JP2023117357A - Terminal, communication method, and communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

To appropriately control information notified from a mobile object.SOLUTION: A terminal includes a control unit that determines that the state of a moving object from among multiple candidates representing the state of the moving object on the basis of the position of a moving object and the state of a transport mechanism used by the moving object, and controls the transmission of notification information according to the state of the mobile object, and a transmitting unit that transmits the notification information to an external device that monitors the mobile object according to the transmission control.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 19

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to terminals, communication methods, and communication systems.

BACKGROUND ART In recent years, mobile bodies (for example, robots) that run autonomously or run by user's operation and perform work while moving indoors and/or outdoors have been studied.

For example, in Patent Document 1, when a transport mechanism (e.g., an elevator) provided in a building transports a mobile object, there is a system that transmits map information of an area to which the transport mechanism transports the mobile object. Are listed.

JP 2021-113917 A

However, there is room for consideration in controlling the information acquired by the mobile and notified from the mobile.

Non-limiting embodiments of the present disclosure contribute to providing terminals, communication methods, and communication systems capable of appropriately controlling information notified from mobile units.

A terminal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure selects the state of the mobile body from among a plurality of candidates representing the state of the mobile body based on the position of the mobile body and the state of the transport mechanism used by the mobile body. a control unit that determines and controls transmission of notification information according to the state of the mobile body; and a transmission unit that transmits the notification information to an external device that monitors the mobile body according to the transmission control.

A communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure selects the state of the moving body from among a plurality of candidates representing the state of the moving body based on the position of the moving body and the state of the transport mechanism used by the moving body. is determined, transmission control of notification information is performed according to the state of the mobile body, and the notification information is transmitted to an external device that monitors the mobile body according to the transmission control.

A communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a terminal and a base station, and the terminal represents the state of the mobile based on the position of the mobile and the state of the transport mechanism used by the mobile. a first control unit that determines the state of the mobile object from among a plurality of candidates and controls transmission of notification information according to the state of the mobile object; and the notification information to the base station according to the transmission control. and a second receiving unit for receiving the notification information; and a display for display displayed on a display device for monitoring the moving object based on the notification information. A second control unit that generates information, and a second transmission unit that transmits the display information to the display device.

In addition, these generic or specific aspects may be realized by systems, devices, methods, integrated circuits, computer programs, or recording media. may be realized by any combination of

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, it is possible to appropriately control information notified from a mobile object.

Further advantages and advantages of an embodiment of the present disclosure are apparent from the specification and drawings. Such advantages and/or advantages may be provided by some of the embodiments and features described in the specification and drawings, respectively, but not necessarily all provided to obtain one or more of the same features. no.

The figure which shows an example of the monitoring system in one embodiment. A diagram showing an example of notification information in the first example A diagram showing a display example of the monitoring server in the first example A diagram showing an example of notification information in the second example A diagram showing an example of notification information in variation 1 of the second example A diagram showing an example of notification information in variation 2 of the second example A diagram showing a display example of the monitoring server in the second example A diagram showing an example of notification information in the third example A diagram showing an example of notification information in the fourth example A diagram showing an example of notification information in variation 1 of the fourth example A diagram showing an example of notification information in variation 2 of the fourth example A diagram showing a first display example of the monitoring server in the fourth example A diagram showing a second display example of the monitoring server in the fourth example A diagram showing an example of the correspondence between the state of the robot, the notification information, and the display content. Flowchart showing the flow of processing of a terminal in one embodiment Flowchart showing the flow of processing of a base station in one embodiment Flowchart showing the flow of processing of a monitoring server in one embodiment A diagram showing an example of notification information in the fifth example A diagram showing an example of notification information in the sixth example Diagram showing an example of the location of the elevator A diagram showing an example of notification information in the seventh example A diagram showing an example of notification information in the eighth example A diagram showing another example of the correspondence between the state of the robot, the notification information, and the display content. Flowchart showing variation of processing flow of terminal in one embodiment Flowchart showing the flow of processing in S402 of FIG. Flowchart showing the flow of processing in S401 of FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a base station according to one embodiment; Block diagram showing a configuration example of a terminal according to one embodiment 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a monitoring server according to an embodiment; FIG.

Preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the present specification and drawings, constituent elements having substantially the same functions are denoted by the same reference numerals, thereby omitting redundant description.

(one embodiment)
Techniques for seamless and highly accurate positioning indoors and/or outdoors are under study. Also, indoors, a technique is being studied that can detect in a short period of time which floor of a plurality of floors an object is on. In addition, hereinafter, positioning and position detection may be read interchangeably.

For example, when positioning is performed using satellites such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) (hereinafter referred to as satellite positioning), highly accurate positioning is possible outdoors, but the positioning accuracy may deteriorate indoors. There is Further, when positioning is performed using a sensor such as an acceleration sensor and a gyro sensor, indoor positioning is possible, but there is a possibility that sufficient positioning accuracy cannot be obtained.

Also, positioning using images captured by a camera (eg, a Time-of-flight (TOF) camera) is being considered. For example, when a TOF camera is used, it is possible to measure three-dimensional information by measuring the reflection time of pulsed light applied to a subject for each pixel.

Techniques for seamless and highly accurate positioning indoors and/or outdoors by combining satellite positioning, TOF camera positioning, and indoor communication positioning are being studied.

A technology for seamless and highly accurate positioning indoors and/or outdoors by combining a plurality of positioning methods described above is a robot (an example of a mobile object) that moves indoors and/or outdoors. It is used for a system that monitors the surroundings based on the position information of the robot and the camera image taken by the robot.

Hereinafter, as an example of the use case of this embodiment, a robot of a monitoring system moves in a building with multiple floors, and the robot's position information and camera images obtained by the robot are transferred to a server (hereinafter referred to as , monitoring server). Then, an example will be described assuming that a person who performs monitoring (hereinafter referred to as a user) confirms information displayed on the monitoring server.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a monitoring system 1 according to this embodiment. A base station 10, a robot 20x, a monitoring server 30, and an indoor positioning access point (AP) 40 are shown in FIG. The terminal 20 is mounted on the robot 20x.

Note that the robot 20x and the terminal 20 may be replaced with each other below. For example, the position information of the robot 20x may be replaced with the position information of the terminal 20. FIG.

In the monitoring system 1 , the robot 20 x acquires position information and camera images while moving inside the building B, and the terminal 20 transmits the position information and camera images of the robot 20 x to the monitoring server 30 .

The base station 10 wirelessly connects with the terminal 20 and performs wireless communication with the terminal 20 . Note that the base station 10 and the terminal 20 may comply with the 5th generation mobile communication system (5G) standard, or may comply with a wireless communication standard different from 5G. For example, Wi-Fi (registered trademark) communication and/or WiGig (registered trademark) communication may be used.

Also, the base station 10 communicates with the monitoring server 30 . Communication between the monitoring server 30 and the base station 10 may be wireless communication or wired communication. Alternatively, communication between monitoring server 30 and base station 10 may be communication via a network such as the Internet.

The monitoring server 30 acquires information from the base station 10 and displays the acquired information on the display unit 313 . The user monitors by checking the information displayed on the display unit 313 . In addition, when the robot 20x runs according to the user's operation, the monitoring server 30 may control the robot 20x. For example, the monitoring server 30 may accept a user's operation and transmit operation information based on the accepted operation to the robot 20x (or the terminal 20) via the base station 10. FIG.

The monitoring server 30 may also be referred to as a display device having a display section 313 . Also, the display unit 313 may be configured to be connected to the monitoring server 30 by wire or wirelessly instead of being included in the monitoring server 30 . In this case, the monitoring server 30 may be called a display control device that controls display on the display unit 313 .

In this embodiment, base station 10 and monitoring server 30 are separate devices, but base station 10 and monitoring server 30 may be included in one device. For example, the base station 10 may have the functions of the monitoring server 30 , or the monitoring server 30 may have the functions of the base station 10 .

The robot 20x runs autonomously or by a user's operation. The robot 20x has at least a camera. The robot 20x acquires camera images while moving inside the building B. The acquired camera image is transmitted to the monitoring server 30 via the terminal 20 and base station 10 . The camera possessed by the robot 20x may be, for example, a TOF camera. Note that, hereinafter, an image captured by the camera mounted on the robot 20x may be referred to as an image captured by the robot.

Terminal 20 has one or more positioning devices. The terminal 20 acquires position information while moving inside the building B. FIG. The acquired location information is transmitted to the monitoring server 30 via the base station 10 . The positioning device of the terminal 20 may include a device that performs positioning based on camera images. The positioning equipment of the terminal 20 may include equipment that performs positioning using GPS. The positioning device of terminal 20 may include a device that performs positioning based on a signal transmitted from indoor positioning AP 40 . The indoor positioning AP 40 may be a Wi-Fi AP or a WiGig AP.

The indoor positioning AP 40 is provided on each floor and transmits an indoor positioning signal to the terminal 20 . Also, the indoor positioning AP 40 transmits information for identifying the floor (floor information) to the terminal 20 .

The positioning equipment included in the terminal 20 is not limited to the examples described above. For example, the terminal 20 may include positioning equipment using sensors such as acceleration sensors and gyro sensors.

Also, although an example in which the terminal 20 has a positioning device has been shown, the present disclosure is not limited to this. For example, instead of being included in the terminal 20, the positioning device may be mounted on the robot 20x. In this case, the terminal 20 may acquire positioning results (for example, location information) from the positioning device.

Although an example in which the robot 20x has a camera has been shown, the present disclosure is not limited to this. For example, the camera may be included in terminal 20 .

In the example of FIG. 1, the robot 20x gets on an elevator (an example of a transport mechanism) from the second floor of building B and gets off on the third floor. Note that the elevator control method is not particularly limited. For example, an arm provided on the robot 20x may operate an elevator operation panel (operation buttons). Alternatively, the robot 20x may communicate with the elevator and transmit information indicating instructions regarding boarding and exiting to the elevator. Alternatively, the supervising user may remotely operate the elevator.

In the example of FIG. 1, the terminal 20 transmits (notifies) information to the base station 10 while the robot 20x moves from the second floor to the third floor using an elevator. In addition, below, the information which the terminal 20 notifies is described as "notification information."

An example in which the terminal 20 notifies the base station 10 of notification information will be described below, but the present disclosure is not limited to this. For example, the terminal 20 may notify the notification information to the base station 10 via the indoor positioning AP 40 . Moreover, the terminal 20 is not limited to the example of notifying the notification information to the base station 10 , and may notify the monitoring server 30 of the notification information. The base station 10 and the monitoring server 30 correspond to an example of an external device that monitors the robot 20x.

When the robot 20x patrols each floor while moving between a plurality of floors using an elevator, appropriate control of notification of notification information differs depending on the state of the robot 20x. In this embodiment, the terminal 20 of the robot 20x controls notification of notification information according to the state of the robot 20x. An example of control of notification of notification information will be described below.

<First example>
The terminal 20 controls notification of notification information according to the state of the robot 20x. Here, the state of the robot 20x may be determined based on the position of the robot 20x (for example, the position of the terminal 20). Alternatively, the state of robot 20x is determined based on the position of robot 20x and the position and state of an elevator utilized by robot 20x. The state of the elevator is defined according to, for example, the state of opening and closing the doors of the elevator and/or the congestion state of the elevator.

Here, the control of notification of notification information refers to at least one of determining whether or not to notify notification information, and determining the content of notification information (for example, the format of notification information) when notification information is notified. include.

The state of the robot 20x is not particularly limited. In the first example, the following two states are defined.

A state in which the robot 20x exists outside the elevator space may be referred to as an "ex-elevator state." The elevator space corresponds to the space inside the elevator that is separated by the elevator doors. For example, a state in which at least part of the robot 20x is out of the elevator space may be the state outside the elevator.

A state in which the robot 20x is in the elevator space may be referred to as an "in-elevator state." For example, the state in which the robot 20x is in the elevator space may be the state inside the elevator.

Whether the robot 20x exists in the elevator space or exists outside the elevator space may be determined by, for example, whether the position of the robot 20x exists in a previously stored elevator position.

In the first example, the state inside the elevator includes both the state in which the elevator doors are open and the state in which the doors are closed.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of notification information in the first example. FIG. 2 shows an example of notification information in each of the elevator inside state and the elevator outside state. In addition, in FIG. 2, the horizontal axis indicates the time axis.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the first example, in the out-of-elevator state, the robot 20x notifies notification information, while in the in-elevator state, the robot 20x does not notify notification information.

The format of the notification information to be notified in the elevator state includes a "terminal ID" field containing information identifying the robot 20x, a "floor information" field containing information indicating the floor on which the robot 20x is located, and the robot 20x. A "position information" field containing information indicating the position and a "camera image information" field containing information of an image taken by the camera mounted on the robot 20x are included.

For example, the floor information may be the ID of the indoor positioning AP 40 wirelessly connected to the robot 20x on the floor where the robot 20x exists. That is, the floor on which the robot exists may be identified by the ID of the indoor positioning AP 40 installed on each floor.

It should be noted that hereinafter, the information included in the "terminal ID" field, that is, the information that identifies the robot 20x may be referred to as a terminal ID. Information contained in other fields may also be similarly described using field names. Also, hereinafter, "notification information having the same format as each other" may be described as "notification information being the same as each other."

<Display example of the first example>
An example of display on the display unit 313 of the monitoring server 30 when notification information is notified as in the first example described above will be described below.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display example of the monitoring server 30 in the first example. FIG. 3 shows a display example based on the notification information notified when the state of the robot 20x is in the elevator state, and a display example based on the notification information notified when the state of the robot 20x is outside the elevator. is shown. As shown in FIG. 3, the information to be displayed is set individually for the in-elevator state and the out-of-elevator state.

In the non-elevator state, the display unit 313 displays the position of the robot 20x and the camera image taken by the robot 20x. Note that when the robot 20x is moving, the display unit 313 may display the traveling direction of the robot 20x.

On the other hand, in the elevator state, the display unit 313 displays the position of the robot 20x and information indicating that the robot 20x is inside the elevator. Information indicating that robot 20x is in the elevator may be represented by a message, for example.

In the case of the elevator state, the display unit 313 may display information indicating in which elevator the robot 20x is located, instead of displaying the position of the robot 20x.

In the first example described above, since the position information of the robot 20x (that is, the position of the elevator) is known in the elevator state, the robot 20x notifies the notification information including the position information as shown in FIG. do not. This operation can reduce the notification of unnecessary information, so that the frequency utilization efficiency can be improved, and the information notified from the robot 20x can be appropriately controlled. In addition, since the notification information including the position information of the robot 20x is notified in the non-elevator state, it is possible to suppress deterioration in the quality of building monitoring using the robot 20x, and to perform monitoring efficiently. Degradation of monitoring quality may correspond to loss of information required for monitoring. Also, the efficiency of monitoring increases with the ease of monitoring.

Further, in the first example described above, as shown in FIG. 3, the information to be displayed is set individually for the elevator inside state and the elevator outside state. With this display, a display that is easy for the user to see can be realized, and the user's visual recognition load can be reduced.

<Second example>
In the first example described above, the elevator interior state includes both the state in which the elevator doors are open and the state in which the doors are closed, but the present disclosure is not limited to this. In a second example, the in-elevator state is further divided into states depending on the state of the elevator doors and the floor on which the elevator has stopped.

As shown in FIG. 1, for example, when the robot 20x moves from the second floor to the third floor, the floor on which the robot 20x got on is the second floor, and the floor on which the robot 20x gets off is the third floor.

For example, a state in which the robot 20x has boarded the elevator and the elevator door is open may be referred to as an "elevator boarding state".

Further, for example, a state in which the elevator is stopped on the floor where the robot 20x gets off and the elevator door is open may be referred to as an “elevator exit state”.

In the second example, the state in the elevator that is neither the "elevator boarding state" nor the "elevator exiting state" (for example, the state in which the elevator door is closed) is referred to as the "elevator door closed state." ” may be called.

A method of determining whether the floor on which the elevator exists is the floor on which the robot 20x got on or the floor on which the robot 20x gets off is not particularly limited. For example, when the floor information received from the indoor positioning AP 40 indicates the floor on which the robot 20x got on, the robot 20x determines that the current floor is the floor on which the robot 20x got on. Further, when the floor information received from the indoor positioning AP 40 indicates the floor where the robot 20x gets off, the robot 20x determines that the current floor is the floor where the robot 20x gets off.

A method for determining whether the elevator door is open or closed when the robot 20x is present at the elevator is not particularly limited. For example, if the robot 20x can wirelessly communicate with the indoor positioning AP 40, the robot 20x may determine that the elevator door is open. If the robot 20x cannot wirelessly communicate with the indoor positioning AP 40 (cannot transmit or receive signals), the robot 20x may determine that the elevator doors are closed. Alternatively, if the signal strength of the signal received by the robot 20x from the indoor positioning AP 40 is greater than a predetermined value, the robot 20x determines that the elevator doors are open, and if the signal strength is less than or equal to the predetermined value, the robot 20x 20x may determine that the elevator doors are closed. Alternatively, the robot 20x may determine whether the elevator door is open or closed by image processing of a camera image captured by the robot 20x and including the location of the elevator door.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of notification information in the second example. FIG. 4 shows an example of notification information in each of the state outside the elevator, the boarding state of the elevator, the closed state of the elevator doors, and the state of getting off the elevator. In addition, in FIG. 4, the horizontal axis indicates the time axis.

As shown in FIG. 4, in the second example, the robot 20x notifies the notification information in the state outside the elevator. The robot 20x notifies the notification information even in the state of boarding the elevator and the state of getting off the elevator. On the other hand, in the elevator door closed state, the robot 20x does not notify the notification information.

In addition, in the second example, the notification information to be notified may be the same as the notification information in the first example shown in FIG.

In the second example described above, in the elevator door closed state, the position information of the robot 20x is known, so the robot does not notify the notification information including the position information. This operation can reduce the notification of unnecessary information, so that the frequency utilization efficiency can be improved, and the information notified from the robot 20x can be appropriately controlled. In addition, since the notification information including the position information of the robot 20x is notified in the non-elevator state, it is possible to suppress deterioration in the quality of building monitoring using the robot 20x, and to perform monitoring efficiently.

In addition, in the elevator boarding state and the elevator exiting state, as in the elevator outside state, the notification information including the position information of the robot 20x is notified. , the deterioration of the monitoring quality can be suppressed. For example, when the robot 20x exists in the elevator for a time exceeding the expected time, whether the excess time is due to the time taken to get on and off the elevator, or due to the failure of the elevator; The cause can be easily confirmed.

In addition, in the above-described second example, the notification information notified in the elevator boarding state and the elevator exiting state is the same as in the elevator outside state, but the present disclosure is not limited to this. Variations of notification information to be notified in the elevator boarding state, the elevator exiting state, and the elevator outside state will be described below.

<Variation 1 of Second Example>
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of notification information in Variation 1 of the second example. Similar to FIG. 4, FIG. 5 shows examples of notification information in each of the elevator outside state, elevator boarding state, elevator door closed state, and elevator exit state. Note that in FIG. 5, the horizontal axis indicates the time axis.

The format A of notification information to be notified in the state outside the elevator in FIG. ” fields. Format B of notification information to be notified in the elevator boarding state and elevator exiting state in FIG. 5 includes a "terminal ID" field, a "floor information" field, and an "identification information" field. The "terminal ID" field, the "floor information" field, the "position information" field, and the "camera image information" field may be the same as the example shown in FIG.

Here, the "identification information" field includes information indicating whether or not the "position information" field and the "camera image information" field follow the "identification information" field in the notification information. For example, "identification information" is 1-bit bit information. In the notification information notified in the non-elevator state, the "position information" field and the "camera image information" field follow the "identification information" field, so one bit of the "identification information" is "1". good. In addition, in the notification information notified in the elevator boarding state and elevator exiting state, the "position information" field and the "camera image information" field do not follow the "identification information" field, so 1 bit of the "identification information" is , “0”.

In Variation 1 of the second example described above, the position information and camera image information of the robot 20x are not notified in the elevator boarding state and elevator exiting state. In the state of boarding the elevator and the state of getting off the elevator, the monitoring server 30 can distinguish whether the robot is boarding or getting off the elevator based on the floor information. It is possible to appropriately control the information notified from the robot 20x. In addition, by being able to distinguish whether the robot is getting on or off the elevator, deterioration of monitoring quality can be suppressed, and monitoring can be performed efficiently.

<Variation 2 of the second example>
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of notification information in Variation 2 of the second example. Similar to FIGS. 4 and 5, FIG. 6 shows examples of notification information in each of the state outside the elevator, the boarding state of the elevator, the closed state of the elevator doors, and the state of getting off the elevator. In addition, in FIG. 6, the horizontal axis indicates the time axis.

The difference between Variation 2 and Variation 1 is that, as shown in FIG. In the state, notification information different from that in the elevator boarding state is notified.

In FIG. 6 , the same notification information as in the out-of-elevator state is notified in the state of getting off the elevator. For example, the format A of the notification information to be notified when getting off the elevator includes a "terminal ID" field, a "floor information" field, an "identification information" field, a "position information" field, and a "camera image information" field. field.

In Variation 2 of the second example described above, position information and camera image information of the robot 20x are notified in the state of getting off the elevator. With this notification, for example, when camera images are used for indoor positioning, the time required for positioning the position of the robot 20x on the floor where the robot 20x got off can be shortened.

<Display example of the second example>
Display examples in the monitoring server 30 when notification information is notified as in the above-described second example and variations of the second example will be described below.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a display example of the monitoring server in the second example. FIG. 7 shows a display example based on the notification information notified when the state of the robot 20x is getting on the elevator, and a display example based on the notification information notified when the robot 20x is getting off the elevator. shown.

In the elevator boarding state, the display unit 313 displays the position of the robot 20x and information indicating that the robot 20x is boarding the elevator. In this case, since the notification information does not include the camera image information, the image captured by the robot 20x may not be displayed. Information indicating that the robot 20x is in the elevator may be represented by a message, for example.

When the robot is getting off the elevator, the display unit 313 displays the position of the robot 20x and information indicating that the robot 20x is getting off the elevator. In this case, since the notification information does not include the camera image information, the image captured by the robot 20x may not be displayed. Information indicating that the robot 20x is exiting the elevator may be represented by a message, for example.

In the second example, when the elevator is outside the state, the display unit 313 may display the same display as the display example when the elevator is outside the first example (eg, FIG. 3). In the second example, when the elevator door is closed, the display unit 313 displays the same display as the display example when the elevator is in the first example (eg, FIG. 3). good.

As described above, in the display example of the second example, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 7, information to be displayed is individually set in each state. With this display, a display that is easy for the user to see can be realized, and the user's visual recognition load can be reduced.

<Third example>
In the second example, an example in which elevators exist on the floor where robot 20x got on and the floor on which robot 20x gets off was given, but the present disclosure is not limited to this. In the third example, the state of the robot 20x is in the elevator state, and the elevator is located on a floor different from the floor on which the robot 20x boarded and on a floor different from the floor on which the robot 20x gets off. Hereinafter, a floor different from the floor on which the robot 20x boarded and different from the floor on which the robot 20x gets off will be referred to as an intermediate floor.

For example, a state in which the elevator is stopped on a floor that is neither the floor on which the robot 20x boarded nor the floor on which the robot 20x gets off, and the elevator door is open may be referred to as an "intermediate floor state."

In the third example, the state is in an elevator state, and is not in any of the "elevator boarding state", "elevator getting off state", and "mid-floor state" (for example, when the elevator door is closed). state) may be referred to as the "elevator door closed state."

The method of determining whether the floor on which the elevator exists is the floor on which the robot 20x got on, the floor on which the robot 20x gets off, or the floor on the way is not particularly limited. For example, when the floor information received from the indoor positioning AP 40 indicates the floor on which the robot 20x got on, the robot 20x determines that the current floor is the floor on which the robot 20x got on. Further, when the floor information received from the indoor positioning AP 40 indicates the floor where the robot 20x gets off, the robot 20x determines that the current floor is the floor where the robot 20x gets off. Further, when the floor information received from the indoor positioning AP 40 indicates a floor that is neither the floor on which the robot 20x got on nor the floor on which the robot 20x gets off, the robot 20x determines that the current floor is an intermediate floor. .

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of notification information in the third example. FIG. 8 shows examples of notification information in each of the state outside the elevator, the boarding state of the elevator, the closed state of the elevator doors, the halfway floor state, and the state of getting off the elevator. In addition, in FIG. 8, the horizontal axis indicates the time axis.

For example, in the example of FIG. 8, when the robot 20x moves from the 1st floor to the 4th floor, the floor on which the elevator is stopped when getting on the elevator is the 1st floor, and the floor on which the elevator is stopped when getting off the elevator. is on the 4th floor. In this case, the floors on which the elevator is stopped in the two mid-floor states are the 2nd floor and the 3rd floor.

As shown in FIG. 8, in the third example, the robot 20x notifies notification information in the state outside the elevator. The robot 20x notifies the notification information even in the state of boarding the elevator and the state of getting off the elevator. On the other hand, in the elevator door closed state and the halfway floor state, the robot 20x does not notify the notification information.

In the third example, the format A of the notification information notified in the state outside the elevator is the same as the format A of the notification information notified in the state outside the elevator of Variation 1 of the second example shown in FIG. It's okay. Further, in the third example, the format B of the notification information to be notified in the elevator boarding state and elevator exiting state is the elevator boarding state and elevator exiting state of variation 1 of the second example shown in FIG. may be the same as the format B of the notification information notified in .

In the third example described above, even if the elevator door is open, the robot does not notify the notification information in the mid-floor state. This operation can reduce the notification of unnecessary information, so that the frequency utilization efficiency can be improved, and the information notified from the robot 20x can be appropriately controlled.

Note that the display example of the third example may be the same as the display example of the second example (for example, FIGS. 7 and 3).

<Fourth example>
In the third example, the robot 20x does not notify the notification information in the halfway floor state, but the present disclosure is not limited to this. In a fourth example, an example in which the robot 20x notifies the notification information in the halfway floor state will be given.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of notification information in the fourth example. Similar to FIG. 8, FIG. 9 shows examples of notification information in each of the elevator outside state, elevator boarding state, elevator door closed state, halfway floor state, and elevator exit state. In addition, in FIG. 9, the horizontal axis indicates the time axis.

The difference between the third example and the fourth example is that in the fourth example, the robot 20x notifies the notification information in the halfway floor state, as shown in FIG.

In the fourth example, the notification information notified in the outside-elevator state may be the same as the notification information notified in the outside-elevator state of Variation 1 of the second example shown in FIG. In addition, in the fourth example, the notification information notified in the elevator boarding state, the elevator getting off state, and the mid-floor state is the elevator boarding state and the elevator getting off state of variation 1 of the second example shown in FIG. It may be similar to the notification information notified in the state.

In the fourth example described above, the robot 20x notifies the notification information in the halfway floor state. By this operation, the monitoring server 30 can monitor whether the elevator is stopped on the middle floor. For example, even if the elevator is stopped on the middle floor for a predetermined time or more, the monitoring can be properly performed.

In addition, in the above-described fourth example, the example in which the notification information notified in the halfway floor state is the same as the elevator boarding state and the elevator getting off state has been shown, but the present disclosure is not limited to this. In the following, variations of notification information notified in the mid-floor state will be described.

<Variation 1 of the fourth example>
FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of notification information in variation 1 of the fourth example. Similar to FIG. 8, FIG. 10 shows examples of notification information in each of the elevator outside state, elevator boarding state, elevator door closed state, halfway floor state, and elevator exit state. In addition, in FIG. 10, the horizontal axis indicates the time axis.

The format A of the notification information to be notified in the mid-floor state of FIG. ” fields. In other words, the format of the notification information notified in the mid-floor state of FIG. 10 is the same as the format of the notification information notified in the out-of-elevator state of FIG.

In variation 1 of the fourth example described above, the robot notifies notification information including position information and camera image information in the halfway floor state. With this notification, the monitoring server can monitor whether the elevator is stopped on the middle floor.

In addition, when the number of people getting off the elevator and/or getting on/off the elevator (hereinafter referred to as "the number of people getting on and off") is larger than a predetermined number on the middle floor, there is a case where the robot once gets off the elevator. . In such a case, in Variation 1 of the fourth example described above, the robot 20x notifies the notification information including the position information and the camera image information. can be controlled appropriately.

<Variation 2 of the fourth example>
FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of notification information in variation 2 of the fourth example. Similar to FIG. 8, FIG. 11 shows examples of notification information in each of the state outside the elevator, the boarding state of the elevator, the closed state of the elevator doors, the halfway floor state, and the state of getting off the elevator. In addition, in FIG. 11, the horizontal axis indicates the time axis.

The mid-floor state in FIG. 11 includes a first mid-floor state and a second mid-floor state. The floor on which the elevator is stopped in the first mid-floor state is different from the floor on which the elevator is stopped in the second mid-floor state.

For example, in the example of FIG. 11, when the robot 20x moves from the 1st floor to the 4th floor, the floor on which the elevator is stopped when getting on the elevator is the 1st floor, and the floor on which the elevator is stopped when getting off the elevator. is on the 4th floor. In this case, the floor on which the elevator stops in the first intermediate floor state is the second floor, and the floor on which the elevator stops in the second intermediate floor state is the third floor.

In the example of FIG. 11, the number of people getting off the elevator stopped on the second floor and/or the number of people boarding the elevator (the number of people boarding/alighting) is less than or equal to a predetermined number, and the number of people getting off the elevator stopped on the third floor and/or An example is shown in which the number of passengers is greater than the predetermined number. In other words, the number of people getting off the elevator and/or the number of people boarding the elevator in the first intermediate floor state is equal to or less than a predetermined number, and the number of people getting off the elevator and/or boarding the elevator in the second intermediate floor state The number of people is greater than the prescribed number. In this case, the notification information notified by the robot in the first intermediate floor state is different from the notification information notified by the robot in the second intermediate floor state.

Note that the method of estimating the number of people getting off the elevator and/or the number of people getting on and off the elevator (the number of people getting on and off) is not limited. The number of passengers may be estimated using camera image processing (for example, face authentication processing), or the number of passengers may be estimated using sensing technology using sensors such as infrared sensors and weight sensors.

For example, the robot 20x photographs a person in an elevator, a person waiting for an elevator, etc., and performs image processing (for example, face recognition processing) on the photographed camera image to determine the number of people trying to get off the elevator and the number of people waiting for the elevator. You may estimate the number of people trying to get on the

Alternatively, a camera installed in the elevator (for example, on the ceiling of the elevator or near the door) photographs people in the elevator, and the number of people trying to exit the elevator is calculated by image processing of the photographed camera image. can be estimated. In addition, a camera provided on each floor may photograph people waiting for an elevator, and the number of people trying to board the elevator may be estimated by image processing (for example, face recognition processing) of the photographed camera image. . The estimated number of people may be notified to the robot 20 x (terminal 20 ) or to the monitoring server 30 . When the robot 20x receives the notification, the robot 20x may determine notification information to be notified based on the estimated number of people. Alternatively, when the monitoring server 30 receives the notification, the monitoring server 30 determines the content (for example, format) of the notification information to be notified based on the estimated number of people, and notifies the terminal 20 of the determination result. good too.

Alternatively, when information such as floor information is transmitted and/or received between a terminal held by a person in the elevator and a communication device (for example, an access point (AP)) installed in the elevator, the robot 20x (terminal 20) may acquire information on the number of people getting off the elevator from a communication device installed in the elevator. For example, when the number of people getting off the elevator is greater than a predetermined number, information on the number of people getting off the elevator may be notified from a communication device installed in the elevator. In this case, when the number of people getting off the elevator is equal to or less than a predetermined number of people, the information on the number of people getting off the elevator does not need to be notified from the communication device installed in the elevator.

In the example of FIG. 11, format B of notification information to be notified in the first intermediate floor state includes a "terminal ID" field, a "floor information" field, and an "identification information" field. The "location information" field and the "camera image information" field are not included. On the other hand, in the example of FIG. 11, the format A of the notification information notified in the second intermediate floor state includes a "terminal ID" field, a "floor information" field, an "identification information" field, a "position information” field and a “camera image information” field.

In variation 2 of the fourth example described above, notification information to be notified by the robot is determined in accordance with the congestion status of the elevator in the mid-floor state. For example, in the above-described example, when the number of passengers getting on and off the elevator is greater than the predetermined number in the halfway floor state, the notification information including the position information and the camera image information is notified. When it does, it can be appropriately controlled. On the other hand, when the number of passengers getting on and off the robot 20x is less than the predetermined number in the mid-floor state, the notification information not including the position information and the camera image information is notified, so that the frequency utilization efficiency can be improved and the information notified from the robot 20x can be controlled. can be done properly.

<Display example of the fourth example>
Display examples on the monitoring server when notification information is notified as in the above-described fourth example and variations of the fourth example will be described below.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a first display example of the monitoring server 30 in the fourth example. FIG. 12 is a display example corresponding to variation 2 of the fourth example. FIG. 12 shows an example of a display based on the notification information notified when the robot is in the halfway floor state and the number of people getting on and off is more than a predetermined number, and the display example based on the notification information notified when the robot is in the halfway floor state and the number of people getting on and off is more than a predetermined number. Display examples based on notification information notified in the following cases are shown.

When the state of the robot is the halfway floor state and the number of passengers getting on and off is more than a predetermined number, the position of the robot and an image taken by the robot are displayed on the display unit 313 . In this case, the display unit 313 also displays information indicating the floor on which the elevator is stopped. Information indicating the floor on which the elevator is parked may be represented by a message, for example.

When the robot is in the middle floor state and the number of passengers getting on and off is less than or equal to the predetermined number, the display unit 313 displays information indicating the robot's position and the floor where the elevator is stopped. Information indicating the floor on which the elevator is parked may be represented by a message, for example.

When the robot is in the halfway floor state and the number of passengers getting on and off the elevator is greater than a predetermined number, the display content may be changed according to whether the robot is moving out of the elevator. This modification will be described below.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a second display example of the monitoring server in the fourth example. FIG. 13 is a display example corresponding to variation 2 of the fourth example. FIG. 13 shows a display example based on the notification information notified when the robot is in the halfway floor state and the number of people getting on and off is more than a predetermined number, and the display example based on the notification information notified when the robot is in the halfway floor state and the number of people getting on and off is more than the predetermined number. Display examples based on notification information notified in the following cases are shown.

When the robot moves out of the elevator, the display unit 313 displays the position of the robot and an image taken by the robot. In this case, the display unit 313 displays information indicating the floor on which the elevator is stopped and information indicating that the robot is moving out of the elevator. The information indicating the floor on which the elevator is parked and the information indicating that the robot is moving out of the elevator may be represented by messages, for example.

When the robot does not move out of the elevator, the display unit 313 displays the position of the robot and the image taken by the robot. In this case, the display unit 313 also displays information indicating the floor where the elevator is stopped and information indicating that the robot is present in the elevator. Information indicating the floor on which the elevator is parked and information indicating that the robot is present in the elevator may be represented by messages, for example.

As shown in each of the examples described above, a correspondence relationship is defined between the state of the robot, the content of notification information to be notified, and the content displayed on the monitoring server. These correspondence relationships will be described below.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of the correspondence between the state of the robot, the notification information, and the display content. In FIG. 14, "elevator outside state", "elevator door closed state", "elevator boarding state", "elevator exiting state", "half floor state (few boarding/alighting)", and "middle floor state (many boarding/alighting)" are shown. , the contents of the notification information and the display contents corresponding to each state are shown.

In the "outside elevator state", floor information, position information, and camera image information are notified. Then, in the "outside elevator state", the monitoring server displays the position information and the camera image, and does not display the additional message.

In the "elevator door closed state", floor information, position information, and camera image information are not notified. In the "elevator door closed state", the monitoring server displays position information indicating that the robot is in the elevator, and displays an additional message to the effect that "the robot is in the elevator".

In the "elevator boarding state", floor information is notified, and position information and camera image information are not notified. In the "elevator boarding state", position information indicating that the robot is in the elevator is displayed on the monitoring server, and an additional message to the effect that "the robot is boarding the elevator" is displayed.

In the "elevator getting off state", floor information is notified, and position information and camera image information are not notified. In the "elevator getting off state", the monitoring server displays position information indicating that the robot is in the elevator, and displays an additional message to the effect that "getting off the elevator".

The "half-floor state (few boarding/alighting)" corresponds to a state in which the state of the robot 20x is a half-floor state and the number of boarding/alighting passengers is equal to or less than a predetermined number. In the "half floor state (few getting on and off)", the floor information is notified, and the position information and the camera image information are not notified. In addition, in the "half floor state (few getting on and off)", position information indicating that the robot is in the elevator is displayed on the monitoring server, and "the robot is stopped at X floor (stopped floor)" is added. A message is displayed.

"Midway floor state (many boarding and alighting)" corresponds to a state in which the state of the robot 20x is a midway floor state and the number of passengers getting on and off is more than a predetermined number. Floor information, position information, and camera image information are notified in the "floor state on the way (many getting on and off)". Then, in the "floor state on the way (many getting on and off)", position information indicating that the robot is in the elevator and the camera image are displayed on the monitoring server. An additional message is displayed to the effect that there is In this state, an additional message may be displayed indicating whether the robot is moving out of the elevator. In addition, when the number of passengers getting on and off is more than a predetermined number, a message indicating that the number of passengers getting on and off is more than a predetermined number may be additionally displayed. In this case, the number of people getting on and the number of people getting off may be displayed separately. For example, additional messages such as "too many passengers", "too many people to get off", and "too many people getting on and off" may be displayed.

Each example and variations of each example described above are examples, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto. For example, the motion of the robot (the motion of the terminal) may be the same when the robot is in the elevator in the mid-floor state and when the robot gets off the elevator in the mid-floor state and reenters the elevator.

<Flow of processing in the present embodiment>
Next, an example of the processing flow of each of terminal 20, base station 10, and monitoring server 30 according to the present embodiment will be described.

FIG. 15 is a flow chart showing the processing flow of terminal 20 in this embodiment. For example, the flowchart shown in FIG. 15 may be started when the terminal 20 is activated, or may be started when the robot 20x on which the terminal 20 is mounted starts to operate. Further, the flowchart shown in FIG. 15 may end when the operation of the terminal 20 stops, or may end when the operation of the robot 20x on which the terminal 20 is mounted stops. Alternatively, user operations may control the start and/or end of the flowchart.

The terminal 20 determines the state (S201). For example, the terminal 20 determines the state of the robot 20x on which the terminal 20 is mounted based on the positional information of the terminal 20 or the like.

The terminal 20 determines whether or not the determined state is the state outside the elevator (S202).

If the determined state is the state outside the elevator (YES in S202), the terminal 20 determines whether or not the notification timing has arrived (S203). Note that the notification timing may be set in advance or instructed by the base station 10 .

If the notification timing has not arrived (NO in S203), the flow returns to S201.

When the notification timing has arrived (YES in S203), the terminal 20 generates notification information and transmits the generated notification information to the base station 10 (S204). The notification information generated in S204 may include floor information, position information, and camera image information.
Then the flow returns to S201.

If the determined state is not the non-elevator state (NO in S202), the terminal 20 determines whether or not the determined state is the halfway floor state (S205).

If the determined state is the halfway floor state (YES in S205), the terminal 20 determines whether or not the number of passengers getting on and off the elevator is greater than a predetermined number (S206).

If the number of people getting on and off the elevator is greater than the predetermined number (YES in S206), the process of S203 is executed.

If the number of people getting on and off the elevator is not greater than the predetermined number (NO in S206), the terminal 20 determines whether or not the notification timing has arrived (S207).

If the notification timing has not arrived (NO in S207), the flow returns to S201.

When the notification timing has arrived (YES at S207), the terminal 20 generates notification information and transmits the generated notification information to the base station 10 (S208). The notification information generated in S208 may include floor information and may not include position information and camera image information. Then the flow returns to S201.

If the determined state is not the halfway floor state (NO in S205), the terminal 20 determines whether or not the determined state is the elevator boarding state (S209).

If the determined state is the elevator boarding state (YES in S209), the terminal 20 determines whether or not the notification timing has arrived (S210).

If the notification timing has not arrived (NO in S210), the flow returns to S201.

When the notification timing has arrived (YES at S210), the terminal 20 generates notification information and transmits the generated notification information to the base station 10 (S211). The notification information generated in S211 may include floor information and may not include position information and camera image information. Then the flow returns to S201.

If the determined state is not the elevator boarding state (NO in S209), the terminal 20 determines whether or not the determined state is the elevator getting off state (S212).

If the determined state is the state of getting off the elevator (YES in S212), the terminal 20 determines whether or not the notification timing has arrived (S213).

If the notification timing has not arrived (NO in S213), the flow returns to S201.

When the notification timing has arrived (YES at S213), the terminal 20 generates notification information and transmits the generated notification information to the base station 10 (S214). The notification information generated in S214 may include floor information and may not include position information and camera image information. Then the flow returns to S201.

If the determined state is not the elevator exit state (NO in S212), in other words, if the determined state is the elevator door closed state, the terminal 20 does not notify the notification information, and the flow proceeds to S201. return.

Next, an example of the processing flow of the base station 10 will be described. FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the processing flow of base station 10 in this embodiment. For example, the flowchart shown in FIG. 16 may be started when the base station 10 is wirelessly connected to the terminal 20, or when the robot 20x equipped with the terminal 20 wirelessly connected to the base station 10 starts operating. may be started. Further, the flowchart shown in FIG. 16 may be terminated when the wireless connection between the base station 10 and the terminal 20 is interrupted, and the robot 20x on which the terminal 20 wirelessly connected to the base station 10 is mounted stops operating. may be terminated if Alternatively, user operations may control the start and/or end of the flowchart.

The base station 10 determines whether notification information has been received from the terminal 20 (S101).

When the notification information is received (YES in S101), the base station 10 updates the state of the robot 20x (S102). For example, the base station 10 determines and updates the state of the robot 20x based on the correspondence relationship between the information included in the notification information and the state of the robot 20x (eg, FIG. 14).

If the notification information is not received (NO in S101), the base station 10 performs the process of S103 without updating the state of the robot 20x.

The base station 10 determines whether the state of the robot 20x is outside the elevator (S103).

If the state of the robot 20x is the state outside the elevator (YES in S103), the base station 10 generates display information to be displayed on the monitoring server 30 in the state outside the elevator, and sends the generated display information to the monitoring server 30. Send (S104). The display information generated in S104 may include state information indicating that the state of the robot 20x is outside the elevator. Then, the flow returns to S101.

If the state of the robot 20x is not the state outside the elevator (NO in S103), the base station 10 determines whether the state of the robot 20x is the halfway floor state (S105).

When the state of the robot 20x is the halfway floor state (YES in S105), the base station 10 determines whether or not the number of passengers getting on and off the elevator is greater than a predetermined number (S106).

When the number of people getting on and off the elevator is not more than the predetermined number (NO in S106), the base station 10 generates display information to be displayed on the monitoring server 30 when the number of people getting on and off the elevator is small in the middle floor state, and the generated display. information is transmitted to the monitoring server 30 (S107). The display information generated in S107 may include state information indicating that the state of the robot 20x is the halfway floor state and that the number of passengers getting on and off is small. Then, the flow returns to S101.

If the number of people getting on and off the elevator is greater than the predetermined number (YES in S106), the base station 10 generates display information to be displayed on the monitoring server 30 when the number of people getting on and off the elevator is large, and the generated display information is generated. The information is transmitted to the monitoring server 30 (S108). The display information generated in S108 may include state information indicating that the state of the robot 20x is the halfway floor state and that the number of passengers getting on and off is large. Then, the flow returns to S101.

If the robot 20x is not in the halfway floor state (NO in S105), the base station 10 determines whether the robot 20x is in the elevator boarding state (S109).

When the state of the robot 20x is in the elevator boarding state (YES in S109), the base station 10 generates display information to be displayed on the monitoring server 30 in the elevator boarding state, and sends the generated display information to the monitoring server 30. Send (S110). The display information generated in S110 may include state information indicating that the state of the robot 20x is in an elevator boarding state. Then, the flow returns to S101.

If the state of the robot 20x is not the state of getting on the elevator (NO in S109), the base station 10 determines whether the state of the robot 20x is the state of getting off the elevator (S111).

When the state of the robot 20x is the state of getting off the elevator (YES in S111), the base station 10 generates display information to be displayed on the monitoring server 30 in the state of getting off the elevator, and sends the generated display information to the monitoring server 30. Send (S112). The display information generated in S112 may include state information indicating that the robot 20x is getting off the elevator. Then, the flow returns to S101.

When the state of the robot 20x is not in the state of getting off the elevator (NO in S111), in other words, when the state of the robot 20x is in the closed state of the elevator door, the base station 10 does not transmit the display information, and executes the flow. returns to S101.

Next, an example of the flow of processing of the monitoring server 30 will be described. FIG. 17 is a flow chart showing the flow of processing of the monitoring server 30 in this embodiment. For example, the flowchart shown in FIG. 17 may be started when the monitoring server 30 is started, may be started when display information is acquired from the base station 10, or may be started when wirelessly connecting to the base station 10. It may be started when the robot 20x on which the terminal 20 is mounted starts to operate. Further, the flowchart shown in FIG. 17 may be ended when the monitoring server 30 is stopped, may be ended when display information is not acquired from the base station 10 for a certain period of time, or may be ended when the base station 10 and wireless It may be terminated when the robot 20x on which the terminal 20 to be connected is mounted stops operating. Alternatively, user operations may control the start and/or end of the flowchart.

The monitoring server 30 determines whether or not the status information of the robot 20x has been received from the base station 10 (S301).

When the status information is received (YES at S301), the monitoring server 30 updates the status of the robot 20x to the status indicated by the status information (S302). Note that the monitoring server 30 may determine the state based on information included in the display information received from the base station 10 instead of the state information. For example, the monitoring server 30 may determine and update the state of the robot 20x based on the correspondence relationship between the information included in the display information and the state of the robot 20x (eg, FIG. 14).

When the status information is not received (NO in S301), the monitoring server 30 performs the process of S303 without updating the status of the robot 20x.

The monitoring server 30 determines whether the state of the robot 20x is outside the elevator (S303).

If the robot 20x is in the state outside the elevator (YES in S303), the monitoring server 30 determines whether display information has been received from the base station 10 (S304).

If display information has not been received (NO in S304), the flow returns to S301.

When the display information is received (YES in S304), the monitoring server 30 updates the display on the display unit 313 based on the display information (S305). The display information displayed in S305 may include floor information, position information, and camera image information. The flow then returns to S301.

If the state of the robot 20x is not the state outside the elevator (NO in S303), the monitoring server 30 determines whether the state of the robot 20x is the halfway floor state (S306).

When the state of the robot 20x is the halfway floor state (YES in S306), the monitoring server 30 determines whether or not the number of passengers getting on and off the elevator is greater than a predetermined number (S307).

If the number of people getting on and off the elevator is not greater than the predetermined number (NO in S307), the monitoring server 30 determines whether display information has been received from the base station 10 (S308).

If display information has not been received (NO in S308), the flow returns to S301.

When the display information is received (YES at S308), the monitoring server 30 updates the display on the display unit 313 based on the display information (S309). The display information displayed in S309 may include position information and may not include camera image information. The flow then returns to S301.

If the number of people getting on and off the elevator is greater than the predetermined number (YES in S307), the monitoring server 30 determines whether display information has been received from the base station 10 (S310).

If display information has not been received (NO at S310), the flow returns to S301.

When the display information is received (YES at S310), the monitoring server 30 updates the display on the display unit 313 based on the display information (S311). The display information displayed in S311 may include position information and camera image information. The flow then returns to S301.

If the robot 20x is not in the halfway floor state (NO in S306), the monitoring server 30 determines whether the robot 20x is in the elevator boarding state (S312).

If the state of the robot 20x is that it is in an elevator state (YES in S312), the monitoring server 30 determines whether display information has been received from the base station 10 (S313).

If display information has not been received (NO in S313), the flow returns to S301.

When the display information is received (YES at S313), the monitoring server 30 updates the display on the display unit 313 based on the display information (S314). The display information displayed in S314 may include position information and may not include camera image information. The flow then returns to S301.

When the state of the robot 20x is not the state of getting on the elevator (NO in S312), the monitoring server 30 determines whether the state of the robot 20x is the state of getting off the elevator (S315).

When the state of the robot 20x is the state of getting off the elevator (YES in S315), the monitoring server 30 determines whether or not display information has been received from the base station 10 (S316).

If display information has not been received (NO in S316), the flow returns to S301.

If the display information has been received (YES at S316), the monitoring server 30 updates the display on the display unit 313 based on the display information (S317). The display information displayed in S317 may include position information and may not include camera image information. The flow then returns to S301.

When the state of the robot 20x is not in the state of getting off the elevator (NO in S315), in other words, when the state of the robot 20x is in the closed state of the elevator door, the monitoring server 30 does not update the display on the display unit 313. , the flow returns to S301.

<Fifth example>
In each of the above-described embodiments, an example of a system in which a robot monitors the surroundings based on satellite positioning, positioning using a camera such as a TOF camera, and positioning by indoor communication has been described. In these positioning techniques, there is a possibility that the positioning accuracy may be degraded depending on the positioning method, the surrounding environment of the positioning target, and the like.

For example, in satellite positioning, the positioning accuracy may deteriorate indoors where radio waves from satellites are difficult to reach.

Further, for example, in positioning by communication indoors, there is a possibility that the positioning accuracy deteriorates due to a large change in the radio wave environment around the positioning target.

Further, for example, in positioning using a camera such as a TOF camera, a camera image taken at a certain position by a camera mounted on a positioning target (for example, the robot 20x) and a camera image taken at that position in advance and registered By comparing with a reference image (which may be called a map, for example), the position of the positioning target is detected. Therefore, when a situation occurs in which the camera image changes greatly, there is a possibility that the positioning accuracy will deteriorate.

For example, in a case where the camera mounted on the robot 20x captures an image of an area that includes the elevator door, the camera image may change significantly when the door is opened or closed, degrading the positioning accuracy. have a nature. A case in which the camera mounted on the robot 20x captures an image of an imaging range including an elevator door is, for example, a case in which positioning of the robot 20x is performed near an elevator.

Therefore, the position information notified by the robot 20x in a state in which the camera mounted on the robot 20x can capture an image of an imaging range including an elevator door will be described below as an example.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of notification information in the fifth example. FIG. 18 shows an example of notification information in each of the state outside the elevator, the boarding state of the elevator, the closed state of the elevator doors, and the state of getting off the elevator. In addition, in FIG. 18, the horizontal axis indicates the time axis.

In the fifth example, the "elevator boarding state" may be a state from when the door of the elevator boarded by the robot 20x starts to open to when the robot 20x boarded and the elevator finishes closing the door. The "elevator getting off state" may be a state from when the elevator reaches the floor where the robot 20x gets off and the door starts to open until the robot 20x gets off the elevator. In the fifth example, the "elevator boarding state" and "elevator alighting state" may correspond to a state in which the elevator door is open, or a state in which the elevator door is open within the shooting range of the camera of the robot 20x. It may correspond to a state in which it is recognized that

As shown in FIG. 18, in the fifth example, the robot 20x notifies the notification information in the state outside the elevator. The robot 20x notifies the notification information even in the state of boarding the elevator and the state of getting off the elevator. On the other hand, in the elevator door closed state, the robot 20x does not notify the notification information.

In the fifth example, the notification information in the state outside the elevator is different from the notification information notified in the state of boarding the elevator and the state of getting off the elevator.

The format A of the notification information notified in the non-elevator state of FIG. 18 is similar to the example shown in FIG. It includes a "location information" field and a "camera image information" field. The position information included in the "position information" field of format A indicates the position detected by the robot 20x.

The format C of notification information to be notified in the elevator boarding state and elevator exiting state of FIG. and a "camera image information" field. The "elevator position information" field included in format C contains elevator position information indicating the position of the elevator on which the robot 20x rides. That is, the position information in format A is replaced with the elevator position information in format C.

Note that the elevator position information may be included in the information on the floor on which the robot 20x moves. That is, the elevator position information may be known in advance and stored in the robot 20x. Also, the elevator position information may indicate the position of one point (hereinafter referred to as representative point) that represents the area of the elevator. The elevator position information may be coordinate information indicating the position of the representative point of the elevator. For example, the position of the representative point of the elevator may be the central position of the area of the floor surface of the elevator, or may be another position. Further, since the position of the elevator is also known in the monitoring server 30, the elevator position information is information (for example, 1-bit flag information) indicating that the position detected by the robot 20x is to be replaced with the position of the elevator. may

Note that the format C in FIG. 18 shows an example in which the "camera image information" field is included, but in the format C, the "camera image information" field may not be included.

In the fifth example described above, in the elevator getting-on state and the elevator getting-off state, notifying the position of the elevator instead of the position detected by the robot 20x causes deterioration in positioning accuracy. Since it is not necessary to notify the positioning result, it is possible to avoid degradation of the notified location information. Therefore, deterioration of monitoring quality can be suppressed, and monitoring can be performed efficiently.

In addition, in the fifth example described above, the notification information notified in the elevator boarding state and the elevator exiting state is the same as in the elevator out state, but the present disclosure is not limited to this. Another example of notification information to be notified in the elevator boarding state and the elevator exit state will be described below.

<Sixth example>
FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of notification information in the sixth example. Similar to FIG. 18, FIG. 19 shows examples of notification information in each of the elevator outside state, elevator boarding state, elevator door closed state, and elevator exit state. In addition, in FIG. 19, the horizontal axis indicates the time axis.

The difference between the fifth example and the sixth example is that in the fifth example, as shown in FIG. In the sixth example, in the state of getting off the elevator, notification information different from that in the state of getting on the elevator is notified.

In FIG. 19, the same notification information as in the outside of the elevator state is notified in the state of getting off the elevator. For example, the format A of the notification information to be notified when getting off the elevator includes a "terminal ID" field, a "floor information" field, an "identification information" field, a "position information" field, and a "camera image information" field. field. The position information included in the "position information" field of format A indicates the position detected by the robot 20x.

In the sixth example described above, in the elevator boarding state, the position of the elevator is notified instead of the position detected by the robot 20x. With this notification, in a situation where the positioning accuracy is degraded, it is not necessary to notify the degraded positioning result, so it is possible to avoid deterioration of the notified location information. Therefore, deterioration of monitoring quality can be suppressed, and monitoring can be performed efficiently.

In addition, in the elevator exit state, the positioning accuracy is less likely to deteriorate when the elevator door is opened. Therefore, in the above-described sixth example, the position detected by the robot 20x is notified in the elevator exit state. As a result, positioning can be started promptly from the state of getting off the elevator, so the delay in positioning can be reduced.

<Seventh example>
In the fifth and sixth examples described above, the elevator position information indicates the position of the representative point of the elevator. In the seventh example, variations of elevator position information to be notified will be described.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example of elevator positions. FIG. 20 shows examples of three elevator positions (a) to (c).

FIG. 20(a) illustrates the case where no person and/or other moving object is in the elevator. In this case, the robot 20x may enter the elevator and move to the back of the elevator when viewed from outside the elevator. Therefore, in this case, on the floor surface of the elevator, the position behind the elevator when viewed from the outside of the elevator is indicated by the elevator position information.

FIG. 20(b) shows a case where people and/or other moving objects are boarding the elevator, but the inside of the elevator is relatively empty. In this case, the robot 20x may enter the elevator and move to near the center of the elevator as viewed from outside the elevator. Therefore, in this case, the position of the center of the elevator on the floor of the elevator is indicated by the elevator position information.

FIG. 20(c) shows a case where people and/or other moving objects board the elevator and the inside of the elevator is relatively crowded. In this case, the robot 20x may enter the elevator and move to the front of the elevator when viewed from outside the elevator. Therefore, in this case, on the floor surface of the elevator, the position in front of the elevator when viewed from the outside of the elevator is indicated by the elevator position information.

A plurality of elevator positions as described above may be associated with congestion conditions and stored in the robot 20x. Alternatively, each of a plurality of elevator positions may be associated with an index, and the correspondence between congestion status, elevator position, and index may be stored in the robot 20 x and the monitoring server 30 .

Then, when the elevator door is opened, or when the robot 20x is in the elevator, the robot 20x detects the congestion situation inside the elevator, and the detected congestion situation and the stored correspondence relationship are matched. Based on this, elevator location information may be selected. In the example of FIG. 20, when the robot 20 detects a situation in which no person and/or other mobile object is boarding the elevator, as illustrated in (a) of FIG. Select elevator location information that indicates the location at the back of the elevator. Similarly, when the robot 20 detects a situation in which people and/or other moving bodies are boarding the elevator and it is relatively crowded, as illustrated in (c) of FIG. Elevator position information may be selected that indicates a position in front of the elevator when viewed.

Note that the method of detecting the congestion situation inside the elevator is not particularly limited. For example, the robot 20x may perform image analysis of images captured by the robot 20x to detect the number of people and/or the number of moving objects. Also, for example, the robot 20x may acquire sensing information about people and/or moving objects riding in the elevator from sensors mounted on the elevator, and detect congestion based on the sensing information. For example, the sensing information includes at least one of the presence or absence of people in the elevator obtained from a camera and/or a human sensor in the elevator, the temperature in the elevator obtained from a temperature sensor, and the weight of an object in the elevator obtained from a weight sensor. may contain one.

Also, although FIG. 20 shows three elevator location options, the present disclosure is not so limited. The selectable elevator positions may be two, or four or more. Selectable elevator positions may be set according to the size and shape of the elevator, the size and shape of the robot 20x, and the number of floors to get off.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an example of notification information in the seventh example. Similar to FIG. 19, FIG. 21 shows examples of notification information in each of the elevator outside state, elevator boarding state, elevator door closed state, and elevator exit state. In addition, in FIG. 21, the horizontal axis indicates the time axis.

The difference between the seventh example and the sixth example is that, in the sixth example, as shown in FIG. On the other hand, in the seventh example, elevator position information indicating the position of the elevator selected by the robot 20x is notified in the elevator boarding state.

The format D of notification information to be notified in the state of boarding the elevator shown in FIG. and a “camera image information” field. However, the "elevator position information" field included in format D contains elevator position information indicating the position of the elevator selected by the robot 20x. That is, the elevator position information in format C indicates the position of the representative point of the elevator, whereas the elevator position information in format D indicates the position of the elevator selected by the robot 20x.

In the seventh example described above, in the elevator boarding state, the position of the elevator is notified instead of the position detected by the robot 20x. With this notification, in a situation where the positioning accuracy is degraded, it is not necessary to notify the degraded positioning result, so it is possible to avoid deterioration of the notified location information. Therefore, deterioration of monitoring quality can be suppressed, and monitoring can be performed efficiently.

In the seventh example described above, the position of the elevator is selected from among a plurality of patterns based on the congestion status. , can inform you of a better location. By notifying the position of the elevator selected based on the congestion status, the base station and/or the monitoring server that receive the notification can grasp the congestion status of the elevator in addition to the 20x position of the robot at the same time. For example, by being able to grasp the congestion status of elevators, it is possible to guide the robot 20x along a relatively uncongested route at a station or the like. In addition, when a specific infectious disease (for example, the new coronavirus) that spreads in crowded places is prevalent (for example, when there are many people infected with a specific infectious disease) ), it is also possible to grasp the degree of possibility that people in the elevator will be infected (for example, the risk of infection) by grasping the congestion situation of the elevator.

In the above-described seventh example, the position of the selected elevator is notified instead of the position detected by the robot 20x in the state of boarding the elevator. may be notified of the location of the selected elevator.

In addition, in the above-described seventh example, the position of the selected elevator is notified instead of the position detected by the robot 20x in the state of boarding the elevator. The position of the representative point of the elevator may be notified.

Further, in the seventh example described above, the position of the representative point of the elevator and the position of the selected elevator may be switched and notified. For example, in the stage before the congestion situation inside the elevator (for example, the presence or absence of people/moving objects, their number, etc.) is detected, the position of the representative point of the elevator is notified, and after the congestion situation is detected , the position of the elevator selected according to the congestion situation may be notified. Alternatively, before the congestion situation inside the elevator is detected, position information (e.g., elevator position information) is not notified, but the position of the representative point of the elevator is notified, and after the congestion situation is detected, The position of the elevator selected according to the congestion situation may be notified. Note that the stage before the congestion state inside the elevator is detected may include, for example, the stage before the elevator door opens, or the detection result is obtained after the elevator door opens. A previous step (eg, before image analysis is completed) may be included.

<Eighth example>
In the eighth example, similarly to the above-described fourth example, when the robot 20x notifies the notification information in the "mid-floor state", an example of notifying the notification information including the elevator position information will be described.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an example of notification information in the eighth example. Similar to FIGS. 8 and 9, FIG. 22 shows examples of notification information in each of the elevator outside state, elevator boarding state, elevator door closed state, halfway floor state, and elevator exit state. In addition, in FIG. 22, the horizontal axis indicates the time axis.

As shown in FIG. 22, in the eighth example, the robot 20x notifies the notification information in the elevator outside state, the elevator boarding state, the elevator getting off state, and the halfway floor state. On the other hand, in the elevator door closed state, the robot 20x does not notify the notification information.

The format A of notification information to be notified in the state outside the elevator and the state of getting off the elevator in FIG. 22 is similar to the example shown in FIG. information” field, a “location information” field, and a “camera image information” field. The position information included in the "position information" field of format A indicates the position detected by the robot 20x.

The format D of the notification information to be notified in the elevator boarding state and the halfway floor state in FIG. 22 is similar to the example shown in FIG. , an 'elevator position information' field, and a 'camera image information' field. However, the "elevator position information" field included in format D includes elevator position information indicating the position of the elevator selected by the robot 20x and boarded by the robot 20x.

In the eighth example described above, in the mid-floor state, the elevator position information indicating the position of the elevator in which the robot 20x rides, selected by the robot 20x, is notified. With this notification, even when the robot 20x temporarily gets off the elevator on an intermediate floor, it is not necessary to notify the degraded positioning result, so deterioration of the notified location information can be avoided. Therefore, deterioration of monitoring quality can be suppressed, and monitoring can be performed efficiently.

In the eighth example, the elevator position information is notified in the mid-floor state, but even in the mid-floor state, the elevator position information may not be notified depending on the situation. For example, even if the robot 20x is in a halfway floor state, the robot 20x does not need to get off the elevator temporarily when the number of passengers getting on and off is relatively small. Therefore, even if the floor is halfway, the elevator position information may be notified when the number of passengers getting on and off is relatively large, and the elevator position information may not be notified when the number of passengers getting on and off is relatively small.

In the fifth to eighth examples described above, the position information included in the notification information is replaced with the elevator position information depending on the state. Based on these examples, the correspondence between the state of the robot, the content of notification information to be notified, and the content displayed on the monitoring server will be described below.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing another example of the correspondence between the state of the robot, the notification information, and the display content. In FIG. 23, "elevator outside state", "elevator door closed state", "elevator boarding state", "elevator exiting state", "half floor state (few boarding/alighting)", and "middle floor state (many boarding/alighting)" are shown. , the contents of the notification information and the display contents corresponding to each state are shown. In addition, in FIG. 23, description of the same description as in FIG. 14 is omitted.

23 are different from the "elevator boarding state" and "half floor state (frequent boarding/alighting)" in FIG. These two states are described below.

In the "elevator boarding state", floor information, position information, and camera image information are notified. However, the position information notified in the "elevator boarding state" does not indicate the position detected by the robot 20x, but indicates the position of the elevator in which the robot 20x boards ("Elv position" in FIG. 23). In the "elevator boarding state", position information indicating that the robot is in the elevator is displayed on the monitoring server, and an additional message to the effect that "the robot is boarding the elevator" is displayed.

"Midway floor state (many boarding and alighting)" corresponds to a state in which the state of the robot 20x is a midway floor state and the number of passengers getting on and off is more than a predetermined number. Floor information, position information, and camera image information are notified in the "floor state on the way (many getting on and off)". However, the position information notified in the "elevator boarding state" does not indicate the position detected by the robot 20x, but indicates the position of the elevator in which the robot 20x boards ("Elv position" in FIG. 23). Then, in the "floor state on the way (many getting on and off)", position information indicating that the robot is in the elevator and the camera image are displayed on the monitoring server. An additional message is displayed to the effect that there is In this state, an additional message may be displayed indicating whether the robot is moving out of the elevator. In addition, when the number of passengers getting on and off is more than a predetermined number, a message indicating that the number of passengers getting on and off is more than a predetermined number may be additionally displayed. In this case, the number of people getting on and the number of people getting off may be displayed separately. For example, additional messages such as "too many passengers", "too many people to get off", and "too many people getting on and off" may be displayed.

In the above-described fifth to eighth examples, mainly, the example of notifying the position of the elevator instead of the position detected by the robot 20x when the elevator door is closed was shown. The present disclosure is not limited to this. For example, while the robot 20x is waiting to board the elevator, even if the elevator doors are closed, depending on the situation, the robot 20x notifies the location of the elevator instead of the location detected by the robot 20x. may For example, when there are many people and/or moving objects waiting to board an elevator, satellite positioning, positioning using a camera, or positioning using communication, Positioning accuracy may deteriorate. For example, in the case of positioning using a camera, many people and/or moving objects that are not included in the reference image are included in the camera image, which may degrade the positioning accuracy. Therefore, when there are many people and/or moving objects waiting to board the elevator, the position of the elevator may be notified instead of the position detected by the robot 20x. In this case, the robot 20x may notify the camera image as well as the position of the elevator.

In addition, in the sixth to eighth examples described above, mainly, when the robot 20x gets off, the example of notifying the position detected by the robot 20x in the state where the elevator door is open has been shown. The present disclosure is not limited to this. When getting off the elevator, the robot 20x may notify the position of the elevator instead of the position detected by the robot 20x depending on the situation even if the elevator doors are open. For example, when there are many people and/or moving objects waiting to board an elevator, satellite positioning, positioning using a camera, or positioning using communication, Positioning accuracy may deteriorate. For example, in the case of positioning using a camera, many people and/or moving objects that are not included in the reference image are included in the camera image, which may degrade the positioning accuracy. Therefore, if there are many people and/or moving objects waiting to board the elevator, the position detected by the robot 20x may be changed even if the elevator door is open when the robot 20x gets off. Alternatively, the location of the elevator may be advertised. Also, in this case, the robot 20x may start positioning using the camera when the person waiting to get on the elevator and/or the moving object move out of the imaging range of the camera after the robot 20x gets off. good. The method for determining whether or not the person waiting to board the elevator and/or the moving object has left the imaging range of the camera is not particularly limited. It may be a method of determination.

Also, for example, the robot 20x may notify the position of the elevator instead of the position detected by the robot 20x according to the imaging range of the camera. For example, when the robot 20x gets off and the elevator door is open, the photographing range of the camera of the robot 20x includes the door of an elevator other than the elevator in which the robot 20x was boarding, and If another elevator door is open, robot 20x may report the position of the elevator instead of the position detected by robot 20x. Also, in this case, if the imaging range of the camera of the robot 20x includes a door of an elevator other than the elevator in which the robot 20x was boarding, and the door of the other elevator is closed, Positioning using a camera may be initiated. Alternatively, the robot 20x may start positioning using the camera when the imaging range of the camera of the robot 20x no longer includes the door of an elevator other than the elevator in which the robot 20x was boarding. The case where the imaging range of the camera of the robot 20x no longer includes the door of an elevator other than the elevator in which the robot 20x was boarding is, for example, the case where the robot 20x is separated from the elevator by a predetermined distance or more, or It may be the case that the orientation of the camera of the robot 20x has changed.

Note that when the robot 20x gets off the elevator, if the position of the elevator is notified instead of the position detected by the robot 20x, the camera image may be notified at the same time as the position of the elevator.

<Variation of the flow of processing in the present embodiment>
Next, variations of the processing flow based on the fifth to eighth examples described above will be described. In the following, as shown in the eighth example, the robot 20x notifies the notification information including the elevator position information in the "elevator boarding state" and in the "half floor state" when there are many people getting on and off. An example is explained. Note that the robot 20x may be replaced with the terminal 20 in the following description as well, as in the above description.

In addition, in the variation shown in the eighth example, the position information included in the notification information notified from the terminal 20 is changed. The processing other than the processing related to the change of the position information may be the same as the flow of processing described using FIGS. 15 to 17. FIG. For example, the processing of the base station 10 and the monitoring server 30 may be the same as in FIGS. 16 and 17, respectively. In the following, the processing of the terminal 20 based on the eighth example will be described with respect to the differences from FIG.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart showing a variation of the processing flow of terminal 20 in this embodiment. For example, the flowchart shown in FIG. 24 may be started when the terminal 20 is activated, or may be started when the robot 20x on which the terminal 20 is mounted starts to operate. Further, the flowchart shown in FIG. 24 may end when the operation of the terminal 20 stops, or may end when the operation of the robot 20x on which the terminal 20 is mounted stops. Alternatively, user operations may control the start and/or end of the flowchart. In addition, in FIG. 24, the same reference numerals are given to the same processing as in FIG. 15, and the explanation may be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 24, if the determined state is the halfway floor state (YES in S205), the terminal 20 determines whether or not the notification timing has arrived (S207).

If the notification timing has not arrived (NO in S207), the flow returns to S201.

When the notification timing has arrived (YES at S207), the terminal 20 generates notification information and transmits the generated notification information to the base station 10 (S401). Note that the processing of S401 will be described later. After the process of S401, the flow returns to S201.

If the determined state is the elevator boarding state (YES in S209), the terminal 20 determines whether or not the notification timing has arrived (S210).

If the notification timing has not arrived (NO in S210), the flow returns to S201.

When the notification timing has arrived (YES at S210), the terminal 20 generates notification information and transmits the generated notification information to the base station 10 (S402). Note that the processing of S402 will be described later. After the process of S402, the flow returns to S201.

Next, the processing of S402 and S401 will be described.

FIG. 25 is a flow chart showing the flow of processing in S402 of FIG. The flowchart shown in FIG. 25 may be started when S210 of FIG. 24 is YES. As shown in FIG. 24, the process of S402 corresponds to the process when it is determined that the passenger is in an elevator boarding state.

The terminal 20 determines whether or not there is a person and/or a mobile object other than the terminal 20 (robot 20x) inside the elevator (S501).

If there are no passengers and/or mobile objects other than the terminal 20 (robot 20x) inside the elevator (NO in S501), for example, if the inside of the elevator is empty, the terminal 20 selects a position at the back of the elevator as the position of the terminal 20 (robot 20x) (S502). In other words, in this case, the terminal 20 selects the elevator position information indicating the deep position of the elevator instead of the position information indicating the position of the terminal 20 . Then the flow moves to S506.

If there is a passenger and/or a mobile object in addition to the terminal 20 (robot 20x) inside the elevator (YES in S501), the terminal 20 determines whether the inside of the elevator is in a crowded environment. (S503). For example, if there are more than a predetermined number of people and/or mobile objects other than the terminal 20 (robot 20x), the terminal 20 determines that the inside of the elevator is in a crowded environment. ), if there are not more than a predetermined number of people and/or moving objects on board, it may be determined that the inside of the elevator is not in a crowded environment.

If the inside of the elevator is not in a crowded environment (NO in S503), the terminal 20 selects the central position of the elevator as the position of the terminal 20 (robot 20x) (S504). In other words, in this case, the terminal 20 selects the elevator position information indicating the center position of the elevator instead of the position information indicating the position of the terminal 20 . Then the flow moves to S506.

If the inside of the elevator is in a crowded environment (YES in S503), the terminal 20 selects a position in front of the elevator as the position of the terminal 20 (robot 20x) (S505). In other words, in this case, the terminal 20 selects the elevator position information indicating the position in front of the elevator instead of the position information indicating the position of the terminal 20 . Then the flow moves to S506.

The terminal 20 generates information other than the positional information, and transmits notification information including the generated information and the elevator positional information selected in the process of S502, S504, or S505 (S506). Then, the flow shown in FIG. 25 may end, and the process of S201 in FIG. 24 may be executed.

FIG. 26 is a flow chart showing the flow of processing in S401 of FIG. In addition, in FIG. 26, the same reference numerals are given to the same processing as in FIG. 25, and the explanation may be omitted. The flowchart shown in FIG. 26 may be started when S207 in FIG. 24 is YES. As shown in FIG. 24, the process of S401 corresponds to the process when it is determined that the floor state is midway.

The terminal 20 determines whether or not the number of passengers getting on and off the elevator on the middle floor is less than a predetermined number (S601). The method of estimating the number of people getting on and off is not particularly limited, but the number of people getting on and off may be estimated using camera image processing (for example, face authentication processing), or sensing technology using sensors such as infrared sensors and weight sensors. may be used to estimate the number of passengers.

If the number of passengers getting on and off is not less than the predetermined number (NO in S601), for example, if the number of passengers getting on and off is greater than or equal to the predetermined number, the flow proceeds to S501. A case where the number of passengers is not less than the predetermined number is a case where the robot 20x temporarily gets off. In this case, elevator position information may be notified as the position information.

If the number of passengers getting on and off is less than the predetermined number (YES in S601), the terminal 20 generates and transmits notification information that does not include position information (S602). In this case, the terminal 20 may generate notification information that does not include image information and position information. Then, the flow shown in FIG. 26 ends, and the process of S201 in FIG. 24 is executed.

The terminal 20 notifies the notification information of the variations shown in the eighth example through the flow of processing described above.

<Example of each configuration>
An example of each configuration of the communication system according to the present embodiment described above will be described. The communication system according to the present embodiment includes base station 10 shown in FIG. 27, terminal 20 shown in FIG. 28, and monitoring server 30 shown in FIG. A wireless communication system (wireless communication system) according to the present embodiment is not particularly limited. For example, the wireless communication system according to the present embodiment may conform to the 5th generation mobile communication system (5G) standard, or may conform to other wireless communication standards.

Note that the configuration shown below is an example, and the present disclosure is not limited to this. A part of the configurations shown in FIGS. 27 to 29 may be omitted, and configurations not shown in each figure may be added.

<Configuration of base station 10>
FIG. 27 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of base station 10 according to this embodiment. Base station 10 includes receiving section 101 , reception control section 102 , state determination section 103 , display information generation section 104 , server communication section 105 , transmission control section 106 and transmission section 107 . Reception control section 102 , state determination section 103 , display information generation section 104 , and transmission control section 106 may be included in control section 108 of base station 10 .

Receiving section 101 receives an uplink (UL) signal addressed to base station 1010 based on timing control in reception control section 102 . Reception section 101 outputs the UL signal to reception control section 102 . The UL signal includes notification information from the terminal 20, for example.

The reception control section 102 controls reception timing in the reception section 101 . Further, the reception control unit 102 performs predetermined reception processing on the UL signal. For example, the predetermined reception processing includes frequency conversion processing (down-conversion). Also, the predetermined reception processing may include baseband signal processing such as demodulation processing and decoding processing.

The reception control unit 102 extracts reception data and/or notification information from the UL signal that has undergone predetermined reception processing. The reception control unit 102 outputs the received data to a data processing unit (not shown in FIG. 14) that performs upper layer signal processing. When the notification information of terminal 20 is extracted, reception control section 102 outputs the extracted notification information to state determination section 103 .

The state determination unit 103 determines the state of the robot 20 x on which the terminal 20 is mounted, based on the position information and the like included in the notification information of the terminal 20 . The state of the robot 20x determined here is determined based on the position of the robot 20x and the behavior of the elevator used by the robot 20x (for example, door opening/closing).

The display information generation unit 104 determines the content to be displayed based on the state of the robot 20x determined by the state determination unit 103, and generates display information including the determined content.

The server communication unit 105 is a communication interface with the monitoring server 30 . The server communication unit 105 transmits and receives signals to and from the monitoring server 30 . For example, the server communication unit 105 transmits the display information generated by the display information generation unit 104 to the monitoring server 30 .

Note that the base station 10 may be directly connected to the monitoring server 30 by wire or wirelessly. Alternatively, base station 10 may be connected to monitoring server 30 via a network.

The transmission control unit 106 controls transmission timing of transmission data acquired from the data processing unit (not shown in FIG. 27 ) and/or control information to be transmitted to the terminal 20 . Further, the transmission control unit 106 performs predetermined transmission processing on at least one of transmission data and control information to generate a DL signal. Note that the predetermined transmission processing may include baseband signal processing such as encoding processing and modulation processing.

Transmission section 107 transmits a DL signal to terminal 20 based on transmission timing control in transmission control section 106 .

<Configuration of terminal 20>
FIG. 28 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of terminal 20 according to this embodiment. The terminal 20 includes a radio reception unit 201, a reception control unit 202, a satellite signal reception unit 203, an indoor positioning signal reception unit 204, a position detection unit 205, a state determination unit 206, a notification information generation unit 207, A transmission control unit 208 and a wireless transmission unit 209 are provided. The reception control unit 202 , the position detection unit 205 , the state determination unit 206 , the notification information generation unit 207 and the transmission control unit 208 may be included in the control unit 210 of the terminal 20 .

Radio reception section 201 receives a DL signal addressed to terminal 20 based on timing control in reception control section 202 . Radio reception section 201 outputs a DL signal addressed to terminal 20 to reception control section 202 .

Reception control section 202 controls reception timing in radio reception section 201 . Further, the reception control section 202 performs predetermined reception processing on the DL signal addressed to the terminal 20 . For example, the predetermined reception processing includes frequency conversion processing (down-conversion). Also, the predetermined reception processing may include baseband signal processing such as demodulation processing and decoding processing.

The reception control unit 202 extracts alert information, received data and/or control information transmitted by the base station 10 from the signal subjected to predetermined reception processing. The reception control section 202 outputs the received data to a data processing section (not shown in FIG. 28) that performs signal processing of the upper layer.

The satellite signal receiving unit 203 receives positioning signals from satellites such as GPS satellites.

Indoor positioning signal receiving section 204 receives a signal for indoor positioning from AP 40 for indoor positioning.

The position detection unit 205 detects at least one of the signal received by the satellite signal reception unit 203, the signal received by the indoor positioning signal reception unit 204, and the camera image acquired from the camera mounted on the robot 20x (not shown in FIG. 28). The position of the terminal 20 is detected based on the Further, based on the state determined by the state determination unit 206, the position detection unit 205 notifies the position of the elevator to board (or get off) instead of the detected position of the terminal 20 as the position of the terminal 20. It may be determined whether Further, when the position detection unit 205 determines to notify the position of the elevator to get on (or get off) instead of the detected position of the terminal 20, one representative point of the elevator instead of the detected position of the terminal 20. The position may be output, or instead of the detected position of the terminal 20, the position of the elevator selected from a plurality of candidates may be output.

The state determination unit 206 determines the state of the robot 20 x based on the information indicating the position of the terminal 20 .

The notification information generation unit 207 determines whether or not notification information is to be notified based on the state determined by the state determination unit 206, and determines the content (for example, format) of the notification information when notification is to be performed. The notification information generation unit 207 generates notification information having the determined content when notifying the notification information.

Transmission control section 208 controls signal transmission timing in wireless transmission section 209 . Further, the transmission control unit 208 controls transmission timing of transmission data acquired from a data processing unit (not shown in FIG. 28) and/or control information or notification information transmitted to the base station 10 . Also, the transmission control unit 208 performs predetermined transmission processing on at least one of the notification information, the transmission data, and the control information, and generates a UL signal. Note that the predetermined transmission processing may include baseband signal processing such as encoding processing and modulation processing.

Radio transmission section 209 transmits a UL signal to base station 10 based on transmission timing control in transmission control section 208 .

In the terminal 20 described above, the control unit 210 selects a plurality of candidates representing the state of the robot 20x based on the position of the robot 20x (an example of a moving body) and the state of an elevator (an example of a transport mechanism) used by the robot 20x. The state of the robot 20x is determined from among them, and transmission control of notification information is performed according to the state of the robot 20x. Also, the wireless transmission unit 209 (an example of a transmission unit) transmits notification information to the monitoring server 30 (an example of an external device) that monitors the robot 20x according to transmission control.

With this configuration, appropriate notification information is transmitted according to the state of the robot 20x, so information notified from the robot 20x can be appropriately controlled.

Note that at least part of the configuration of the base station 10 described above may be included in the terminal 20 . Alternatively, at least part of the configuration of terminal 20 described above may be included in base station 10 .

<Configuration of Monitoring Server 30>
FIG. 29 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the monitoring server 30 according to this embodiment. The monitoring server 30 includes a reception unit 301, a reception control unit 302, an information classification unit 303, an elevator outside state display control unit 304, an elevator door closed state display control unit 305, an elevator boarding state display control unit 306, Elevator getting off state display control section 307 , midway floor state first display control section 308 , midway floor state second display control section 309 , transmission control section 310 , transmission section 311 , and display section 313 are provided. A reception control unit 302, an information classification unit 303, an elevator outside state display control unit 304, an elevator door closed state display control unit 305, an elevator boarding state display control unit 306, an elevator exit state display control unit 307, and The first floor state display control unit 308 , the second intermediate floor state display control unit 309 , and the transmission control unit 310 may be included in the control unit 312 of the monitoring server 30 .

Receiving section 301 receives a signal from base station 10 based on timing control in reception control section 302 . Reception section 301 outputs the received signal to reception control section 302 . The received signal includes, for example, display information.

The reception control section 302 controls reception timing in the reception section 301 . Further, the reception control unit 302 performs predetermined reception processing on the received signal. For example, the predetermined reception processing includes frequency conversion processing (down-conversion). Also, the predetermined reception processing may include baseband signal processing such as demodulation processing and decoding processing.

The reception control unit 302 extracts reception data and/or display information from a signal that has undergone predetermined reception processing. The reception control section 302 outputs the reception data to a data processing section (not shown in FIG. 29) that performs signal processing of the upper layer. When the display information is extracted, reception control section 302 outputs the extracted display information to information classification section 303 .

The information classification unit 303 classifies the display information for each state of the robot 20x. The information classification unit 303 outputs the classified information to the display control unit for each state of the robot 20x.

The outside-elevator state display control unit 304 acquires display information when the state of the robot 20x is the outside-elevator state, and controls the display on the display unit 313 according to the outside-elevator state.

The elevator door closed state display control unit 305 acquires display information when the state of the robot 20x is the elevator door closed state, and controls the display in the display unit 313 according to the elevator door closed state.

The elevator boarding state display control unit 306 acquires display information when the state of the robot 20x is the elevator boarding state, and controls the display on the display unit 313 according to the elevator boarding state.

The elevator get-off state display control unit 307 acquires display information when the robot 20x is in the elevator get-off state, and controls the display on the display unit 313 according to the elevator get-off state.

The first half-floor state display control unit 308 acquires display information when the state of the robot 20x is the half-floor state and the number of passengers getting on and off the elevator is greater than a predetermined number. Control the display.

The mid-floor state second display control unit 309 acquires display information when the state of the robot 20x is the mid-floor state and the number of passengers getting on and off the elevator is equal to or less than a predetermined number. control the display.

The transmission control unit 310 controls transmission timing of transmission data acquired from the data processing unit (not shown in FIG. 29) and/or control information transmitted to the base station 10 . Further, the transmission control unit 310 performs predetermined transmission processing on at least one of transmission data and control information to generate a signal. Note that the predetermined transmission processing may include baseband signal processing such as encoding processing and modulation processing.

The transmission section 311 transmits a signal to the base station 10 based on transmission timing control in the transmission control section 310 .

The embodiment has been described above.

Although the embodiment described above illustrates a system in which the monitoring server 30 monitors information acquired by the robot 20x while moving indoors and/or outdoors, the present disclosure is not limited to this. For example, the present disclosure may be applied to a system in which a robot transports objects while moving indoors and/or outdoors, or a system in which a robot moves indoors and/or outdoors to pick up and drop off visitors. . In this case, the server that operates the robot can appropriately control the robot by checking the robot's position information and the camera image.

It should be noted that the above-described embodiment can be applied both when the robot is operated by the user and when the robot operates autonomously. Also, the present invention can be applied to a case where the user operates the robot in some actions and/or in some states, and the robot operates autonomously otherwise. Here, for some actions and/or some states, for example, an action when the elevator stops on the middle floor may be selected. Further, the operation may be selected when the elevator stops at the middle floor and the number of passengers on the middle floor is larger than a predetermined number. In this case, for example, when the number of passengers getting on and off is greater than a predetermined number, the robot may once get off the elevator and get on the elevator again, according to the user's instruction (or operation).

It should be noted that the "... section" in the above embodiment means "... circuitry", "... device", "... unit", or "... module". good too.

In addition, the notation of "channel" in the above embodiments may be "frequency", "frequency channel", "band", "band", "carrier", "subcarrier", or "(frequency) resource". may be replaced with the notation of

The present disclosure can be implemented in software, hardware, or software in conjunction with hardware.

Each functional block used in the description of the above embodiments is partially or wholly realized as an LSI, which is an integrated circuit, and each process described in the above embodiments is partially or wholly implemented as It may be controlled by one LSI or a combination of LSIs. An LSI may be composed of individual chips, or may be composed of one chip so as to include some or all of the functional blocks. The LSI may have data inputs and outputs. LSIs are also called ICs, system LSIs, super LSIs, and ultra LSIs depending on the degree of integration.

The method of circuit integration is not limited to LSI, and may be realized by a dedicated circuit, a general-purpose processor, or a dedicated processor. Also, an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) that can be programmed after the LSI is manufactured, or a reconfigurable processor that can reconfigure the connections and settings of the circuit cells inside the LSI may be used. The present disclosure may be implemented as digital or analog processing.

Furthermore, if an integration technology that replaces the LSI appears due to advances in semiconductor technology or another technology derived from it, that technology may naturally be used to integrate the functional blocks. Application of biotechnology, etc. is possible.

The present disclosure can be implemented in any kind of apparatus, device, system (collectively communication equipment) with communication capabilities. Non-limiting examples of communication devices include telephones (mobile phones, smart phones, etc.), tablets, personal computers (PCs) (laptops, desktops, notebooks, etc.), cameras (digital still/video cameras, etc.). ), digital players (digital audio/video players, etc.), wearable devices (wearable cameras, smartwatches, tracking devices, etc.), game consoles, digital book readers, telehealth and telemedicine (remote health care/medicine prescription) devices, vehicles or mobile vehicles with communication capabilities (automobiles, planes, ships, etc.), and combinations of the various devices described above.

Communication equipment is not limited to portable or movable equipment, but any type of equipment, device or system that is non-portable or fixed, e.g. smart home devices (household appliances, lighting equipment, smart meters or measuring instruments, control panels, etc.), vending machines, and any other "Things" that can exist on the IoT (Internet of Things) network.

The communication includes data communication by a cellular system, a wireless LAN system, a communication satellite system, etc., as well as data communication by a combination of these systems.

Communication apparatus also includes devices such as controllers and sensors that are connected or coupled to communication devices that perform the communication functions described in this disclosure. Examples include controllers and sensors that generate control and data signals used by communication devices to perform the communication functions of the communication apparatus.

Communication equipment also includes infrastructure equipment, such as base stations, access points, and any other equipment, device, or system that communicates with or controls the various equipment, not limited to those listed above. .

Various embodiments have been described above with reference to the drawings, but it goes without saying that the present disclosure is not limited to such examples. It is obvious that a person skilled in the art can conceive of various modifications or modifications within the scope described in the claims, and these also belong to the technical scope of the present disclosure. Understood. Also, the components in the above embodiments may be combined arbitrarily without departing from the gist of the disclosure.

Although specific examples of the present disclosure have been described in detail above, they are merely examples and do not limit the scope of the claims. The technology described in the claims includes various modifications and changes of the specific examples illustrated above.

The present disclosure is suitable for wireless communication systems.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 base station 20 terminal 30 monitoring server 101, 301 receiver 102, 202, 302 reception control unit 103, 206 state determination unit 104 display information generation unit 105 server communication unit 106, 208, 310 transmission control unit 107, 311 transmission unit 108, 210, 312 control unit 201 radio reception unit 203 satellite signal reception unit 204 indoor positioning signal reception unit 205 position detection unit 207 notification information generation unit 209 radio transmission unit 303 information classification unit 304 elevator outside state display control unit 305 elevator door closed State display control unit 306 Elevator boarding state display control unit 307 Elevator exit state display control unit 308 Midway floor state first display control unit 309 Midway floor state second display control unit 313 Display unit

Claims (13)

determining the state of the moving body from among a plurality of candidates representing the state of the moving body based on the position of the moving body and the state of the transport mechanism used by the moving body; , a control unit that controls transmission of notification information;
a transmission unit that transmits the notification information to an external device that monitors the mobile object according to the transmission control;
terminal with The transmission control includes at least one of determining whether or not to transmit the notification information, and determining information included in the notification information.
A terminal according to claim 1 . the plurality of candidates includes a first state in which the moving object exists outside the transport mechanism and a second state in which the moving object exists inside the transport mechanism;
When the state of the mobile body is the second state, the control unit performs transmission control so as not to transmit the notification information.
A terminal according to claim 1 . The plurality of candidates are a third state in which the moving body exists outside the transport mechanism, and a third state in which the moving body exists inside the transport mechanism and the door of the transport mechanism is closed. 4, and a fifth state in which the movable body exists inside the transport mechanism and the door of the transport mechanism is open,
When the state of the mobile object is the fourth state, the control unit performs transmission control so as not to transmit the notification information.
A terminal according to claim 1 . When the state of the moving body is the fifth state or the third state, the control unit controls image information indicating an image taken by the moving body and a position indicating the position of the moving body. generate notification information including at least one of the information;
A terminal according to claim 4. The control unit
when the state of the moving body is the third state, generating notification information including image information indicating an image captured by the moving body and position information indicating the position of the moving body;
generating notification information that does not include the image information and the position information when the state of the mobile object is the fifth state;
A terminal according to claim 4. The plurality of candidates are a sixth state in which the moving body exists outside the transport mechanism, and a sixth state in which the moving body exists inside the transport mechanism and the door of the transport mechanism is closed. 7, and an eighth state in which the moving body exists inside the transport mechanism, the door of the transport mechanism is open, and the transport mechanism is stopped on the first floor on which the moving body has boarded. and a ninth state in which the moving body exists inside the transport mechanism, the door of the transport mechanism is open, and the transport mechanism is stopped on the second floor where the moving body gets off. a state in which the moving body exists inside the transport mechanism, a door of the transport mechanism is in an open state, and the moving body is on a third floor different from the first floor and the second floor; a tenth state in which the transport mechanism is stopped;
A terminal according to claim 1 . When the state of the mobile object is the tenth state, the control unit performs transmission control so as not to transmit the notification information.
A terminal according to claim 7. When the state of the moving body is the tenth state, the control unit generates notification information not including image information indicating an image captured by the moving body and position information indicating the position of the moving body. do,
A terminal according to claim 7. When the state of the mobile body is the ninth state, the control unit generates notification information including image information indicating an image captured by the mobile body and position information indicating the position of the mobile body. ,
A terminal according to claim 7. When the state of the moving body is the tenth state, the control unit obtains image information indicating an image taken by the moving body and the position of the moving body based on the congestion state of the transport mechanism. generating either first notification information that does not include the location information indicating the image information, or second notification information that includes the image information and the location information;
A terminal according to claim 7. determining the state of the moving body from among a plurality of candidates representing the state of the moving body based on the position of the moving body and the state of a transport mechanism used by the moving body;
performing transmission control of notification information according to the state of the mobile body;
transmitting the notification information to an external device monitoring the mobile object according to the transmission control;
Communication method. comprising a terminal and a base station,
The terminal is
determining the state of the moving body from among a plurality of candidates representing the state of the moving body based on the position of the moving body and the state of a transport mechanism used by the moving body; , a first control unit that controls transmission of notification information;
a first transmission unit that transmits the notification information to the base station according to the transmission control;
with
The base station
a second receiving unit that receives the notification information;
a second control unit that generates display information to be displayed on a display device that monitors the moving object, based on the notification information;
a second transmission unit that transmits the display information to the display device;
comprising
Communications system.

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