Communication device, composite device, and management system

Abstract

To provide a communication device capable of imparting a communication function to a wearable device having neither communication means nor a structure for inserting a communication card.SOLUTION: A communication device includes a measuring part for acquiring information on an object, a control part for transmitting the information through a communication part, and a battery.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a communication device, a composite device, and a management system. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, advances in electronics and information technology have led to vigorous development of wearable devices, which are small electronic devices that can be worn on the body. There are a wide variety of types of wearable devices, such as smart glasses and wearable cameras, but due to their affinity with wearing on the body and growing health awareness, many wearable devices for health management that can measure heart rate, blood oxygen concentration, surface body temperature, etc. have been developed.

[0003] The information measured by the wearable device can be displayed on the display unit of the wearable device itself, or transferred to another information device via wireless or wired communication or a storage medium for confirmation. To make particularly effective use of the information measured by the wearable device, it is preferable to collect and analyze it on a computer as time-series data.

[0004] However, not all wearable devices are equipped with wireless or wired communication capabilities, and some only display colors on a display unit using one or more colored LED lights, so the information measured by such wearable devices cannot be effectively utilized.

[0005] As a means for utilizing information measured by a wearable device without a communication function as described above, Patent Document 1 discloses a health management system consisting of a server device, a health device, and a communication card inserted into the health device. According to Patent Document 1, health device operation information and server device connection information are stored in the communication card, and vital signs measured by the health device can be utilized by transferring the vital signs from the communication card to the server device. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] JP 2009-95570 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] In the health management system disclosed in Patent Document 1, health information is transferred to multiple server devices using a health device that does not have a communication means. However, the health management system disclosed in Patent Document 1 requires the health device to be equipped with a connector or slot for inserting a communication card, and there is a problem that it cannot be applied to wearable devices that do not assume communication and do not have a general communication function.

[0008] The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has an object to provide a communication device that can impart a communication function to a wearable device that does not have a communication means or a structure for inserting a communication card. Another object of the present invention is to provide a composite device and a management system that include the communication device. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] The means for solving the above problems are as follows. [1] A communication device having a measurement unit that acquires information about an object, a control unit that transmits the information through a communication unit, and a battery. [2] The communication device described in [1], wherein the control unit processes the acquired information into processed information and transmits the processed information. [3] A composite device including a communication device according to [1] or [2] and a wearable device having a display unit, wherein the communication device is provided at a position where the display of the display unit can be measured as an object, and the measurement unit measures the display to obtain information. [4] The wearable device is a composite device described in [3], which has a detection unit that detects the state of the wearer, and a control unit that causes a display unit to display a display corresponding to the state of the wearer detected by the detection unit. [5] A management system comprising the composite device described in [3] or [4] and a receiving device for receiving information transmitted from the communication device. [6] The management system described in [5], wherein the receiving device has a control unit that creates notification information corresponding to the information received from the communication device, and a notification unit that notifies the notification information. Effect of the Invention

[0010] According to the present invention, a communication function can be provided to a wearable device that does not have a communication means, and information acquired by the wearable device can be utilized. In addition, even if a wearable device does not satisfy a desired communication requirement with its existing communication function, a new communication function can be provided, and information acquired by the wearable device can be further utilized. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a management system including a communication device and a multi-device according to the present embodiment. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the configurations of a communication device, a smart watch, and a computer. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0012] The present invention will be described through the embodiments of the present invention. The following embodiments are preferred examples of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to these embodiments.

[0013] 1 is a schematic diagram showing a management system 70 including a communication device 10 and a composite device 60 according to the present embodiment. The composite device 60 according to the present embodiment is configured to include the communication device 10 and a wearable device. The management system 70 according to the present embodiment is configured to include the composite device 60 and a receiving device. Below, an example will be described in which the management system 70 is applied to the health management of a worker 50 at a manufacturing site of a steelworks.

[0014] The communication device 10 according to the present embodiment is used to provide a communication function to a wearable device that does not have a communication function. In the present embodiment, the wearable device is, for example, a smart watch 20, which is worn by a worker 50 at a manufacturing site of a steelworks, and displays a display corresponding to the condition of the worker 50 on the display unit 26. The display displayed on the display unit 26 may be a display showing the health condition of the worker 50, such as the body temperature, heart rate, and blood oxygen concentration, or a display showing the position, such as the direction, altitude, latitude, and longitude. In the present embodiment, the smart watch 20 detects the body temperature of the worker 50 wearing the smart watch 20, and displays a color corresponding to the body temperature on the display unit 26. Note that the wearable device is not limited to a smart watch, and may be a smart glass, a smart ring, or the like, as long as it has a display unit 26 that displays something and does not have a communication function. In addition, the display displayed on the display unit 26 is not limited to a color, and may be a character or an image.

[0015] On the other hand, the smart watch 20 does not have a communication function, so if the smart watch 20 is used alone, the supervisor 54 and other workers 52 cannot know the color displayed on the display unit 26. For this reason, if the body temperature of the worker 50 suddenly rises and the worker 52 suffers from heat stroke, the discovery may be delayed, and the heat stroke may become more severe.

[0016] In response to this, the communication device 10 according to the present embodiment is placed in a position where the color displayed on the display unit 26 of the smart watch 20 can be measured, and color information acquired by measuring the color displayed on the display unit 26 is transmitted to a receiving device. In this embodiment, the receiving device is, for example, an LED device 30 provided on a helmet of a worker 50.

[0017] By transmitting color information from the communication device 10 to the LED device 30, the LED device 30 performs a notification corresponding to the color information from the notification unit 32. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the notification unit 32 is an LED light, and the LED device 30 turns on the LED light corresponding to the color information. This allows the color displayed on the smart watch 20 to be notified to the surrounding workers 52. As a result, even if the body temperature of the worker 50 wearing the smart watch 20 suddenly rises and the worker 50 suffers from heat stroke, the other workers 52 can visually recognize the LED light and discover the worker 50 before the worker 50 becomes seriously ill. In addition, the LED device 30 may have an LED light and an active buzzer as the notification unit 32, and an alarm sound may be generated from the active buzzer instead of or in addition to turning on the LED light.

[0018] Moreover, the communication device 10 may transmit color information to a computer 40 installed in a central location of a production site where a supervisor 54 is present, instead of or together with the LED device 30. The computer 40 is another example of a receiving device.

[0019] Then, the notification unit 46 provided in the computer 40 notifies the supervisor 54 of the color displayed on the smart watch 20 by making the notification unit 46 corresponding to the color information notify the supervisor 54. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the notification unit 46 is a rotating light. This allows the color of the smart watch 20 to be notified to the supervisor 54. As a result, the supervisor 54 can discover the heat stroke of the worker 50 before it becomes serious, and can inform other workers 52 that the manufacturing site is prone to heat stroke, so that they can take measures against it. In addition, the computer 40 may have a rotating light and an active buzzer as the notification unit 46, and an alarm sound may be generated from the active buzzer instead of or in addition to turning on the rotating light. Furthermore, the color information acquired from the communication device 10 may be collected as time-series data and analyzed in a server device connected to the computer 40 by wire or wirelessly.

[0020] Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the configurations of the communication device 10, the smart watch 20, and the computer 40. The configurations of the communication device 10, the smart watch 20, and the computer 40 will be described with reference to Fig. 2.

[0021] The communication device 10 has a measurement unit 12, a control unit 14, a communication unit 16, and a battery 18. The communication device 10 acquires information by having the measurement unit 12 measure a display displayed on a display unit 26 of a smart watch 20 as an object. Then, the control unit 14 transmits the information through the communication unit 16, thereby imparting a communication function to the smart watch 20 that does not have a communication function.

[0022] The measurement unit 12 is composed of one or more detectors capable of acquiring RGB values ​​or HSV values. The number of detectors of the measurement unit 12 varies depending on the display that the measurement unit 12 measures. For example, when the display that the measurement unit 12 measures is color, a color sensor having about 1 to 10 detectors is used as the measurement unit 12. On the other hand, when the display that the measurement unit 12 measures is text or an image, an image sensor in which a large number of detectors are arranged side by side is used as the measurement unit 12. In addition, it is preferable that the measurement unit 12 has a light projection function. By having the light projection function, the measurement unit 12 can measure the display with appropriate contrast by the light projection function even if the display unit, which is the target, is a liquid crystal screen without a backlight.

[0023] The control unit 14 includes one or more general-purpose processors including, for example, a CPU or an MPU. The control unit 14 may include one or more dedicated processors that perform specific processing, or may include one or more dedicated circuits instead of the dedicated processors. The dedicated circuits may be, for example, FPGAs or ASICs. The control unit 14 transmits information acquired by the measurement unit 12 to the computer 40 via the communication unit 16.

[0024] Furthermore, the control unit 14 may process the information acquired by the measurement unit 12 to generate processed information. For example, when the acquired information is color information (RGB values), the color processing information may refer to a preset color name table based on the acquired RGB values ​​to generate color processing information indicating a corresponding color name, or color processing information may be generated by extracting only the hue. The control unit 14 transmits the color processing information as information to the computer 40 through the communication unit 16. Furthermore, the control unit 14 may process the information acquired by the measurement unit 12 to generate notification information to be used for notification in the computer 40, and transmit the notification information as information to the computer 40.

[0025] The communication unit 16 is a communication device for transmitting and receiving information measured by the measurement unit 12 to and from other receiving devices under the control of the control unit 14. The communication unit 16 includes a communication module compatible with one or more wired or wireless LAN (Local Area Network) standards. The communication unit 16 may include a communication module compatible with one or more mobile communication standards including LTE (Long Term Evolution), 4G (4th Generation), or 5G (5th Generation). Furthermore, the communication unit 16 may include a communication module compatible with one or more short-range communication standards or specifications including Bluetooth (registered trademark), Bluetooth Low Energy (registered trademark), AirDrop (registered trademark), IrDA, ZigBee (registered trademark), Fellica (registered trademark), or RFID. In addition, information may be transmitted from the communication unit 16 to multiple receiving devices by advertisement communication. As the battery 18, a primary dry cell battery may be used, but it is preferable to use a high-energy density secondary battery such as a lithium-ion battery.

[0026] The communication device 10 may have a wearing tool used for wearing the communication device 10 on the worker 50 or the smart watch 20, which is a wearable device. The wearing tool is, for example, a band wrapped around the torso or leg, or a mounting bracket attached to the smart watch 20.

[0027] Next, a smart watch 20, which is an example of a wearable device, will be described. In this embodiment, the smart watch 20 is worn by a worker 50 at a manufacturing site of a steelworks, and is used to manage the health condition of the worker 50. The smart watch 20 has a detection unit 22, a control unit 24, and a display unit 26.

[0028] The detection unit 22 is, for example, a temperature sensor that measures the body temperature of the worker 50 wearing the smart watch 20 and detects the temperature information. The type of the detection unit 22 may also differ depending on the condition of the worker 50 detected by the smart watch 20.

[0029] Like the control unit 14, the control unit 24 includes one or more general-purpose processors including, for example, a CPU or MPU. The control unit 24 may include one or more dedicated processors that perform specific processing, or may include one or more dedicated circuits instead of the dedicated processors. The dedicated circuits may be, for example, an FPGA or an ASIC. The control unit 24 refers to a table that associates predetermined temperature information with color information for the temperature information detected by the detection unit 22, and generates color information corresponding to the temperature information. The control unit 24 outputs the generated color information to the display unit 26, and causes the display unit 26 to display a color corresponding to the color information.

[0030] When the display unit 26 displays a color, the display unit 26 may be configured with one color LED light, and the control unit 24 controls the hue, saturation, and brightness of the color LED light based on the generated color information. When the display unit 26 displays characters and images as information, the display unit 26 may be configured with a liquid crystal display, and the control unit 24 controls the liquid crystal display based on the character information and image information.

[0031] Next, a computer 40, which is an example of a receiving device, will be described. The computer 40 has a communication unit 42, a control unit 44, and a notification unit 46. The communication unit 42 may have a communication module corresponding to the communication unit 42 of the communication device 10.

[0032] The control unit 44 includes, like the control unit 14, one or more general-purpose processors including, for example, a CPU or MPU. The control unit 44 may include one or more dedicated processors that perform specific processing, or may include one or more dedicated circuits instead of the dedicated processors. The dedicated circuits may be, for example, an FPGA or an ASIC. The control unit 44 creates notification information corresponding to the information received through the communication unit 42 and outputs the notification information to the notification unit 46, so that the notification unit 46 issues a notification corresponding to the notification information.

[0033] When the received information is color information corresponding to the body temperature of the worker 50, the control unit 44 may create notification information corresponding to the risk of heat stroke. For example, when the notification unit 46 is a rotating light, notification information may be created to turn on the rotating light when the body temperature is high and the risk of heat stroke is high, and notification information may be created to not turn on the rotating light when the body temperature is normal and the risk of body temperature heat stroke is low. In addition, when the lighting color of the rotating light can be changed, different notification information may be created corresponding to the risk of heat stroke. For example, notification information may be created to turn on a red rotating light when the body temperature is high and the risk of heat stroke is high, and notification information may be created to turn on a blue rotating light when the body temperature is normal and the risk of heat stroke is low.

[0034] In addition, when the notification unit 46 is an active buzzer, notification information may be created that generates an alarm sound when the body temperature is high and the risk of heat stroke is high, and that does not generate an alarm sound when the body temperature is normal and the risk of heat stroke is low. In addition, the control unit 44 may collect and analyze the color information received through the communication unit 42 as time-series data.

[0035] As described above, the notification unit 46 is, for example, a rotating light, an active buzzer, and / or an LED light. The notification unit 46 issues a notification corresponding to the notification information created by the control unit 44. By creating notification information corresponding to the risk of heatstroke in this way and notifying it from the notification unit 46, the color displayed on the display unit 26 of the smart watch 20 can be notified to the supervisor 54 or other workers 52. This allows the supervisor 54 or other workers 52 to discover the heatstroke of the worker 50 before it becomes severe.

[0036] In this way, by using the communication device 10 according to the present embodiment, a communication function can be provided to a wearable device such as a smart watch 20 that does not have a communication function and does not have a structure for inserting a communication card. Then, by transmitting information acquired by the wearable device to a receiving device through the communication device 10, it becomes possible to utilize the information.

[0037] In the above embodiment, the communication device 10 is used to provide a communication function to the smart watch 20 that does not have a communication function, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the communication device may be used to provide a long-distance communication function to a wearable device that has only a short-distance communication function. In this case, a communication module compatible with a mobile communication standard is used for the communication unit of the communication device. This allows the wearable device to perform long-distance communication in addition to short-distance communication, making it possible to further utilize information acquired by the wearable device. EXAMPLES

[0038] Next, an example will be described in which the management system according to this embodiment is used to manage the risk of heatstroke among workers in a work area with a radius of about 50 m inside a steelworks factory building. The communication device used in this example has a color sensor as a measurement unit, a Bluetooth Low Energy (registered trademark) communication module as a communication unit, and a lithium-ion battery as a battery.

[0039] The color sensor is made up of four light receiving elements with and without color filters and of different types, and outputs four values ​​as color information: R values, G values, and B values ​​obtained through the different types of color filters, and a C value that does not pass through any color filters. The color information obtained by the color sensor was processed into normalized RGB values ​​by dividing the R value, G value, and B value by the C value in the control unit.

[0040] The wearable device used in the examples is a commercially available wristwatch-type heat stroke prevention watch. The heat stroke prevention watch has a temperature sensor as a detection unit, and when it detects the risk of heat stroke due to an increase in the wearer's body temperature, the color LED light that is the display unit changes from green to yellow or red. Note that this heat stroke prevention watch does not have any of the functions of wireless communication, wired communication, storage medium connection, or communication card insertion.

[0041] The communication device and the heat stroke prevention watch were fixed together to form a composite device so that the display of the heat stroke prevention watch could be measured by the color sensor of the communication device. The display of the heat stroke prevention watch was then measured with the color sensor to obtain color information. The color information obtained by the color sensor was processed in the control unit into normalized RGB values ​​by dividing the R value, G value, and B value by the C value.

[0042] Two receiving devices were used in the embodiment, one receiving device was attached to the worker's helmet and was an LED device having a color LED light as a notification unit, and the other receiving device was installed in the approximate center of the work area and was a computer having a rotating light and an active buzzer. The control unit of the communication device transmitted the normalized RGB value from the Bluetooth Low Energy (registered trademark) communication module to the LED device having the color LED light and the computer as Manufacturer Data of the advertisement communication.

[0043] In the LED device with color LED lights, a color name table in which normalized RGB values ​​correspond to color names was used to identify the color that corresponds to the acquired normalized RGB value, and if the identified color is red or yellow, the color LED light was turned on red. Also, in the computer, the color that corresponds to the acquired normalized RGB value was identified, and if the identified color is red or yellow, a rotating light was turned on and an active buzzer was sounded. This makes it possible to notify surrounding workers and supervisors of an abnormality (heat stroke) in a worker wearing a heat stroke prevention watch, and to notify the worker of the risk of heat stroke at an early stage, as well as to notify that the risk of heat stroke is increasing in the work area.

[0044] Furthermore, the computer identifies the color corresponding to the normalized RGB value transmitted from the communication device, communicates the identified color via LAN via Ethernet (registered trademark), and stores the color and the acquired time in the server. This allows the server to collect time-series data on the risk of heat stroke in the work area, and makes it possible to analyze the data. In this way, it has been confirmed that by using the communication device, composite device, and management system according to this embodiment, it is possible to make better use of the information displayed on the display unit of the heat stroke prevention watch than before. [Explanation of symbols]

[0045] 10. Communication Devices 12 Measuring part 14 Control section 16 Communications Department 18 Battery 20. Smartwatch 22 Detection unit 24 Control Unit 26 Display section 30 LED device 32 Notification Department 40 Computer 42 Communications Department 44 Control section 46 Notification Department 50 workers 52 Worker 54 Supervisor 60 Composite Devices 70 Management Systems

Claims

1. A measurement unit for acquiring information about an object; A control unit that transmits the information through a communication unit; Battery and A communication device comprising:

2. The communication device according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit processes the acquired information to generate processed information, and transmits the processed information as information.

3. A composite device including the communication device according to claim 1 or 2 and a wearable device having a display unit, the communication device is provided at a position where the display of the display unit can be measured as an object; The measurement unit measures the display to obtain information.

4. The wearable device comprises: A detection unit that detects a state of a wearer; a control unit that causes a display unit to display a display corresponding to the state of the wearer detected by the detection unit; The composite device of claim 3 , comprising:

5. A management system comprising: the composite device according to claim 3; and a receiving device for receiving information transmitted from the communication device.

6. A management system comprising: the composite device according to claim 4; and a receiving device for receiving information transmitted from the communication device.

7. The management system according to claim 5 , wherein the receiving device comprises: a control unit that creates notification information corresponding to the information received from the communication device; and a notification unit that notifies the notification information.

8. The management system according to claim 6 , wherein the receiving device comprises: a control unit that creates notification information corresponding to the information received from the communication device; and a notification unit that notifies the notification information.

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