JP2013045189A - In-vehicle emergency notification device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a low-cost in-vehicle emergency notification device dispensing with a new installation, requiring no wiring space, capable of sufficiently transmitting a video signal with a transmission frequency bandwidth that is necessary for transmitting a video, capable of acquiring information of an operator other than voice, and capable of responding to the emergency notification in a more detailed manner .SOLUTION: A camera is installed near an emergency notification button so as to project the face of a person(a passenger or a crew) who depresses the emergency notification button. The video photographed by the camera is transmitted to a low-voltage power line of a train via a PLC (Power Line Communication) device. In the crew side, a display monitor is installed for projecting the video of an informer, is turned on in conjunction with the emergency notification button to output the video by the low-voltage power line, and is configured to selectively output a network video of the camera installed at a place where the button is depressed, onto the display monitor.

Description

  The present invention relates to an in-car emergency call device for video transmission, and in particular, a camera such as a network camera is installed in the vicinity of an emergency call device for sending an emergency call for a train, and a PLC (Power Line Communication) system or a PLT (Power Line Telecommunication). The present invention relates to an in-vehicle emergency call device that displays an image of a reporter (passenger or crew member) on an image display monitor of an emergency call device for emergency call response installed in a crew member room using a communication method using a power line as a communication line.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in-car emergency notification devices in trains of railway vehicles are performed only by voice conversation between the reporter and the conductor. Hereinafter, the conventional in-vehicle emergency call device is simply referred to as an emergency call device.
In addition, since high-frequency bands are not required for such audio transmission in the vehicle, two general low-voltage cable systems are used. That is, since audio has a smaller amount of information than video, it can be transmitted in a low-frequency (several kHz) frequency band. Communication of all vehicles is possible with electric wires (or low voltage power lines, etc.).

JP 2009-056821 A JP 2006-197164 A

  In a conventional emergency call device (emergency call device) in the vehicle, when trying to transmit video, the low-voltage power line laid on the conventional railway vehicle (connected to several or more than 10 vehicles) The necessary video signal in the minimum frequency band of several MHz is attenuated by about several tens of meters, and it is difficult to transmit all the images transmitted from all the vehicles to the crew room. Therefore, if a special wire (a coaxial cable or an optical fiber cable having a high frequency characteristic necessary for video transmission) is used, it is possible to transmit the video signal. However, it is a wire that is not normally wired in an existing vehicle, and there is a problem that it is expensive to install a new wire and requires a space for wiring.

  Patent Document 1 discloses an emergency call device for a railway vehicle, which is installed in a guest room of the railway vehicle and includes an emergency call button, a microphone, a speaker, a first camera, and a second camera. And an emergency call receiver and a display. When the emergency call button is turned on by the caller, the two-way call can be made between the cabin and the crew cabin via the voice line, and the caller is switched by the first camera. By displaying the video obtained by capturing the entire interior of the room on the display unit via the video line, it is possible to make detailed emergency call notifications in line with the voice and video of the whistleblower. . However, Patent Document 1 does not describe a method for transmitting an audio / video signal.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a system for transmitting video and audio data signals between a plurality of railway vehicles, and a lead-out line represented by a power line for supplying power to each vehicle is arranged near each connecting portion. It is connected via a repeater. A PLC modem is disposed in the lead-through line. Then, data signals such as voices and camera images between the vehicles are communicated by power line, so that a broadcast / call, emergency call, and guidance display function can be easily acquired by constructing a high-speed broadband communication network. However, in this known example, there is no description of a specific example regarding an emergency call as a specific example of data transmission.

In view of the above problems, the object of the present invention is not necessary to newly lay, low cost, and does not require a space for wiring, can sufficiently transmit a video signal in a transmission frequency band necessary for video transmission, It is an object of the present invention to provide an in-vehicle emergency call device that makes it possible to obtain information on the side of a communicator other than voice and to respond in more detail to an emergency call.

  In order to achieve the above object, an in-vehicle emergency call device according to the present invention includes a first emergency call device including an emergency call input unit for reporting an emergency call to a second emergency call device, and the emergency call input unit. Each passenger vehicle of a railway vehicle includes a camera for imaging a user to be used and its surroundings, and a first PLC device that is connected to a low-voltage power line and transmits an image captured by the camera using the low-voltage power line as a network line. An emergency call device for sending an emergency call, and the second PLC device that receives the emergency call and outputs the emergency call to the control device, and uses the low-voltage power line as a network line. The second PLC device that receives the video transmitted by the first PLC device and outputs it to the control device, and the emergency notification received when the emergency notification is received. The first emergency call device that has made a report is specified, and the user who uses the emergency call input means of the specified first emergency call device and the video from the camera that picks up the surrounding area are selected and displayed on the display monitor. The control device for outputting and the display monitor for displaying the video have an emergency notification device for emergency notification response provided in a vehicle in the crew room.

According to the present invention, in the in-car emergency call device installed in the train, by making a call while confirming the video of the caller, information on the communication side other than the voice is obtained, and more detailed emergency call information It is possible to establish an in-vehicle emergency communication system capable of transmitting
As a result, when the emergency call button on the emergency call device in the guest room (for emergency call transmission) is pressed, the face of the caller and the situation around the emergency call button are provided to the crew visually in addition to the voice. Therefore, it is possible to more accurately determine the urgency of the place and the handling method.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of one Example of the emergency notification apparatus in a vehicle of this invention.

The in-car emergency notification device of the present invention includes a passenger-side device installed in a vehicle such as a passenger cabin on which a passenger rides, and a crew-side device installed in a crew room vehicle such as a leading vehicle or a tail vehicle with a crew member. Have
In the passenger side device, in order to obtain information on the facial expression of the reporter and the surrounding background, a camera such as a network camera is placed near the emergency call button, and the face of the person (passenger or crew member) who presses the emergency call button Install to reflect. The video imaged by the camera is transmitted to the low-voltage power line of the train via the PLC device.
In the device on the crew side, a display monitor for projecting the reporter's video is installed and connected to the display monitor via the PLC device and the control device from the low voltage power line to which the network is connected. The control device operates to turn on the video output in conjunction with the emergency call button and selectively output the network video installed at the place where the button is pressed to the display monitor.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
In addition, the following description is for describing one embodiment of the present invention, and does not limit the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, those skilled in the art can employ embodiments in which these elements or all of the elements are replaced with equivalent ones, and these embodiments are also included in the scope of the present invention.

With reference to FIG. 1, an embodiment of the in-car emergency notification device of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of an in-vehicle emergency call device according to the present invention.
100 is the train, 1 is the first car of the train 100, 8 is the second car of the train 100, ..., 12 is the N car of the train 100. Here, N is a natural number of 2 or more, and is the number of vehicles constituting the train 100. Accordingly, the first car 1 is the leading vehicle and the Nth car 12 is the last vehicle. Also, 2 is a display monitor, 3, 11 and 15 are PLC devices, 4 is a control device, 5 is a low voltage power line B, 6 is a low voltage power line A, 7 is an emergency notification device for emergency response signal response, and 9 and 13 are An emergency call device for sending an emergency call signal, 10 and 14 are network cameras, and 16 is a digital video recording device.

As a general vehicle equipment, an emergency call device 7 for signal response of an emergency call is installed in the interior of the first car 1 (for example, a crew room). In addition, the No. 2 car 8,... And the No. N car 12 have an emergency call device 9 for sending an emergency call signal and a emergency call device equipped with a microphone and a button for notifying the crew member of the emergency. A device 13 is installed. Note that the emergency call devices 7, 9,..., And 13 shown by broken lines and the signal lines between them are conventionally provided in the emergency call device.
Although not shown in FIG. 1, vehicles equipped with an emergency call device for emergency call transmission similar to FIG. 1 are also connected from the third car to the N-1 car.

Low-voltage power line A6 and low-voltage power line B5 are connected to PLC devices 3, 11,..., 15 installed in each vehicle from No. 1 car 1 to No. N car 12, respectively. Moreover, the emergency call apparatuses 7, 9,..., 13 provided conventionally are connected by cables laid between trains.
In the first car 1, the PLC device 3 is connected to a control device 4 and a LAN (Local Area Network), and the control device 4 and the display monitor 2 are connected by a coaxial cable. In addition, the control device 4 is connected to an emergency call device 7 for responding to an emergency call provided conventionally. PLC device 3 is connected to existing low voltage power lines A6 and B5 laid between all the vehicles.
In the second car 8, the PLC device 11 is LAN-connected to the network 10. ... In the Nth car 12, the PLC device 15 is LAN-connected to the network 14.

In the interior of the first car 1, there is an in-car emergency call device for emergency call response composed of a display monitor 2, a PLC device 3, a control device 4, a digital video recording device 16, and an emergency call device 7 for emergency call response. Installed.
The PLC device (parent device) 3 receives images from the network cameras 10 and 14 via the low voltage power line A6 and the low voltage power line B5. The PLC device (master device) 3 outputs to the control device 4 the images from the network cameras 10 and 14 transmitted to the control device 4 from the low voltage power line A6 and the low voltage power line B5. The network cameras 10 and 14 image the inside of the angle of view at a predetermined imaging frame rate and transmit it to the PLC device 3 via the PLC devices 11 and 15 at a predetermined transmission frame rate.
The PLC device 3 outputs the received video to the digital video recording device 16 and the control device 4 with information (for example, camera ID) that can identify the camera added. Note that camera identification can be easily realized based on IP assignment in the network.
The digital video recording device 16 stores the input video at high rate recording.
The control device 4 controls video and emergency notification signals that are captured and transmitted by each network camera.
The control device 4 receives a notification output from the emergency notification device 7 for responding to an emergency notification, recognizes from which vehicle the received notification is a notification, and selectively outputs a network image to be displayed based on the notification. To do. The notification output from the emergency notification device 7 received by the control device 4 is, for example, information on which vehicle's emergency communication device button of the emergency notification device for emergency notification transmission has been pressed.

  In the second car 8 which is a passenger car, the network camera 10 is installed in the vicinity of the emergency call device 9 for sending an emergency call, and the angle of view is displayed so that the face and surroundings of the person who pressed the emergency call button of the emergency call device 9 are projected. It has been adjusted. In addition, in the N-th car 12, a network camera 14 is installed in the vicinity of the emergency call device 13 for sending an emergency call, and the angle of view is adjusted so that the face and surroundings of the person who pressed the emergency call button of the emergency call device 13 are projected. Has been. The vehicle between car 2 and car N to car 12 is the face of a person who has a network installed in the vicinity of the emergency call device and presses the emergency call button of the emergency call device, as with car 2 and car N 12. And the angle of view has been adjusted to show the surroundings.

PLC devices 11 and 15 are connected to existing low-voltage power lines A6 and B5 laid between all the vehicles, respectively, and can communicate with other PLC devices (for example, the PLC device 3 of the master unit).
The network camera 10 is connected to the PLC device 13 via a LAN cable, and transmits the captured image to the PLC device 11 via the low voltage power line A6 and the low voltage power line B5. The network camera 14 is connected to the PLC device 15 via a LAN cable, and transmits the captured image to the PLC device 13 via the low voltage power line A6 and the low voltage power line B5. Similarly, the vehicle between the second car 8 and the Nth car 12 is also connected to the PLC device 11 by a LAN cable, and the captured image is sent to the PLC device 13 via the low voltage power line A6 and the low voltage power line B5. Send.

The operation when the button of the emergency call device installed in the passenger car is pressed will be described as a case where the button of the emergency call device 13 of the Nth car 12 is pressed.
As described above, in the in-car emergency notification device of FIG. 1 according to the present invention, a conventional in-train emergency notification system (shown by a broken line) is already installed. Therefore, the crew can start a call with the caller of the car No. 2 to car No. N via the emergency call device in the company at the handset of the emergency call device 7.

In the train 100 of FIG. 1, when the emergency call button of the emergency call device for sending an emergency call of any of cars Nos. 2 to N is pushed by the passenger, the information that the emergency call button is pushed is for emergency call response Is delivered to the control device 4 via the emergency notification device 7.
The control device 4 selects the video of the network camera input from the PLC device 3 and outputs it to the display monitor 2. That is, the control device 4 identifies the emergency call device that has been pressed by the emergency button from the information that has been pressed through the emergency call device 7, and is a network installed in the vicinity of the emergency call device. Select the camera image. As described above, the angle of view is adjusted so that the face of the person who pressed the emergency button and its surroundings are projected in the video. Can see.
In addition, the crew operates the control device 4 with an operation unit (not shown), reads out the related past video (several minutes or several seconds ago) from the digital video recording device 16 as necessary, and displays it on the display monitor 2. Can be displayed. As a result, a more accurate response to the site is possible.

For example, OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing) is used for communication of the low-voltage power line A6 or B5 between the PLC apparatuses in the embodiment of FIG. By this OFDM communication, it is strong against attenuation of high frequency components by long copper wires and bad transmission path environment (noise from other equipment), and can cope with bad environment in a train.
Further, since it is possible to use a power line that has already been wired, it is easy to introduce it into an existing vehicle, and it is not necessary to newly lay a high-grade LAN wiring and cost.

According to the embodiment of FIG. 1, the notification of car No. N can be made using existing wiring without laying a new cable dedicated to video transmission as an existing vehicle wall, floor, ceiling, or inter-vehicle connection cable. Since the person's face and surrounding video information can be visually recognized in the interior of the first car, emergency information can be obtained more accurately.
Since a plurality of PLC devices can be connected to the low-voltage power line, it is possible to easily cope with existing vehicles by using a spare cable already existing in the vehicle. The spare cable is, for example, an electric wire that is empty (unused) by extra wiring of a low-voltage power line when the vehicle is manufactured.
In addition, since the display monitor 2 is not used except for an emergency call, it can be used for other purposes. For example, if there is an existing operation information display monitor, the monitor can be used to further pursue cost performance. Is possible. In this case, as a method that does not hinder the original purpose of use, a method of picture-in-picture or multi-screen display may be used.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1, a network is used, but a Web encoder may be connected to a normal network.
Further, a plurality of emergency call devices for transmitting an emergency call may be installed in one vehicle. Alternatively, a plurality of networks may be installed in one emergency call device for sending an emergency call, and the inside of the vehicle may be imaged outside the face of the caller and the surrounding video information. Furthermore, when the first vehicle has a guest room, it is needless to say that an emergency call device for sending an emergency call for passengers to make an emergency call may be installed in the guest room.

According to the above embodiment, in-vehicle emergency call device installed in the train establishes an in-vehicle emergency communication system that can exchange more detailed emergency calls by making a call while checking the caller's video. it can.
As a result, when the emergency call button of the emergency call device for emergency call transmission in the cabin is pressed, the crew member's face and the situation around the emergency call button are visually provided to the crew in addition to the voice. Therefore, it is possible to more accurately determine the urgency and coping method of the place.

  1: Train No. 1 car, 2: Display monitor, 3: PLC device, 4: Control device, 5: Low voltage power line A, 6: Low voltage power line B, 7: Emergency call device (crew cabin), 8: Train No. 2 car , 9: Emergency call device, 10: Network camera, 11: PLC device (slave unit 1), 12: Train No. N car, 13: Emergency call device, 14: Network camera, 15: PLC device, 16: Digital video recording device 100: Train.

Claims (1)

  A first emergency call device having an emergency call input means for reporting an emergency call to a second emergency call device; a user who uses the emergency call input means; a camera for imaging the periphery thereof; and a low-voltage power line. An emergency call device for sending an emergency call provided in each passenger car of the railway vehicle, and a first PLC device that transmits the video imaged by the camera using the low-voltage power line as a network line, and the emergency call Receiving the video transmitted by the first PLC device using the low-voltage power line as a network line, the second PLC device that receives and outputs to the control device When the second PLC device to be output to the control device and the emergency notification are received, the first emergency notification device that has notified the received emergency notification is identified, and the identified The control device that selects and outputs a video from a camera that captures the user who uses the emergency notification input means of the first emergency notification device and its surroundings to the display monitor, and the display monitor that displays the video An in-vehicle emergency call device comprising an emergency call device for emergency call response provided in a vehicle in the crew room.

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