Air-conditioning control apparatus and method

Abstract

[Problem] Accurately to detect the presence or absence of a person even when a background temperature rises near the surface temperature of a person. [Solving Means] Equipped with a background-temperature calculation unit that calculates a background temperature that relates to a background temperature that is a background temperature of a person from thermal images, an air-conditioning control unit compares a judgment temperature Tj for judging whether it is necessary to start forced cooling in the room RM and a background temperature Tb obtained by the background-temperature calculation unit, and starts forced cooling to lower the background temperature Tb at the point when the background temperature Tb is above the judgment temperature Tj (Tb>Tj).

1 . An air-conditioning control apparatus comprising:
 a person-detection unit that detects the presence or absence of a person in a room based on a thermal image of the room generated from data outputted from temperature sensors arranged in the room RM that is targeted for control;   an air-conditioning control unit that implements air-conditioning control of the room based on person-detection results obtained by the person-detection unit; and   a background-temperature calculation unit that calculates the background temperature that relates to the background region in the background of a person from the thermal images, wherein   the air-conditioning control unit compares the judgment temperature for judging whether it is necessary to start forced cooling in the room and the background temperature, and starts forced cooling to lower the background temperature at the point when the background temperature is above the judgment temperature.   
     
     
         2 . The air-conditioning apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the person-detection unit includes a low-precision person detection function that searches for a person region that indicates the surface temperature of a person from the thermal images, and detects the presence or absence of a person based on the search result, and a high-precision person detection function that detects the presence or the absence of a person based on the presence or absence of movement in the person region searched in each of the thermal images accumulated in time series, and   the air-conditioning control unit instructs the person-detection unit to switch to the high-precision person detection function at a point when the background temperature is higher than the judgment temperature, and to start forced cooling at a point when the existence of a person is detected by the person-detection function.   
     
     
         3 . The air-conditioning apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the air-conditioning control unit starts forced cooling when the background temperature is higher than the judgment temperature, and it is also notified from outside that a person has entered the room.   
     
     
         4 . The air-conditioning apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the air-conditioning control unit constantly implements partial cooling to lower the background temperature near an entrance of the room, and starts forced cooling at a point when the existence of a person is detected by the person-detection unit near the entrance.   
     
     
         5 . The air-conditioning apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the air-conditioning control unit partially cools a region where the background temperature in a room is higher than the judgment temperature as forced cooling.   
     
     
         6 . An air-conditioning control method comprising:
 a person-detection step that detects the presence or absence of a person in a room based on a thermal image of the room generated from data outputted from temperature sensors arranged in the room that is targeted for control;   an air-conditioning control step that implements air-conditioning control of the room based on person-detection results obtained by the person-detection step; and   a background-temperature calculation step that calculates the background temperature that relates to the background region in the background of a person from the thermal images, wherein   the air-conditioning control step compares the judgment temperature for judging whether it is necessary to start forced cooling in the room and the background temperature, and starts forced cooling to lower the background temperature at the point when the background temperature is above the judgment temperature.