Search

JP-2026074762-A - A monitoring system, a method for controlling the monitoring system, and a program.

JP2026074762AJP 2026074762 AJP2026074762 AJP 2026074762AJP-2026074762-A

Abstract

[Problem] To provide a technology that can more accurately detect people using millimeter-wave sensors. [Solution] The monitoring system comprises a millimeter-wave sensor that detects the space inside a room as the detection target space, a control unit that detects a person using the measurement data from the millimeter-wave sensor, and a storage unit that stores pre-acquired data (data acquired in advance by the millimeter-wave sensor when no person is present in the room). The control unit repeatedly executes a first detection process to detect a person moving in the room based on multiple data acquired by the millimeter-wave sensor at multiple points in time within a short period (S13, S14, S21). If a person that was previously detected in the repeatedly executed first detection process is no longer detected (No in step S14 and Yes in step S15), a second detection process is executed to detect a person present in the room by performing difference processing between the pre-acquired data and the data acquired within the short period (S16). [Selection Diagram] Figure 3

Inventors

  • 竹原 大貴

Assignees

  • グローリー株式会社

Dates

Publication Date
20260507
Application Date
20241021

Claims (12)

  1. It is a monitoring system that keeps an eye on the person inside the room. A millimeter-wave sensor that uses the space within the aforementioned living room as the detection target space, A control unit that detects a person in the room using data acquired by the millimeter-wave sensor, A storage unit for storing pre-acquired data, which is data previously acquired by the millimeter-wave sensor at a time when no person is present in the room, Equipped with, The control unit, Based on multiple data acquired by the millimeter-wave sensor at multiple points in time within a short period, a first detection process is repeatedly executed to detect a person moving within the room. A monitoring system characterized in that, if a person who was previously detected in the first detection process, which is repeatedly executed, is no longer detected, a second detection process is performed to detect a person present in the room by performing a difference processing between the previously acquired data and the data acquired by the millimeter-wave sensor within the minute period.
  2. The monitoring system according to claim 1, characterized in that the control unit executes the second detection process using the area in which a person was detected in the first detection process as the target area.
  3. The monitoring system according to claim 1, characterized in that, when the control unit determines that no person is present in the room, it updates the data acquired by the millimeter-wave sensor as the previously acquired data.
  4. The monitoring system according to claim 3, characterized in that, if no object is detected by the differential processing of the second detection process, the control unit determines that no person is present in the room, and updates the data acquired by the millimeter-wave sensor within the specified short period as the previously acquired data.
  5. The monitoring system according to claim 1, characterized in that, when the control unit determines in the second detection process that a person is present in the room, it further determines the posture of the person based on the point cloud detected by the difference processing as a point cloud indicating the location of the person.
  6. The monitoring system according to claim 5, characterized in that, when the control unit determines in the second detection process that a person is present in the room, it determines whether the person is standing, sitting, or lying down based on the ratio of the horizontal length to the vertical length of the point cloud detected by the difference processing as a point cloud indicating the person's location.
  7. The monitoring system according to claim 6, characterized in that, when the control unit determines that the person is standing, it further determines whether the person is standing on the floor or somewhere other than the floor, based on the vertical position of the point cloud.
  8. The monitoring system according to claim 6, characterized in that, when the control unit determines that the person's posture is seated, it further determines whether the person is sitting on the floor based on the vertical position of the point cloud.
  9. The monitoring system according to claim 6, characterized in that, when the control unit determines that the person is lying down, it further determines whether the person is lying on a bed or somewhere other than a bed, based on the vertical position of the point cloud.
  10. The monitoring system according to claim 6, characterized in that, when the control unit determines that the person's posture is either sitting or lying down, it further determines whether the person is crouching or not based on the area occupied by the point cloud in the horizontal plane.
  11. A control method for a monitoring system that keeps an eye on a person inside a room, a) A step of storing data acquired in advance by a millimeter-wave sensor that detects the space inside the room as the detection target space, at a time when no person is present in the room, as pre-acquired data in the storage unit of the monitoring system, b) The step of repeatedly performing a first detection process that detects a person moving within the room based on multiple data acquired by the millimeter-wave sensor at multiple points in time within a short period of time, c) If a person who was previously detected in the first detection process is no longer detected, the second detection process is performed to detect a person present in the room by performing a difference processing between the pre-acquired data and the data acquired by the millimeter-wave sensor within the short period of time. A control method for a monitoring system, characterized by comprising the following features.
  12. A computer installed in the control unit of a monitoring system that keeps an eye on people inside a room, a) A step of storing data acquired in advance by a millimeter-wave sensor that detects the space inside the room as the detection target space, at a time when no person is present in the room, as pre-acquired data in the storage unit of the monitoring system, b) The step of repeatedly performing a first detection process that detects a person moving within the room based on multiple data acquired by the millimeter-wave sensor at multiple points in time within a short period of time, c) If a person who was previously detected in the first detection process is no longer detected, the second detection process is performed to detect a person present in the room by performing a difference processing between the pre-acquired data and the data acquired by the millimeter-wave sensor within the short period of time. A program to execute.

Description

This invention relates to a monitoring system for keeping an eye on a person in a living room, and related technologies. A monitoring system exists to keep an eye on people inside a room. This system, for example, uses a Time of Flight (TOF) camera to detect people inside the room and monitors their behavior. In monitoring systems, ToF cameras are sometimes used as sensors capable of obtaining three-dimensional information about a person in a space in order to detect the presence and posture (body position (lying down, sitting, standing, etc.)) of a person within the room. For example, ToF cameras with infrared imaging sensors are used, taking into consideration factors such as nighttime use. A TOF camera provides depth information (depth data) for each point in the captured image. Based on this image information and depth information, human skeletal information is acquired as three-dimensional data, and it is possible to estimate the person's posture based on this skeletal information. On the other hand, from the perspective of cost and ensuring individual privacy, technologies using millimeter-wave sensors instead of TOF cameras (TOF sensors) in monitoring systems are also being considered (see Patent Document 1, etc.). Millimeter-wave sensors detect the distance and orientation to each point on an object (such as a person) within the detection area, obtaining three-dimensional positional information for each point on the object. As a result, surface information of the object (such as a person) is obtained as a collection of points (point cloud). However, as will be discussed later, distinguishing and recognizing a person from other objects in a room where various items (beds, chairs, etc.) are arranged is difficult. Furthermore, the information obtained from millimeter-wave sensors consists of point cloud positional information and does not include image information such as the contours of individual parts of a person (face, shoulders, arms, torso, legs, etc.), which are included in image information obtained from image sensors. Also, the spatial resolution (spatial resolution related to point clouds) of millimeter-wave sensors is generally relatively coarse. Therefore, the amount of information obtained from millimeter-wave sensors regarding a person in a room is less than the amount obtained from a TOF camera. Consequently, skeletal estimation using millimeter-wave sensors is not easy. Japanese Patent Publication No. 2023-131563 This diagram shows a monitoring system that keeps an eye on people inside a room.This is a functional block diagram showing the general configuration of the detection device.This is a flowchart showing the controller's processing.This figure shows a part of the processing shown in Figure 3.This figure shows some of the measurement data obtained from a millimeter-wave sensor.This figure shows the data sequentially acquired by the millimeter-wave sensor.This figure shows the first detection process, etc.This is a diagram showing the second detection process, etc.This figure shows an example of point cloud detection related to a person (a person lying on the floor).This figure shows another detection example (an example of detecting a person lying on a bed).This figure shows a modified example of measurement data from a millimeter-wave sensor. The embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. <1. System Overview> Figure 1 shows a monitoring system 1 that monitors a person (specifically, the person's behavior, etc.) in a living room 90. As shown in Figure 1, the monitoring system 1 comprises a plurality of detection devices 10 and a plurality of terminal devices 70, 80. Terminal device 70 is also called a management device 70, and terminal device 80 is also called a portable terminal device 80. The monitoring system 1 detects the presence or absence of a person to be monitored (a person receiving care, etc.) in the living room 90 and the person's posture, etc. ("fallen state," etc.). Each detection device 10 and each terminal device 70, 80 are connected to each other via a network 108. The network 108 consists of a LAN (Local Area Network) and the Internet, etc. The connection to the network 108 may be wired or wireless. For example, the management device 70 may be wired to the network 108, while each detection device 10 and each mobile terminal device 80 are wirelessly connected to the network 108. Alternatively, all devices 10, 70, and 80 may be wirelessly connected to the network 108. In the monitoring system 1, various input/output processes (operation input processing, display processing, etc.) related to each detection device 10 are performed using the management device 70 and the portable terminal device 80. That is, the management device 70 and the portable terminal device 80 each function as terminal devices for multiple detection devices 10. The following primarily provides examples of how the monitoring system 1 may be used