JP6659056B2 - Monitoring system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a viewing system.

  Conventionally, a system has been proposed in which a human body sensor such as an infrared sensor is provided on a bed, a toilet, or a bathroom to monitor a living condition (for example, Patent Document 1). In addition, an abnormality detection means is connected to meter reading meters for electricity, gas, water, etc., and if all flow rates hardly change for a long time, or if water or gas flow continues to flow for more than a predetermined time, an abnormality is detected. A determination system has also been proposed (for example, Patent Document 2). In addition, in order to detect abnormalities of the managed person, sensors responding to the passage of the entrance to the dwelling unit, sensors responding to turning on and off the television, sensors responding to opening and closing of the toilet door, sensors responding to the use of water supply, etc. There has also been proposed a system for collecting information by using the information (for example, Patent Document 3).

JP 2002-251686 A JP-A-9-28681 JP-A-11-232567

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been proposed a technique for monitoring whether or not there is any abnormality in the life of a target person using a sensor provided in a house. However, when a living body is detected by a so-called human sensor, or when starting and stopping of an electric appliance or opening and closing of a door is detected, the sensor is provided in a living space such as a room. Therefore, it is necessary for the installed sensor to disturb the life of the person to be monitored in the life of the person to be monitored, or to install the sensor or the like in the house with the trouble of construction and maintenance. Similarly, in the case of installing a sensor for monitoring the usage of electricity, water, gas, or the like, there is a problem in that the installation work and maintenance of the equipment require time and effort.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to reduce the trouble on the life of the monitoring target person and the trouble of introducing and maintaining the system in the system for watching the life of the target person.

  The monitoring system according to the present invention is provided around a pipe in a house, and a sensor for monitoring a flow state inside the pipe, and information indicating the presence or absence of a flow based on information indicating the flow state monitored by the sensor. And a viewing device for acquiring the information. Then, when the flow is not detected for the first predetermined period or longer, or when the flow is continuously detected for the second predetermined period or longer, the viewing device outputs information indicating a warning to a predetermined output destination.

  With such a monitoring system, it is possible to monitor the state of life of the target person via the state of the pipe in which the sensor is installed. In addition, since the sensor is installed around the pipe, the introduction of the system does not significantly affect the life of the subject. At the same time, the effort for system introduction and maintenance is reduced.

In addition, the viewing device acquires information indicating the movement of the fluid from each of the sensors provided in the plurality of pipes, and when the movement of the fluid is not detected by all the sensors for a first predetermined period or more, or When the sensor of the above-mentioned sensor continuously detects for a second predetermined period or more, information indicating a warning may be output. Specifically, an abnormality can be detected by such a determination.

  Further, the sensor may be a vibration sensor, and when the vibration of a predetermined range of frequencies is detected by the sensor, the viewing device may determine that the movement of the fluid inside the pipe has been detected. In particular, if the vibration sensor is installed around the pipe, the trouble of introducing and maintaining the system is reduced.

  In addition, the viewing device accumulates information indicating the presence or absence of a flow in the storage unit, obtains a predetermined reference value based on the information indicating the presence or absence of the accumulated flow, and obtains information indicating the presence or absence of the newly acquired flow. Indicates a value that has changed from the reference value by a predetermined threshold value or more, information indicating a warning may be output to a predetermined output destination. In this way, a warning can be output when the life pattern of the subject monitored by the sensor changes.

  The contents described in the means for solving the above problems can be combined as much as possible without departing from the problems and technical ideas of the present invention. The contents of the means for solving the above problems can be provided as a method of causing a computer to execute the processing or a program for causing a computer to execute the processing, in addition to the monitoring system. Further, a recording medium holding the program may be provided.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, in the system for watching the life of a monitoring target person, the trouble to the life of a monitoring target person and the trouble of introducing and maintaining a system can be reduced.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a system configuration. It is a side view which shows an example of the sensor module installed in the faucet. It is a perspective view showing an example of a sensor module installed in piping. It is sectional drawing which represents the functional structure of a sensor module typically. It is a functional block diagram showing an example of a viewing device. It is an example of the information which shows the use condition of the equipment stored in the table. FIG. 2 is a device configuration diagram illustrating an example of a computer. It is a processing flow figure showing an example of a viewing process.

<System configuration>
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiment is an example of the present invention, and the configuration of the present invention is not limited to the following example.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of the entire system according to the present embodiment. The system according to the present embodiment includes a viewing device 1, a sensor management device 2 and one or more sensor modules 21 provided in a house or the like, and a notification destination terminal that is a destination to which information is transmitted when a predetermined condition is satisfied. 3 are connected via a network 4 such as the Internet. The viewing device 1 collects information from the sensor management device 2 via the network 4 and determines whether there is any abnormality in the life of the person to be viewed. The sensor management device 2 is installed, for example, for each building or dwelling unit (in other words, for each household), and transmits information collected from one or more sensor modules 21 to the viewing device 1. The notification destination terminal 3 is a notification destination when the viewing device 1 detects an abnormality, and receives a message such as an e-mail from the viewing device 1 via the network 4. Typically, a mode in which the sensor management device 2 and the sensor module 21 are installed in an elderly person living alone and a relative or the like who lives in a remote place uses the notification destination device 3 can be exemplified. The number of houses, sensor modules 21, notification destination devices 3, and the like is not particularly limited.

  FIG. 2A is a side view showing an example of the sensor module 21 installed on the faucet. FIG. 2B is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the sensor module 21 installed in the pipe. The sensor module 21 is installed around a dedicated pipe 22 (also simply referred to as “pipe”) such as a drain pipe or a water pipe of a house. The sensor module 21 may have a shape that can be fitted (fitted) around the pipe or a shape that can be clamped to the pipe. Further, the sensor module 21 may be fixed by fixing means such as a string, a wire, a binding band, or the like, or may be fixed by a magnetic force depending on the material of the pipe. The periphery of the pipe means at least a part of the outer circumference of the pipe.

  FIG. 2C is a schematic cross-sectional view for explaining a functional configuration of the sensor module 21 shown in FIG. 2A. The sensor module 21 selects an annular portion 211 that is a connecting means for attaching around the pipe 22, a sound collecting section 212 that contacts the pipe 22 and transmits sound and vibration in the pipe 22, and selects a predetermined resonance frequency. A communication unit including a resonance unit 213 that amplifies the current, a sensor such as a vibration sensor (for example, a sound collection microphone), and a flow determination unit that determines the presence or absence of movement (flow) of the fluid in the pipe; Interface) 214.

  For example, when a fluid (liquid) flows through the pipe 22, white noise is generated in a predetermined frequency band as a flowing sound. The vibration of the white noise is transmitted to the sensor unit 213 via the sound collection unit 211 and the resonance unit 212 of the sensor module 21 that comes into contact with the pipe 22. The resonance section 212 resonates with a specific frequency based on a natural frequency determined by the distance between the sound collection section 211 and the sensor unit 213, the size of the sensor module 21, and the like.

  The sensors included in the sensor unit 213 according to the present embodiment are, for example, various microphones and other vibration sensors. The sensor monitors the state of the flow inside the pipe and converts the detected vibration into an electric signal. Further, the presence or absence of the flow may be determined by the flow determination unit included in the sensor unit 213 when the amplitude is equal to or more than the predetermined threshold, when the vibration continues for a time equal to or more than the predetermined threshold, or when the vibration continues, or a combination of these conditions. It may be.

The communication IF 214 is connected to the sensor management device 2 by wire or wirelessly, and transmits information indicating that the fluid has moved in the pipe to the sensor management device 2. The sensor and the management device 2 may convert the measured frequency (frequency) into the amplitude of the carrier wave and transmit the same, for example, or an amplitude modulation (AM) system that transmits the measured frequency (frequency) to the carrier wave. Wireless communication is performed by a frequency modulation (FM) method or the like that is transmitted as a change in frequency. The transmission of the radio wave may be performed when the flow determination unit described above determines that there is a flow. It should be noted that a digital signal may be transmitted by connecting using a serial cable, a twisted pair cable, another signal cable, or a wireless communication method such as wireless LAN or Bluetooth (registered trademark). Further, a plurality of sensors may constitute a machine-to-machine (M2M) system, and information may be transmitted via the plurality of sensors.

  In the present embodiment, when a plurality of sensor modules 21 are installed in a house, for example, the frequency output from each sensor module 21 by the above-described resonance unit 212 is set to a different value. In this way, the sensor management device 2 can determine the sensor module 21 based on the information indicating the frequency included in the received radio wave. That is, it is not necessary to determine the identifier or the like of the sensor module 21 by a digital circuit, so that the cost can be reduced.

The sensor module 21 as described above is provided in a plumbing facility such as a kitchen, a washroom, a bathroom, a toilet, and the like, and the sensor management device 2 collects information indicating that the movement of the fluid in the pipe has been detected. Here, the information indicating that the movement of the fluid in the pipe has been detected is, in other words, information indicating the use status of the facility. In addition, the sensor module 21 outputs a measured value (for example, a vibration frequency) to the sensor management device 2, and the flow determination unit provided in the sensor management device 2 determines whether or not each facility is used. Is also good. Then, the sensor management device 2 transmits to the viewing device 1 information indicating the usage status of the predetermined equipment provided in the building or the dwelling unit. The sensor module 21 is supplied with power by a power cable (not shown), non-contact power transmission, a battery, and the like.

  FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram illustrating an example of the viewing device 1. The viewing device 1 in FIG. 3 includes a storage unit 11, a sensor data acquisition unit 12, an abnormality determination unit 13, and a warning output unit 14. The storage unit 11 stores information acquired from the sensor management device 2 and stores conditions for determining whether there is an abnormality. The sensor data acquisition unit 12 acquires information indicating the use status of the monitored facility from the sensor management device 2 via the network 4 and stores the information in the storage unit 11. In addition, the abnormality determination unit 13 reads information indicating the use status of the equipment stored in the storage unit 11 and determines whether or not a condition for determining an abnormality is satisfied. Then, the warning output unit 14 notifies the notification destination device 3 via the network 4 when the abnormality determination unit 13 detects an abnormality.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of information indicating the usage status of the equipment stored in the storage unit 11. The table of FIG. 4 includes columns of house ID, sensor ID, start date and time, and end date and time. In the house ID column, identification information capable of uniquely specifying a single-family building or a dwelling unit of an apartment house is registered based on the living environment of the person to be viewed (also referred to as a person to be viewed). Based on the house ID, it is possible to determine whether or not the person to be viewed has used at least one of the facilities. In the column of the sensor ID, identification information that can uniquely specify the sensor module is registered. Based on the sensor ID, it is possible to determine which equipment has been used. In the columns of the start date and time and the end date and time, the date and time when the use of the equipment is started and the date and time when the use of the equipment is ended are registered. The information indicating the date and time may be added by any of the sensor module 21, the sensor management device 2, the viewing device 1, and the like. Even if there is an error in the time, it is possible to grasp the general facility use status of the person being watched.

  By using such information, for example, when the use of the facilities is not detected for a predetermined period or more in all the sensor modules to which the same house ID is assigned, there is a possibility that an abnormality has occurred in the life of the monitoring target person. It can be determined that there is. Further, when the use of the equipment is not terminated for a predetermined period or more in any of the sensor modules, there is a possibility that an abnormality has occurred in the life of the person to be viewed or a failure has occurred in the equipment. May be determined. In addition, after calculating the feature amount from the life pattern of the person to be watched or performing clustering (cluster analysis), it is determined that there is a possibility that there is a possibility of an abnormality when the usage status of the device described above changes. It may be.

  The notification destination device 3 illustrated in FIG. 1 is a destination computer that notifies the abnormality when the viewing device 1 detects an abnormality. That is, the notification destination device 3 is a device used by a system user to be notified when an abnormality is detected in the life of the person to be viewed. Note that a configuration may be employed in which a notification message such as an e-mail is transmitted from the viewing device 1 to the notification destination device 3 via a predetermined server device (not shown). Further, a push notification may be made to the application software installed in the notification destination device 3 by a predetermined method. In addition, the notification destination device 3 may be configured to be able to refer to information indicating the usage status of the facility as illustrated in FIG. Specifically, a mobile phone, a smartphone, or another device connected to a communication network can be the notification destination device 3.

FIG. 5 is an example of a device configuration diagram of a computer. The viewing device 1, the sensor management device 2, and the notification destination device 3 are assumed to be computers as shown in FIG. The computer includes, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 1001, a main storage device 1002, an auxiliary storage device 1003, a communication IF (Interface) 1004, an input / output IF (Interface) 1005, a drive device 1006, and a communication bus 1007. The CPU 1001 performs a process described in the present embodiment by executing a program. The main storage device 1002 caches programs and data read by the CPU 1001, and expands a work area of the CPU. The main storage device is, specifically, a random access memory (RAM) or a read only memory (ROM). The auxiliary storage device 1003 stores a program executed by the CPU 1001, setting information used in the present embodiment, and the like. The auxiliary storage device 1003 is, specifically, an HDD, an SSD, a flash memory, or the like. The communication IF 1004 transmits and receives data to and from another computer device. The communication IF 1004 is specifically a wired or wireless network card or the like. The input / output IF 1005 is connected to the input / output device, and accepts input from a computer user or outputs information to the user. The input / output device is, specifically, a keyboard, a mouse, a display, a touch panel, or the like. The drive device 1006 reads data recorded on a recording medium such as a flexible disk, a CD (Compact Disc), a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), and a BD (Blu-ray (registered trademark) Disc), and reads data from the recording medium. Write. The above components are connected by a communication bus 1007. Note that a plurality of these components may be provided, or some of the components (for example, the drive device 1006) may not be provided. Further, the input / output device may be configured integrally with the computer.

<Viewing process>
Next, processing executed by the system will be described. FIG. 6 is a process flowchart illustrating an example of the viewing process performed by the viewing device 1. First, the sensor data acquisition unit 12 of the viewing device 1 determines whether information has been received from the sensor management device 2 (FIG. 6: S1). When the information has been received (S1: YES), the sensor data acquisition unit 12 stores the received information in the storage device 11 (S2). Here, information as shown in FIG. 4 is stored.

  Further, when it is determined that the information is not received in S1 (S1: NO), or after S2, the abnormality determination unit 13 of the viewing device 1 performs the viewing based on the information acquired from the sensor management device 2. It is determined whether an abnormality may have occurred in the life of the subject (S3). For example, if the use of the equipment is not detected for a predetermined period (for example, three days) or more in all the sensor modules assigned the same house ID, the abnormality determination unit 13 has caused an abnormality in the life of the monitoring target person. Judge that there is a possibility. Furthermore, if the use of the equipment is not terminated for more than a predetermined period (for example, 10 hours) in any of the sensor modules, there is a possibility that an abnormality has occurred in the life of the person to be viewed or a failure has occurred in the equipment. You may judge that there is.

  Here, a threshold value (a first predetermined period, for example, three days) when the equipment is not used continuously and a threshold value (a third time period) when the equipment usage is not determined to be abnormal are determined. 2 is also referred to as a predetermined period (for example, 10 hours), an arbitrary time is set in advance. Further, different periods may be applied depending on the type of equipment.

  Further, the possibility of occurrence of an abnormality may be determined based on a change in a life pattern. For example, a feature amount is calculated based on, for example, a feature vector based on the total usage time per day for each facility and the usage results for each facility and time zone, and a warning is transmitted when there is a change equal to or more than a predetermined threshold. You may do so. In addition, the average value of the number of times the equipment is used in a predetermined period (for example, several days to several months), or the range or distribution of the use time in one day may be obtained as a reference value. Then, in comparison with the reference value, when there is a change in the newly detected data equal to or more than a predetermined threshold, it may be determined that there is a possibility of occurrence of an abnormality. The change in the life pattern as described above may trigger early detection of symptoms such as dementia and wandering of the monitoring target person.

  Then, when it is determined that an abnormality may have occurred (S3: YES), the warning output unit 14 of the viewing device 1 transmits a warning to the notification destination device 3 via the network 4 (S4). It is assumed that the storage unit 11 of the viewing device 1 holds information of a destination to which a warning is notified in association with the house ID. The warning may be sent by e-mail to an e-mail address used by the user of the notification destination device 3, or by a push notification to application software installed on the notification destination device 3 by a predetermined method. Is also good.

  On the other hand, if it is determined that there is no possibility that an abnormality has occurred, or after S4, the process returns to S1 and repeats the process.

  In this way, it is possible to remotely monitor the usage status of the plumbing equipment in the house, and to monitor whether there is any abnormality in the life of the person being watched. In the present embodiment, the sensor module 21 is installed in a house pipe. Since it is not a part that is used frequently in everyday life, the obstacles to the subject's daily life are reduced compared to the case where they are installed in places that are used regularly, such as appliances and doors of houses. It can be said that. Further, the sensor module 21 can be provided around the pipe by some fixing means, so that the time required for construction and maintenance can be reduced.

<Threshold setting processing>
The sensor module 21 shown in FIG. 2 may be able to learn the vibration when the fluid moves in the pipe to be measured (when the equipment is used). For example, an operator of the sensor module 21 operates a water tap to set a state in which a small amount of water flows in the pipe or a state in which a large amount of water flows in the pipe. Then, the installation worker performs a predetermined operation on the sensor module 21 and, based on the vibration frequency per unit time measured by the sensor 211 at that time, the vibration when the fluid moves through the pipe to be measured. Is stored in the storage unit 213.

  Although the frequency to be measured changes depending on the size of the pipe, the amount of liquid flowing through the pipe, and the like, this threshold setting process makes it easy to set the pipe according to the pipe to be measured. In addition, such a setting is stored in the sensor management device 2 or the viewing device 1 instead of the sensor module 21, and the sensor management device 2 or the viewing device 1 that has received the measured frequency is used. It may be determined whether the equipment has been used. Note that the above-described threshold setting process does not set the value itself measured by the sensor 211, but rather sets the lower limit or upper limit with a margin so that the value measured by the sensor 211 is included in the range. You may. In addition, a predetermined threshold that is generally used may be set in the sensor module 21 and the like.

<Others>
The present invention includes a computer program that executes the above-described processing. Furthermore, a computer-readable recording medium on which the program is recorded also belongs to the category of the present invention. For the recording medium on which the program is recorded, the computer can read and execute the program on the recording medium to perform the viewing process.

  Here, the computer-readable recording medium refers to a recording medium in which information such as data and programs is accumulated by electrical, magnetic, optical, mechanical, or chemical action and can be read by a computer. Among such recording media, those removable from a computer include a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk, an optical disk, a magnetic tape, a memory card, and the like. Further, examples of the recording medium fixed to the computer include a hard disk drive and a ROM.

  Further, the sensor is not limited to the vibration sensor attached around the pipe, and various existing technologies can be adopted. For example, a sensor may be incorporated in the pipe, or the meter may be linked to a meter that counts the amount used. In addition, a rotating wheel having a blade member angled so as to rotate in a predetermined direction by a water flow is incorporated in a pipe, a valve, or the like, and a change in magnetic force is detected by a Hall element that rotates integrally with the rotating wheel, thereby pulsing. The flow rate may be measured by counting with a counter.

  Alternatively, different resonance plates may be incorporated into the plurality of vibration sensors, or the plurality of vibration sensors may be housed in different resonance boxes, respectively, so that the sensors can be identified by the measured frequency. In this way, the sensor management device 2 can identify which sensor module 21 is the value measured based on the measurement value acquired from the sensor module 21.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Viewing device 11 Storage unit 12 Sensor data acquisition unit 13 Abnormality judgment unit 14 Warning output unit 2 Sensor management device 21 Sensor module 22 Piping 3 Notification destination device 4 Network

Claims (2)

A sensor that is provided around each of the pipes connected to the plurality of facilities in the house and monitors the flow state inside each pipe,
The state of the flow inside the pipe monitored by the sensor, the vibration when a minimum amount of water to be detected as the flow is flowed through the pipe provided with the sensor is measured by the sensor, and measured. The stored frequency is stored in the storage unit as the lower limit, and the vibration when the maximum amount of water detected as the flow is caused to flow is measured by the sensor, and the measured frequency is stored in the storage unit as the upper limit. In addition , based on the state of the flow detected as the vibration of the frequency from the lower limit to the upper limit in the sensor, a viewing device that obtains a feature vector that represents the use results of each time period and each facility. ,
Has,
The viewing system determines a presence or absence of an abnormality based on a difference between the obtained feature vector and a feature vector in a past life pattern. Monitoring the flow state inside each pipe by a sensor provided around each of the pipes connected to the plurality of facilities in the house;
The monitoring device is a state of the flow inside the pipe monitored by the sensor, and the sensor measures a vibration when a minimum amount of water to be detected as the flow is passed through the pipe provided with the sensor. Then, the measured frequency is stored in the storage unit as a lower limit, and the vibration when the maximum amount of water detected as the flow is caused to flow is measured by the sensor, and the measured frequency is set as the upper limit. It is stored in a storage unit, based on the flow state detected as the vibration of the frequency from the lower limit to the upper limit in the sensor, based on the feature vector representing the use results for each time period and for each of the equipment Obtaining step, the viewing device, the determined feature vector, the step of determining the presence or absence of abnormality based on the difference between the feature vector in the past life pattern,
To perform the monitoring method.