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EP-3763885-B1 - WORK MACHINE, INFORMATION PROCESSING DEVICE, INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD, AND PROGRAM

EP3763885B1EP 3763885 B1EP3763885 B1EP 3763885B1EP-3763885-B1

Inventors

  • AIZAWA, Susumu
  • KIYOTA, YOSHIHISA
  • OTSUKI, Shunsuke

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20190308

Claims (12)

  1. A work machine (100) comprising: an engine (11); a power source; a sensor configured to acquire information relating to a status of a surrounding area of the work machine (100); and a surrounding monitor controller (30C) constantly electrically connected to the power source and configured to operate with power supplied from the power source while the engine (11) is stopped, the surrounding monitor controller (30C) including a plurality of functional units that include a transmitting unit (305C) configured to transmit, to an external apparatus outside the work machine (100), the information relating to the status of the surrounding area of the work machine (100), which is acquired by the sensor or generated based on the information acquired by the sensor; an instruction acquiring unit (306C) configured to acquire an instruction from the external apparatus; and an activating unit (307C) configured to activate a monitoring unit including at least the sensor and the transmitting unit (305C), wherein the surrounding monitor controller (30C) is configured to activate only the instruction acquiring unit (306C) and cause the other functional units to be in a sleep state while the engine (11) is stopped, and the instruction acquiring unit (306C) is configured to activate the activating unit (307C) in the sleep state to cause the activating unit (307C) to activate the monitoring unit in response to receiving the instruction from the external apparatus, while the engine (11) is stopped.
  2. The work machine (100) according to claim 1, wherein the sensor includes an imaging apparatus (40) configured to capture an image of the surrounding area of the work machine (100), and the transmitting unit (305C) transmits, to the external apparatus, the captured image of the surrounding area of the work machine (100) captured by the imaging apparatus (40).
  3. The work machine (100) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein when the monitoring unit is activated by the activating unit (307C), a part or all of the monitoring unit is activated.
  4. The work machine (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising: a detecting unit (302C) configured to detect a predetermined monitor target within a predetermined range in the surrounding area of the work machine (100), based on the information acquired by the sensor, wherein the activating unit (307C) activates the detecting unit (302C) included in the monitoring unit, in addition to the sensor and the transmitting unit (305C), while the work machine (100) is stopped, and the transmitting unit (305C) transmits, to the external apparatus, or records, in a predetermined storage unit, information relating to the predetermined monitor target in the surrounding area of the work machine (100) detected by the detecting unit (302C).
  5. The work machine (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the power source is configured to supply the power to a device of the work machine (100) including the monitoring unit, the monitoring unit is configured to be operable when a suppliable power amount of the power source is greater than a predetermined threshold value, while the engine (11) is stopped.
  6. The work machine (100) according to claim 5, wherein the activating unit (307C) activates the monitoring unit upon detecting that the suppliable power amount of the power source exceeds a predetermined first threshold.
  7. The work machine (100) according to claim 5 or 6, further comprising: a terminating unit (307C) configured to terminate the monitoring unit upon detecting that the suppliable power amount of the power source has decreased to less than or equal to a predetermined second threshold, when the monitoring unit has been activated by the activating unit (307C) while the engine (11) is stopped.
  8. The work machine (100) according to any one of claims 5 to 7, further comprising: a first external reporting unit (307C) configured to transmit, to the external apparatus, a report indicating that the monitoring unit is not in an operable status, upon detecting that the suppliable power amount of the power source is less than or equal to the predetermined threshold, while the engine (11) is stopped.
  9. The work machine (100) according to any one of claims 5 to 8, wherein the monitoring unit includes an operation mode of operating by limiting at least one function among functions of the monitoring unit, such that a consumption amount of the power supplied from the power source is relatively small, while the engine (11) is stopped.
  10. The work machine (100) according to any one of claims 5 to 9, further comprising: a second external reporting unit (307C) configured to report, to the external apparatus, information relating to the suppliable power amount of the power source or information relating to a time during which the monitoring unit is operable by the power supplied from the power source, while the engine (11) is stopped.
  11. The work machine (100) according to any one of claims 5 to 10, wherein the power source includes at least one of a primary battery, a secondary battery (64), a capacitor, and a generator.
  12. The work machine (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 11, further comprising: an internal reporting unit (306C) configured to report, to an operator, that the information relating to the status of the surrounding area of the work machine (100) will be transmitted to the external apparatus by the transmitting unit (305C), while the work machine (100) is operating.

Description

[Technical Field] The present invention relates to a work machine and the like. [Background Art] A work machine such as an excavator is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1). A construction management system is known that is able to detect a target in a construction site and to output information about the target (see Patent Document 2). Moreover, a system is known configured to determine a position of a machine on a worksite and communicably coupled to a monitoring device (see Patent Document 3). [Citation List] [Patent Document] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2014-181508[Patent Document 2] Australian Patent Publication No. AU 2016 336 321 relates to a working machine comprising an object detecting unit mounted on a work machine and configured to detect an object in a construction site and output information on the object.[Patent Document 3] United States Patent Publication No. US 2017/198459 [Summary of Invention] [Technical Problem] However, workers, supervisors, and the like may wish to confirm the status of the worksite from outside the worksite. For example, when it rains early in the morning on the day of work, workers, supervisors, and the like may want to know whether it is possible to carry out the work on the day. Therefore, it is desirable to acquire information on the status of the worksite by using a work machine and confirm the corresponding information from outside the worksite by workers, supervisors, and the like. Therefore, in view of the above-described problem, the object of the present invention is to provide a work machine, etc., which enables a user, such as a worker, a supervisor, and the like, to confirm the status of the worksite from outside the worksite. [Solution to Problem] The aforementioned object is achieved by a work machine in the form of an excavator according to claim 1. Further, according to another embodiment not claimed by the present invention, there is provided an information processing apparatus capable of communicating with a work machine including a monitoring unit configured to acquire information relating to a status of a surrounding area of the work machine and to transmit the information outside the work machine, the information processing apparatus including:a transmitting unit configured to transmit, to the work machine, an instruction for requesting the information relating to the status of the surrounding area of the work machine, in response to a predetermined operation from a user;a first acquiring unit configured to acquire the information relating to the status of the surrounding area of the work machine, transmitted from the work machine in response to the instruction; anda first reporting unit configured to report, to the user, the information relating to the status of the surrounding area of the work machine acquired by the first acquiring unit. Further, according to yet another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an information processing method executed by an information processing apparatus capable of communicating with a work machine including a monitoring unit configured to acquire information relating to a status of a surrounding area of the work machine and to transmit the information outside the work machine, the information processing method including:a transmitting step of transmitting, to the work machine, an instruction for requesting the information relating to the status of the surrounding area of the work machine, in response to a predetermined operation from a user;a first acquiring step of acquiring the information relating to the status of the surrounding area of the work machine, transmitted from the work machine in response to the instruction; anda first reporting step of reporting, to the user, the information relating to the status of the surrounding area of the work machine acquired at the first acquiring step. Further, according to yet another embodiment not claimed by the present invention, there is provided a program that causes an information processing apparatus, which is capable of communicating with a work machine including a monitoring unit configured to acquire information relating to a status of a surrounding area of the work machine and to transmit the information outside the work machine, to execute:a transmitting step of transmitting, to the work machine, an instruction for requesting the information relating to the status of the surrounding area of the work machine, in response to a predetermined operation from a user;a first acquiring step of acquiring the information relating to the status of the surrounding area of the work machine, transmitted from the work machine in response to the instruction; anda first reporting step of reporting, to the user, the information relating to the status of the surrounding area of the work machine acquired at the first acquiring step. [Advantageous Effects of Invention] According to the above-described embo