JP2000235576A - System for aiding preparation of data base - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a data base preparation aiding system capable of preparing a data base relating multimedia information with positional information. SOLUTION: A positional information collection part 11 provided with a GPS device 13 acquires positional information following operator's movement and its time information and stores these information in a collected data storage part 15. A multimedia device 12 collects multimedia information such as moving pictures, still pictures and voices and stores the multimedia information together with data collection time. Although the collection part 11 and the device 12 are carried together and used for collecting external data, individual devices are independent. When 'positional information/time information' and 'multimedia information/time information' are applied to a host computer 20 after collecting data, a data integration part 22 relationally integrates positional information and multimedia information obtained at almost the same time by using time information as a key and stores the integrated data in an editing storage part 21.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a database creation support system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There is an invention disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-248726, for example, which collects data by associating position data with image data, converts the data into a database, and reproduces the data later.

In the invention disclosed in this publication, images of various points are picked up by an image pickup device, and the obtained image data is stored in image storage means. At this time, the location information received by the GPS antenna is detected at the same time, and the detected location information is stored in association with the captured video data.

Thus, for example, by inputting position data of a point to be reproduced, the corresponding video data can be read and reproduced on the device side. Further, this publication suggests that date and time data of photographing may be stored together with video data.

[0005]

However, the above-mentioned conventional apparatus has the following problems. Since the time information at the time of acquiring the video data is detected by using the GPS, it is necessary to construct one system in which the video photographing device and the GPS device are connected. Existing equipment cannot be used as is.

[0006] Further, since the time at which the video is being photographed is associated, the position information is unknown when no image is captured. Therefore,
For example, it is necessary to take an image even when the user wants to know the movement trajectory or wants to know information other than video at a certain point, and it is not preferable to increase unnecessary moving image information even from the viewpoint of memory capacity efficiency.

Further, although it is easy to retrieve and display image data at an arbitrary point in data collection, it is only necessary to reproduce the imaged data. Therefore, it is desired to replace only the image at a certain point with the current one. There is no scalability such as data update processing and additional information addition.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described background, and has as its object to solve the above-described problems and to provide position information and other status information regardless of the presence or absence of status information such as video data. A database with associated information can be created, and data collection can use existing equipment as it is (of course, without using special equipment), and after data collection, other related data can be used. It is an object of the present invention to provide a database creation support system that can easily add a database to a database or update data in a constructed database.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, in a database creation support system according to the present invention, a position information collecting means for collecting position information and a situation information collecting means for collecting situation information (implementation) In the embodiment, a data collection unit having a “multimedia device 12” and a creating unit (hereinafter, referred to as an embodiment) for creating a database by integrating the position information and the status information collected by the data collection unit in association with each other Then, a storage unit for storing the database created by the creation unit (corresponding to the “data integration unit 22”) (in the embodiment, the “editing storage unit 21”).
The position information collecting means and the status information collecting means have a function of storing the time information at which each piece of information is obtained in association with each other, and the creating means stores Based on the time information respectively associated with the information and the status information, the corresponding position information and the status information are associated (claim 1).

Each information collecting section stores time information in association with each other. Therefore, if the device is carried with the user at the time of collection, the information can be collected independently without connecting each device. That is, not only can information be collected using an existing device, but it is not necessary to operate all the information collection units (at least, if the position information collection unit operates, information can be collected). In addition, since each piece of information stores the collected time in association with each other, it is possible to determine the position where the status information is obtained by associating pieces of information having the same or similar time information. This allows time, location,
One database is generated by integrating and integrating the situation information. The user simply moves the collection device, collects information at an arbitrary position, and provides the collected information to the generation unit.

Preferably, information on an arbitrary position stored in the database stored in the storage means is read out and output to the display means, and the input information related to the output arbitrary point is displayed on the display means. By providing an instruction on the means, the data input means is configured to store the inputted input information in the database in association with the arbitrary point (claim 2). The input information is character information, and can be stored in the database by inputting characters in an input area provided on the display means (claim 3). Further, the input information may be link information, and may be stored in the database by setting link information in a link information input area provided on the display means (claim 4). In this way, once a database is constructed, input information related to an arbitrary point can be additionally registered, and the database is expanded.

Further, it is preferable that a map database is provided, and a function of associating the position information stored in the database with the map database and outputting it to output means is provided. By doing so, the corresponding information can be displayed by reproducing the movement route later or instructing an arbitrary position on the map according to the position information. Therefore, operability is improved. * Definition of terms "Situation information" is information on the situation at a certain point, as described in the embodiment, such as images (moving images, still images),
Not only voice but also information obtained by various sensors such as a wind speed sensor, a temperature sensor, and a magnetic field sensor is available.
In the embodiment, it is called multimedia information.

The "link information" is information for referring (associating) various related data, such as a file name and a URL. Here, various types of related data include document information such as text, websites,
There are various forms such as sound and images.

[0014]

FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the data collected by the data collection unit 10 is provided to a host computer 20. The host computer 20 appropriately associates the received data with a host computer 20 according to an instruction from the input device 31 to create a database for editing. The data is stored in the storage unit 21 or output to the output device 32.

The data collection unit 10 is a device that is taken out of the field and collects various data, and acquires a position information collection unit 11 for detecting position information, and various information relating to the status of each point such as video and audio. Multimedia device 1
2 is provided.

The position information collecting section 11 detects the position of the data collecting section 10 (position information collecting section 11) by a GPS device 13 having a GPS antenna, and sends the position information (latitude and longitude) to the small computer 14. To give. In this embodiment, time information (received via a GPS antenna) is provided to the small computer 14 together with the position information.

The small computer 14 is a portable device which can use a so-called notebook computer or the like. Then, a table is created in which the position information and the time information received from the GPS device 13 are associated with each other, and the collected data storage unit 15
To be stored. This collected data storage unit 1
Reference numeral 5 may be a storage device in the small computer 14 or an external storage device. The data structure of the data stored in the collected data storage unit 15 is a table format in which record numbers, times, and positions are associated with each other as shown in FIG. The time / position information is stored for each integral sampling time (for example, one second).

The multimedia device 12 is, for example, a digital camera (video, still), an audio recording device, or the like. Then, the time data (acquired from the built-in clock of the multimedia device 12) and the actual data of the image, video, audio, etc. (multimedia information) are stored in association with each other. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, the storage unit in the multimedia device 12 includes:
The collected multimedia information is stored in a table format in which the collected multimedia information is associated with the collected time.

Although the multimedia device 12 is shown as one block in the illustrated example, it may have a plurality of independent devices as is clear from the above example. In that case, for each independent device,
Is created as shown in FIG.

On the other hand, each data collected as described above is sent to the host computer 20. This data transmission can be performed, for example, by transferring the data collected by the multimedia device 12 by directly connecting the multimedia device 12 to the host computer 20. Alternatively, the data can be temporarily stored in a storage medium by the multimedia device 12 and provided to the host computer 20 via the storage medium.

The location information collecting unit 11 (GPS device 1)
The time / position information collected in 3) is stored in the collected data storage 1
If the storage device 5 is an external storage device, it can be connected to the host computer 20. If the storage device 5 is an FD, MO or other storage medium, the data stored in the storage medium can be read out and given by the host computer 20. Can be. Furthermore, the data stored in the collected data storage unit 15 can be transferred to the host computer 20 by connecting the small computer 14 and the host computer 20 directly or via a network.

In the host computer 20, a data integration unit 2
2 and a data editing unit 23. Data integration unit 2
No. 2 associates the received position information with the multimedia information and integrates them into one database, and stores the result in the editing storage unit 21. Specifically, it associates time data of each data with a key. It is supposed to do.

That is, a table (a part excluding input information) having a data structure as shown in FIG. 4 is finally created, and has a function of executing the flowchart shown in FIG. That is, first, when the position information / time information collected by the position information collection unit 11 is received, the record number in FIG.
Data corresponding to each column of time and position is stored (ST
1).

Next, multimedia information I and time information t 'as shown in FIG. 3 are obtained from the multimedia device 12 (ST2). Then, each time information t'i (where i is 1 to n) is sequentially compared with the time information tx (where x is 1 to m) acquired and stored in step 1 to identify the closest time information tx (ST3). ).

Then, the time information t specified in step 3
The multimedia information Ii collected at the time t'i is stored in the multimedia information storage area corresponding to x (ST4). For example, in the example shown in FIG. 4, since the time t'1 coincides with the time t2, the multimedia information I1 at the time t'1 is stored in association with the time t2.
When a plurality of multimedia devices exist, a plurality of pieces of multimedia information may exist at the same time. In such a case, the plurality of pieces of multimedia information are stored in parallel.

As described above, the multimedia information and the position information can be associated with each other using the time information as a key. That is, at the time of data collection, the position information (collected by the GPS device) and the multimedia information (collected by the multimedia device) are separated by separate devices (the devices are not connected).
Can be collected.

On the other hand, the data editing section 23 stores predetermined information in the input information storage area shown in FIG. 4 by further adding input information to the database created by the data integration section 22 later. (The details will be described later).

Further, a map storage unit 24 is linked to the host computer 20 so that a digitized map database can be referred to. That is, for example, when a reproduction command or the like is given from the input device 31, the host computer 20 that has received it reads out necessary information from the editing storage unit 21 and outputs it to the output device 32. The output device 32 is, for example, a monitor. Further, it accesses the map storage unit 24 based on the position information, and displays a map including the display position on a monitor, which is the output device 32.

As an example of the display, as shown in FIG. 6, there are provided two map display areas 32a and 32b and a video display area 32c. First map display area 32
a displays a wide area, and the second map display area 32b enlarges and displays the periphery of a specific point in the area displayed in the first display area 32a. Has become. Here, the specific point is a point corresponding to the position to be processed, out of the position information stored in the editing storage unit 21, or the first map display area 32a specified through the input device 31. Or any point in the

The video display area 32c displays the video when the video information is present in the multimedia information corresponding to the specific point.
Note that the video here includes both moving images and still images.

Further, in this embodiment, audio is also stored as multimedia information. Therefore, the output device 32 includes an audio output device such as a speaker in addition to the above-described monitor. If audio information corresponding to the specific point is stored, audio is output via the speaker. In addition, this audio information may be recorded when the video is collected by the video camera, may be recorded and collected at the same time by the video camera (the audio may be reproduced following the reproduction of the video), or may be recorded by a separate recording device. In some cases, the audio data is collected (the sound is reproduced independently of the reproduction of the video). In any case, information related to a specific position on the map when an instruction is given (an instruction from the operator via the input device 31 and an instruction from the host computer 20 side in automatic reproduction or the like) is reproduced. Therefore, the audio and the video may be reproduced simultaneously, or only one of them may be reproduced. Of course, there is no output if there is no corresponding information.

Further, on the monitor 32, a controller 33 of a reproducing function is displayed. That is, among the reproduction commands, there are a reproduction instruction that continuously reproduces the sound over time, and a reproduction instruction that designates an arbitrary point and displays information or a map related thereto. The controller 33 is mainly used for continuous reproduction.

That is, in the case of continuous reproduction, the data stored in the editing storage unit 21 is sequentially read out in chronological order and displayed in a predetermined area of the monitor 32.
Outputs and displays a map including the position being processed from
A mark indicating the position being processed (specific position) is superimposed on the map and output.

Therefore, by clicking the play icon 33a, continuous playback is started from the current position (specific position), and clicked on the stop icon 33b, the playback is stopped. Further, by moving the operation lever 33c left and right, the specific position can be skipped back and forth for a predetermined time. Reference numeral 33d denotes a controller that adjusts the reproduction speed when reproducing a moving image.

The controller 33 operates the mouse as the input device 31, moves the pointer displayed on the monitor as the output device 32, and clicks the mouse at a predetermined position to issue various instructions. This constitutes a kind of input unit.

Below the controller 33,
Text processing area 32d and link information display area 32e
Is provided. By operating a keyboard or the like as the input device 31, arbitrary text information (character information) can be entered in the text processing area 32d. This character information is information relating to the position (specific point) being processed. Therefore, if there is character information about the specified specific point, the character information is output and displayed in the text processing area 32d. If there is no corresponding character information, nothing is displayed.

The input and processing of the character information are performed by the data editing unit 23 described above. That is, the text processing area 32d is made operable using the input device 31 (mouse or the like) in a state in which the point to be processed is instructed (the reproduction is stopped at the corresponding point during continuous reproduction) (for example, Move the pointer to the area and click on it). In this state, the user inputs characters related to the information to be input. Then, the data editing unit 23 acquires the input character information, detects the current processing position, and stores the current processing position in the storage area of the input information related to the corresponding position information in the editing storage unit 21. In this storage, specific character information itself may be registered, or an address or the like for accessing the character information may be stored.

Further, the present invention is not limited to the registration of new character information as described above. For example, it is possible to correct already registered information. That is, if the character information related to the position currently being processed (specific position) is already registered, the content is displayed in the text processing area 32d. Therefore,
Similarly to the above-mentioned new input, the text processing area 32d is made operable, and the displayed character information is corrected or added. Then, the data editing unit 23 checks whether or not the character information has been corrected (changed), and if corrected, stores the corrected character information in the corresponding storage area in the editing storage unit 21.

Further, in the link information display area 32e,
Link information of related information (related documents, Web sites, audio information, etc.) is displayed. In this example, an icon is displayed, and when the icon is clicked, the user jumps to the corresponding information and can open the information. In the illustrated example, the URL of the Web site and related documents are displayed.

The link information is also registered using the data editing unit 23. In other words, as an operator's process, drag and drop icons (shortcuts, aliases) to access related information
It moves into the link information display area 32e by dropping or the like. The data editing unit 23 that has detected this movement stores the link information in the input information storage area in the editing storage unit 21. Note that once the registered link information is specified by the corresponding specific position,
It is displayed in the link information display area 32e. Further, another link information can be further added by executing the same processing as described above, and once registered link information can be deleted by deleting the displayed icon.

That is, the text processing area 32
d, the link information display area 32e is a display area for the registered input information, and also has a function as an input unit for registering the input information.

Next, an example of use (an example of an application) using the above-described apparatus will be described. First, electric power companies have a wide variety of equipment in large spaces, such as power generation, transmission, and substation equipment. The information about each facility is enormous, and it is difficult to grasp the actual individual facilities due to an increase in the number of facilities, sophistication, concealment, etc., and division of labor of inspection work. Therefore, the present invention can be used for an application that efficiently collects and manages information on individual facilities according to the present invention. * On-site information collection GPS unit 13 and small computer 14 as data collection unit
(In this example, a storage unit 15 is incorporated), a digital camera 12a for collecting still images, a headset 12b for voice input, and a video camera for collecting moving images and voices. A multimedia device composed of 12c is prepared. Of course, it is not necessary to prepare all of them in the present invention. The audio information input from the headset 12b is transmitted to the small computer 1
4 is registered.

Then, as shown in FIG. 8, the operator M having the above-described data collection unit moves to a point where information is to be collected, and obtains necessary information there. That is, during the movement, the position information collecting unit 11 extracts and stores the position information and the time information at every fixed sampling time. Thereby, the movement route and the time required for the movement are known.

When the user arrives at the place where various facilities are installed, a predetermined multimedia device is used, and the situation is collected as multimedia information. That is, a still image, a moving image, or a notice at that time can be recorded as audio information. When each piece of multimedia information is collected, the time information collected using an internal clock or the like of the device is also stored. Of course, in the case of patroling each facility for maintenance, information may be collected at an arbitrary point in the route other than each facility as necessary. * Post-processing If the information is collected in this way, the collected information is given to the host computer, and the multimedia information and the position information are associated with each other using the time information held by each other as a key, and the host computer automatically performs the processing. And create one database. The operator (user) only obtains various types of information as described above, and does not need to perform a process of associating each information with a database. Furthermore, multimedia information is mapped on a map by associating it with a map database.

Further, since time information associated with the movement is stored, the time information can be reproduced in a time series and displayed on a monitor. Then, the operator can clearly remember the experience at the time of data acquisition by looking at what is displayed on the monitor, and based on the experience, input character information and the like related to an arbitrary position. (Using the text processing area 32d). In addition, it can be linked to existing related text or can be associated with data on the Web (using the link information display area 32e).

In particular, in the case of a human, when information is stored, time information has a great effect together with position and visual information. When tracing the memory, it is possible to recall by relying on the order in which the contents were viewed, and so on. Reproduction in chronological order as in the present embodiment makes it easy to recall, and enables data input of detailed information.

Further, when the situation changes due to replacement or repair of equipment, information on the equipment is collected and replaced with multimedia information or input information of a database already constructed, thereby easily updating the latest situation. Can be updated to

[0048]

As described above, in the database creation support system according to the present invention, the position information collecting means and the status information collecting means constituting the data collecting unit are independently carried, though they are carried together. Therefore, position information can be acquired regardless of the presence or absence of status information. Further, when a plurality of pieces of status information are collected, only arbitrary information among them can be collected, and an associated database can be created accordingly. Also,
Since each information collecting means can be used independently, it is possible to use an existing device such as a GPS device or a video camera or a digital camera as it is. Further, according to the present invention, other related data can be added to the database after data collection.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a data structure diagram of a collected data storage unit 15;

FIG. 3 is a data structure diagram in a storage area for storing data collected by the multimedia device.

FIG. 4 is a data structure diagram of an editing storage unit.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating functions of a data integration unit.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a display screen of a monitor that is one of output devices.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data collection unit.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Data collection part 11 Location information collection part 12 Multimedia device 13 GPS apparatus 14 Small computer 15 Collection data storage part 20 Host computer 21 Editing storage part 22 Data integration part 23 Data editing part 24 Map storage part 31 Input device 32 Output device

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G06F 15/40 370G (72) Inventor Haruo Amari 4-1, Egasakicho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa, Tokyo Power Systems Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Isao Nakayama 4-1 Egasaki-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Tokyo Electric Power Co. Systems Research Laboratory F-term (reference) 2C032 HB11 HC23 HC26 HC27 HC31 2F029 AA07 AB07 AC02 AC06 AC14 AC20 5B075 ND16 NK10 NR02 PP03 PQ02 UU14 5J062 BB05 CC07 9A001 HH15 HH23 HH30 JJ01 JJ11 JJ78

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A data collection unit comprising a position information collection unit for collecting position information, and a status information collection unit for collecting status information, and integrating the position information and the status information collected by the data collection unit in association with each other. Creating means for creating a database, and storage means for storing the database created by the creating means, wherein the position information collecting means and the status information collecting means respectively store the time information at which each piece of information was obtained. Has a function of storing in association with each other, wherein the creating unit associates the corresponding position information with the corresponding situation information based on the given time information associated with each of the location information and the situation information. Database creation support system. 2. The information about an arbitrary position stored in a database stored in the storage means is read out and output to a display means, and input information relating to the output arbitrary point is displayed on the display means. 2. The database creation support system according to claim 1, further comprising a data editing unit that stores the designated input information in the database by associating the designated input information with the arbitrary point. 3. The data processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the input information is character information, and is stored in the database by inputting a character in an input area provided on the display unit. Database creation support system. 4. The input information is link information, wherein the link information is set in a link information input area provided on the display means, and is stored in the database. The database creation support system according to claim 2. 5. The database creation support according to claim 1, further comprising a map database, and a function of associating the positional information stored in the database with the map database and outputting the map database to an output unit. system.