JP2001291177A - Monitor system and visiting care service system using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system for monitoring whether an abnormality occurs in the body of a use or not while securing the privacy of the user at low introduction expenditure and also to provide a visiting care service system capable of rapidly and efficiently taking care of the user by periodically visiting the house. SOLUTION: A picture and a voice inside the house of the user are received via a communication line and the present state of the user is grasped in the monitor system. In the system, the image and the voice are automatically transmitted from a photographing means and a voice collecting means which are arranged inside the house of the user when the user side does not respond to a telephone call and also a call originator is a specified person. Besides, in the periodical visit care service system, a service provider utilizes the monitor system to previously collect the health state of each user by making a telephone cal to the house of each user before visiting the respective houses, to collect picture and voice information by the monitor system unless the user responds to the telephone call and to visit the houses in order of priority based on the collected information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a monitoring system and a mobile nursing care service system using the same, and more particularly to monitoring whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the health of the user while ensuring the privacy of the user. System and
It relates to a traveling care service system using the system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In Japan, it is said that the proportion of the elderly aged 65 and over in the population will exceed 30% in the next 50 years. Under these circumstances, measures for the elderly in need of care are currently being watched and examined, but it should not be overlooked that there are many healthy elderly. Of the healthy elderly, living alone are often isolated spatially and interpersonally, and it is very important to understand the health of these people. There is an overwhelming shortage of human resources to grasp and manage the health status of people.

For this reason, for example, some municipalities have introduced a pendant-type wireless emergency call system, which is used only in an emergency and ascertains the daily health condition of the elderly. It does not do. In addition, a security system that monitors the elderly's living activities by arranging various types of sensors in their homes is provided by security companies, but the system is expensive to introduce and maintain, and is only widely used by high-income earners. is the current situation. Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 10-248093 proposes a system in which a sensor is attached to household electric appliances to detect the on / off state of a hot water supply switch of an electric pot and monitor the safety of a consumer. The location and amount of information on electrical appliances is limited, and this system does not provide sufficient monitoring for people who rarely use electrical appliances or who unplug electrical appliances from their outlets at night. .

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such conventional problems, and it is possible to determine whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the health of a user at a low introduction cost and at the privacy of the user. It is an object of the present invention to provide a system for monitoring while ensuring security. Another object of the present invention is to provide a patrol care service system that can patrol and care for a user's house quickly and efficiently.

[0005]

According to the present invention, in a monitoring system for receiving an image and a voice in a user's home via a communication line and grasping the current state of the user, the user is required to make a telephone call. Surveillance characterized by automatically transmitting an image and a voice from a photographing means and a sound collecting means arranged in the user's house when the telephone caller is a specific person without answering A system is provided.

Here, in order to determine whether the telephone caller is a specific person without using a complicated mechanism, it is preferable to use at least one of the caller telephone number and the password transmitted by the telephone caller.

[0007] From the viewpoint of quickly grasping the current situation of the user, when two or more of the photographing means and the sound collecting means are provided in the house, priorities are assigned to the respective means, and priority is given to each means. It is desirable to transmit the image and the sound in order from the highest means.

[0008] In order to further improve the monitoring,
It is desirable that the transmitted image and sound be output by two or more output devices.

Further, according to the present invention, there is provided a patrol nursing care service system using the monitoring system, wherein the service provider calls each user's home before patroling the user's home. The user's health condition is collected in advance, and if the user does not respond to the telephone call, the monitoring system collects image and voice information, and based on the collected information, assigns a priority to the destination and makes a tour. A traveling care service system is provided.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present inventor has earnestly studied how to monitor whether or not an abnormality has occurred in a user's health at a low introduction cost while maintaining the privacy of the user. As a result of repeated studies, the present inventor has focused on a television camera-equipped telephone (video telephone) that is now in widespread use, and has found that it is only necessary to monitor the state of a user by utilizing this video telephone, and has accomplished the present invention.

First, the invention of claim 1 will be described. A monitoring system according to the present invention is a monitoring system that receives images and sounds in a user's home via a communication line to grasp the current status of the user. A major feature is that when the user does not respond, the image and sound are automatically transmitted from the photographing means and sound collecting means arranged in the house to grasp the current situation of the user. FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a monitoring system according to the present invention. The monitoring center 1 and each user's home 2 are connected by a communication line 3 respectively. In each user's house 2, a photographing means 4 and a sound collecting means 5 are provided, and a monitoring center 1 is provided.
Is provided with an image output device 6 and a sound output device 7 for outputting images and sounds transmitted from the photographing means 4 and the sound collecting means 5, respectively. A certain time, for example, 7:00 am, midnight,
Calls are made automatically or manually at 5:00 pm and 9:00 pm, so that if the user answers the telephone call, the current situation can be heard directly from the user. On the other hand, if the user does not respond to the telephone call, after confirming that the telephone caller is a specific person, such as a monitoring center or a separated relative, the photographing means 4 and the sound collecting means 5 allow the user to obtain an image of the house and The voice is automatically transmitted to grasp the current situation of the user.
According to such a system, it is possible to grasp the current situation while securing the privacy of the user.

As the communication line used in the monitoring system of the present invention, for example, a telephone line, a cable line, etc. can be cited.

The photographing means and sound collecting means are not particularly limited as long as they can grasp the state of the house, and conventionally known means can be used. The photographing means and the sound collecting means may be integrated like a videophone, or they may be separately provided at different positions.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing a monitoring system according to the present invention. The monitoring center has a CPU 11 for controlling the whole, and a ROM in which a control program and the like are written.
12, a RAM 13 for temporarily storing the processing results of the CPU and the like, a clock 14 for clocking the time, a monitor television (image output device) 15 for displaying an image of the user's home, and a speaker (audio output) for outputting audio in the home. Device) 16 and an operation input unit 17 for a monitor to input a processing command. Here, in order to transmit and receive video and audio between the surveillant and the user in two directions, a camera 18 and a microphone 19 may be further provided on the surveillance center side. Such a configuration is desirable. FIG. 2
Then, the monitor TV 15 and the speaker 16 are each 1
Although only a single monitor is shown, it is desirable to install a plurality of monitor televisions 15 and speakers 16 in order to ensure a thorough monitoring system. Also, I / O connected to the communication line
10. Register the telephone number of the user's home in advance
It is recommended to automatically connect a line at a predetermined time according to the instruction of 11 from the viewpoint of labor saving and certainty.

On the other hand, the terminal at the user's home temporarily stores the processing results of the CPU 21 for controlling the whole, the ROM 22 in which the control program and data such as the source telephone number and the password are written, and the CPU. RAM 23, clock 24 for clocking time, camera (photographing means) 25 for photographing the house, microphone (sound collecting means) 26 for collecting sound, and input / output connected to a communication line via a network controller unit (NCU) 27 (I / O) 28. The camera 25 and the microphone 26 may be integrated or may be separate. Although only one camera 25 and one microphone 26 are shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of cameras 25 and two microphones 26 should be provided in the house in order to grasp the current situation of the user in more detail. At this time, it is more desirable to transmit images and sounds preferentially from a camera and a microphone arranged in a place where a user is likely to be present (for example, a living room or a bedroom) in terms of monitoring efficiency. .

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of the above-described system. FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the terminal on the user side. When the incoming call is detected in step S1,
In step S2, a telephone call such as a telephone bell is made. At the same time, the timer 1 is turned on in step S3. In steps S4 and S7, before the timer 1 is turned off, that is, if the user responds to the telephone call within a predetermined time, the telephone is in a talking state thereafter. Here, the monitoring side directly collects the current status such as the health status from the user. And step S
When the line is disconnected in step 6, all the processing ends, and the process returns to the state of waiting for an incoming call. On the other hand, steps S4 and S7
If the user does not respond to the telephone call within the predetermined time in step S8, it is determined in step S8 whether the source telephone number matches the registered telephone number stored in advance in the user's telephone. If they match, the camera and the microphone perform photographing and sound collection in the house in step S9. By such a work, it is possible to grasp the current state of the user's house, that is, whether the user is simply out of the house or placed in a state where he cannot answer the telephone (for example, he is falling down).

If it is determined in step S8 that the caller telephone number does not match the registered telephone number stored in advance in the user's telephone, the timer 2 is turned on in step S10, and then the telephone caller is called in step S11. Wait for password input by. When a password is input within a predetermined time, it is determined in step S12 whether the input password matches a predetermined number. If the numbers match, the camera and the microphone perform photographing and sound collection in the house in step S13. According to such control, even when a call is made from a telephone different from the telephone number registered in advance, the current situation in the user's home can be grasped by inputting the password.

On the other hand, if the passwords do not match in step S12, the operation returns to step S11 to repeat the operation of waiting for the re-input of the password. During this time, if the timer 2 is turned off in step S14, the process proceeds to step S15, where the normal answering machine mode is set, and the message of the telephone caller is recorded.

Next, a traveling care service system according to claim 5 will be described. The patrol care service system according to the present invention is based on the premise that the monitoring system is used, and is characterized in that the patrol destination is prioritized based on user information collected by the monitoring system and patrols. It is. Many conventional patrol care services go around the user's home in a predetermined patrol order on the service provider side, whereas in the service system using the patrol care service system of the present invention, the current situation on the user side Corresponding and efficient patrols are possible.

For example, the service provider calls each user before patrol the user's house. Here, if the user answers the phone, check the user's health status,
Alternatively, the user receives a purchase request for a required article, or confirms an action schedule for the day. At this time, if necessary, an image may be added to the voice dialogue. On the other hand, if the user does not answer the phone, the current situation of the user using the camera and microphone installed in the house, that is, whether the user is simply out of the office, or whether the current situation is unknown and on-site confirmation is required And whether the user is in a state of urgency such as being unable to move due to illness or falling down. In case of emergency, measures such as contacting a medical institution or relatives, or rushing to the user's home are taken.

Next, the service provider determines the patrol order of the user's home based on the collected information except in an emergency. The priority may be determined individually according to the situation. The most efficient itinerary plan, for example, first visits a user who is complaining of physical condition or unknown status, and decides the next destination considering the user's home time and geographical relationship etc. Stand up. The tour plan may be performed by a manual operation, but is desirably automatically performed from the viewpoint of improving the efficiency of the operation. FIG. 4 shows a conceptual diagram for automatically creating a tour plan. CPU 8 for controlling the whole
1. First ROM 8 in which a control program and the like are written
2. A second ROM 83 storing the address, age, gender, medical history, contract details, etc. of the user, and a map of the provision range of the patrol care service and image data such as the position of the user's home on the map. A third ROM 84, a RAM 85 storing data such as a user's desired visit time and a purchase request item, an input unit 86 for a service provider to input data and the like, an output unit 87 for outputting a calculation processing result, and connection to a communication line. Processing device 8 having an I / O 88 for
When the service provider inputs the current situation and desired visit time of each user from the input means 86, the most efficient tour route is selected from a plurality of tour routes in consideration of the input data and the location of each user's house. Is output by the CPU 81
7 to output. At this time, an output form in which the user's house and the traveling route are displayed together on a map is practically convenient.

Also, if it is possible to connect to the arithmetic processing unit 8 from a moving means such as a car traveling around the user's house, even if a sudden event occurs during the patrol, the arithmetic processing unit 8 will be connected to the current state. , A new traveling route can be obtained as appropriate.

[0023]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a monitoring system for receiving an image and a voice of a user's home via a communication line to grasp the current state of the user. And when the caller is a specific person, the image and the sound are automatically transmitted from the photographing means and the sound collecting means arranged in the user's house, so that the health of the user is abnormal. Can be monitored at a low cost and with privacy.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, at least one of the source telephone number and the password transmitted by the telephone caller is used to determine whether the telephone caller is a specific person. Can be judged without.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when two or more photographing means and sound collecting means are provided in the house, priorities are assigned to the respective means, and the image and the sound are reproduced in order from the means having the highest priority. Since transmission is performed, the current situation of the user can be quickly grasped.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the transmitted image and sound can be output by two or more output devices, so that monitoring can be made more reliable.

According to the fifth aspect of the invention, before patroling the user's home, the service provider calls each user's home using the monitoring system and collects the health status of each user in advance. If the user does not respond to the telephone call, the monitoring system collects the image and audio information, and prioritizes the traveling destinations based on the collected information, so that the user can travel quickly and efficiently. You can go around the house and take care.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a monitoring system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing a monitoring system according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a monitoring system according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram of an arithmetic processing device for automatically creating a tour plan in the tour care service system according to claim 5;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Monitoring center 2 User's house 3 Communication line 4 Camera (photographing means) 5 Microphone (sound collecting means) 6 Monitor television (image output device) 7 Speaker (sound output device) 8 Arithmetic processing device

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G08B 25/04 G08B 25/04 K H04N 7/18 H04N 7/18 DF term (Reference) 5C054 CD04 DA01 DA09 FA09 HA12 5C086 AA22 BA01 CA09 CA28 CB26 CB36 DA07 DA14 DA33 EA13 EA41 EA45 FA06 FA18 5C087 AA02 AA03 AA24 AA25 AA37 BB11 BB64 BB74 DD03 DD24 EE12 EE16 EE18 FF01 GG02 GG19 GG20 GG19 GG19 GG19 GG19 GG20 GG19 GG19 GG19 GG19 GG19 GG19 GG19 GG19 GG19 GG20

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A monitoring system that receives images and sounds of a user's home via a communication line and grasps the current state of the user. In a monitoring system, the user does not respond to a telephone call and the telephone caller is specified. A monitoring system wherein, when the user is a user, images and sounds are automatically transmitted from a photographing means and a sound collecting means disposed in the user's house. 2. The monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein whether or not the telephone caller is a specific person is determined based on at least one of a caller telephone number and a password transmitted by the telephone caller. 3. When two or more of said photographing means and said sound collecting means are provided in a house, priorities are assigned to said means, and images and sounds are transmitted in order from the means having the highest priority. The monitoring system according to claim 1. 4. The monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the transmitted image and sound are output by two or more output devices connected to the monitoring system. 5. A mobile nursing care service system using the monitoring system according to any one of 1 to 4, wherein the service provider calls each user's home before patroling the user's home. The health status of each user is collected in advance, and when the user does not respond to the telephone call, the monitoring system collects image and voice information, and prioritizes the traveling destination based on the collected information. A patrol care service system characterized by patrols.