JP2020071630A - Article management system - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an article management system configured to simply manage articles owned in a predetermined space, e.g., in a house.SOLUTION: An article management system includes: a storage apparatus (30) having open/close detection means (31a, 32a); a camera (40) having imaging means (41); and article determination means (51a) for determining an article from an image captured by the camera (40). When the open/close detection means (31a, 32a) detects that the storage apparatus (30) is opened, the camera (40) starts imaging. When the open/close detection means detects that the storage apparatus (30) is closed, the camera (40) terminates imaging. During imaging by the camera (40), an article to be stored in or removed from the storage apparatus (30) is determined by the article determination means (51a).SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 7

Description

  The present invention relates to a system for managing goods. More specifically, the present invention relates to an article management system that monitors the storage status of articles in a predetermined space and manages each article.

  At home, articles are stored in various storage cases, chests, closets, etc. to manage articles such as costumes. However, when the number of items increases, we forget the storage place of the items, it takes time to find the item when needed, forget that we owned it in the first place, and throw away unnecessary luggage There was a case where I kept carrying it.

  According to Patent Document 1, an article is deposited in an article management company, the article deposited by the article management company is photographed, the data is uploaded to the cloud, and the person depositing the article confirms the data on the terminal. Discloses a system in which an article stored in an article management company can be identified.

Patent No. 5578581

  However, in Patent Document 1, it is necessary to send household items to an article management company, unmanaged articles cannot be managed, or the article to be managed is seen by the agent, and therefore the article is not desired to be seen. There was a problem that it was not suitable for management of.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the prior art, and manages the articles stored in various storage cases by monitoring articles taken in and out of the storage case with a camera at home. The object of the present invention is to provide an article management system that can be used.

In order to achieve the above object, the article management system according to the present invention,
A storage device having an opening / closing detection means, a camera having an imaging means, and an article determination means for determining an article from an image captured by the camera,
When the opening / closing detection unit detects opening of the storage device, shooting with the camera is started, and when the opening / closing detection unit detects closing of the storage device, shooting with the camera is finished.
It is characterized in that the article determining means determines what the article is to be stored in or taken out of the storage device when the image is taken by the camera.

  According to the article management system of the present invention, it is possible to easily manage the articles carried in a predetermined space such as a home.

1 is a perspective view of a room 10 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a schematic diagram of a house 1 and a schematic diagram of a short-range wireless communication network 81 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram of the storage case 30 concerning 1st Example of this invention. 1 is a block diagram of an article management system according to a first example of the present invention. It is a management table of the article concerning the 1st example of the present invention. It is a management table of the case according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the computer 50 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 4 is a flowchart showing in detail a process of updating the article management table 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a flowchart showing in detail a process of updating the management table 200 of the case according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The technical scope of the present invention is defined by the claims and is not limited by the embodiments. Moreover, not all combinations of the features described in the embodiments are essential to the present invention.

  The first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 9.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a room 10 showing a room of a house 1.

  Reference numeral 20 denotes a closet, in which various storage cases and articles are stored, and various storage cases and articles can be hidden by closing a door 21 that is configured to be openable and closable. Reference numeral 30 denotes a storage case, in which various articles are stored, and the articles are managed by monitoring the articles put in and taken out of the storage case 30 (details will be described later). A home camera 40 stores most of the room 1 within the angle of view, and is used for monitoring the room as necessary and for determining articles to be taken in and out of the storage case 30 and the like. Although only one home camera 40 is shown in the figure, it is supposed that a plurality of home cameras 40 are provided in the house 1, and it is preferable to provide a plurality of home cameras 40 to reduce the blind spot in the house 1 as much as possible. Reference numeral 50 denotes a computer, which controls the devices in the house 1. A wireless communication router 60 is connected to the Internet communication network 80 and is used when transmitting or acquiring a wireless signal transmitted from the computer 50 or the like to an external device such as the cloud server 70.

  2A is a diagram schematically showing the house 1, and FIG. 2B is a diagram schematically showing a short-distance wireless communication network 81 set up inside the house 1.

  10 is the above-mentioned room, 11 is a room different from 10, 12 is a corridor connecting the rooms, and 13 is an entrance of the house 1. As shown in FIG. 2B, a short-range wireless communication network 81 is set up in the house 1. The short-range wireless communication network 81 is constructed by connecting each device within a range where a beacon signal transmitted from a beacon transmission / reception device (details will be described later) provided in each device reaches each other through communication of the beacon signal. For example, taking the room 10 as an example, between the closet 20, the storage case 30, the home camera 40, the computer 50, the wireless communication router 60, and other lighting devices, switches, doors, and other devices in the room 10. Are connected to each other. This short-distance wireless communication network 81 has redundancy, and even if the communication of the beacon signal between some devices is disconnected, the beacon signal can be transmitted to the target device via the other device. For example, when a certain luminaire is taken out of the room 10, the communication of the beacon signal via the luminaire is reconstructed so as to be communicated via another device. On the contrary, when a new device is brought into the room 10, a new short-range wireless communication network 81 via the device is rebuilt. The short-range wireless communication network 81 is connected not only to the above-mentioned room 10 but also to the devices of the entire house 1, and for example, the beacon signal sent from the door 14 of the entrance 13 should be passed through other devices such as the door of the room 10. Can be transmitted to the computer 50 in the room 10.

  Hereinafter, the configuration of the storage case 30 will be described with reference to FIG.

  3A and 3B are configuration diagrams of the storage case 30. FIG. 3A shows a state where the storage case 30 is open, and FIG. 3B shows a closed state.

  The storage case 30 mainly includes a drawer portion 31 and a main body portion 32, and the drawer portion 31 can store articles such as clothes. When the drawer 31 is pulled out from the main body 32, the storage case is opened, and when it is stored, it is closed.

  The drawer 31 is provided with a coil 31a, a beacon transmitter / receiver 31b, and a coin-type battery 31c, and the main body 32 is located at a position facing the coil 31a of the drawer 31 when the storage case 30 is in a stored state. Is equipped with a magnet 32a. The coil 31a and the magnet 32a constitute open / close detection means. The principle of open / close detection will be described below.

  When the pulling-out portion 31 of the storage case 30 is pulled out from the main body portion 32, that is, the transition operation from the closed state to the open state is performed, the coil 31a and the magnet 32a facing each other move away from each other (see FIG. 3A). ). As a result, the magnetic flux penetrating the coil 31a changes, and an induced electromotive force is generated in the coil 31a according to the law of electromagnetic induction. A beacon signal is transmitted by activating the beacon transmission / reception unit 31b with this electric power and receiving electric power from the coin battery 31c. Next, when the operation of storing the drawer portion 31 of the storage case 30 in the main body portion 32, that is, the operation of transitioning from the open state to the closed state is performed, the coil 31a and the magnet 32a come close to the opposing position (Fig. 3 (b)). As a result, the magnetic flux penetrating the coil 31a changes, and in accordance with the law of electromagnetic induction, an induced electromotive force is generated in the coil 31a in the opposite direction to that when the extraction portion 31 is extracted. A beacon signal is transmitted by operating the beacon transmission / reception unit 31b with this electric power and receiving electric power from the coin battery 31c. Since the induced electromotive force in the opposite direction is generated when the drawer unit 31 is pulled out and when the drawer unit 31 is housed, the beacon signal transmitted from the beacon transmission / reception unit 31b can be distinguished. Therefore, it is possible to determine that one of the drawers 31 has been pulled out and the other one that the drawer 31 is housed. When the computer 50 described above receives the transmitted beacon signal, the opening / closing of the storage case 30 is detected. The above is the principle of open / close detection.

  Not only when the storage case 30 is opened / closed, but also from the beacon transmitting / receiving unit 31b provided in the storage case 30, a beacon signal is transmitted once every 10 seconds in normal times. This beacon signal is called the first beacon signal B1. Further, as described above, the beacon signal is also transmitted when the open state in which the drawer portion 31 of the storage case 30 is pulled out from the main body portion 32 is detected and when the stored closed state is detected. .. The beacon signal transmitted when the open state is detected is referred to as a second beacon signal B2, and the beacon signal transmitted when the closed state is detected is referred to as a third beacon signal B3. However, the frequency of transmission of the first beacon signal B1 may be reduced to save power, the frequency of transmission may be increased to improve the tracking accuracy of the position of the storage case 30, or when position information is not required. You may stop sending calls. Further, in the present embodiment, the transmission frequency of the first beacon signal B1 during normal time is set to once every 10 seconds, but this is only an example, and it may be changed to an optimum frequency for each system. Each beacon signal B1, B2, B3 transmitted from the storage case 30 is sent to each device including a computer 50 and other beacon transmitting / receiving units via the short-range communication network 81 set up in the house 1. ..

  When the first beacon signal B1 is sent from the storage case 30, peripheral devices receive the beacon signal B1. When the beacon signal B1 is received by three or more devices, the first beacon signal B1 is obtained from the difference between the position of each device that received the beacon signal B1 and the radio field intensity received by each device in the manner of three-point positioning. Is determined. For example, when the beacon signal B1 is transmitted from the storage case 30 shown in FIG. 2B, the beacon signal B1 is received by the closet 20, the computer 50, and the door in the vicinity. Since it is received by three or more devices, the current position of the storage case 30 can be determined. The determined result is sent to the cloud server 70 via the wireless communication router 60 and the internet communication network 80. That is, the position of the storage case 30 is determined by the first beacon signal B1, and the information is managed by the cloud server 70.

  On the other hand, when the second beacon signal B2 is sent from the storage case 30, the computer 50 determines that the drawer 31 of the storage case 30 is in the open state, and when the third beacon signal B3 is sent. Is determined to be closed.

  With the above configuration, it is possible to detect the current position of the storage case 30 in addition to detecting the opening / closing of the storage case 30. Further, the same beacon signals B1, B2, B3 are transmitted from all the storage cases 30 provided with the beacon transmission / reception unit 31b in the house 1. However, the coil 31a provided in the drawer unit 31, the beacon emitting / receiving unit 31b, the coin-type battery 31c, and the magnet 32a provided in the main body unit 32 need not be attached to the storage case 30 from the beginning. The detachable coil 31a, the beacon transmitter / receiver 31b, the coin-type battery 31c, and the magnet 32a may be retrofitted to the storage case 30. By doing so, it is not necessary to use the dedicated storage case 30, and the system can be constructed at low cost.

  As described above, beacon signals B1, B2, and B3 are transmitted from the beacon transmission / reception unit 31b to the storage case 30, and the power thereof is covered by one coin-type battery 31c. However, since the electric current required to generate each beacon signal B1, B2, B3 is as small as several mA, even one coin-type battery 31c can generate a beacon signal for several years.

  Subsequently, a method of monitoring the article will be described.

  When the storage case 30 is pulled out as described above, the second beacon signal B2 is transmitted and transmitted to the computer 50. The computer 50 determines the home camera 40 that captures the storage case 30 at an angle of view from the position information of the storage case 30 that has transmitted the second beacon signal B2, and sends an instruction to start shooting to the home camera 40. .. Upon receiving the instruction from the home camera 40, the photographing of the storage case 30 is started, and the articles taken in and out of the storage case 30 are monitored. On the other hand, when the third beacon signal B3 is transmitted and transmitted to the computer 50, the computer 50 sends an instruction to end shooting to the home camera 40 that is currently shooting, and the monitoring of the article ends. With the above configuration, the articles that are taken in and out of the storage case 30 are monitored. Details such as determination of articles taken in and out will be described later.

  Although the method of monitoring the taking in and out of articles when the storage case 30 is inside the house 1 has been described above, if the storage case 30 is taken out of the house 1, it becomes out of the short-range wireless communication network 81. It becomes impossible to manage the goods. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor the carry-out of the storage case 30 and grasp the storage case 30 that cannot be managed. Therefore, the door 14 of the entrance 13 of the house 1 is also provided with an opening / closing detection means to monitor the entrance / exit of the storage case 30. As shown in FIG. 2A, the door 14 is provided with a coil 14a, a beacon transmitting / receiving unit 14b, and a coin-type battery 14c, and the frame 15 of the door 14 is provided with the door 14 when the door 14 is closed. A magnet 15a is provided at a position facing the coil 14a. When the door 14 is opened, a beacon signal is transmitted, the fact that the door 14 has been opened is notified to the computer 50, the home camera 40 that captures the entrance at an angle of view starts shooting, and the storage case 30 moves in and out of the house 1. To be monitored. Further, when the door 14 is closed, a beacon signal is transmitted to inform the computer 50 that the door 14 is closed, and the home camera 40 finishes photographing. With the above configuration, the entrance and exit of the storage case 30 from the house 1 is monitored. However, the method of monitoring the entrance and exit of the storage case 30 from the house 1 is not limited to the above. For example, it is determined that a certain storage case 30 is out of the proximity wireless communication 81 and the first beacon signal B1 does not reach the computer 50 as a trigger. You may decide that

  Next, the configuration of the article management system of the present invention will be described with reference to the block diagram shown in FIG.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an article management system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 4, only the parts necessary for explaining the features of the present invention are described, and the parts unnecessary for the description are omitted. Further, the same reference numerals are used for the members described in FIGS. 1 to 3.

  First, each device installed in the house 1 will be described.

  The storage case 30 includes the drawer portion 31 and the main body portion 32 as described above. The drawer 31 is provided with a coil 31a that faces the magnet 32a when the drawer 31 is stored in the main body 32 and is used for open / close detection. Further, a beacon transmission / reception unit 31b used for establishing communication with a device in a short distance by a beacon signal and used for constructing the short distance wireless communication network 81, and a coin-type battery 31c for supplying power to the beacon transmission / reception unit 31b are provided. ..

  The main body 32 is provided with a magnet 32a that faces the coil 31a when the drawer 31 is housed and is used for open / close detection.

  The home camera 40 includes a lens and an image sensor, and includes an image capturing unit 41 that captures an image. Further, the storage unit 42 that stores the image data acquired by the imaging unit 41, the control unit 43 that controls shooting, and the power necessary to drive the home camera 40 are supplied to each unit of the home camera 40. And a power supply section 44 for Furthermore, a wireless communication unit 45 that transfers image data to the computer 50, and a beacon transmission / reception unit 46 that is used to establish a short-distance wireless communication network 81 by establishing communication with a device in a short distance by a beacon signal are provided. When the transfer of the image data to the computer 50 is completed, the image data stored in the storage unit 42 is sequentially erased. This is because all the data is centrally managed by the cloud server 70 and unnecessary data is not left on the system as much as possible to reduce the risk of data leakage.

  The computer 50 includes a control unit 51 that controls the computer 50 and gives instructions to each device in the home. The control unit 51 includes an article determination unit 51a that determines an article shown in the image data sent from the home camera 40. The article determination unit 51a can recognize what an article is. This is realized by learning the features of various items in advance from many images, analyze the image of a certain item, and determine what the item is from the difference in the feature amount from the pre-learned database. It can be realized by a known technique. With the application of this technology, for an article that was not in the house 1, what kind of article it is, for example, if it is a shirt, it is recognized as a shirt, and if it is an article already existing in the house 1 and registered, If so, which registered item can be recognized. Further, it is possible to recognize how many things are stored in a certain storage case 30 and how much free space is available.

  Further, the computer 50 has an image processing unit 52 that processes the image data sent from the home camera 40 into an image suitable for uploading to the cloud server 70, and an information processing unit 53 that acquires necessary information from the image data. And are provided. Further, a storage unit 54 for storing data processed by the image processing unit 52 and the information processing unit 53, unprocessed data, and the like is provided. In addition, the power supply unit 55 that supplies power to each unit of the computer 50 and the image data sent from the home camera 40 are acquired, and the image data and character data processed in the computer 50 are sent to the wireless communication router 60. A wireless communication unit 56 is provided. Further, a beacon transmission / reception unit 57 used for establishing communication with a device in a short distance by a beacon signal and used for constructing a short distance wireless communication network 81 is provided. The original image data that has been processed and the data that has been processed are also sequentially deleted from the storage unit 54 for the data that has been transmitted. This is also to reduce the risk of data leakage by preventing unnecessary data from being left on the system as much as the home camera 40.

  The wireless communication router 60 includes a wireless communication unit 61 that communicates with each device and a communication unit 62 that performs Internet communication with an external device such as the cloud server 70. Further, a power supply unit 63 which has electric power necessary to drive the communication units 61 and 62 and supplies electric power to the communication units 61 and 62 is provided. The above is the device installed in the house 1.

  Next, the devices installed outside the house 1 will be described.

  The communication base 71 is installed on the cloud server 70 side and is connected to the Internet communication network 80. The communication base 71 is used when receiving the data sent from the wireless communication router 60 via the communication base station and transmitting the data of the cloud server 70 to the wireless communication router 60. The communication base 71 communicates with the wireless communication router 60 and also communicates with the cloud server 70, and has power necessary to drive the communication unit 71a and supplies power to the communication unit 71a. A power supply unit 71b is provided.

The cloud server 70 is installed in a certain base, collects and stores each information in the house 1, and plays a role of transmitting necessary data to the computer 50 or the mobile terminal 90 based on a request from the computer 50 or the mobile terminal 90. Carry. The cloud server 70 includes a communication unit 72 that communicates with the communication base 71. Further, a storage unit 74 that stores the data sent from the computer 50, an information processing unit 73 that processes the information in a state suitable for browsing by the computer 50 or the mobile terminal 90, and data sent from the computer 50 And a storage unit 74 for storing In addition, the mobile terminal 90, which has the power necessary to drive the cloud server 70 and includes the power supply unit 75 that supplies power to the cloud server 70, is mainly carried and used by an individual, and is also used inside or outside the house 1. It is a device to be brought out to. The mobile terminal 90 is used as a browsing unit when browsing various information stored in the cloud server 70, or as an operating unit when inputting to the cloud server 70.

  The mobile terminal 90 has a control unit 91 that controls the mobile terminal 90, a display unit 92 that displays various information, and an application 93 that provides a UI suitable for browsing various data stored in the cloud server 70. And are provided. Further, there is provided an operation unit 94 capable of performing an input operation by tracing or tapping the surface of the display unit, and a storage unit 95 storing information including the application. Further, a GPS 96 is provided which can receive radio waves from artificial satellites and can obtain absolute position information of the mobile terminal 90 from the received radio waves. In addition, a power supply unit 97 that has power necessary to drive the mobile terminal 90 and supplies power to the mobile terminal 90, and a wireless communication unit 98 that communicates with the wireless communication router 60 and a communication base station are provided. Further, a beacon transmission / reception unit 99 used for establishing communication with a device in a short distance by a beacon signal and constructing the short distance wireless communication network 81 is provided.

  The wireless communication unit 98 has a first communication means 98a for communicating with the wireless communication router 60 and a second communication means 98b used for wireless communication with a communication base station. When the mobile terminal 90 is mainly in the house 1 and communication is performed by the first communication means 98a, the mobile terminal 90 is taken out of the house 1 and the signal of the first communication means 98a cannot reach the wireless communication router 60. The second communication means 98b is used for. Therefore, even if the mobile terminal 90 is taken out of the house 1, it is possible to establish communication with the cloud server 70.

  Next, the article management method will be described with reference to the tables shown in FIGS. The information of the articles is managed in a table including an article management table 100 and a case management table 200 storing the articles.

  FIG. 5 shows the article management table 100, and FIG. 6 shows the case management table 200.

  The article management table 100, the case management table 200, and the information managed therein are stored in the cloud server 70. If necessary, an application 93 stored in the storage unit 95 of the mobile terminal 90 is started up so that the information managed by the management tables 100 and 200 can be browsed to search for an item or an unnecessary item. You can find it (details below).

  As shown in FIG. 5, various kinds of information of the article are managed in the article management table 100. Once registered in the system, various types of information of an article are roughly classified into constant information that does not change and variable information that changes in real time. The immutable information includes an item category 101 indicating the type of item, a registered name 102 indicating the name of the item, an image 103 indicating the image of the item, a registration date 108 indicating the date and time when the item was first registered in the item management system, and the owner of the item. Information on the owner 109 that is represented is managed. On the other hand, as the variation information, a status 104 indicating the storage status of the article, a storage location 105 indicating a storage case in which the article is stored, a final storage date / time of the article, or a final storage / delivery date / time 106 indicating the removal date / time of the article, Information on the usage frequency 107 indicating the usage frequency is managed. If there are special notes for other items, they are managed in the special notes 110 column.

  Next, a method of registering information on each item managed in the article management table 100 will be described. For the article category 101, the type of the article is determined by the image of the home camera 40 and the article determination unit 51a. For example, the article in the row A in FIG. 5 is automatically registered as “shirt” from the appearance. Since the registered name 102 has a plurality of shirts, the owner names the registered name 102 as “shirt 1” to distinguish it from other shirts, and the registered name 102 is manually set on the article management table 100 from the mobile terminal 90 or the like. You can register by entering in. As for the image 103, an image taken by the home camera 40 when the article is put in or taken out of the storage case 30 may be registered, an image acquired from the purchase information may be registered, or an image taken by the user may be taken. The image may be registered. As an example of acquiring the image from the purchase information, there is a method of acquiring from the mobile terminal 90 the information of the article purchased at the mobile terminal 90. The information acquired from the purchase information is temporarily registered in advance in the article management table 100, and when the article determining unit 51a recognizes the actual article corresponding to the registered information, the actual article is associated with the temporary registration information and the string. Attached and main registered. The status 104 is registered as "stored" when the article is stored and "taken out" when the article is taken out. However, if the stored article is a new article that is not yet registered in the article management table 100, it is registered as “new”. When “new” is registered, when the user subsequently registers new information in the registered name 102, the image 103, or the owner 109, which are invariant information, the status 206 column is updated. At that time, if stored, “stored” is registered, and if taken out, “takeout” is registered.

  In the storage location 105, the registered name (described later) of the storage case 30 currently stored is registered for the article in the stored state, and “-” is registered for the article in the brought-out state. .. The final storage / delivery date and time 106 is registered with the date and time when the article was last taken in and out of the storage case 30. The usage frequency 107 is registered in three levels of usage frequency of each article: “high”, “medium”, and “low”. The three-step switching thresholds can be set individually, for example, “high” if there is a record of taking out at least once a week for the past three months, “medium” if there is a record of taking out within three months, 3 If there is no record of taking out for a month, if "low" is set, the usage frequency according to the setting is registered. As the registration date 108, the date when the article is first stored in one of the storage cases 30 is registered. The owner 109 is the owner information of the article, and is registered in the article management table 100 by being manually input from the mobile terminal 90 or the like. The special item 110 is registered only when there is a special item. For example, if it is known that there is a hole in one side of the sock as shown in column B of FIG. 5, or if it is known that there is a stain as shown in column C, that information is required. Is registered by being manually input from the mobile terminal 90 or the like. Among the registration information of the various items, the storage case 30 is opened and closed for the variation information, and the latest information is overwritten and registered each time the item is taken in and out.

  Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 6, various information of the storage case 30 is managed in the case management table 200.

  Similar to the information of the article, various information of the storage case 30 is roughly classified into constant information which basically does not change once registered in the system and variable information which changes in real time. As the invariant information, information on a case category 201 indicating the type of case, a registered name 202 indicating the name of the case, and an image 203 indicating the image of the storage case 30 is managed. On the other hand, as the variation information, the latest internal image 204 showing the internal image when the storage case 30 is opened and closed last, the free capacity 205 showing the free state of the storage case 30, and the status 206 showing the open / closed state of the storage case 30 are managed. It Also, an installation location 207 representing the installation location of the storage case 30 and a final opening / closing date / time 208 representing the date / time when the storage case 30 was last opened / closed are managed. Furthermore, the battery remaining amount 209 indicating the battery remaining amount of the coin-type battery 31c included in the storage case 30, and the beacon frequency 210 indicating the transmission frequency of the first beacon signal B1 transmitted from the beacon transmission / reception unit 31b included in the storage case 30. Is managed.

  Next, a method of registering information on each item managed in the case management table 200 will be described.

  The type of the case category 201 is determined by the image of the home camera 40 and the article determination unit 51a, and, for example, in the case of the row A in FIG. Since the registered name 202 has a plurality of costume storage cases, the owner names the registered name 202 as “Costume Case A” in order to distinguish it from other costume cases. It is registered by being manually input from 90 or the like. As for the image 203, an image taken by the home camera 40 when the article is put in or taken out of the storage case 30 may be registered, an image acquired from the purchase information may be registered, or an image taken by the user may be taken. The image may be registered. The method is similar to that for articles. The latest internal image 204 is registered as an image taken by the home camera 40 immediately before the storage case 30 starts to change from the open state to the closed state after the articles have been taken in and out of the storage case 30. The empty capacity 205 is “many” when the article determination unit 51a determines that almost no articles are present, “medium” when it is determined that about half of the articles are present, and there is almost no vacancy. Or, if it is determined to be full, it is registered as "small". The status 206 is registered as “closed” when the storage case 30 is closed and as “open” when the storage case 30 is open.

  The installation location of the storage case 30 is registered as the installation location 207. As for the level of information to be registered, not only the information on the place placed as in “the lower part of the closet” but also the position when possible is registered. Further, when the opening / closing of the door 14 of the entrance 13 of the house 1 is detected and the entrance camera 15 detects that the storage case is taken out, the installation location is registered as “takeout”. As the final opening / closing date / time 208, the date / time when the storage case 30 was last opened / closed is registered. The remaining battery amount 209 is registered by determining the remaining battery amount of the coin type battery 31c provided in the storage case 30. When it is determined that the position of the storage case 30 has not moved by the method described above, the rough battery level is determined by looking at the absolute value of the radio wave intensity of the beacon signal B1. When the remaining amount is large, it is registered as "many", when it is small, it is registered as "small", and when it is in between, it is registered as "medium". The beacon frequency 210 is “normal” when the first beacon signal B1 is transmitted once every 10 seconds during normal times, and “high” when the frequency is higher than normal, and is decreased. In this case, "small" is registered, and when stopped, "stop" is registered. Of the registration information of the various storage cases 30, the latest information is overwritten and registered as the variation information each time the storage case 30 is opened or closed or moved.

  The method of searching when actually searching for an article will be described below.

  When searching for an article, first, the operation unit 94 of the mobile terminal 90 is operated to start up the application 93. When the application 93 is started up, the information registered in the article management table 100 and the information registered in the case management table 200 can be browsed. First, the information registered in the article management table 100 shown in FIG. 5 is browsed to find a storage case in which the target article is stored. There are two ways to find the object, one is to find the target article from the registered image, and the other is to search from the name if the registered name of the article is stored. When the target article is found in the article management table 100, the storage case 30 in which the target article is stored can be found by looking at the information in the column of the storage location 105 of the article. Then, the information in the case management table 200 is browsed to find the installation location of the storage case 30 in which the target article is stored. There is also a method of searching for the desired storage case 30 from the registered image, or a method of searching for the storage case 30 from the registered name. When the target storage case 30 is found in the case management table 200, the installation location of the storage case 30 in which the target article is stored by looking at the installation location 207 column in the registration information of the storage case 30. I understand.

  As described above, the information stored in the article management table 100 and the case management table 200 can be browsed to find the storage location of the intended article.

  As another usage, it can be used also when organizing the articles in the house 1 and disposing of the unnecessary ones, and extracting the unnecessary ones. In that case, the usage frequency 107 is browsed from the registration information of the article management table 100 to find the article with the "low" usage frequency, and the article with the "low" usage frequency is made into an article to easily extract the article. It can be carried out.

  Next, the operation and flow of the entire article management system will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the computer 50 that gives instructions to the system in the house 1 when the storage case 30 is opened and closed. 8 and 9 are flowcharts showing the sub-process of FIG. 7.

  When the pull-out portion 31 of the storage case 30 is pulled out from the main body portion 32 in S101, the coil 31a and the magnet 32a facing each other move away from each other. As a result, an induced electromotive force is generated in the coil 31a, and the second beacon signal B2 indicating that the storage case 30 is opened is transmitted from the beacon transmitting / receiving unit 31b provided in the storage case 30. When this signal is transmitted to the computer 50 via the short-range wireless communication network 81, the computer 50 determines that the drawer portion 31 of the storage case 30 is pulled out from the main body portion 32 and is in the open state, and the process proceeds to S102. .. If the drawer 31 of the storage case 30 is not pulled out from the main body 32 and the second beacon signal B2 is not received, the computer 50 does not operate.

  In S102, the computer 50 sends an instruction to start shooting to the home camera 40, and proceeds to S103.

  In step S103, the storage case 30 is photographed by the image pickup unit 41 of the home camera 40, and the loading / unloading of articles is monitored. If it is confirmed that the article is taken in and out, the process proceeds to S104, and if not, the process proceeds to S106.

  If the process proceeds to S104, the management table 100 of the articles taken in and out is updated (details will be described later), the information is transmitted to the cloud server 70, and the process proceeds to S105.

  If the process proceeds to S105, the management table 200 for the case where the article is taken in and out is updated (details will be described later), the information is transmitted to the cloud server 70, and the process proceeds to S106.

  When the lead-out portion 31 of the storage case 30 is stored in the main body portion 32 in S106, the coil 31a and the magnet 32a that face each other face each other. As a result, an induced electromotive force is generated in the coil 31a, and the beacon transmitting / receiving unit 31b provided in the storage case 30 transmits a third beacon signal B3 indicating that the storage case 30 is stored. When this signal is transmitted to the computer 50 via the short-range wireless communication network 81, the computer 50 determines that the drawer portion 31 of the storage case 30 is stored in the main body portion 32 and is in the closed state, and proceeds to S107. .. When the drawer 31 of the storage case 30 is not stored in the main body 32 and the third beacon signal B3 is not received, the process returns to S103.

  In S107, the computer 50 sends an instruction to end shooting to the home camera 40, and the computer 50 ends the operation.

  Subsequently, the sub-process of FIG. 7 shown in FIG. 8 will be described. FIG. 8 shows in detail the process of updating the article management table 100 shown in S104 of FIG.

  In S201, it is determined whether the article is stored in the costume case 30. When it is stored, the process proceeds to S202, and when it is not stored, the process proceeds to S203.

  The article determination unit 51a determines whether or not the article stored in S202 is a new article that is not yet registered in the article management table 100. If the item is a new item, the process proceeds to S206. If the item is not a new item, the process proceeds to S204.

  If the process proceeds to S203, the status 104 managed in the article management table 100 is changed to “take out”, the information is transmitted to the cloud server 70, and the process proceeds to S205.

  If the process proceeds to S204, the status 104 managed in the article management table 100 is changed to "storage", the information is transmitted to the cloud server 70, and the process proceeds to S205.

  If the process proceeds to S205, the usage frequency 107 information is updated, the information is transmitted to the cloud server 70, and the process proceeds to S208.

  If the process proceeds to S206, the status 104 managed in the article management table 100 is changed to "new", the information is transmitted to the cloud server 70, and the process proceeds to S207.

  If the process proceeds to S207, if the product image acquired from the purchase information is not registered in advance, the product image captured by the home camera 40 when the product is stored is registered in the product management table 100, and then in S208. move on.

  If the process proceeds to S208, the storage location 105 is updated, the information is transmitted to the cloud server 70, and the process proceeds to S209.

  If the process proceeds to S209, the final carry-out / storage date and time 106 is updated, the information is transmitted to the cloud server 70, the sub-process for updating the article management table 100 is ended, and the process proceeds to S105 in FIG.

  Subsequently, the sub-process of FIG. 7 shown in FIG. 9 will be described. FIG. 9 shows in detail the process of updating the management table 200 for the case shown in S105 of FIG.

  In step S301, the internal image 204 of the storage case 30 taken by the home camera 40 when the article is taken in and out is registered in the case management table 200, the information is transmitted to the cloud server 70, and the process proceeds to step S302.

  If the process proceeds to S302, the free space 205 information of the storage case 30 in which the article is taken in and out is updated, the information is transmitted to the cloud server 70, and the process proceeds to S303.

  If the process proceeds to S303, the last open / close date / time 209 is updated, the information is transmitted to the cloud server 70, the sub process of updating the case management table 200 is ended, and the process proceeds to S106 in FIG.

  As described above, the article management system of the present invention can easily manage articles in a predetermined space such as a home.

  Further, although the present embodiment has been described by taking the storage case 30 as an example of a container for storing articles, the scope of application of the present invention is not limited to this. All cases that can store items such as suitcases, various cases and boxes, bags, chests and closets, closets, and sheds are covered. For example, in the case of monitoring an article put in and taken out of the closet 20 shown in FIG. 1, a door 21 of the closet 20 is provided with a coil 21a, a beacon transmitting / receiving section 21b, and a coin battery 21c, and a frame 22 is provided with a magnet 22a. Opening / closing detection means can be formed by. The open / close detection method has also been described by using the induced electromotive force generated by bringing the coil 31a and the magnet 32a close to or away from each other, but the application range of the present invention is not limited to this. Not exclusively. For example, when a vibration sensor is used to detect that the storage case 30 vibrates, the opening of the storage case 30 may be detected, and various sensors (pressure sensor, acceleration sensor, switch, etc.) may be used to detect changes in weight, changes in inclination, and the like. ) To detect the opening and closing of the storage case 30.

  Further, although the computer 50 installed in the room 10 has been described as an example of a device that controls the devices in the house 1, the scope of application of the present invention is not limited to this. It may be another electronic device or mobile terminal 90 in the house 1, or a cloud server 70 or the like installed outside the house 1. Further, as the articles to be stored, clothing such as shirts and socks is given as an example, but this is not a limitation, and any article can be stored as long as it can be stored in each storage case 30. To do.

30 storage case, 31a coil, 31b beacon transmitting / receiving unit,
32a magnet, 40 home camera, 41 imaging unit,
50 computer, 51a article determination unit, 57 beacon transmission / reception unit,
70 cloud server, 90 mobile device,
100 item management table, 200 case management table

Claims (7)

A storage device having an opening / closing detection means, a camera having an imaging means, and an article determination means for determining an article from an image captured by the camera,
When the opening / closing detection unit detects opening of the storage device, shooting with the camera is started, and when the opening / closing detection unit detects closing of the storage device, shooting with the camera is configured to end.
An article management system characterized in that the article decision means decides what an article is to be stored in or taken out of the storage device when the image is taken by the camera. A storage device including open / close detection means and beacon transmission means, a beacon reception device that receives a beacon signal transmitted from the beacon transmission means, a camera that includes an imaging means, and an article is determined from an image captured by the camera. An article determination means, and a management table managed by a predetermined device that manages information of the article including the storage state of the article,
The beacon transmission means transmits a second beacon signal to the beacon receiving device when the opening / closing detection means detects opening of the storage device, and the beacon when the opening / closing detection means detects closing of the storage device. A third beacon signal transmitted to the receiving device is transmitted,
When the open information of the storage device is transmitted to the beacon receiving device by the second beacon signal, shooting with the camera is started, and the closing information of the storage device is displayed by the third beacon signal. When transmitted to the beacon receiving device, the camera is configured to finish shooting,
When it is determined by the article determination unit that the article to be stored in or taken out of the storage device is taken by the camera, the fact that the article is stored or taken out is sent to the predetermined device. An article management system, wherein the management table is updated.   The beacon transmitting means is configured to transmit a first beacon signal that periodically transmits a beacon signal to a beacon receiving device, and the position information of the storage device is transmitted by the first beacon signal to the beacon receiving device. The article management system according to claim 2, wherein the article management system is transmitted to the item management system.   The article management system according to claim 2 or 3, wherein each beacon signal transmitted by the beacon transmission means is transmitted to the beacon receiving device directly or indirectly via another device.   The management table includes at least a name, a type of the storage device in which the product is stored, a management table of the product including the storage status, and a management table of the storage device including at least information of the name and the installation location. The article management system according to claim 2, wherein management information managed in the management table can be browsed by accessing the predetermined device.   For an article stored in the storage device managed by the management table of the storage apparatus for the first time, information indicating a storage status different from that of the article already stored in the management table of the article is added. The article management system according to any one of claims 2 to 5, characterized by the above-mentioned.   The article management system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the storage device includes all of the storage devices capable of storing an article.