Device control apparatus, program, device control server, and device control system, for determining control contents of load device by performing negotiation on behalf of user

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9581987-B2
Application number	US-201214342417-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 11, 2012
Priority date	Jan 6, 2012
Publication date	Feb 28, 2017
Grant date	Feb 28, 2017

Abstract

An agent 10 is associated with a user as a representative of the user. The agent 10 includes a utility value calculation unit 15 that calculates an expected utility value indicating utility for the user with respect to an operating condition of the load device 20 and a cooperation processing unit 16 that judges whether an operating condition of the load device 20 is acceptable or not to the user and uniquely determines an operating condition to be instructed to the load device if the operating condition is not acceptable to the user cooperating with other agents 10 . Agents 10 that do not accept the operating condition of the load device 20 determine the operating condition of the load device 20 such that one agent acting as a manager and the other agent acting as a contractor so as to make (some) concession to each other.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A device control apparatus including an agent and for controlling a load device according to an operating condition of the load device determined by the agent that is associated with a user who is in a space in which an environment is controlled by the load device and that is realized as a representative of the user by a computer,
wherein the agent comprises:
an attribute setting unit configured to store an attribute of the user;
a condition input unit configured to receive an operating condition of the load device;
a utility value calculation unit configured to calculate an expected utility value indicating utility for the user with respect to the operating condition of the load device received through the condition input unit, using the attribute of the user, the expected utility value being expressed as a numerical value and expressing that a larger value thereof indicating a higher utility for the user; and
a cooperation processing unit configured to judge whether an operating condition of the load device is acceptable or not to the user by evaluating the expected utility value calculated for the user, and to uniquely determine, when there are a plurality of users in the space and if there is a user to whom the operating condition is not acceptable, an operating condition to be instructed to the load device, and
wherein the cooperation processing unit comprises:
an evaluation unit configured to classify the expected utility value into one of three levels of first to third cases, by comparing the expected utility value with a first judgment threshold and a second judgment threshold smaller than the first judgment threshold, where (a1) when larger than the first threshold, the expected utility value is judged as the first case indicating that the operating condition of the load device is desirable for the user, (a2) when smaller than the second threshold, the expected utility value is judged as the second case indicating that the operating condition of the load device is undesirable for the user, and (a3) when smaller than the first threshold and larger than the second threshold, the expected utility value is judged as the third case indicating that the operating condition of the load device is neither desirable nor undesirable for the user;
a planning unit configured to, when a result of the evaluation by the evaluation unit is the second case, plan an operating condition of the load device of which evaluation result of the expected utility value corresponds to the third case;
a proposing unit configured to propose a proposal including the operating condition of the load device planned by the planning unit to another agent that is a representative of other user, and instruct the operating condition of the load device planned by the planning unit when another agent acknowledges the proposal;
a response unit configured to, when the evaluation unit judges that the operating condition of the load device proposed by a proposing unit of another agent is the second case, return a response refusing the proposal to the agent that made the proposal;
a negotiation unit configured to, upon receiving a response refusing the proposal from a response unit of another agent, designate that the agent that made the proposal as a manager and the agent that refused the proposal as a contractor, and negotiate such that the evaluation result of the expected utility value becomes the first case or the third case in each of the manager and the contractor; and
a consensus-building unit configured to, when the agent is designated as the contractor, lower the second judgment threshold within an acceptable range, and (b1) when the expected utility value is larger than the lowered second judgment threshold, acknowledge the proposal, and (b2) when the expected utility value is still smaller than the second judgment threshold lowered within the acceptable range, refuse the proposal, and
wherein the manager is configured to
when the proposal is acknowledged by the contractor, instruct, to the load device, the operating condition of the load device planned by the planning unit, and
when the proposal is refused by the contractor, handle the operating condition planned by the planning unit as invalid and keep the load device to operate with a current operating condition.

2. The device control apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the agent limits a period in which the second judgment threshold is lowered to be until a point of time when a next evaluation of the expected utility value is performed, and restores the second judgment threshold to an original second judgment threshold at the point of time.

3. The device control apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the agent stores a number of times that the second judgment threshold has been lowered as a number of concessions, and increments the number of concessions by 1 every time the second judgment threshold is lowered.

4. The device control apparatus according to claim 3 ,
wherein after the evaluation result of the expected utility value becomes the first case or the third case in each of the manager and the contractor, an agent which has been the contractor and which has the number of concessions of not 0 proposes, to the other agent, an operating condition of the load device that improves the expected utility value, and the cooperation processing unit of the agent decrements the number of concessions by 1 when a result of evaluation of the expected utility value in the other agent with respect to the proposed operating condition is the first case or the third case.

5. The device control apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein each user is associated with one agent that is provided to a terminal device carried by the user, and
the agents communicate with each other via wireless communication.

6. A program causing a computer to function as an agent, for controlling a load device according to an operating condition of the load device determined by the agent that is associated with a user who is in a space in which an environment is controlled by the load device and that is realized as a representative of the user by the computer,
wherein the agent comprises:
an attribute setting unit configured to store an attribute of the user;
a condition input unit configured to receive an operating condition of the load device;
a utility value calculation unit configured to calculate an expected utility value indicating utility for the user with respect to the operating condition of the load device received through the condition input unit, using the attribute of the user, the expected utility value being expressed as a numerical value and expressing that a larger value thereof indicating a higher utility for the user; and
a cooperation processing unit configured to judge whether an operating condition of the load device is acceptable or not to the user by evaluating the expected utility value calculated for the user, and to uniquely determine, when there are a plurality of users in the space and if there is a user to whom the operating condition is not acceptable, an operating condition to be instructed to the load device, and
wherein the cooperation processing unit comprises:
an evaluation unit configured to classify the expected utility value into one of three levels of first to third cases, by comparing the expected utility value with a first judgment threshold and a second judgment threshold smaller than the first judgment threshold, where (a1) when larger than the first threshold, the expected utility value is judged as the first case indicating that the operating condition of the load device is desirable for the user, (a2) when smaller than the second threshold, the expected utility value is judged as the second case indicating

Assignees

• Panasonic Corp

Inventors

• Nishiyama Takashi
• Sawaragi Tetsuo

Classifications

• H04L2012/285

  Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators · CPC title

• F24F11/30

  for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring · CPC title

• F24F11/62

  characterised by the type of control or by internal processing, e.g. using fuzzy logic, adaptive control or estimation of values · CPC title

• G05B15/02 Primary

  electric · CPC title

• H04L12/282

  based on user interaction within the home (receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204) · CPC title