Watching-over system, watching-over method, and computer program

Abstract

To provide a watching-over system, a watching-over method, and a computer program capable of collectively grasping tendencies of a plurality of subjects to be watched over a wide area and notifying an administrator of abnormalities.SOLUTION: A watching-over system 1 of the present invention comprises: a wireless tag 9 that is individually carried by a subject to be watched over; a movable terminal 2 that is held by an administrator, has a display unit 2c capable of displaying prescribed watching-over information and a sound output unit 2e capable of outputting sound, and is wirelessly communicative with the wireless tag 9; and a control unit that periodically calculates a distance between the administrator and each subject to be watched over based on signals periodically obtained by the movable terminal 2 from each wireless tag 9, causes the display unit 2c of the movable terminal 2 to display each subject to be watched over in an identifiable manner according to the distance, and causes the sound output unit 2e of the movable terminal 2 to output an alarm sound when the distance exceeds a prescribed set distance.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a monitoring system, a monitoring method, and a computer program for a manager who leads and manages a group of multiple monitoring subjects who move relatively to one another. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, problems such as children and elderly people going missing due to wandering or getting lost, and children being left behind, have become an increasing problem, and as a result, many different types of monitoring systems for watching over children, elderly people, etc. have been proposed.

[0003] For example, one example of such a system is a school attendance management system in which students are required to carry a mobile device equipped with a wireless tag and a location information acquisition function, and for students who are not attending school according to the wireless tag management, the current location of the mobile device carried by the student is obtained, and if it is confirmed that the current location of the mobile device is not within the school, it is determined that the student has irregularly attended school (see, for example, Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2004-46458 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] However, even in the current situation where various types of monitoring systems exist, there remain various problems that cannot be adequately addressed by existing systems, such as children from one nursery school in a park mistakenly following a group from another nursery school in the same park. These problems are often caused by the fact that conventional systems can only monitor a narrow range of movement or cannot collectively monitor the movements of multiple people who move around in various ways.

[0006] Therefore, given the current state of monitoring, there is an urgent need for a monitoring system that can monitor freely moving children and elderly people over a wide area, and that can keep track of the movements of multiple such people while they are out and about, and respond flexibly.

[0007] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned circumstances, and aims to provide a monitoring system, monitoring method, and computer program that can grasp the trends of multiple monitored subjects over a wide area at once and notify an administrator of any abnormalities. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] In order to solve the above problem, the present invention provides a monitoring system for a manager who leads and manages a group of multiple monitoring subjects who move relatively to each other, comprising: A wireless tag individually carried by each of the monitoring subjects; A mobile terminal carried by the manager, the mobile terminal having a display unit capable of displaying predetermined monitoring information and an output unit capable of outputting sound or vibration, and capable of wireless communication with the wireless tag; a control unit that periodically calculates the distance between the manager and each of the monitoring targets based on signals periodically acquired by the mobile terminal from each of the wireless tags, and causes a display unit of the mobile terminal to display each of the monitoring targets in an identifiable manner according to the distance, and causes an alarm sound or vibration to be output from the output unit of the mobile terminal when the distance exceeds a predetermined set distance; The present invention is characterized by comprising:

[0009] In this way, the monitoring system of the present invention having the above-mentioned configuration comprises a wireless tag carried by each monitored subject, a display unit carried by an administrator and capable of displaying specified monitoring information and an output unit capable of outputting sound or vibration, and a mobile terminal capable of wireless communication with the wireless tag. Based on signals periodically obtained by the mobile terminal from each wireless tag, the distance between the administrator and each monitored subject is periodically calculated, and each monitored subject is identifiably displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal according to that distance (making it possible to display each monitored subject in an identifiable manner according to the distance), thereby making it possible to grasp the movements of multiple monitored subjects over a wide area at once.

[0010] Furthermore, according to the above configuration, when the distance between the monitored object and the manager exceeds a predetermined set distance, an alarm sound or vibration is output from the output unit of the mobile terminal, so that when an abnormality occurs in which the monitored object becomes too far from the manager, the manager can be notified of the abnormality and alerted. In particular, by notifying the manager of the abnormality with a sound or vibration, the manager, who does not always look at the display unit of the mobile terminal, can be reliably notified of the abnormality. In this case, it is preferable to display the monitored object that has exceeded the predetermined set distance on the display unit of the mobile terminal so that the manager can identify it. In addition to the alarm sound or vibration, a warning display may be displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal.

[0011] In the above configuration, the wireless tag may be an active wireless tag, and is preferably a beacon tag (BLE beacon) that periodically emits a signal. Generally, a beacon can transmit a signal (information) to an unspecified number of people, and has a characteristic that the greater the distance from the beacon, the weaker the received radio wave intensity (RSSI). Therefore, the control unit can calculate the distance between the manager and the target to be watched, which may move relatively to each other, based on the received radio wave intensity of the signal from the beacon tag received by the mobile terminal. As an example of the calculation method, for example, the distance between the manager and the target to be watched can be calculated by a calculation method such as that shown in FIG. 12 of JP 2019-86344 A, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference. In this regard, FIG. 17 shows FIG. 12 of JP 2019-86344 A, and as shown in the figure, the shorter the distance from the beacon, in other words, the closer to the beacon, the greater the deviation between the actual measured value and the radio wave intensity value derived by the radio wave propagation model tends to be. That is, in the case shown in FIG. 17, for a point near a beacon, the actual radio wave intensity cannot be appropriately approximated by one radio wave propagation model. In general, when a radio wave propagation model is applied to a device for positioning a user's position, it is used for a distance within a certain range from a beacon (near the beacon) where the rate of change of radio wave intensity is large in the radio wave propagation model. Therefore, the approximation accuracy of the radio wave propagation model near the beacon has a great influence on the positioning accuracy. Therefore, in this calculation method, the section near the beacon where the approximation accuracy of the radio wave propagation model decreases is divided into multiple sections, and a radio wave propagation model using a model coefficient derived using actual measured values ​​is applied to each divided section. That is, the section according to the distance from the beacon is divided into a section where the rate of change of radio wave intensity value is relatively large and a section where the rate of change of radio wave intensity value is relatively small, and further the section where the rate of change of radio wave intensity value is relatively small is divided into multiple sections, and the value of the spatial propagation coefficient applied to the radio wave propagation model is switched for each section. In the above configuration of the present invention, if the battery is replaced before the remaining battery power is reduced, the remaining battery power need not be taken into consideration when calculating the separation distance. When calculating the separation distance taking the remaining battery power into consideration, for example, a correction table in which a correction coefficient for the RSSI value according to the remaining battery power is calculated in advance may be built in, and a corrected RSSI value may be calculated from the measured RSSI value and the remaining battery power to calculate the separation distance. The correction of the RSSI value taking the remaining battery power into consideration is not limited to this method, and any known correction method may be used.

[0012] In the above configuration, it is preferable that the control unit divides the distance between the manager and the target of monitoring into multiple stages according to the distance, and displays each target of monitoring on the display unit of the mobile terminal in an identifiable manner so that the manager can specify which of the multiple stages the target of monitoring is in. This allows the manager to grasp the distance between the manager and each target of monitoring at a glance, and to flexibly deal with the distance according to the distance.

[0013] In the above configuration, it is preferable that the control unit can set a common set distance for all of the multiple monitoring targets on the display unit of the mobile terminal, or set an individual set distance for each monitoring target on the display unit of the mobile terminal. In particular, if an individual set distance can be set for each monitoring target, it becomes possible to flexibly set a distance warning threshold according to the behavioral tendency due to the personality of the monitoring target, and to respond individually to the characteristics and situation of the monitoring target.

[0014] The present invention also provides a monitoring method executed by the above-mentioned monitoring system, and a computer program for causing a computer to execute the method. Effect of the Invention

[0015] According to the present invention, it becomes possible to grasp the trends of multiple monitored subjects over a wide area at once and notify an administrator of any abnormalities. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0016] [Figure 1] 1 is a conceptual diagram of a monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 3] 11 shows a table column illustrating an example of information items stored in each master and table of a cloud server and a mobile terminal constituting a monitoring system according to one embodiment. [Figure 4] (a) shows an example of a start screen that appears on the display of a mobile terminal when the power of the mobile terminal is turned on and a monitoring application (computer program) that is pre-installed on the mobile terminal is launched, (b) shows an example of a reading screen that shows the state in which information is being read from a beacon tag as a wireless tag and from a server, and (c) shows an example of a target child list selection screen that displays a list of monitoring information detected and calculated for children to be monitored. [Diagram 5] An example of the target child list selection screen of FIG. 4(c) is shown with a "Do not detect" button displayed for excluding some children from detection targets. [Figure 6] An example of a monitoring screen that is displayed on the display unit when the "Start" button is touched on the target child list selection screen of FIG. 4(c) is shown. [Figure 7] (a) shows an example of a home screen that is displayed on the display unit when the “Home” button is touched on the monitoring screen shown in FIG. 6 (or FIG. 7(b)), (b) shows the monitoring screen also shown in FIG. 6, and (c) shows an example of a settings screen that is displayed on the display unit when the “Settings” button is touched on the monitoring screen shown in FIG. 6 (or FIG. 7(b)). [Figure 8] (a) shows the monitoring screen also shown in Figure 6, (b) shows an example of a child details screen that is displayed on the display unit by touching (pressing) an icon corresponding to any specific child (here, "Suzuki Hanako") displayed on the monitoring screen, and (c) shows an example of an individual child settings screen that is displayed on the display unit when the "Settings" button is touched on the child details screen in (b). [Figure 9] (a) shows the child details screen also shown in (b) of Figure 8, (b) shows an example of a child searching screen that appears on the display when the "Search for Child" button is touched on the child details screen in (a), and (c) shows an example of a monitoring screen (similar to Figures 6, 7(b), and 8(a)) that appears on the display when the "Done" button is touched on the child searching screen in (b). [Figure 10] (a) is an example of an alert screen with a pop-up display that appears when a first set distance, which is the lower limit of the warning distance range (the warning value in the display screen of Figure 7(c)), is exceeded for any specific child (here, "Taro Sato"), and (b) shows the monitoring screen also shown in Figures 6, 7(b), and 8(a) that is displayed on the display unit when the "Confirm" button is touched in the pop-up display of (a). [Figure 11] (a) shows an example of an alert screen with a pop-up display that appears when a second set distance is exceeded, which is the lower limit of the danger distance range (the warning target value in the display screen of (c) of Figure 7) that is greater than the lower limit of the warning distance range for any specific child (here, "Suzuki Hanako"); (b) shows an example of an alert screen with a pop-up display that appears on the display when the "Find Child" button is touched in the pop-up display of (a); and (c) shows an example of a monitoring screen (similar to Figures 6, (b) of Figure 7, and (a) of Figure 8) that is displayed on the display when the "Done" button is touched in the pop-up display of (b). [Figure 12] 13 shows a modified example of the display form of the monitoring screen. [Figure 13] 6 is a flowchart showing an example of an algorithm in a watching program, specifically, a flowchart showing the flow of processing in a control unit from launching a watching application to the display screens of FIGS. 4 and 5. [Figure 14] This is a flowchart showing an example of an algorithm in a monitoring program, specifically, a flowchart showing the processing flow of a control unit that enables setting the lower limit value of the warning distance range (attention value) and the lower limit value of the danger distance range (alarm value). [Figure 15] 1 is a flowchart showing an example of a main algorithm in a monitoring program, specifically, a flowchart showing the flow of a series of processes in a control unit from the start of monitoring to the end of monitoring. [Figure 16] 1 is a flowchart showing an example of an algorithm in a monitoring program, specifically, a flowchart showing the flow of processing by a control unit for causing a pop-up display to appear. [Figure 17] 1 is a graph showing an example of a principle of distance calculation based on an RSSI value. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0017] Hereinafter, an embodiment of a monitoring system of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1. Overview of the monitoring system 1 conceptually shows an example of a monitoring system 1 that enables a manager 8 who leads and manages a group of multiple monitored subjects 6 who move relatively to one another to monitor the group by communicating with a cloud server 4 via communication means (network) 10 and processing the data by a computer according to a predetermined algorithm. This monitoring system 1 at least comprises a cloud server (hereinafter, sometimes simply referred to as a server) 4, a portable terminal (mobile terminal) 2 connected to the cloud server 4 via communication means 10 so as to be able to wirelessly communicate with the cloud server 4, and a beacon tag 9 as an example of a wireless tag capable of wirelessly communicating with the portable terminal 2.

[0018] In the following embodiment, an example will be described in which a group of multiple children (kindergarteners) 6 at a nursery school is watched over (monitored) by a nursery teacher 8 who acts as a manager who leads and manages the group, but the present invention is not limited to children and nursery teachers at a nursery school, and can be similarly applied to other groups and the managers who manage them, such as elderly people and caregivers at a care facility. The group is not limited to humans, and can also be applied to animals.

[0019] The portable terminal 2 as a mobile terminal is a terminal carried (possessed) by the childcare worker 8 as the manager, and may be, for example, a smartphone. The portable terminal 2 is capable of communicating with the beacon tag 9 by wired or wireless means, for example, a short-range wireless communication standard such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) communication, and is also capable of communicating with the cloud server 4 via a network 10. Furthermore, the portable terminal 2 has a display unit capable of displaying predetermined monitoring information, and a sound output unit (for example, a speaker) or a vibration generating unit capable of outputting sound or vibration.

[0020] The beacon tag 9 is a terminal carried (possessed) individually by the child 6 to be monitored. Generally, a beacon can transmit a signal (information) to an unspecified number of people, and has the characteristic that the received radio wave intensity (RSSI) becomes weaker as the distance from the beacon increases. However, the beacon 9 of this embodiment transmits a signal (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as a beacon signal) periodically (for example, every 0.9 seconds), thereby enabling periodic calculation of the distance between the child 6 and the caregiver 8 based on the RSSI value (sequential detection of the position of the beacon 9). Note that the wireless tag carried individually by the child is not limited to such a beacon tag, and may be, for example, another active wireless tag, or may be a passive wireless tag if the environment allows wireless power supply.

[0021] 1, communication means 10 exchanges information between mobile terminal 2 and server 4, and may be either wired communication or wireless communication. Examples of such communication means 10 include the Internet, a line using a wired cable, a wired telephone line, a mobile phone line, and a WiFi line. Mobile terminal 2 also has an input device. This input device is, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, or a touch panel.

[0022] In the monitoring system 1 of the present embodiment having such a configuration, when the childcare worker 8 turns on the power of the mobile terminal 2 and starts a monitoring application (computer program) preinstalled in the mobile terminal 2, detection of each beacon tag 6 individually carried by a plurality of children 6 is started. At this time, the application (in other words, the control unit of the system 1) acquires information on the beacon tag (and information on the children) from the cloud server 4 based on the ID of the beacon tag 6 (the information on the beacon tag and the information on the children are linked and registered in the cloud server 4), receives a beacon signal transmitted by the beacon tag 9, for example, every 0.9 seconds, and displays predetermined monitoring information on the display unit of the mobile terminal (i.e., only the received beacon (child) is the target of monitoring). In addition, while the signal is continuously received from the same beacon tag 9, the detection time of the signal, the remaining battery level built into the beacon tag 9, and the RSSI (received radio wave intensity of the beacon signal received by the mobile terminal 2) value are continuously updated.

[0023] In addition, the application (control unit of system 1) periodically calculates the distance between the caregiver 8 and the child 6 based on the beacon signals periodically obtained by the mobile terminal 2 from each beacon tag 9, and displays the child 6 (in this embodiment, an icon or text information corresponding to the child 6, as described below) identifiably on the display unit of the mobile terminal 2 according to the calculated distance (enabling identifiable display according to the distance of each child 6), and when the distance exceeds a predetermined set distance (alert range, which is a danger range) (when the child 6 and the beacon tag 9 carried by the child 6 are more than a predetermined set distance away from the caregiver 8), in other words, when the beacon signal cannot be detected for a certain period of time within the safety range set by the application, an alarm sound or vibration is output from the sound output unit or vibration generating unit of the mobile terminal 2.

[0024] In this embodiment, an example will be described in which various data required for monitoring is exchanged between the cloud server 4 and the mobile terminal 2, but the mobile terminal 2 may execute the monitoring process (monitoring method) described below by itself without going through the server 4. Also, instead of being in the form of the system 1, it may exist as a computer program product (recording medium) in which a computer program for executing such monitoring process is stored.

[0025] 2. Configuration of the monitoring system Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of each element of the monitoring system 1 in Fig. 1. As shown in the figure, the beacon tag 9 has a Bluetooth communication unit 9a that enables communication with the mobile terminal 2, a control unit (CPU) 9b that controls the operation of the Bluetooth communication unit 9a, and a battery (not shown) as a power source. The control unit 9b controls the operation so as to periodically (every 0.9 seconds in this embodiment) transmit a beacon signal via the Bluetooth communication unit 9a.

[0026] In addition, the mobile terminal 2 is a smartphone in this embodiment, and includes a Bluetooth communication unit 2a that enables communication with the beacon tag 9, an HTTP communication unit 6b that enables communication with the communication means 10, a touch display 2c as a display unit, software 2d for detecting the beacon tag 9, a sound speaker 2e that outputs sounds including an alarm sound (alert sound), a storage unit (memory) 2f that stores various data required for monitoring, and a control unit (CPU) 2g that controls the operation of each of these components. The storage unit 2f stores at least an alert target child list (table) 2fa, which is a list of children 6 to be monitored, and a tracking log list (table) 2fb. Note that a vibration generating unit (not shown) may be provided instead of or in addition to the sound speaker 2e.

[0027] The cloud server 4 has an HTTP communication unit 4a that enables communication with the communication means 10, a database 4b that includes at least various data necessary for monitoring, and a control unit (CPU) 4c that controls the operation of each of these components. The database 4b includes at least a child information master 4ba that stores information about the child 6, and a device (beacon tag) information master 4bb that stores information about the beacon tag 9. Note that registration (storage) of information in the database 4b may be performed, for example, by a childcare worker who is the manager 8 accessing the server 4 from a personal computer or the like and inputting the information.

[0028] Here, as described above, the control unit of the monitoring system 1, which periodically calculates the distance between the caregiver 8 and the child 6 based on signals periodically obtained by the mobile terminal 2 from each beacon tag 9, displays each child identifiable according to the distance on the touch display 2c of the mobile terminal 2, and outputs an alarm sound from the sound speaker 2e of the mobile terminal 2 when the distance exceeds a predetermined set distance, may be configured by one or both of the control unit 2g of the mobile terminal 2 and the control unit 4c of the server 4 working together, or may be separate from the mobile terminal 2 and the server 4, or may even be an application program.

[0029] FIG. 3 shows an example of information included in each table 2fa, 2fb in the storage unit 2f of the mobile terminal 2 and each master 4ba, 4bb in the database 4b of the cloud server 4. As shown in the figure, information included in the alert target child table 2fa in the storage unit 2f of the mobile terminal 2 can include, for example, the name (kanji and kana) of the child 6 to be watched over, the device MAC address (Media Access Control address) (ID) of the beacon tag 9 which is the device, the latest RSSI value, the latest reception date and time of the beacon signal, the remaining battery level of the beacon tag 9, the URL of the face photo of the child 6, the distance (m) between the child 6 and the caregiver 8 who is the administrator, the lower limit value (m) of the warning distance range and the lower limit value (m) of the dangerous distance range, which will be described later. In addition, the distance between the child 6 and the caregiver 8 is calculated based on the RSSI value and the remaining battery level. In addition, information included in the tracking log table 2fb in the storage unit 2f of the mobile terminal 2 can include, for example, the device MAC address, the RSSI value, the reception date and time of the beacon signal, and the remaining battery level of the beacon tag 9. When the monitoring application is launched, the various types of information received by the mobile terminal 2 from the beacon tag 9 are stored as tracking information in the tracking log table 2fb, and the latest information is read from the tracking log table 2fb to the alert target child table 2fa. All the information stored in the tracking log table 2fb may be deleted when the monitoring application is terminated. Also, in addition to or instead of a facial photograph, a figure (animal, plant, etc.) may be used.

[0030] The child information master 4ba in the database 4b of the cloud server 4 stores information about each child 6 belonging to the nursery school, and examples of the information included therein include the name of the child 6 (in kanji and kana), the device MAC address (ID) of the beacon tag 9 used by the child 6, the birth date of the child 6, the class to which the child 6 belongs at the nursery school, and the file name of the face photo of the child 6. The beacon tag information master 4bb in the database 4b of the cloud server 4 stores information about each beacon tag 9 owned by the nursery school, and examples of the information included therein include the product name, ID, and device MAC address (ID) of the beacon tag 9, the status indicating the current state of the beacon tag 9 (unused, in use, out of order, lost, discarded), the start date of use of the beacon tag 9, and the latest remaining battery level of the beacon tag 9. The status may be input by the nursery teacher 8 accessing the server 4 from a personal computer or the like, for example. The latest remaining battery charge is updated based on information recorded in the mobile terminal 2 of the monitoring system 1 and information received by other beacon tag receivers within the facility.

[0031] 3. Display format on the mobile terminal and processing by the system control unit FIG. 4(a) shows an example of a start screen displayed on the touch display 2c, which is the display unit of the mobile terminal 2, when the mobile terminal 2 is turned on and a monitoring application (computer program) preinstalled in the mobile terminal 2 is started. In this example, a display 20 of the application name "Kids Navi" appears on the touch display 2c, and a "Start going out" button 21 is displayed below it. When the childcare worker 8 touches the "Start going out" button 21, the display on the touch display 2c switches to a reading screen showing a state in which the mobile terminal 2 is reading information that the mobile terminal 2 can receive from the beacon tag 9 and the server 4, as shown in FIG. 4(b) as an example. In this reading screen, a text display 22 saying "Looking for a child..." appears in the approximate center of the screen together with the display 20 of the application name "Kids Navi".

[0032] When a predetermined time has elapsed from the reading screen shown in FIG. 4(b) and the information has been completely read, the display on the touch display 2c switches to a target child list selection screen on which the detected and calculated monitoring information for the child 6 is displayed in a list, as shown in FIG. 4(c) as an example. In this example of the target child list selection screen, the monitoring information for each child 6 is displayed in a horizontal row, such as the child's name, the distance between the child 6 and the childcare worker 8, the remaining battery level of the beacon tag 9 carried by the child 6, and the distance status (status) between the child 6 and the childcare worker 8 (in other words, the three stages described later), and such horizontal rows are displayed in a vertical row in a predetermined order for all the children 6 to be watched. Here, the distance is displayed in meters (M), and the remaining battery level is displayed with a full charge being 100%. Here, the distance is calculated based on the received radio wave intensity (RSSI) as described above. In addition, only children whose beacon tags 9 have received radio wave strength indication (RSSI) within a certain threshold (the limit of reception by the beacon receiving system) are displayed. This is because when the received radio wave strength is extremely weak, the calculated distance contains a large error and is unreliable.

[0033] The status (three stages described later) indicates the state of the current distance between the child 6 and the caregiver 8 with respect to a set value that the caregiver 8 can arbitrarily set for that distance, and is displayed, for example, in different colors so that the different states can be identified. Specifically, the set values ​​include, for example, a lower limit value of a dangerous distance range (alarm value) at which an alarm sound is output from the sound speaker 2e, and a lower limit value of a caution distance range (attention value) at which a warning display calling the caregiver 8 to be careful is displayed on the touch display 2c. The lower limit value of the dangerous distance range is a value set by the caregiver 8 as the lower limit value of a dangerous distance range in which it is difficult for the caregiver 8 to watch over the child 6, and if the child 6 remains in this dangerous distance range (a range exceeding the lower limit value) for a certain period of time, the status becomes, for example, a red circle display (note that in the figure, for convenience, the red circle display is shown as a thick circular frame), and an alarm sound is output and a warning display (alert screen) is displayed as described later. On the other hand, the lower limit of the warning distance range is a value set by the childcare worker 8 as the lower limit of the warning distance range that allows the child 6 to be known in advance as being likely to move away from the childcare worker 8 toward the danger distance range, and if the child 6 continues to be in this warning distance range (a range exceeding the lower limit) for a certain period of time (e.g., 3 seconds), the status is displayed, for example, as a yellow circle (note that in the figure, for convenience, the yellow circle is shown as a dotted circular frame), and a warning display (alert screen) is issued as described below. Note that, for children who are not in the danger distance range or the warning distance range (i.e., within a distance range less than the lower limit of the warning distance range from the childcare worker 8), the status is displayed, for example, as a green circle (note that in the figure, for convenience, it is shown as a circle without a circular frame), and neither an alarm sound nor a warning display is output. Note that the status may be displayed in text instead of in such a color-coded manner.

[0034] Moreover, a text display 24 such as "The following children have been detected" is displayed on the upper side of the list display section 25, and a "Retry" button 26, a "Start" button 27, and a "Settings" button 28 are displayed, for example, in a horizontal line on the lower side of the list display section 25. When the "Retry" button 26 is touched, the display on the touch display 2c returns to the reading screen shown in (b) of FIG. 4 described above, and detection of the beacon tag 9 is resumed. When the "Start" button 27 is touched, monitoring of the children is started, and the display on the touch display 2c transitions to a monitoring screen shown in FIG. 6, which will be described later. When the "Settings" button 28 is touched, the display on the touch display 2c transitions to a setting screen shown in (c) of FIG. 7, which will be described later, and enables the setting of the lower limit value of the danger distance range and the lower limit value of the warning distance range described above.

[0035] FIG. 5 shows an example of a screen in which a "Do Not Detect" button for excluding some children from detection targets is displayed on the target children list selection screen in FIG. 4(c). The children 6 to be displayed on the target children list selection screen, i.e., all children 6 to be watched by the childcare worker 8 who has the mobile terminal 2, are entered in advance (or already registered) by the childcare worker 8 by accessing the server 4 from a personal computer or the like before going out. However, if a child 6 needs to be removed from the monitoring targets for some reason, or if a child 6 from a different class that has been mixed up in the list display section 25 needs to be removed, for example, the "Do Not Detect" button 29 and the "Set" button 30 shown in FIG. 5, which were hidden on the right side of the normal target children list selection screen in FIG. 4(c), can be displayed by touching the display of the child's name with a finger and sliding it to the left (or right). When the "Do Not Detect" button 29 is touched, the corresponding child 6 is removed from the current detection target list and will not be detected in the future. When the "Settings" button 30 displayed to the right of the "Do not detect" button 29 is touched, the screen transitions to an individual child setting screen shown in Fig. 8(c), which will be described later. In this way, the control unit of the monitoring system 1 allows the child 6 to be selectively set by the childcare worker 8 on the touch display 2c of the mobile terminal 2 as the child 6 to be monitored.

[0036] FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing the flow of the process performed by the control unit in relation to the series of display screens of FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 by starting the monitoring application. As shown in the figure, the control unit waits for the input of the "Start going out" button 21 (see FIG. 4(a)) (step S1), and when the "Start going out" button 21 is touched (input), it starts detecting the beacon tag 9 (step S2). As a result, the control unit detects the beacon tag 9 carried by the child 6 to be detected (step S3), and obtains information on the beacon tag 9 (and information on the child 6 associated with the beacon tag 9) from the cloud server 4 based on the ID of the beacon tag 9 (step S4; as a result, the child to be watched by the child carer 8 and the corresponding beacon tag 9 are identified), and periodically obtains battery information and RSSI information of the beacon tag 9 from the beacon tag 9, and periodically calculates the distance (m) between each child 6 and the child carer 8 (step S5). Based on the information obtained at this point, an alert child target table 2fa is created. Thereafter, the child information (monitoring information) is displayed on the "Target Child List Selection Screen" (see FIG. 4(c)) (step S6), and as described above, it is possible to perform overall settings for the children to be detected (step S7), as well as to select and set individual children (see FIG. 5) for the target children (step S8). Based on this selection and decision, the alert child target table 2fa is updated. Then, when the "Start" button 27 is pressed (step S9), monitoring begins (the child detection flowchart ends).

[0037] FIG. 6 shows an example of a monitoring screen displayed on the touch display 2c when the "Start" button 27 is touched on the target child list selection screen in FIG. 4(c). As shown in the figure, on this monitoring screen, the target child 6 is displayed in a identifiable manner according to the distance between the childcare worker 8 and the child 6, which is calculated periodically as described above. Specifically, the control unit of the monitoring system 1 displays the child 6 who has exceeded a predetermined set distance, that is, the child 6 who has exceeded the lower limit of the danger distance range and the lower limit of the attention distance range, on the touch display 2c of the mobile terminal 2 so that the childcare worker 8 can identify them. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the control unit divides the state of separation between the childcare worker 8 and the child 6 into a plurality of stages according to the distance, and displays each child 6 on the touch display 2c of the mobile terminal 2 so that the childcare worker 8 can identify which of the plurality of stages the child 6 is in. This will be described in detail below.

[0038] In this embodiment, the control unit of the monitoring system 1 divides the distance state between the childcare worker 8 and the child 6 into a danger stage corresponding to the danger distance range defined by the danger distance range lower limit value described above, a caution stage corresponding to the attention distance range defined by the attention distance range lower limit value described above, and a safety stage corresponding to a safety distance range (a distance range from the childcare worker 8 less than the attention distance range lower limit value) in which the childcare worker 8 can reliably watch over the child 6, based on the above-mentioned danger distance range lower limit value and the attention distance range lower limit value set by the childcare worker 8 on a setting screen described below. These three stages correspond to the above-mentioned statuses. In addition, the control unit defines a detection area R1 in which the child 6 can be detected inside a closed dashed display line L on the display screen of the touch display 2c, and defines a detection stop area R2 and a threshold non-target area R3 outside the display line L. The control unit then displays, for example, an icon 30 indicating the position of the childcare worker 8 carrying the mobile terminal 2 on the lower side of the display screen of the touch display 2c of the mobile terminal 2, and defines a detection area R1 such that a display line L extends from the icon 30 to the left and right by its left and right extension lines L1 toward the upper side of the display screen by a predetermined width and closes at a predetermined upper position of the display screen. In this case, a rectangular threshold non-target area R3 is defined further above an upper boundary line L2 of the display line L that defines the upper boundary of the detection area R1, and detection-stopped areas R2 are defined on both the left and right sides of the detection area R1.

[0039] Furthermore, in the state where the regions R1, R2, and R3 are set, the control unit of the monitoring system 1 further displays, within the detection region R1, each icon 32A, 32B, 32C, and 32D corresponding to each of the detection target children 6 at a relative position according to the current actual distance between the childcare worker 8 and the child 6 (the distance calculated periodically as described above) relative to the icon 30 of the childcare worker 8. Here, the icon of the child 6 is, as an example, a circular icon accompanied by a facial photograph of the child 6 included in the child information acquired from the cloud server 4, and the control unit of the monitoring system 1 displays the icon of the child 6 in a different color so that it is possible to identify which stage each child 6 is in, the danger stage, the caution stage, or the safety stage. Note that the icon is not limited to a facial photograph, and may be a figure (animal, plant, etc.).

[0040] Specifically, on the target child list selection screen in Figure 4(c), the icon 32D of a child 6 named "Suzuki Hanako" whose status is displayed as a red circle (for convenience, in Figure 4(c), the red circle is shown as a thick circular frame) and who is in the danger stage (above the lower limit of the danger distance range), is displayed within the detection area R1 as a red circular icon with a photo of the child 6's face (for convenience, in Figure 6, an icon with the photo of the child 6's face surrounded by a thick circular frame) at a danger stage position that is the uppermost position away from the icon 30 of the nursery teacher 8 located at the bottom of the screen by a degree corresponding to the actual calculated distance. In addition, on the target child list selection screen of Figure 4(c), the icon 32C of child 6 named ``Taro Sato'' whose status is displayed as a yellow circle (for convenience, in Figure 4(c), the yellow circle is shown as a dotted circular frame) and who is in the caution stage (a position beyond the lower limit of the caution distance range and within the lower limit of the danger distance range), is displayed within the detection area R1 as a yellow circular icon with a photo of the child 6 (for convenience, in Figure 6, an icon with the photo of the child 6 surrounded by a dotted circular frame) at a position in the caution stage, away from the icon 30 of the nursery teacher 8 located at the bottom of the screen by a degree corresponding to the actual calculated distance. Furthermore, the icons 32A and 32B of the children 6 named "Takuya Saito" and "Yuko Kobayashi" whose statuses are displayed as green circles (shown as circles without a circular frame for convenience in (c) of FIG. 4) and who are in the safe stage (within the lower limit of the warning distance range) from the childcare worker 8 in the target child list selection screen in (c) of FIG. 4 are displayed in the detection area R1 as green circular icons with the facial photographs of these children 6 (circular icons without a frame with the facial photographs of the children 6 in FIG. 6 for convenience) at the position of the safe stage at the bottom of the screen, which is away from the icon 30 of the childcare worker 8 located at the bottom of the screen by a degree corresponding to the actual calculated separation distance. In either case, the name of the child 6 is added to the bottom of each icon 32A, 32B, 32C, 32D. Each stage may be displayed by the color of the icon frame (e.g., a circular frame) instead of the color of the icon (background color).

[0041] In FIG. 6, the icon of the child 6 is not displayed in the non-threshold target area R3, but when the child 6 is located in a distance range that cannot be detected due to the performance of the system 1 (the child 6 is not detected by the system 1, and therefore the RSSI value cannot be measured), the icon of the child 6 is displayed in this non-threshold target area R3. Also, in the detection stop area R2, an icon of the child 6 that does not need to be detected (detection has been stopped) is displayed. In FIG. 6, an icon 32E of the child 6 named "Suzuki Seiya" whose detection accuracy has become extremely poor due to a low remaining battery level of the beacon tag 9 is displayed in the detection stop area R2 as a circular icon with a gray filter with a face photo of the child 6 (in FIG. 6, for convenience, the face photo of the child 6 is surrounded by a thin circular frame). In this case, the child's name is also added below the icon, like other icons. A method of moving an icon to the detection stop area R2 will be described later ("detection stop" button 71 in FIG. 8(b)).

[0042] In this way, when displaying the icons of each child 6 according to the distance, the icons of children at the same distance are arranged so as not to overlap. Also, when there are multiple children at the same distance and it is difficult to display the children without overlapping, the icons may be displayed small without adding the children's names.

[0043] In this manner, in this embodiment, three stages of the distance between the caregiver 8 and the child 6, i.e., danger stage (a state where the child is beyond the lower limit of the danger distance range), caution stage (a state where the child is beyond the lower limit of the caution distance range and is within the lower limit of the danger distance range), and safety stage (a state where the child is within the lower limit of the caution distance range), are distinguished and displayed by the colors of icons arranged in relative positional relationships within the detection area R1. Because the lower limit of the caution distance range and the lower limit of the danger distance range are set individually for each child 6 in the alert target child table 2fa, children at the same distance may be displayed with icons of different colors. Also, the danger stage, caution stage, and safety stage may be distinguished by the background color of the detection area R1, rather than by the color coding of the icons. Such a modified example is shown in Fig. 12. As shown in the figure, in this example of the display form of the monitoring screen, the background color of the detection area R1 is coded into three colors based on the lower limit value of the danger distance range and the lower limit value of the attention distance range that are set by the childcare worker 8 on the setting screen described later. Specifically, the detection area R1 is divided into a safety zone R11 with a green background color corresponding to the safety stage (a distance range within the lower limit of the warning distance range from the caregiver 8), a caution zone R12 with a yellow background color corresponding to the caution stage (a distance range beyond the lower limit of the warning distance range from the caregiver 8 and within the lower limit of the danger distance range), and a danger zone R13 corresponding to the danger stage (a state in which the child is located beyond the lower limit of the danger distance range from the caregiver 8), and in these zones R11, R12, R13, icons 32A, 32B, 32C, 32D consisting only of a photograph of the child 6 are displayed in the corresponding relative positions described above. That is, in the same relative arrangement relationship as in Fig. 6, icons 32A and 32B of children 6 named "Kobayashi Yuko" and "Saito Takuya" are positioned in the safety zone R11, icon 32C of child 6 named "Sato Taro" is positioned in the caution zone R12, and icon 32D of child 6 named "Suzuki Hanako" is positioned in the danger zone R13. In this case, icon 32E of child 6 named "Suzuki Seiya" displayed in detection stop region R2 remains a circular icon with a gray filter with a face photo of child 6 (in Fig. 6, for convenience, an icon with a face photo of child 6 surrounded by a thin circular frame). The display position of each child 6 icon is first determined in which zone it is displayed based on the lower limit of the attention distance range and the lower limit of the danger distance range determined for each child 6, and if it is determined that the child 6 is in the safety zone R11, the relative position from the icon 30 of the childcare worker is then determined based on the lower limit of the attention distance range and the distance. Therefore, even if they are displayed next to each other in zone R11, if the lower limit of the warning distance range set for each child 6 is different, the distance between them will be different.

[0044] In the modified example shown in FIG. 12, for a child 6 whose absolute value of the change in the moving speed is greater than a predetermined value, a vector display 50 (the moving direction is the vector direction (approaching or moving away), and the change is represented by the length of the vector) showing the moving direction and moving speed may be added to the corresponding icon. For example, if the interval between beacons 9 is 0.9 seconds, and the amount of movement for 2.7 seconds (three times) exceeds 3 meters, the vector display 50 is displayed to call attention. In this case, it is preferable to vibrate the mobile terminal 2 or to alert the childcare worker 8 by sound in order to encourage him / her to look at the screen of the mobile terminal 2 on which the vector is displayed. Also, instead of displaying the vector display 50 on the icon on the screen, a voice saying "Suzuki Hanako is moving away" may simply be output from the speaker.

[0045] In addition, in the monitoring screen shown in Fig. 6 (Fig. 12), a "Home" button 40, a "Monitoring" button 41, and a "Settings" button 42 are displayed at the bottom of the display screen. When the "Settings" button 42 on such a monitoring screen (see also Fig. 7(b)) is touched, the display on the touch display 2c transitions to a setting screen shown in Fig. 7(c), which allows the setting of the lower limit of the danger distance range and the lower limit of the warning distance range. When the "Home" button 40 is touched, the display transitions to the home screen shown in Fig. 7(a).

[0046] An "Exit" button 52 is displayed in approximately the center of the home screen shown in (a) of Fig. 7. Touching this "Exit" button 52 ends the monitoring application. A "Close" button 53 is also displayed at the bottom of the home screen, and touching this button 53 returns to the previous screen. Touching the "Monitor" button 41 from this home screen returns to the monitoring screen shown in (b) of Fig. 7.

[0047] In the setting screen shown in FIG. 7(c), a danger distance range lower limit value and a warning distance range lower limit value (set distance) common to all children 6 to be watched over can be set. Specifically, this setting screen (in other words, the default setting screen) is provided with a danger distance range lower limit value (alarm target value) setting section 60 and a warning distance range lower limit value (attention target value) setting section 62. The danger distance range lower limit value setting section 60 has, as an example, a linear numerical value bar 60a and a moving pointer 60b. In this example, the numerical value bar 60a is set to a minimum value (0 m) at the left end and a maximum value (e.g., 70 m) at the right end, and the numerical value (meters) representing the distance increases continuously from the left end to the right end. Here, the maximum value is preferably set to a distance corresponding to the minimum RSSI value at which a beacon tag fully charged in an ideal state can be detected. Here, 70 m is set as the maximum value. The lower limit of the danger distance range changes by touching the moving pointer 60b with a finger and moving it left or right along the numerical bar 60a; when the moving pointer 60b is positioned at a specific position on the numerical bar 60a, the numerical value corresponding to that position (50 m in FIG. 7(c)) is set as the lower limit of the danger distance range, and the entire numerical bar 60a to the right of the moving pointer 60b is displayed as a red bar 63 (shown as a thick bar in the figure for convenience) indicating the danger distance range.

[0048] Similarly to the danger distance range lower limit setting unit 60, the warning distance range lower limit setting unit 62 also has a linear numerical bar 62a and a moving pointer 62b. This numerical bar 62a is also set to a minimum value at the left end and a maximum value at the right end, with the numerical value (meters) representing the distance continuously increasing from the left end to the right end, and in order to reflect the danger distance range lower limit already set in the danger distance range lower limit setting unit 60, the portion of the numerical bar 62a corresponding to the set danger distance range lower limit has already been displayed as a red bar 63 indicating the danger distance range. Then, by touching the moving pointer 62b with a finger to the left of the red bar 63 and moving it left or right along the numerical bar 62a, the lower limit of the attention distance range changes, and when the moving pointer 62b is positioned at a specified position on the numerical bar 62a, the numerical value corresponding to that position (40 m in Figure 7(c)) is set as the lower limit of the attention distance range, and the part of the numerical bar 62a to the right of the moving pointer 62b, excluding the red bar 63, is displayed as a yellow bar 64 (shown as a dashed bar in the figure for convenience) indicating the attention distance range.

[0049] The warning distance range lower limit value and danger distance range lower limit value set as described above are confirmed by pressing the "Set" button 66 displayed below the danger distance range lower limit value setting section 60 and the warning distance range lower limit value setting section 62 on the setting screen, and are canceled (returned to the original set values) by pressing the "Cancel" button 65. The warning distance range lower limit value (warning target value) and danger distance range lower limit value (alarm target value) set here are stored as the warning distance range lower limit value (m) and danger distance range lower limit value (m) for each target child in the alert target child table 2fa.

[0050] Except for children 6 individually set on an individual child setting screen (see FIG. 8(c)), the control unit determines the above-mentioned danger stage, caution stage, and safety stage based on the lower limit of the danger distance range and the lower limit of the warning distance range set here. The setting screen is not limited to the setting screen form shown in FIG. 7(c). For example, a map of the destination (destination) where the child 6 will be led may be displayed on the touch display 2c, and the childcare worker 8 may trace the map with his / her finger to define the range, thereby determining the set distance range (the above-mentioned danger distance range and warning distance range). Touching the "Monitor" button 41 from this setting screen returns to the monitoring screen shown in FIG. 7(b).

[0051] The flow of processing by the control unit that enables the setting of the lower limit of the warning distance range and the lower limit of the danger distance range as described above is shown in FIG. 14. As shown in the figure, in this processing, when the "Set" button 42 is input (step S10), the lower limit of the danger distance range is enabled to be changed in the lower limit of the danger distance range setting unit 60 (step S11), and the lower limit of the warning distance range is enabled to be set in the lower limit of the warning distance range setting unit 62 (step S12). The setting or cancellation of each value is determined by detecting whether the "Set" button 66 or the "Cancel" button 65 is input (step S13). Then, when the "Set" button 66 is pressed, the lower limit of the warning distance range (m) and the lower limit of the danger distance range (m) of each target child in the alert target child table 2fa are updated (step S14). On the other hand, when the "Cancel" button 65 is pressed, the lower limit of the danger distance range and the lower limit of the warning distance range are returned to the original settings (step S15).

[0052] In addition, when the icon of any particular child 6 arranged in the detection area R1 on the above-mentioned monitoring screen (see also FIG. 8(a)) is touched (pressed), a child details screen 70 corresponding to the touched child 6 is popped up on the touch display 2c as shown in FIG. 8(b). In FIG. 8(b), the icon 32B of the child 6 named "Saito Takuya" who is in the safety stage is touched, and the child details screen 70 of this child 6 is displayed. On this child details screen 70, a "Stop detection" button 71, a "Find child" button 72, and a "Settings button" 73 are displayed. Note that touching a "Close" button 74 displayed below these buttons returns to the previous screen. Note that touching an icon 32E of the child 6 named "Suzuki Seiya" in the detection stop area R2 causes a "Start detection" button to be displayed in the position of the "Stop detection" button 71. Touching the "Start detection" button resumes detection of the child 6.

[0053] When the "Set" button 73 is touched on the child details screen 70 of "Takuya Saito", the display on the touch display 2c transitions to a child individual setting screen shown in FIG. 8(c) that enables individual setting of the lower limit of the danger distance range and the lower limit of the warning distance range. On this child individual setting screen, the lower limit of the danger distance range and the lower limit of the warning distance range (set distance) can be set individually for each child 6 (here, for the child 6 named "Takuya Saito"). Note that the specific setting form is the same as that in the setting screen shown in FIG. 7(c) described above, and therefore the description thereof will be omitted. Note that the individually set warning target value and warning target value are stored as the lower limit of the warning distance range (m) and the lower limit of the danger distance range (m) of the target child "Takuya Saito" in the alert target child table 2fa.

[0054] When such individual settings are made, for a child 6 related to the individual settings, the set warning target value and caution target value take precedence over the default settings for the lower limit value of the danger distance range and the lower limit value of the caution distance range common to all children 6. In other words, for a child 6 related to the individual settings, the above-mentioned danger stage, caution stage, and safety stage are identified based on the individually set lower limit value of the danger distance range and the lower limit value of the caution distance range. This makes it possible to set different lower limit values ​​of the danger distance range and the caution distance range for children belonging to the younger group and children belonging to the older group, for example, thereby enabling efficient monitoring.

[0055] Furthermore, when a "stop detection" button 71 is touched on the child details screen 70, detection of the child 6 corresponding to that child details screen 70 is stopped, and the icon of that child 6 is placed in the detection stopped area R2 (for example, see icon 32E in FIG. 8(a)). For example, the "stop detection" button 71 is provided in case it becomes necessary to remove a child from the monitoring targets during monitoring.

[0056] Next, even if the childcare worker 8 can confirm that "Takuya Saito" is in the safe stage on the screen, if he / she cannot visually confirm "Takuya Saito" due to some obstacle or the like, he / she may go looking for "Takuya Saito". In this case, when the childcare worker 8 touches the "Find Child" button 72 on the child details screen 70 (see also FIG. 9(a)) to search for the child 6 corresponding to that child details screen 70, a pop-up display 80 appears on the display screen, notifying that a child is currently being searched for, as shown in FIG. 9(b). In this example, when the "Find Child" button 72 is touched on the child details screen 70 of the child 6 named "Takuya Saito" shown in FIG. 9(a), a pop-up display 80 with the text "Looking for Takuya Saito" appears in FIG. 9(b). At this time, the background monitoring screen may become dark as shown in the figure. The pop-up display 80 also displays the date and time when the "Find Child" button 72 was pressed, i.e., the date and time when the child 6 was last detected, and also includes the text "Alert Stopped" to inform that the output of the alarm sound has been stopped. In other words, when the pop-up display 80 actually appears, the output of the alarm sound or the warning display, if any, is temporarily stopped. This is because when the childcare worker 8 moves around looking for a specific child 6, the distance between the child 6 and the childcare worker 8 (the relative position of the child 6 to the childcare worker 8) changes significantly compared to when the childcare worker 8 stays in one place, and an alarm sound is output for multiple children 6 at the same time, which can lead to a situation where the situation becomes unmanageable. In other words, when "Alert Stopped", control is performed so that an alert, which will be described later, is not output even if the status of other children 6 becomes the caution stage or the danger stage. When the alarm sound is stopped and the childcare worker 8 is searching for the child 6, the control unit of the system 1 may output a sound from the speaker 2e to notify that the childcare worker 8 is approaching or moving away from the child 6 based on the distance between the child 6 being searched for and the childcare worker 8. Alternatively, a display may be output on the screen to notify that the childcare worker 8 is approaching or moving away from the child 6, or the cycle of the beep or vibration may be changed (the cycle may be shortened if the child is approaching and lengthened if the child is moving away).When the "Done" button 82 is touched in the pop-up display 80, the distance between the childcare worker 8 and each child at that time is recalculated, and the display returns to the state where the monitoring screen shown in FIG. 9(c) is displayed.

[0057] Next, a description will be given of the attention-calling display and warning display according to the distance between the childcare worker 8 and the child 6 being watched over. As described above, in the watching system 1 of this embodiment, when the distance between the childcare worker 8 and the child 6 being watched over exceeds a predetermined set distance (specifically, the lower limit of the attention-calling distance range), a warning display is displayed on the touch display 2c, and when the distance between the childcare worker 8 and the child 6 exceeds a predetermined set distance (specifically, the lower limit of the danger distance range), an alarm sound is output from the speaker 2e.

[0058] Specifically, when the distance between any particular child 6 and the caregiver 8 exceeds the lower limit of the warning distance range, as shown in FIG. 10(a), the touch display 2c becomes an alert screen in which a pop-up display 85 appears as a warning surrounded by a yellow frame 85a (a color corresponding to the color coding of the above-mentioned separation state) in the monitoring screen. When a child moves back and forth between the warning distance range and the safe distance range in a short time, the alert screen appears frequently and is annoying, so it is preferable to display the pop-up display 85 when the child continues within the warning distance range for a certain period of time (e.g., 3 seconds) or more. In this example, when a child 6 named "Sato Taro" moves from the caregiver 8 to the warning distance range by a distance exceeding the lower limit of the warning distance range (first set distance) on the monitoring screen (reaching a warning stage separation state), a pop-up display 85 with the text "Caution! Sato Taro is about to leave" appears. In addition, the pop-up display 85 also displays the date and time when the child 6 entered the warning distance range, that is, the date and time when the child 6 was last detected. When the "Confirm" button 86 is touched in the pop-up display 85, the screen returns to the monitoring screen shown in FIG. 10(b).

[0059] Furthermore, when the distance between any particular child 6 and the childcare worker 8 exceeds the lower limit of the danger distance range (second set distance) (more specifically, for example, when the child 6 enters the danger distance range defined by the lower limit of the danger distance range), as shown in FIG. 11(a), the touch display 2c becomes an alert screen in which a pop-up display 90 appears as a warning display surrounded by a red frame 90a (a color corresponding to the color coding of the above-mentioned distance state) in the monitoring screen. At this time, an alarm sound is also output from the speaker 2e at the same time. In this example, in the monitoring screen, a child 6 named "Suzuki Hanako" has moved into the danger distance range by a distance exceeding the lower limit of the danger distance range (second set distance) from the childcare worker 8 (reaching a dangerous distance state), and a pop-up display 90 with the text "Check! You are about to lose sight of Suzuki Hanako" appears. In addition, the pop-up display 90 also displays the date and time when the child 6 entered the danger distance range, that is, the date and time when the child 6 was last detected.

[0060] In addition, when the childcare worker 8 confirms that the child 6 named "Suzuki Hanako" is safe in the pop-up display 90 and presses the "No Problem" button 93, the screen returns to the monitoring screen shown in FIG. 11(c). On the other hand, when the "Find Child" button 94 is pressed in the pop-up display 90, a pop-up display 92 surrounded by a red frame 92a with the text "Searching! Looking for Suzuki Hanako" appears. At this time, as shown in the figure, the background monitoring screen may become dark. In addition, the pop-up display 92 also displays the date and time when the "Find Child" button 94 was pressed, that is, the date and time when the child 6 was last detected, and also includes the text "Alert Stopped" which notifies that the output of the alarm sound has been stopped. In other words, when the pop-up display 92 appears, the output of the alarm sound from the speaker 2e when the child 6 moves away from the childcare worker 8 beyond the lower limit of the danger distance range is temporarily stopped. This is because, as described above, when the childcare worker 8 moves around looking for a specific child 6, the distance between the child 6 and the childcare worker 8 (the relative position of the child 6 to the childcare worker 8) fluctuates greatly compared to when the childcare worker 8 stays in one place, and a situation may occur in which an alarm sound for the child 6 named "Suzuki Hanako" is output simultaneously for other children 6, resulting in an uncontrollable situation. While the alarm sound is stopped and the childcare worker 8 is searching for the child 6, the control unit of the system 1 may output a sound from the speaker 2e to notify that the childcare worker 8 is approaching or moving away from the child 6 based on the distance between the child 6 being searched for and the childcare worker 8. Alternatively, a display may be output on the screen to notify that the childcare worker 8 is approaching or moving away from the child 6, or the cycle of the beep or vibration may be changed (the cycle is shortened when the child is approaching and the cycle is lengthened when the child is moving away). When the "Done" button 95 is touched in the pop-up display 92, the screen returns to the monitoring screen shown in FIG. 11(c).

[0061] FIG. 15 is a flow chart showing an example of a main algorithm in the monitoring program, specifically showing a series of processes in the control unit from the start of monitoring to the end of monitoring described above. This series of processes is performed on the premise that the child 6 to be monitored carries a beacon tag 9 and the childcare worker 8, who is the supervisor, carries the mobile terminal 2. Then, as shown in the figure, when the "start" button 27 (see FIG. 4(c)) is pressed (step S20), a monitoring screen shown in FIG. 6, for example, is displayed on the touch display 2c (step S21). At this time, the beacon tag 9 is received (step S22), and the received data is stored in the tracking log table 2fb (see FIG. 2 and FIG. 3) (step S23), and the distance between the child 6 and the childcare worker 8 is selected based on the RSSI value and the remaining battery level in the beacon tag 9 (calculation step S24). Then, the reception date and time, remaining battery level, RSSI value and separation distance in the alert target child table 2fa (see Figures 2 and 3) are updated (step S25), and the position of the icon of the child 6 to be displayed on the monitoring screen (see Figure 6, etc.) is determined by coordinate processing (step S26).

[0062] Thereafter, it is determined whether the distance between the detected child 6 and the caregiver 8 is within a safe distance range (a distance range (safety range) less than the lower limit of the warning distance range from the caregiver 8) (step S27), and if the result of the determination is YES, the background color (icon color) of the icon of the child 6 on the monitoring screen is set to green (identification display step S29). On the other hand, if the result of the determination in step S27 is NO, it is determined whether the distance between the detected child 6 and the caregiver 8 is within a warning distance range (a distance range (warning range) from the caregiver 8 that is equal to or greater than the lower limit of the warning distance range and less than the lower limit of the danger distance range) (step S28), and if the result of the determination is YES, the background color (icon color) of the icon of the child 6 on the monitoring screen is set to yellow (identification display step S30). On the other hand, if the result of the determination in step S28 is NO, the background color (icon color) of the icon of the child 6 on the monitoring screen is set to red (identification display step S31).

[0063] After steps S29, S30, and S31, the photo and name of the child 6 are displayed on the monitoring screen (step S32). Then, based on the distance between the child 6 and the childcare worker 8, it is determined whether the above-mentioned pop-up display (e.g., pop-up displays 80, 85, 90, 92, etc.) is necessary (step S33). If the result of the determination is YES, pop-up processing is performed (step S34), and if the result of the determination is NO, pop-up processing is not performed. Note that the series of processes from step S22 to step S34 is repeated until the end button 52 (see FIG. 7(a)) is pressed. When the end button 52 is pressed, the application is terminated, but before the end, the "latest remaining battery level" of the corresponding beacon in the beacon tag information master 4bb is updated with the remaining battery level data in the alert target child table 2fa for each child.

[0064] The flow of the above-mentioned pop-up process 34 is shown in Fig. 16. In this pop-up process, first, it is determined whether or not warning processing is necessary based on the distance between the child 6 and the caregiver 8 (step S34a). If the result of this determination is YES, warning target value processing, which is processing related to the lower limit of the danger distance range, is started, and if the result of the determination is NO, attention target value processing, which is processing related to the lower limit of the attention distance range, is started.

[0065] The warning target value process is a process performed when the distance between any particular child 6 and the childcare worker 8 exceeds the lower limit of the danger distance range. In this process, the above-mentioned pop-up display (confirmation required pop-up screen) 90 (see FIG. 11(a)) is made to appear on the touch display 2c (step S34b). At the same time, an alarm sound (alert sound) is output from the speaker 2e (alarm sound output step S34c). Thereafter, it is determined whether the "No abnormality" button 93 or the "Find child" button 94 (see FIG. 11(a)) is input (step S34d), and if the "No abnormality" button 93 is input, the output of the alarm sound is stopped (step S34e). On the other hand, if the "Find child" button 94 is input, the output of the alarm sound is stopped (step S34f) and the alert function is stopped (step S34g), and the above-mentioned pop-up display (searching screen) 92 (see FIG. 11(b)) is made to appear on the touch display 2c (step S34h). Thereafter, when the "Done" button 95 (see FIG. 11(b)) is pressed (step S34i), the alert function is resumed (step S34j), and the pop-up display 92 is closed (step S34k).

[0066] On the other hand, the attention object value process performed when the judgment result in step S34a is NO is a process performed when the distance between any particular child 6 and the childcare worker 8 exceeds the lower limit of the attention distance range, and in this process, the above-mentioned pop-up display (attention pop-up screen) 85 (see FIG. 10(a)) is made to appear on the touch display 2c (step S34l). After that, when the "Confirm" button 86 (see FIG. 11(a)) is pressed (step S34m), the pop-up display 85 is closed (step S34n).

[0067] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the drawings, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and may include various modified examples. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail to clearly explain the present invention, and are not necessarily limited to those having all of the configurations described. In addition, it is possible to replace a part of the configuration of one embodiment with the configuration of another embodiment, and it is also possible to add the configuration of another embodiment to the configuration of one embodiment. In addition, it is possible to add, delete, or replace a part of the configuration of each embodiment with another configuration. [Explanation of symbols]

[0068] 1. Monitoring system 2. Mobile terminals 2c Touch display (display unit) 2e Sound speaker (sound output unit) 4 Server 9 Beacon tags (wireless tags) 2g, 4c Control section

Claims

1. A monitoring system for monitoring a group of multiple monitoring subjects that move relatively to each other by a manager who leads and manages the group, comprising: A wireless tag individually carried by each of the monitoring subjects; a mobile terminal carried by the manager, the mobile terminal having an output unit capable of outputting sound or vibration and capable of wireless communication with the wireless tag; a control unit that periodically calculates a distance between the manager and each of the monitoring targets based on a signal periodically acquired by the mobile terminal from each of the wireless tags, and outputs an alarm sound or vibration from the output unit of the mobile terminal when the distance exceeds a predetermined set distance; A monitoring system comprising:

2. The mobile terminal further includes a display unit capable of displaying predetermined monitoring information, The monitoring system according to claim 1, characterized in that the control unit causes the display unit of the mobile terminal to display each of the monitoring targets in an identifiable manner according to the distance that is periodically calculated.

3. The monitoring system according to claim 1, characterized in that the control unit displays on the display unit of the mobile terminal any monitoring target that is beyond the predetermined set distance so that the manager can identify the monitoring target.

4. The monitoring system described in claim 1, characterized in that the wireless tag is a beacon tag that periodically emits a signal, and the control unit calculates the distance based on the received radio wave strength of the signal at the mobile terminal and the remaining battery charge of the beacon tag.

5. The monitoring system described in claim 1, characterized in that the control unit divides the distance between the manager and the monitored subject into multiple stages depending on the distance, and displays each monitored subject in an identifiable manner on the display unit of the mobile terminal so that it can be identified in which of the multiple stages each monitored subject is in.

6. The monitoring system according to claim 5 , wherein the predetermined monitoring information includes the distance, battery information of the beacon tag, and the separation state between the manager and the monitored subject.

7. The monitoring system according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to set the set distance common to all of the plurality of monitoring subjects on the display unit of the mobile terminal.

8. The monitoring system according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to set the set distance individually for each monitoring target on the display unit of the mobile terminal.

9. The monitoring system according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit enables the administrator to selectively set the monitoring target to be monitored on the display unit of the mobile terminal.

10. The monitoring system according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit causes the display unit of the mobile terminal to display a warning display when the distance exceeds the predetermined set distance.

11. The monitoring system according to claim 1 , wherein the identifiable display of the monitoring targets is a display of icons corresponding to the respective monitoring targets in different colors.

12. The monitoring system described in claim 1, characterized in that the mobile terminal has the control unit and is capable of wireless communication with a server, and the control unit identifies the target of monitoring and its corresponding wireless tag that the administrator should monitor by obtaining information about the wireless tag and information about the target of monitoring from the server.

13. A monitoring method for enabling a manager to monitor a group of multiple monitoring subjects that move relatively to one another by processing the group by a computer according to a predetermined algorithm, comprising: A step of having each of the monitored subjects carry a wireless tag; a step of having the manager carry a mobile terminal capable of wirelessly communicating with the wireless tag, the mobile terminal having an output unit capable of outputting sound or vibration; a calculation step of periodically calculating a distance between the manager and each of the monitoring targets based on a signal periodically acquired by the mobile terminal from each of the wireless tags; an output step of outputting an alarm sound or vibration from the output unit of the mobile terminal when the distance exceeds a predetermined set distance; A monitoring method comprising:

14. The mobile terminal further includes a display unit capable of displaying predetermined monitoring information, The monitoring method according to claim 13, further comprising an identification display step of displaying each of the monitoring targets identifiably on the display unit of the mobile terminal according to the distance calculated periodically.

15. The monitoring method according to claim 13, characterized in that the identification display step displays on the display unit of the mobile terminal a monitoring target that is beyond the predetermined set distance so that the manager can identify it.

16. The monitoring method described in claim 13, characterized in that the wireless tag is a beacon tag that periodically emits a signal, and the calculation step calculates the distance based on the received radio wave strength of the signal at the mobile terminal and the remaining battery charge of the beacon tag.

17. The monitoring method described in claim 13, characterized in that the identification display step divides the distance between the manager and the monitored subject into a plurality of stages according to the distance, and displays each monitored subject in an identification manner on the display unit of the mobile terminal so that it can be identified in which of the plurality of stages each monitored subject is in.

18. The monitoring method according to claim 17, characterized in that the predetermined monitoring information includes the distance, battery information of the beacon tag, and the separation state between the manager and the monitored subject.

19. The monitoring method according to claim 13, further comprising a step of enabling the set distance common to all of the plurality of monitoring subjects to be set on the display unit of the mobile terminal.

20. The monitoring method according to claim 13, further comprising a step of setting the set distance individually for each monitoring target on the display unit of the mobile terminal.

21. The monitoring method according to claim 13, further comprising a step of allowing the manager to selectively set the monitoring target to be monitored on the display unit of the mobile terminal.

22. The monitoring method according to claim 13, further comprising the step of displaying a warning display on the display unit of the mobile terminal when the distance exceeds the predetermined set distance.

23. The monitoring method according to claim 13, wherein the identifiable display of the monitoring targets is performed by displaying icons corresponding to the respective monitoring targets in different colors.

24. A computer program that enables a manager to supervise a group of multiple monitoring targets that move relatively to one another by processing the group according to a predetermined algorithm, comprising: A step of having each of the monitored subjects carry a wireless tag; a step of having the manager carry a mobile terminal capable of wirelessly communicating with the wireless tag, the mobile terminal having an output unit capable of outputting sound or vibration; a calculation step of periodically calculating a distance between the manager and each of the monitoring targets based on a signal periodically acquired by the mobile terminal from each of the wireless tags; an output step of outputting an alarm sound or vibration from the output unit of the mobile terminal when the distance exceeds a predetermined set distance; A computer program characterized by causing a computer to execute the above.

25. The mobile terminal further includes a display unit capable of displaying predetermined monitoring information, The computer program according to claim 24, further comprising causing the computer to execute an identification display step of displaying each of the monitoring targets identifiably on the display unit of the mobile terminal according to the distance calculated periodically.

26. The computer program according to claim 24, characterized in that the identification display step displays on the display unit of the mobile terminal a monitoring target that is beyond the predetermined set distance so that the manager can identify the monitoring target.

27. The computer program according to claim 24, characterized in that the wireless tag is a beacon tag that periodically emits a signal, and the calculation step calculates the distance based on the received radio wave strength of the signal at the mobile terminal and the remaining battery charge of the beacon tag.

28. The computer program described in claim 24, characterized in that the identification display step divides the distance between the manager and the monitored subject into a plurality of stages according to the distance, and displays each monitored subject in an identification manner on the display unit of the mobile terminal so that it is possible to identify which of the plurality of stages each monitored subject is in.

29. The computer program product according to claim 28, characterized in that the predetermined monitoring information includes the distance, battery information of the beacon tag, and the separation state between the manager and the monitored subject.

30. The computer program according to claim 24, further comprising a step of causing a computer to execute a step of enabling the set distance common to all of the plurality of monitoring subjects to be set on the display unit of the mobile terminal.

31. The computer program according to claim 24, further comprising a step of causing a computer to execute a step of setting the set distance individually for each monitoring target on the display unit of the mobile terminal.

32. The computer program according to claim 24, further comprising a step of causing the computer to execute a step of allowing the administrator to selectively set the monitoring target to be monitored on the display unit of the mobile terminal.

33. 25. The computer program product according to claim 24, further comprising causing a computer to execute a step of displaying a warning display on the display unit of the mobile terminal when the distance exceeds the predetermined set distance.

34. The computer program product according to claim 24, characterized in that the identifiable display of the monitoring targets is a display of an icon corresponding to each of the monitoring targets in a different color.

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