JP2002175575A - Human body detecting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a human body detecting device which facilitates the fitting of itself and can speedily and securely be operated. SOLUTION: This human body detecting device is characterized by that when a human body detection sensor detects abnormality, its abnormality detection signal is transmitted through a cable and a remote control cable.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for detecting a human body in a bathroom having a bathroom heater having a function of heating and drying the bathroom.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, it has been difficult to mount a detection sensor for detecting a human body on a bathroom heater having a heat exchanger for heating air in a bathroom and a blower fan for blowing air heated by the heat exchanger. Are known. On the other hand, in order to notify the abnormality detection by the detection sensor, a notification unit having a separate notification unit is required.

[0003]

However, in the prior art, since the notification means is provided separately from the operation section of the hot water equipment such as a heater, it is difficult to install the notification means, and the installation is complicated. was there.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a human body detecting device which can simplify the mounting of the human body detecting device and can perform the operation quickly and reliably.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a human body detection device according to the present invention comprises a hot water device which is a heat source device such as a bathroom heater, and a remote controller for operating and controlling the hot water device from a remote position. A remote control cable from a controller for controlling the hot water device to a remote controller, a human body detection sensor provided in a bathroom for imaging and processing an image of a human body, a cable connecting the human body detection sensor and the controller, and the remote controller The first feature is that it comprises a notifying means for notifying by detecting an abnormality of the human body detection sensor, and transmitting an abnormality detection signal via the cable and the remote control cable when an abnormality is detected by the human body detection sensor. I have. According to the first feature, as long as the human body detection sensor is connected to the controller that controls the hot water device, the connection and attachment to the notification means are completed at the same time, and there is an advantage that the construction is simplified. In addition, an operation such as cancellation of notification can be reliably performed without requiring a plurality of operation units.

Further, the human body detection device of the present invention comprises a bathroom heater having a heat exchanger for heating the air in the bathroom, and a blower fan for blowing the air heated by the heat exchanger.
A hot water device that is a heat source device such as the bathroom heater, a remote controller that controls the hot water device from a remote position, a remote control cable from the controller that controls the hot water device to the remote controller, and image processing of the human body by capturing motion A human body detection sensor provided in a case of the bathroom heater, a cable connecting the human body detection sensor and the controller, and a notification unit provided on the remote controller for notifying by detecting an abnormality of the human body detection sensor, A second feature is that an abnormality detection signal is transmitted via the cable and the remote control cable when an abnormality is detected by the human body detection sensor. According to the second feature, in addition to the above features, by installing the bathroom heater, the human body detection sensor can be attached at the same time, and the installation of the human body detection sensor and the construction of the entire apparatus can be performed quickly. There are advantages.

Further, the human body detection device of the present invention provides a bathroom heater having a heat exchanger for heating the air in the bathroom, a blower fan for blowing the air heated by the heat exchanger, and the bathroom heater. And the like, a remote controller for operating and controlling the hot water device from a remote position, a remote control cable from the controller for controlling the hot water device to the remote controller, and imaging and processing the movement of the human body to perform the bathroom heating. A human body detection sensor provided in the case of the machine, a cable connecting the human body detection sensor and the controller, a notification unit provided on the remote controller for notifying by detecting an abnormality of the human body detection sensor, and a notification release for releasing the notification Means,
A telephone transmission unit for transmitting a specific telephone number when the notification is not canceled by the notification canceling means. When an abnormality is detected by the human body detection sensor, an abnormality detection signal is transmitted through the cable and the remote control cable to cancel the notification. A third feature is that a release signal is transmitted via the remote control cable when the notification by means is released.
According to the third feature, in addition to the above-described features, there is an advantage that even when performing the release operation, the construction can be rationalized without requiring a special cable line.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an electric circuit showing one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram showing a configuration of an image core circuit constituting one pixel of the image detection unit of the human body detection sensor. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the imaging range of the sensor, the detection range, and the detection area. FIG.
4 is a control flowchart showing one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a flowchart of human body monitoring according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the human body detection sensor, the hot water device, and the remote controller.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a bathroom 1, a hot water device 40, and a bathroom heater 80 as viewed from the side, schematically showing an embodiment of the present invention. And a washing place 3 is provided. Reference numeral 4 denotes an entrance to the bathroom 1. 5
Denotes a human body sensor, the details of which will be described later. Usually, it is attached to the wall surface of the bathroom 1 or the like. In this embodiment, a bathroom heater 80 having a built-in human body sensor 5 is installed above the wall surface of the bathroom 1. The bathroom heater 80 has a bathroom heating and drying function, and a ventilation function may be added thereto. Inside the bathroom heater 80, a heat exchanger 81 for heating the air in the bathroom 1 and a blower fan 82 for blowing the air heated by the heat exchanger 81 into the bathroom are provided. The heat exchanger 81 may be of an air heating type using electricity or a radiating type using hot water circulation. In the present embodiment, the bathroom heater 80 is attached to the wall surface of the bathroom 1, but is not limited to this example.
It may be attached to the ceiling of the bathroom 1. The human body sensor 5 provided in the bathroom heater 80 has an imaging device using an artificial retina, and detects a human body by detecting heat by infrared rays and a human body detection sensor 51 that captures an image of a motion of the human body in the bathroom. An infrared sensor 52 is provided.

The output of the human body sensor 5 is input to a controller 42 of the hot water device 40 through a cable 41 connected to the hot water device 40, and transmitted from the controller 42 to a bath remote controller 60 and a kitchen remote controller 70. Here, the hot water device 40 is a device for heating water such as hot water in a bathtub, and specifically includes a bath water heater, a water heater, a hot water heater, a hot water heater, and the like. I have. The hot water equipment may be not only gas-fueled but also oil-fueled. And the remote controller 6 for controlling the water heater.
Reference numerals 0 and 70 each have a display unit such as a lamp for notifying that there is a bather in the bathroom 1. When the human body sensor 5 detects the bather and outputs a detection signal, the display unit is turned on. ing. The display unit is not limited to the above, and if there is no movement of the bather for a certain period of time, it is presumed that the bather is sleeping or falling down, and the bath remote control 60 first alerts the user with an alarm sound or voice, and from the bathroom side If the response is not received within the predetermined time, it may be notified to a family member or the like by an alarm sound or voice at a remote position such as the kitchen remote controller 70.

A heat exchanger and a burner are built in the hot water equipment 40, and various sensors for control are provided. A hot water supply pipe 46 is connected from the hot water equipment 40 to the bathtub 2. When the heat exchange of the bathroom heater 80 is performed with hot water, the hot water
Hot water may be supplied to the heater 80 from zero. The power for operating the human body sensor 5 is supplied from the power plug 47 and is reduced in voltage and reduced in voltage via the transformer of the controller 42 of the hot water device 40 and supplied.

FIG. 2 shows a specific configuration of the human body sensor 5 including a human body detection sensor 51 using an artificial retinal chip and an infrared sensor 52. Human body detection sensor 51
Is composed of an imaging device 6 that detects a human body and processes the detected image, and a control device 7 that supplies a control signal to the imaging device 6 and determines processing information. And
In addition to the human body detection sensor 51, an infrared sensor 52 is provided in the same case body, the control device 7 is shared, and the monitoring when the bathroom 1 is dark is mutually supplemented.

The image pickup section 8 of the image pickup apparatus 6 includes a low-resolution image detector 9 composed of 32 × 32 pixels (= 1024 pixels), an imaging lens 10, a scanner 11, a multiplexer 12, and a scanner drive controller 13. It is composed of If RAM capacity allows, more pixels (128
× 128 pixels in the horizontal direction), or a large number of pixels may be thinned out and a part of them may be subjected to detection processing. The pixels of the image detection unit 9 have monochrome 256 gradations “level 0 (black) to
255 (white), 256 gradations ". By using a low-resolution image detection unit, the outline of a captured human body can be blurred, and privacy can be protected.

In the image pickup section 8, an image in the bathroom is formed on the image detecting section 9 by the image forming lens 10. The drive of the scanner 11 is controlled by a scanner drive control unit 13, and controls each pixel row of the image detection unit 9 so as to sequentially enter a light receiving state (on state) at regular intervals. Photocurrents simultaneously output from the pixels in one column in the light receiving state are converted from analog data into serial data by the multiplexer 12, amplified by the amplifier 14, and then input to the image processing unit 15. The conversion from analog data to serial data may be performed by a control unit provided externally or by an IC provided separately.

Each pixel of the image detecting section 9 is constituted by a pixel core circuit 17 as shown in FIG. The pixel core circuit 17 includes a light receiving element 18, a charge storage circuit 19, and a sensitivity variable circuit 20.
The reset terminal 22 is connected to the scanner 11, and the photocurrent output terminal 23 is connected to the multiplexer 12.

In FIG. 2, a gain adjusting unit 16 checks the image average value (brightness of the image) in the image processing unit 15 and, if the image average value is out of an appropriate range, the amplifier 14 controls the image pickup device 6. The gain is adjusted, and the accumulation time of the image detection unit 9 is adjusted by the scanner drive control unit 13 so that the light is adjusted so that an image with appropriate brightness is obtained.

In the imaging device 6 using the artificial retina, the average value of the image is expressed by the gradation (0 gradation (black) to 255 gradation (white)) of all the 32 × 32 pixels constituting the image detecting unit 9. 25
(6 gradations) and is represented by a value from 0 to 255. The average value of the image is determined by the gain of the amplifier 14 and the accumulation time of the image detector 9. Here, the gain corresponds to the aperture of the camera, and the accumulation time corresponds to the shutter speed of the camera. Therefore, in order to obtain an appropriate image average value of the imaging device 6, the gain is fixed to an appropriate gain,
The accumulation time may be adjusted. Alternatively, the gain may be adjusted by fixing an appropriate accumulation time.

In FIG. 2, at least an image detecting section 9 for performing image pickup and an image processing section 15 for performing image processing.
Is composed of one chip. This chip is called an artificial retinal chip. In particular, by integrating an image detection unit that captures and detects a human body with an image processing unit that processes the detected image on a single semiconductor chip, a large image processing unit can be reduced in size, and the entire sensor can be reduced. Can be reduced in size. A control device 7 is provided at the back surface of the chip. The control device 7 is composed of a microcomputer. The control device 7 has a region division for dividing a detection region for performing a detection process by the human body detection sensor 51 into a plurality of regions. The means 24 is incorporated as software.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, a point table 25 for processing image information input to the image processing section 15 is divided into a plurality of areas. That is, the imaging capability range detectable by the human body detection sensor (corresponding to the entire point table 25) is firstly changed to a detection area 26 requiring image processing and a non-detection area 27 not performing image processing
And divided into That is, the entire imaging capability range is not set as the detection area. As a result, a part of the detection processing area that can be detected is used as a sensor detection area for actually detecting and processing, thereby limiting the processing range of the image and increasing the speed of the image processing. Further, the detection area 26 is divided into two areas, a washing area 30 and a bathtub area 31. The detection area 26 may be divided into three areas: a washing area, a bathtub area, and an entrance area to a bathroom.

The imaging lens 10, the imaging device 6, and the control device 7 constituting the human body sensor 51 are housed in one case together with the infrared sensor 52, and attached to the bathroom heater 80 as a human body sensor set. The human body sensor 51 may be mounted separately from the bathroom heater 80.
The mounting position may be such that the entire bathroom, including the entrance 4 to the bathroom, fits within the viewing angle.

Then, the detection output of the imaging device 6 and the detection output of the infrared sensor 52 are input to the judgment means 32, respectively. The determining means comprehensively determines the presence or absence of a bather, the movement of the bather, and the like in the bathroom based on the output from the imaging device 6 and the output from the infrared sensor.

The image detected by the artificial retina is image-processed as follows. The image processing unit 15 receives image information from all pixels constituting the image detection unit 9 at regular intervals. The image processing unit 15 receives the image information at regular time intervals,
The image information is processed and output to the judging means 32 to monitor the movement of the bather.

More specifically, first, the image processing unit 15 calculates the difference (difference) in the amount of received light between the image (previous image) a predetermined time earlier detected by the image detection unit 9 and the current image (current image). I do. Pixels having a positive difference are represented by +, negative pixels are represented by-, and pixels having a difference of 0 are represented by 0. Since the movement of the object can be determined based on the boundary of the image, the movement of the boundary of the image appears as a positive or negative difference there. Thereby, the moving direction of the image boundary is estimated. By looking at the sum of the differences, it is possible to roughly grasp the movement of the person. Further, the above-described analysis method is applied to a two-dimensional image. Specifically, the directions on the pixels are divided into four directions of a vertical direction, a horizontal direction, a diagonally upward diagonal direction, and a diagonally downward diagonal direction. Each time, the difference (scalar) between the current image and the previous image is obtained, the motion in each direction is determined from the image of the difference, and the difference in each direction may be represented as a vector. Then, by averaging the difference vector between the pixel and its surrounding 3 × 3 pixels (optical flow), it is possible to detect the presence or movement of a person in the bathroom.

As shown in FIG. 4, the detection area 26 of the human body detection sensor 51 is divided into two areas, a wash area 30 and a bathtub area 31, and the sum of the differences or the amount of movement is detected for each area. I have. Here, the amount of motion refers to each region 30,
Average of the scalar amount of optical flow of each pixel for each 31 (scalar average) or sum of scalar amounts
(Scalar sum).

Next, determination of whether or not a person has entered the bathroom 1 will be described. In FIG. 5, when a person starts entering the bathroom, first, the infrared sensor 52 in a standby state detects a human body and is turned on (step S1), and a timer is set (step S2). When a person is detected in the washing room (step S3),
It is determined that the user has entered the room (step S4). In this entry determination, since the human body detection by the human body detection sensor 51 requires time for imaging and calculation of the amount of motion, or when the bathroom is dark, the monitoring sensitivity is low. After the detection by the human body detection sensor 52, the human body detection sensor 51 detects a person together, thereby compensating for weaknesses of the human body detection sensor 51 and ensuring entry into the room.

Also, when leaving the bathroom 1, the infrared sensor 52 is turned off (No in step S5), and the human body detection sensor 51 does not detect the amount of movement (in step S6). (In the case of no), it is determined that the person has left the bathroom 1. Since the infrared sensor 52 may erroneously determine the bathtub temperature as the human body temperature, the weak point of the infrared sensor 52 is supplemented by using another sensor.

Then, even when the human body detection sensor 51 does not detect a person in the washing room (No in step S3), if a person is detected in the bathtub (step S3).
8) If both the infrared sensor 52 and the human body detection sensor 51 detect a person within a predetermined time (step S
9, S10), it is determined that the person has entered the room (step S4). After it is determined that the person has entered the room, a timer is set so that the detection duration of the sensor matches the average bathing time. The timer set time may be extended by detecting that a person is in the bathroom.

The attachment of the human body detection sensor 51 is as follows.
It is mounted on the bathroom heater 80 at a position above the ceiling or wall of the bathroom 1. This position is the optimum position where the movement of a person in the bathroom provided with the washing room 3 and the bathtub 2 can be monitored in a standard bathroom. By incorporating the human body sensor 5 in the bathroom heater 80, the work of separately mounting the sensor is omitted and the construction is simplified. Since the human body detection sensor 51 and the infrared sensor 52 constituting the human body sensor 5 are housed in one case, it is easy to mount and check.

In the case of a system bathroom including a unit bath or the like, a bathroom heater with a ventilation function is often located on the ceiling of the bathroom, and the human body sensor 5 is attached to the bathroom heater. It is recommended that Not only can the human body sensor 5 be installed and inspected easily,
This satisfies the condition of the optimum mounting position of the sensor.

Next, the blocks of the entire apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. The bath remote control 60 and the kitchen remote control 70 are connected to the controller 90 of the controller by wired remote control cables 83 and 84, respectively.

The control unit 90 includes a water heater control unit 91 for controlling the hot water equipment, and a notification unit 61, 71 such as a speaker provided on each of the remote controllers 60, 70 which is operated by an abnormality detection signal from the human body detection sensor 51. Notification operation unit 92
And a notification canceling unit 93 for canceling the notification by the notifying means. The notification operation unit 83 and the notification release unit 84 may be provided on the sensor side. This can reduce the control burden on the hot water equipment side.

The bath remote controller 60 has an intercom switch serving as a notification canceling means 62 for canceling the notification, an operation switch 63 for operating the hot water equipment,
A display unit 64 such as a touch panel is provided. The kitchen remote controller 70 is provided with an intercom switch serving as a notification canceling unit 72 for canceling the notification, an operation switch 73 for operating the hot water device, and a display unit 74. ing.

Further, when the notification is not canceled by the notification canceling means 72, a telephone calling unit 100 for calling a specific telephone number is provided in the control unit 90. For example, even if a certain period of time (5 minutes) has elapsed since the alarm was issued, if there is no interphone call from the bathroom side, that is, if the notification canceling unit 93 does not operate, an RA (not shown) is used.
A call is automatically sent to a specific telephone number stored in M.

Then, as shown in FIG. 6, during the monitoring of the human body after entering the room (step S11), the human body is imaged at regular time intervals by the imaging device 8 as described above, and the previous image and the current image are compared. By comparing and processing, the stationary state of the human body is detected.

When it is detected that the movement of the human body has stopped (YES in step S12), the stop state continues for a certain period of time (YES in step S13).
It is determined that an abnormality has occurred, a signal is output from the determination unit 32, an abnormality detection signal is transmitted via the cable 41, and the notification operation unit 92 in the control unit 90 of the controller is operated. afterwards,
The abnormality detection signal is transmitted from the controller 90 of the controller via the remote control cables 83 and 84, which are signal lines for transmitting a control signal for the hot water device, and the notification means 6 such as a buzzer.
1, 71 are notified (step S14).

After the notification, it is necessary to cancel the notification. As a method of canceling the notification, a family member who knows the abnormal state in the bathroom by the notification uses the interphone of the kitchen remote controller 70 to intercom the bathroom remote controller 60. When a call is made and a response is received from the bathroom, the bather in the bathroom can be guessed to be in a healthy state. Therefore, the signal of the intercom switch 62 transmits the signal via the remote control cable 83 to the notification release unit in the control unit 90 of the controller. The notification is canceled via 93 (in the case of YES in step S15), and the monitoring flow is resumed. By using the remote control cable 83 for controlling the water heater from a remote position, it is not necessary to lay a special cable for transmitting the release command.

If the notification is not canceled by the information canceling means by the intercom switch 62, the call is automatically sent to the outside from the telephone sending unit 100 in the controller for sending to a specific telephone number (step S16). Thereby, even when the family is not living together, it is possible to take a bath with confidence.

In the human body monitoring flow, if there is no motion stoppage (No in step S12), if no state is detected in the bathroom (Yes in step S17), it is determined that the person has left the bathroom. It is determined (step S7).

The above-described embodiment shows a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to this, and various design changes can be made within the scope. For example, in the present embodiment, the system bathroom has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this example and can be installed in other existing bathrooms. In addition, although a sensor having a small number of pixels is used as the human body detection sensor, a similar effect can be expected by using an image sensor using a CCD and combining it with an infrared sensor.

[0040]

As described above, the present invention has an advantage in that as long as the human body detection sensor is connected to the controller for controlling the hot water equipment, the connection to the notification means is completed at the same time and the construction is simplified. In addition, an operation such as cancellation of notification can be reliably performed without requiring a plurality of operation units. Further, the present invention has an advantage that by installing the bathroom heater, the human body detection sensor can be attached at the same time, and the installation of the human body detection sensor and the construction of the entire apparatus can be performed quickly.
Further, the present invention has an advantage that even when the releasing operation is performed, the construction can be rationalized without requiring a special cable line.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an electric circuit showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram showing a configuration of an image core circuit forming one pixel of an image detection unit of the human body detection sensor.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between an imaging range of a sensor, a detection range, and a detection area.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a flow of human body monitoring according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the entire apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Bathroom 2 Bathtub 3 Washing place 4 Doorway 5 Human body sensor 6 Imaging device 7 Control device 9 Image detection part 15 Image processing part 17 Image core circuit 24 Area division means 26 Detection area 30 Washing area 31 Bath area 32 Judgment means 40 Hot water equipment Reference Signs List 41 cable 42 controller 47 power plug 51 human body detection sensor 52 infrared sensor 60 bath remote control 61 notification means 62 release means 70 kitchen remote control 71 notification means 80 bathroom heater 81 heat exchanger 82 blower fan 83 remote control cable 84 remote control cable 90 control unit 100 Phone calling section

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A hot water device as a heat source device such as a bathroom heater, a remote controller for operating and controlling the hot water device from a remote position, a remote control cable from a controller for controlling the hot water device to a remote controller, and a human body provided in the bathroom. A human body detection sensor for imaging the movement of the human body and performing image processing, a cable connecting the human body detection sensor and the controller, and a notifying unit provided on the remote controller for notifying by detecting an abnormality of the human body detection sensor. A human body detection device, wherein an abnormality detection signal is transmitted via the cable and the remote control cable when an abnormality is detected by a sensor. 2. A bathroom heater having a heat exchanger for heating air in a bathroom, a blower fan for blowing air heated by the heat exchanger, and a hot water device as a heat source device such as the bathroom heater. A remote controller for operating and controlling the water heater from a remote position, a remote controller cable from the controller for controlling the water heater to the remote controller, and a human body provided in the case of the bathroom heater by imaging the motion of the human body and performing image processing. A detection sensor, a cable connecting the human body detection sensor and the controller, and a notification unit provided on the remote controller for notifying by detecting an abnormality of the human body detection sensor. A human body detection device, wherein the transmission is performed via a cable and the remote control cable. 3. A bathroom heater having a heat exchanger for heating the air in the bathroom, a blower fan for blowing the air heated by the heat exchanger, and a hot water device as a heat source device such as the bathroom heater. A remote controller for operating and controlling the water heater from a remote position, a remote controller cable from the controller for controlling the water heater to the remote controller, and a human body provided in the case of the bathroom heater by imaging the motion of the human body and performing image processing. A detection sensor, a cable for connecting the human body detection sensor and the controller, a notification unit provided on the remote controller for notifying by detecting an abnormality of the human body detection sensor, a notification release unit for releasing the notification, and the notification release unit. A telephone transmitting unit that transmits a specific telephone number when the notification is not canceled, and transmits an abnormality detection signal to the cable when an abnormality is detected by a human body detection sensor. And transmitting the release signal via the remote control cable when the notification is released by the notification release means.