JP2007157032A - Monitoring system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a monitoring system which monitors facilities or areas by moving the mobile object around, wherein a mobile object patrols along a patrol route which is not preliminarily stored in the mobile object. <P>SOLUTION: The mobile object is moved along the patrol route which is not preliminarily stored in the mobile object by providing: a security device 28 having a communication means 28c for transmitting security mode information; a center device 6 having a patrol route setting means 8f for setting patrol routes in security areas 11-14 based on the security mode information received from the security device 28 and information about patrol routes at a plurality of parts of the security areas stored in a center side storage means 8g and transmitting information on the patrol routes and the mobile object 30 having a control means 42 for storing the information on patrol routes received from the center device 6 and moving the mobile object on the patrol courses according to the routes shown by the information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a monitoring system, and more particularly to a monitoring system that monitors facilities and areas by moving a moving body such as a robot around the monitoring area.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a security system that collects security information of a security area by circulating a mobile robot including various security sensors such as an ultrasonic sensor and a monitoring camera is known.

As such a security system, for example, in Patent Document 1 below, information on a plurality of tour routes is stored in a storage unit in the mobile robot in association with a tour route number, and when the tour start time is reached, the monitoring device It is described that a mobile robot that has transmitted a number to a mobile robot and receives a signal of the cyclic route number takes out the cyclic route corresponding to the number from the storage unit and moves along the cyclic route.
JP 2000-268285 A

  However, according to the security system described in Patent Document 1, the route number stored in advance in the mobile robot is selected from the monitoring device, so that the number is stored in correspondence with the number. There is an inconvenience that the mobile robot cannot be guarded along a patrol route other than, and when there are a plurality of facilities, the mobile robot cannot be guarded according to the security status of the facility.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a monitoring system that can allow a mobile body to guard not only a normal patrol route but also other routes.

  A first aspect of the present invention for solving the above-described problem is a monitoring system including a security device, a center device, and a moving body, and monitoring a plurality of security areas, wherein the security device is provided for each of the security areas. A security mode setting unit for setting a security mode; and first communication means for transmitting the security mode information to the outside. The center device stores information on a plurality of tour courses corresponding to the security area. Center side storage means, second communication means for transmitting and receiving signals, information on the security mode received from the security device via the second communication means, and information on the traveling course in the center side storage means A traveling route setting means for setting a traveling route in the security area based on the information and transmitting the traveling route information to the outside via the second communication means, and the mobile unit further comprises: A third communication means for transmitting and receiving signals, a moving means for moving the mobile device, a mobile side storage means for storing information on the cyclic route received from the center device via the third communication means, and the moving means. And a control unit that drives and moves the tour course according to the route indicated in the information on the tour route.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the monitoring system according to the first aspect, the center-side storage unit has correspondence information indicating a relationship between at least one of the tour course and the tour route. And
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the monitoring system according to the first or second aspect, the patrol route stored in the center device is an outer periphery of a facility in the security area. .

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the monitoring system according to any one of the first to third aspects, the center-side storage unit stores the traveling course for each of the plurality of security areas in the center device. It is characterized by.

  According to the present invention, the center device sets a patrol route at the request of the security device, and transmits the patrol route information to the mobile robot, along the patrol route that is not previously stored in the mobile body such as the mobile robot. To move the moving body. Thereby, it becomes possible to detect intrusion of a suspicious object in the facility which is a security area at an early stage.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating a monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a configuration illustrating a communication path via a communication network between a monitoring center and a mobile robot in the monitoring system according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG.

  In FIG. 1, a plurality of facilities 21, 22, 23, and 24 such as buildings and factories and a later-described built-in mobile robot 30 are provided in the security areas 11 to 14 that are managed by the mobile robot 30 that is a monitoring mobile body. There is a robot house 25 equipped with a charging facility for charging the battery 40, and the outside of the first to fourth facilities 21, 22, 23, 24 and its surroundings are the first to fourth security areas 11, respectively. , 12, 13, and 14.

  In addition, guide means 26 for designating the traveling courses 1 to 4 of the mobile robot 30 is arranged on the outer circumferences of the respective facilities 21 to 24 in the first to fourth security areas 11 to 14. As the guide means 26, for example, there is a white line tape 26 </ b> W drawn over the floor along the path connecting the respective circulation courses 1 to 4 over the entire length of each of the circulation courses 1 to 4, Is indicated by a white pointing marker 26M for point indication at a predetermined position along the longitudinal direction. The guide means 26 may be a magnetic guide, an electromagnetic induction guide, an IC tag, or other sensors.

  In the security areas 11 to 14, a plurality of detectors 27 for detecting the presence of moving objects such as people, animals, and bicycles are arranged inside and outside the facilities 21 to 24. It is comprised so that a detection signal may be output to the security device 28 attached in the facilities 21-24. Examples of the detector 27 include a passive or active infrared detector and other light detection elements.

  The security device 28 is connected to a mode setting unit 28a which is an input unit for setting and changing a security mode such as a security start mode and a security release mode in each security area 11 to 14, and this mode setting unit 28a. Has a medium input unit 28b for receiving information from a recognition medium such as a magnetic card for confirming that the operator has the authority to set and change the security mode. The security device 28 is connected to the mode setting unit 28a and the detector 27 in a wired or wireless manner.

Such a security device 28 is connected to the center device 6 of the monitoring center 5 in a wired or wireless manner through the communication network 7, and based on signals from the mode setting unit 28a and the detector 27, the security areas 11 to 14 under predetermined conditions. Information indicating the security status, for example, security mode information, an abnormal signal such as an intrusion abnormality and a fire abnormality, and the like are transmitted to the center device 6.
In FIG. 1, the security device 28 is separately installed in each of the facilities 21 to 24, but individual security information of the plurality of security areas 11 to 14 may be centrally managed by one security device.

The center device 6 communicates with the security device 28 as described above, and has a communication unit 8e that communicates wirelessly with the mobile robot 30 via the communication network 7 as shown in FIG. The plurality of security areas 11 to 14 are monitored based on the signal received from the mobile robot 30, and the mobile robot 30 is operated based on the received signal from the security device 28, manual operation, or the like, or the security device 28 performs a predetermined process. And a monitoring computer system 8 that performs processing such as managing customer information and patrol information. The signal transmitted from the center device 6 to the mobile robot 30 includes, for example, patrol route information having information such as a patrol schedule, patrol start time, patrol start position, patrol end position, patrol course instruction, and patrol order necessary for guarding. .
As shown in FIG. 2, the computer system 8 of the center device 6 includes a display unit 8a composed of a liquid crystal monitor, a CRT, etc., a keyboard 8b, other input units 8c such as a joystick and pointing device, a CPU 8f, And a computer main body 8d provided with a storage device 8g and the like.

  Further, the center device 6 is configured to output a command signal for instructing the mobile robot 30 on the tour route based on the tour route correspondence information table stored in the storage unit 8g in the computer main body 8d. As shown in FIG. 3, for example, the tour route A is set for the tour of only the first tour course 1 in the first security area 11, and the first and second tour information are also stored in the tour route correspondence information table. The traveling route B is set for both the first and second traveling courses 1 and 2 in the security areas 11 and 12, and the traveling courses 1 to 4 in the plurality of traveling areas 11 to 14 are set. At least one of the combinations and the cyclic routes A to O are selected and associated.

The combination of the traveling courses 1 to 4 specifies one or a plurality of security areas 11 to 14 that require security based on the security start mode among the security modes transmitted from the security device 28 to the center device 6. And it is determined by the tour courses 1 to 4 of the specified security area.
As shown in FIG. 3, the route information transmitted from the center device 6 to the mobile robot 30 is not only one of the tour routes A to O composed of a combination of the tour courses 1 to 4, but the tour course 1 Some of the courses 1 to 4 may be included such that only the outer periphery on one side of the facilities 21 to 24 of the -4 is circulated, or the outer periphery is reciprocated to circulate. In this case, the traveling courses 1 to 4 are divided into several sections, and the traveling route correspondence information table of the traveling route is created.

Next, the configuration of the mobile robot 30 will be described with reference to FIG.
The mobile robot 30 includes a moving unit 31 attached to the bottom thereof, a movement control unit 33 that controls the moving unit 31, a guide unit detecting unit 32 that detects the guide unit 26 in the security areas 1 to 4, and its own. A self-position detecting unit 34 that detects a position, a first security information collecting unit 35 that collects security information based on output information of various detection units, and a second image processing unit that collects security information by image processing. Between the security information collecting means 36, the abnormality determination unit 37 that determines the occurrence of an abnormal situation, the storage unit 38 that stores information and programs used for each process, and the security device 28 and the center device 6. A communication unit 39 that transmits and receives signals, a battery 40 that supplies necessary electric energy to each unit, a time measuring unit 41 that detects a current time and measures a predetermined time, and controls these elements And a control unit 42.

The moving means 31 includes, for example, four front and rear wheels 31t attached to or near the bottom of the mobile robot, and first and second motors 31a and 31b that independently drive the left and right of the wheels 31t. have.
The guide means detection unit 32 is installed on the bottom surface of the mobile robot 30 and is guarded from the guide means detector 32a provided with an imaging device for photographing the white line tape 26W and its surroundings, and image information acquired by the guide means detector 32a. A road surface information extraction unit 32b having an image information processing function for extracting road surface information in the areas 11 to 14 and outputting the road surface information to the control unit 42.
When the guide means 26 is a magnetic guide, electromagnetic induction guide, IC tag, or the like, the guide means detector 32a includes a sensor that reads the information.

The movement control unit 33 moves according to the detection output from the guide means detection unit 32 so as to move and stop the mobile robot 30 along the guide means 26 such as the white line tape 26W and the instruction marker 26M by, for example, PID control. The first and second motors 31a and 31b of the means 31 are independently controlled to rotate and stop the wheels 31t.
The self-position detecting unit 34 detects first and second rotation detecting units 34a and 34b which detect the positions of the respective rotating shafts of the first and second motors 31a and 31b and calculate the rotation amounts of the rotating shafts. Based on the rotation amounts calculated by the first and second rotation detectors 34a and 34b, the respective left and right rotation amounts of the wheels 34t are calculated, and the current position of the mobile robot 30 in the security area 11-14 map. A position calculation unit 34c for calculating coordinates.

  The first security information collection unit 35 includes an obstacle detection unit 35a, a security sensor 35d, and an imaging unit 35e. The obstacle detection unit 35a detects the relative position of the obstacle with respect to the mobile robot 30, and the obstacle sensor 35b attached to a plurality of locations of the mobile robot 30 and the relative position of the obstacle based on the output of the obstacle sensor 35b. And an obstacle determination unit 53c that calculates and outputs to the control unit 42. The security sensor 35d is a means for detecting an abnormality of disaster prevention / crime prevention in the security areas 11 to 14, and includes a frame checker for detecting a fire, for example. Furthermore, the imaging unit 35e is an imaging unit that is mounted on the mobile robot 30 and images the surroundings thereof, such as a pan / tilt / zoom camera and an omnidirectional monitoring camera, and outputs image information acquired by imaging to the control unit 42. It is configured.

The second security information collecting unit 36 is an image processing unit, acquires image information output from the imaging unit 35e according to a command from the control unit 42, and performs image processing on the image information, for example, around the mobile robot 30. The moving object is detected.
The abnormality determination unit 37 obtains output information from the obstacle detection unit 35a and the security sensor 35d according to a command from the control unit 42, detects an object that has entered the security areas 11 to 14, and determines the presence or absence of an abnormal situation. For example, the existing object information indicating the existing position of the facilities 21 to 24 in the security areas 11 to 14 stored in the storage unit 38 and the detection result of the obstacle detection unit 35a are abnormal. It is configured to determine whether or not a situation has occurred and to output an abnormal signal to the control unit 42 when it is determined that an abnormal situation has occurred.

  The storage unit 38 is configured by a storage device such as a semiconductor storage device or a hard disk device, and includes a program file 38 a for storing a program for controlling each unit in the mobile robot 30, and facilities 21 to 21 in the security areas 11 to 14. 24 and a map storage area 38b for storing an environment map including information on other existing objects, a tour path storage area 38c for storing a tour path based on the tour path information received from the center apparatus 6, and a center apparatus 6 Based on the received tour route information, a tour schedule storage area 38d for storing tour schedule information such as a tour schedule and start time, a tour start / end storage area 38e for storing a tour start position and a stop position, and other processing. And an area (not shown) for storing information to be used.

  As illustrated in FIG. 2, the communication unit 39 is a wireless communication unit that performs wireless communication with the wireless base station 9 connected to the communication network 7. Further, the communication unit 39 transmits / receives a signal relating to the patrol by the mobile robot 30 by wireless transmission / reception to / from the security device 28 or the center device 6 connected to the communication network 7, or an image taken by the imaging unit 35e. Is transmitted to the center device 6 together with the position information detected by the self-position detecting unit 14 by the image processing unit 36, the abnormal signal output from the abnormality determining unit 37 is transmitted to the center device 6, and the center device 6 It has a function of demodulating various received signals and outputting them to the control unit 42 or the like, or performing other communication processing.

  The control unit 42 is a means for controlling the configuration of each part of the mobile robot 30 and is configured by a computer including a CPU, a main memory, and other storage devices, and the storage unit 38 is configured by a part of the storage device. Sometimes it is done. At least a part of the processing in the mobile robot 30 is executed by the control unit 42. For example, the movement control is performed when the tour start time stored in the tour storage schedule storage area 38d of the storage unit 38 coincides with the time of the timer unit 41. A signal is sent to the unit 33 to drive the moving means 31 to move the mobile robot 30 to the patrol start position stored in the patrol start / end position storage area 38e, and further to the patrol path stored in the patrol path storage area 38c. The mobile robot 30 is driven by driving the moving means 31 along the route along the specified tour course while comparing the information with the map coordinates of the security areas 11 to 14 in the map storage area 28b and detecting the guide means 26 included in the tour route. Various operations such as moving are performed.

Next, the control of the mobile robot 30 by the center device 6 will be described together with the operation with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of processing by the center device 6, and FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of processing by the mobile robot 30. Each flowchart is implemented according to a program stored in the storage units 8g and 38.
First, when the mode setting unit 28a of each security device 28 arranged in the first to fourth security areas 11 to 14 is set to a security mode including a patrol request, each security device 28 is connected via the communication network 7. A security mode signal including a patrol request is transmitted, and the center device 6 receives the signal (S1 in FIG. 5). The tour mode signal in this case includes various information necessary for the tour, such as a tour course and a tour start time.

  Thereby, the center apparatus 6 identifies the guard area requested | required by the guard mode signal, and also determines the tour course from which the visit is requested | required based on the guard mode signal among several tour courses 1-4 ( S2) in FIG. 5, the traveling courses 1, 2, 3, and 4 for which there is a request for traveling are checked against the table shown in FIG. 3 and any of the traveling routes A to O corresponding thereto is identified and the traveling routes are identified. Information is read from the storage unit 8g of the computer main body 8d (S3 in FIG. 5). Here, the description will be given by giving an example in which the first and second tour courses 1 and 2 that are the outer peripheries of the first and second facilities 21 and 22 are set as the security area requesting the tour. It may be applied to a gated community where a specific area is a security area.

Further, the center device 6 reads the information on the read tour route B, for example, the tour route information such as the tour start point information in the tour courses 1 and 2, the tour order of the tour course, the turning point information, the tour end point information, and the tour start time. Is set, and the traveling route information is transmitted from the communication unit 8e to the communication unit 39 of the mobile robot 30 via the circuit network 7 (S4 in FIG. 5).
The mobile robot 30 that has received the tour route information stores various information of the tour route B based on the tour route information in the tour route storage area 38d, the tour schedule storage region 38d, and the tour start / end positions of the storage unit 38 in the mobile robot 30. The data is stored in the storage area 38e (S11 and S12 in FIG. 6).

  Then, the control unit 42 of the mobile robot 30 moves, for example, when the tour condition such as the tour start time stored in the tour start / end storage area 38e coincides with the clock time of the timer unit 41 is satisfied. The mobile robot 30 is moved from the robot house 25 to the departure point by sending a signal to the self-position detection unit 34, the guide unit detection unit 32, and the movement control unit 33 to drive the movement unit 31, and from there, the storage unit 38 The mobile robot 30 is moved along the guide detection means 26 in the tour courses 1 and 2 written in the tour route storage area 38b (S13 and S14 in FIG. 6). The moving mobile robot 30 compares the current map coordinates and the coordinates of the traveling course while continuing to detect the current position by the self-position detecting unit 34.

  In the mobile robot 30 during the patrol, for example, a first guard area in which the abnormality determination unit 37 is patrol based on output information from the obstacle detection unit 35a, the security sensor 35d, the imaging unit 35e, and the image processing unit 36. 11, when the abnormality signal is output to the control unit 42, the control unit 42 outputs a signal for stopping the movement of the moving unit 31 to the movement control unit 33 and outputs the abnormality information and the image information. The data is transmitted from the communication unit 39 to the center device 6 via the communication network 7 and displayed on the display device 8a of the center device 6 (S5 to S8 in FIG. 5 and S15 to S17 in FIG. 6).

  The control unit 42 of the mobile robot 30 that has detected the abnormality operates a necessary device among a light emitting device, a voice generating device, a smoke generating device, a fire detecting device, etc. (not shown) by a control signal from the monitoring center 6 or a control signal according to a program. . As the operation, for example, when a fire is detected by a frame checker which is an alarm sensor 35d, a fire occurrence detection signal is output from the control unit 42 to the center device 6, or the obstacle detection unit 35a detects an obstacle and images it. When the abnormality determination unit 37 determines that the suspicious person is based on the image information from the unit 35e, the suspicious person may be threatened with sound and light.

  Further, when the abnormality determination unit 37 of the mobile robot 30 does not determine abnormality, the movement along the traveling courses 1 and 2 is continued, the current position is detected by the self-position detection unit 34 (S18 in FIG. 6), and the image information Is transmitted to the center device 6 to cause the display unit 8a to display an image (S7, S8 in FIG. 5).

  The mobile robot 30 continues to move, and further performs a patrol operation according to the tour schedule stored in the tour schedule storage area 38d, and the mobile robot 30 arrives at the end position written in the tour start / end position storage area 38e. Sometimes, the control unit 42 moves the mobile robot 30 to the robot house 25 by the movement control unit 33, the moving means 31, and the like, and thus the patrol operation of the mobile robot 30 ends (S9 in FIG. 5, S19 in FIG. 6).

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram illustrating a communication path through a communication network between a monitoring center and a mobile robot in the monitoring system according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is an example of a cyclic route correspondence information table stored in the storage device of the center device of the monitoring system according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the mobile robot of the monitoring system according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the center device of the monitoring system according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the mobile robot of the monitoring system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

1, 2, 3, 4: Traveling course 5: Monitoring center 6: Center device 7: Communication network 8: Computer 9: Radio base stations 11, 12, 13, 14: Security areas 21, 22, 23, 24: Facility 26 : Guide means 27: detector 28: security device 28a: mode setting section 30: mobile robot 31: movement means 32: guide means detection section 33: movement control section 34: self-position detection section 35: first security information collection means 36: Second security information collection means 37: Abnormality determination unit 38: Storage unit 39: Communication unit 40: Battery 41: Timing unit 42: Control unit

Claims (4)

In a monitoring system that monitors a plurality of security areas including a security device, a center device, and a moving body,
The security device includes a security mode setting unit that sets each security mode of the security area, and a first communication unit that transmits information on the security mode to the outside.
The center device receives from the security device via the center storage means for storing information on a plurality of traveling courses corresponding to the security area, second communication means for transmitting and receiving signals, and the second communication means. Based on the information on the security mode and the information on the traveling course in the center-side storage means, a traveling route in the security area is set and the information on the traveling route is transmitted to the outside via the second communication means. Patrol route setting means,
The mobile unit includes a third communication unit that transmits and receives signals, a mobile unit that moves the mobile unit, and a mobile unit storage unit that stores information on the cyclic route received from the center device via the third communication unit. And a control means for driving the moving means to move the traveling course according to the route indicated by the information on the traveling route. The monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the center-side storage unit has correspondence information indicating a relationship between at least one of the tour course and a tour route. The monitoring system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the patrol route stored in the center device is an outer periphery of a facility in the security area. The monitoring system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the traveling course is stored in the center device for each of the plurality of security areas in the center-side storage unit.

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