JP2010146447A - Moving body management system - Google Patents

Abstract

A moving object management system capable of accurately managing moving objects without increasing the size of the system, increasing the price, and increasing the power consumption.
An illumination light communication device including a light source for illumination and including position information indicating a current position in illumination light emitted from the light source by blinking the light source, and light reception for receiving the illumination light and receiving the position information , A storage unit for storing the position information received by the light receiving unit, a determination unit for determining whether the position information can be received based on the brightness of the illumination light received by the light receiving unit, and the position information by the determination unit A transmission unit that transmits position information and warning information stored in the storage unit last time when it is determined that reception is impossible, a communication terminal that is attached to the moving object, and position information and warning transmitted from the communication terminal And a management server that manages the moving object based on the information. The transmission unit transmits position information and warning information to the management server using radio waves as a medium.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a moving object management system, and more particularly, to a moving object management system using illumination light communication.

  Conventionally, as a system for managing a moving object such as a person or an object, images from infrared cameras or CCD cameras provided in a plurality of areas are transmitted to a management server provided remotely, and information related to the moving object is transmitted to the administrator. Systems that manage moving objects by providing them are known. However, in such a system, since it is necessary to install a plurality of expensive devices such as an infrared camera and a CCD camera, there is a problem in that the cost of the system is increased.

  There is also known a system for managing moving objects using non-contact type automatic recognition technology that recognizes moving objects using radio waves, that is, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology. However, although such a system is relatively inexpensive, there is a problem in that the relative position between the moving object and the apparatus is restricted because radio waves are used for moving object recognition.

  Therefore, in order to deal with such problems, lighting devices (lighting fixtures) installed indoors and outdoors are used, information is included in the illumination light from the lighting devices, and the lighting devices and moving objects are attached. Various systems for managing moving objects by communicating with a communication terminal and providing the obtained information to a management server have been studied.

For example, fixed illumination that includes an LED (light emitting diode) as a light source for illumination and a light receiving unit that receives information from light from the outside, and includes information in illumination light emitted from the LED by blinking the LED. A communication terminal including a lamp, a light receiving unit that receives information from the fixed illumination lamp, and a portable illumination lamp that transmits light information to the fixed illumination lamp; and a communication terminal between the fixed illumination lamp and the communication terminal. There is known a system that includes a management server that acquires information obtained by communication from a fixed illumination lamp, and manages moving objects based on the information acquired by the management server (see Patent Document 1).
JP 2005-318148 A

  However, since the system described in Patent Document 1 performs bidirectional illumination light communication between the fixed illumination lamp and the communication terminal, the communication terminal requires a portable illumination lamp. For this reason, there is a problem that the communication terminal is increased in size and price.

  In addition, since bidirectional illumination light communication is performed, there is a problem that light output from both sides interferes and information is not accurately transmitted.

  Furthermore, in order to manage a moving body sequentially, it is necessary to communicate closely between a fixed illumination lamp and a communication terminal. That is, it is necessary to frequently drive the portable illumination lamp of the communication terminal. For this reason, there is a problem that power consumption of a communication terminal that is normally battery-driven is increased, and battery consumption is accelerated.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a moving object management system capable of accurately managing moving objects without causing an increase in system size, cost, and power consumption. With the goal.

  The above object is achieved by the invention described in any one of 1 to 6 below.

1. An illumination light communication apparatus comprising a light source for illumination, and including position information indicating a current position in illumination light emitted from the light source by blinking the light source;
A light receiving unit that receives the illumination light and receives the position information;
A storage unit for storing the position information received by the light receiving unit;
A determination unit that determines whether the position information can be received based on the brightness of the illumination light received by the light receiving unit;
When the position information is determined to be unreceivable by the determination unit, the position information stored in the storage unit last time, and a transmission unit that transmits warning information, and a communication terminal attached to a moving body,
A management server that manages the moving object based on the position information and the warning information transmitted from the communication terminal,
The transmission unit transmits the position information and the warning information to the management server using radio waves as a medium.

  2. 2. The moving body management system according to 1 above, wherein the position information is ID information indicating a place where the illumination light communication device is installed.

  3. The moving body management system according to 1 or 2, wherein the transmission unit continuously transmits the position information and the warning information.

  4). The moving body management system according to 1 or 2, wherein the transmission unit transmits the position information and the warning information at a predetermined interval.

5). The communication terminal includes a power converter that converts light energy of the illumination light received by the light receiver into electrical energy;
The moving body management system according to any one of 1 to 4, further comprising: a secondary battery that is charged by the electric energy from the power conversion unit and is a power source of the communication terminal.

  6). 6. The moving body management system according to any one of 1 to 5, wherein the light source is a light emitting diode.

  According to the present invention, when the illumination light communication apparatus and the communication terminal transmit information (hereinafter, also simply referred to as position information and warning information) from the communication terminal without performing bidirectional illumination light communication. Is configured to transmit radio waves as a medium to the management server without using the illumination light communication device. That is, the communication terminal is provided with a transmission unit that uses radio waves as a medium, such as a wireless LAN, which is relatively inexpensive and simple in configuration. Thereby, size reduction and price reduction of a communication terminal can be achieved.

  In addition, by transmitting position information from the illumination light communication device to the communication terminal using illumination light as a medium, and transmitting information from the communication terminal to the management server using radio waves as a medium, the information from each does not interfere with each other. , Can communicate information accurately.

  Further, the communication terminal transmits information to the management server only when the position information from the illumination light communication device cannot be received. Specifically, when a moving object equipped with a communication terminal is located in a location (in the management area) where position information from the illumination light communication device can be received, information is not transmitted to the management server and location information cannot be received. Information is sent to the management server only when moving to (outside the management area).

  That is, the communication terminal transmits information only when the moving object moves from the management area to the outside of the management area and needs to contact the management server. Thereby, the power consumption of a communication terminal can be reduced and the consumption of a battery can be suppressed.

  Embodiments of a moving object management system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In addition, although this invention is demonstrated based on embodiment of illustration, this invention is not limited to this embodiment.

  First, a schematic configuration of the moving object management system will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the moving object management system 1.

  The main part of the moving object management system 1 includes an illumination light communication device 2, a communication terminal 3, a management server 5, and the like.

  The illumination light communication device 2 includes a light source 201, a light source drive control unit 202, and the like.

  In order to use the light source 201 as the original illumination, the light source drive control unit 202 generates a signal for steadily turning on the light source 201, and position information (for example, a room) indicating a place where the illumination light communication device 2 is installed. Based on (ID), a signal for turning ON / OFF (lighting / extinguishing) the light source 201 is generated to control driving of the light source 201.

  The light source 201 includes a light emitting element such as an LED (light emitting diode), for example, and provides original illumination, that is, “light” under the control of the light source drive control unit 202, and includes position information in the illumination light. The position information is transmitted to the communication terminal 3.

  Next, the communication terminal 3 includes a light receiving unit 301, an area determination unit 302, a position information detection unit 303, a storage unit 304, a transmission information generation unit 305, a transmission unit 306, a power conversion unit 310, a secondary battery 311, and the like. It is attached to a moving object such as a person or an object to be managed.

  The light receiving unit 301 includes a photoelectric conversion element such as a photodiode, for example, and receives light from the illumination light communication device 2 to receive position information.

  The area discriminating unit 302 corresponds to the discriminating unit in the present invention, and discriminates whether or not the position information included in the illumination light can be received based on the brightness of the illumination light from the illumination light communication device 2 received by the light receiving unit 301. . That is, it is determined whether or not the moving object equipped with the communication terminal 3 is located in a place (management area) where the position information from the illumination light communication device 2 can be received. When it is determined that the moving object is located in the management area, the position information detection unit 303 is operated. When it is determined that the moving object is not located in the management area, the transmission information generation unit 305 is operated.

  The position information detection unit 303 detects the position information included in the illumination light from the illumination light communication device 2 received by the light receiving unit 301 when the area determination unit 302 determines that the moving object is located in the management area. The location information is stored in the storage unit 304 each time.

  The storage unit 304 sequentially stores the position information detected by the position information detection unit 303.

  When the area determination unit 302 determines that the moving object is not located in the management area, the transmission information generation unit 305 reads the position information stored in the storage unit 304 last time and generates warning information.

  The transmission unit 306 is configured by communication means such as a wireless LAN using radio waves as a medium, and transmits information (position information and warning information) from the transmission information generation unit 305 to the management server 5 via the router 7. Information is transmitted to the management server 5 continuously or at predetermined intervals. When transmitting continuously, moving body information can be provided densely. On the other hand, when transmitting at a predetermined interval, consumption of power consumption can be suppressed.

  The power conversion unit 310 converts the light energy of the illumination light received from the illumination light communication device 2 received by the light receiving unit 301 into electrical energy.

  The secondary battery 311 is a power source of the communication terminal 3 and is charged by electric energy from the power conversion unit 310.

  The management server 5 manages the moving object by displaying a warning based on the information transmitted from the communication terminal 3 or notifying the administrator. The management server 5 and the illumination light communication device 2 are connected via a network.

  Here, the positional information and the communication mode of information performed in the moving body management system 1 having such a configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining a communication operation when a person H (moving object) is located in an illumination light communication possible area (management area PA). FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a moving object outside the illumination light communication possible area (non-management area). It is a schematic diagram explaining the communication operation | movement of the moving body management system in the case of being located in (NA).

  First, as shown in FIG. 2, when the person H (moving body) is in the illumination light communication possible area (management area PA), the communication terminal 3 attached to the person H is illuminated by the illumination light communication apparatus 2. Each time position information (room ID) included in light is detected, the position information is stored. In this case, since the person H to be managed is in the management area PA, it is not necessary to contact the management server 5. Therefore, the communication terminal 3 does not transmit information to the management server 5.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 3, when the person H (moving body) moves out of the illumination light communicable area (non-management area NA), the communication terminal 3 attached to the person H sends the information to the management server 5. Send. In this case, the person H who is the management target has moved to the non-management area NA and needs to contact the management server 5. Therefore, the communication terminal 3 transmits information to the management server 5. In this case, illumination light communication between the illumination light communication device 2 and the communication terminal 3 is not performed.

  Thus, in the moving body management system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention, the illumination light communication device 2 and the communication terminal 3 perform information (position information and warning) from the communication terminal 3 without performing bidirectional illumination light communication. When transmitting (information), it is configured to transmit to the management server via, for example, a wireless LAN using radio waves as a medium without passing through the illumination light communication device 2. That is, the communication terminal 3 is configured to include a transmission unit 306 that uses a radio wave medium such as a wireless LAN that is relatively inexpensive and simple in configuration. Thereby, size reduction and price reduction of the communication terminal 3 can be achieved.

  In addition, the illumination light communication device 2 transmits the position information using the illumination light as a medium to the communication terminal 3, while the communication terminal 3 transmits information to the management server 5 using the radio wave as a medium, so that the information from each of them is received. Information can be accurately transmitted without interference.

  Further, the communication terminal 3 transmits information to the management server 5 only when the position information from the illumination light communication device 2 cannot be received. Specifically, when the person H (moving body) wearing the communication terminal 3 is in a place (management area PA) where the position information from the illumination light communication device 2 can be received, the information is not transmitted to the management server 5 and the position The information is transmitted to the management server 5 only when the information is moved to a place where the information cannot be received (non-management area NA).

  That is, the communication terminal 3 transmits information only when the person H (moving object) moves from the management area PA to the non-management area NA and needs to contact the management server 5. Thereby, the power consumption of the communication terminal 3 can be reduced and battery consumption can be suppressed.

It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the moving body management system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic diagram explaining the communication operation | movement of a moving body management system in case a moving body is located in an illumination light communication possible area. It is a schematic diagram explaining the communication operation | movement of a moving body management system in case a moving body is located out of an illumination light communication possible area.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Moving body management system 2 Illumination light communication apparatus 201 Light source 202 Light source drive control part 3 Communication terminal 301 Light-receiving part 302 Area discrimination | determination part 303 Position information detection part 304 Storage part 305 Transmission information generation part 306 Transmission part (wireless LAN)
310 Power conversion unit 311 Secondary battery 5 Management server 7 Router R Room H Person

Claims (6)

An illumination light communication apparatus comprising a light source for illumination, and including position information indicating a current position in illumination light emitted from the light source by blinking the light source;
A light receiving unit that receives the illumination light and receives the position information;
A storage unit for storing the position information received by the light receiving unit;
A determination unit that determines whether the position information can be received based on the brightness of the illumination light received by the light receiving unit;
When the position information is determined to be unreceivable by the determination unit, the position information stored in the storage unit last time, and a transmission unit that transmits warning information, and a communication terminal attached to a moving body,
A management server that manages the moving object based on the position information and the warning information transmitted from the communication terminal,
The transmission unit transmits the position information and the warning information to the management server using radio waves as a medium. The moving body management system according to claim 1, wherein the position information is ID information indicating a place where the illumination light communication device is installed. The moving body management system according to claim 1, wherein the transmission unit continuously transmits the position information and the warning information. The moving body management system according to claim 1, wherein the transmission unit transmits the position information and the warning information at a predetermined interval. The communication terminal includes a power converter that converts light energy of the illumination light received by the light receiver into electrical energy;
5. The moving body management system according to claim 1, further comprising: a secondary battery that is charged by the electric energy from the power conversion unit and that is a power source of the communication terminal. 6. The moving body management system according to claim 1, wherein the light source is a light emitting diode.

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