, 2022 to 00:00 on December 17, 2022. The vertical axis of graph G5 shows power consumption. That is, graph G5 is a graph showing an example of a first waveform that shows the temporal change in power consumption of a certain branch circuit. The judgment condition generation unit 143 standardizes such a first waveform as shown in graph G6. Graph G6 is a graph showing an example of the first waveform after standardization. Therefore, the vertical axis of graph G6 shows the power consumption after standardization. The judgment condition generation unit 143 calculates the difference between the power consumption in a given time interval and the power consumption in the previous given time interval, based on the standardized first waveform, and generates a difference waveform that shows the temporal change of the calculated difference. Graph G7 is a graph showing an example of the difference waveform generated in this way. Graph G7 is a graph showing each given time interval to which the first flag is associated based on such a difference waveform. In the example shown in Figure 10, the first flag, which is estimated to be the given time interval in which the power consumption changed, is associated with four given time intervals. The judgment condition generation unit 143 identifies the earliest of these four given time intervals as the given time interval in which the first life event is estimated to have occurred. This can also be rephrased as identifying the first flag associated with the earliest of the four first flags as the first life event flag for December 16, 2022. Graph G9 is a graph showing an example of the given time interval to which the first life event flag identified in this way is associated. 【0066】 Furthermore, for example, the judgment condition generation unit 143 generates a second waveform that shows the temporal change in power consumption data acquired from a certain third target branch circuit. After generating the second waveform, the judgment condition generation unit 143 identifies a predetermined time interval within the target period, for each day within the target period, where it is estimated that a first life event occurred, based on the generated second waveform. After identifying this predetermined time interval for each day within the target period, the judgment condition generation unit 143 associates a first life event flag, indicating that a first life event is estimated to have occurred, with the predetermined time interval identified for each day within the target period. For example, if the judgment condition generation unit 143 estimates that a first life event occurred at a predetermined time interval on a certain day within the target period, it associates the first life event flag with the date and time information indicating that predetermined time interval on that day. Then, the judgment condition generation unit 143 associates the date and time information to which the first life event flag is associated with branch circuit identification information that identifies the third target branch circuit. The judgment condition generation unit 143 associates the date and time information to which such a first life event flag is associated with the branch circuit identification information on a daily basis within the target period. This allows the judgment condition generation unit 143 to associate the first life event flag with the third target branch circuit. Here, in order to identify a predetermined time interval on a daily basis within the target period at which it is estimated that the first life event occurred, the judgment condition generation unit 143 determines whether the power consumption of the third target branch circuit is 0 or not for each predetermined time interval within the target period, based on the generated second waveform. Specifically, for example, if the power consumption for a certain predetermined time interval is not 0, the judgment condition generation unit 143 associates a second flag (for example, 1) indicating that the power consumption for that predetermined time interval is not 0 with that predetermined time interval. On the other hand, for example, if the power consumption for a certain predetermined time interval is 0, the judgment condition generation unit 143 associates a second flag (for example, 0) indicating that the power consumption for that predetermined time interval is 0 with that predetermined time interval. Here, each of the predetermined time intervals in the second waveform is sequentially linked across days. Therefore, the second flag associated with each predetermined time interval in the second waveform can be identified as the second flag for each day.Therefore, the determination condition generation unit 143 identifies the earliest predetermined time interval to which a second flag indicating that the power consumption for a predetermined time interval is not zero is associated for each day in the second waveform as the predetermined time interval to which the first life event is estimated to have occurred. As a result, the determination condition generation unit 143 can associate the first life event flag with the third target branch circuit as described above. The selection unit 142 then performs this association of the first life event flag with the third target branch circuit for each of the third target branch circuits. 【0067】 Here, Figure 11 is a diagram illustrating the process of associating a second flag at predetermined time intervals. Figure 11 shows two graphs, graph G10 and graph G11. The horizontal axis of both graphs G10 and G11 is common and represents elapsed time. However, in the example shown in Figure 11, for the sake of clarity, the range of the horizontal axis is limited to the period from 00:00 on May 23, 2022 to 23:59 on May 27, 2022. The vertical axis of graph G10 represents power consumption. That is, graph G10 is a graph showing an example of a second waveform that shows the temporal change in power consumption of a certain branch circuit. Based on such a second waveform, the judgment condition generation unit 143 determines whether the power consumption at a predetermined time interval is 0 or not, and associates a second flag with the predetermined time interval based on the determination result. The judgment condition generation unit 143 then identifies, based on the second flag identified at predetermined time intervals, the predetermined time interval at which the first life event is estimated to have occurred within the target period, for each day within the target period. This can also be rephrased as identifying the second flag associated with the earliest predetermined time interval each day as the first life event flag. This allows the judgment condition generation unit 143 to associate the first life event flag with the third target branch circuit. Graph G11 is a graph showing an example of predetermined time intervals to which the first life event flag is associated. 【0068】 The judgment condition generation unit 143 performs the above processing as the processing in step S350. 【0069】 After the processing in step S350 is completed, the determination condition generation unit 143 identifies one or more second target branch circuits that satisfy both of the following two conditions (α) and (β) as fourth target branch circuits from among the one or more second target branch circuits identified in step S330 for each of the seven days of the week included in the target period (step S360). 【0070】 (α) In step S350, the branch circuit is such that the ratio of the total number of days including the predetermined time interval to which the first life event flag is associated with the total number of days included in the target period exceeds a predetermined threshold ratio. (β) A branch circuit in which the ratio of the total number of predetermined time intervals to which the first life event flag is associated in the top 3 time periods with the most such intervals among the 9 time periods included in the target time period, to the total number of days to which the first life event flag is associated in the predetermined time intervals within the target period, exceeds the threshold ratio. 【0071】 In (α) and (β) above, the predetermined threshold percentage is, for example, 70%, but it may be a percentage lower than 70% or a percentage higher than 70%. Now, the process of step S360 will be explained. 【0072】 Figure 12 shows an example of the aggregated results of determining which of the nine time slots (i.e., 3am, 4am, ..., 11am) included in the target time period on Monday each predetermined time interval to which the daily first life event flag of a certain second target branch circuit is associated falls. However, in Figure 12, the target period is 1694 days (242 days for each day of the week), not 2 weeks. In the example shown in Figure 12, the second target branch circuit has the first life event flag associated with five predetermined time intervals included in the 3 o'clock hour, one predetermined time interval included in the 4 o'clock hour, no predetermined time interval included in the 5 o'clock hour, 34 predetermined time intervals included in the 6 o'clock hour, 13 predetermined time intervals included in the 7 o'clock hour, 17 predetermined time intervals included in the 8 o'clock hour, 66 predetermined time intervals included in the 9 o'clock hour, 32 predetermined time intervals included in the 10 o'clock hour, and 23 predetermined time intervals included in the 11 o'clock hour, and is not used in any of the 51 days included in the target period (i.e., none of these 51 days contain a predetermined time interval to which the first life event flag is associated). Furthermore, the percentage shown in Figure 12 is calculated using 191 days as the base number, which is the total number of days the second target branch circuit was used (i.e., the total number of days within the target period that include the predetermined time interval to which the first life event flag is associated). In this example, the percentage of the total number of days that include the predetermined time interval to which the first life event flag is associated with the total number of days included in the target period is 79%. Therefore, it can be seen that the second target branch circuit satisfies condition (α) above on Mondays within the target period.On the other hand, in this example, the ratio of the total number of predetermined time intervals to which the first life event flag is associated (132 in this example) in the top three time slots with the most occurrences of predetermined time intervals to which the first life event flag is associated (in this example, the three time slots between 6:00, 9:00, and 10:00) within the nine time slots included in the target time period to the total number of days to which the first life event flag is associated (191 in this example) is 69%. For this reason, the second target branch circuit does not satisfy condition (β) above on Mondays within the target period. As a result, the determination condition generation unit 143 does not identify the second target branch circuit as the fourth target branch circuit on Mondays within the target period. 【0073】 In step S360, the determination condition generation unit 143 identifies the fourth target branch circuit for each day of the week, and then associates the day of the week flag with the branch circuit identification information that identifies the identified fourth target branch circuit. Specifically, the determination condition generation unit 143 associates the branch circuit identification information that identifies the fourth target branch circuit identified for a given day of the week with a day of the week flag indicating that it can be used to determine whether or not the first life event flag occurred on that day of the week. Here, the fourth target branch circuit for a given day of the week identified in step S360 is a fourth target branch circuit that can be used to determine whether or not the first life event flag occurred on that day of the week. For this reason, in step S360, the determination condition generation unit 143 associates 1 with the fourth target branch circuit for that day of the week as the day of the week flag indicating that day of the week. In other words, for example, a fourth target branch circuit that can be used to determine whether or not the first life event flag occurred on Monday is associated with a day of the week flag of 1, which indicates Monday, and a day of the week flag of 0, which indicates any other day of the week. In step S360, the determination condition generation unit 143 performs this day of the week flag association for each of the identified fourth target branch circuits. 【0074】 Furthermore, the fourth target branch circuit may be a second target branch circuit that satisfies only condition (α) above, instead of a second target branch circuit that satisfies both conditions (α) and (β) above. Also, the fourth target branch circuit may be a second target branch circuit that satisfies condition (α) above, as well as one or more conditions different from condition (β). Also, the fourth target branch circuit may be a second target branch circuit that satisfies one or more other conditions in addition to the two conditions (α) and (β) above. Furthermore, in order to simplify the explanation, the following will describe, as an example, the case in which only the branch circuit that supplies power to the outlet in the second Western-style room is identified as the fourth branch circuit by the determination condition generation unit 143. Furthermore, the following will describe, as an example, the case in which the day of the week flag associated with the branch circuit as the fourth branch circuit is 1 for all weekdays from Monday to Friday, and 0 for all holidays on Saturday and Sunday. 【0075】 After the processing in step S360 is completed, the determination condition generation unit 143 identifies one or more third target branch circuits that satisfy both of the above two conditions (α) and (β) from among the one or more third target branch circuits identified in step S340 for each of the seven days of the week included in the target period, as one or more fifth target branch circuits (step S370). The processing in step S370 is the same as the processing in step S360, except that the target of the processing is a third target branch circuit. For this reason, the details of the processing in step S370 will be omitted. Furthermore, in order to simplify the explanation, as an example, the case in which only branch circuit A4 that supplies power to the outlet in the living-dining-kitchen (LDK) is identified as a fifth branch circuit by the determination condition generation unit 143 will be described. In addition, as an example, the case in which the day of the week flag associated with the branch circuit as a fifth branch circuit is 0 for all weekdays from Monday to Friday, and 1 for all holidays on Saturday and Sunday will be described. 【0076】 The processing in step S370 may be executed in the reverse order of the processing in step S360, or it may be executed in parallel with the processing in step S360. Furthermore, the mapping of the day-of-the-week flag may be performed by the information processing device 1 in response to an operation received from the user. 【0077】 Next, the judgment condition generation unit 143 generates judgment conditions (step S380). The details of the process in step S380 will now be explained. 【0078】 The judgment condition generation unit 143 performs, for example, the following process as the process of step S380. 【0079】 The judgment condition generation unit 143 standardizes the waveform showing the temporal change of power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit 141 within the target period from the fourth target branch circuit identified in step S360, and calculates the standard deviation of power consumption in the waveform based on the standardized waveform. After calculating the standard deviation, the judgment condition generation unit 143 calculates a new first threshold value by multiplying the standard deviation by the current first threshold value (0.6 in this example). After calculating the new first threshold value, the judgment condition generation unit 143 generates a judgment condition to determine whether or not a first life event occurred on a day of the week when the day of the week flag is 1, including information that associates the results determined by the processing in steps S320 and S330 for the fourth target branch circuit identified in step S360, branch circuit identification information that identifies the fourth target branch circuit, a day of the week flag associated with the fourth target branch circuit, and the newly calculated first threshold value. Furthermore, the determination condition generation unit 143 generates a determination condition for determining whether or not a first life event occurred on a day of the week for which the day of the week flag is 1. This condition includes the results determined by the processing in steps S320 and S340 for the fifth target branch circuit identified in step S370, branch circuit identification information that identifies the fifth target branch circuit, and information that associates the day of the week flag associated with the fifth target branch circuit. Figure 13 shows an example of a determination condition generated by the determination condition generation unit 143 through the processing in step S380. 【0080】 The upper of the two records in the table shown in Figure 13 indicates the judgment condition generated according to the fourth target branch circuit. On the other hand, the lower of the two records indicates the judgment condition generated according to the fifth target branch circuit. In the example shown in Figure 13, these two records contain information that associates the contract number indicating the contract of the first resident H1, information indicating the specific content of the first life event (indicated as "First Life Event" in Figure 13), information indicating whether or not it is the branch circuit from which power consumption data, including constant power consumption, is obtained (indicated as "Presence or Absence of Constant Power Consumption" in Figure 13), branch circuit identification information that identifies the fourth target branch circuit, the first threshold, information indicating the upper limit of the number of detections of the first life event in a day (indicated as "Upper Limit of Detection Count (Daily)" in Figure 13), and a day of the week flag. Note that the judgment condition may also include other information in addition to this information. The information processing device 1 can determine whether or not a first life event has occurred based on these determination conditions and the power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit 141 from the fourth target branch circuit or the fifth target branch circuit. Specifically, the information processing device 1 determines that a first life event has occurred if, on weekdays from Monday to Friday, the standardized change in power consumption indicated by the power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit 141 from the fourth target branch circuit exceeds the first threshold for the first time that day. On the other hand, the information processing device 1 determines that a first life event has occurred if, on holidays on Saturday and Sunday, the power consumption indicated by the power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit 141 from the fifth target branch circuit becomes non-zero for the first time that day. 【0081】 After generating such a judgment condition, the judgment condition generation unit 143 terminates the processing of the flowchart shown in Figure 6. Then, the judgment condition generation unit 143 terminates the processing of step S220 shown in Figure 5, stores the judgment condition generated in step S380 shown in Figure 6 in the storage unit 12 (step S230), and terminates the processing of the flowchart shown in Figure 5. 【0082】 As described above, the information processing device 1 generates determination conditions for determining whether or not a first life event has occurred by the first resident H1 residing in the house H, based on the power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit 141 within the target period. This allows the information processing device 1 to accurately determine whether or not a first life event has occurred. 【0083】 <Processing by which the information processing device determines whether or not the first life event has occurred based on the judgment conditions> The following describes the process by which the information processing device 1 determines whether or not a first life event has occurred based on the determination conditions, with reference to Figure 14. Figure 14 is a diagram showing an example of the flow of the process by which the information processing device 1 determines whether or not a first life event has occurred based on the determination conditions. In the following, as an example, we will describe the case in which the determination conditions are stored in the storage unit 12 by the flowchart process shown in Figures 5 and 6 at a timing prior to the processing of step S410 shown in Figure 14. In addition, in the following, as an example, we will describe the case in which the information processing device 1 receives a second processing start operation to start the said process at that timing. In addition, in the following, as an example, we will describe the case in which the determination conditions stored in the storage unit 12 are the determination conditions shown in Figure 13. In addition, in the following, as an example, we will describe the case in which the day of the week on which the second processing start operation was received is Monday. 【0084】 After receiving the second processing start operation, the determination unit 144 reads the determination conditions stored in the storage unit 12 from the storage unit 12 (step S410). 【0085】 Next, the determination unit 144 identifies a branch circuit to be used to determine whether or not the first life event occurred on Monday, based on the determination conditions read from the storage unit 12 in step S410 (in this example, the determination unit 144 identifies the fourth target branch circuit as the branch circuit based on the day of the week flag of the upper record shown in Figure 13). Then, the determination unit 144 starts acquiring power consumption data from the identified branch circuit using the acquisition unit 141 (step S420). 【0086】 Next, the determination unit 144 waits until a first life event occurs based on the power consumption data acquired in step S420 (step S430). Here, for example, if the branch circuit identified in step S420 is the branch circuit from which power consumption data showing power consumption including constant power consumption is acquired, the determination unit 144 generates waveforms showing the temporal changes between the most recent power consumption data among the power consumption data acquired in step S420 and the power consumption data acquired immediately before that power consumption data. After generating these waveforms, the determination unit 144 standardizes the two generated waveforms and generates a waveform showing the difference between the two standardized waveforms. After generating these waveforms, the determination unit 144 identifies a first threshold associated with branch circuit identification information that identifies the branch circuit identified in step S420 from the determination conditions read from the storage unit 12 in step S410. After identifying the first threshold, the determination unit 144 determines whether the difference shown by the generated waveform exceeds the identified first threshold. If the difference exceeds the first threshold, the determination unit 144 determines that a first life event has occurred. On the other hand, if the difference is less than or equal to the first threshold, the determination unit 144 determines that a first life event has not occurred. Furthermore, if, for example, the branch circuit identified in step S420 is the source of power consumption data that does not include constant power consumption, the determination unit 144 generates waveforms showing the temporal changes between the most recent power consumption data acquired in step S420 and the power consumption data acquired immediately before it. After generating these waveforms, the determination unit 144 compares the two generated waveforms and determines that a first life event has occurred if the power consumption shown by the most recent power consumption data is no longer zero. On the other hand, the determination unit 144 compares the two waveforms and determines that the first life event has not occurred if the power consumption indicated by the most recent power consumption data remains at 0. 【0087】 If the determination unit 144 determines that a first life event has occurred (step S430-YES), it terminates the acquisition of power consumption data by the acquisition unit 141, which was started in step S420 (step S440). 【0088】 Next, the determination unit 144 outputs information indicating that the first life event has occurred to another device (step S450), and the process shown in the flowchart in Figure 14 is completed. 【0089】 As described above, the information processing device 1 determines whether or not a first life event has occurred based on the generated determination conditions, and if it determines that a first life event has occurred, it outputs information indicating that a first life event has occurred to the other devices. This allows the information processing device 1 to accurately cause the other devices to perform processing in response to the occurrence of the first life event. 【0090】 <Processing where the information processing device updates the judgment conditions> The process by which the information processing device 1 updates the judgment conditions will be described below with reference to Figure 15. Figure 15 is a diagram showing an example of the flow of the process by which the information processing device 1 updates the judgment conditions. In the following, as an example, we will describe the case in which the judgment conditions are stored in the storage unit 12 by the flowchart process shown in Figures 5 and 6 at a time before the process of step S510 shown in Figure 15 is performed. For example, after the information processing device 1 stores the judgment conditions in the storage unit 12, it repeatedly executes the flowchart process shown in Figure 15. 【0091】 After the determination conditions are stored in the memory unit 12, the determination condition generation unit 143 waits until it determines whether to update the determination conditions (step S510). Here, for example, in step S510, the determination condition generation unit 143 determines to update the determination conditions if predetermined update conditions are met. On the other hand, for example, in step S510, the determination condition generation unit 143 determines not to update the determination conditions if the update conditions are not met. The update conditions include, for example, the three conditions (X1) to (X3) shown below. 【0092】 (X1) The power consumption of at least one of the N branch circuits changed from a power consumption that does not include constant power consumption to a power consumption that includes constant power consumption. (X2) The power consumption of at least one of the N branch circuits changed from a power consumption that includes constant power consumption to a power consumption that does not include constant power consumption. (X3) The information processing device 1 has received an operation to update the judgment conditions. 【0093】 The determination condition generation unit 143 determines that the update condition is met if at least one of the three conditions (X1) to (X3) above is met. The update condition may be configured to include one or more other conditions in place of at least one of the three conditions, or in addition to the three conditions. The method for detecting that condition (X1) is met may be a known method or a method to be developed in the future. The method for detecting that condition (X2) is met may also be a known method or a method to be developed in the future. 【0094】 If the determination condition generation unit 143 determines that the determination condition should be updated (step S510-YES), it executes the flowchart process shown in Figures 5 and 6 and updates the determination condition (step S520). After that, the determination condition generation unit 143 transitions to step S510 and waits again until it determines that the determination condition should be updated. 【0095】 As described above, the information processing device 1 can update the determination conditions. The update conditions may be received by the information processing device 1 from the user, or they may be stored in the information processing device 1 in advance. 【0096】 Furthermore, the information processing device 1 described above may be configured to determine lifestyle habits in addition to lifestyle events, as shown in Figure 16. Figure 16 shows an example of the results of the information processing device 1's determination of the lifestyle habits of the first resident H1. For example, based on the waveform showing the temporal change in power consumption indicated by the power consumption data acquired from each of the N branch circuits, the information processing device 1 can detect the following as lifestyle habits of the first resident H1: how often the first resident H1 is at home during the day (in the example shown in Figure 16, "medium (about 2-3 days a week)"), how often the first resident H1 goes out on weekdays (in the example shown in Figure 16, "medium (about 2-3 days a week)"), how often the first resident H1 goes out on holidays (in the example shown in Figure 16, "low (about 2 times a month)"), how much variation there is in the first resident H1's wake-up time (in the example shown in Figure 16, "high"), how often the first resident H1 eats at home (in the example shown in Figure 16, "high (about 5 days a week)"), and how often the first resident H1 eats takeout (in the example shown in Figure 16, "low (about 1 day a week)"). When the information processing device 1 detects these lifestyle habits, it outputs information indicating the detected lifestyle habits to other devices. This allows the information processing device 1 to have the other device perform processing according to the lifestyle habits of the first resident H1. 【0097】 As described above, the information processing device according to the embodiment acquires power consumption data indicating the power consumption of each of the multiple branch circuits of a house at predetermined time intervals, associated with acquisition date and time information indicating the date and time of acquisition. Based on the power consumption data acquired within a predetermined period in the past, it generates determination conditions for determining whether or not a first life event has occurred by a first resident living in the house. Based on the acquired power consumption data and the determination conditions, it determines whether or not a first life event has occurred and outputs information indicating the determination result to another device. As a result, the information processing device can accurately determine the occurrence of a first life event. 【0098】 Furthermore, the matters described above may be combined in any way as long as they do not impair the functions of the information processing device 1 described above. 【0099】 <Note> [1] An information processing device comprising: an acquisition unit that acquires power consumption data showing the power consumption of each of the multiple branch circuits of a house at predetermined time intervals, associated with acquisition date and time information indicating the date and time of acquisition; a determination condition generation unit that generates determination conditions for determining whether or not a first life event has occurred by a first resident living in the house, based on the power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit within a predetermined period in the past; a determination unit that determines whether or not the first life event has occurred, based on the power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit and the determination conditions generated by the determination condition generation unit; and an output unit that outputs information indicating the determination result by the determination unit to another device. [2] The information processing apparatus according to [1], comprising a storage unit that stores the power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit. [3] The information processing device described in [1] or [2], wherein the first life event is the waking of the first resident. [4] The power consumption data is associated with branch circuit identification information that identifies the branch circuit from which the power consumption data was obtained among the plurality of branch circuits, and the information processing device comprises a storage unit that stores first correspondence information for each of the plurality of branch circuits, which is associated with branch circuit name information indicating the name of the branch circuit and the branch circuit identification information that identifies the branch circuit, and a selection unit that excludes branch circuits from the plurality of branch circuits that satisfy a first exclusion condition that a branch circuit cannot be used to detect the occurrence of the first life event, and selects one or more remaining branch circuits as one or more first target branch circuits, and the determination condition generation unit generates the determination condition based on the first correspondence information and the power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit within the period from each of the one or more first target branch circuits selected by the selection unit, according to any one of [1] to [3]. [5] The information processing apparatus according to [4], wherein the first exclusion condition is that the branch circuit is identified by the branch circuit identification information to which the branch circuit name information is associated, and which is different from any of the one or more branch circuit name information associated with the first life event. [6] The information processing apparatus according to [4] or [5], wherein the first exclusion condition is that the branch circuit consumes power only during certain seasons of the year. [7] The information processing device according to any one of [4] to [6], wherein the first exclusion condition is that the branch circuit is one whose frequency of use during the time period associated with the first life event is below a predetermined threshold. [8] The information processing apparatus according to any one of [4] to [7], wherein the determination condition generation unit identifies one or more of the branch circuits selected by the selection unit as one or more second target branch circuits, which are sources of one or more power consumption data indicating power consumption including constant power consumption, and identifies one or more of the branch circuits selected by the selection unit as one or more third target branch circuits, which are sources of one or more power consumption data indicating power consumption excluding constant power consumption, and generates the determination condition based on the power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit from each of the one or more second target branch circuits within the period, and the power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit from each of the one or more third target branch circuits within the period. [9] The determination condition generation unit identifies a predetermined time interval for each day within the period in which the first life event is estimated to have occurred, based on a first waveform showing the temporal change in power consumption indicated by the power consumption data acquired from the second target branch circuit by the acquisition unit within the period for each of the one or more second target branch circuits, and associates a first life event flag indicating that the first life event is estimated to have occurred with the predetermined time interval identified for each day within the period, and for each of the one or more third target branch circuits, the power consumption data acquired from the third target branch circuit by the acquisition unit within the period The information processing device according to [8], which generates the determination condition based on a second waveform showing the temporal change in power consumption, which identifies a predetermined time interval for each day within the period in which the first life event is estimated to have occurred, associates a first life event flag indicating that the first life event is estimated to have occurred with the predetermined time interval identified for each day within the period, and generates the determination condition based on the predetermined time interval to which the first life event flag is associated for each of the one or more second target branch circuits and the predetermined time interval to which the first life event flag is associated for each of the one or more third target branch circuits.

[10] The information processing apparatus according to [9] generates the determination condition based on the power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit from each of the one or more fourth target branch circuits within the period, the power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit from each of the one or more fifth target branch circuits within the period, the predetermined time interval to which the first life event flag is associated, and the predetermined time interval to which the first life event flag is associated, from among the one or more second target branch circuits, in which the ratio of the total number of days including the predetermined time interval to which the first life event flag is associated with the period exceeds the threshold ratio, and generates the determination condition based on the power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit from each of the one or more fourth target branch circuits within the period, the power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit from each of the one or more fifth target branch circuits within the period, the predetermined time interval to which the first life event flag is associated for each of the one or more fourth target branch circuits, and the predetermined time interval to which the first life event flag is associated for each of the one or more fifth target branch circuits.

[11] An information processing method comprising: an information processing device acquiring power consumption data showing the power consumption of each of the multiple branch circuits of a house at predetermined time intervals, associated with acquisition date and time information indicating the time of acquisition; generating determination conditions for determining whether a first life event has occurred by a first resident living in the house based on the power consumption data acquired within a predetermined period in the past; determining whether the first life event has occurred based on the acquired power consumption data and the generated determination conditions; and outputting information indicating the determination result to another device.

[12] A program that causes a computer in an information processing device to acquire power consumption data showing the power consumption of each of the multiple branch circuits in a house at predetermined time intervals, associated with acquisition date and time information indicating the time of acquisition; generates a determination condition for determining whether a first life event has occurred by a first resident living in the house based on the power consumption data acquired within a predetermined period in the past; determines whether the first life event has occurred based on the acquired power consumption data and the generated determination condition; and outputs information indicating the determination result to another device. 【0100】 Although embodiments of this invention have been described in detail above with reference to the drawings, the specific configuration is not limited to these embodiments and may be modified, substituted, deleted, etc., as long as it does not depart from the spirit of this invention. 【0101】 Furthermore, a program for realizing the functions of any component in the device described above (for example, the information processing device 1) may be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, and the program may be loaded into a computer system and executed. Here, "computer system" includes hardware such as the OS (Operating System) and peripheral devices. "Computer-readable recording medium" refers to portable media such as flexible disks, magneto-optical disks, ROMs, CD (Compact Disk)-ROMs, and storage devices such as hard disks built into computer systems. Moreover, "computer-readable recording medium" also includes volatile memory (RAM) inside computer systems that act as servers or clients when programs are transmitted via networks such as the Internet or communication lines such as telephone lines, which retain programs for a certain period of time. 【0102】 Furthermore, the above program may be transmitted from a computer system that stores the program in a memory device or the like to another computer system via a transmission medium or by transmission waves within the transmission medium. Here, the "transmission medium" used to transmit the program refers to a medium that has the function of transmitting information, such as a network (communication network) like the Internet or a communication line (communication line) like a telephone line. Furthermore, the above program may be intended to implement only a portion of the functions described above. In addition, the above program may be a so-called differential file (differential program) that can implement the functions described above in combination with a program already recorded in the computer system. [Explanation of Symbols] 【0103】 1...Information processing device, 11...Processor, 12...Storage unit, 13...Communication unit, 14...Control unit, 141...Acquisition unit, 142...Selection unit, 143...Decision condition generation unit, 144...Decision unit, 145...Output unit, A1, A2, A3, A4...Branch circuit, H...House, H1...First resident

Claims

[Claim 1] An acquisition unit acquires power consumption data showing the power consumption of each of the multiple branch circuits in a house at predetermined time intervals, and associates this data with acquisition date and time information indicating the date and time of acquisition. A determination condition generation unit generates determination conditions for determining whether or not a first life event has occurred, based on the power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit within a predetermined period in the past. A determination unit determines whether or not the first life event has occurred based on the power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit and the determination conditions generated by the determination condition generation unit, An output unit that outputs information indicating the determination result by the determination unit to another device, An information processing device equipped with the following features. [Claim 2] The system includes a storage unit that stores the power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. [Claim 3] The first life event is one of the following for a resident of the said residence: waking up, cooking, returning home, bathing, doing laundry, getting ready, or going to bed. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. [Claim 4] The power consumption data is associated with branch circuit identification information that identifies the branch circuit from which the power consumption data was acquired among the multiple branch circuits. The aforementioned information processing device is A storage unit stores first correspondence information, which associates branch circuit name information indicating the name of the branch circuit with branch circuit identification information identifying the branch circuit for each of the aforementioned multiple branch circuits. A selection unit that excludes branch circuits from the plurality of branch circuits that satisfy the first exclusion condition, which is that a branch circuit cannot be used to detect the occurrence of the first life event, and selects one or more remaining branch circuits as one or more first target branch circuits. Equipped with, The determination condition generation unit generates the determination condition based on the first correspondence information and the power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit within the period from each of the one or more first target branch circuits selected by the selection unit. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. [Claim 5] The first exclusion condition includes the branch circuit being identified by the branch circuit identification information to which the branch circuit name information is associated, which is different from any of the one or more branch circuit name information associated with the first life event. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4. [Claim 6] The first exclusion condition includes the fact that the branch circuit consumes power only during certain seasons of the year. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4. [Claim 7] The first exclusion condition includes the fact that the frequency of use during the time period associated with the first life event is below a predetermined threshold for the branch circuit. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4. [Claim 8] The aforementioned determination condition generation unit is: Of the one or more first target branch circuits selected by the selection unit, one or more first target branch circuits that are sources of one or more power consumption data indicating power consumption including constant power consumption are identified as one or more second target branch circuits, Of the one or more first target branch circuits selected by the selection unit, one or more first target branch circuits that are sources of one or more power consumption data indicating power consumption excluding constant power consumption are identified as one or more third target branch circuits. Based on the power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit within the period from each of the one or more second target branch circuits, and the power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit within the period from each of the one or more third target branch circuits, the determination condition is generated. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4. [Claim 9] The aforementioned determination condition generation unit is: For each of the one or more second target branch circuits, based on a first waveform showing the temporal change in power consumption indicated by the power consumption data acquired from the second target branch circuit by the acquisition unit within the period, a predetermined time interval in which the first life event is estimated to have occurred is identified for each day within the period, and a first life event flag indicating that the first life event is estimated to have occurred is associated with the predetermined time interval identified for each day within the period. For each of the one or more third target branch circuits, based on a second waveform showing the temporal change in power consumption indicated by the power consumption data acquired from the third target branch circuit by the acquisition unit within the period, a predetermined time interval in which the first life event is estimated to have occurred is identified for each day within the period, and a first life event flag indicating that the first life event is estimated to have occurred is associated with the predetermined time interval identified for each day within the period. Based on the predetermined time interval to which the first life event flag is associated for each of the one or more second target branch circuits, and the predetermined time interval to which the first life event flag is associated for each of the one or more third target branch circuits, the determination condition is generated. The information processing apparatus according to claim 8. [Claim 10] The aforementioned determination condition generation unit is: From among the one or more second target branch circuits, one or more second target branch circuits whose ratio to the period of the total number of days including the predetermined time interval to which the first life event flag is associated exceeds a predetermined threshold ratio are identified as one or more fourth target branch circuits. From among the one or more third target branch circuits, one or more third target branch circuits whose ratio to the period of the total number of days including the predetermined time interval to which the first life event flag is associated exceeds the threshold ratio are identified as one or more fifth target branch circuits. Based on the power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit within the period from each of the one or more fourth target branch circuits, the power consumption data acquired by the acquisition unit within the period from each of the one or more fifth target branch circuits, the predetermined time interval to which the first life event flag is associated for each of the one or more fourth target branch circuits, and the predetermined time interval to which the first life event flag is associated for each of the one or more fifth target branch circuits, the determination condition is generated. The information processing apparatus according to claim 9. [Claim 11] Information processing device, Power consumption data, which shows the power consumption of each of the multiple branch circuits in a house at predetermined time intervals, is acquired in association with acquisition date and time information indicating the time of acquisition. Based on the aforementioned power consumption data acquired within a predetermined period in the past, a determination condition is generated to determine whether or not a first life event has occurred. Based on the acquired power consumption data and the generated determination conditions, it is determined whether or not the first life event has occurred. Output information indicating the judgment result to another device. Information processing methods. [Claim 12] In the computer of the information processing device, Power consumption data, which shows the power consumption of each of the multiple branch circuits in a house at predetermined time intervals, is acquired in association with acquisition date and time information indicating the time of acquisition. Based on the aforementioned power consumption data acquired within a predetermined period in the past, a determination condition is generated to determine whether or not a first life event has occurred. Based on the acquired power consumption data and the generated determination conditions, determine whether or not the first life event has occurred. Output information showing the judgment result to another device. program.

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