JP2000285346A - Life environment support system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a life environment support system which monitors life environment change for 24 hours without damaging the privacy of an individual and can confirm abnormality. SOLUTION: A water meter 1 and a hot water meter 2 which detect the use situation of service water are provided, an operating part 3 measures signals from the sensors of the meters 1 and 2, calculates a period when water is continuously used at fixed quantity and compares it with a preliminarily set period, and a display device 6 showing the compared results outputs alarms with an alarm lamp 4 and an alarm buzzer 5 in case of abnormality. Thus, hot water or water use situations of an inhabitant are managed in a home for the aged, elderly care facilities and a private house, and abnormality can be notified when a situation against the normal life pattern of a person takes place. A alarm can also be issued for wasteful water use.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a living environment suitable for detecting an anomaly of a resident in a house (detached house, apartment house, etc.) in which a resident living alone or an elderly resident lives. Regarding support systems.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the progress of aging, collective housing for the elderly (for example, nursing homes, care houses) and the like are increasing. There are also many who live alone. In the case where such a single person is alone or not elderly alone but only elderly people, sudden changes (sickness, falling, seizures, etc.) occur in the room and the consciousness of the person is lost A situation can be assumed in which communication to the outside is not possible because the body does not move as desired.

In order to detect such abnormalities of a single person or an elderly person at an early stage, a video camera or a TV camera is installed in each room of the individual to directly detect the living conditions of the individual. However, there is a problem in protecting the privacy of consumers, and direct monitoring with a video camera or the like should be minimized to protect privacy.

[0004] As a prior art for detecting an anomaly of a single person or an elderly person, etc. at an early stage in consideration of the privacy of the consumer, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-333190, for example, There has been proposed a system for monitoring tap water usage and detecting a health abnormality of each consumer based on the water usage.

[0005] This prior art measures and analyzes the amount of water used and the time of use from a water sensor attached to the water supply of each house or room for a certain period of time, and determines the standard from the viewpoint of individual water use of the residents living there. The life pattern is stored in advance, and the amount of water used and the time of use that match the reference life pattern are compared with the monitored water use state. As a result of the comparison, a predetermined margin is compared with the reference life pattern. In the case where a large usage amount and / or a long usage time in consideration of the above is detected, it is detected that there is an abnormality in the consumer.

Further, as another conventional technique, the amount of water used within a predetermined time is detected without using the reference life pattern, and when the amount of water used within a predetermined time is extremely large, the user is unusual. It is also considered that something is detected as having occurred.

[0007]

The system for detecting an anomaly of a resident according to the prior art described above is based on the premise that the resident's life pattern is fixed, but the actual life of each resident is assumed. The patterns vary widely, and the amount of water used and the usage time vary depending on the convenience of the consumer. there were.

In the prior art, since the standard living pattern of the resident is stored, there is a problem that the monitoring cannot be immediately performed immediately after the apparatus is installed or when the resident is changed.

Further, the prior art for detecting an amount of water consumption within a predetermined period of time without using the above-mentioned life pattern to detect an anomaly of the resident is not limited to the anomaly of the resident. For example, cooking and washing are performed. There was a problem that even when the amount of use increased, it could be detected as an abnormal event.

[0010] An object of the present invention is to eliminate the disadvantages of the prior art, which can be used immediately after installation without being affected by the lifestyle pattern of the resident, and to appropriately detect anomalies of the resident. To provide a living environment support system that can

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, a living environment support system according to the present invention is provided with flow rate monitoring means for monitoring the flow rate of hot water and / or water in an area to be monitored and uses hot water or water. It is characterized in that it is determined whether or not the use state is a continuous use state in which the water flow rate is constant, and an alarm is issued when the continuous use state exceeds a predetermined set time.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a living environment support system according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the overall configuration of the living environment support system according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a method of determining the water use state according to the present embodiment between a normal use state and a continuous use state. FIG. 3 and FIG. 3 are flowcharts for explaining the operation of the present system.

As shown in FIG. 1, the living environment support system according to the present embodiment is a place where water is used, such as a washroom, a toilet, and a bathroom, of a living area 10 which is a monitored area such as a house or a room of a consumer. And a water meter 1 and a water meter 2 that generate a signal of one pulse per a certain amount of water used, and the pulse signals from the water meter 1 and the water meter 2. A control device 20 including an operation unit 3 for determining that the user is unusual when the time of continuous use of water exceeds a preset time as an input, and an alarm lamp according to an instruction from the operation unit 3 4 and a management room 30 in which a display device 6 for communicating an anomaly of a consumer using the alarm buzzer 5 is installed.

The water meter 1 and the hot water meter 2 may measure the usage using a flow sensor in order to check the usage of water. However, when the flow sensor is used, a pulse signal (for example, 28 ml / pulse) is used. In this embodiment, a water flow meter that generates one pulse signal per 1 liter of flow rate is used because the accuracy is increased but the cost is increased.

The arithmetic unit 3 determines that the user is unusual when the time of continuous use of water exceeds a preset time, and changes the use state of water to the normal use state. It is discriminated into two use states, and in the case of the continuous use state, it is judged that an abnormal change has occurred.

The normal use state is a state in which water is usually used such as cooking, washing, and showering, in other words, even if water is used for a long time, the hot water or the water is stopped at a constant flow rate. This is a state where continuous use is not performed. The continuous use state refers to a state where continuous use at a constant flow rate occurs, for example, when a faucet is forgotten to be closed or a person falls down while using water.

The calculating section 3 according to the present embodiment uses the pulse signal interval T shown in FIG.
1, T2 is measured, and it is determined from these pulse signals whether or not the apparatus is in the continuous use state. That is, the calculation unit 3 calculates the absolute value TR of the difference between the pulse signal intervals T1 and T2, and calculates the product of the interval T2 and the maximum fluctuation rate of the water pressure as TX (a normal faucet slightly varies depending on the water pressure. The maximum fluctuation rate of the water pressure). For example 30%
When the pulse signal is input at equal intervals when TR <TX, that is, the “maximum variation rate is considered rather than the“ absolute value TR of the difference between the pulse signal intervals T1 and T2 ”. Is determined to be the continuous use state when the pulse signal interval TX ”is large, and to the normal use state otherwise. That is, when the used water amount is constant within a range in which the maximum fluctuation rate is considered, the continuous use state is determined.

If the water is not used within a certain period of time, the computing unit 3 must cancel the monitoring condition and set the condition to “unused state”. If it is longer than the time (for example, 180 seconds), it is determined that it is not used.

Next, the operation of the living environment support system thus configured will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, in the present process, when a consumer uses tap water in the living area 10 such as the room shown in FIG. 1 (step S1), the water meter 1 or 2 generates one pulse per 1 liter of flow rate. Output a signal (step S
2) The arithmetic unit 3 that has received the pulse signal determines whether the apparatus is in the continuous use state or the normal use state by the above-described method (step S3). If it is determined in step S3 that the state is not the continuous use state, the processing ends. If it is determined that it is in the continuous use state, the process proceeds to the next step S4. In this step S4, the usage time is measured using the timer monitoring function (step S4), and when the preset attention occurrence time is exceeded (step S5), "warning" is given to the manager by the alarm lamp 4 on the display device 6. Is displayed (step S6),
Next, it is determined whether or not the alarm generation time by the display is exceeded (step S7). If the alarm generation time is not exceeded, for example, if the consumer notices a water leak and stops the water supply, the process proceeds to step S4. Returning, when the alarm generation time has been exceeded, the alarm buzzer 5 that alerts the manager is sounded in addition to the alarm by the lamp display (step S).
8). If the buzzer is stopped by a manager or the like (step S9), the buzzer is stopped and the timer is reset.

As described above, the living environment support system according to the present embodiment determines whether or not the apparatus is in the continuous use state based on the pulse signal output from the water meter every predetermined amount of water. It is possible to detect a change in a consumer. Therefore, when cooking or washing, etc., even if the water usage time is long, the water is stopped and started, so it will not be used continuously at a constant flow rate. Even if the user goes out while using the water supply, the water is used at a constant flow rate even if there is no change in the consumer, so that it is possible to determine that the water is used continuously and to issue an alarm. Further, the living environment support system sets the time of the timer set value to the attention occurrence time by the lamp display and the buzzer alarm occurrence time in detail,
"Caution" when continuous use time exceeds the caution time
Is displayed, and when the alarm occurrence time has elapsed, the "alarm"
The alarm display may be performed in two stages by performing the display and the buzzer sound.

Further, the present system can monitor the water leakage by extending the time for discriminating the unused state, and can quickly detect a change in the consumer by shortening the timer setting value. . In this case, since false alarms increase by shortening the timer setting value, it is preferable to increase the accuracy by installing a motion sensor in each room and monitoring the movement of a person so that false alarms are not issued.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, by capturing a pulse from a water meter and monitoring a change in the flow rate of water, it is possible to constantly detect abnormalities of a living person for 24 hours. By discriminating the use state between the continuous use state in which the flow rate does not change for a certain period of time and the normal use state, it is possible to reduce false alarms when using normal water. Further, since there is no need to store the water usage patterns of the consumers, it is possible to perform immediate monitoring even after the installation of the system or when the consumers are replaced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the overall configuration of a living environment support system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view for explaining a method of determining whether a water use state is a normal use state or a continuous use state according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the overall operation of the living environment support system according to the embodiment;

[Explanation of symbols]

1: Water meter, 2: Hot water meter, 3: Operation unit, 4: Alarm lamp, 5: Alarm buzzer, 6: Display device, 10: Living area, 20: Control device, 30: Management room.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Koji Matsunaga 1 at 120, Sachimachi, Inazawa, Aichi Prefecture Inside Chubu Hitachi Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Shuhei Taki 1 at 120, Sachimachi, Inazawa, Aichi Prefecture Central Hitachi Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hiroyuki Fukui 55, Kawamiya-cho, Moriyama-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi Central Japan F-term (reference) 5C086 AA22 AA45 BA04 CA02 DA01 DA14 DA29 EA11 EA13 EA23 EA40 FA02 FA11 5C087 AA11 AA32 AA42 DD03 DD25 DD26 EE18 FF01 FF04 GG08 GG30 GG31 GG49 GG70

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A flow rate monitoring means for monitoring a flow rate of hot water and / or water is installed in an area to be monitored to determine whether a hot water or water is in use and a water flow rate is a constant continuous use state. A living environment support system that issues an alarm when the continuous use state exceeds a predetermined set time.