Patent Publication Number: US-2023162506-A1

Title: Determination apparatus, determination method, and program

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a Continuation application of PCT Application No. PCT/JP2021/024912, filed Jul. 1, 2021 and based upon and claiming the benefit of priority from prior Japanese Patent Application NO. 2020-122362, filed Jul. 16, 2020, the entire contents of all of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD 
     Embodiments described herein relate generally to a determination apparatus, a determination method, and a program for determining congestion of persons, e.g., workers, in areas within a monitoring target region, e.g., a factory. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Layout optimization and traffic flow line optimization are essential for facilities having a limited premises area, such as a factory, to realize high production efficiency. 
     An inappropriate layout could disturb realization of efficient operations. Also, inappropriate traffic flow lines can lead to unnecessary congestion and proximity states of workers, which could degrade the operation efficiency. 
     Moreover, unnecessary congestion and proximity states of workers are undesirable from the viewpoint of prevention of infection with the novel coronavirus as well. 
     Objects intended herein include providing a determination apparatus, a determination method, and a program for determining congestion of persons such as workers in each area within a monitoring target region such as a factory. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG.  1    is a block diagram showing an exemplary electronic circuitry configuration of a determination apparatus to which a determination method according to an embodiment is applied. 
         FIG.  2    is a conceptual diagram showing one example of connection relationships of the determination apparatus to other devices. 
         FIG.  3    is an example for illustrating a method of calculating a proximity distance between two workers using a trigonometric function. 
         FIG.  4    is a plan view showing an internal layout of a factory, which is one example of what is displayed on a screen with a total value of proximity time for each area. 
         FIG.  5    is a diagram showing another example of what is displayed on the screen with a total value of proximity time for each area. 
         FIG.  6    is a diagram showing an example of what is displayed on the screen with a worker-by-worker breakdown of the total value of proximity time for each area. 
         FIG.  7    is a diagram showing another example of what is displayed on the screen with a worker-by-worker breakdown of the total value of proximity time for each area. 
         FIG.  8    is a table showing one example of what is displayed on the screen with, for each worker and for each time slot, the breakdown of the total value of proximity time shown in  FIGS.  6  and  7   . 
         FIG.  9    is a table showing an example of what is displayed on the screen with, for each area, a clear indication of each worker determined to be in a proximity state and its proximity time. 
         FIG.  10    is a table showing an example of what is displayed on the screen with a clear indication of each worker determined to be in a proximity state and its proximity time. 
         FIG.  11    is a diagram showing one example of what is displayed on the screen with a clear indication of a history of changes in the number of persons determined to be in a proximity state in a given area. 
         FIG.  12    is a flowchart showing an exemplary operation of the determination apparatus to which the determination method according to the embodiment is applied. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     According to an embodiment, a determination apparatus for determining congestion of persons in each area in a monitoring target region includes: 
     a first database configured to store position information indicative of a position of a person in the monitoring target region together with time information, in association with identification information of the person; 
     a stay information acquisition unit configured to acquire, for said each area, information on one or more persons who have made a stay and to acquire, for each of the one or more persons who have made a stay, information on a time slot during which the stay was made, based on the position information and the time information stored in the first database in association with the identification information of the each of the one or more persons; and 
     a first determination unit configured to determine, based on a result acquired by the stay information acquisition unit, that an area in which multiple people have stayed for a predetermined continuous time length or more is a congested area. 
     Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. 
     A description will be given of a determination apparatus to which a determination method according to an embodiment is applied. 
       FIG.  1    is a block diagram showing an exemplary electronic circuitry configuration of a determination apparatus to which a determination method according to an embodiment is applied. 
     This determination apparatus  10  is an apparatus to determine congestion, proximity, etc. of persons in a monitoring target region. 
     The description of the embodiment will assume, without intending any limitation, instances where the monitoring target region is a factory and the persons are factory workers. 
     As shown in  FIG.  1   , the electronic circuitry of the determination apparatus  10  includes a CPU  12 , a recording medium reader unit  14 , a communication unit  15 , a display unit  16  (e.g., a display), a memory  20 , and a storage device  30 , which are connected to one another via a bus  11 . 
     The memory  20  stores a processing module  21 , a stay information acquisition module  22 , a congestion determination module  23 , a proximity determination module  24 , and a display control module  25 , in the form of a program or programs for realizing the determination apparatus  10 . 
     These program modules  21  to  25  may be stored in advance in the memory  20  or may be read from an external recording medium  13 , which may be a memory card or the like, via the recording medium reader unit  14 , and stored in the memory  20 . The program modules  21  to  25  are adapted to be non-rewritable. 
     In addition to such user-non-rewritable memory areas, the memory  20  secures a writable data area  29  as a memory area for storing rewritable data. 
     The CPU  12  is one example of a processor or processors available for executing each of the program modules  21  to  25 , and it controls operations of each circuitry component according to each of the program modules  21  to  25 . 
       FIG.  2    is a conceptual diagram showing one example of connection relationships of the determination apparatus to other devices. 
     A position sensor  110  with a unique sensor ID is attached to each worker  100 . 
     The position sensor  110  measures the position of the worker  100  by means of a GPS function, a WiFi function, or a beacon  125  and sends the position information based on the measurement together with the sensor ID to the determination apparatus  10  via a communication network  70 . 
     Instead of or in addition to such a position sensor  110 , an image sensor  115 , which may be a camera or the like, may be attached to each worker  100 . The image sensor  115  is likewise assigned a unique sensor ID. 
     The image sensor  115  acquires an image along the line of sight of each worker  100  and sends the acquired image information together with the sensor ID to the determination apparatus  10  via the communication network  70 . 
     The storage device  30  includes a worker database  31 , a position information database  32 , and a congestion/proximity determination information database. 
     The worker database  31  stores a worker ID (for example, an employee number or the like) of each worker  100 . Also, the worker database  31  stores the sensor IDs of the position sensor  110  and the image sensor  115  attached to each worker  100 , in association with the worker ID of the corresponding worker  100 . 
     The position information database  32  is a database for storing position information on each worker  100  in the factory together with time information, in association with the worker ID of the worker  100 . 
     The congestion/proximity determination information database is a database for storing information related to results of determinations by the congestion determination module  23  and the proximity determination module  24 . 
     The storage device  30  storing these databases  31  to  33  is constituted by, for example, a solid state drive (SSD), a hard disk drive (HDD), etc. 
     The communication unit  15  is connected to the communication network  70  so that it receives position information sent from the position sensor  110  and image information sent from the image sensor  115  together with their sensor IDs via the communication network  70  and so that it outputs the received position information or image information to the processing module  21  together with the sensor ID. 
       FIG.  2    shows, as one example, a case where the position information (and/or the image information) from the position sensor  110  (and/or the image sensor  115 ) is received via the communication network  70  by the communication unit  15  implemented by a gateway. 
     Also, in order to have a monitoring result, etc., which are for display on the display unit  16  by the display control module  25 , displayed through an external terminal  130 , the communication unit  15  may output data necessary for displaying the monitoring result, etc. to the external terminal  130  via the communication network  70  as shown in  FIG.  2   . 
     The processing module  21 , in response to the position information and the sensor ID being output from the communication unit  15 , acquires the worker ID associated with this sensor ID from the worker database  31  and outputs the worker ID together with the position information and the sensor ID to the position information database  32 . 
     Also, the processing module  21 , in response to the image information and the sensor ID being output from the communication unit  15 , acquires the worker ID associated with this sensor ID from the worker database  31  and additionally extracts position information from the image information using, for example, AI. The processing module  21  then similarly outputs the worker ID together with the extracted position information and the sensor ID to the position information database  32 . 
     The position information database  32  stores the position information output from the processing module  21  in association with time information, the worker ID, and one or more sensor IDs. The position information may be expressed in the form of coordinates which are obtainable through, for example, the three-point positioning technique using a Bluetooth (registered trademark) beacon, etc. As the time information, the position information database  32  may use time information measured by an internal clock (not illustrated) of the determination apparatus  10  or time information synchronized with a clock (time measurement means) of an external system connected to the determination apparatus  10 . 
     The stay information acquisition module  22  acquires, for each area in the factory, information on one or more workers  100  who have made a stay there and also acquires, for each worker  100  who has made a stay, information on a time slot during which the stay was made, from the position information database  32  based on the position information and the time information stored in association with the worker IDs. 
     The congestion determination module  23  determines, based on the result acquired by the stay information acquisition module  22 , an area in which multiple people have stayed for a predetermined continuous length of time (for example, 15 minutes) or more as an area of high congestion (which may be called a “congested area” below). 
     The proximity determination module  24  determines, for each area, multiple workers  100  who are staying close to one another within a predetermined proximity distance (for example, 1 m) or shorter, and a time slot during which each of such workers  100  continuously stays within this proximity distance or shorter, based on the position information and the time information stored in the position information database  32  in association with the worker IDs. 
     The proximity determination module  24  further determines that the workers  100  are in a state of proximity to each other, if a time length corresponding to the determined time slot is equal to or greater than a predetermined continuous time length (for example, 15 minutes). 
     To this end, the proximity determination module  24  calculates, for the multiple workers  100  concurrently staying in one area, a proximity distance from one another in a given time based on the position information and the time information stored in the position information database  32 . 
     The proximity distance between two workers may be calculated using, for example, a trigonometric function. 
       FIG.  3    is an example for illustrating a method of calculating a proximity distance between two workers using a trigonometric function. 
     A worker  100 A and a worker  100 C each wear a position sensor  110  of a wristwatch type. 
     The position information database  32  stores position information (x 1 , y 1 ) for position A of the worker  100 A at a given timing and position information (x 2 , y 2 ) for position C of the worker  100 C. 
     In this case, the proximity determination module  24  calculates the distance between the position A of the worker  100 A and the position C of the worker  100 C according to the following formula. 
       ((x 2 −x 1 ) 2 +(y 2 −y 1 ) 2 ) (1/2)  
 
     Note that this formula assumes the workers  100 A and  100 C to be comparable in height, and handles them in two dimensions of x and y coordinates. However, they may be handled in three dimensions by extending the two dimensions to three dimensions of x, y, and z coordinates and conducting a similar mathematical procedure. Note also that, since the distance between the position A and the position C is small, calibration that takes into account the arc of the earth is not required. 
     In this manner, the proximity determination module  24  is able to calculate the distance between workers in a given time. Therefore, the proximity determination module  24  can determine workers  100  (e.g., the worker  100 A and the worker  100 C) who have been continuously close to each other for, for example, 15 minutes or longer, that is, the workers  100  who satisfy the proximity condition. 
     The proximity determination module  24  stores, for each area, and in the congestion/proximity determination information database, the worker IDs of the respective workers  100  (e.g., the worker  100 A and the worker  100 C) determined to be satisfying the proximity condition, in association with the time information and the position information corresponding to the time slot and the positions determined for these workers  100  (e.g., the worker  100 A and the worker  100 C) and representing the continuous stay within the proximity distance or shorter. 
     The display control module  25 , based on the information stored in the congestion/proximity determination information database  33 , causes the display unit  16 , or the external terminal  130  via the communication network  70 , to display through a display screen a factory map showing each area with a clear indication of the total value of the lengths of time for which the workers  100  determined to be satisfying the proximity condition have continuously stayed within the proximity distance or shorter.  FIGS.  4  and  5    each show an example of this. 
       FIG.  4    is a plan view showing an internal layout of the factory, which is one example of what is displayed on the screen with the total value of proximity time for each area. 
       FIG.  4    applies hatching to each of the areas of which the total value of proximity time is equal to or greater than 0. In each area with hatching, the total value is displayed based on the number in units of “minutes”. Note that the areas may be divided into two groups according to their total values, and in such instances, areas shown with two-direction hatching are areas belonging to a group with large total values, and areas shown with single-direction hatching are areas belonging to a group with small total values. Additionally, the circled item “15” is an area ID for identifying the area. 
       FIG.  5    is a diagram showing another example of what is displayed on the screen with the total value of proximity time for each area. 
     In  FIG.  5   , the horizontal axis indicates areas and the vertical axis indicates proximity time (minutes). For example, as indicated by the circle in the figure, the area “15” has a proximity time of 42 (minutes) in total, and it is understandable that the proximity time is continuous for 15 minutes or longer. 
     The display control module  25  may also cause the display unit  16 , or the external terminal  130  via the communication network  70 , to display through the display screen an object as illustrated by  FIG.  5    but with a worker-by-worker breakdown of the proximity time shown.  FIGS.  6  and  7    each show an example of this. 
       FIG.  6    is a diagram showing an example of what is displayed on the screen with a worker-by-worker breakdown of the total value of proximity time for each area. 
       FIG.  7    is a diagram showing another example of what is displayed on the screen with a worker-by-worker breakdown of the total value of proximity time for each area. 
     In each of  FIGS.  6  and  7   , the horizontal axis indicates areas and the vertical axis indicates proximity time (minutes). 
     The display control module  25  may further cause the display unit  16 , or the external terminal  130  via the communication network  70 , to display through the display screen an object as illustrated by  FIGS.  6  and  7    but with a breakdown of the total value of proximity time given for each time slot.  FIG.  8    shows an example of this. 
       FIG.  8    is a table showing one example of what is displayed on the screen with, for each worker and for each time slot, the breakdown of the total value of proximity time shown in  FIGS.  6  and  7   . 
     In  FIG.  8   , the vertical axis indicates areas. The horizontal axis indicates, along the first row, time slots and, along the second row, workers. 
     The numerical values shown in  FIG.  8    are proximity time values of the respective workers, which are given in units of minutes and displayed one by one for each area and each time slot. 
     Note that  FIG.  8    employs a table format as a mere example of the display format in which the breakdown of the total value of proximity time shown in  FIGS.  6  and  7    is presented for each worker and each time slot. Other display formats including a graph format may also be employed. 
     The display control module  25 , based on the information stored in the congestion/proximity determination information database, may further cause the display unit  16 , or the external terminal  130  via the communication network  70 , to display through the display screen a clear indication of, for each area, each of the workers  100  determined to have stayed there in a state of proximity to one another within the proximity distance or shorter, together with the proximity time.  FIG.  9    shows an example of this. 
       FIG.  9    is a table showing an example of what is displayed on the screen with, for each area, a clear indication of each worker  100  determined to have stayed there in a proximity state and its proximity time. 
     In  FIG.  9   , the vertical axis indicates proximity time (minutes). The horizontal axis indicates, along the first row, areas and, along the second row, workers. 
     The numerical value “1” shown in  FIG.  9    indicates the worker  100  who stayed in the area indicated by the horizontal axis, for the time indicated by the vertical axis. 
     Note that  FIG.  9    employs a table format as a mere example of the display format in which the workers  100  determined to have stayed in an area in a state of proximity to one another within the proximity distance or shorter, that is, the workers  100  determined to be in a proximity state, are clearly indicated together with the proximity time for each area. Other display formats including a graph format may also be employed. 
     Furthermore, the display control module  25  may cause the display unit  16 , or the external terminal  130  via the communication network  70 , to display through the display screen a simplified object as shown in  FIG.  10   , which is obtained from an object as shown in  FIG.  9   .  FIG.  10    shows an example of this. 
       FIG.  10    is a table showing an example of what is displayed on the screen with a clear indication of each worker  100  determined to be in a proximity state and the proximity time lengths. 
     In  FIG.  10   , the vertical axis indicates proximity time (minutes) and the horizontal axis indicates workers. 
     The numerical value “1” shown in  FIG.  9    indicates a worker  100  who stayed for the proximity time indicated by the vertical axis.  FIG.  10    is a version where the areas indicated along the first row of the horizontal axis in  FIG.  9    are ignored and the display object is limited to only the workers. 
     The display control module  25 , based on the information stored in the congestion/proximity determination information database, may further cause, through the screen, area-by-area display of a clear indication of a history of changes in the number of persons determined to be in a proximity state.  FIG.  11    shows an example of this. 
       FIG.  11    is a diagram showing one example of what is displayed on the screen with a clear indication of a history of changes in the number of persons determined to be in a proximity state in a given area. 
     In  FIG.  11   , the horizontal axis indicates time and the vertical axis indicates the number of persons who have made a stay. 
     In  FIG.  11   , solid lines represent changes in the number of persons determined to be in a proximity state. As indicated by the circle in the figure, time slots that involve many solid lines appear dark, which indicates that partners in the proximity relationship have frequently changed. Here, a larger height in the vertical direction means an increased number of partners in the proximity relationship. Therefore, it can be recognized that, if a large height in the vertical direction is displayed, many workers are in a state of proximity, and if the size of the dark part is large, the workers frequently move in and move out. That is, the time slots and the degrees of proximity occurrence can be presented visually. 
     Additionally,  FIG.  11    also shows display of an area selection button EA. Users may designate a desired area through the area selection button EA so that the display object is switched to the history of changes for the designated area. 
     The congestion/proximity determination information database stores, for each area, the worker IDs of the respective workers  100  determined to be satisfying the proximity condition, and also the time information and the position information corresponding to the time slots and the positions determined for these workers  100  and representing the stay in each area in a proximate state. Thus, this enables the display control module  25  to cause the display actions on the screen as illustrated in  FIGS.  4  to  11   , based on the information stored in the congestion/proximity determination information database. 
     Next, a description will be given of an exemplary operation of the determination apparatus configured as above, to which the determination method according to an embodiment is applied. 
       FIG.  12    is a flowchart showing an exemplary operation of the determination apparatus to which the determination method according to the embodiment is applied. 
     A position sensor  110  with a unique sensor ID is attached to each worker  100 . Instead of or in addition to the position sensor  110 , the image sensor  115 , which may be a camera or the like, may be attached to each worker  100 . 
     The position information on each worker  100  measured by the position sensor  110 , i.e., sensing information obtained by the position sensor  110 , is sent from the position sensor  110  to the determination apparatus  10  together with the sensor ID. The image information acquired by the image sensor  115 , i.e., sensing information obtained by the image sensor  115 , is also sent from the image sensor  115  to the determination apparatus  10  via the communication network  70 , together with the corresponding sensor ID (S 1 ). 
     The position information, i.e., sensing information, and the sensor ID from the position sensor  110 , as well as the image information, i.e., sensing information, and the sensor ID from the image sensor  115 , are received by the communication unit  15  in the determination apparatus  10 , and then output from the communication unit  15  to the processing module  21 . 
     The processing module  21 , in response to the position information and the sensor ID being output from the communication unit  15 , acquires the worker ID associated with this sensor ID from the worker database  31 . The processing module  21 , in response to the image information and the sensor ID being output from the communication unit  15 , likewise acquires the worker ID associated with this sensor ID from the worker database  31  (S 2 ). 
     Then, if the sensing information sent in step S 1  is the position information (S 3 : Yes), the processing module  21  outputs the worker ID acquired in step S 2  to the position information database  32  together with the position information and the corresponding sensor ID, whereby the position information is stored in the position information database  32  in association with the worker ID, the sensor ID, and also time information (S 5 ). 
     On the other hand, if the sensing information sent in step S 1  is the image information (S 3 : No), the processing module  21  acquires position information from the image information using, for example, AI (S 4 ). The processing module  21  then outputs the worker ID acquired in step S 2  to the position information database  32  together with the position information acquired in step S 4  and the corresponding sensor ID, whereby this position information is stored in the position information database  32  in association with the worker ID, the sensor ID, and also time information (S 5 ). 
     Next, the stay information acquisition module  22  acquires, for each area in the factory, information on one or more workers  100  who have made a stay there and also acquires, for each worker  100  who has made a stay, information on a time slot during which the stay was made, from the position information database  32  based on the position information and the time information stored in association with the worker IDs (S 6 ). 
     Next, the congestion determination module  23  determines, based on the result acquired by the stay information acquisition module  22 , that an area in which multiple people have stayed for a predetermined continuous time length (for example, 15 minutes) or more is a congested area (S 7 ). 
     Next, the proximity determination module  24  determines, for each area, the workers  100  (e.g., the worker  100 A and the worker  100 C shown in  FIG.  3   ) who are staying close to one another within a predetermined proximity distance (for example, 1 m) or shorter, and a time slot during which each of such workers  100  (e.g., the worker  100 A and the worker  100 C shown in  FIG.  3   ) continuously stays, based on the position information and the time information stored in the position information database  32  in association with the worker (S 8 ). 
     The proximity determination module  24  further determines that the workers  100  (e.g., the worker  100 A and the worker  100 C shown in  FIG.  3   ) staying close to one another within the predetermined proximity distance or shorter are in a state of proximity to each other, if the time length corresponding to the determined time slot is equal to or longer than a predetermined continuous time length (for example, 15 minutes) (S 9 ). 
     To this end, the proximity determination module  24  calculates, for the multiple workers  100  concurrently staying in one area, a proximity distance from one another in a given time, based on the position information and the time information stored in the position information database  32  and using, for example, a trigonometric function. 
     Then, the proximity determination module  24  stores, for each area, and in the congestion/proximity determination information database, the worker IDs of the respective workers  100  (e.g., the worker  100 A and the worker  100 C) determined to be satisfying the proximity condition, in association with the time information and the position information corresponding to the time slot and the positions that have been determined for these workers  100  (e.g., the worker  100 A and the worker  100 C) and that represent the continuous stay within the proximity distance or shorter (S 10 ). 
     Accordingly, the display control module  25  produces screen objects as illustrated in  FIGS.  4  to  11    and causes the display unit  16 , or the external terminal  130  via the communication network  70 , to display them through the display screen, based on the information stored in the congestion/proximity determination information database (S 11 ). 
     With a screen as illustrated in  FIG.  4   , it is possible to visually comprehend areas where a proximity state has occurred. 
     With a screen as illustrated in  FIG.  5   , it is possible to comprehend the degree of proximity in an area where a proximity state has occurred, in comparison with other areas. 
     With a screen as illustrated in  FIGS.  6  and  7   , it is possible to independently comprehend which worker has been involved in a high degree of proximity. 
     With a screen as illustrated in  FIG.  8   , it is possible to comprehend, in detail, which worker has been involved in a high degree of proximity in which area and in which time slot. 
     With a screen as illustrated in  FIG.  9   , it is possible to comprehend which worker has been in a state of proximity with which worker, in which area and to what extent. 
     With a screen as illustrated in  FIG.  10   , it is possible to comprehend which worker has been in a state of proximity with which worker and to what extent. 
     With a screen as illustrated in  FIG.  11   , it is possible to visually comprehend time slots where a proximity state has occurred and its degree. 
     Therefore, according to the determination apparatus to which the determination method according to the embodiment is applied, it is possible to comprehend the state of congestion and proximity of persons such as workers in each area within a monitoring target region such as a factory, from various viewpoints. 
     While certain embodiments have been described, they have been presented by way of example only, and they are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions. These embodiments may be implemented in a variety of other forms with various omissions, substitutions, and changes without departing from the spirit of the inventions. The embodiments and their modifications are covered by the accompanying claims and their equivalents, as would fall within the scope and the gist of the claimed inventions.