Authors:
Takashi Kokawa
;
Ryota Sakamoto
;
Hitoshi Ogawa
and
Victor V. Kryssanov
Affiliation:
Faculty of Information Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University, Japan
Keyword(s):
Consumer electronics network, Earthquake early warning, Constraint satisfaction problem.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Agent-Based Information Systems
;
Business and Social Applications
;
Communication and Software Infrastructure
;
Distributed Intelligent Agents
;
e-Business
;
Enterprise Information Systems
;
Global Communication Information Systems and Services
;
Mobile and Pervasive Computing
;
Social Implications of Modern Communications
;
Telecommunications
Abstract:
In Japan, earthquakes happen on a regular basis. There is an earthquake early warning system operated by the Japan Meteorological Agency. By sensing P-waves, it can notify people a few seconds before the earthquake reaches them. Since only few seconds are left, it is often difficult for people to act with consideration on who is where at the moment, what consumer electronics should be turned off, and how to ensure a family’s safety in their house. We developed a system that supports people with control of network-connected home appliances when an earthquake occurs. The system utilizes three types of control rules: general, family-related, and personalized for each type of consumer electronics. As there can often be operational conflicts if applying the rules simultaneously, a conflict-resolving mechanism is implemented, based on an optimisation algorithm for weighted constraint satisfaction problems. A pilot study of the system deployment is described, and its results are briefly dis
cussed in the light of the related work. Conclusions are drawn, and future plans are outlined.
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