JP2011188082A - Management system of work place environment - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently control task lighting, ambient lighting, air condition, or the like for a work environment in a work place. <P>SOLUTION: The system determines a seating state of a worker W in a plurality of seating recognition areas 20 provided in a work place, from a laser area scanner 10 which scans all target work places and scan information (height coordinate value of the target worker) obtained from the laser area scanner 10, and gives worker's ID in each of the seating recognitive areas 20, and identifies the worker W. The task lighting 2 in the work place, the ambient lighting 3, the air conditioning facilities, or the like are controlled, according to a work state of the workers W in the work place. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a workplace environment management system, and in particular, a workplace environment that can comprehensively manage and control an environment (lighting, air conditioning, network, security, etc.) in a work space such as an office. Related to the management system.

  In recent years, in addition to the work space management method to improve the efficiency of work by devising the arrangement of office desks, chairs, conference space, storage space, etc. in the work space, lighting control and air conditioning according to new work forms such as free address The concept of a workplace that totally manages the work environment from control to computer network and security has become established. As a management method in the workplace, the position of each worker who works in the workplace is detected and recognized as specific data, and the seating rate at each person's seat is measured. It is preferable to use the information to improve the working environment in the workplace.

  In order to automatically recognize the seating status of each office worker in the workplace, each office worker working in the target workplace is equipped with an RFID as a transmitter, and the RFID is placed on the ceiling of the workplace from the RFID. An antenna that detects the position signal is installed to detect specific IDs, and each office worker uses a desktop computer, task lights, power switches and sensors attached to the chair, etc. to determine the usage status and presence can do.

  In the method in which each office worker wears the RFID, all office workers to be detected must have the tags attached. Moreover, it is difficult to attach a tag to all unspecified people who visit the workplace. In the method based on the usage status of a personal computer or task lighting, the ON / OFF state of the apparatus can be detected, but it cannot be accurately recognized whether the office worker is actually seated. In addition, since the chair is movable, there is a problem that a method for confirming the place of use is required separately. Furthermore, in the human sensor using infrared rays or the like, if the subject does not move for a long time, there is a possibility that the presence sensor is erroneously determined.

  On the other hand, as a workplace control means, an apparatus and a system for controlling task lighting and ambient lighting in association with the seating status of the office worker and the usage status of lighting have been proposed.

  In Patent Literature 1, an RF signal transmission unit is provided on the task illumination side, an RF signal reception unit is provided on the ambient illumination side, and an RF signal corresponding to the ON / OFF state on the task illumination side is transmitted to the ambient illumination side by transmitting and receiving the RF signal. An illumination control device is disclosed that performs light control on the ambient lighting side according to the lighting state on the task lighting side to optimize the visual environment in the workplace and achieves an energy saving effect.

  In Patent Document 2, a pressure sensor is provided on the seat surface of a chair, and when a pressure higher than a predetermined value is sensed (when an operator is sitting on the chair), a task light is turned on by a sensing signal to sense the pressure. An illumination system is disclosed that controls the task light to be turned off when it is no longer available (when the worker leaves the chair).

JP 2003-36983 A JP 11-1111045 A

  In the invention of Patent Document 1, it is necessary to equip both the task illumination side and the ambient illumination side with a communication function, and there is a problem that the equipment cost increases and the control becomes complicated. In addition, in the case of lighting control using this device, since communication between the lights is performed regardless of whether the worker is seated or left, means for turning off the task lighting when leaving the desk without turning off There is no.

  In the invention of Patent Document 2, since a specific chair and a task light are operated correspondingly, if there is a misplacement of the chair, the task light that is turned on by a sensing signal from the chair may not correspond. It can happen. In addition, since the pressure sensor is a function that only detects the pressure applied to the seat surface, a problem may occur in that the corresponding task light is turned on even when a load having a certain weight is placed on the chair.

  Therefore, the object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problems of the conventional technology, easily identify the worker who is facing the desk in the target workplace, turn off the task lighting as a work environment, An object of the present invention is to provide a workplace environment management system that can efficiently perform dimming of ambient lighting, air conditioning control, and the like.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an office worker recognition means capable of area-scanning the entire target workplace, and a plurality of seating recognition areas assumed in the workplace from scan information from the office worker recognition means. The seating status of the worker in the workplace is judged, the worker ID is assigned in each seating recognition area, the worker is identified, the worker's working status in the workplace is grasped, and the working status is determined according to the working status. And data processing means for issuing operation command information of equipment in the workplace.

  The data processing means obtains the vertical coordinate of the worker in the seating recognition area, recognizes the worker's seating based on the scanning data within a predetermined time, and assigns the worker ID to the worker. It is preferable to give.

  It is preferable that a laser area scanner is installed on the ceiling in the workplace as the worker recognition means.

  It is preferable that the ambient lighting in the workplace is dimmed and controlled in relation to the task lighting used by the recognized office worker.

  It is preferable that the outside air intake amount in the air conditioning equipment in the workplace is controlled according to the recognized number of workers.

  In the data processing means, in addition to the seating recognition area in the workplace, a desk periphery recognition area is set outside thereof, and in these recognition areas, the existence of a third party to which no office worker ID is assigned is recognized, and predetermined It is preferable to issue warning information.

  It is preferable that the work situation data of the workers in the workplace is accumulated, the equipment operation information with time in the workplace is acquired and analyzed, and the work situation evaluation in the workplace can be performed.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to comprehensively manage and control a work environment such as task lighting, ambient lighting, air conditioning, computer network, and security in a workplace such as an office.

The explanatory view of the plane layout which showed one example to which the management system of the workplace environment of the present invention was applied. Explanatory drawing which showed a part of workplace environment shown in FIG. 1 by side view. Explanatory drawing which showed the example of scanning by an area scanner in a seating recognition area. The block diagram which showed one Example of the system configuration | structure of the management system of this invention. The flowchart which showed the example of the procedure of the equipment control by the management system of this invention. The bar chart which showed the working condition in one day in the workplace shown in FIG. The plane explanatory view showing the example of application which performed management of the workplace environment of the present invention integrated on one floor.

  DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the workplace environment management system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is an explanatory plan view showing an embodiment to which the workplace environment management system of the present invention is applied. FIG. 2 is an explanatory side view schematically showing a part of the workplace environment shown in FIG. FIG. 1 shows a plan layout example of a workplace as a general office area in the entire office floor (see FIG. 7) as an application example. In the figure, a planar range 11 that can be detected by a three-dimensional coordinate laser area scanner 10 as a worker recognition means described later is drawn in a circle with a predetermined radius (about 4 m). As shown in the figure, eight seats of office desks are arranged in two rows facing each other within this detection range. Each desk 1 is provided with task lighting 2 as lighting on the desk 1. The task lighting 2 can be turned on and off by a worker who is seated to use the desk 1 by turning on / off a hand switch (not shown). It is controlled to turn off.

  Furthermore, ambient lighting 3 as environmental lighting is incorporated in the ceiling 5 above the eight-seat desk 1. The ambient lighting 3 is arranged on the ceiling 5 of the office floor, and the individual ambient lighting 3 can be individually turned on / off and dimmed by turning on / off a wall switch (not shown). In addition, as described later, dimming and extinguishing are controlled by the system of the present invention.

  Here, referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the configuration of the three-dimensional coordinate laser area scanner 10 as the worker recognition means 100 (FIG. 4), the seating recognition area determined from the scan data, the desk periphery recognition area 21 The range and information will be described.

  Hereinafter, the arrangement and configuration of the worker recognition means 10 will be described. In this embodiment, as a worker recognition means, one three-dimensional coordinate laser area scanner 10 (hereinafter simply referred to as area scanner 10) is arranged at the circle center position in FIG. 1 and the two arc center positions (ceiling 5) in FIG. .) Is installed. The area scanner 10 is equipped with a motor-driven laser light source capable of scanning an object by irradiating a weak laser beam of class 1 in a plane turning direction 360 ° and an elevation turning direction 180 °, and is controlled by a motor drive control. A hemispherical area scan with a radius of about 5 m can be performed along the set scan direction. Data detected in this scan range can be processed to recognize the three-dimensional orthogonal coordinates of the object.

  In the present invention, based on the scan data of the area scanner 10, data processing means as a control unit performs data processing so that a plurality of spatial areas can be identified and recognized. That is, in this embodiment, the eight-seat desk 1 is arranged in a circular area having a radius of 5 m shown in FIG. Then, the seating recognition area 20 assuming that the worker W works toward each desk 1 has eight rectangular parallelepiped spaces independent from each desk 1 as shown in FIGS. As the recognized area 20, the areas A to H can be specified. Within each seating recognition area 20, a large number of polar coordinate data scanned by the area scanner 10 installed on the ceiling 5 in a hemispherical shape with a predetermined angular resolution are orthogonal coordinates corresponding to the rectangular parallelepiped shape of the recognition area 20 in the data processing means. It is converted into a system data group, and the position coordinates of the object are obtained.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, behind the seating recognition area 20, a desk periphery recognition area 21 is set in a range corresponding to the height from the floor of the workplace to the upper surface of the seating recognition area 20. Has been. As shown in the figure, the area scanner 10 can set a hemispherical scan range in terms of performance, but the scan radius on the floor surface 6 is defined by the relationship of the ceiling height. In this embodiment, since the ceiling height is 3 m, the scan radius on the floor surface 6 is 4 m.

  Here, the worker recognition work in the seating recognition area 20 will be described with reference to FIGS. For example, in the workplace to be managed (FIG. 1), the office worker W is seated and working at five of the eight desks 1. In each seating recognition area 20 (A to H), the coordinates of the seated posture are continuously sensed at predetermined scanning intervals by the area scanner 10, thereby having a worker ID corresponding to the seating recognition area 20. It is recognized that the worker W is seated and is performing desk work.

  An example of the recognition work at this time will be described with reference to FIGS. In the scanning of the seating recognition area 20 </ b> C in the state shown in FIG. 2, no one is sitting on the chair 4. Therefore, the office worker is not recognized in the seating recognition area 20C. Instead, the third party P who has entered the seating recognition area 20C is recognized. On the other hand, in the seating recognition area 20F, the worker W in the seating posture is detected following the previous scanning. As a result, the seating status of the worker W assigned with the worker ID corresponding to the seating recognition area 20F is accumulated in the system. In addition, the presence information of the third party P passing through the desk periphery recognition area 21 located behind the seating recognition area 20F at the time of scanning is also accumulated in the system.

  Here, the scanning by the area scanner 10 and the recognition operation of the target person in the seating recognition area 20 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 schematically shows a desk 1 with two seats and a seating recognition area 20 corresponding to each desk 1. In the seating recognition area 20 on the near side, a worker W who sits and works and a third party P with a height coordinate H1 standing next to the worker W are shown. Since the office worker W seated in the chair 4 is performing desk work with almost the same height H2, the height coordinate H2 is held as information of a predetermined height range and stored in a predetermined number of times of scanning. Matched with data. By this collation, the seated person is determined to be the office worker W, and it is recognized that the office worker W assigned with the office worker ID corresponding to the seating recognition area 20 is performing desk work. Note that the height coordinate H2 is the sum of the seat height of the chair and the seat height of the office worker, so it varies depending on the person, but as shown in the figure, it is clearly the standing person P. Since the acquired coordinate values are different, a certain height range is allowed as an error range for the coordinate H2 obtained by scanning. Note that the height coordinate H1 of the above-described subject in a standing state (for example, a third person standing beside the office worker W) is 1.5 to 1. 9m is assumed. Moreover, as for the height coordinate H2 of the seated person, the error range can be appropriately adjusted as described above, but the initial value is preferably set to about 1.1 to 1.4 m. The height coordinate H2 is an important height coordinate for specifying the worker ID, and has a high scanning frequency in the seating recognition area. For this reason, when the office worker W is seated such that the height coordinate H2 exceeding the initial value range is repeatedly acquired, a confirmation message is issued from the system side, The above-mentioned error range can be reset according to the situation of the subject worker W (considering the sitting height and chair height).

  As the area scanner 10, instead of the laser scanner, various three-dimensional methods including passive measurement methods such as a CCD camera having a multi-focus function capable of multi-point focusing in an imaging region and a stereo camera. A distance sensor can also be used. In addition, an apparatus using a detection beam (ultrasonic wave, infrared ray, or the like) instead of a laser can be used.

Next, a control process that can be set by the workplace environment management system according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
In the management system of the present invention, first, the area worker 10 as the worker recognition means 100 identifies the worker W seated in the seating recognition area 20 set in advance. Next, the data processing means 200 performs the following data processing based on the basic information at the workplace.

(1) When the detection result of the predetermined coordinate value is continuously scanned at predetermined time intervals in the target seating recognition area 20, the seated person is designated as the exclusive user of the desk 1 in the seating recognition area 20. The office worker ID is assigned and specified as the office worker W.
(2) Further, as shown in FIG. 1, data such as the seating rate for each worker W in the seating recognition blocks in the seating recognition areas 20A to 20H is acquired, and basic data for determining the operation status in the workplace is accumulated. To do.

  After that, we manage the facilities in the actual workplace. The control target equipment 300 (FIG. 4) includes, for example, linked control of task lighting 2 and ambient lighting 3. That is, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5, in the specific seating recognition area 20, when the office worker W is performing desk work with the task lighting 2 in the ON state, the worker may leave midway. Even in this case, the area scanner 10 scans the target seating recognition area 20, and when it is confirmed that the away time of the away person exceeds the set time Xi, the task lighting 2 of the target seat is turned off. To do. Further, the distribution of seated persons and persons away from the seating recognition block 20 consisting of 8 seats shown in FIG. 1 is determined, and dimming control of the ambient lighting 3 as all target names is performed.

  For example, when the number of away persons becomes less than or equal to the set number during regular working hours, the number of places where the task lighting 2 is turned off increases, and the illuminance of the entire workplace decreases. Therefore, the illuminance of the entire workplace is increased using the dimming function of the ambient lighting 3.

  On the other hand, from the viewpoint of energy saving, for example, when the number of overtime workers decreases in the overtime hours after regular hours (end of work hours), the illuminance is sufficient to compensate for the illuminance of the task lighting 2 lit by the office worker W. If possible, it may not be necessary to brighten the ambient lighting 3 to ensure the illuminance of the entire workplace. In that case, in addition to the task lighting 2 of the overtime worker W, it is preferable to perform dimming control of the ambient lighting 3 so as to supplement the desk work.

  Further, in a state where the workplace is unattended, the ambient lighting 3 is also completely turned off after a predetermined time has elapsed. In this case, it goes without saying that the last evacuee can be turned off by a hand switch (not shown). .

  In the air conditioning equipment, in addition to collective control in the entire workplace, control in each workplace is possible. Therefore, it is also possible to control air conditioning (outside air intake amount, etc.) control for each workplace based on the recognition information of the worker W at each workplace.

  Furthermore, the example which applies the seating recognition area 20 and the desk periphery recognition area 21 to the security management in a workplace is demonstrated. For example, in the target seating recognition area 20, a third party P to whom no office worker ID is assigned is a seating recognition area 20 or a peripheral recognition area 35 set around a document cabinet as described later (see FIG. 7). It can also be assumed that an outsider has intruded when the user stays for a predetermined time. Therefore, in such a situation, the ambient lighting 3 of the area is blinked, or the task lighting 2 of the worker W who has been assigned the most recent working ID is blinked, and the surrounding situation is confirmed. It is preferable to prompt.

  In addition to the real-time management of the control target equipment 300 in the work environment in the workplace described above (abbreviated as W / P in FIG. 4), it is also possible to accumulate various types of data over time of the work status in the workplace. . For example, FIG. 6 is a bar chart showing the work status (work status) in one day in the workplace shown in FIG. In this workplace, area scanning is performed for the seating recognition areas 20A to 20H, but the daily seating status of the worker W given the worker ID in each recognition area, the person who visited the worker W (visit) The time for staying in the area can be shown as a bar chart as shown in FIG. And the seating rate (operating rate) etc. of each worker W can also be calculated. Therefore, this information can be used as one document for the operation evaluation of the worker W. In addition, since visitors can be monitored, it can also be used as data for changing the form of the workplace (additional meeting space, etc.). FIG. 1 schematically shows the status of the work place at 2 o'clock (14:00) in the work status shown in FIG. In this way, it is possible to confirm the work status at the workplace at a specific time from the accumulated information over time. Needless to say, the accumulated information can be appropriately processed by setting various periods such as days, weeks, and months.

  FIG. 7 is a plan view showing an application example in which the above-described workplace environment management is integrated on one floor. There are three blocks that scan the area 20 corresponding to the workplace shown in FIG. 1, the common area recognition area 33 that recognizes the seating of the conference space and the reception space, and the reception area that recognizes the visit of outsiders 34, a plurality of area settings such as a peripheral recognition area 35 around the archive cabinet are set, and an area scanner corresponding to each area is installed to scan each area.

  Even when such integrated area scanning is performed, lighting control, air conditioning control, visitor reception, security management, etc. in the workplace can be managed in real time. In addition, operation rate data in each shared space can be stored as storage information, and workplace layout and equipment can be improved based on each operation rate.

  In the above description, the management method in the workplace in a general office has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications within the scope shown in each claim can be made. Embodiments that can be obtained by combining technical means appropriately modified within the scope of the claims are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

1 Desk 2 Task lighting 3 Ambient lighting 4 Chair 5 Ceiling 10 3D coordinate laser area scanner 20 Seating recognition area 21 Desk area recognition area W Office worker P Third party (visitor)

Claims (7)

  A worker recognition means capable of area-scanning the entire target workplace and scan information from the worker recognition means determine the seating status of the worker in a plurality of seating recognition areas 20 assumed in the workplace. , Assigning a worker ID in each seating recognition area 20 to identify the worker, grasping the worker's working state in the workplace, and according to the working state, equipment in the workplace A workplace environment management system comprising: a data processing means for issuing the operation command information.   The data processing means obtains the vertical coordinate of the worker in the seating recognition area, recognizes the worker's seating based on the scanning data within a predetermined time, and assigns the worker ID to the worker. The workplace environment management system according to claim 1, wherein the workplace environment management system is assigned.   2. The workplace environment management system according to claim 1, wherein the worker recognition means is a laser area scanner installed in the workplace.   4. The ambient light in the workplace is dimmed and controlled in relation to the task lighting used by the recognized office worker. The workplace environment management system described in 1.   The work according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein an outside air intake amount in an air conditioner in the workplace is controlled in accordance with the recognized number of workers. Place environment management system.   In the data processing means, in addition to the seating recognition area in the workplace, a desk periphery recognition area is set outside thereof, and in these recognition areas, the existence of a third party to which no office worker ID is assigned is recognized, and predetermined 2. The workplace environment management system according to claim 1, wherein warning information is issued.   Employees' work status data in the workplace was accumulated, equipment operation information over time in the workplace was collected and analyzed, and work status evaluation in the workplace was made possible. The workplace environment management system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein

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