JP7464970B2 - Disaster prevention information receiving system - Google Patents

Description

Article 30, paragraph 2 of the Patent Act applies. Publication date: October 30, 2019. Publication address: https://www. soumu. go. jp/soutsu/hokuriku/press/2019/pre191030. html Name of meeting Fukui Prefecture Comprehensive Disaster Prevention Drill 2019 Date held November 2, 2019 Publisher Dempa Shimbun Co., Ltd. Publication name Dempa Shimbun Daily edition, page 2, dated November 4, 2019 Date of publication November 4, 2019 Publisher Dempa Shimbun Co., Ltd. Publication name Dempa Shimbun Daily edition, page 11, dated November 13, 2019 Date of publication November 13, 2019 Publisher Dempa Times Co., Ltd. Publication name Dempa Times Bi-daily edition, dated November 18, 2019, page 1 Date of publication November 18, 2019 Name of meeting Hokuriku Disaster Prevention Information and Communications Seminar Date held December 5, 2019 Publisher Tannan Yume Radio NPO Publication name Yume Radio Editorial Office vol. 56 Page 43 Date of issue January 3, 2020

The present invention relates to a disaster prevention information receiving system that remotely controls disaster prevention devices and facilities in response to disaster prevention information transmitted to receivers such as televisions and radios when a disaster occurs.

Natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons and heavy rains occur almost every year in Japan, and in order to prepare for such disasters, there is a demand to provide accurate and prompt disaster prevention and disaster information to residents in affected areas and to rapidly carry out disaster prevention activities such as evacuation, emergency response and recovery activities.

Information about disaster prevention or disasters is provided to residents in affected areas using systems such as television broadcasts, radio broadcasts, and disaster prevention administrative radio. However, there is an issue that if receivers are turned off late at night, information is not transmitted and responses to disasters are delayed. Also, in the case of disasters that occur locally, such as torrential rain, providing information through wide-area broadcasting has the disadvantage that highly urgent information is frequently provided to unrelated areas, reducing residents' awareness of disaster information and delaying responses in emergencies.

For this reason, in recent years, it has been proposed to provide disaster information using FM broadcasting. For example, Patent Document 1 describes an emergency broadcast radio receiver that detects DTMF (Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency) signals contained in radio broadcast signals and outputs disaster information corresponding to the detected DTMF signals as audio. This makes it possible to accurately transmit emergency broadcasts using broadcasting without being affected by noise such as lightning surges, and also provides high reliability without malfunctions.

It has also been proposed to automatically control disaster prevention equipment in response to the rapid provision of disaster information. For example, Patent Document 2 describes how, when a disaster occurrence signal is received, the storage space of a disaster prevention locker is unlocked based on a command from a controller, allowing the door to be opened and closed.

Japanese Patent No. 6449632 JP 2018-193790 A

As mentioned above, it has become possible to reliably disseminate disaster information by accurately transmitting emergency broadcasts, but the issue is how to reliably respond to emergency broadcasts. As described in Patent Document 2, it is possible to rapidly respond to evacuation activities by automatically opening and closing disaster prevention lockers in response to disaster information. However, for example, if disaster prevention lockers are automatically controlled based on emergency broadcasts during evacuation drills, there is a risk that the disaster occurrence signal included in the emergency broadcast may be read and misused.

In particular, as described in Patent Document 1, when an emergency broadcast signal is transmitted by incorporating a DTMF signal into an FM broadcast signal, once an emergency broadcast has been broadcast, the transmitted emergency broadcast signal can be stored and analyzed. This makes it possible to control and misuse disaster prevention equipment based on the analyzed emergency broadcast signal.

As a result, even if emergency broadcasts are properly conveyed, there is an issue that they do not easily translate into swift disaster prevention activities.

The present invention aims to provide a disaster prevention information receiving system that can quickly and safely carry out disaster prevention activities when disaster prevention information is received via emergency broadcasts, etc.

The disaster prevention information receiving system according to the present invention is a disaster prevention information receiving system including a receiver that receives a broadcast signal and transmits control information corresponding to the disaster prevention information, and a disaster prevention equipment that receives and operates the control information, the receiver includes a signal receiving unit that receives a broadcast signal, a signal processing unit that extracts a DTMF signal included in the broadcast signal received by the signal receiving unit, a code processing unit that processes the DTMF signal extracted by the signal processing unit to read out code information corresponding to the disaster prevention information, and a transmission processing unit that creates control information by a conversion process that is different each time for the code information read out by the code processing unit, the disaster prevention equipment includes a reception processing unit that converts the received control information back to the original code information and outputs an operation signal based on the obtained code information, an operation processing unit that outputs a drive signal based on the operation signal, and an operation unit that performs an operation corresponding to the disaster prevention information by the drive signal. Furthermore, the transmission processing unit transmits a signal corresponding to the control information in parallel to a plurality of communication lines, and the reception processing unit receives the control information based on the signals received from the plurality of communication lines . Furthermore, the code information includes information regarding the type of the disaster prevention equipment. Furthermore, the disaster prevention equipment is equipped with a detection unit that detects the operating status of the operating unit, and a detection processing unit that outputs a status signal based on the detection signal from the detection unit, and the transmission processing unit performs display processing based on the status signal.

By being equipped with the above-mentioned configuration, the present invention can carry out disaster prevention activities quickly and safely.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an embodiment according to the present invention. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an arrangement of code information. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram regarding conversion processing of code information. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a transmission process for improving security. 11 is a list showing an example of a correspondence relationship between a combination of continuous output times of signals transmitted to each communication line and a DTMF signal. 13 is a flow chart showing a process for receiving disaster prevention information.

The present invention will be described in detail below based on the embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment according to the present invention. In this example, a disaster prevention information receiving system 1 includes a radio receiver 10 as a receiver and a key storage box 20 as disaster prevention equipment. The radio receiver 10 receives FM broadcasts and extracts DTMF signals corresponding to disaster prevention information from the broadcast signals to broadcast emergency information. The key storage box 20 stores keys for locking disaster prevention equipment such as evacuation shelters, disaster prevention warehouses, and disaster prevention lockers in the event of a disaster. The door is normally locked, but is automatically unlocked in response to disaster prevention information to allow the keys stored inside to be taken out.

The radio receiver 10 includes a signal receiving unit 11 that receives receivable broadcast signals such as AM broadcasts, FM broadcasts, television broadcasts, and multimedia broadcasts, an audio output unit 12 that outputs audio based on the received broadcast signals, a signal processing unit 13 that processes the received signal from the signal receiving unit 11 and extracts the DTMF signal contained therein, a display unit 14 that displays a warning on a display panel or the like in response to disaster prevention information, a code processing unit 15 that processes the DTMF signal extracted by the signal processing unit 13 and reads out code information corresponding to the disaster prevention information, a transmission processing unit 16 that creates control information to be transmitted to the key storage box 20 based on the disaster prevention information read out by the code processing unit 15, and a transmission/reception unit 17 that directly transmits and receives data to and from the key storage box 20.

The transmitter/receiver 17 is capable of transmitting and receiving data to and from disaster prevention equipment such as the key storage box 20 via the communication network 100. In addition to the key storage box 20, disaster prevention equipment also includes infrastructure equipment necessary for disaster prevention, such as evacuation guide lights, lighting equipment that turns on in an emergency, and traffic signals that operate in an emergency. When an emergency broadcast receiving system is installed in such infrastructure equipment, an FM broadcast receiver with the above-mentioned functions can be installed to automatically activate the infrastructure equipment in response to an emergency broadcast, making it possible to rapidly advance disaster prevention activities. When a receiver is installed in infrastructure equipment, the audio output section and display section of the radio receiver described above are no longer necessary, and the receiver can be made compact as one that processes signals.

The code processing unit 15 includes a code identification unit 150 that determines whether code information consisting of a combination of multiple DTMF signals extracted by the signal processing unit 13 has been input a predetermined number of times and determines whether a predetermined number of pieces of code information match among the input code information, a code determination unit 151 that determines the combination of DTMF signals among the code information determined to match the predetermined number, and a code control unit 152 that performs control processing of the display unit 14, etc. based on the code information determined to be a predetermined combination.

The code processing unit 15 checks whether the DTMF signal extracted from the FM broadcast signal contains noise, accurately receives the transmitted DTMF signal, determines the code information corresponding to the combination of received DTMF signals, and performs output processing required for disaster prevention activities, etc.

For example, it has been confirmed that noise generated by lightning surges contains signals similar to DTMF signals, and in situations where emergency broadcasts such as disaster information are required, the weather conditions are often one of frequent lightning in the vicinity. For this reason, such noise countermeasures are essential, but the code identification unit 150 is designed to determine whether a specified number matches even when it is determined to be code information, so it can identify the code information without error. For example, by repeatedly transmitting the same code information three times using an FM broadcast signal and determining whether the received code information matches twice, it is possible to reliably identify the code information even if some of the code information contains noise.

In the code processing unit 15, the code control unit 152 controls the display of the display unit 14 based on the combination of DTMF signals of the code information determined by the code determination unit 151, and also controls the signal processing unit 11 to receive disaster prevention information and output it as audio to the audio output unit 12.

The code processing unit 15 pre-stores code information consisting of a combination of multiple DTMF signals required for processing.

DTMF signals are defined in two combinations as recommended by the CCITT (Consultative Committee for International Telegraph and Telephone), and one DTMF signal is made by combining two frequencies selected from a high group and a low group made up of four frequencies within the voice band that correspond to the push buttons on a telephone. DTMF signals are assigned 16 codes in total, including numbers 0 to 9 and symbols *, #, and A to D, corresponding to the combinations of the four frequencies in the high and low groups. By combining multiple such DTMF signals, it is possible to create a large number of individually identifiable signals.

Figure 2 shows an example of the arrangement of code information. In this example, the code information is composed of a word start key "D", followed by a code*1 identifying a local government (second and third digits: prefecture, fourth and fifth digits: city, town, village), a code*2 identifying a regional attribute (sixth digit: target person, seventh and eighth digits: district), a code*3 identifying a type of disaster prevention equipment (disaster prevention storehouse, evacuation shelter, traffic light, etc.), a start/stop code*4, and a word end key "C". Then, by reading the code based on the DTMF signal transmitted for each digit, a series of 12-digit code information can be read. By setting the code information according to the disaster prevention related information described above, it is possible to transmit detailed disaster prevention information and carry out disaster prevention activities quickly and accurately.

In addition, if the number of disaster prevention equipment to be controlled increases, the data code length of code*3 can be increased to accommodate this. To enhance security, the code length including start/stop code*4 can be increased, making it possible to change the insertion position of start/stop code*4.

The transmission processing unit 16 converts the code information transmitted from the code processing unit 15 and transmits it to the transmission/reception unit 17. The code information is converted so that it is different each time from the code information extracted from the broadcast signal, thereby enhancing security by making the control information transmitted to the disaster prevention equipment difficult to read.

The transmission processing unit 16 also processes the device to output an error message from the audio output unit 12 and the display unit 14 if the device is not operating correctly after receiving a status signal indicating the operating status transmitted from the key storage box 20.

Figure 3 is an explanatory diagram regarding the conversion process of code information. In this example, the code information is converted using a table data conversion method. The first time, the code information is output without conversion, but the second time, the conversion process is performed by shifting the data by one. The third time, the data is shifted by two, and the fourth time, the data is shifted by three. Similarly, the number of data shifts is changed for the fifth and subsequent conversion processes, so that different control information can be transmitted each time.

The key storage box 20 includes a transmitter/receiver 21 that transmits and receives data to and from the transmitter/receiver 17 of the radio receiver 10, a reception processing unit 22 that converts the received control information back to the original code information and outputs an operation signal based on the original code information, an operation processing unit 23 that outputs a drive signal based on the operation signal output from the reception processing unit 22 to operate the operation unit 24, the operation unit 24 that performs an operation corresponding to the code information based on the drive signal output from the operation processing unit 23, a detection unit 25 that detects the operation state of the operation unit 24, and a detection processing unit 26 that outputs a state signal based on the detection signal of the detection unit 25.

The receiving processor 22 is provided with an algorithm that corresponds to the algorithm of the conversion process in the transmitting processor 16, and is configured to output an operation signal based on the original code information obtained by processing. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 3, the original code information can be obtained by performing a process of returning the data that has been shifted according to the number of times from the second time onwards to its original position.

Then, if the obtained code information corresponds to an attribute such as the installation location of the key storage box 20, an operation signal is output. For example, if the operation unit 24 is a solenoid for unlocking the door of the key storage box 20, the operation signal can be used to cause the operation processing unit 23 to output a drive signal for driving the solenoid, thereby opening the key storage box 20.

In addition, if the operating unit 24 is not operating despite the output of an operating signal, the detection unit 25 detects that it is not operating and outputs a detection signal. For example, an open/close detection switch or the like detects whether the door of the key storage box 20 is in an open or locked state, and outputs a detection signal.

Then, a status signal indicating that the key storage box 20 remains locked is output from the detection processing unit 26, and the output status signal is transmitted to the transmission processing unit 16 of the radio receiver 10 via the transmission/reception unit 21. When the transmission processing unit 16 receives a status signal indicating a locked state, it outputs an error message to the display unit 14 and can also transmit an error message to disaster prevention organizations (local governments, local evacuation shelters, local ward chiefs, etc.) via the communication network 100.

Furthermore, disaster prevention equipment such as the key storage box 20 is expected to have a power outage in the event of a disaster, so it is advisable to provide a safety function for when a power outage occurs. For example, when the power supply to the disaster prevention equipment is cut off due to a power outage, the detection unit 25 detects the power outage, and the operation processing unit 23 outputs an operation signal related to unlocking based on the detection signal to operate the operation unit 24 and perform unlocking. In addition, the power outage signal output from the detection processing unit 26 based on the detection signal related to the power outage may be transmitted to the transmission processing unit 16 of the radio receiver 10 via the transmission/reception unit 21. The transmission processing unit 16 outputs an error message related to the power outage to the display unit 14 and transmits control information related to unlocking to the disaster prevention equipment. Then, based on the control information related to unlocking, the operation processing unit 23 outputs an operation signal to operate the operation unit 24 and perform unlocking.

When wireless communication is performed between the radio receiver 10 and the disaster prevention equipment 20, it is assumed that the disaster prevention equipment will be installed outdoors, and it will be easily affected by external noise (which occurs over a few microseconds to a few milliseconds) such as lightning and static electricity. Therefore, security can be improved by processing the transmitted code information, etc. in advance to ensure reliable transmission and reception. Figure 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a transmission process for improving security. In this example, control information is transmitted using multiple communication lines. As shown in Figure 4, signals are transmitted in parallel to each communication line (three communication lines L1 to L3 in this example), and the control information is identified by the combination of continuous output times T1 to T3 of the transmitted signals. The continuous output time of the signal transmitted to each communication line is set to be longer than that of external noise, so that the influence of external noise can be suppressed even if it does enter.

Figure 5 is a list showing an example of the correspondence between combinations of continuous output times T1 to T3 of signals transmitted to each communication line and DTMF signals. As shown in Figure 5, by setting combinations of continuous output times of signals on each communication line corresponding to a DTMF signal, it is possible to measure the continuous output time of signals received on each communication line and accurately identify the DTMF signal from that combination. Furthermore, by setting the continuous output time of the transmitted signal to 100 milliseconds or more, the measurement results are hardly affected even in the unlikely event of external noise being introduced, so control information can be transmitted and received reliably.

Figure 6 shows a flow for the reception process of disaster prevention information. The radio receiver receives a broadcast signal (S100) and performs a process for detecting a DTMF signal (S101). The detection process can be performed by interrupt processing, and can be set to perform interrupt processing at detection intervals of, for example, 0.125 seconds, 0.25 seconds, 0.5 seconds, or 1 second. Then, by counting the number of interrupt processes, the detection interval can be set to a predetermined time, making it possible to determine whether a DTMF signal has been detected within the predetermined time.

If a DTMF signal is detected (S101: YES), a DTMF signal extraction process is performed (S102). In the extraction process, if a predetermined number (e.g., 12) of DTMF signals are extracted within a predetermined time, the extracted combination of DTMF signals is stored, and if the same combination of DTMF signals is extracted a prescribed number of times (e.g., two or more times out of three), the code information is stored. If a DTMF signal is not detected (S101: NO), broadcast signal reception process continues.

Disaster prevention information is determined based on the sequence of DTMF signals included in the stored code information (S103), and control processing such as display processing according to the code information is performed based on the determination result (S104). In the determination processing, it is determined whether the combination of DTMF signals in the obtained code information matches a predetermined combination stored in advance. For example, by determining whether specific information in the code information such as a start key, local government information, and regional information matches a stored combination, it is possible to determine whether the disaster prevention information corresponds to the installation location of the radio receiver. If it is determined that the disaster prevention information corresponds to the installation location, disaster prevention activities can be promoted by controlling the audio output, display panel, etc. to display the disaster prevention information.

Next, the obtained code information is converted (S105) to create control information to be sent to the disaster prevention equipment. The control information is sent to the relevant disaster prevention equipment based on the model code included in the code information (S106). In the transmission process, signals are sent in parallel to multiple communication lines, and code information is sent based on a combination of continuous signal output times, thereby improving security.

The disaster prevention equipment receives the transmitted control information (S107) and converts the received control information to obtain code information (S108). It then determines whether the installation location and model of the disaster prevention equipment are appropriate based on the code information (S109), and determines whether operation of the disaster prevention equipment is necessary (S110). If operation is necessary (S110: YES), an operation signal is output to the operation unit 24 (S111), and the disaster prevention equipment performs the operation necessary for disaster prevention activities. If operation is not necessary (S110: NO), the process ends.

Next, the disaster prevention equipment detects the operating status of the operating unit (S112) and creates a status signal based on the detection signal (S113). Then, it performs processing to transmit the created status signal (S114). After receiving the status signal (S115), the radio receiver 10 determines whether the status signal indicates that the device is operating (S116), and if it is determined that the device is not operating (S116: NO), it performs error processing (S117) and ends the process. If it is determined that the device is operating (S116: YES), it ends the process.

As explained above, disaster prevention information is received and displayed by a receiver such as a radio receiver that receives broadcast signals, and disaster prevention equipment is operated based on the received disaster prevention information. This makes it possible to notify residents of evacuation activities and operate the disaster prevention equipment in parallel, thereby enabling disaster prevention activities to be carried out quickly and accurately.

In addition, by transmitting disaster prevention information via broadcast signals, there is no time lag compared to transmitting disaster prevention information in an internet environment, and measures against hacking, etc. are not required, allowing disaster prevention information to be transmitted reliably. In particular, by transmitting disaster prevention information using DTMF signals over FM broadcasts, it becomes possible to receive signals accurately.

By linking the above-mentioned receiver with various disaster prevention equipment, the present invention can quickly and safely respond to disasters by controlling it using electrical signals such as wireless communication. For example, it can be applied to a wide range of disaster prevention and mitigation measures, such as responding to disaster prevention equipment that guides people to evacuation routes when evacuating to evacuation sites, responding to disaster prevention equipment such as traffic lights on routes to rescue sites, evacuation activities in river basins when releasing water to prevent a dam from bursting, and flood control measures such as opening and closing watergates.

1: Disaster prevention information receiving system, 10: Radio receiver, 11: Signal receiving unit, 12: Audio output unit, 13: Signal processing unit, 14: Display unit, 15: Code processing unit, 16: Transmission processing unit, 17: Transmitting/receiving unit, 20: Disaster prevention equipment, 21: Transmitting/receiving unit, 22: Receiving processing unit, 23: Operation processing unit, 24: Operation unit, 25: Detection unit, 26: Detection processing unit

Claims (4)

A disaster prevention information receiving system including a receiver that receives a broadcast signal and transmits control information corresponding to disaster prevention information, and disaster prevention equipment that receives the control information and operates,
The receiver includes a signal receiving unit that receives a broadcast signal, a signal processing unit that extracts a DTMF signal included in the broadcast signal received by the signal receiving unit, a code processing unit that processes the DTMF signal extracted by the signal processing unit to read out code information corresponding to disaster prevention information, and a transmission processing unit that creates control information by performing a different conversion process each time on the code information read out by the code processing unit,
The disaster prevention equipment is a disaster prevention information receiving system that includes a receiving processing unit that converts the received control information back to the original code information and outputs an operation signal based on the obtained code information, an operation processing unit that outputs a drive signal based on the operation signal, and an operation unit that performs an operation corresponding to the disaster prevention information based on the drive signal. The disaster prevention information receiving system of claim 1, wherein the transmission processing unit transmits signals corresponding to the control information in parallel to multiple communication lines, and the reception processing unit receives the control information based on the signals received from the multiple communication lines . The disaster prevention information receiving system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the code information includes information regarding the type of the disaster prevention equipment. The disaster prevention equipment includes a detection unit that detects the operating state of the operating unit, and a detection processing unit that outputs a status signal based on the detection signal from the detection unit, and the transmission processing unit performs display processing based on the status signal. A disaster prevention information receiving system according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

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