CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a U.S. National Phase of International Patent Application No. PCT/JP2018/027595 filed on Jul. 24, 2018, which claims priority benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. JP 2017-149685 filed in the Japan Patent Office on Aug. 2, 2017. Each of the above-referenced applications is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to an information processing apparatus and an information processing method as well as a program, and particularly to an information processing apparatus and an information processing method as well as a program by which a visual shielding property and an auditory shielding property are interlocked with each other in response to a distance from a partition.

BACKGROUND ART

A technology is proposed in which a partition including a panel that can control light is provided on a boundary between two spaces such that the panel on a gaze of a person in one space to an object, which is in the other space and is not desirable to be shown to the person in the one space, is shaded to prevent only the object, which is not desirable to be shown, from being shown while maintaining a sense of openness in the mutual spaces (refer to PTL 1).

CITATION LIST

Patent Literature

[PTL 1]

PCT Patent Publication No. 2013/068322

SUMMARY

Technical Problem

However, in the technology disclosed in PTL 1, although visual shielding that prevents an object, which is in the other space and is not desirable to be shown to a person in one space, from being shown can be implemented, for example, conversation of persons in the other space or the like is heard by the person in the one space.

The present disclosure has been made in view of such a situation as described above and particularly contemplates implementation, by a partition provided on a boundary between two spaces, of a visual shielding property and an auditory shielding property in an interlocking relationship with each other in response to a distance between a person and the partition.

Solution to Problem

An information processing apparatus of one aspect of the present disclosure is an information processing apparatus including a distance measurement section that measures a distance between a person in a second space and a partition, in which a first space and the second space are partitioned by the partition, and a control section that controls visual and auditory shielding properties of the partition in response to the distance measured by the distance measurement section.

The information processing apparatus can be configured such that the control section includes a transmittance controlling section that controls light transmittance of the partition in response to the distance measured by the distance measurement section, and an audio controlling section that controls audio to output audio in the first space to the second space in response to the distance measured by the distance measurement section.

The information processing apparatus can be configured such that the partition includes light controlling glass; the information processing apparatus further includes an actuator that is configured so as to be connected to the partition and vibrates the partition to output audio; the control section sets a distance coefficient in response to the distance measured by the distance measurement section; the transmittance controlling section controls, in response to the distance coefficient, light transmittance of the light controlling glass that configures the partition; and the audio controlling section vibrates the partition through the actuator in response to the distance coefficient to output audio in the first space to the second space.

The information processing apparatus can be configured such that the control section controls the distance coefficient to 1 where the distance measured by the distance measurement section is shorter than a first distance, sets the distance coefficient to a value between 0 and 1 in response to the distance where the distance measured by the distance measurement section is an intermediate distance between a second distance longer than the first distance and the first distance, and sets the distance coefficient to 0 where the distance measured by the distance measurement section is longer than the second distance.

The information processing apparatus can be configured such that the transmittance controlling section controls, by a value obtained by multiplying predetermined transmittance by the distance coefficient, light transmittance of the light controlling glass that configures the partition.

The information processing apparatus can be configured such that it further includes a microphone that receives audio in the first space and outputs the audio as an audio signal, and a storage section that stores an audio signal including background sound, and that the audio controlling section sets an audio mixing ratio in response to the distance coefficient, mixes an audio signal of audio in the first space received by the microphone and an audio signal including the background sound with each other with the audio mixing ratio to generate an audio signal including mixed audio, and controls the partition to vibrate on the basis of the audio signal of the mixed audio to output the mixed audio to the second space.

The information processing apparatus can be configured such that the audio controlling section mixes the audio signal of the audio in the first space received by the microphone and the audio signal including the background sound with each other on the basis of the audio mixing ratio to generate an audio signal including mixed audio, and controls the partition to vibrate on the basis of the audio signal of the mixed audio to output the mixed audio to the second space.

The information processing apparatus can be configured such that the audio controlling section controls, when the audio mixing ratio is lower than a predetermined value, the actuator to generate vibration of an opposite phase corresponding to the audio signal of the mixed audio and controls, when the audio mixing ratio is higher than the predetermined value, the actuator to generate vibration of a same phase corresponding to the audio signal of the mixed audio.

The information processing apparatus can be configured such that the background sound is silence.

The information processing apparatus can be configured such that it further includes a reverb filter that adds reverberation in response to the distance coefficient to the audio signal of the audio received by the microphone.

The information processing apparatus can be configured such that the reverb filter mixes, by a sum product according to the distance coefficient, a processing result by a filter that adds reverberation according to the first space to the audio signal of the audio received by the microphone and a processing result by a filter that adds reverberation according to a space including both the first space and the second space to the audio signal of the audio received by the microphone, to add reverberation in response to the distance coefficient to the audio signal of the audio received by the microphone.

A control method for an information processing apparatus of one aspect of the present disclosure is a control method for an information processing apparatus including a distance measurement section that measures a distance between a person in a second space and a partition, in which a first space and the second space are partitioned by the partition, and a control method for an information processing apparatus including a controlling process for controlling visual and auditory shielding properties of the partition in response to the distance measured by the distance measurement section.

A program of one aspect of the present disclosure is a program for causing a computer to execute process including a distance measurement process for measuring a distance between a person in a second space and a partition, in which a first space and the second space are partitioned by the partition, and a controlling process for controlling visual and auditory shielding properties of the partition in response to the distance measured by the distance measurement section.

In the one aspect of the present disclosure, the visual and auditory shielding properties of the partition that partitions the first space and the second space are controlled in response to the distance between the person in the second space and the partition.

Advantageous Effect of Invention

According to the one aspect of the present disclosure, by the partition provided on the boundary between the two spaces, it becomes possible to interlock the visual shielding property and the auditory shielding property with each other in response to the distance between the person and the partition.

