JP2002163743A - Remote monitor system and remote monitor center apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To monitor from a remote place the living condition of a person to be monitored in detail. SOLUTION: A remote monitor system 100 detects the utilization state of respective electrical appliances in houses 2a and 2b, where the place of persons to be monitored is living by detection units 10 and sends them to a remote monitor center device 17 of a remote monitor center 3. The remote monitor center device 17 displays the utilization states of the electrical appliances sent from the houses 2a and 2b and refers to them to monitor the living condition of the person.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a remote monitoring system and a remote monitoring center device for remotely monitoring, for example, the living conditions of an elderly living alone.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In Japan, the number of elderly people aged 65 and over is rapidly increasing, and accompanying this, the number of elderly people living alone who cannot take care of their families is also increasing. These solitary elderly people may live a life with little social involvement. In such a case, when an elderly person living alone is injured in an apartment or falls down due to sudden illness, the situation cannot be conveyed to others and a catastrophic event may occur.

In order to prevent such a catastrophic event, it is conceivable that a nursing care worker regularly patrols the home of the elderly alone, but in this case, a lot of manpower is required. It costs a lot. In addition, a care service person cannot always reside at the home of each elderly person alone, that is, it cannot always check the living conditions of each elderly person. Of course, if the nursing care service staff is stationed at the home of the elderly, the living conditions can be checked at all times, but in this case, the cost is large and the privacy of the elderly is infringed.

[0004] Therefore, an emergency call button or the like is provided in the home for the elderly who lives alone, and when the emergency is pressed by the elderly in an emergency, a remote control is provided so that a call can be made between the home for the elderly and the remote monitoring center. Monitoring systems have been proposed. In such a remote monitoring system, by pressing the emergency report button, it is possible to notify the center member of the remote monitoring center that the elderly are in an emergency.

[0005]

However, in the conventional remote monitoring system as described above, the remote monitoring center can detect an abnormality of the elderly only when the elderly alone live presses the emergency report button. It can be detected. Therefore, it has not been possible to perform detailed monitoring such as predicting abnormalities occurring in the elderly at an early stage from changes in the daily living conditions of the elderly who are the monitoring targets.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a remote monitoring system and a remote monitoring center device capable of monitoring the living situation of a monitored person in detail from a remote location. With the goal.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a remote monitoring system according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a remote monitoring center device for monitoring a living situation of a monitoring target living in a remote place; Detecting means that is provided in the residence of the monitored person and detects the use status of a plurality of types of electric devices arranged in the residence, and the plurality of types of electric devices provided in the residence and detected by the detection unit Transmitting means for transmitting a detection result to the remote monitoring center device via a communication network, wherein the remote monitoring center device comprises:
A receiving unit for receiving a detection result transmitted from the transmitting unit via the communication network, and displaying information on a usage state of each of the plurality of types of electric devices based on the detection result received by the receiving unit And display means.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a remote monitoring system according to the first aspect, wherein the remote monitoring center device is configured to monitor the monitoring target person in accordance with a use situation of each electric device. It is characterized by further comprising a judging means for judging a living situation.

A third aspect of the present invention is the remote monitoring system according to the second aspect, wherein the display means displays a determination result by the determination means.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the remote monitoring system according to the second or third aspect, wherein the remote monitoring center device includes a status change number of use / non-use for each electric device. And a criterion information storage means for storing the criterion information stored in association with the content of the determination, for each person to be monitored, wherein the determination means comprises the criterion information stored in the criterion information storage means. Is referred to, and the living condition of the monitoring target person is determined.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the remote monitoring system according to the fourth aspect, the remote monitoring center device is stored in the criterion information storage means in accordance with a user's instruction. It is characterized by further comprising rewriting means for rewriting the criterion information.

A remote monitoring center device according to a sixth aspect of the present invention is a remote monitoring center device for monitoring a living situation of a monitored person who lives in a remote place, and is disposed in the residence of the monitored person. Receiving means for receiving, via a communication network, information indicating the use status of a plurality of types of electric devices transmitted from the transmission means, based on the information indicating the use status received by the receiving means, Display means for displaying information on the usage status of each electric device.

The remote monitoring center device according to claim 7 is the remote monitoring center device according to claim 6,
It is characterized by further comprising a judging means for judging a living situation of the monitoring target person according to a use situation of each electric device.

The remote monitoring center device according to claim 8 is the remote monitoring center device according to claim 7,
The display means displays a result of the determination by the determination means.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the remote monitoring center device according to the seventh or eighth aspect, the number of state changes of use / non-use and the determination content are determined for each of the electric devices. The apparatus further includes a criterion information storage unit that stores the criterion information stored in association with each monitoring target person, wherein the determination unit refers to the criterion information stored in the criterion information storage unit and performs monitoring. It is characterized in that a judgment is made on the living condition of the subject.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the remote monitoring center device according to the ninth aspect, the remote monitoring center device is stored in the criterion information storage means in accordance with a user's instruction. And rewriting means for rewriting the judgment criterion information.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. A. First, FIG. 1 shows an entire configuration of a remote monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the remote monitoring system 100 includes a plurality of detection units 10, an information transmission switch box 11, an interface box 12, and an information transmission device 13 arranged in the residences 2 a and 2 b of each monitored person. And a mobile phone 14 and a mobile phone 16 and a remote monitoring center device 17 arranged in the remote monitoring center 3. The dwellings in which the monitored persons monitored by the remote monitoring center 3 live are the dwellings 2a and 2b.
However, the number is not limited to three, but only three houses 2a and 2b are shown in the figure for convenience.

B. First, the components provided in each of the residences 2a and 2b in which the individual to be monitored resides in the remote monitoring system 100 will be described. The detection unit 10 is a residential house 2
Various electric equipments 5a, 5b installed in a, 2b
Are provided in correspondence with each of... To detect the usage status of the corresponding electric device. The detection result indicating the use status is transmitted to the information transmission device 13 via the interface box 12.
Supplied to In the following, when it is not necessary to distinguish the electric devices, they are referred to as electric devices 5.

Here, the circuit configuration of the detection unit 10 for detecting whether or not the corresponding electric equipment is used is shown in FIG.
Shown in The detection unit 10 also has a function as a connector, and includes a plug 114 and an outlet 112, an induction coil 121, and a rectifier 122.
, A smoothing circuit 123, a photocoupler 124, and a modular jack 125.

The plug 114 is inserted into an outlet 133 connected to a power supply 120 in the residences 2a and 2b. When the plug 114 is inserted into the outlet 133 in this way, the detection unit 10 can supply the electric power supplied from the power supply 120 to the electric device whose plug is inserted into the outlet 112.

The induction coil 121 is composed of a conductor wound around an electric wire 126 connecting the plug 14 and the outlet 12. Under this configuration, when a plug connected to an electric device is inserted into the outlet 12 and the electric device enters a power use state, a current flows through the electric wire 26, thereby generating an electromotive force in the induction coil 121.

The rectifier 122 has four diodes 27 as shown in the figure.
The electromotive force (AC) generated at 21 is converted to DC in the direction indicated by the arrow in the figure. The smoothing circuit 123 includes a capacitor 128,
The rectifier 122 has a zener diode 129 and a resistor 130, and outputs the rectifier 122 with a substantially constant voltage.

The photocoupler 124 includes a photodiode 131 which emits light by an output voltage from the smoothing circuit 123.
And a phototransistor 132 for detecting light emission of the photodiode 131. The lead of the phototransistor 132 is connected to the modular jack 125.

Modular jack 1 of detection unit 10
Reference numeral 25 is connected to the interface box 12 shown in FIG. 1 via a signal cable. Here, the photocoupler 124 is turned on when an electromotive force is generated in the induction coil 121, that is, when the corresponding electric device is supplied with power and used, and is turned off when the electric device is not used. Functions as a switch set to. Therefore, in the interface box 12 connected to the modular jack 125, based on the on / off state of the photocoupler 124 in the detection unit 10, whether the electric device corresponding to the detection unit 10 is in use or not is used. It can be detected.

Note that the detection unit 10 is not limited to the above-described configuration, and may be any unit that can detect a use state such as whether a corresponding electric device is in a use state or a non-use state.

Here, the detection unit 10 having the above configuration is
The detection units 10 are provided corresponding to various electric devices installed in the residences 2 a and 2 b, and these detection units 10 are connected to the interface box 12. In the present embodiment, for example, the lighting equipment of each living room (living room, bedroom, kitchen, etc.) of the dwelling houses 2a and 2b, the lighting equipment of the toilet, the lighting equipment of the bathroom, the TV, the electric stove, the kotatsu, the electric pot and the like. By providing the detection unit 10 in the device,
The usage status of these electric devices is detected.

The information transmission switch box 11 is a device for the monitored person to make various requests to the remote monitoring center 3, and as shown in FIG. Has an operation panel 31 provided with an operation switch group 30 for performing the operation. In the example shown,
The operation switches 30 include "emergency", "I want you to come urgently", "Call fire engine", "Call ambulance", "Call police", "Call me", "Absent tomorrow", Switch buttons with a notation such as "I want to come tomorrow" are prepared, and each button is a button for transmitting the written content to the remote monitoring center 3. Therefore, when the “call an ambulance” button is operated, information instructing to transmit a message corresponding to this button to the remote monitoring center 3 is transmitted from the information transmission switch box 11 via the interface box 12 to the information. The information is supplied to the transmission device 13, and the information transmission device 13 performs a process of transmitting a message such as “call an ambulance” to the remote monitoring center 3.

Returning to FIG. 1, the information transmission device 13 is supplied with information indicating the use state of each electric device 5 from the interface box 12, and one of the operation switches 30 of the information transmission switch box 11 is operated. In this case, the instruction information corresponding to the operation content is supplied via the interface box 12.

The information transmission device 13 transmits the information supplied from the interface box 12 to the portable telephone 14.
Is used to control the transmission to the remote monitoring center 3. Specifically, the information transmission device 13 accumulates information indicating the use status of each electric device 5 (information indicating use or non-use) supplied from the interface box 12 and periodically executes the remote monitoring center 3. The information indicating the usage status stored in response to the request from the server is supplied to the mobile phone 14, and the mobile phone 14 wirelessly transmits the information to the remote monitoring center 3. The instruction information corresponding to the operation content of the information transmission switch box 11 is transmitted to the interface box 12.
When the information transmission device 13 receives the instruction information, the information transmission device 13 controls the mobile phone 14 to send a request corresponding to the operation content of the information transmission switch box 11 to the remote monitoring center 3 when receiving the instruction information. Send the information to be conveyed. For example, when a button such as “call an ambulance” in the group of operation switches 30 is operated, transmission information for notifying the remote monitoring center 3 to call an ambulance is transmitted.

Mobile phone 14 accommodated in mobile communication network 18
Has a wireless communication function, and can perform wireless data communication via the mobile telephone network 18. The mobile phone 14 is controlled by the information transmission device 13 and the remote monitoring center 3 as described above, wirelessly transmits various types of information to the remote monitoring center 3 via the mobile communication network 18, and transmits the information from the remote monitoring center 3. Receiving various information.

C. Configuration of Remote Monitoring Center What has been described above is the components installed in the residences 2a and 2b of the monitoring target person. Next, the components installed in the remote monitoring center 3 will be described.

The remote monitoring center device 17 is, for example, a personal computer system or the like, and executes control for realizing remote monitoring by the remote monitoring system 100 by executing a control program stored in its hard disk. Here, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the remote monitoring center device 17 when the control processing is executed. As shown in FIG.
Includes a communication interface unit 40, a control unit 41, a display unit 42, a criterion information storage unit 43, and an operation unit 44.

The communication interface section 40 is an interface for exchanging data with the mobile phone 16. The operation unit 44 is a keyboard, a mouse, or the like, and supplies an instruction signal according to a user operation to the control unit 41. The display unit 42 includes a liquid crystal display device or a CRT (Cathode
Ray Tube) for displaying an image under the control of the control unit 41.

The control unit 41 has a CPU (Central Process
ng Unit), RAM (Random Access Memory), ROM
(Read Only Memory) and the like, and controls various parts of the remote monitoring center device 17 to execute various processes for remotely monitoring the living conditions of the monitoring targets living in the residences 2a and 2b.

First, the control unit 41 transmits information indicating the use status of each electric device 5 to the information transmission device 13 installed in each of the residences 2a and 2b every predetermined period (for example, every hour). Is requested. In this process,
The mobile phone 16 is controlled to make a call to the mobile phone 14 installed in each of the residences 2a and 2b. When a communication link is established with the mobile phone 14, the information transmission device connected to the mobile phone 14 is established. 13, request information for requesting transmission of information indicating the use status.

In response to the above request, the control unit 41 sends the information to the communication interface unit 40 from the information transmission device 13 of each of the dwelling houses 2a and 2b via the mobile phone 14, the mobile communication network 18 and the mobile phone 16. Each electrical device 5 received
The display unit 42 displays information on the living situation of the monitoring target reflecting the information indicating the usage status of the monitoring target.

Here, FIG. 5 shows a display screen of information relating to a living situation of a certain monitoring target person. As shown in the figure, on the upper side of this display screen, a name field 50 for displaying the name of the person to be monitored and a date field 5 for displaying the date of the usage status to be displayed.
1 is displayed. The name column 50 is a pull-down menu, and the user, that is, the monitor at the remote monitoring center 3, selects the name displayed in the name column 50 from the pull-down menu to display the usage status of which monitoring target person. Can be selected.
Similarly, in the date column 51, by clicking the up and down arrow buttons displayed on the right side of the history, it is possible to select which date to use.

The name column 50 and the date column 51 as described above.
On the lower side, a usage status display column 52 for displaying information indicating the elapsed time of the usage status of each electric device 5 is displayed. In the illustrated example, “TV” is displayed in the usage status display column 52,
Information indicating the time lapse of the usage status of the electrical equipment such as “toilet”, “bathroom”, “bedroom”, “living room”, “fan heater”, and “electric kotatsu” is displayed. here,
“Toilet”, “bathroom”, “bedroom”, and “living room” respectively indicate the usage status of the lighting equipment installed in these places. It should be noted that the shaded portions in the figure indicate the time periods during which the electric device is used, and the other portions indicate the time periods during which the electric device is not used. Here, the content displayed in the usage status display column 52 reflects information indicating the usage status of each electric device collected from the information transmission device 13 of the residences 2a and 2b at predetermined intervals.

On the right side of the portion corresponding to each electric device in the usage status display column 52, a judgment column 53 for displaying a judgment result corresponding to each electric device is displayed. In the judgment column 53,
According to the usage status of each electrical device in the residence of the monitored person, a determination result of stepwise determination as to whether or not there is an abnormality in the living situation is displayed. In the present embodiment, three steps of “normal”, “caution”, and “abnormal” are determined by a determination process performed by the control unit 41, which will be described later. (Normal), yellow (caution), and red (abnormal) are displayed.

At the lower side of the use status display column 52, "emergency", "I want you to come urgently" similar to the notation of the operation switch group 30 (see FIG. 3) provided in the information transmission switch box 11, A transmission information column 54 is displayed which displays messages such as "call a fire engine", "call an ambulance", "call a police", "call me", "absent tomorrow", and "want to come tomorrow". ing. Homes 2a, 2b
Switch group 3 of information transmission switch box 11
0 is operated, and transmission information for transmitting a request or the like corresponding to the button is transmitted from the information transmission device 13 through the mobile phone 14, the mobile communication network 18, the mobile phone 16, and the communication interface unit 40. When supplied to the control unit 41, the control unit 41 blinks characters similar to the characters written on the operated button. For example, when “call an ambulance” in the operation switch group 30 of the information transmission switch box 11 is operated, the transmission information column 54
"Call an ambulance" is displayed blinking, and the observer who sees this can know that the monitored person has requested to call an ambulance. Therefore, it is possible for the observer to call an ambulance and go to the residence of the monitored person.

The determination process by the control unit 41 is performed by referring to the storage contents of the determination criterion information storage unit 43 composed of, for example, a hard disk. Here, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the storage contents of the criterion information storage unit 43. As shown in the drawing, the determination reference information storage unit 43 stores the number of state changes in association with each level (“normal”, “caution”, “abnormal”) for each electronic device. Here, the number of state changes refers to the state of use of the electrical device during one day.
This is the number of times the state changes from the non-use state and the non-use state to the use state.

For example, the number of state changes of the lighting equipment in the "bathroom" is such that if a person takes a bath once a day, the state changes from non-use state to use state and use state to non-use state. Usually, the number of times is “2”. Therefore, the case where the number of state changes is two or more is stored as the “normal” level. On the other hand, the “attention” level is associated with the number of state changes “1”. This is because if the number of state changes is “1”, it is impossible to determine that the monitoring target is abnormal because the monitoring target may forget to turn off the lighting device in the bathroom. Next, the status change count “0” is associated with the “abnormal” level. If the number of state changes is "0", it means that the lighting equipment in the bathroom is not turned on, and it is predicted that the monitored person has not taken a bath due to poor physical condition or some abnormal situation. it can. Therefore, the “abnormal” level is associated with the state change count of “0”.

Also, the number of times that a certain monitored person goes to the toilet a day falls within a certain range (for example, about 4 to 8 times). It is also possible that there is an abnormality in the digestive system of the monitored person, or that the monitored person cannot get up and go to the toilet. Therefore, as for the number of changes in the state of the lighting equipment in the “toilet”, the number of times the monitored person goes to the normal toilet is associated with the “normal level”, and the other times are assigned to the “attention” and “abnormal” levels. What is necessary is just to correspond.

As described above, in the criterion information storage unit 43,
Information for detecting an abnormality based on the usage status of the electrical equipment in the normal living situation of each monitored person is stored for each monitored person, whereby the determination processing with reference to the determination reference information storage unit 43 is performed. In, it is possible to obtain a determination result in consideration of the life situation of each monitoring target person.

With reference to the criterion information storage section 43 in which such information is stored, the control section 41 determines whether or not there is an abnormality in the life situation of the monitored person based on the result of the use state of each electric device. are doing. The determination result by the control unit 41 is displayed in the determination column 53 as described above.

Here, the criterion information storage unit 43 stores information reflecting the living situation of the monitored person. Therefore, the number of state changes initially associated with each level in the criterion information storage unit 43 may be determined based on the self-report of the monitored person. For example, if the question about the number of times a person goes to a bathroom or the number of times a person takes a bath is asked to each monitored person, and the number of state changes associated with each level is determined by referring to the answer from the monitored person. Good.

In the present embodiment, the storage contents of the criterion information storage unit 43 can be updated even after the initial information is stored in the criterion information storage unit 43 based on the self-report of the monitored person as described above. Has been made. Therefore, it is also possible to update the number of state changes that are appropriately associated with each level by referring to the past actual usage status of each electric device every predetermined period (for example, every month). I have.

Here, FIG. 7 shows a screen displayed on the display unit 42 when the storage contents of the criterion information storage unit 43 are updated. As shown in the figure, at the top of this screen, a device name display field 70 for displaying the name of an electric device for updating the number of state changes associated with each level is displayed. In the illustrated example, “toilet” is displayed in the device name display column 70,
This screen is a screen for setting the number of state changes of each level of the lighting equipment of the “toilet”. The device name display column 70 is a pull-down menu, and the monitor can select which electric device to update the setting by selecting the electric device name displayed in the device name display column 70 from the pull-down menu. It has become.

The number-of-times input fields 71, 72, 7 for inputting the number of state changes for each level are provided below the device name display field 70.
3 is displayed. The observer inputs the number of state changes into these number input fields 71, 72, 73 based on the past usage result. A registration button 74 and a cancel button 75 are displayed below the number-of-times input fields 71, 72, 73, and the contents stored in the determination criterion information storage unit 43 are determined by the contents input to the number-of-times input fields 71, 72, 73. To update, the registration button 74 is clicked. To cancel the update, the cancel button 75 is clicked.
When the registration button 74 is clicked, the control section 41 rewrites and updates the storage content of the criterion information storage section 43 based on the number of times input in the number of times input fields 71, 72, 73.

D. Operation of Remote Monitoring System Next, a processing operation at the time of executing remote monitoring by the remote monitoring system having the above configuration will be described by taking the following case as an example. (1) The remote monitoring center device 17 is in each residence 2a, 2
At the time of collecting information indicating the usage status of the electrical equipment in b, (2)
Operation switch group 30 of switch box 11 for transmitting information
The operation is divided into two operations, such as when is operated.

(1) At the time of collecting information indicating the state of use of electricity by the remote monitoring center device 17, as shown in FIG. 8, when the control unit 41 of the remote monitoring center device 17 detects that it is time to collect data (step Sa1). ), The control unit 41 sends, to the information transmission device 13, request information for requesting the information transmission device 13 installed in each of the monitored persons' homes 2 a and 2 b to transmit information indicating the usage status of the electric device. Send (Step Sa
2). As described above, the data collection by the remote monitoring center device 17 is performed at a timing of, for example, every one hour, and the data collection timing is determined by using a timer of the control unit 41 or by an instruction from a monitor. Detect that it has become.

The request information from the remote monitoring center device 17 to the information transmission device 13 is transmitted to the mobile phone 16 and the mobile communication network 18.
The information is transmitted to the information transmission device 13 via the mobile phone 14. That is, the control unit 41 transmits the request information to the mobile phone 16.
And the mobile phone 16 is controlled to cause the mobile phone 14 to make a call. And the mobile phone 16 and the mobile phone 1
And establishes a communication link with the information transmission device 13 using the established communication link.

The information transmission device 13 which has received the request information transmitted from the remote monitoring center device 17 remotely monitors the accumulated detection results of the detection unit 10, that is, information indicating the use status of each electric device. It is transmitted to the center device 17. The transmission of this information is also performed using the communication link established as described above. The information transmitting apparatus 13 that has transmitted the information indicating the usage status may delete the transmitted information, or may add a transmitted flag or the like and hold the information for a predetermined period (for example, one month). You may keep it. By deleting or adding a transmitted flag to the transmitted information in this way, it is possible to prevent transmission of duplicate information at the next data collection.

The control unit 41 of the remote monitoring center device 17 that has received the information indicating the usage status of each electric device from the information transmission device 13 reflects the usage status reflecting this information on the display screen of the display unit 42 (step Sa4). Here, the displayed screen is the display screen shown in FIG. 5 described above, and the display content of this screen is updated to the display content reflecting the information indicating the usage status received this time. In addition, the control unit 41 performs a determination process reflecting the usage status received this time so that the determination result reflecting the usage status received this time is displayed in the determination column 53.

As described above, in this embodiment, the usage status of each electric device in the dwelling houses 2a and 2b in which the person to be monitored lives is determined by the remote monitoring of the remote monitoring center 3 in a location remote from the dwelling houses 2a and 2b. The information is displayed on the display unit 42 of the center device 17. Therefore, the observer of the remote monitoring center 3 can know the use status of the electric equipment by each monitored person by referring to the screen displayed on the display unit 42. Also, in this display screen, when the usage status of the electrical equipment in the normal living situation of each monitored person is different from the usage status of the detected electrical equipment, a judgment result such as caution or abnormality is displayed. The monitoring person can predict the abnormality or the like of the monitoring target person at an early stage by referring to this. Of course, when no electric device is used for a long time, it is also possible to determine that an abnormality has occurred and rush to the monitored person's house to check the situation. That is, in this embodiment, by monitoring the usage status of each electric device,
It is possible to monitor the living situation of the monitored person in more detail.

As a method for remotely monitoring the monitored person, a video camera or the like is provided in the residence of the monitored person,
A method of transmitting image information captured by the video camera to the center via a network is also conceivable. In this case, by displaying the transmitted image information on the center side, it is possible to monitor the living situation of the monitored person in detail, but since the monitored person is always photographed himself, infringement of privacy Is a problem. On the other hand,
In the present embodiment, by monitoring the usage status of each electrical device, it is possible to monitor the living status of the monitoring target person in some detail, and it is not necessary to photograph the monitoring target person. There is no problem of infringement. Therefore, it can be said that the monitoring system has low resistance and is easy to accept even for the monitoring target.

(2) When the operation switch group 30 of the information transmission switch box 11 is operated Next, the remote monitoring of the remote monitoring system 100 when the operation switch group 30 of the information transmission switch box 11 is operated is performed. FIG. 9 shows an operation sequence flowchart. As shown in the figure, when it is detected that one of the operation buttons of the operation switch group 30 is pressed in the information transmission switch box 11 (step Sb1), the information transmission switch box 11 is pressed. An instruction signal corresponding to the button is transmitted to the information transmission apparatus 13 via the interface box 12 (step Sb2).

The information transmission device 13 that has received the instruction signal from the information transmission switch box 11 remotely monitors transmission information for transmitting a message corresponding to the instruction signal to the remote monitoring center device 17 at the time of reception. The process of transmitting the data to the center device 17 is started (step Sb).
3). Here, the information transmission device 13 controls the mobile phone 14 to call the mobile phone 16. And mobile phone 1
A communication link between the mobile phone 4 and the mobile phone 16 is established, and the communication information is transmitted to the remote monitoring center device 17 using the established communication link.

The control unit 41 of the remote monitoring center device 17 that has received the transmission information transmitted from the information transmission device 13 responds to the transmission information among the eight messages in the transmission information column 54 displayed on the display unit 42. A blinking message is displayed (step Sb4). Thus, the observer of the remote monitoring center 3 can see the blinking display and know a request or a message to be transmitted from the person to be monitored. On the other hand, the monitoring target persons living in the residences 2a and 2b perform simple operations such as operating the operation switches 30 of the information transmission switch box 11, thereby enabling the remote monitoring center 3 to operate.
The request or the like can be immediately transmitted to the observer.

The operation switch group 30 is provided with a button for transmitting a message such as “absent tomorrow” to the monitor of the remote monitoring center 3. For this reason, if the monitoring target presses this button, the monitoring target of the remote monitoring center 3 can be notified that tomorrow will be absent.
Therefore, the monitor who has received the notification of such a message can determine that it is not an abnormal situation even if the electric devices of the monitored person are not used at all on the following day. In this way, if the monitoring target is notified in advance to the monitoring person of the remote monitoring center 3 of the schedule of the absence of the residence from the residence, the remote monitoring can be performed with higher accuracy. In this case, by inputting information indicating absence to the remote monitoring center device 17 in advance, the determination process may not be performed on the absence day. Alternatively, determination criteria information for absent days may be stored separately, and determination processing may be performed on absent days with reference to the determination criteria information for the absent days.

E. Modifications The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications as exemplified below are possible.

(Modification 1) In the above-described embodiment, the number of state changes of each electric device is used as a reference when performing the determination process according to the usage status of each electric device. Not only that, the determination may be made based on the time of the use / non-use state or the mutual use status of a plurality of electric devices.

For example, there is a high possibility that the monitored person will watch the same television program every week, and if the television is not used during the broadcast time of the television program being watched every week, the monitored person is abnormal. There is a prediction that there is. Therefore, a television program or the like that each monitoring target person prefers to watch may be checked in advance, and if the television is not used during the broadcast time of the television program, it may be determined that the television program is abnormal. . In addition to the above-described survey of television programs in advance, it is also possible to determine at what time zone there is a television program that is frequently watched by a monitored person based on the television usage status in a past predetermined period (for example, one month). In addition, it may be determined that the television is abnormal when the television is not used in the determined time zone.

In addition to a television, in the case of a monitoring subject who takes a bath at approximately the same time every day, it is determined that an abnormality occurs when lighting equipment in the bathroom is not used during that time. Is also good. In addition, in the case of a monitoring target person who wakes up at approximately the same time every morning, it may be determined that an abnormality occurs when the lighting device in the bedroom is not used at that time.

As a method of making a determination based on the mutual use status of a plurality of electric devices, for example, there is the following method. If the TV is not in use at the time of the TV program being watched by the monitored person while the lighting equipment in the toilet or bathroom is being used, an abnormal It can be determined that there is. Such a determination method can be performed for the following reasons. If you use the toilet or bathroom lighting for a long time, you may just forget to turn it off.However, the toilet and bathroom lighting is used for a long time, and the TV you normally watch This is because if the television is not used even during the broadcast time of the program, there is a high possibility that some kind of abnormality has occurred in the monitored person in the bathroom or toilet.

Further, information obtained by quantifying the usage status of each electric device in the past, such as the average usage time and usage start time zone, and the usage status of each electrical device in the current day, such as the usage time and usage start time zone, are represented by numerical values. The deviation may be compared with the converted information, the deviation may be calculated as a percentage value, and when the percentage value of the deviation is larger than a preset percentage value, it may be determined that there is an abnormality.

In the above-described various determination methods, the determination is made based on a predetermined determination criterion. However, an ambiguous determination may be made using fuzzy engineering. Also, the biorhythm may be adopted as one parameter for determining the monitoring subject's biorhythm.

(Modification 2) In the above-described embodiment, data is exchanged between the residences 2 a and 2 b and the remote monitoring center 3 via the mobile communication network 18 using the mobile phone 14 and the mobile phone 16. Although the data transmission and reception are performed between the two, the fixed telephone network may be used for the transmission and reception of data between the two.

[0069]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to monitor the living situation of the monitored person in detail from a remote place.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a remote monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram showing a configuration of a detection unit which is a component of the remote monitoring system.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a group of operation switches provided on an operation panel of an information transmission switch box which is a component of the remote monitoring system.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a remote monitoring center device which is a component of the remote monitoring system.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a screen displayed on a display unit of the remote monitoring center device during remote monitoring by the remote monitoring system.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing information stored in a criterion information storage unit of the remote monitoring center device.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a screen displayed on the display unit when updating the storage content of the determination information storage unit.

FIG. 8 is an operation sequence flowchart of the remote monitoring system when collecting information indicating the usage status of an electric device from the residence of the monitored person and displaying the information on the display unit.

FIG. 9 is an operation sequence flowchart of the remote monitoring system when transmitting a request from a monitoring target to a remote monitoring center.

[Explanation of symbols]

2a, 2b ... residential house, 3 ... remote monitoring center, 10 ...
... Detection unit, 11 ... Switch box for information transmission, 12 ... Interface box, 13 ... Information transmission device, 14 ... Mobile phone, 16 ... Mobile phone, 17
... remote monitoring center device, 40 ... communication interface unit, 41 ... control unit, 42 ... display unit, 43 ... determination criterion information storage unit, 100 ... remote monitoring system

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI theme coat ゛ (reference) H04Q 9/00 341 H04Q 9/00 341A F-term (reference) 5C087 AA02 AA03 BB11 BB74 DD03 DD24 EE05 EE08 FF01 FF04 GG08 GG19 GG66 GG70 GG83 5K048 AA05 BA34 CA08 DA02 DB01 DC01 EA11 EB13 FB08 FB16 FC01 GC03 HA01 HA02 HA05 HA07 HA13 HA21 5K101 KK13 LL12 MM07 NN03 NN18 NN21 NN34 RR12 SS07 TT06 UU16

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. Use of a remote monitoring center device for monitoring a living condition of a monitoring target person living in a remote place, and a plurality of types of electric devices provided in the monitoring target person's residence and arranged in the residence. Detecting means for detecting a situation; and transmitting means provided in the residential house, for transmitting a detection result of each of the plurality of types of electric devices by the detecting means to the remote monitoring center device via a communication network, Receiving means for receiving a detection result transmitted from the transmitting means via the communication network,
Based on the detection result received by the receiving means,
Display means for displaying information on the usage status of each of the plurality of types of electrical devices. 2. The remote monitoring center device according to claim 1, further comprising a determination unit configured to determine a living situation of the monitored person in accordance with a use situation of each of the electric devices. Remote monitoring system. 3. The remote monitoring system according to claim 2, wherein said display means displays a result of the determination by said determination means. 4. A determination criterion for storing, for each monitoring target, determination criterion information in which the number of use / non-use state changes and determination content are stored in association with each of the electric devices. 4. The apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising an information storage unit, wherein the determination unit refers to the determination criterion information stored in the determination criterion information storage unit, and makes a determination on the living situation of the monitoring target person. A remote monitoring system according to item 1. 5. The remote monitoring center device according to claim 4, further comprising rewriting means for rewriting the criterion information stored in said criterion information storage means in accordance with a user's instruction. Remote monitoring system. 6. A remote monitoring center apparatus for monitoring a living situation of a monitoring target person living in a remote place, wherein a plurality of types of electric devices transmitted from transmission means arranged in a residence of the monitoring target person are provided. Information indicating usage status
Receiving means for receiving via a communication network, and display means for displaying information relating to the usage status of each of the plurality of types of electrical devices based on the information indicating the usage status received by the reception means. Characteristic remote monitoring center device. 7. The remote monitoring center device according to claim 6, further comprising a determination unit that determines a living situation of the monitored person according to a use situation of each of the electric devices. 8. The remote monitoring center device according to claim 7, wherein said display means displays a result of the judgment by said judgment means. 9. A criterion information storage means for storing criterion information in which the number of use / non-use state changes and determination content are stored in association with each of the electric devices for each monitoring target person. 9. The remote monitoring center device according to claim 7, wherein the determination unit refers to the determination criterion information stored in the determination criterion information storage unit to determine a living situation of the monitoring target person. . 10. The remote monitoring center device according to claim 9, further comprising rewriting means for rewriting the criterion information stored in the criterion information storage means according to a user's instruction. Remote monitoring center device.