Processing device

Abstract

A processing device 20 includes the function of inferring the status of an electronic device 10 for executing an application. An acquisition unit 42 acquires a power generation amount of power generated using energy which is generated by the operation of the electronic device 10. An inference unit 44 infers the status of the electronic device 10 on the basis of the acquired power generation amount.

Description

Processing equipment

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a technology for estimating the status of an electronic device that runs an application such as a game.

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a power control device that supplies power to electrical equipment from multiple power generation devices with different power generation methods. This power control device selects a power generation device with high power generation efficiency from the multiple power generation devices depending on the current weather conditions.

[0003] JP 2013-27155 A

[0004] An electronic device generates various types of energy when running an application such as a game. The present disclosure proposes a technology for estimating the status of an electronic device by utilizing the energy generated by the operation of the electronic device.

[0005] A processing device according to one aspect of the present disclosure is a processing device that estimates the status of an electronic device that executes an application, and includes an acquisition unit that acquires the amount of power generated by utilizing energy produced by the operation of the electronic device, and an estimation unit that estimates the status of the electronic device based on the acquired amount of power generated.

[0006] It is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of an information processing system in an embodiment. It is a diagram showing functional blocks of a processing device. It is a diagram showing an example of displaying the amount of power generation. It is a diagram showing an example of displaying a warning.

[0007] 1 shows an example of the configuration of an information processing system 1 according to an embodiment. The information processing system 1 includes an electronic device 10 that executes an application such as a game, a head-mounted display (HMD) 12 that a user wears on the head, an input device 14 that the user holds in his or her hand and operates with his or her fingers, and a processing device 20 that estimates the status of the electronic device 10. The electronic device 10 may be a game device that executes a game program based on operation information entered by a user operating the input device 14, and generates image data and sound data for the game and supplies them to the HMD 12. The electronic device 10 and the HMD 12 may be connected via a known wireless communication protocol or may be connected by a cable.

[0008] The HMD 12 is a display device worn by a user on the head that displays images on a display panel located in front of the user's eyes, and is also called a VR headset. The HMD 12 displays an image for the left eye on the left-eye display panel and an image for the right eye on the right-eye display panel separately, and these images form parallax images seen from the left and right viewpoints, thereby realizing stereoscopic vision.

[0009] The electronic device 10 and the input device 14 may be connected using a known wireless communication protocol or may be connected by a cable. The input device 14 has a plurality of operation members such as operation buttons, and a user operates the operation members with their fingers while holding the input device 14.

[0010] In the information processing system 1 of the embodiment, the processing device 20 has a power generation function and includes a power generation element that generates power using energy produced by the operation of the electronic device 10. The processing device 20 may include multiple power generation elements with different power generation methods. The processing device 20 has a function to estimate the status of the electronic device 10 based on the amount of power generated by the power generation element.

[0011] 2 shows functional blocks of the processing device 20. The processing device 20 includes a plurality of power generating elements 30a, 30b, 30c, 30d, and 30e, a power storage unit 32, a display device 34, and a control unit 40. The control unit 40 includes an acquisition unit 42, an estimation unit 44, a power management unit 46, a presentation unit 48, and a peripheral device control unit 50. The power generating methods of the plurality of power generating elements 30a, 30b, 30c, 30d, and 30e may be different from one another.

[0012] In the embodiment, the power generating element 30a is an element that generates frictional power by utilizing the exhaust or intake air from the electronic device 10, the power generating element 30b is an element that generates thermal power by utilizing the exhaust heat from the electronic device 10, and the power generating element 30c is an element that generates vibrational power by utilizing the vibration of the electronic device 10. In this way, the power generating elements 30a, 30b, and 30c generate power by utilizing the energy produced by the operation of the electronic device 10.

[0013] The power generating element 30d is an element that receives light from the room in which the electronic device 10 is installed and generates photovoltaic power, and the power generating element 30e is an element that generates radio wave power by using radio waves in the 2.4 GHz band. The processing device 20 may further include power generating elements that use other power generation methods. Hereinafter, when there is no need to distinguish between the power generating elements 30a, 30b, 30c, 30d, and 30e, they may be simply referred to as "power generating elements 30."

[0014] The processing device 20 includes a computer, and various functions are realized by the computer executing a program. The computer includes hardware such as a memory into which the program is loaded, one or more processors that execute the loaded program, an auxiliary storage device, and other LSIs. The processor is composed of multiple electronic circuits including semiconductor integrated circuits and LSIs, and the multiple electronic circuits may be mounted on a single chip or on multiple chips. The functional blocks shown in FIG. 2 are realized by cooperation between hardware and software. Therefore, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that these functional blocks can be realized in various ways using hardware alone, software alone, or a combination thereof.

[0015] The processing device 20 of the embodiment is not equipped with a secondary battery that is charged by an external power source, such as a commercial power source, or a primary battery. In the processing device 20 of the embodiment, the plurality of power generating elements 30 have a power generating function and generate the power used by the processing device 20. The power storage unit 32 is a capacitor that stores the power generated by the plurality of power generating elements 30.

[0016] The power management unit 46 is responsible for power management in the processing device 20. For example, when the voltage of the power storage unit 32 reaches or exceeds a predetermined first threshold, the power management unit 46 supplies the power stored in the power storage unit 32 to various components in the processing device 20 to activate various functions of the processing device 20. By including multiple power generation elements 30, the processing device 20 has the advantage of not needing to be equipped with secondary batteries or primary batteries that are charged by an external power source.

[0017] When the voltage of the power storage unit 32 reaches or exceeds a predetermined second threshold, the power management unit 46 supplies the power stored in the power storage unit 32 to the external charging target. Here, the second threshold is set to a value higher than the first threshold. There may be multiple charging targets, and charging priorities may be set in advance for the multiple charging targets. For example, the charging targets may be the built-in battery of the electronic device 10, the input device 14, and the HMD 12, and the charging priorities may be set in the order of the built-in battery of the electronic device 10, the input device 14, and the HMD 12. The power management unit 46 monitors the charge amount (amount of stored power) of the charging target, and if the charge amount of the charging target falls below a predetermined amount, supplies the power stored in the power storage unit 32 to the charging target in accordance with the priority. For example, if the charge amount of the built-in battery of the electronic device 10 falls below a predetermined amount and the charge amount of the input device 14 also falls below a predetermined amount, the power management unit 46 charges the built-in battery of the electronic device 10 first, followed by the input device 14, in accordance with the priority. When a momentary power interruption occurs in the electronic device 10, the power management unit 46 may supply power to the electronic device 10 for saving game data, for example.

[0018] The acquisition unit 42 acquires the amount of power generated by utilizing energy produced by the operation of the electronic device 10. In the embodiment, the power generating element 30a generates frictional power by utilizing exhaust or intake air from the electronic device 10, the power generating element 30b generates thermal power by utilizing exhaust heat from the electronic device 10, and the power generating element 30c generates vibrational power by utilizing vibrations of the electronic device 10. The acquisition unit 42 may acquire the amount of power generated by each of the power generating elements 30a, 30b, and 30c. The acquisition unit 42 may also acquire the amount of power generated by each of the power generating elements 30d and 30e. The acquired amount of power generation may be the amount of power generation per unit time, for example, the amount of power generation per hour.

[0019] The presentation unit 48 presents the amount of power generated for each power generation method to the user. Specifically, the presentation unit 48 displays the amount of power generated for each power generation method on the display device 34. At this time, the presentation unit 48 may display on the display device 34 the relationship between the amount of power consumed by the electronic device 10 and the total amount of power generated by the multiple power generation elements 30.

[0020] 3 shows an example of the display of the amount of power generated. The presentation unit 48 presents the amount of power generated for each power generation method, as well as the ratio (recovery rate) between the total amount of power generated and the amount of power consumed by the electronic device 10. By presenting the actual amount of power generated and the amount of power consumed, the user can become more aware of saving energy.

[0021] The estimation unit 44 estimates the status of the electronic device 10 based on the amount of power generation acquired by the acquisition unit 42. The estimation unit 44 may detect an abnormality in the electronic device 10 based on the difference between the expected amount of power generation and the amount of power generation acquired by the acquisition unit 42. For example, the estimation unit 44 detects an abnormality in the electronic device 10 when the difference between the expected amount of power generation and the amount of power generation acquired by the acquisition unit 42 is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold. The expected amount of power generation may be an average value of the amounts of power generation acquired in the past, or may be an average value of the amounts of power generation acquired over the most recent predetermined period (e.g., one month).

[0022] If the amount of power generated by the power generating element 30a, which generates power using exhaust air in the electronic device 10, is less than the expected amount of power generation by at least a first predetermined amount, the estimation unit 44 detects that exhaust is insufficient and estimates that an abnormality has occurred in the cooling fan. In this case, the presentation unit 48 may display on the display device 34 that there is a possibility that an abnormality has occurred in the cooling fan.

[0023] 4 shows an example of a warning display. In response to the estimation result by the estimation unit 44, the presentation unit 48 presents a warning to the user saying, "There may be an abnormality in the cooling fan." At this time, the presentation unit 48 may also present a countermeasure to the user, saying, "Please remove dust from the cooling fan."

[0024] When the amount of power generated by the power generating element 30b, which generates power by utilizing the exhaust heat of the electronic device 10, is greater than the expected amount of power generation by at least a second predetermined amount, the estimation unit 44 detects that overheating has occurred and estimates that an abnormality has occurred in the cooling fan. At this time, the presentation unit 48 displays on the display device 34 a message indicating that an abnormality may have occurred in the cooling fan. The displayed message may be similar to that shown in FIG. 4.

[0025] If the amount of power generated by the power generating element 30c, which generates power using vibrations in the electronic device 10, is greater than the expected amount of power generation by at least a third predetermined amount, the estimation unit 44 detects that there is a problem with the installation of a driving part such as a motor inside the housing and estimates that there is a backlash. In this case, the presentation unit 48 may display on the display device 34 that there is a possibility of backlash in the installation of a component.

[0026] The above describes an example in which the estimation unit 44 detects an abnormality in the electronic device 10 based on the amount of power generated. However, the exhaust and heat generated by the electronic device 10 vary depending on the game being played. For example, when the electronic device 10 runs a game that performs high-speed calculations to generate high-resolution images, the temperatures of the CPU and GPU tend to be relatively high, which increases the amount of power generated by the power generating element 30b. In such a case, the estimation unit 44 estimates that the user is concentrating on playing the game, and the peripheral device control unit 50 may, based on this estimation result, gradually dim the indoor lights, for example, to enhance the user's sense of immersion in the game.

[0027] Furthermore, the estimation unit 44 may estimate that the electronic device 10 is not operating when there is no power generation due to the electronic device 10. At this time, the peripheral device control unit 50 may generate a command to power off the HMD 12 and the input device 14 in order to save power, and send the command to the HMD 12 and the input device 14. In this way, the peripheral device control unit 50 controls the peripheral devices according to the estimated status of the electronic device 10, thereby increasing the user's sense of immersion in the game and contributing to power saving.

[0028] The present disclosure has been described above based on examples. The examples are merely illustrative, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications are possible in the combination of the respective components and treatment processes, and that such modifications are also within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0029] In the embodiment, the processing device 20 is described as not being equipped with a secondary battery or a primary battery that is charged by an external power source, but in a modified example, the processing device 20 may be equipped with a secondary battery and / or a primary battery that is charged by an external power source as an auxiliary power source. For example, the power management unit 46 may use the power of the power storage unit 32 as long as the power storage unit 32 does not run out of power, and may use the auxiliary power source when the power storage unit 32 runs out of power.

[0030] In the embodiment, the processing device 20 is configured as a separate entity from the electronic device 10, but may be built into the electronic device 10. Furthermore, the processing device 20 in the embodiment includes a power generating element 30, but the power generating element 30 may be provided as a separate entity from the processing device 20.

[0031] The power management unit 46 may have a configuration for improving the power generation efficiency of each power generation element 30. For example, the power management unit 46 may have a function for searching for two junction points with a large temperature difference in the electronic device 10 in order to improve the power generation efficiency of the power generation element 30b that generates thermal power. The power management unit 46 may also have a function for automatically adjusting the orientation of the power generation element 30d that generates photovoltaic power in order to improve the power generation efficiency of the power generation element 30d that generates photovoltaic power. The power management unit 46 may also have a function for automatically positioning an antenna in a position with high radio wave reception efficiency in order to improve the power generation efficiency of the power generation element 30e that generates radio wave power.

[0032] The present disclosure can be used in the technical field of estimating the status of an electronic device.

[0033] 1...information processing system, 10...electronic device, 12...HMD, 14...input device, 20...processing device, 30a, 30b, 30c, 30d, 30e...power generation element, 32...power storage unit, 34...display device, 40...control unit, 42...acquisition unit, 44...estimation unit, 46...power management unit, 48...presentation unit, 50...peripheral device control unit.

Claims

1. A processing device that estimates the status of an electronic device that executes an application, comprising: an acquisition unit that acquires the amount of power generated by utilizing energy produced by the operation of the electronic device; and an estimation unit that estimates the status of the electronic device based on the acquired amount of power generation.

2. The processing device according to claim 1, characterized in that the acquisition unit acquires the amount of power generated by a plurality of power generation elements using different power generation methods.

3. The processing device according to claim 2, further comprising a display unit that displays the amount of power generation for each power generation method.

4. The processing device according to claim 3, characterized in that the presentation unit presents the relationship between the amount of power consumed by the electronic device and the total amount of power generated by a plurality of power generating elements.

5. The processing device according to claim 1, characterized in that the estimation unit detects an abnormality in the electronic device based on the difference between the predicted amount of power generation and the acquired amount of power generation.

6. The processing device according to claim 1, further comprising a peripheral device control unit that controls peripheral devices according to the estimated status of the electronic device.

7. The processing device according to claim 1, further comprising: a power storage unit that stores generated power; and a power management unit that supplies power to the charging target based on a priority order.

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