JP2010034957A - Remote control unit operating device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent infringement on the living environment and privacy invasion of a person existing at the periphery of a unit by preventing unconditional remote control operation from being carried out. <P>SOLUTION: Element information necessary for deciding operability is registered, in advance, into an operability/inoperability decision table 141. Furthermore, through periodic acquisition of sensing data from a sensor unit S1 mounted corresponding to a unit A1, the acquired sensing data are stored in a sensing result storage table 142. When remote control operation command information is sent from an operating terminal TM1, based on the element information stored in the operability/inoperability decision table 141 and the sensing data stored in the sensing result storage table 142, it is decided whether an operation permission condition is satisfied; and if the operation permission condition is satisfied, the remote control of the unit A1 is enabled; while if the operation permission condition is not satisfied, the remote control to the unit A1 is disabled from being carried out. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a remote device operation device that remotely operates an air conditioning device or a monitoring device installed in, for example, a house or office via a communication network in response to a remote operation request from an external operation terminal.

  In recent years, various systems have been proposed for remotely operating air-conditioning equipment, audio-video equipment, and other household equipment such as a bath tub installed in a house, etc., from the outside using a personal computer or a portable terminal. . In addition, by placing a monitoring robot equipped with a camera, microphone and moving means in a house or office and remotely operating the monitoring robot via a communication network from an external operation terminal, any location in the house or office There has also been proposed a system that can monitor the situation with video and sound (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2002-84531 A

  However, the conventional remote operation system and monitoring system can generally operate a device to be remotely operated unconditionally in response to an external operation instruction. For this reason, if an operator performs remote operation without grasping the situation of the place where the device is installed, there is a possibility that a person existing in the place where the device is installed will be adversely affected.

  For example, if an air conditioner such as an air conditioner is remotely operated from the outside, setting contents that are not comfortable for a person at home may be generated. Further, in a system using a surveillance robot, when a home is imaged by remote operation, the image may be captured without the knowledge of a person at home and privacy may be infringed.

  The present invention has been made by paying attention to the above circumstances, and its purpose is to prevent remote operation unconditionally and to obstruct the living environment of people around the device and infringe privacy. An object of the present invention is to provide a remote device operating device that does not occur.

  In order to achieve the above object, one aspect of the present invention is a remote device operation device connectable via a communication network to a device to be remotely operated and an operation terminal that generates a request for remote operation. Memory that stores operation permission conditions set in advance according to the content of the remote operation request, and information that represents a monitoring result by a sensor installed to monitor a situation in a range in which the operation of the device affects Means for receiving via the communication network. When a remote operation request generated from the operation terminal is received, an operation permission condition corresponding to the content of the received remote operation request is read from the memory, and the received sensor monitoring result is obtained. It is determined whether the information to be expressed satisfies the operation permission condition. As a result of the determination, when it is determined that the operation permission condition is satisfied, the device is remotely operated via the communication network according to the content of the received remote operation request, while the operation permission condition is not satisfied. If it is determined that the remote control of the device is prohibited.

  Therefore, according to one aspect of the present invention, the status of the range in which the operation of the device affects is monitored by the sensor, and whether the monitoring result satisfies the operation permission condition set in advance according to the content of the remote operation request If it is not satisfied and remote satisfaction is not satisfied, remote control is prohibited. For example, when the device is an air conditioner, the air conditioner is controlled so that it cannot be remotely operated from outside when there is a person in the house. For this reason, there is no fear that the room temperature is set to a temperature that is not comfortable for a home-based person by remote control. When the device is a monitoring device using a camera or the like, control is performed so that the monitoring device cannot be remotely operated from the outside when there is a person at home in the imaging target area. For this reason, there is no worry that the home person will be imaged without his / her own knowledge, and thus the home person's privacy can be protected.

  That is, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a remote device operation device that prevents remote operation from being performed unconditionally and prevents the living environment of people around the device from being disturbed or infringing on privacy. Can do.

Embodiments according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a monitoring system including a remote device operating device according to the present invention. In the figure, for example, a device A1 to be remotely operated is installed at a place P1 made of a house. The device A1 is composed of a Web camera, for example.

A sensor unit S1 is installed at the place P1. The sensor unit S1 includes a passive type sensor that does not disturb the living conditions of surrounding people and does not infringe privacy, and includes, for example, a human sensor. The human sensor uses the imaging area of the device A1 as a sensing area, and outputs sensing data that is “ON” when there is a person in the sensing area and “OFF” when there is no person.
The device A1 and the sensor unit S1 each have a communication interface. These communication interfaces enable communication with the remote device operation device CS via the communication network NW.

  On the other hand, a location P2 such as an office is provided with an operation terminal TM1 used by a user. The operation terminal TM1 is composed of, for example, a personal computer or a portable terminal, generates remote operation command information for remotely operating the device A1 in accordance with a user operation, and transmits the remote operation command information via the communication network NW. Transmit to remote device operating device CS. The remote operation command information includes identification information (device ID) of the device A1 to be remotely operated and information indicating the content of the remote operation on the device A1.

  The communication network NW includes, for example, an IP (Internet Protocol) network represented by the Internet and a plurality of access networks for accessing the IP network. As the access network, for example, a LAN (Local Area Network), a wireless LAN, a mobile phone network, a wired phone network, and a CATV (Cable Television) network are used.

By the way, the remote device operating device CS is composed of, for example, a server computer or a personal computer, and is configured as follows. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the hardware and software.
That is, the remote device operating device CS includes a central control unit (CPU) 11, and a program memory 13, a data memory 14, a communication interface (communication I / F) 15 and an input are connected to the CPU 11 via the bus 12. An output interface (input / output I / F) 16 is connected.

  The communication I / F 15 performs data communication with the device A1, the sensor unit S1, and the operation terminal TM1 in accordance with a communication protocol defined by the communication network NW under the control of the CPU 11. As a communication protocol, for example, TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol) or UDP / IP (User Datagram Protocol / Internet Protocol) is used.

  An input device 17 and a display device 18 are connected to the input / output I / F 16. The input device 17 includes a keyboard and a mouse, for example. The display device 18 includes a liquid crystal display. The input / output I / F 16 notifies the operation data of the input device 17 to the CPU 11, generates display data under the control of the CPU 11, and causes the display device 18 to display the display data.

  The data memory 14 is provided with an operation availability determination table 141 and a sensing result storage table 142. In the operation availability determination table 141, a plurality of command IDs used for remotely operating the device A1 are stored in association with the identification information (device ID) of the device A1, and further associated with these command IDs. Thus, the identification information (sensor ID) of the sensor unit S1 to be referred to when determining the operation availability, sensing data used for the availability determination, a value used for the determination, and information indicating the operation permission condition are stored. An example is shown in FIG. In the sensing result storage table 142, sensing data periodically acquired from the sensor unit S1 under the control of a sensing control program 132 described later is stored in order of measurement time.

  The program memory 13 stores a determination condition registration control program 131, a sensing control program 132, an operation availability determination program 133, and a remote operation control program 134 as application programs necessary for carrying out the present invention. Yes.

  When the determination condition registration menu is selected by the input device 17, the determination condition registration control program 131 causes the display device 18 to display an input guidance screen for inputting each element information for determining whether or not to operate. In this state, the device ID of the device A1 to be remotely operated, the plurality of command IDs for remotely operating the device A1 in different patterns, and the sensor ID of the sensor unit S1 are input by the input device 17. Processing for receiving sensing data used for availability determination, a value used for availability determination, and information indicating an operation permission condition via the input I / F 16 and storing each received determination element information in the operation availability determination table 141 Is executed by the CPU 11.

  The sensing control program 132 periodically transmits a sensing data acquisition request from the communication I / F 15 to the sensor unit S1 at a preset period, and transmits the sensing data sent from the sensor unit S1 to the communication I / F 15 in response to this request. The CPU 11 is caused to execute processing for storing the received sensing data in the sensing result storage table 142. When the sensor unit S1 has a function of measuring and transmitting sensing data autonomously, the sensing data transmitted autonomously by the sensor unit S1 is received and stored in the sensing result storage table 142.

  When the remote operation command information for the device A1 transmitted from the operation terminal TM1 is received via the communication I / F 15, the operation propriety determination program 133 stores the device ID and the command included in the received remote operation command information The determination element information corresponding to the ID is read from the operation availability determination table 141. The determination element information includes a sensor ID, sensing data used for availability determination, and a value used for determination as shown in FIG. Then, the operation availability determination program 133 reads the sensing data from the sensing result storage table 142 according to each read determination element information, calculates a value used for operation determination, and reads the calculated value from the operation availability determination table 141. The CPU 11 is caused to execute a process of determining whether or not the operation permission condition is satisfied as compared with the operation permission condition.

  When it is determined by the operation permission determination program 133 that the operation permission condition is satisfied, the remote operation control program 134 generates a remote operation control signal corresponding to the remote operation command ID for the device A1 previously received from the operation terminal TM1. The CPU 11 is caused to execute a process of generating and transmitting the generated remote operation control signal from the communication I / F 15 to the device A1 to remotely operate the device A1. On the other hand, if the operation permission determination program 133 determines that the operation permission condition is not satisfied, a message indicating that remote operation cannot be performed on the operation terminal TM1 without transmitting a remote operation control signal to the device A1. The CPU 11 is caused to execute the transmission process.

Next, the operation of the apparatus configured as described above will be described.
(1) Registration of judgment conditions
The system administrator operates the input device 17 to select a determination condition registration menu. Then, the CPU 11 causes the display device 18 to display an input guidance screen for inputting each element for determining whether or not to operate according to the determination condition registration control program. In this state, the system administrator operates the input device 17 to remotely control the device ID of the device A1, a plurality of remote operation command IDs for remotely operating the device A1, and the sensor ID of the sensor unit S1. When the sensing data used for the availability determination, the value used for the determination, and the information indicating the operation permission condition are input, the CPU 11 captures these elements via the input I / F 16 and determines whether each captured element is operable. Stored in the table 141 for use. When there are a plurality of devices to be remotely operated, the registration process is executed for each device. It should be noted that the above elements can be read from a recording medium such as a memory card via an external memory I / F (not shown) and stored in the operation availability determination table 141.

(2) Sensing
In accordance with the sensing control program 132, the CPU 11 periodically transmits a sensing data acquisition request from the communication I / F 15 to the sensor unit S1 at a preset cycle. Each time the sensor unit S1 receives the acquisition request, the sensor unit S1 transmits the sensing data obtained by the human sensor together with the sensor ID and the measurement time from the communication interface to the requesting remote device operating device CS. In addition, when the autonomous transmission mode is set for the sensor unit S1, the sensor unit S1 to the remote device operating device CS at every preset measurement time or whenever the sensing data of the human sensor changes. Sensing data is transmitted.

  When receiving the sensing data via the communication I / F 15, the CPU 11 of the remote device operating device CS stores the received sensing data in the sensing result storage table 142 in association with the simultaneously received sensor ID and measurement time. . In addition, when the measurement time is not provided to the sensing data, the CPU 11 stores the reception time of the sensing data in association with the sensing data. Therefore, the sensing result storage table 142 accumulates the past certain number of sensing data in order of measurement time or reception time.

(3) Remote Operation of Device Now, assume that the user performs a remote operation of the device A1 at his operation terminal TM1 in this state. Then, the operation terminal TM1 generates remote operation command information according to the user's operation, and transmits this remote operation command information to the remote device operation device CS via the communication network NW. The remote operation command information includes a device ID of the device A1 to be remotely operated and a command ID indicating the content of the remote operation on the device A1.

When the remote operation command is received via the communication I / F 15, the CPU 11 of the remote device operating device CS first executes an operation availability determination process according to the operation availability determination program 133 as follows. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure and processing contents.
That is, when the CPU 11 detects that the remote operation command information has been received in step S1, the CPU 11 uses the device ID and command ID included in the received remote operation command information as keys to operate the device from the operation availability determination table 141 in step S2. The determination element information related to A1 is read. Subsequently, in step S3, sensing data is read from the sensing result storage table 142 according to the read element information, and further, a value used for determination is calculated according to the read element information in step S4. Next, in step S5, whether or not remote operation is permitted is determined based on the calculated value.

  For example, it is assumed that element information as shown in FIG. 4 is stored in the operation availability determination table 141, the device ID is “X”, the command ID is “A”, and the sensor ID is “Y”. In this case, since the sensing data used for the availability determination is defined as “most recent sensing data”, the latest data among the sensing data corresponding to the sensor ID “Y” is read from the sensing result storage table 142. Since the value used for the determination is defined as “sensing data itself”, the most recently read out sensing data is the value used for the determination as it is. Accordingly, in this case, the most recent sensing data is compared with the operation permission condition, and whether the remote operation is permitted or not is determined based on the comparison result. For example, in FIG. 4, since the operation permission condition is defined as “ON”, if the most recent sensing data is “ON”, the remote operation command is permitted, whereas the most recent sensing data is “OFF”. If so, remote control commands are not allowed.

  On the other hand, if the command ID is “B” and the sensor ID is “Y”, the sensing data used for the determination of availability is defined as all “sensing data within 5 minutes”. Of the sensing data corresponding to “Y”, all data within the last 5 minutes are read out. In addition, since the value used for the determination is defined as “multiple values”, for example, among the plurality of read out sensing data, the number of data that is “ON” (ON number) and “OFF” The number of data (the number of OFFs) is calculated, and the values of the ON number and the OFF number are compared. As a result of this comparison, if the ON number is large, “ON” is a value used for the determination, and if the OFF number is large, “OFF” is the value used for the determination. When the number of ONs is the same as the number of OFFs, “OFF” is a value used for determination. The value used for the determination is compared with “OFF” set as the operation permission / rejection condition. If they match, the remote operation command is permitted, and if they do not match, the remote operation command is not permitted.

  Next, in accordance with the remote operation control program 134, the CPU 11 executes the remote operation control according to the operation permission determination result as follows. That is, when a remote operation command is permitted by the above-described operation permission / inhibition determination, in step S6, a remote operation control signal corresponding to the command ID of the remote operation command information for the device A1 previously received from the operation terminal TM1 is generated. The generated remote operation signal is transmitted from the communication I / F 15 to the device A1. As a result, the device A1 performs an imaging operation according to the remote operation control signal.

  On the other hand, when the remote operation command is disapproved due to the above-described operation permission / inhibition, the CPU 11 proceeds to step S7, where the communication to the operation terminal TM1 is performed without transmitting the remote operation control signal to the device A1. A message indicating that remote operation cannot be performed is transmitted from the I / F 15. Therefore, a message indicating that the remote operation cannot be performed is displayed on the operation terminal TM1. At this time, the message may include a reason why the remote operation cannot be performed. In this way, the user can know why the device A1 could not be remotely operated.

  As described above, in this embodiment, the element information necessary for determining whether operation is possible, that is, the device ID of the device A1 to be remotely operated, a plurality of remote operation command IDs for remotely operating the device A1, and the sensor unit The sensor ID of S1, the sensing data used for the availability determination, the value used for the determination, and the information indicating the operation permission condition are registered in advance in the operation availability determination table 141, and further installed in association with the device A1. Sensing data is periodically acquired from the passive type sensor unit S 1 and stored in the sensing result storage table 142. When remote operation command information is sent from the operation terminal TM1, based on the determination element information stored in the operation availability determination table 141, the sensing data is read from the sensing result storage table 142 and used for operation determination. A value to be used is calculated, and the calculated value is compared with the operation permission condition to determine whether or not the operation permission condition is satisfied. When it is determined that the operation permission condition is satisfied, a remote operation control signal corresponding to the remote operation command ID previously received from the operation terminal TM1 is transmitted to the device A1 for remote operation. When it is determined that the user is not satisfied, a message indicating that the remote operation cannot be performed is transmitted to the operation terminal TM1 without transmitting a remote operation control signal to the device A1.

  That is, the state of the imaging range of the device A1 is monitored by the sensor unit S1, and it is determined whether or not the monitoring result satisfies the operation permission condition corresponding to the content of the remote operation. I try to ban it. Therefore, for example, when the device A1 is a Web camera, it is possible to prevent the device A1 from being remotely operated from the outside when there is a person at home in the imaging target area. For this reason, there is no worry that the home person will be imaged without his / her own knowledge, and thus the home person's privacy can be protected.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in the above embodiment, the case where only the human sensor is used as the sensor has been described as an example. However, the human sensor is used in combination with a home sensor that detects whether the entrance door is open or closed and monitors whether the person is at home or not. Further, whether or not the remote operation is permitted may be determined based on the sensing data of these sensors. FIG. 5 shows the relationship between the operation permission condition and the operation permission / inhibition in that case, and the CPU 11 determines the operation permission / inhibition based on this relationship. By making such a determination, even if the human sensor is “ON”, if the home sensor is “absent”, it is possible to remotely operate the device A1 by regarding it as illegal intrusion.

In the embodiment, the case where a Web camera is used as the device A1 has been described as an example. However, when the device is an air conditioner such as an air conditioner, a housing equipment such as a bathtub, or an audio video device such as a video recorder. However, the present invention is applicable.
In addition, the type and configuration of the sensor, the sensing data acquisition method, the type and content of element information stored in the operation availability determination table, the type of device, the content of remote operation, and the like do not depart from the scope of the present invention. Various modifications can be made.

  In short, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. Further, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, you may combine suitably the component covering different embodiment.

It is a schematic block diagram of the monitoring system provided with the remote device operating device concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the hardware of the remote device operating device concerning one Embodiment of this invention, and software. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure and content of the operation permission determination processing by the remote device operating device shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the operation determination table provided in the remote device operation device shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the specific example of operation permission conditions.

Explanation of symbols

  A1 ... Device, S1 ... Sensor, TM1 ... Operation terminal, CS ... Remote device operation device, NW ... Communication network, 11 ... CPU, 12 ... Bus, 13 ... Program memory, 14 ... Data memory, 15 ... Communication interface, 16 ... Input / output interface, 17 ... input device, 18 ... display device, 131 ... determination condition registration control program, 132 ... sensing control program, 133 ... operation availability determination program, 134 ... remote operation control program, 141 ... operation availability determination table, 142: Sensing result storage table.

Claims (1)

A remote device operation device connectable via a communication network to a device to be remotely operated and an operation terminal that generates a request for remote operation,
A memory for storing operation permission conditions set in advance according to the content of the remote operation request;
Means for receiving, via the communication network, information representing a monitoring result by the sensor, connected to the sensor installed to monitor a situation in a range in which the operation of the device affects ,
When the remote operation request generated from the operation terminal is received, the operation permission condition corresponding to the content of the received remote operation request is read from the memory, and the received information indicating the monitoring result of the sensor Means for determining whether or not the operation permission condition is satisfied;
When it is determined that the operation permission condition is satisfied, the device is remotely operated via the communication network according to the content of the received remote operation request, and when it is determined that the operation permission condition is not satisfied. Comprises a means for prohibiting remote operation of the device.

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