JP2014197263A - Watch service system, watch service method, communication terminal, watch notification method, and computer program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a watch device which is installed on the side of a person to be watched to determine fault occurrence if a fault occurs to a line etc., of a system which provides watch service.SOLUTION: A watch device 10 connected to a television device 5 that a person M1 to be watched daily operates transmits a connection confirmation signal to a watch server 20 at every predetermined unit period. The watch server 20 transmits a connection response signal responding to the signal to the watch device 10 each time the watch server 20 receives the connection confirmation signal transmitted from the watch device 10. Consequently, the watch device 10 determines whether a fault occurs to a line etc., of the system according to whether the connection response signal can be received responding to the connection confirmation signal transmitted by itself.

Description

  In the monitoring service for notifying the server of the status of the user to be monitored, the present invention can detect when a failure occurs in a system such as a server or a line used for the monitoring service by a communication terminal device provided on the user side. The present invention relates to a watching service system, a watching service method, a communication terminal device, a watching notification method, and a computer program.

  Conventionally, there are a number of monitoring service systems that can remotely check the status of a person who lives far away (a person who can be watched over). For example, the following Patent Document 1 sends the usage status of various electrical devices used in the home where the watched person lives to the home terminal installed in the home, and the home terminal accumulates the usage status that has been sent, By transmitting the accumulated data to the server via the network, it is possible to remotely determine whether an abnormality (abnormality) has occurred in the life style of the person being watched over by the server. Alarm is output to the contact information (contact information of the person watching).

JP 2002-92767 A

  The conventional monitoring service system according to Patent Document 1 and the like described above has a system configuration in which a person-side communication terminal device (home terminal in Patent Document 1) to be monitored is connected to a server via a line. As the system operates, failure (failure) may occur in systems such as servers and lines. In conventional systems, when a failure occurs in a server, line, etc., the communication terminal device (home terminal) on the side of the person being watched over cannot detect the occurrence of a system failure in the server, line, etc. In addition, since the processing corresponding to the situation in which the failure has occurred is not specially specified, there is a problem that it is impossible to notify the person being watched of the occurrence of the failure.

  In addition, since it is not possible to notify the person who observes that the failure has occurred, even if it recovers from a failure, it cannot be notified to the person who can observe the fact that the failure has been recovered, and for those who are watched who are not informed of the situation Only the fact that the system is unstable is known, and there arises a problem that the reliability of the watching service system is lowered. Furthermore, since the data sent from the communication terminal device on the side of the person being watched does not reach the server during the failure occurrence period, there is a problem that the situation of the person being watched over cannot be confirmed on the server.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and a failure has occurred in the system in the communication terminal device due to the presence or absence of a connection response signal transmitted from the communication terminal device on the human side monitored by the server. It is an object of the present invention to provide a watching service system, a watching service method, a communication terminal device, a watching notification method, and a computer program that can determine whether or not there is.

In addition, the present invention provides a monitoring service system and a monitoring service in which when a communication terminal device determines that a failure has occurred, the fact that the failure has occurred is output so that the person being watched can be notified of the failure. It is an object to provide a method, a communication terminal device, a watch notification method, and a computer program.
Furthermore, the present invention provides a monitoring service system, which enables a communication terminal device to determine that a failure has been recovered and outputs a notification that the failure has been recovered, so that the watched person can be notified of the failure recovery. An object is to provide a service method, a communication terminal device, a watch notification method, and a computer program.

  Furthermore, according to the present invention, the server status can be confirmed on the server by transmitting information indicating the status of the user stored in the communication terminal device during the failure to the server in accordance with the recovery from the failure. It is an object of the present invention to provide a watching service system, a watching service method, a communication terminal device, a watching notification method, and a computer program.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the monitoring service system according to the present invention provides a communication terminal device having an external connection unit that can be connected to a user device operated by a user to be monitored, and a user operation that is output from the user device. In the monitoring service system that acquires an operation notification signal indicating that there is an event and transmits the operation notification signal to the server device, the communication terminal device includes means for transmitting a connection confirmation signal to the server device for each unit period, and The apparatus includes means for transmitting a connection response signal to the communication terminal apparatus every time a connection confirmation signal is received from the communication terminal apparatus, and the communication terminal apparatus further includes a connection response according to the transmitted connection confirmation signal. In the case where a signal is not received from the server device, a means for determining that a failure has occurred in the system is provided.

The monitoring service system according to the present invention is characterized in that when the communication terminal apparatus does not receive a connection response signal for a plurality of unit periods, it is determined that a failure has occurred in the system.
Furthermore, the monitoring service system according to the present invention further comprises means for the server device to transmit time specifying information for specifying the time for the unit period to the communication terminal device, and the communication terminal device stores the time specifying information. When received, it comprises means for setting a time designated by the received time designation information as the unit period.

  The monitoring service system according to the present invention is an operation indicating that a communication terminal device having an external connection unit connectable to a user device operated by a user to be monitored has received an operation by the user output from the user device. In the monitoring service system that acquires a notification signal and transmits it to the server device, the communication terminal device includes means for transmitting a connection confirmation signal to the server device for each unit period, and the server device includes the communication terminal device. Each time a connection confirmation signal and an operation notification signal are received from the communication terminal device, the communication terminal device further includes a means for transmitting a connection response signal to the communication terminal device. Means for determining that a failure has occurred in the system when the server does not receive a connection response signal corresponding to It is characterized in.

The monitoring service system according to the present invention is characterized in that, even when the communication terminal apparatus determines that a failure has occurred in the system, a connection confirmation signal is transmitted to the server apparatus.
Furthermore, the monitoring service system according to the present invention is characterized in that an operation notification signal is transmitted to the server device even when the communication terminal device determines that a failure has occurred in the system.
Furthermore, the monitoring service system according to the present invention includes means for outputting failure occurrence information indicating that a failure has occurred from the external connection unit when the communication terminal apparatus determines that a failure has occurred in the system. It is characterized by that.

The monitoring service system according to the present invention includes means for determining that the communication terminal device has recovered from the failure when receiving a connection response signal from the server device in a situation where the communication terminal device has determined that a failure has occurred in the system. It is characterized by that.
In addition, the monitoring service system according to the present invention includes means for outputting failure recovery information indicating failure recovery from the external connection unit when it is determined that the communication terminal device has recovered from a failure. And

Furthermore, the monitoring service system according to the present invention stores the operation notification signal acquired from the user device in association with the date and time related to the notification, and determines that the communication terminal device has recovered from the failure. And a means for transmitting, to the server device, an operation notification signal stored in association with the date and time included in the failure period from when it is determined that at least a failure has occurred. .
Furthermore, in the monitoring service system according to the present invention, an operation notification signal stored in association with a date and time included in a period before the time when the communication terminal device determines that a failure has occurred is associated. A means for transmitting to the server device together with the date and time is provided.

  In the monitoring service method according to the present invention, the communication terminal device having an external connection unit that can be connected to the user device operated by the user to be monitored is an operation indicating that the user has performed an operation output from the user device. In the monitoring service method of acquiring a notification signal and transmitting the notification signal to the server device, the communication terminal device includes a step of transmitting a connection confirmation signal to the server device every unit period, and the server device includes the communication terminal device Each time a connection confirmation signal is received from the communication terminal device, the communication terminal device further transmits a connection response signal corresponding to the transmitted connection confirmation signal from the server device. If not received, the system includes a step of determining that a failure has occurred in the system.

  Further, the monitoring service method according to the present invention indicates that a communication terminal device having an external connection unit connectable to a user device operated by a user to be monitored has been operated by the user output from the user device. In the monitoring service method of acquiring an operation notification signal to be transmitted and transmitting it to the server device, the communication terminal device includes a step of transmitting a connection confirmation signal to the server device for each unit period, and the server device includes the communication A step of transmitting a connection response signal to the communication terminal device each time a connection confirmation signal and an operation notification signal are received from the terminal device, the communication terminal device further transmitting the connection confirmation signal and the operation notification signal When a connection response signal corresponding to each of the above is not received from the server device, a step for determining that a failure has occurred in the system. Characterized in that it comprises the flop.

The communication terminal device according to the present invention is connectable to an external user device operated by a user to be watched over, and obtains an operation notification signal indicating that there is an operation by the user output from the external user device Means for transmitting a connection confirmation signal via the communication unit for each unit period in a communication terminal device comprising an external connection unit that performs communication and a communication unit that transmits an earned operation notification signal to an external server device; And a means for determining that a failure has occurred in the system when a connection response signal corresponding to the connection confirmation signal is not received via the communication unit.
The communication terminal device according to the present invention comprises means for setting, as the unit period, a time designated by the received time designation information when the time designation information is received via the communication unit. .

  The communication terminal device according to the present invention is connectable to an external user device operated by a user to be watched over, and obtains an operation notification signal indicating that there is an operation by the user output from the external user device Means for transmitting a connection confirmation signal via the communication unit for each unit period in a communication terminal device comprising an external connection unit that performs communication and a communication unit that transmits an earned operation notification signal to an external server device; And a means for determining that a failure has occurred in the system when a connection response signal corresponding to each of the connection confirmation signal and the operation notification signal is not received via the communication unit.

A communication terminal device according to the present invention comprises means for determining that a failure has been recovered when a connection response signal is received via the communication unit in a situation where it is determined that a failure has occurred in the system. .
Further, the communication terminal device according to the present invention has a means for storing the operation notification signal acquired by the external connection unit in association with the date and time related to the notification, and at least when a failure has occurred, And a means for transmitting an operation notification signal stored in association with the date and time included in the failure period from the time determined to be transmitted together with the date and time associated with the communication unit.

  The monitoring notification method according to the present invention includes an external connection unit connectable to an external user device operated by a user to be monitored, and a communication terminal device having a communication unit capable of communicating with an external server device. A watch notification for acquiring an operation notification signal indicating that there has been an operation by a user output from an external user device at the external connection unit, and transmitting the acquired operation notification signal to an external server device via the communication unit In the method, the communication terminal apparatus transmits a connection confirmation signal via the communication unit for each unit period, and does not receive a connection response signal corresponding to the transmitted connection confirmation signal via the communication unit. A step of determining that a failure has occurred in the system.

  In addition, the watch notification method according to the present invention includes a communication terminal device having an external connection unit connectable to an external user device operated by a user to be watched, and a communication unit capable of communicating with an external server device. Acquires an operation notification signal indicating that there has been an operation by a user output from an external user device at the external connection unit, and transmits the acquired operation notification signal to an external server device via the communication unit. In the watching notification method, the communication terminal device transmits a connection confirmation signal via the communication unit for each unit period, and a connection response signal corresponding to each of the transmitted connection confirmation signal and the operation notification signal. A step of determining that a failure has occurred in the system when not received via the communication unit.

  The computer program according to the present invention includes a computer having an external connection unit connectable to an external user device operated by a user to be watched over, and a communication unit capable of communicating with an external server device. And an operation notification signal indicating that there has been an operation by a user output from an external user device, and a process of transmitting the acquired operation notification signal to an external server device via the communication unit In the computer program for the above, a means for causing the computer to perform a process of transmitting a connection confirmation signal via the communication unit for each unit period, and a connection response signal corresponding to the transmitted connection confirmation signal, If it is not received via the system, it functions as a means for performing a process for determining that a failure has occurred in the system. That.

  Further, the computer program according to the present invention is provided in a computer having an external connection unit connectable to an external user device operated by a user to be watched over, and a communication unit capable of communicating with an external server device. A process of acquiring an operation notification signal indicating that there has been an operation by a user output from an external user device at an external connection unit, and transmitting the acquired operation notification signal to an external server device via the communication unit In the computer program for performing, in accordance with each of the means for causing the computer to perform processing for transmitting a connection confirmation signal via the communication unit for each unit period, and the transmitted connection confirmation signal and operation notification signal If the connection response signal is not received via the communication unit, the system determines that a failure has occurred in the system. Characterized in that to function as a step.

In the present invention, the communication terminal device transmits a connection confirmation signal to the server device every unit period, and the server device transmits a connection response signal to the communication terminal device every time the connection confirmation signal is received. If the communication terminal device does not receive the connection response signal, it is determined that a failure has occurred in the system, so that it is possible to determine the occurrence of a system failure such as a server / line that could not be determined on the communication terminal device side conventionally. Become.
Further, according to the present invention, the determination of the occurrence of the failure is made based on the presence / absence of reception of the connection response signal over a plurality of unit periods, so that it is possible to reliably determine whether or not the failure has occurred.

  In the present invention, the server device transmits time designation information for designating a time related to the unit period to the communication terminal device, and the communication terminal device uses the time designated by the received time designation information as the unit period. Since it is set, the time of the unit period can be changed as appropriate, and it can be flexibly changed according to the judgment condition concerning the occurrence of the failure, the lifestyle of the person who observes the interval concerning the judgment, and the like.

  In the present invention, the communication terminal device transmits a connection confirmation signal to the server device every unit period, and transmits an operation notification signal indicating that there is a user operation to the server device. Each time the signal is received, a connection response signal is transmitted to the communication terminal device, and if the communication terminal device does not receive the connection response signal, it is determined that a failure has occurred in the system. In addition to being able to determine system failures such as servers and lines that could not be determined on the device side, the determination of failure occurrence is based on whether or not a connection response signal is received in response to each signal such as a connection confirmation signal and an operation notification signal. Therefore, it is possible to quickly determine whether or not a failure has occurred according to the timing of the failure or the like.

  In the present invention, even when it is determined that a failure has occurred in the system, the communication terminal device continues to transmit a connection confirmation signal to the server device, so that the connection confirmation signal is sent to the server device in preparation for recovery from the failure. It is possible to always secure an opportunity to reach the server so that when the connection confirmation signal arrives at the server device due to the failure recovery, the server device can also transmit a connection response signal corresponding to the connection confirmation signal to the communication terminal device. Therefore, it becomes possible to determine whether or not the failure has been recovered according to the recovery time.

  In the present invention, even when it is determined that a failure has occurred in the system, the communication terminal device continues to transmit the operation notification signal to the server device. Therefore, the operation notification signal is sent to the server device in case of recovery from the failure. You will always have the opportunity to reach them. As a result, when an operation notification signal arrives at the server device as a result of failure recovery, the server device can also send a connection response signal corresponding to the operation notification signal to the communication terminal device. It becomes possible to make a quick decision according to the time, and it is possible to return to a situation where the server apparatus can judge the user's situation by the operation notification signal at an early stage after the recovery.

  In the present invention, when the communication terminal apparatus determines that a failure has occurred in the system, failure occurrence information indicating that a failure has occurred is output from the external connection unit, so that it can be monitored through user equipment. A person can know that a failure has occurred in the system, and can understand the situation regarding the system of the monitoring service.

In the present invention, if the communication terminal device determines that a failure has occurred in the system and receives a connection response signal from the server device, it is determined that the communication device has recovered from the failure. Recovering from a fault can be grasped by the communication terminal device on the side of the person being watched over.
Further, in the present invention, when the communication terminal device determines that the failure has been recovered, the failure recovery information indicating the failure recovery is output from the external connection unit. It becomes possible to know that the system failure has been recovered, and it becomes easier to dispel the anxiety about the failure of the person being watched over, and the reliability of the watch service system can be enhanced.

  In the present invention, the communication terminal device stores the received operation notification signal in association with the date and time so that the acquired operation notification signal can be secured as log information together with the date and time, and is recovered from the failure. If it is determined, the log information (operation notification signal and the corresponding date and time) corresponding to the failure is transmitted to the server device. Therefore, the server device determines the status of the person being watched from the transmitted log information. become able to.

  In the present invention, since there may be a failure in the system from the time when the communication terminal device is determined to have failed, in fact, there may be a failure from the time before the determination time. Since the operation notification signal stored in association with the date and time included in the period before the time when it is determined that the failure has occurred is also transmitted to the server device together with the associated date and time, depending on the actual occurrence time of the failure, the operation notification signal is transmitted to the server device. An operation notification signal that may not have arrived is also surely delivered to the server device, so that the server device can more accurately determine the status of the user during the failure period. Note that as the previous period, it is preferable to apply a time of at least one unit period or more.

In the present invention, the communication terminal device transmits a connection confirmation signal to the server device every unit period, and the server device transmits a connection response signal to the communication terminal device every time the connection confirmation signal is received. The terminal device can also determine whether or not a failure has occurred in a system such as a server / line.
In the present invention, the occurrence of a failure is determined based on whether or not a connection response signal has been received over a plurality of unit periods, so that it can be reliably determined whether or not a failure has occurred.
Furthermore, in the present invention, the communication terminal apparatus sets the time of the unit period based on the time designation information that designates the time related to the unit period transmitted from the server apparatus. The determination interval can be appropriately changed.

  In the present invention, the communication terminal device transmits a connection confirmation signal and an operation notification signal to the server device, and the server device transmits a connection response signal to the communication terminal device every time when each of these signals is received. If the communication terminal apparatus does not receive the connection response signal, it is determined that a failure has occurred in the system. Therefore, the occurrence of the failure can be determined in a timely manner in accordance with the failure occurrence time.

In the present invention, even when it is determined that a failure has occurred in the system, the communication terminal device continues to send a connection confirmation signal to the server device. It is possible to secure a situation that can be judged.
In the present invention, even when it is determined that a failure has occurred in the system, the communication terminal device continues to send an operation notification signal to the server device. Therefore, whether or not the failure has been recovered can be quickly determined according to the time of recovery. In addition, it is possible to return to a state in which the server apparatus can determine the state of the user at an early stage after the recovery by the operation notification signal.

  In the present invention, when the communication terminal apparatus determines that a failure has occurred in the system, failure occurrence information indicating the occurrence of failure is output from the external connection unit. It is possible to know that a failure has occurred in the system.

In the present invention, if the communication terminal device determines that a failure has occurred in the system and receives a connection response signal from the server device, it is determined that the communication device has recovered from the failure. Recovering from a malfunction can also be grasped by the communication terminal device on the side of the person being watched over.
In the present invention, when the communication terminal device determines that the device has recovered from the failure, failure recovery information indicating failure recovery is output from the external connection unit. You can know that the failure has been recovered.

In the present invention, the communication terminal device stores the log information related to the operation notification signal associated with the acquisition date and time, and when determining that the communication terminal device has recovered from the failure, transmits the log information during the failure period to the server device. Therefore, the server device can determine the situation of the person being watched over from the transmitted log information.
In the present invention, since the log information related to the operation notification signal stored in association with the date and time included in the period before the time when the communication terminal device determines that the failure has occurred is also transmitted to the server device, the server device The situation of the user who is out of order can be determined more accurately.

It is the schematic which shows the whole system configuration | structure of the watching service system which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the flow of the signal etc. in the watching service system. (A)-(f) is the schematic which shows the example of the notification content sent to the communication apparatus of the person who watches. (A) is the schematic which shows the example in which failure occurrence information was displayed on the television apparatus, (b) is the schematic which shows the example in which failure recovery information was displayed on the television apparatus. It is a block diagram which shows the main internal structures of a monitoring apparatus. It is the schematic which shows the example of the content of a log table. It is a 1st time chart which shows the condition of the failure judgment in a monitoring apparatus. It is a 2nd time chart which shows another condition of the failure judgment in a monitoring apparatus. It is a block diagram which shows the main internal structures of a monitoring server. It is a chart which shows a part of contents of user DB (database). It is a 3rd time chart which shows the condition of the failure judgment in a watching server. It is a 4th time chart which shows another situation of failure judgment in a watching server. It is a 5th time chart which shows the example of abnormal judgment based on the 1st detection period. It is a 6th time chart which shows the condition where abnormality had occurred in judgment of failure occurrence, and the person watched during failure. It is a 1st flowchart which shows a series of processing procedures regarding the operation notification signal in a monitoring apparatus. It is a 2nd flowchart which shows a series of processing procedures regarding the connection confirmation with the user apparatus in a monitoring apparatus. It is a 3rd flowchart which shows a series of processing procedures regarding transmission of the connection confirmation signal in a monitoring apparatus, reception of a connection response signal, etc. It is a 4th flowchart which shows the process sequence in a watching server. It is a 5th flowchart which shows the process sequence in a watching server. (A) is the schematic which shows the modification by which failure occurrence supplementary information was displayed on the television apparatus, (b) is the schematic which shows the modification of failure occurrence information. It is a 7th time chart which shows the modification of failure occurrence judgment concerning a 1st embodiment. It is an 8th time chart which shows the time change of the unit period which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a 9th time chart which shows the time change of the unit period which concerns on the modification of 2nd Embodiment. It is a 10th time chart which shows the transmission situation of log information concerning a 3rd embodiment of the present invention. It is an 11th time chart which shows the transmission situation of log information concerning a 3rd embodiment. It is a 12th time chart which shows the situation of failure judgment concerning a 4th embodiment of the present invention.

  FIG. 1 shows an overall outline of the monitoring service system 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows the flow of various signals in the monitoring service system 1. The monitoring service provided by the monitoring service system 1 is a monitoring server 20 (monitoring server device) that remotely detects the situation of a user (watched person M1) who lives in the house H1, and is monitored based on the detection result. If an abnormality occurs, the watcher K1, K2, K3, etc. who watches over the watched person M1 is informed of the occurrence of the trouble. If a failure occurs in the system, the watched person M1 has an abnormality. It is possible to detect the occurrence of a failure in distinction from the occurrence. Furthermore, the present invention is characterized in that when a failure occurs in the system, the occurrence of the failure and the restoration of the failure can be transmitted to a person M1 to be watched over.

  The watching service system 1 includes a watching device 10 (communication terminal device) and a watching server 20 (communication terminal device). The watching device 10 is connected to the television device 5 (corresponding to a user device operated by a watched person) installed in the house H1, and can communicate with the watching server 20 via the network NW. The connection response signal transmitted from the watching server 20 while transmitting to the server 20 watching the signal (operation notification signal) and the connection confirmation signal indicating the operation state of the user (the user to be watching) with respect to the television device 5. Receive.

  The watching server 20 determines whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the person M1 to be watched based on the reception status of the operation notification signal transmitted from the watching device 10, and receives the connection confirmation signal transmitted from the watching device 10. Whether or not a failure has occurred is determined based on the situation, and notification is made to the communication devices 40, 41, 42, etc. owned by the persons K1, K2, K3, etc. who watch these determinations.

  FIGS. 3A to 3F show examples of contents notified to the communication device 40 such as the watcher K1 by the watch server 20, and the watcher K1 can be watched by watching this notice. The situation of the person M1 can be confirmed. The communication devices 40 to 42 owned by the watchers K1 to K3 and the like are applicable as long as they have a communication function. Specifically, a mobile phone, a smartphone, a tablet, a notebook computer with a communication function, A personal computer / television device having a communication function can be used.

  In FIG. 1, only one group consisting of one watched person M1 and watched person K1 watching K1 is shown in order to clarify the point of the present invention. In an actual system, it is possible to target a plurality of groups including a watched person and a watcher. Hereinafter, the contents regarding the watching service system 1 according to the first embodiment will be described in detail.

  The television device 5 to which the watching device 10 is connected has a user operation when an operation is performed by the user on the main body operation unit of the television device 5 or the remote controller 6 in addition to the normal television function. The operation notification signal indicating the effect is output. There are mainly three types of operation notification signals output from the television device 5. The first is an operation notification signal indicating that the television device 5 has been turned on, and the second is a power-off operation. This is an operation notification signal indicating that there has been an operation, and the third is an operation notification signal indicating that there has been an operation other than power on / off. Note that the types of operations other than power on / off include operations for setting the television device 5 in a state desired by the user, specifically, a channel selection operation (channel switching operation), volume This includes a change operation, a program guide display operation, an input system switching operation, a broadcast wave (digital terrestrial broadcast, satellite broadcast, etc.) switching operation, and the like.

  Furthermore, the television device 5 includes a connection terminal for an external device, and the watching device 10 is connected to the connection terminal. The connection terminal for the external device in the television device 5 used in the present embodiment outputs the operation notification signal described above, and is a standard for a communication interface that transmits video / audio / control signals as digital signals. The specification conforms to the HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) standard.

  Further, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the television apparatus 5 uses the failure occurrence information 51a and the failure recovery information 52a output from the watching apparatus 10 as described later for the above-described external apparatus. When acquired at the connection terminal, the specification is such that the acquired information 51a, 52a is displayed on the display screen 5a.

  That is, the television apparatus 5 displays the failure occurrence information 51a and the failure recovery information 52a in a pop-up 51, 52 superimposed on the television broadcast video 50. Specifically, when receiving the television broadcast, if the failure occurrence information 51a and the failure recovery information 52a are input at the connection terminal conforming to the HDMI standard described above, the television device 5 displays the display screen. The pop-ups 51 and 52 including text corresponding to the failure occurrence information 51a and the failure recovery information 52a are superimposed on the displayed TV broadcast video 50 so as to rise from the lower right of 5a. Since the pop-ups 51 and 52 are of a level that is displayed so as to be superimposed on the TV broadcast video being displayed on the television device 5, when the pop-ups 51 and 52 are displayed, the input system ( Switching of tuner input, external input such as HDMI, etc.) is not performed. By displaying the information 51a and 52a in this way, the person being watched is notified that a failure has occurred and that the failure that has occurred has been recovered. You can inform the person being watched and contribute to ensuring a sense of trust in the system.

  FIG. 5 shows a main internal configuration of the watching device 10. As the watching device 10 used in the present embodiment, a communication terminal device of a type generally called a smart stick (smart box) or a stick computer is used. Such a type of communication terminal device does not include a display unit, and is used by connecting to an external display device (the television device 5 in the first embodiment), but includes a display unit. An integrated watching device may be used.

  The monitoring device 10 of the type described above has a kind of computer-like internal structure, and can perform a desired process by installing various application programs. In the present embodiment, the monitoring program P2 (one kind of Is installed) and various processes corresponding to the watching service are performed.

  The watching device 10 has a configuration in which a CPU 11, an external device connection unit 12, a communication unit 13, an external connection interface 14, a first memory 15, a second memory 16, and the like are connected by an internal connection line 10a. The CPU 11 performs various control processes for the entire apparatus, and executes various processes in accordance with the specifications of various programs installed in the first memory 15. The external device connection unit 12 (corresponding to an external connection unit) is a connection terminal unit conforming to the HDMI standard that can be directly connected to the connection terminal of the television device 5 described above. The communication unit 13 is an interface for performing wireless communication, and the communication unit 13 according to the present embodiment performs wireless LAN communication in accordance with the IEEE802.11 standard (IEEE802.11b / g, a, etc.). In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the wireless LAN router 8 is installed in the house H <b> 1, and the communication unit 13 can be connected to the network NW via the wireless LAN router 8.

  The external connection interface 14 can be connected to a user interface such as a mouse or a keyboard, or an external storage medium. In this embodiment, the external connection interface 14 conforms to the USB (Universal Serial Bus universal serial bus) standard. doing.

  The first memory 15 stores various programs, information, and the like. In this embodiment, the system program P1, the watching program P2, the watching process setting information D1, the watching server information D2, the communication setting information D3, and the reception date / time table. D4 and the like are stored. The system program P1 is a basic program corresponding to an OS (operation system), and the watching program P2 defines various processes to be performed by the watching device 10 (CPU 11) in providing the watching service of the watching service system 1. This is an application program, and details will be described later.

  The watching process setting information D1 stored in the first memory 15 corresponds to parametric information for performing each process defined by the watching program P2. In the first embodiment, the watching apparatus 10 transmits to the watching server 20. The transmission interval time (unit period) of the connection confirmation signal to be transmitted, the user ID of the person M1 to be watched, and the like are included.

  The duration of the unit period can be determined as appropriate, reflecting the lifestyle of the watched person M1, the way of watching the watchers K1, K2, K3, etc. The minute level from 1 minute to 59 minutes To a time level from 1 hour to 23 hours, a day level such as 1 day, a week level such as 1 week, a month level such as 1 month, etc. (Note that 1 hour 30 minutes, 1 day and 12 hours, Of course, setting in hours and minutes, setting in weeks and hours, etc., such as one week and two days, is also possible. Such unit period time is included in the information submitted in advance to the service provider in order to receive the monitoring service, and when submitted to the service provider, the submitted time is regarded as a unit time as the monitoring server 20. Is registered and set in the watch server 20 by the operator, and the unit period set in the watch server 20 is transmitted to the watch device 10 in the preparation stage for using the service. It is included and stored in the information D1. Note that the user ID of the person M1 to be watched is also included in the information transmitted from the watch server 20, and is stored in the watch process setting information D1 in the same manner as the unit period time.

  The watching server information D2 stored in the first memory 15 includes information (such as an address on the network of the watching server 20) necessary for the watching device 10 to communicate with the watching server 20. The communication setting information D3 includes information necessary for the monitoring device 10 to access the Internet via the network NW (an ID of the Internet service provider used by the monitoring device 10, an address for accessing the server of the Internet service provider, etc.) ) Is included. The reception date and time table D4 stores and accumulates the reception date and time at the connection response signal monitoring device 10 described later.

  The second memory 16 is mainly used for accumulating operation notification signals acquired from the television device 5 through the external device connection unit 12 as log information. As shown in FIG. 6, the log information is sequentially stored in the log table 17 in association with the operation notification signal in association with the date and time related to the notification. The date and time in the present embodiment is stored in the second memory 17. The date and time when it was stored is used. The operation notification signal and the date and time included as log information in the log table 17 are accumulated as needed. However, when the accumulated amount of log information exceeds the memory capacity of the second memory 16, the old date and time are stored. The latest operation notification signal and the date and time are stored as needed.

  Next, details of the watching program P2 will be described. There are four main program contents defined by the watching program P2, the first is processing related to the operation notification signal from the television device 5, and the second is related to detecting the connection state with the television device 5. The third relates to transmitting a connection confirmation signal to the watching server 20, and the fourth relates to a case where a failure occurs.

  Regarding the first operation notification signal, the watching program P2 further defines three types of processing: “acquisition of operation notification signal”, “transmission of acquired operation notification signal”, and “storage of acquired operation notification signal”. With regard to “acquisition of operation notification signal”, the watching program P2 is programmed so that the CPU 11 performs control to acquire the operation notification signal output from the television device 5 using the external device connection unit 12. There are various conventional methods for obtaining the operation notification signal. For example, in the monitoring device 10 (CPU 11), the connection destination device of the external device connection unit 12 (the television device 5 in this embodiment). If a user operation is detected, a signal indicating that the operation has been performed (operation notification signal) is sucked up and output from the connection destination device, or the connection destination device itself has a user operation. When an operation notification signal corresponding to the operation is output every time, there is a method of simply acquiring the output operation notification signal with the external device connection unit 12.

  For “transmission of the acquired operation notification signal”, the CPU 11 controls the process of creating a copy of the operation notification signal acquired by the external device connection unit 12 and transmitting the copy to the watching server 20 using the communication unit 13. The watching program P2 stipulates. Thereby, the monitoring device 10 watches the acquired operation notification signal and transmits it to the server 20 every time the operation notification signal is acquired. In addition, when transmitting an operation notification signal to the watch server 20 in this way, the user ID stored in the watch processing setting information D1 is also set so that the watch server 20 can identify that the signal is related to the watched person M1. It is transmitted together (the same applies when other types of signals are watched and transmitted to the server 20).

  Regarding the “storage of the acquired operation notification signal”, the watching program P2 defines that the CPU 11 controls the process of storing the other operation notification signal duplicated in the above in the log table 17 of the second memory 16. ing. At this time, the CPU 11 specifies the date and time (corresponding to the date and time related to the notification) when the operation notification signal is stored in the second memory 16 by the calendar and date and time function based on the system program P1, and associates it with the specified date and time. The watching program P2 also prescribes that control for storing and storing the operation notification signal in the log table 17 is performed. When the operation notification signal is stored, the free space of the second memory 16 is also detected by the CPU 11, and when the free space is not enough to store new log information (operation notification signal and date and time), The watching program P2 also stipulates that the CPU 11 performs control so that new log information can be stored in order from the oldest date and time.

  Next, “detecting the connection state with the television device 5”, which is the second main process defined by the watching program P2, will be described. The monitoring device 10 (CPU 11) connects to the television device 5. However, it is determined whether or not a connection error has occurred when it is detected that it has been disconnected by a user other than the power-off operation. If it is determined that a connection error has occurred, it is considered that some error has occurred in the television device 5 (user device), and therefore the CPU 11 performs control for generating a user device error signal and transmitting it from the communication unit 13 to the watching server 20. The watching program P2 defines what to do. Whether or not the connection has been disconnected other than the power-off operation is determined by checking the energization at the terminal related to energization of the external device connection unit 12 or outputting a connection confirmation signal from the external device connection unit 12 and returning a response signal. It will be based on the presence or absence of.

  As for the third process “sending a connection confirmation signal to the watching server 20” which is the main process defined by the watching program P2, when the installed watching program P2 is activated, the communication unit 13 sends a connection confirmation signal. The CPU 11 performs control to transmit to the watching server 20, and thereafter, a connection confirmation signal is transmitted at intervals of unit periods included in the monitoring processing setting information D1 stored in the first memory 15. . According to the regulation of such a monitoring program P2, the monitoring device 10 transmits a connection confirmation signal to the server 20 for each unit period, and determines whether or not a connection response signal transmitted from the monitoring server 20 described later is received. Regardless, the connection confirmation signal is transmitted to the server 20 for each unit period.

  The CPU 11 has a clock function as a clock function, measures the time of the set unit period, and performs transmission processing of a connection confirmation signal when the measured time reaches the set unit period. After resetting the time measured, the time measurement is repeated, and through such processing, connection confirmation signals can be transmitted for each unit period. The monitoring device 10 is basically not provided with a power switch or the like, and is in a power-on state as long as the power supply line is connected to the power source and power is supplied. For example, since the watching program P2 described above is in an activated state, a connection confirmation signal is always transmitted for each unit period regardless of the power-on / off state of the connected television apparatus 5. As a result, the monitoring device 10 can determine a system failure or the like regardless of the power-on / off state of the connected user device (the television device 5).

  This is related to the fourth case “when a failure occurs” which is a main process defined by the watching program P2. When a connection confirmation signal is transmitted from the communication unit 13, a connection response signal corresponding to the connection confirmation signal is transmitted to the communication unit 13. The watching program P2 stipulates that the CPU 11 performs control for determining whether or not it has been received. When the connection response signal is received, the watching program P2 also stipulates that the CPU 11 performs control for storing the reception date and time in the 15 reception date and time table D4 in the first memory. As long as the state where the power is supplied continues, the watching device 10 can transmit various signals such as the above connection response signal transmitted from the outside, regardless of the power on / off state of the connected television device 5. Or it is in the state which always receives various information.

  When the connection response signal corresponding to the connection confirmation signal is not received via the communication unit 13, the CPU 11 determines that a failure has occurred in the system. In addition, about the failure judged by the monitoring apparatus 10 side, it is assumed that either the communication medium containing the network NW or the monitoring server 20 corresponds as a failure occurrence location of the system. The communication medium also includes various devices that mediate communication such as the wireless LAN router 8 installed in the house H1 shown in FIG. 1 and a server of an Internet service provider (hereinafter the same).

  Even when it is determined that a failure has occurred, the monitoring device 10 (CPU 11) continues to transmit the connection confirmation signal to the monitoring server 20 for each unit period as described above, so that the connection response signal corresponding to the transmitted connection confirmation signal is the next. It will be a situation to wait for the time to receive. Similarly, when it is determined that a failure has occurred, the watching device 10 (CPU 11) continues to perform the process of watching the operation notification signal acquired from the television device 5 and transmitting it to the server 20.

  Further, when the monitoring device 10 (CPU 11) determines that a failure has occurred, the watch program P2 defines that the failure occurrence information indicating that a failure has occurred in the system is output from the external device connection unit 12. Yes. This failure occurrence information is information in a format for causing the television device 5 to display a text indicating that a failure has occurred in the system (see FIG. 4 (a)), and is attached to the first memory associated with the watching program P2. 15 is stored.

  In addition, when it is determined that a failure has occurred in the system and the connection response signal is received by the communication unit 13 for the first time, the CPU 11 determines that the failure has been recovered. When failure recovery is determined in this way, the program P2 regulates watching that the failure recovery information indicating failure recovery is output from the external device connection unit 12. This failure recovery information is also information in a format for displaying on the television device 5 a text indicating that the system has recovered from a failure that has occurred, as with the failure occurrence information described above (FIG. 4B). As with the failure occurrence information described above, it is stored in the first memory 15 along with the watching program P2.

  Furthermore, in the case of determining failure recovery, the date and time when the most recent connection response signal was received when the occurrence of the failure was determined (when the connection response signal corresponding to the transmitted connection confirmation signal is no longer received) The CPU 11 specifies the reception date / time of the connection response signal related to the recovery from the reception date / time table D4 of the first memory 15, and is associated with the date / time included in the specified date / time range (corresponding to the previous period + failure period). The watching program P2 stipulates that processing for specifying the operation notification signal from the log table 17 of the second memory 16 is performed.

  Then, the CPU 11 reads out the operation notification signal included in the date / time range specified above from the log table 17 together with the associated date / time from the log table 17 and transmits it to the watching server 20 from the communication unit 13. The watching program P2 defines what to do. In this way, by watching the log information during the failure and transmitting it to the server 20, the watch server 20 can determine whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the person M1 to be watched during the failure based on the log information. .

  FIGS. 7 and 8 are first and second time charts showing specific examples in the case of determining the occurrence of a failure in the monitoring device 10 described above, and these examples show the monitoring device 10 when a failure occurs in the communication medium. Represents a situation in which various signals transmitted by do not reach the watching server 20 (the watching server 20 cannot receive them). In the first and second time charts, the time of the unit period is represented by T, the connection confirmation signals are represented by A1, A2,..., And the connection response signals are represented by B1, B2,. But the same). Also, below the arrow line indicating the passage of time, the type of signal transmitted by the watching device 10 is shown, and the signal received by the watching device 10 above the arrow line indicating the time (connection response signal B1 or the like). Is shown.

  In the first time chart shown in FIG. 7, a failure occurs in the communication medium between the transmission timing of the third connection confirmation signal A3 and the transmission timing of the fourth connection confirmation signal A4 in the figure, and the fifth time chart Between the transmission timing of the connection confirmation signal A5 and the transmission timing of the sixth connection confirmation signal A6, this is in accordance with the situation in which the failure that has occurred is recovered. Therefore, even if the monitoring device 10 transmits the fourth connection confirmation signal A4, the connection confirmation signal A4 does not reach the monitoring server 20 due to a failure of the communication medium, and the monitoring server 20 cannot transmit the connection response signal. become.

  As a result, the monitoring device 10 cannot receive the connection response signal corresponding to the transmitted connection confirmation signal A4 by the communication unit 13, and at this time, the CPU 11 determines that a failure has occurred, and with this determination, the failure occurrence information is displayed. Output from the external device connection unit 12. Even in a situation where it is determined that a failure has occurred, the monitoring device 10 continues to transmit a connection confirmation signal for each unit period and also continues to transmit the acquired various operation notification signals. Then, since the monitoring device 10 receives the connection response signal B4 corresponding to the connection confirmation signal A6 transmitted sixth in FIG. 7, the CPU 11 determines that the failure has been recovered at this stage, and this determination Accordingly, failure recovery information is output from the external device connection unit 12.

  The monitoring device 10 (CPU 11) receives the latest connection response signal B3 when the connection response signal corresponding to the fourth connection confirmation signal A4 that determines that a failure has occurred is received ( The date and time included in the period before the time when it was determined that a failure occurred and the reception date and time of the connection response signal B4 for which recovery was determined are specified from the reception date and time table D4 of the first memory 15, and the specified date and time period ( In FIG. 7, the operation notification signal included in the previous period + the period indicated as the failure period) is specified and extracted from the log table 17, and is transmitted to the watching server 20 as the log information during the failure together with the date and time. In addition, since the reception date and time of the connection response signal closest to the time when it is determined that a failure has occurred in this way is the beginning of the log information during the failure, since the actual failure occurrence time is not accurately grasped in the present invention, This is because the operation notification signal that may not be transmitted due to a failure is watched over and included in the log information to be sent to the server 20. In the case shown in FIG. 7, the period before the latest period is set to a time corresponding to one unit period. However, when examining log information in more detail, it corresponds to a plurality of unit periods. It is also possible to apply different times.

  The second time chart shown in FIG. 8 also corresponds to the failure occurrence situation and the failure recovery situation similar to the first time chart of FIG. 7, but the monitoring device 10 transmits the fourth connection confirmation signal A4. Thereafter, various operation notification signals are not acquired from the television device 5. Therefore, the content of the log information that the monitoring device 10 sends to the monitoring server 20 after determining failure recovery is different from that in the first time chart shown in FIG. 7, and this log information relates to the operation notification signal. Does not include logs.

  Next, the watching server 20 shown in FIG. 9 will be described. The monitoring server 20 is a server to which a general-purpose server computer is applied. As shown in FIG. 9, the MPU 21 that performs overall control and various processes is connected to various devices by an internal connection line 20a. The various devices include a communication module 22, a RAM 23, a ROM 24, an input interface 25, an output interface 26, a mass storage system (HDD system) 27, and the like.

  The communication module 22 is a communication device (communication means) corresponding to a connection module with the network NW, and conforms to a required communication standard (for example, a LAN module). The communication module 22 is connected to the network NW via a required communication device (not shown, for example, a router or the like), and the communication device 40 to be used by the monitoring device 10 and the watchers K1 to K3 described above. Communication with 42 etc. is enabled.

  The RAM 23 temporarily stores contents, files, and the like associated with the processing of the MPU 21, and the ROM 24 stores programs and the like that define the basic processing contents of the MPU 21. The input interface 25 is connected to a keyboard 20b, a mouse, and the like for receiving an operation instruction from the operator of the monitoring service system 1, and transmits the operation instruction received from the operator to the MPU 21. The output interface 26 is connected to the display 20c, and outputs the contents accompanying the processing of the MPU 21 to the display 20c so that the operator can check the current processing contents and the like.

  The large-capacity storage system 27 (corresponding to a storage device) stores various programs, databases (DB), various information and the like necessary for providing the watching service. In this embodiment, the server program P10, the watching service program P11, user DB 30, and watch setting information D20 are stored.

  The server program P10 defines various processes according to the server operation system, and the MPU 21 performs processes based on the specified contents, whereby the server device 20 fulfills a basic function as a server computer. . The description of the watching service program P11 will be described later, and the user DB 30 and the watching setting information D20 will be described first.

  FIG. 10 shows an overview of the user DB 30. The user DB 30 registers a person who uses the watch service as a group of the watched person (user) and the watched person, and identifies a group of the watched person (user). For each user ID, the name of the person to be watched, the device ID / communication address of the user device to be operated by the watched person (becomes a transmission destination for transmitting signals, information, etc. from the watch server 20 to the user device) can be watched. A person's contact information (address, telephone number, e-mail address, etc.), the name, telephone number, e-mail address (equivalent to a pre-registered watch contact information) of the person being watched are stored in association with each other.

  The monitoring server 20 refers to the user DB 30 so that a necessary notification can be made by e-mail to a person who needs notification. The above-mentioned information of the user DB 30 is submitted from a user who receives a monitoring service in the preparation stage (a person to be watched and a person to watch), and the submitted information is registered in the user DB 30 in advance. The user can enjoy the watching service. The user DB 30 shown in FIG. 10 includes data for a plurality of groups.

  The watch setting information D20 stored in the large-capacity storage system 27 in FIG. 9 includes time information such as the above-described unit period and a detection period based on the unit period. These are set by the operator of the watching server 20 and stored in the large-capacity storage system 27 as watching setting information D20. In the unit period, as described above, the time submitted by the user (the person to be watched and the person to watch) is set, and is referred to by the MPU 21 in the process of determining the occurrence of an abnormality and determining the occurrence of a failure, which will be described later. The The detection period is a reference period for determining whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the watched person, and a time that is a multiple of the unit period is set.

  In the present embodiment, two types of detection periods are used in accordance with the types of conditions for determining the occurrence of an abnormality, which will be described later, and a time (2T) that is twice the unit period is set as the first first detection period. The second second detection period is set to a time (4T) that is four times the unit period, and is referred to by the MPU 21 when determining the occurrence of an abnormality, which will be described later. Such setting contents are only an example, and the number of detection periods can be set from a single number to two or more according to the type of determination condition for occurrence of an abnormality. If the time is based on the unit period, it is set to an integral multiple of the unit period or 0.5 times the unit period according to the lifestyle of the user (the person to be watched and the person to be watched), 1 It is also possible to set various multiples such as .5 times.

  Next, details of the watching service program P11 will be described. There are three main program contents related to the control processing performed by the MPU 21 defined by the watching service program P2, the first is processing related to transmission of a connection response signal, and the second is processing related to determination of occurrence of abnormality of the person being watched over. Yes, the third is processing relating to the determination of the occurrence of a failure, and the MPU 21 functions as various means (determination means, comparison means, detection means, transmission processing means, etc.) by the MPU 21 performing processing based on these related regulations. To do.

  As a process related to the transmission of the first connection response signal, every time the monitoring server 20 receives a connection confirmation signal transmitted from the monitoring device 10 by the communication module 22, the connection response signal is transmitted from the communication module 22 to the monitoring device 10. The watching service program P11 defines that the MPU 21 controls and executes the processing to be performed.

  As a process relating to the determination of the occurrence of abnormality of the second watched person, the communication module 22 receives the operation notification signal from the watching device 10 within the range corresponding to the above-described detection period (first detection period, second detection period). The MPU 21 detects whether or not the MPU 21 has detected, and the MPU 21 determines whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the watched person M1 (the user to be watched) based on the detection result of whether or not the operation notification signal has been received. The watching service program P11 regulates this.

  FIG. 11 is a third time chart illustrating an example based on a determination condition for occurrence of abnormality (first abnormality determination condition) using the first detection period (double unit period: 2T). In this third time chart, the types of signals (connection confirmation signal and various operation notification signals) received by the monitoring server 20 are shown below the arrow line indicating the passage of time, and the monitoring server is shown above the arrow line indicating the time. 20 shows a signal (connection response signal) transmitted by T (unit period T, connection confirmation signals A1, A2,..., Connection response signals B1, B2,..., Etc. are the first time chart described above. Etc.).

  In the third time chart of FIG. 11, any type of operation notification signal (operation notification signal indicating power-on operation, operation notification signal indicating power-off operation, and other operation notification signals) is received in the first detection period 2T. If not (when no reception is detected), the MPU 21 of the watching server 20 determines that an abnormality has occurred in the watched person.

  That is, in the situation shown in the third time chart, the monitoring server 20 operates during the period (2T) from the reception of the fourth connection confirmation signal A4 in the figure to the reception of the sixth connection confirmation signal A6. Since the notification signal has not been received, the MPU 21 determines that an abnormality has occurred in the person being watched when the sixth connection response signal B6 in the figure is transmitted. Based on this determination, the MPU 21 automatically generates an e-mail indicating that an abnormality has occurred in the person being watched (watch alarm notification; see FIG. 3A), and refers to the user DB 30 in FIG. A person who watches the occurrence of an abnormality by sending the generated e-mail to the contact (email address) of the person who is associated with the person to whom the abnormality occurs (sent together with various signals and specified by the user ID) Process to notify to. The determination of the occurrence of an abnormality based on the first abnormality determination condition cannot be performed unless the watched person operates the television device 5 at any time corresponding to the first detection period 2T. It is based on the idea that there is a risk that a person who can watch over the condition falls.

  FIG. 12 is a fourth time chart illustrating an example based on a determination condition for occurrence of abnormality (second abnormality determination condition) using the second detection period (four times the unit period). In the fourth time chart, a unit period in which an operation notification signal indicating that a power-on operation has been received is received (in FIG. 12, a period from reception of the first connection confirmation signal A1 to reception of the second connection confirmation signal A2). If the operation notification signal indicating the power-off operation is not received (when no reception is detected) during the second detection period (4T) that continues after), the MPU 21 of the monitoring server 20 It is determined that an abnormality has occurred.

  That is, as shown in the fourth time chart, during the period (4T) from when the second connection confirmation signal A2 is received until the sixth connection confirmation signal A6 is received, the monitoring server 20 performs the power-off operation. The MPU 21 determines that an abnormality has occurred in the person being watched over when the connection response signal B6 is transmitted, since the operation notification signal indicating the above is not received. When this determination is made, the MPU 21 performs a process of notifying the person who watches over the occurrence of an abnormality, as in the case of the first abnormality determination condition. The determination of the occurrence of the abnormality based on the second abnormality determination condition is performed if the person to be watched does not perform the power-off operation of the television device 5 for a long time as long as the second detection period 4T. However, it is based on the idea that some abnormality may have occurred while watching the television device 5.

  Regarding the processing performed by the MPU 21 related to the first abnormality determination condition and the second abnormality determination condition described above, the watching service program P11 has the following prescribed program contents. First, the program contents relating to the first abnormality determination condition will be described. When the monitoring server 20 receives the connection confirmation information, it receives some operation notification signal during the period (one unit period) until the next connection confirmation information is received. The MPU 21 detects whether or not it has been performed, and if it detects that no operation notification signal has been received, the MPU 21 counts one unit period. If it is detected that any operation notification signal has been received, the MPU 21 does not count the unit period. The MPU 21 detects whether or not any notification notification signal has been continuously received for the next unit period (second unit period) of the unit period related to this detection (first unit period), and receives any operation notification signal. If the MPU 21 detects that it has not, the MPU 21 determines that an abnormality has occurred with the reception of the connection confirmation signal at the end of the second unit period (the count number is reset together with the determination of the occurrence of the abnormality).

  On the other hand, if it is detected that any operation notification signal is received in the second unit period, the MPU 21 does not count the unit period. In this case, if the counting is performed for the first unit period, the count number is set. Reset. The MPU 21 repeats such processing after the third unit period, and determines whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the watched person based on the first abnormality determination condition.

  The contents of the program relating to the second abnormality determination condition will be described. In the first stage, the MPU 21 determines whether or not an operation notification signal indicating a power-on operation has been received. If it does not receive an operation notification signal indicating a power-on operation, it enters a state of waiting for reception, and when it detects that an operation notification signal indicating a power-on operation has been received, it continues to the next period following the unit period in which the operation notification signal was received. It is determined whether or not an operation notification signal indicating a power-off operation has been received in a unit period (first unit period). If the operation notification signal indicating the power-off operation is received in the first unit period, the process returns to the first stage, and the MPU 21 determines whether or not the operation notification signal indicating the power-on operation is received. If the operation notification signal indicating the power-off operation is not received in the first unit period, the MPU 21 counts one unit period.

  When one unit period is counted, the MPU 21 determines whether or not an operation notification signal indicating a power-off operation has been received for the second unit period following the first unit period. Reset and return to the first stage. If the operation notification signal indicating the power-off operation is not received, the MPU 21 further counts one period unit and sets the total count number to two unit periods. When counting two unit periods, the MPU 21 determines whether or not an operation notification signal indicating a power-off operation has been received for the third unit period, and if received, resets the count number to the first stage. If not received, the unit of one period is further counted, and the total count is set to three unit periods.

  When the three unit periods are counted, the MPU 21 determines whether or not the operation notification signal indicating the power-off operation has been received for the fourth unit period. If not received, it is determined that an abnormality has occurred with the reception of the connection confirmation signal at the end of the fourth unit period (the count is reset when the abnormality occurs). By repeating such processing, the MPU 21 determines whether an abnormality has occurred in the person being watched based on the second abnormality determination condition.

  Next, the contents of the program relating to the determination of the third failure occurrence defined by the watching service program P11 will be described. There are two types of content related to the determination of the occurrence of a system failure. The first is that a user device error signal is transmitted from the monitoring device 10, so that some failure has occurred in the user device (television device 5). In this case, the MPU 21 determines that a failure has occurred in the user equipment while the communication module 22 is receiving the user equipment error signal, and the reception of the user equipment error signal is interrupted. The watching service program P11 defines that it is determined that the failure of the user device has been recovered. The MPU 21 automatically generates an e-mail (see FIG. 3C) indicating that a failure has occurred in the system based on the determination of the occurrence of the failure based on such a user device error signal, and registers it in the user DB 30 in FIG. The watching service program P11 also regulates that the generated e-mail is sent to the contact (mail address) of the person watching the group related to the user equipment error signal.

  Further, the second failure determination specified by the monitoring service program P11 is based on whether or not a connection confirmation signal is received. Specifically, when the watching server 20 receives the connection confirmation signal through the communication interface 22, the MPU 21 uses its own timer function as a time measuring means to start measuring time after receiving the connection confirmation signal. Keeps on watching until the next connection confirmation signal is received. Then, the MPU 21 compares whether or not the measured time exceeds the unit period, and if it is determined by the comparison that the measured time exceeds the unit period, the MPU 21 determines that a failure has occurred in the system. The watching service program P11 defines.

  Based on the determination of the occurrence of the failure, the MPU 21 automatically generates an e-mail indicating that a failure has occurred in the system, and monitors all of the user ID groups to be determined (registered in the user DB 30 in FIG. 10). It is also possible to send a generated e-mail (see failure occurrence notification in FIG. 3 (d)) to a person's contact information (email address) and notify the person who watches the occurrence of the system failure. The service program P11 is defined. Note that the failure occurrence location in the system determined by the above processing includes communication media other than the monitoring server 20 (including the network NW, the wireless LAN router 8, the Internet service provider server, etc.), the monitoring device 10, or At least one of the television devices 5 is applicable, and these are external to the watching server 20.

  In addition, when the MPU 21 detects that the communication module 22 has received the connection confirmation signal in the situation where the failure has been determined, the MPU 21 determines that the failure has been recovered, and automatically generates an email indicating that the failure has been recovered, The watching service program P11 defines that the generated electronic mail (see the failure recovery notification in FIG. 3E) is sent to the contact (mail address) of each watcher.

  When the failure is recovered, log information (information in which the failure operation notification signal is associated with the date and time) is transmitted from the monitoring device 10 to the monitoring server 20. By receiving this log information, the monitoring server 20 receives the log information. The watching server 20 determines the situation of the person being watched during the failure. First, the time from the time when the time measurement related to the determination of failure occurrence is started (the time when the connection confirmation signal is received from the time of the failure occurrence determination) to the time when the connection confirmation signal related to the determination of failure recovery is received is broken. The MPU 21 specifies the target period, and determines whether or not the specified period (previous period + failure target period corresponding to the failure period) is equal to or longer than the above-described detection period (first detection period, second detection period). The watching service program P11 regulates this. As a result of the comparison, if the failure target period does not exceed the detection period, the MPU 11 determines that there is no abnormality in the watched person because it is a period in which abnormality determination based on the abnormality determination condition cannot be performed. Is specified by the watching service program P11.

  On the other hand, as a result of the comparison, if the failure target period is equal to or longer than the detection period, the MPU 11 uses the received log information to determine the occurrence of an abnormality based on the first abnormality determination condition and the second abnormality determination condition. The watching service program P11 defines. That is, when it is determined that the failure target period is equal to or longer than the first detection period, the MPU 11 detects whether the date and time in the received log information is included in the range corresponding to the first detection period. Based on the detection result, when it is detected that it is not included, it is determined that an abnormality has occurred in the person who is being watched during the failure (equivalent to the previous period + the failure period). Also, the monitoring service program P11 defines that it is determined that no abnormality has occurred in the person watched during the failure when it is detected that it has been included.

  Further, when it is determined that the failure target period is equal to or longer than the second detection period, the MPU 11 determines whether or not an operation notification signal indicating a power-off operation is included in a range corresponding to the second detection period. The watching service program P11 regulates this. When it is determined that the operation notification signal indicating the power-off operation is not included, the MPU 11 determines that an abnormality has occurred in the person watched during the failure, and determines that the operation notification signal indicating the power-off operation is included. In this case, the watching service program P11 defines that it is determined that no abnormality has occurred in the person being watched during the failure period.

  When a determination result based on the first abnormality determination condition and the second abnormality determination condition is obtained, the MPU 11 indicates the determination result (“No abnormality occurred in the person being watched during the failure” or “ “The person who was watched during the breakdown had an abnormality. (Refer to FIG. 3 (f))”) and the contact information (email address) of the watchers K1 to K3 of the watched person M1 The watching service program P11 defines that the process of transmitting the generated e-mail is performed.

  FIGS. 13 and 14 are fifth and sixth time charts of examples relating to determination of occurrence of failure in the monitoring server 20 when a failure occurs in the communication medium as described above, and this example is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 are time charts and examples showing the same system status (examples showing the same failure occurrence status and failure recovery status), but the monitoring server 20 is mainly shown. Hereinafter, according to these 5th and 6th time charts, the program contents relating to the occurrence of the failure of the monitoring service program P11 described above will be specifically described (Note that signals that cannot be received by the monitoring server 20 even if the monitoring device 10 transmits them). 13 and 14 are indicated by wavy lines).

  In the case of the fifth time chart shown in FIG. 13, the monitoring server 20 can receive the third connection confirmation signal A3. Since the second connection confirmation signal A4 cannot be received, the occurrence of a failure is determined at the time when the unit period T is exceeded in accordance with the contents of the monitoring service program P11 described above, and the failure is notified (see FIG. 3 (d)). Will do. Then, the monitoring server 20 continues to fail in the communication medium and cannot receive the fifth connection confirmation signal A5, so that the monitoring server 20 cannot send connection response signals according to the connection confirmation signals A4 and A5. It has become.

  Then, since the monitoring server 20 can receive the sixth connection confirmation signal A6 in the figure by the failure recovery, it transmits a connection response signal B4 corresponding to the connection confirmation signal A6, and at this time, the failure is recovered. This is determined, and failure recovery is notified (see FIG. 3E). Since the monitoring device 10 transmits the log information indicating the failure as described above by transmitting the connection response signal B4, the monitoring server 20 receives the log information (information including the operation notification signal together with the date and time). Will do.

  The failure target period from the reception time of the third connection confirmation signal A3 shown in FIG. 13 to the reception time of the sixth connection confirmation signal A6 is 3T, which is equal to or longer than the first detection period 2T. The operation notification signal (date and time in the log information) is included in any range corresponding to the first detection period 2T in the period 3T, so that no abnormality has occurred in the person watched during the failure , And is determined by the MPU 11. For this reason, the content of the e-mail notified after the failure recovery notification is that no abnormality has occurred in the watched person during the failure.

  On the other hand, in the sixth time chart shown in FIG. 14, the determination of the occurrence of failure and the recovery from the failure is the same as in the case of the fifth time chart of FIG. 13, but the operation notification included in the log information in the failure target period 3T. The signal and the date / time are different from those in the fifth time chart of FIG. That is, in the case shown in FIG. 14, within the range of the first detection period 2T from the time of receiving the fourth connection confirmation signal A4 to the time of receiving the sixth connection confirmation signal A6 in the failure target period 3T, Since the notification signal (date and time in the log information) is not included, the MPU 11 determines that an abnormality has occurred in the person watched during the failure. Therefore, in the case of the sixth time chart shown in FIG. 14, the content of the e-mail notified after the failure recovery notification is that an abnormality has occurred in the watched person during the failure (see FIG. 3 (f)). .

  The first to third flowcharts of FIGS. 15 to 17 are a series of the flow of a series of processes performed by the monitoring device 10 described above, and the fourth and fifth flowcharts of FIGS. 18 and 19 are a series of processes performed by the monitoring server 20. The processing of the monitoring service method (monitoring notification method) of the monitoring service system 1 will be described according to these flowcharts. The first to third flowcharts start from a state where the watching device 10 has already been started (a state where the watching program P2 has started), and the fourth and fifth flowcharts have already been watched by the watching server 20 (the watching service program P11 has been installed). It is intended to start from the (started state).

  First, the first flowchart of FIG. 15 shows processing related to the operation notification signal in the watching device 10, and the watching device 10 detects whether or not the operation notification signal output from the television device 5 has been acquired (S1). ). When the operation notification signal has not been acquired (S1: NO), the operation is waiting for acquisition (waiting for the user to operate the television device 5), and when the operation notification signal is acquired (S1: YES), the acquired operation notification signal is acquired. Watch over and transmit to the server 20 (S2). Also, the presence or absence of free space in the second memory 16 is detected (S3), and if there is free space (S3: YES), the monitoring device 16 sends the new operation notification signal acquired in the step S1 to the second memory. 16 is stored in the log table 17 (S5), and when there is no free space (S3: NO), the oldest log information is deleted from the log table 17 (S4), and the latest operation notification signal is stored in the log table. 17 (S5). Then, the watching device 10 determines whether or not the watching program P2 is ended (S6). If it is not ended (S6: NO), the process returns to the first stage (S1), and if it is ended (S6: YES). Then, a series of processing is completed.

  The second flowchart in FIG. 16 shows processing related to the detection of the connection state with the television device 5. First, is the monitoring device 10 maintained in connection with the television device 5 except for the power-off operation? Is determined (S10). When it is determined that the connection is not maintained (S10: NO), the watching device 10 watches the user device error signal and transmits it to the server 20 (S11), and the transmission of the user device error signal is performed by the television device 5. It continues until the connection with is confirmed. If it is determined that it is connected (S10: YES), the watching device 10 determines whether the watching program P2 is ended (S12). If it is not ended (S12: NO), the first stage If it returns to (S10) and is complete | finished (S12: YES), a series of processes will be complete | finished.

  The third flowchart of FIG. 17 shows processing related to the transmission of the connection confirmation signal (processing procedure related to the monitoring notification method). First, the monitoring device 10 monitors the connection confirmation signal and transmits it to the server 20 (S20). It is determined whether or not a connection response signal corresponding to the transmitted connection confirmation signal has been received (S21). When the connection response signal is received (S21: YES), the watching device 10 determines whether the watching program P2 is finished (S22), and if not finished (S22: NO), the connection confirmation signal is obtained in the stage of S20. It is determined whether or not the time elapsed since the transmission of the message has reached the unit period (S23). If the unit period has not been reached (S23: NO), the process returns to the step S22. If the unit period has been reached (S23: YES), the process returns to the first stage (S20), and the connection confirmation signal is transmitted again. become.

  On the other hand, when the connection response signal is not received (S21: NO), it is determined that a failure has occurred (S24), and failure occurrence information is output from the external device connection unit 12 to the television device 5 (S25). As a result of this output, as shown in the example of FIG. 4A, the display screen 5a of the television apparatus 5 includes the failure occurrence information 51a with the content “System failure has occurred” in the television broadcast video. Since the pop-up 51 is displayed again, the person being watched is notified that the system is in a failure state.

  In addition, the watching device 10 determines whether or not the time elapsed since the transmission of the connection confirmation signal in the step S20 has reached the unit period (S26). If not reached (S26: NO), the unit waits for a unit period, and if it arrives (S26: YES), it further monitors the connection confirmation signal and transmits it to the server 20 (S27). Then, the monitoring device 10 determines whether or not a connection response signal corresponding to the transmitted connection confirmation signal has been received (S28), and when the connection response signal is not received (S28: NO), the failure is still restored. Therefore, it is determined whether or not the time elapsed since the transmission of the latest connection confirmation signal (step S27) has reached the unit period (S29).

  If the unit period has not been reached (S29: NO), the unit waits for arrival. If the unit period has been reached (S29: YES), the process returns to the connection confirmation signal transmission stage (S27). On the other hand, when the connection response signal corresponding to the connection confirmation signal is received in the step S28 (S28: YES), the watching device 10 determines that the failure has been recovered (S30), and the failure recovery information is connected to the external device. The data is output from the unit 12 to the television apparatus 5 (S31). As a result of this output, as shown in FIG. 4B, the display screen 5a of the television device 5 displays failure recovery information with the content “Recovered from failure and the system is operating normally”. Since 52a is displayed as a pop-up 52 superimposed on the TV broadcast video, it is possible to notify the watched person that the system failure has been recovered, thereby obtaining a sense of security for the watched person.

  Also, the monitoring device 10 reads out the log information of the date and time included in the range corresponding to the previous period and the failure period (see FIGS. 7 and 8), transmits it to the monitoring server 20 (S32), and confirms the connection in the step S28. It is determined whether or not the time elapsed since the transmission of the signal has reached the unit period (S33).

  If the unit period has not been reached (S33: NO), the unit waits for arrival. If the unit period has been reached (S33: YES), the process returns to the connection confirmation signal transmission stage (S20). The watching device 10 keeps watching such processing until the program P2 is finished (S22: YES). In addition, the monitoring apparatus 10 is performing the process of the 1st-3rd flowchart mentioned above in parallel.

  A fourth flowchart in FIG. 18 is a basic processing procedure of the watching server 20. Although not shown in the fourth flowchart, the monitoring server 20 receives operation notification signals from the monitoring device 10 as needed according to the first flowchart described above. Further, according to the second flowchart described above, the monitoring server 20 receives a user device error signal from the monitoring device 10 depending on the situation, and when receiving the user device error signal, the user device (television device 5) has some trouble. Is notified to the watcher who watches over the person who operates the user device (see FIG. 3C), and when the user device error signal is not received, the fact that the device has been recovered from the failure is notified. Notification (see FIG. 3E) is made.

  In the fourth flowchart, first, the watching server 20 determines whether or not a connection confirmation signal transmitted from the watching device 10 has been received (S40). If it has not been received (S40: NO), it will be in a waiting state for reception, and if it has been received (S40: YES), the watch server 20 starts measuring the time after receiving the connection confirmation signal (S41), The connection response signal is watched and transmitted to the apparatus 10 (S42).

  Then, the monitoring server 20 determines whether or not the above-described abnormality determination condition (first abnormality determination condition, second abnormality determination condition) is satisfied based on the reception status of the operation notification signal or the like (S43). If the condition is satisfied (S43: YES), a watch alert (notification that an abnormality has occurred in the watched person) is transmitted (notified) to a predetermined watcher with reference to the user DB 30 (S44). After transmitting the watch alert at the stage of step S44 or when the abnormality determination condition is not satisfied (S43: NO), the watch server 20 determines whether or not the measured time exceeds the unit period (S45) and exceeds it. If not (S45: NO), it is determined whether the watching service program P11 is terminated (S46). If not terminated (S46: NO), it is determined whether a connection confirmation signal is received (S47). ).

  If the connection confirmation signal has been received (S47: YES), the timekeeping time is once reset, and the watch server 20 returns to the stage (S41) of starting the time measurement after receiving the connection confirmation signal. If the connection confirmation signal has not been received (S47: NO), the process returns to the step (S45) of determining whether or not the measured time has exceeded the unit period. If the measured time exceeds the unit period without receiving the connection confirmation signal (S45: YES), the system has failed, so the watching server 20 performs the process shown in the fifth flowchart shown in FIG. I do.

  In the fifth flowchart of FIG. 19, the watching server 20 determines that a failure has occurred (S50), and transmits a failure notification (see FIG. 3 (d)) to all watching people (S51). Then, the watching server 20 determines whether or not the connection confirmation signal transmitted from the watching device 10 has been received (S52), and if it has not been received (S52: NO), the failure continues. Waiting for reception. On the other hand, when the connection confirmation signal is received (S52: YES), it is determined that the failure has been recovered, and the monitoring server 20 starts measuring time after receiving the connection confirmation signal (S53), and the connection response. A signal is transmitted to the watching device 10 (S54), and it is determined whether or not the log information during the failure period transmitted from the watching device 10 is received (S55).

  When the log information has not been received (S55: NO), it is in a reception waiting state. When the log information is received (S55: YES), an e-mail notifying failure recovery (see FIG. 3 (e)) is sent to the user DB 30. Is sent to all watchers registered in (S56). Then, the watching server 20 determines whether or not the received log information satisfies the above-described abnormality determination condition (first abnormality determination condition, second abnormality determination condition) (S57), and if satisfied (S57: YES), A watch alert (see FIG. 3 (f)) indicating that an abnormality has occurred in the person watched during the failure is notified to the persons K1 to K3 (S58). On the other hand, if the abnormality determination condition is not satisfied (S57: NO), notifies the person K1 to K3 watching that no abnormality has occurred in the person being watched during the failure (S59), and returns to the step S45 in the fourth flowchart of FIG. The watching server 20 continues such processing until the watching service program P11 is terminated (S46: YES).

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, the monitoring device 10 can make a determination of a system failure such as a line and a recovery from the failure, and outputs information indicating the determination result to the television device 5. It is possible to inform the watched person of the current state of the system (whether a failure has occurred or has recovered from the failure, etc.), and the reliability of the system can be improved. The watching server 20 can discriminate between a state in which an abnormality has occurred in the person being watched and a state in which a failure has occurred in the system, and notifies the person watching the discrimination result. Can increase the sense of trust. Furthermore, when a failure occurs in the system, the server 20 notifies the person who watches the situation of the person being watched over, so that it can be provided to a person who watches a greater sense of security.

  In addition, the content which concerns on 1st Embodiment is not limited to the form mentioned above, The application of various modifications is possible. For example, when a failure occurs in the system, some of the possible causes of failure are those that can be checked by the user and those that can be queried by the user. In addition, it may be displayed as a kind of failure occurrence information by being included in the information notifying the occurrence of failure.

  The failure occurrence supplementary information 53a in FIG. 20A corresponds to a kind of failure occurrence information, and instead of the failure occurrence information 51a in FIG. The pop-up 53 is displayed over the television broadcast video 50. This failure occurrence supplementary information 53a includes the same words as the failure occurrence information 51a “A failure has occurred in the system.” In addition to “the router is turned on, the cable is connected correctly, the network device is Please confirm whether it is operating normally, or contact your provider or network operator about the failure status. " The format information is displayed in The failure occurrence supplement information 53a of such a modification is stored in the first memory 15, and when the monitoring device 15 (CPU 11) determines that a failure has occurred, the failure occurrence supplement information 53a is read from the first memory 15 and is connected to the external device connection unit. By being output from 12 to the television device 5, it is displayed on the television device 5.

  As another modification, failure occurrence supplementary information 153a including a solution hint button 153b in FIG. 20B may be used. When the failure occurrence supplementary information 153a of this modified example is first displayed on the display screen 5a of the television apparatus 5, as shown in FIG. 20B, the phrase “A failure has occurred in the system.” The content including the solution hint button 153b is displayed in a pop-up 153. When the user selects the solution hint button 153b, the solution hint button 153b disappears, as shown in FIG. Includes a wording corresponding to the failure solution information. By displaying in two stages in this way, the necessary information is provided only to the user who intends to resolve the fault voluntarily, and other users are simply notified of the occurrence of the fault, and a lot of information is sent at once. By not providing too much, the user is not confused when a failure occurs.

  Also, when failure occurrence information (failure occurrence supplementary information) or failure recovery information is displayed together with the television broadcast video, each piece of information is displayed in the broadcast video as picture-in-picture, It is also possible to display each information in picture-out-picture. Furthermore, the failure occurrence information (failure occurrence supplementary information) or failure recovery information is not only displayed in a format, but also in a format in which audio is output, or an indicator lamp (such as a television set 5 connected to a user device). It may be in a form of lighting or blinking a display unit (LED or the like).

  Also, when emphasizing increasing the certainty of system failure determination, it is not immediately determined that a failure has occurred if the device 10 cannot monitor the connection response signal corresponding to the transmitted connection confirmation signal. Alternatively, it may be determined that a failure has occurred in the system when no connection response signal is received over a plurality of unit periods.

  FIG. 21 is a seventh time chart showing a modified example in this case. In the monitoring device 10 of the modified example shown in the seventh time chart, a plurality of unit periods are connected over two unit periods (2T). It is determined that a failure has occurred only when no response signal is received. That is, in the seventh time chart of FIG. 21, a failure occurs in the communication medium between the transmission timing of the second connection confirmation signal A2 and the transmission timing of the third connection confirmation signal A3. Between the transmission time of the 6th connection confirmation signal A5 and the transmission time of the 6th connection confirmation signal A6, it respond | corresponds to the condition where the failure which generate | occur | produced was recovered.

  Therefore, even if the monitoring device 10 transmits the third connection confirmation signal A3, the connection confirmation signal A3 does not reach the monitoring server 20 due to a failure of the communication medium, so the monitoring server 20 can transmit a connection response signal. Similarly, even if the fourth connection confirmation signal A4 is transmitted, the monitoring server 20 cannot transmit the connection response signal. At this time, the monitoring device 10 transmits the connection response over two unit periods 2T. Since no signal is received, it is determined that a failure has occurred in the system. In addition, in the modification of FIG. 21, since the determination relating to the failure is performed over two unit periods 2T, the previous period that is the target of the log information during the failure also corresponds to the two unit periods 2T from the failure occurrence determination timing. Time is applied and a signal after the transmission timing of the second connection confirmation signal A2 in the figure is included in the log information. Note that the determination and the like regarding failure recovery are the same as in the case of FIG.

  As described above, when a connection response signal is not received over two unit periods 2T, it is determined that a failure has occurred, so that a connection response signal cannot be received in a short time due to a short-term failure or for some reason. Since it can be avoided from determining that a failure has occurred, there is an advantage that the occurrence of a failure can be determined more reliably. In such a monitoring device 10 of the modified example, the watching program P2 stored in the first memory 15 defines that the CPU 11 performs the processing of the above-described modified example in the determination of the occurrence of a failure. In this modification, it is of course possible to make the period related to the determination of the occurrence of the failure longer than the two unit periods 2T, and depending on the actual time length of the set unit period T, 3 One unit period, four unit periods, five unit periods, etc. may be set.

  As another modified example, the log information transmitted to the server device 20 after the failure is recovered may be generated by the monitoring device 10 when the user's operation status before and after the failure is not particularly important. Information prior to the determination of the occurrence of the failure may be omitted, and only information after the point in time when the occurrence of the failure is determined may be included. Therefore, in the case of this modification, for example, the log information in the first flowchart shown in FIG. 7 includes the transmission of the sixth connection confirmation signal A6 from the time point corresponding to the transmission of the fourth connection confirmation signal A4. It becomes an operation notification signal within a period according to. For this reason, since the number of operation notification signals is reduced as compared with the case where the operation notification signal of the previous period is included from the failure occurrence determination, in this modification, the processing load related to the log information analysis of the watching server 20 is reduced. Benefits that can be generated.

  Furthermore, the user device operated by the watched person M1 is not limited to the television device 5 shown in FIG. 1, but is a device that is the operation target of the watched person M1, and indicates that there has been a user operation. The model is not particularly limited as long as the operation notification signal can be output and the monitoring device 10 can be connected. As user equipment that can satisfy such specifications, refrigerators, rice cookers, electric / electronic cooking utensils (microwave ovens, microwave ovens, etc.) electric pots, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, air conditioners, lighting fixtures, and the like are candidates. In the case of using a device that does not have a display unit that can display various types of information in the user device in such an example, the format of failure occurrence information (failure occurrence supplementary information) or failure recovery information, a format that is output as audio, or Make the indicator light on and flash.

  In addition to the direct connection between the connection terminals as described above, the connection between the user device and the monitoring apparatus 10 is performed by connecting the two using a wire such as a connection cable or by connecting them both wirelessly. Of course it is also possible. Furthermore, the connection standard is not limited to HDMI, but a standard according to a wired LAN, a standard according to a wireless LAN, Bluetooth, infrared communication (IrDa), Zigbee (registered trademark), USB, NFC (short distance) One of wireless communication standards), TRANSFERJET (registered trademark), or the like may be applied. In addition to the stick shape, the shape of the watching device 10 can be a box shape or a plate shape.

  Furthermore, in the case where the user device and the monitoring device 10 are connected by radio or the like, a configuration in which a plurality of user devices and the monitoring device 10 are connected may be employed. In this case, the monitoring device 10 is not required until the operation notification signal transmitted from the user device is identified for each device. For example, when two devices, a television device and a refrigerator, are connected to the watch device 10, the television device is turned on, a certain channel is viewed for a long time, and an operation notification signal is received from the television device. If the watched person opens the door to remove the drink from the refrigerator in a situation where it has not been sent, an operation notification signal will be sent from the refrigerator, so the operation notification signal from this refrigerator will cause an abnormality to the watched person. Since it is confirmed that no occurrence has occurred, the monitoring device 10 does not have to distinguish operation notification signals for each user device.

  In addition, the monitoring device 10 can be incorporated into the user device so that the monitoring device 10 alone does not have independence, except when connected as an external device of the user device. In this case, the monitoring device 10 is connected to the internal circuit of the user device as a communication module having the function of the communication terminal device inside the user device to be incorporated, and the monitoring device 10 functioning as the communication module is used by the user. By including the device in a state where it is connected to the internal circuit, the user device itself can perform processing equivalent to each processing related to watching performed by the monitoring device 10 described above.

  In addition, the determination condition as to whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the person being watched by the watching server 20 is such that only one of the first abnormality determination condition and the second abnormality determination condition is used. It is also possible to do. Furthermore, it is of course possible to use abnormality determination conditions other than those described above. For example, for a user who watches the television device 5 every day (a person who is watched over), the server 20 watches the reception detection of the operation notification signal indicating the power-on operation every day to watch the TV program every day. A person who is watching over may be able to determine that an abnormality has occurred in a situation where the power is not turned on today. As another example, even when a user who regularly performs a channel switching operation (a person to be watched) is left without any operation after the power is turned on today, the power is turned on. After receiving the operation notification signal indicating the operation, the server 20 may monitor the reception detection of the operation notification signal during the detection period based on the unit period so that the occurrence of an abnormality can be found.

  In addition, in order to further enhance the sense of security for the watcher of the watch service system 1, notify the watcher of the situation of the watched person in addition to the abnormal alarm (notification that an abnormality has occurred in the watched person). May be.

  For example, if the server 20 detects the reception of the operation notification signal indicating the first power-on operation of the day, it may be transmitted to the person watching the notification that “the power is turned on”. Furthermore, the content of the operation notification signal according to the reception status of the operation notification signal is transmitted to the watcher registered by the watch server 20 in addition to the case where the watch server 20 performs voluntarily as described above. It is also possible to perform when there is a (request). In this case, the watchers K1, K2, K3, etc. use the communication devices 40, 41, 42, etc. owned by themselves to send a request signal related to the watch request to the watch server 20, and the watch server 20 The communication device that becomes the source of the request signal based on the reception status of the operation notification signal according to the reception of the signal, and the content determined based on the reception status (determination content such as occurrence of failure, abnormality in the watched person) Will be sent to.

  In the case of such a modification, there is a merit that the burden of transmission processing notified to the communication device of the person watched by the watch server 20 can be reduced. In addition to the watched person's family, siblings, relatives, and acquaintances, the person who watches the notice can also be an administrator / monitor of the local government where the watched person resides. Thus, when the notification of the watching server 20 is delivered to the administrator / monitor of the local government, the administrator / monitor of the local government who received the notification from the monitoring server 20 actually watches the person being watched over. It is instructed to go to the house of a person who is watched over by the residents of the residents' association and local welfare committee.

  Furthermore, when securing the processing load of the watching device 10 and the memory capacity of the second memory 16, all operation notification signals output from the user device (television device 5) are stored in the log table 17 as log information. For example, the operation notification signals for the two most recent unit periods are always stored as log information in at least the log table 17, and when it is determined that a failure has occurred, the log information stored at that time is stored. The log information during the failure occurrence period may be stored in order while ensuring the above.

  FIG. 22 shows an eighth time chart according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The second embodiment is characterized in that the time of the unit period can be appropriately changed according to the situation or the like. Yes. Since the basic system configuration and the like of the second embodiment are the same as those of the first embodiment, the contents of the second embodiment will be described using the same reference numerals as those of the first embodiment.

  As described in the first embodiment, the monitoring server 20 includes information on the unit period in the monitoring setting information D20 (see FIG. 9). In the second embodiment, the monitoring server 20 includes the monitoring setting information D20. The specification is such that the operator can freely set and control the time of the unit period included in. When the operator changes the time of the unit period, processing for transmitting setting information (time specification information) specifying the changed time as the unit period from the communication module 22 to the monitoring device 10 is performed under the control of the MPU 21. (Such control processing of the MPU 21 is defined in the program content of the watching service program P11).

  On the other hand, when the watching device 10 receives the setting information, the unit period in which the received setting information specifies the unit period in the watching processing setting information D1 stored in the first memory 15 (see FIG. 5). The CPU 11 performs a process of rewriting the time and setting the time as a new unit period. When the new setting of the unit period time is performed as described above, the monitoring apparatus 10 controls the CPU 11 to send a connection confirmation signal based on the new unit period from the next unit period following the unit period in which the setting information is received. (Such control processing of the CPU 11 is defined in the program content of the watching program P2).

  The eighth time chart shown in FIG. 22 indicates that the time set as the unit period has been sequentially changed to T, T / 2, and 2T. Specifically, the watching server 20 is the second in the figure. From the time when the connection response signal B2 is transmitted to the time when the next third connection response signal B3 is transmitted, the setting information specifying the unit period as T / 2 is watched and transmitted to the device 10. By receiving this setting information, the monitoring device 10 transmits the fourth and fifth connection confirmation signals A4, A5, etc. at intervals of T / 2 from the next unit period.

  Furthermore, the monitoring server 20 transmits to the monitoring apparatus 10 the setting information that designates the time of the unit period as 2T from the transmission of the connection response signal B100 to the transmission of the next connection response signal B101. . By receiving this setting information, the watching device 10 transmits the connection confirmation signal A102 and the like at intervals of 2T from the next unit period.

  As described above, in the second embodiment, the unit period can be changed dynamically, so that the unit period is set for each time zone of the day, for each day of the week, and for each season in consideration of the lifestyle of the person being watched over. Can be changed. For example, as an example of changing the time of the unit period for each time zone of the day, the unit period is 1 minute from 4 o'clock to 7 o'clock, 1 hour from 7 o'clock to 21 o'clock, 7 o'clock from 21:00 to 4 o'clock the next day It is possible to specify how to specify time. In this example, the watched person frequently operates the user equipment in the time zone from 4 o'clock to 7 o'clock, and in the time zone from 7 o'clock to 21 o'clock, the user equipment operation frequency tends to decrease due to going out to a medical institution or the like. In consideration of the fact that it is a bedtime period from 21:00 to 4 o'clock on the next day, the above example is set (in this example, 21:00 to 4 o'clock the next day). During this time period, failure detection and abnormal detection of the watched person are not performed).

  In addition, as an example of changing the time of the unit period for each day of the week, the unit period is changed for each time period of the above-mentioned from Monday to Saturday (the unit period is 1 minute, 7 o'clock from 4:00 to 7:00) 1 hour at 21:00, 7 hours at 21:00-4 hours on the next day) On Sundays, the unit period is 1 minute from 4am to 21:00, and the unit period is 7 hours from 21:00 to 4am the next day. The way of designation is conceivable. In this example, since a medical institution or the like is closed on Sunday, there is a tendency to frequently operate the user equipment throughout the day.

  Furthermore, as an example of changing the time of the unit period for each season, in the season from June to September (season from early summer to early autumn), the unit period is 1 minute from 17:00 to 19:00, and from 19:00 to 23:00 It is possible to specify that the unit period is 1 hour, 23:00 to 7:00 the next day, and the unit period is 8 hours. In the November-February season (autumn to winter season), 4:00 to 12:00 The unit period is 1 minute, the unit period is 1 hour from 12:00 to 20:00, and the unit period is 8 hours from 20:00 to 4 o'clock the next day. Such an example is a setting example in consideration of the wake-up time, activity time, and the like of a person to be watched depending on the season. In addition, in the season which is not mentioned as an example, the example for every time slot | zone mentioned above applies.

  The ninth time chart of FIG. 23 shows a modification of the second embodiment. In this modification, the setting information (time designation information) described above is used as a connection response signal that the watch server 20 periodically transmits. It is characterized by inclusion. That is, in the figure, the third connection response signal B3 includes setting information for designating the unit period time to T / 2, and the connection response signal B102 designates the unit period time to 2T. Contains configuration information. The monitoring device 10 that receives such connection response signals B3 and B101 changes the unit period time to T / 2 immediately after receiving the connection response signal B3 and transmits the next connection confirmation signal A4. Similarly, immediately after receiving the connection response signal B101, the unit connection time is changed to 2T, and the next connection confirmation signal A102 is transmitted.

  In this modification, even if the operator changes the time of the unit period, the setting information (time designation information) is not immediately watched and transmitted to the apparatus 10, but the operator changes the time of the unit period and then transmits it. The MPU 21 performs processing for including the setting information in the connection response signal to be transmitted and transmitting it to the watching device 10. By doing in this way, while the number of signals transmitted to the monitoring apparatus 10 can be reduced compared with the case of FIG. 22, the time of a unit period can be changed with sufficient timing. Further, in this modification, when the device 10 watches the connection response signal including the setting information, the CPU 11 performs processing for changing the unit period to a new time immediately after receiving the connection response signal.

  As described above, in the second embodiment, the time of the unit period can be changed as appropriate, and accordingly, the determination interval regarding the occurrence of a system failure can be freely changed. As a modification of the second embodiment, the unit period time can be automatically changed according to various conditions defined by the watching service program P11 in addition to the unit period time being set by the operator. Yes, the watcher server 20 automatically changes the time of the unit period by including in the service program P11 the watch contents specified in the unit period change conditions such as the above-mentioned daily time zone, day of the week, season, etc. Allow control. Further, in the second embodiment (including the modification of the second embodiment), the modifications of the first embodiment described above can also be applied.

  24 and 25 show the tenth and eleventh time charts according to the third embodiment of the present invention, and the third embodiment is the latest according to the connection confirmation signal transmitted by the monitoring device 10 for each unit period. The operation notification signal acquired within the unit period is transmitted as log information. 24 corresponds to the situation shown in the third time chart of FIG. 11 of the first embodiment, and the eleventh time chart of FIG. 25 is the fourth time of FIG. 12 of the first embodiment. It corresponds to the chart. Since the basic system configuration and the like of the third embodiment are the same as those of the first embodiment, the contents of the third embodiment will be described using the same reference numerals as those of the first embodiment.

  In the third embodiment, as described above, the monitoring device 10 collectively transmits an operation notification signal as log information to the monitoring server 20 for each unit period. Therefore, in the monitoring server 20, processing related to reception is organized for each unit period. Therefore, the processing efficiency can be improved. In order to perform such processing, the monitoring device 10 stores the log information of the unit period in which the operation notification signals acquired during the unit period are collected in the second memory 16, and the log information of the unit period is stored. At the same time as the connection confirmation signal, it is transmitted to the watching server 20.

  The details will be described based on the tenth time chart of FIG. 24. At the same time as the second connection confirmation signal A2 transmitted from the monitoring device 10, t1 (transmission time of the first connection confirmation signal A1) to t2 (second The server 20 receives the log information of the unit period T of the transmission time of the connection confirmation signal A2, and receives the log information of the unit period T from t2 to t3 simultaneously with the third connection confirmation signal A3. The log information of the unit period T from t3 to t4 is received simultaneously with the fourth connection confirmation signal A4. However, in the unit period T from t4 to t5 and the unit period T from t5 to t6, since the monitoring device 10 has not acquired the operation notification signal, the monitoring server 20 receives the fifth connection confirmation signal A5 and the sixth Since the log information of the unit period is not received when the connection confirmation signal A6 is received, an abnormality occurs in the person who is watched according to the first abnormality determination condition described above at the time after the reception of the sixth connection confirmation signal A6. The watch alert (see FIG. 3A) is notified.

  In the eleventh time chart of FIG. 25, the server 20 receives the log information of the unit period T from t1 to t2 at the same time as the second connection confirmation signal A2 transmitted from the monitoring device 10, and hereinafter the third connection. Simultaneously with the confirmation signal A3, the log information of the unit period T from t2 to t3 is received, and simultaneously with the fourth connection confirmation signal A4, the log information of the unit period T from t3 to t4 is received, and the fifth connection confirmation signal. Simultaneously with A5, the log information of the unit period T from t4 to t5 is received, but the log information of the unit period is not received when the sixth connection confirmation signal A6 is received. Further, since the log information of each unit period in the range from t2 to t5 does not include the operation notification signal indicating the power-off operation, the watch server 20 receives the sixth connection confirmation signal A6 after the reception. Therefore, it is determined that an abnormality has occurred in the person to be watched according to the second abnormality determination condition described above, and a watch alert is notified. In addition, also in such 3rd Embodiment, each modification of 1st Embodiment mentioned above is also applicable.

  FIG. 26 shows a twelfth time chart according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention, and the fourth embodiment is connected in response to the monitoring server 20 receiving various signals transmitted from the monitoring device 10. If the response signal is transmitted to the monitoring device 10 and the monitoring device 10 does not receive a connection response signal corresponding to the transmission of any signal, it is determined that a failure has occurred in a timely manner regardless of the interval of the unit period. The feature is to do. The twelfth time chart in FIG. 26 is basically an example showing the same system status as the first time chart in FIG. 7 of the first embodiment (an example showing the same failure occurrence status and failure recovery status). The failure occurrence time is further clarified by the processing based on the fourth embodiment. In the fourth embodiment, the basic system configuration and the like are the same as those in the first embodiment. Therefore, the same reference numerals as those in the first embodiment are used, and the contents of the fourth embodiment are hereinafter described. explain.

  First, the monitoring server 20 not only transmits the connection response signal to the monitoring device 10 in response to receiving the connection confirmation signal from the monitoring device 10 as in the first to third embodiments described above, but also monitors it. Operation notification signal from apparatus 10 (operation notification signal indicating that power-on operation has been performed, operation notification signal indicating that power-off operation has been performed, operation notification signal indicating that operation other than power-on / off has been performed ), The connection response signal is watched and transmitted to the device 10. Therefore, the monitoring service program P11 of the monitoring server 20 (see FIG. 9) performs a process of transmitting a connection response signal from the communication module 22 each time the connection confirmation signal and the operation notification signal from the monitoring device 10 are received. It is the content that regulates what to do. The monitoring server 20 is basically the same as that of the first embodiment except for the contents described above.

  On the other hand, with regard to the monitoring device 10, processing mainly relating to the determination of the occurrence of a failure is different from the first to third embodiments. Regarding the determination of the occurrence of the failure, the monitoring device 10 detects whether or not a connection response signal from the monitoring server 20 has been received for each of the connection confirmation signal and the operation notification signal transmitted to the monitoring server 20. If not detected, it is immediately determined that a failure has occurred in the system. Therefore, if the monitoring program P2 of the monitoring device 10 does not receive the connection response signal corresponding to each of the connection confirmation signal and the operation notification signal transmitted to the monitoring server 20 from the server 20, the CPU 11 It is the content that stipulates the processing to determine.

  In addition, since the time from when the monitoring device 10 transmits a signal such as a connection confirmation signal until the connection response signal corresponding thereto is received is usually within about 30 seconds, the connection response signal is The determination of failure occurrence based on detection of whether or not it has been received takes an extra 15 seconds, and if no connection response signal is detected within 45 seconds after transmission of a connection confirmation signal or the like, It is determined that it has occurred. However, the above time of 45 seconds is an example, and the time taken to determine the occurrence of a failure can be appropriately set in the range from about 5 seconds to about 5 minutes according to the system specifications, system environment, and the like. is there.

  Also, the monitoring device 10 performs the recovery from the time point when the monitoring device 10 determines that the failure has occurred, as in the case described in one of the modifications of the first embodiment described above, regarding the processing related to the log information. The information up to the determination time is included in the log information and transmitted to the watching server 20. Furthermore, the monitoring device 10 has not received a connection response signal corresponding to the transmitted connection confirmation signal but also received a connection response signal corresponding to the transmitted operation notification signal for determination of failure recovery. Therefore, it is possible to make a judgment in a timely manner regardless of the interval of the unit period. The monitoring device 10 is basically the same as that of the first embodiment except for the contents described above.

  Next, processing of the monitoring server 20 and the monitoring device 10 described above will be described according to the twelfth time chart of FIG. First, the monitoring device 10 transmits a signal to be transmitted to the monitoring server 20 in the same manner as in the first embodiment. Specifically, after the first connection confirmation signal A1 is transmitted, the power-on operation is performed. An operation notification signal C1 indicating that there has been an operation, and operation notification signals C2 and C3 indicating that there has been an operation other than power on / off are sequentially transmitted.

  On the other hand, the monitoring server 20 transmits the connection response signals B1, B2, B3, B4, etc. to the monitoring device 10 each time it receives these connection confirmation signals A1, operation notification signals C1, C2, C3, etc. .

  In addition, the twelfth time chart of FIG. 26 corresponds to the situation in which a failure of the communication medium occurs between the transmission timing of the third connection confirmation signal A3 and the transmission timing of the next operation notification signal C8 in the drawing. Therefore, the monitoring device 10 receives the connection response signal B9 corresponding to the third connection confirmation signal A3, but the connection response signal corresponding to the operation notification signal C8 to be transmitted next is the communication medium. Cannot receive due to malfunction. Therefore, the watching device 10 determines that a failure has occurred in the system at the time corresponding to the transmission of the operation notification signal C8.

  Furthermore, the twelfth time chart of FIG. 26 shows a situation in which the failure that occurred between the transmission timing of the sixth connection confirmation signal A6 and the transmission timing of the previous operation notification signal C17 is recovered. Therefore, the monitoring device 10 receives the connection response signal B11 according to the operation notification signal C17, and determines the restoration of the failure with the reception of the connection response signal B11. .

  Furthermore, with the determination of failure recovery, the monitoring device 10 monitors the log information during the failure and transmits it to the server 20, and this log information is determined to have a failure as shown in FIG. The information regarding the operation notification signal included in the range from the transmission time point of the operation notification signal C8 to the transmission time point of the operation notification signal C17 that has determined the failure recovery is included. Therefore, for the monitoring server 20 that analyzes the log information, the information included in the log information is narrowed down to information according to the actual failure range, so that the situation of the user who is in failure can be accurately determined. In addition, there is an advantage that the analysis processing load related to the log information can be reduced. Also in the fourth embodiment, applicable ones of the above-described modifications of the first embodiment may be used as appropriate.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention is suitable for a system that provides a watching service for watching a person to be watched, and for a case where it is desired to be able to make a judgment even by a watching device on the side of a person who is watching for a failure in a communication medium or the like. Is available.

1 Watching Service System 5 Television Device 6 Remote Control 8 Wireless LAN Router 10 Watching Device 11 CPU
17 Log table 20 Server device 30 User DB
40, 41, 42 Communication device D1 watching processing setting information D20 watching setting information H1 house K1 to K3 watching person M1 watching person P2 watching program P11 watching service program NW network

Claims (22)

A communication terminal device having an external connection unit that can be connected to a user device operated by a user to be watched acquires an operation notification signal indicating that there has been an operation by the user output from the user device, and sends it to the server device In the watching service system to send,
The communication terminal device
Means for transmitting a connection confirmation signal to the server device for each unit period;
The server device
A means for transmitting a connection response signal to the communication terminal device each time a connection confirmation signal is received from the communication terminal device;
The communication terminal device further includes:
A monitoring service system comprising means for determining that a failure has occurred in the system when a connection response signal corresponding to the transmitted connection confirmation signal is not received from the server device.   The monitoring service system according to claim 1, wherein the communication terminal apparatus determines that a failure has occurred in the system when the connection response signal is not received over a plurality of unit periods. The server device
Means for transmitting to the communication terminal device time designation information for designating a time according to the unit period;
The communication terminal device
The monitoring service system according to claim 1, further comprising means for setting, as the unit period, a time designated by the received time designation information when the time designation information is received. A communication terminal device having an external connection unit that can be connected to a user device operated by a user to be watched acquires an operation notification signal indicating that there has been an operation by the user output from the user device, and sends it to the server device In the watching service system to send,
The communication terminal device
Means for transmitting a connection confirmation signal to the server device for each unit period;
The server device
Each time a connection confirmation signal and an operation notification signal are received from the communication terminal device, a means for transmitting a connection response signal to the communication terminal device is provided.
The communication terminal device further includes:
A monitoring service system comprising means for determining that a failure has occurred in the system when a connection response signal corresponding to each of the transmitted connection confirmation signal and operation notification signal is not received from the server device. The communication terminal device
The monitoring service system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a connection confirmation signal is transmitted to the server device even when it is determined that a failure has occurred in the system. The communication terminal device
The monitoring service system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein an operation notification signal is transmitted to the server device even when it is determined that a failure has occurred in the system. The communication terminal device
The monitoring service system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising means for outputting failure occurrence information indicating that a failure has occurred from the external connection unit when it is determined that a failure has occurred in the system. . The communication terminal device
8. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a unit that determines that a failure has been recovered when a connection response signal is received from the server device in a situation where it is determined that a failure has occurred in the system. 9. Watch service system. The communication terminal device
The monitoring service system according to claim 8, further comprising means for outputting, from the external connection unit, failure recovery information indicating failure recovery when it is determined that the failure has been recovered. The communication terminal device
The operation notification signal acquired from the user device is stored in association with the date and time related to the notification,
When it is determined that a failure has been recovered, at least an operation notification signal stored in association with the date and time included in the failure period from when it was determined that a failure has occurred is transmitted to the server device together with the associated date and time. The monitoring service system according to claim 8 or 9, comprising means. The communication terminal device
The monitoring according to claim 10, further comprising means for transmitting, to the server device, an operation notification signal stored in association with a date and time included in a period before the time when it is determined that a failure has occurred. Service system. A communication terminal device having an external connection unit that can be connected to a user device operated by a user to be watched acquires an operation notification signal indicating that there has been an operation by the user output from the user device, and sends it to the server device In the watching service method to send,
The communication terminal device
Transmitting a connection confirmation signal to the server device for each unit period;
The server device
A step of transmitting a connection response signal to the communication terminal device every time a connection confirmation signal is received from the communication terminal device;
The communication terminal device further includes:
A monitoring service method comprising a step of determining that a failure has occurred in a system when a connection response signal corresponding to a transmitted connection confirmation signal is not received from the server device. A communication terminal device having an external connection unit that can be connected to a user device operated by a user to be watched acquires an operation notification signal indicating that there has been an operation by the user output from the user device, and sends it to the server device In the watching service method to send,
The communication terminal device
Transmitting a connection confirmation signal to the server device for each unit period;
The server device
Each time a connection confirmation signal and an operation notification signal are received from the communication terminal device, a step of transmitting a connection response signal to the communication terminal device,
The communication terminal device further includes:
A monitoring service method comprising a step of determining that a failure has occurred in the system when a connection response signal corresponding to each of the transmitted connection confirmation signal and operation notification signal is not received from the server device. An external connection unit that can be connected to an external user device that is operated by the user to be watched and that obtains an operation notification signal indicating that there has been an operation by the user that is output from the external user device, and an earned operation In a communication terminal device comprising a communication unit that transmits a notification signal to an external server device,
Means for transmitting a connection confirmation signal via the communication unit for each unit period;
A communication terminal apparatus comprising: means for determining that a failure has occurred in the system when a connection response signal corresponding to the transmitted connection confirmation signal is not received via the communication unit.   The communication terminal device according to claim 14, further comprising: a unit configured to set, as the unit period, a time designated by the received time designation information when the time designation information is received via the communication unit. An external connection unit that can be connected to an external user device that is operated by the user to be watched and that obtains an operation notification signal indicating that there has been an operation by the user that is output from the external user device, and an earned operation In a communication terminal device comprising a communication unit that transmits a notification signal to an external server device,
Means for transmitting a connection confirmation signal via the communication unit for each unit period;
A communication terminal device comprising: means for determining that a failure has occurred in the system when a connection response signal corresponding to each of the transmitted connection confirmation signal and operation notification signal is not received via the communication unit; .   The system according to any one of claims 14 to 16, further comprising means for determining that a failure has been recovered when a connection response signal is received via the communication unit in a situation where it is determined that a failure has occurred in the system. Communication terminal device. Means for storing the operation notification signal acquired by the external connection unit in association with the date and time related to the notification;
When it is determined that the failure has been recovered, at least the operation notification signal stored in association with the date and time included in the failure period from the time when it was determined that the failure has occurred is stored together with the associated date and time via the communication unit. The communication terminal device according to claim 17, further comprising: a transmitting unit. An external connection unit connectable to an external user device operated by a user to be watched over, and a communication terminal device having a communication unit capable of communicating with an external server device are connected to the external user device by the external connection unit. In the watch notification method of acquiring an operation notification signal indicating that there has been an operation by a user output from, and transmitting the acquired operation notification signal to an external server device via the communication unit,
The communication terminal device
For each unit period, transmitting a connection confirmation signal via the communication unit;
And a step of determining that a failure has occurred in the system when a connection response signal corresponding to the transmitted connection confirmation signal is not received via the communication unit. An external connection unit connectable to an external user device operated by a user to be watched over, and a communication terminal device having a communication unit capable of communicating with an external server device are connected to the external user device by the external connection unit. In the watch notification method of acquiring an operation notification signal indicating that there has been an operation by a user output from, and transmitting the acquired operation notification signal to an external server device via the communication unit,
The communication terminal device
For each unit period, transmitting a connection confirmation signal via the communication unit;
A monitoring notification method, comprising: a step of determining that a failure has occurred in the system when a connection response signal corresponding to each of the transmitted connection confirmation signal and the operation notification signal is not received via the communication unit. . Output from an external user device at the external connection unit to a computer having an external connection unit that can be connected to an external user device operated by a user to be watched over and a communication unit that can communicate with an external server device In a computer program for causing an operation notification signal indicating that there has been an operation by a user to be performed, and performing processing to transmit the acquired operation notification signal to an external server device via the communication unit,
The computer,
Means for performing a process of transmitting a connection confirmation signal via the communication unit for each unit period;
A computer program for causing a system to perform a process of determining that a failure has occurred when a connection response signal according to a transmitted connection confirmation signal is not received via the communication unit. Output from an external user device at the external connection unit to a computer having an external connection unit that can be connected to an external user device operated by a user to be watched over and a communication unit that can communicate with an external server device In a computer program for causing an operation notification signal indicating that there has been an operation by a user to be performed, and performing processing to transmit the acquired operation notification signal to an external server device via the communication unit,
The computer,
Means for performing a process of transmitting a connection confirmation signal via the communication unit for each unit period;
When a connection response signal corresponding to each of the transmitted connection confirmation signal and operation notification signal is not received via the communication unit, the system is made to function as a means for performing a process for determining that a failure has occurred in the system. Computer program.

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