Resource Competition Detection for Parallel User Activities
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional techniques struggle to detect events where multiple user activities compete or switch in parallel, leading to difficulties in identifying abnormal situations, as they focus on single contexts and fail to account for resource competition between parallel activities.
Innovation Solution
A control method for an information processing apparatus that estimates user living activities, extracts activity groups with resource competition, and identifies inhibited activities by judging resource availability, allowing for the detection of abnormal situations and resource management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional single-context detection methods are used, then the system is simple to implement, but it cannot detect abnormal situations involving parallel activities or resource competition
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the user context into multiple independent activity contexts (e.g., cooking activity, watching TV activity, listening to radio activity) that can occur in parallel. Each activity is detected and managed as a separate entity, allowing the system to track resource usage across multiple concurrent activities without requiring a completely complex monolithic detection system.
Solution Approach 2:
The information processing apparatus performs multiple functions: it detects individual activities, estimates resource usage for each activity, identifies resource competition between activities, and detects abnormal situations. This multi-functional approach consolidates what would otherwise require separate systems into a single unified apparatus.
2Measurement precision
If the system monitors all user activities in detail, then detection precision improves, but loss of information increases due to the complexity of managing multiple contexts
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential elements needed for resource competition detection from the full activity context. Instead of managing all possible context details, it focuses on extracting activity types and their associated resource requirements, filtering out unnecessary information while maintaining detection precision for resource-related abnormalities.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the representation parameters of activity context from detailed qualitative descriptions to quantifiable resource usage parameters. By representing activities in terms of resource consumption (e.g., kitchen usage, entertainment system usage), the system simplifies context management while maintaining the ability to detect resource competition and abnormalities.
3Reliability
If the system identifies resource competition between activities, then abnormal situation detection improves, but device complexity increases due to additional processing steps
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary estimation of resource usage for each detected activity before analyzing for conflicts. By pre-calculating resource requirements (e.g., determining that cooking activity requires kitchen resources and watching TV requires entertainment resources), the system prepares the data structure needed for conflict detection, reducing the complexity of the subsequent analysis step.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary resource estimation process that acts as a mediator between activity detection and conflict analysis. This intermediary layer translates raw activity data into resource usage estimates, which then feed into the conflict detection mechanism, simplifying the overall processing by breaking it into manageable stages with clear interfaces.
Data Source
AI summary
A control method of the present disclosure is a control method of an information processing apparatus which includes a storage unit that stores predetermined resource information related to a resource required for a living activity of a user, the method including: an acquiring step of acquiring device information; an estimating step of estimating a living activity of the user; a competition extracting step of extracting a living activity group including living activities for which the resources are likely to compete among the living activities, based on the resource information; a resource judging step of judging whether a required resource has been secured for each of the living activities, based on the device information and the resource information; and an inhibition extracting step of extracting, as an inhibited living activity, a living activity for which it has been judged that the required resource has not been secured.