Abstract: When an electronic book is activated, a video image obtaining section starts taking face images of a user. Next, an analysis section analyzes the face images of the user taken by the video image obtaining section, thereby inferring a physiological condition of a user. Then, a display control section adjusts, in units of predetermined time periods, a display state of a screen, such as brightness and contrast, in accordance with the physiological condition.

Abstract: When an electronic book 1 is activated, a video image obtaining section 2 starts taking face images of a user. Next, an analysis section 4 analyzes the face images of the user taken by the video image obtaining section 2, thereby inferring a physiological condition of a user. Then, a display control section 5 adjusts, in units of predetermined time periods, a display state of a screen 6 such as brightness and contrast in accordance with the physiological condition.

Abstract: The present invention provides an alerting tone that daily life noises cannot mask, and that is therefore optimum to both young and elderly people. Through specifying various household activities performed in a home, measuring and analyzing frequency of the relevant operating noises (daily life noises) and quantitatively defining the actual status of background noises in a home where electric appliances are being used, alerting devices output an alerting tone having a predominant frequency substantially in a range lower than 3 kHz but not lower than 1.5 kHz, as an alerting tone designed in consideration of the daily life noises, and having the optimum frequency and sounding pattern for various apparatus.