JP7164357B2 - Lighting control device and method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a lighting control technique for controlling lighting and extinguishing of a plurality of lighting devices installed in a facility.

In large-scale buildings such as commercial buildings, so-called central air-conditioning, which controls the air-conditioning environment in a comfortable environment anytime, anywhere, regardless of the presence or absence of people, was common. Air-conditioning control technology is being introduced that realizes energy saving by detecting the positions of people in the room and turning off air conditioning and lighting in areas where there are no people in the room.

One of the air conditioning control technologies is lighting control technology. According to lighting control technology, for example, multiple infrared sensors attached to walls and ceilings detect a thermal image (thermography) of a room, and from the obtained thermal image, a human area indicating the surface temperature of a person is searched. Detects people in the room, controls the air-conditioning environment to a comfortable one only in spaces or areas where there are people in the room, and stops the air conditioning and lighting in spaces and areas where there are no people in the room.

In such lighting control technology, thermopile, thermistor, or porometer-type infrared detection elements called pyroelectric infrared sensors are used to detect the presence or absence of a person in the lighting area of the lighting equipment, and the human detection result is A technique for turning on and off the lighting equipment based on is used. As a result, lighting equipment can be controlled to turn on and off based on human detection results based on changes in illuminance and heat transfer, taking advantage of the fact that changes in illuminance and heat transfer occur when a person in the lighting area moves. will be

However, if the lighting equipment is simply turned on and off based on the human detection results, for example, if there is a person at the boundary of the lighting area, the human detection results will change sequentially due to the subtle movements of the person. , lighting equipment may blink repeatedly. When such flickering occurs, not only does it make people feel uncomfortable, but it also shortens the life of the lighting equipment.

Conventionally, in lighting control technology, a technology called delay control is used in order to suppress the occurrence of such blinking (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Delay control does not turn off the lighting equipment immediately after the presence of a person is detected, but turns off the lighting equipment for a predetermined delay time from the time when the presence of a person is no longer detected. is delayed. As a result, even when the human detection result changes successively due to the influence of subtle human movements, it is possible to stably illuminate the room because the lighting equipment is prevented from repeatedly turning on and off.

JP-A-08-096967

In the lighting control technology described above, when the presence or absence of a person is detected using an infrared detection element, when the person is stationary without moving within the detection area, or when the amount of movement is small, It becomes difficult to detect temperature changes caused by human actions. For this reason, an erroneous determination that there is no person occurs even though a person exists in the detection area, and the lighting device is turned off. In such a case, the administrator can extend the delay time in response to a complaint from the user. For example, a plurality of types of delay times such as 3 minutes, 5 minutes, and 10 minutes are prepared, and the administrator can extend the delay time according to complaints.

However, such measures result in the selection of the longest delay time, which poses a problem that the energy saving effect, which is the original purpose of the lighting control technology, cannot be sufficiently obtained. It is also conceivable that the manager frequently adjusts the delay time according to complaints, but there is a problem that the work load on the manager increases.

The present invention is intended to solve such problems, and it is possible to stably and efficiently control lighting equipment in a space without increasing the work load, even when an erroneous determination of human detection occurs. The purpose is to provide lighting control technology.

In order to achieve such an object, the lighting control device according to the present invention detects a person existing in the space to be controlled based on a thermal image detected from the space, and the obtained human detection result is A lighting control device for controlling lighting and extinguishing of lighting equipment installed in the space based on the human detection result, tracking the movement of the person in the space based on the human detection result, and the presence of the person is no longer detected A lost position detection unit that detects the lost position, and a lighting control unit that delays the lighting/extinguishing control by a preset delay time when controlling lighting/extinguishing of the lighting equipment in the space based on the human detection result. , the lost position detection unit confirms whether or not the presence of a person is re-detected at the lost position within a fixed re-detection determination period after the presence of a person is no longer detected at the lost position, and The control unit extends the delay time by a preset time when the re-detection is confirmed by the lost position detection unit.

Further, in one configuration example of the lighting control apparatus according to the present invention, the lost position detection unit determines whether the person being tracked based on the human detection result has stopped moving at an arbitrary lost position detected in the past. When the lost position detection unit confirms that the movement has stopped, the illumination control unit extends the delay time by a preset time.

Further, another lighting control device according to the present invention detects a person existing in the space based on a thermal image detected from the space to be controlled, and detects a person in the space based on the obtained human detection result. A lighting control device that controls lighting and extinguishing of installed lighting equipment, tracking the movement of people in the space based on the human detection result, and detecting the lost position where the presence of the person is no longer detected. a position detection unit; and a lighting control unit that delays the lighting/extinguishing control by a preset delay time when turning on/off the lighting equipment in the space based on the human detection result, wherein the lost position detection unit confirms whether or not the person being tracked stops moving at an arbitrary lost position detected in the past based on the human detection result, and the lighting control unit determines whether the movement stop is detected by the lost position detection unit is confirmed, the delay time is extended by a preset time.

Further, in one configuration example of the lighting control device according to the present invention, when the lost position detection unit stops detecting the presence of a certain number or more of people within a certain period of time at an arbitrary lost position, The delay time is not extended based on the human detection result.

Further, the lighting control method according to the present invention detects a person existing in the space based on the thermal image detected from the space to be controlled, and based on the obtained result of human detection, the lighting control method installed in the space. A lighting control method for use in a lighting control device that controls lighting and extinguishing of a lighting device, wherein a lost position detection unit tracks the movement of a person in the space based on the human detection result, and detects the presence of the person. a lost position detection step of detecting a lost position that is no longer detected; and a lighting control step for delaying the lost position detection step, wherein the presence of a person is re-detected at the lost position within a certain re-detection determination period after the presence of the person is no longer detected at the lost position. The lighting control step includes a step of extending the delay time by a preset time when the re-detection is confirmed by the lost position detection step.

Further, the lighting control method according to the present invention detects a person existing in the space based on the thermal image detected from the space to be controlled, and based on the obtained result of human detection, the lighting control method installed in the space. A lighting control method for use in a lighting control device that controls lighting and extinguishing of a lighting device, wherein a lost position detection unit tracks the movement of a person in the space based on the human detection result, and detects the presence of the person. a lost position detection step of detecting a lost position that is no longer detected; and the lost position detection step confirms whether the person being tracked has stopped moving at any lost position detected in the past based on the human detection result. wherein the lighting control step includes a step of extending the delay time by a preset time when the stoppage of movement is confirmed by the lost position detection step.

According to the present invention, the delay time is automatically extended in response to re-detection of a person at the lost position or stoppage of movement. Therefore, even if an erroneous determination of human detection occurs, it is possible to stably and efficiently control the lighting equipment in the space without increasing the work load.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of a lighting control apparatus. It is a configuration example of a loss list. 9 is a flowchart showing delay time extension processing; 9 is a timing chart showing an example of delay time extension operation (re-detection); 7 is a timing chart showing an example of delay time extension operation (movement stop);

Next, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[Lighting control device]
First, a lighting control device 10 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a lighting control device.
The lighting control device 10 is generally composed of an information processing device such as an industrial controller and a server device. This is a device that detects a person U, and controls the turning on/off of lighting equipment Q installed in R based on the obtained result of human detection.

The infrared sensor SP is a pyroelectric infrared sensor or the like placed on the ceiling or wall of the space R, detects a thermal image of the floor surface of the R at regular intervals, and transmits the image to the lighting control device 10 via the communication line L1. It has a function to send to
The lighting device Q is a lighting device such as a fluorescent lamp installed on the ceiling of the space R, and has a function of turning on/off according to lighting control from the lighting control device 10 via the communication line L1. .
It should be noted that the SP may be arranged at a position where a thermal image of the lighting area provided for each lighting device Q can be detected, and the positional relationship between the SP and Q is not particularly limited.

The lighting control device 10 includes a communication I/F section 11, a thermal image acquisition section 12, a storage section 13, a human detection section 14, a lost position detection section 15, and a lighting control section 16 as main functional sections. Among these functional units, the thermal image acquisition unit 12, the human detection unit 14, the lost position detection unit 15, and the illumination control unit 16 are realized by cooperation between a central processing unit (CPU) and a program.

The communication I/F section 11 has a function of performing data communication with the infrared sensor SP and the lighting equipment Q via the communication line L1.
The thermal image acquisition unit 12 has a function of acquiring a thermal image from the infrared sensor SP received by the communication I/F unit 11 and storing it in the storage unit 13 .

The storage unit 13 includes a storage device such as a hard disk or a semiconductor memory, and has a function of storing various processing information and programs used for lighting control processing in the lighting control device 10 . Main processing information stored in the storage unit 13 includes a thermal image and a loss list.
FIG. 2 is a configuration example of a loss list. Here, a set of lost position and lost time is registered for each ID that identifies an entry. As for the lost position, an area ID that identifies the lighting area of the lighting device Q may be used, or a coordinate position based on a two-dimensional coordinate system preset in the space R may be used.

The human detection unit 14 has a function of searching for a human region indicating the surface temperature of a person in the temperature distribution obtained from the time-series thermal images stored in the storage unit 13, and based on the obtained search results, It has a function of detecting the presence position of a person in the space R and outputting it as a result of human detection.

The lost position detection unit 15 has a function of tracking the movement of a person in the space R based on the human detection result obtained by the human detection unit 14, i. A function to detect the loss position and loss time and record it in the loss list of the storage unit 13, and a function to detect the presence of a person at the loss position within a certain redetection determination period after the presence of the person is no longer detected at the loss position. A function to confirm whether or not is re-detected, and when the presence of a certain number or more of people is no longer detected within a certain period of time at an arbitrary lost position, the delay time based on the human detection result at the lost position It has a function to invalidate without extending.

The lighting control unit 16 has a function of turning on/off the lighting equipment Q installed in the space R based on the human detection result obtained by the human detection unit 14, and a function of turning off the lighting equipment Q. 13, and a function of extending the delay time by a preset time when re-detection is confirmed by the lost position detector 15. have.

[Operation of this embodiment]
Next, operation of the lighting control device 10 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing delay time extension processing.
The lighting control device 10 executes the delay time extension process of FIG. 3 each time the thermal image acquisition unit 12 acquires a new thermal image.

First, the human detection unit 14 acquires a new thermal image stored in the storage unit 13 by the thermal image acquisition unit 12, detects the presence position of a person in the space R, and outputs it as a human detection result (step 100).
Next, the lost position detection unit 15 tracks the movement of the person existing in the space R from the obtained thermal image (step 101), and confirms whether or not the presence of the person being tracked is no longer detected. (step 102).

Here, if the occurrence of a loss is confirmed (step 102: YES), the lost position detector 15 records the lost position and the lost time in the lost list of the storage unit 13 (step 103). transition to If no loss has been confirmed (step 102: NO), recording to the loss list is skipped, and the process proceeds to step 104, which will be described later.

After that, in step 104, the lost position detection unit 15 confirms whether or not a person has been detected again at any lost position recorded in the lost list (step 104).
Here, if redetection is confirmed (step 104: YES), the lost position detection unit 15 compares the redetection time at which the redetection was confirmed with the loss time corresponding to the lost position. It is confirmed whether or not the detection time is within the re-detection determination period having a certain length of time from the loss time (step 105).

Here, if it is confirmed that the re-detection time is within the re-detection determination period (step 105: YES), after the presence of a person is no longer detected at an arbitrary loss position, within the re-detection determination period, the loss Since the presence of a person at the position is re-detected, the illumination control unit 16 extends the delay time by the preset time (step 106), and terminates the series of delay time extension processing.

Also, in step 104, if the person is not re-detected at any lost position (step 104: NO), or in step 105, if the re-detection time exceeds the re-detection determination period (step 105: NO), the lost position detection unit 15 checks whether or not the person being tracked has stopped moving at any lost position detected in the past based on the human detection result (step 107).

Here, if it is confirmed that the person has stopped moving at any lost position (step 107: YES), the lighting control unit 16 proceeds to step 106 and extends the delay time by a preset time ( Step 106), the series of delay time extension processing ends.
If it is not confirmed that the person has stopped moving at any lost position (step 107: NO), the series of delay time extension processing ends without extending the delay time.

In addition, in FIG. 3, both the function of extending the delay time in response to re-detection of the presence of a person within the re-detection determination period and the function of extending the delay time in response to the stoppage of movement of the person at the lost position are displayed in parallel. Although the case where both are implemented has been described as an example, the present invention is not limited to this, and only one of them may be implemented.

[Example of operation]
Next, an example of delay time extension operation according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a timing chart showing an example of delay time extension operation (re-detection). Here, an example will be described in which the delay time is extended from td1 to td2 in response to redetection of the presence of a person within the redetection determination period.

As shown in FIG. 4, first, at time T1, when the presence of a person is detected in an arbitrary lighting area, the lighting equipment Q corresponding to that lighting area is turned on, and tracking of the person is started.
At time T2 after this, if the presence of a person is no longer detected in the same lighting area and a loss occurs, the turn-off timing of the lighting device Q is extended by the delay time td1 at time T2, until time T2+delay time td1. At the corresponding time T3, the lighting device Q is turned off. Also, the loss position where the loss occurred and the loss time T2 are recorded in the loss list.

After that, when the presence of a person is re-detected in the same illumination area at time T4, the re-detection position coincides with the lost position, and the re-detection determination that the re-detection time T4 is from the loss time T2 to time T5. If it is included in the period Th, the delay time is extended from td1 to td2.
After that, at time T6, when the presence of a person is no longer detected, the turn-off timing of lighting device Q is extended by delay time td2 at time T6, and lighting device Q is turned off at time T7 corresponding to time T6+delay time td2. is extinguished.

Next, another delay time extension operation example according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a timing chart showing an example of delay time extension operation (movement stop). Here, an example will be described in which the delay time is extended from td1 to td2 in accordance with the stoppage of movement of the person at the lost position.

As shown in FIG. 5, first, at time T11, when the presence of a person is detected in an arbitrary lighting area, the lighting equipment Q corresponding to that lighting area is turned on, and tracking of the person is started.
At time T12 after this, if the presence of a person in the same lighting area is no longer detected and a loss occurs, the turn-off timing of lighting equipment Q is extended by the delay time td1 at time T12, and time T12 + delay time td1. At the corresponding time T13, lighting device Q is turned off. Also, the loss position where the loss occurred and the loss time T12 are recorded in the loss list.

After that, when the presence of a person is re-detected in the same illumination area at time T15, even if the re-detection position coincides with the lost position, the re-detection time T15 is re-detection determination from loss time T12 to time T15. Since it is outside the period Th, the delay time remains td1. On the other hand, if the tracked person stops moving at time T16 and the movement stop position matches any lost position recorded in the lost list, the delay time is extended from td1 to td2.
After that, at time T17, when the presence of a person is no longer detected, the turn-off timing of lighting device Q is extended by delay time td2 at time T17, and at time T18 corresponding to time T17+delay time td2, lighting device Q is turned off. is extinguished.

Note that when lighting control is performed individually for each lighting area of the lighting device Q, an individual delay time is applied for each lighting area. Therefore, when extending the delay time in response to re-detection of the presence of a person at the lost position, it is sufficient to extend the delay time corresponding to the illumination area including the lost position. At this time, as for the re-detection determination time, a separate re-detection determination time may be used for each lighting area according to the situation of people coming in and out of the lighting area. Similarly, when extending the delay time according to the stoppage of movement of the person at the lost position, the delay time corresponding to the lighting area including the movement stop position may be extended.

Also, when lighting control is performed for the entire space R, the same delay time is applied to the entire space R. FIG. Therefore, in the case of extending the delay time in response to re-detection of the presence of the person at the lost position, and in the case of extending the delay time in response to the stoppage of movement of the person at the lost position, the same delay time in the entire space R will be extended.

It should be noted that the extended delay time may be initialized when the lighting equipment Q is turned off, such as at midnight, or after a certain period of time has elapsed after turning off the lighting equipment Q.

[Effects of this embodiment]
In this way, the present embodiment detects whether the presence of a person at the lost position is re-detected within a certain re-detection determination period after the presence of the human at the lost position is no longer detected by the lost position detector 15. If the lost position detection unit 15 confirms re-detection, the illumination control unit 16 extends the delay time by a preset time.

As a result, when a person is re-detected at the lost position within the re-detection determination period after the loss, the delay time is automatically extended. Therefore, even if an erroneous determination of human detection occurs, it is possible to stably and efficiently control the lighting equipment Q in the space R without increasing the work load.

In reality, when detecting the presence or absence of a person using an infrared detection element, the presence of a person is not detected due to factors such as the person standing still without moving or the amount of movement of the person being small. There is a case where the lighting equipment Q is extinguished. In such a case, it is possible to automatically extend the delay time by simply appealing the presence of the person by standing up and moving or making a large gesture in response to the lighting equipment Q being turned off. Become.

Further, in the present embodiment, the lost position detection unit 15 confirms whether or not the person being tracked has stopped moving at an arbitrary lost position detected in the past based on the human detection result, and the lighting control unit 16 may extend the delay time by a preset time when the lost position detection unit 15 confirms that the movement has stopped.

In general, erroneous human detection occurs for some reason. For example, when an erroneous determination occurs in the presence position of a specific person, it may be difficult to detect the presence state of that person. Moreover, it is conceivable that a disturbance factor such as sunlight or a heat source exists at an arbitrary position. In this way, the cause of erroneous determination is positional, and erroneous determination occurs at the same position. Therefore, when a person stopped moving at the past lost position, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of lights-out due to an erroneous determination by automatically extending the delay time.

In the present embodiment, when the presence of a certain number or more of people is no longer detected at an arbitrary lost position within a certain period of time, the lost position detection unit 15 sets the delay time based on the human detection result at the lost position. You may choose not to extend.
As a result, even if the presence of a person is not detected at the entrance/exit of the space R and a loss occurs, it is possible to prevent the delay time from being erroneously extended.

[Expansion of Embodiment]
Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. Various changes that can be understood by those skilled in the art can be made to the configuration and details of the present invention within the scope of the present invention. In addition, each embodiment can be implemented in any combination within a non-contradictory range.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Lighting control apparatus 11... Communication I/F part 12... Thermal image acquisition part 13... Storage part 14... Human detection part 15... Lost position detection part 16... Lighting control part SP... Infrared sensor, Q: lighting equipment, R: space, U: person, L1: communication line, td1, td2: delay time, th: re-detection determination period.

Claims (6)

Lighting control that detects a person existing in the space based on a thermal image detected from the space to be controlled, and controls lighting and extinguishing of the lighting equipment installed in the space based on the obtained human detection result. a device,
a lost position detection unit that tracks the movement of a person in the space based on the human detection result and detects a lost position where the presence of the person is no longer detected;
a lighting control unit that delays the lighting/extinguishing control by a preset delay time when lighting/extinguishing the lighting equipment in the space based on the human detection result,
The lost position detection unit confirms whether or not the presence of a person is re-detected at the lost position within a certain re-detection determination period after the presence of a person is no longer detected at the lost position,
The lighting control device, wherein the lighting control unit extends the delay time by a preset time when the lost position detection unit confirms the re-detection. The lighting control device of claim 1,
The lost position detection unit checks whether the person being tracked has stopped moving at any lost position detected in the past based on the human detection result,
The lighting control device, wherein the lighting control unit extends the delay time by a preset time when the lost position detection unit confirms that the movement has stopped. Lighting control that detects a person existing in the space based on a thermal image detected from the space to be controlled, and controls lighting and extinguishing of the lighting equipment installed in the space based on the obtained human detection result. a device,
a lost position detection unit that tracks the movement of a person in the space based on the human detection result and detects a lost position where the presence of the person is no longer detected;
a lighting control unit that delays the lighting/extinguishing control by a preset delay time when lighting/extinguishing the lighting equipment in the space based on the human detection result,
The lost position detection unit confirms whether or not the person being tracked stops moving at an arbitrary lost position detected in the past based on the human detection result,
The lighting control device, wherein the lighting control unit extends the delay time by a preset time when the lost position detection unit confirms that the movement has stopped. In the lighting control device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The lost position detection unit is characterized in that, when presence of a certain number or more of people is no longer detected at any lost position within a certain period of time, the delay time is not extended based on the human detection result at the lost position. lighting control device. Lighting control that detects a person existing in the space based on a thermal image detected from the space to be controlled, and controls lighting and extinguishing of the lighting equipment installed in the space based on the obtained human detection result. A lighting control method for use in a device, comprising:
a lost position detection step in which the lost position detection unit tracks the movement of the person in the space based on the human detection result and detects the lost position where the presence of the person is no longer detected;
a lighting control step of delaying the lighting/extinguishing control by a preset delay time when the lighting control unit performs lighting/extinguishing control of the lighting equipment in the space based on the human detection result;
The lost position detection step includes a step of confirming whether or not the presence of a person is re-detected at the lost position within a fixed re-detection determination period after the presence of a person is no longer detected at the lost position,
The lighting control method, wherein the lighting control step includes a step of extending the delay time by a preset time when the re-detection is confirmed by the lost position detection step. Lighting control that detects a person existing in the space based on a thermal image detected from the space to be controlled, and controls lighting and extinguishing of the lighting equipment installed in the space based on the obtained human detection result. A lighting control method for use in a device, comprising:
a lost position detection step in which the lost position detection unit tracks the movement of the person in the space based on the human detection result and detects the lost position where the presence of the person is no longer detected;
a lighting control step of delaying the lighting/extinguishing control by a preset delay time when the lighting control unit performs lighting/extinguishing control of the lighting equipment in the space based on the human detection result;
The lost position detection step includes a step of confirming whether or not the person being tracked has stopped moving at any lost position detected in the past based on the human detection result,
The lighting control method, wherein the lighting control step includes a step of extending the delay time by a preset time when the stoppage of movement is confirmed by the lost position detection step.

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