Program, control method, and control device

Abstract

To provide a program capable of reducing the possibility that battery exhaustion occurs before a mobile body to be moved to standby equipment is moved to the standby equipment.SOLUTION: A program causes a computer to execute: processing of determining whether or not a first mobile body is movable to first standby equipment; processing of moving, from second standby equipment, a second movable body which has been on standby at the second standby equipment located closer to the first mobile body than the first standby equipment; and processing of moving the first mobile body to the second standby equipment in accordance with results of the determination.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 9

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a program, a control method, and a control device. [Background technology]

[0002] There is a technology to monitor a target by controlling a moving object such as a multicopter having a photographing function. In such a moving object, the power required for operation is supplied from a battery, so the operating time is limited. Therefore, there is a problem that a single moving object cannot continuously monitor a target for a long period of time.

[0003] Patent Document 1 discloses a technique in which multiple unmanned aerial vehicles take turns monitoring an object based on instructions.

[0004] Patent Document 2 discloses a drone security system that has the function of relaying multiple drones to cover a surveillance area.

[0005] A user watches the video captured by the mobile object to understand the state of the target to be monitored. When monitoring is performed using multiple mobile objects as described above, the video showing the target to be monitored is switched when monitoring is handed over. Therefore, when monitoring is handed over, the user watches the switched video.

[0006] As related documents, Patent Document 3 discloses a technology for making a moving object follow a target to be monitored. Patent Document 4 discloses a technology for determining whether an unmanned aerial vehicle can reach a destination. Patent Document 5 discloses a technology for detecting a moving object using radar and acoustic signals. Patent Document 6 discloses a technology for continuously supplying power to a moving object. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0007] [Patent Document 1] International Publication No. 2018 / 116486 [Patent Document 2] JP 2018-516024 A [Patent Document 3] JP 2019-121178 A [Patent Document 4] JP 2017-077879 A [Patent Document 5] JP 2017-181100 A [Patent Document 6] JP 2018-100088 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0008] In the techniques disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2, differences in the performance of mobile objects are not taken into consideration when deciding which mobile object will take over monitoring. Therefore, when monitoring is performed using multiple types of mobile objects with different performance, there is a risk that monitoring will be handed over to a mobile object that can monitor the target for a shorter period of time. If the time that each mobile object can monitor the target is short, for example, video switching will be performed frequently, making it difficult for a user viewing the video to grasp the state of the target.

[0009] Patent Documents 3 to 6 do not disclose monitoring using multiple types of moving objects with different performance.

[0010] One object of the present disclosure is to provide a program, a control method, and a control device that can reduce the possibility that a mobile object to be moved to a standby facility will run out of battery before moving to the standby facility. [Means for solving the problem]

[0011] A program of one embodiment of the present disclosure causes a computer to execute the following processes: determining whether a first moving body is capable of moving to a first standby facility; moving a second moving body, which is waiting at a second standby facility that is closer to the first moving body than the first standby facility, from the second standby facility depending on the result of the determination; and moving the first moving body to the second standby facility depending on the result of the determination.

[0012] In one embodiment of a control method of the present disclosure, it is determined whether a first moving body is capable of moving to a first standby facility, and depending on the result of the determination, a second moving body waiting at a second standby facility that is closer to the first moving body than the first standby facility is moved from the second standby facility, and depending on the result of the determination, the first moving body is moved to the second standby facility.

[0013] A control device of one embodiment of the present disclosure includes a control unit that determines whether a first moving body is capable of moving to a first standby facility, and, depending on the result of the determination, moves a second moving body that is waiting at a second standby facility that is closer to the first moving body than the first standby facility, from the second standby facility, and, depending on the result of the determination, moves the first moving body to the second standby facility. Effect of the Invention

[0014] According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a program, a control method, and a control device that can reduce the possibility that a mobile object to be moved to a standby facility will run out of battery before moving to the standby facility. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0015] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a monitoring system according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 2] 2 is a block diagram including an example of a functional configuration of a control device according to the first embodiment. FIG. [Diagram 3] 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation of the control device according to the first embodiment. [Figure 4]FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a monitoring system according to a second embodiment. [Diagram 5] FIG. 11 illustrates an example of an operational status information database according to the second embodiment; [Figure 6] FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a mobility performance information database according to the second embodiment; [Figure 7] 10 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the control device of the second embodiment. [Figure 8] 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a monitoring takeover process according to the second embodiment. [Figure 9] 13 is a flowchart showing an example of a process of moving a moving object under monitoring to a standby facility according to the second embodiment. [Figure 10] FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a monitoring system according to a third embodiment. [Figure 11] 13 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the control device of the third embodiment. [Figure 12] 13 is a flowchart showing an example of a selection process of a navigating mobile object according to a third embodiment. [Figure 13] FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a monitoring system according to a fourth embodiment. [Figure 14] 13 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the control device according to the fourth embodiment. [Figure 15] 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a moving object addition process according to the fourth embodiment. [Figure 16] FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of a control device according to a fifth embodiment. [Figure 17] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of a computer device that realizes the control devices of the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0016] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0017] <First embodiment> A monitoring system including a control device according to a first embodiment will be described.

[0018] Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a monitoring system 1000 according to a first embodiment. As illustrated in Fig. 1, the monitoring system 1000 includes a control device 100 and standby facilities 300-1 and 300-2. The control device 100 can communicate with mobile objects 200-1, 200-2, and 200-3, the standby facilities 300-1 and 300-2, and a storage device 400 via wired or wireless communication.

[0019] Here, the numbers of moving bodies 200-1, 200-2, 200-3 and standby facilities 300-1, 300-2 are not limited to this example. The number of moving bodies may be in the range of 3≦n (n is a natural number). The number of standby facilities may be in the range of 1≦n. In this disclosure, moving bodies 200-1, 200-2, ..., 200-n are also collectively referred to as moving bodies 200. Furthermore, standby facilities 300-1, 300-2, ..., 300-n are also collectively referred to as standby facilities 300.

[0020] In the present disclosure, the moving body 200 is, for example, an unmanned aerial vehicle such as a multicopter (also called a multirotor helicopter or a multirotor, etc.). A multicopter that does not have a person on board is also called a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), a small unmanned aerial vehicle, or a drone.

[0021] The mobile body 200 further includes a position information generating unit that generates position information indicating the position of the mobile body 200 based on a signal transmitted from a positioning satellite, an imaging unit that captures an image and generates imaging data, and a communication unit that transmits the position information and the imaging data. The mobile body 200 can monitor the target to be monitored by capturing an image of the target while moving. The mobile body 200 transmits imaging data corresponding to the captured image to the control device 100. The mobile body 200 also transmits information on the operating status of the mobile body 200 to the control device 100. Note that a mobile body that is monitoring the target to be monitored is also referred to as a "monitoring mobile body". Also, the target to be monitored that the mobile body 200 is monitoring is also simply referred to as a "monitoring target". In the situation shown in FIG. 1, the mobile body 200-1 is the monitoring mobile body. When the monitoring mobile body detects a predetermined abnormality, it notifies the control device 100 that the abnormality has been detected. Note that the information and data transmitted by the communication unit include identification information that allows the mobile body 200 to be identified from other mobile bodies.

[0022] The standby facility 300 is a facility where one or more mobile objects 200 can wait and be charged. The standby facility 300 includes a waiting place where the mobile object 200 waits, and a charging facility where the mobile object 200 is charged. Each of the standby facilities 300 may transmit information on the operation status of the mobile object waiting at each of the standby facilities 300 to the control device 100. Here, if the waiting mobile object has sent information on the operation status to the control device 100, the standby facility 300 may not transmit information on the operation status of the waiting mobile object to the control device 100. In this specification, the mobile object 200 waiting at the standby facility 300 refers to the mobile object 200 waiting at the waiting place or charging facility of the standby facility 300. In addition, the mobile object waiting at the standby facility 300 is also referred to as a "waiting mobile object". In the situation shown in FIG. 1, the mobile objects 200-2 and 200-3 are waiting mobile objects.

[0023] The storage device 400 holds mobility performance information, which is information related to the performance of each moving object. The storage device 400 may be provided in the control device 100.

[0024] The control device 100 sequentially receives image capture data from the moving object being monitored. The control device 100 then transmits the received image capture data to a device equipped with a display (not shown). The device equipped with a display (not shown) displays an image based on the image capture data, allowing the user to view the image.

[0025] Furthermore, the communication unit of each moving object transmits information indicating an abnormality when an abnormal state occurs. When an abnormal state is indicated by the information transmitted from the moving object being monitored, the control device 100 acquires information on the operating status of the moving object from each of the moving objects 200 or each of the standby facilities 300. Furthermore, the control device 100 acquires mobility performance information from the storage device 400. Then, the control device 100 controls the moving object 200 based on the acquired information.

[0026] In other words, the monitoring system 1000 of the first embodiment is a system in which the control device 100 controls the mobile bodies 200 based on information regarding the operating status of the mobile bodies obtained from each of the mobile bodies 200 or each of the standby facilities 300, and information regarding the performance of the mobile bodies obtained from the storage device 400.

[0027] [Details of the control device 100] Next, the configuration of the control device 100 will be described in detail with reference to Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a block diagram including an example of the functional configuration of the control device 100 of the first embodiment.

[0028] As shown in FIG. 2, the control device 100 includes an acquisition unit 110, a prediction unit 120, a selection unit 130, and a control unit 140.

[0029] The acquiring unit 110 acquires information on the operation status and mobility performance information of each of the moving bodies 200. Specifically, the acquiring unit 110 acquires information on the operation status from each of the moving bodies 200. The information on the operation status includes, for example, position information indicating the position of the moving body 200 and battery information. The battery information is, for example, information indicating the amount of stored power in the battery, or information indicating the ratio of the amount of stored power to the total capacity of the battery. The acquiring unit 110 may acquire information on the operation status of the moving body via the standby facility 300.

[0030] The acquisition unit 110 also acquires mobility performance information of each of the moving bodies 200 from the storage device 400. The mobility performance information includes, for example, information on the speed at which each of the moving bodies 200 can move, but is not limited to this example. The mobility performance information may further include information indicating the altitude at which each moving body can move, the amount of power consumption per unit time or unit moving distance (i.e., fuel efficiency), the maximum communication distance, the weight of the moving body, the size of the moving body, and the like. The mobility performance information is stored in the storage device 400 in advance.

[0031] In this manner, the acquiring unit 110 acquires the position information, the battery information, and the mobility performance information of each of the multiple moving objects. The acquiring unit 110 is an example of an acquiring means.

[0032] The prediction unit 120 predicts the available monitoring time of each of the standby mobile objects. The available monitoring time is the time during which the mobile object 200 can continuously monitor the target to be monitored. For example, the available monitoring time is the time from when the standby mobile object arrives at a position to monitor the target to when the amount of stored power in the battery of the standby mobile object reaches a predetermined value. Here, the predetermined value is, for example, the amount of stored power that allows the mobile object 200 to move to at least one of the standby facilities 300.

[0033] The prediction unit 120 predicts the available monitoring time of each of the waiting moving bodies based on the information acquired by the acquisition unit 110. Specifically, for example, the prediction unit 120 calculates the distance between the monitoring moving body and each of the waiting moving bodies based on the position information of the monitoring moving body and the position information of the waiting moving body. Next, the prediction unit 120 further uses the calculated distance information and the mobility performance information of the moving body to calculate the travel time until the waiting moving body moves to the position of the monitoring moving body. The prediction unit 120 further uses the battery information to calculate the operating time from when the waiting moving body starts operating until the amount of stored power in the battery reaches a predetermined value. Then, the prediction unit 120 predicts the available monitoring time of each of the waiting moving bodies by subtracting the travel time from the calculated operating time. Note that the prediction method of the prediction unit 120 for the available monitoring time is not limited to this example. For example, the prediction unit 120 may calculate the travel time until the waiting moving body moves to the position of the monitoring moving body, and then calculate the amount of power consumed during the travel time based on the mobility performance information. The prediction unit 120 may then predict the monitoring available time by calculating the operating time from when the waiting mobile body moves to the position of the monitored mobile body until the battery charge of the waiting mobile body reaches a predetermined value, based on the remaining battery charge, which is the result of subtracting the amount of power consumed during the movement time from the current battery charge.

[0034] Moreover, the prediction unit 120 may use the location information of the monitoring target instead of the location information of the monitored moving body. In this case, the location information of the monitoring target is calculated based on the location information of the monitored moving body and the video captured by the monitored moving body.

[0035] In this way, the prediction unit 120 predicts a monitoring available time, which is a time during which each of the waiting mobile bodies can monitor a target to be monitored, based on location information of a monitoring mobile body that is a mobile body monitoring a target to be monitored among the multiple mobile bodies, location information of a waiting mobile body that is a mobile body waiting among the multiple mobile bodies, and battery information and mobility performance information of each of the multiple mobile bodies. The prediction unit 120 is an example of a prediction means.

[0036] The selection unit 130 selects the moving object 200 based on the available monitoring time predicted by the prediction unit 120. Specifically, for example, the selection unit 130 selects the moving object with the longest available monitoring time among the waiting moving objects. The selection unit 130 may select a moving object with a available monitoring time equal to or longer than a predetermined time. When there are a plurality of waiting moving objects with the longest available monitoring time or with a plurality of waiting moving objects with a maximum available monitoring time equal to or longer than a predetermined time, the selection unit 130 may select a moving object with the shortest time required for the waiting moving object to move to the position of the moving object being monitored. The selection unit 130 may also select a plurality of waiting moving objects. That is, the selection unit 130 may select a top predetermined number of waiting moving objects with the longest available monitoring time among the waiting moving objects.

[0037] In this manner, the selection unit 130 selects at least one moving object from among a plurality of waiting moving objects based on the available monitoring time. The selection unit 130 is an example of a selection means.

[0038] The control unit 140 controls the moving object selected by the selection unit 130. Specifically, the control unit 140 controls the moving object selected by the selection unit 130 to move to the position of the moving object being monitored. At this time, the control unit 140 may send an instruction to the standby facility 300 to control the selected moving object, and cause the standby facility 300 to control the selected moving object.

[0039] In this way, the control unit 140 controls the selected moving body to move to a position where the target to be monitored is monitored. The control unit 140 is an example of a control means. The position where the target to be monitored is monitored is, for example, a position where the target can be recognized from an image captured by the imaging unit of the moving body 200. Specifically, for example, it is above the vicinity of the target.

[0040] [Operation of the control device 100] Next, the operation of the control device 100 will be described with reference to Fig. 3. In the operation described below, it is assumed that the control device 100 is installed in the situation shown in Fig. 1. In this specification, each step of the flowchart will be represented by a number assigned to each step, such as "S101".

[0041] 3 is a flowchart for explaining an example of the operation of the control device 100. In this operation example, this operation is performed when the control device 100 detects a notification from the moving object 200-1, which is a moving object being monitored, that a predetermined abnormality has occurred. The predetermined abnormality in this operation example is when the battery of the moving object 200-1 falls below a predetermined value, or when a malfunction has occurred in the moving object 200-1. Note that the timing at which this operation is performed is not limited to this example.

[0042] The acquisition unit 110 acquires position information and battery information from each of the multiple moving objects 200 (S101). The acquisition unit 110 also acquires mobility performance information from the storage device 400 (S102).

[0043] The prediction unit 120 predicts the available monitoring time of the mobile bodies 200-2 and 200-3, which are waiting mobile bodies, based on the position information, battery information, and mobility performance information of the mobile body 200 acquired by the acquisition unit 110 (S103). In this operation example, the available monitoring time predicted by the prediction unit 120 is the time during which each of the mobile bodies 200-2 and 200-3 can monitor the target to be monitored at the position of the mobile body 200-1.

[0044] The selection unit 130 selects a moving object from among the waiting moving objects based on the predicted available monitoring time (S104). That is, the selection unit 130 selects the moving object with the longer available monitoring time from among the moving object 200-2 and the moving object 200-3.

[0045] The control unit 140 controls the selected moving body to move to a position where the target to be monitored is monitored (S105). For example, when the moving body 200-2 is selected, the control unit 140 controls the moving body 200-2 to move to the position of the moving body 200-1.

[0046] In this operation example, the process of S101 and the process of S102 may be executed in the reverse order, or may be executed simultaneously.

[0047] As described above, the control device 100 of the first embodiment acquires the location information, battery information, and mobility performance information of each of the multiple moving objects. The control device 100 predicts the monitoring available time based on the location information of the moving object being monitored, the location information of the waiting moving object, and the battery information and mobility performance information of each of the multiple moving objects. Then, the control device 100 selects at least one moving object from the multiple waiting moving objects based on the monitoring available time, and controls the selected moving object to move to a position for monitoring the target to be monitored. With this configuration, the control device 100 of the first embodiment can hand over monitoring to a moving object with a long monitoring available time even when monitoring is performed using multiple types of moving objects with different performance. Therefore, for example, the control device 100 does not need to frequently switch the image showing the target to be monitored, so that the possibility that a user watching the image will have difficulty in grasping the state of the target to be monitored can be reduced.

[0048] It is difficult to continuously monitor an object to be monitored using multiple types of moving objects with different performances, particularly because it is difficult to determine the timing to switch the moving objects to be monitored and to appropriately select the moving objects to be monitored.In contrast, since the control device 100 of the first embodiment has the above configuration, it is possible to obtain the effect of continuously monitoring the object to be monitored appropriately even if the multiple moving objects used for monitoring are multiple types of moving objects with different performances.

[0049] In addition, the control device 100 of the first embodiment selects, for example, a mobile object that has the longest monitoring time among the waiting mobile objects. This allows the control device 100 to hand over monitoring to the waiting mobile object that has the longer monitoring time.

[0050] Furthermore, when there are multiple moving objects with the longest possible monitoring time, the control device 100 of the first embodiment may select the moving object that takes the shortest time for the waiting moving object to move to the position of the monitoring moving object. This allows the control device 100 to hand over monitoring to the moving object that arrives at the position of the monitoring moving object earliest among the moving objects with the longest possible monitoring time. Therefore, the control device 100 can reduce the possibility that monitoring by the monitoring moving object will be interrupted before the waiting moving object arrives at the position of the monitoring moving object, for example.

[0051] <Second embodiment> Next, a monitoring system including a control device according to a second embodiment will be described. In the second embodiment, an operation of the control device when the control device detects information indicating that an abnormality has occurred in the monitored mobile object itself from the monitored mobile object will be described.

[0052] Fig. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a monitoring system 1001 according to the second embodiment. As shown in Fig. 4, the monitoring system 1001 includes a control device 101 instead of the control device 100 in the first embodiment, and is otherwise similar to the monitoring system 1000 described in the first embodiment. That is, the monitoring system 1001 includes the control device 101 and standby equipment 300-1, 300-2, ..., 300-n. Note that a description of the configuration and operation of the monitoring system 1001 shown in Fig. 4 that overlaps with the description of the first embodiment will be omitted.

[0053] [Movement 200 Details] 4, the moving body 200 includes an image capturing unit 210, a position information generating unit 220, a battery information acquiring unit 230, an abnormality determining unit 240, and a communication unit 250. The moving body 200 can communicate with the control device 101 and the standby device 300 via wired communication or wireless communication. The moving body 200 can also communicate with other moving bodies.

[0054] The photographing unit 210 photographs a predetermined range and generates photographed data. The photographed data includes color information or pixel value information of each pixel of a frame constituting a moving image or a still image. The photographed data may include the time when the photographed data was generated. The photographing unit 210 sequentially transmits the generated photographed data to the control device 101 via the communication unit 250. Note that the photographing unit 210 of a mobile object waiting at the standby facility 300 does not need to generate photographed data. In other words, the waiting mobile object does not need to transmit photographed data to the control device 101.

[0055] Furthermore, when the control device 101 controls the moving body 200 to perform monitoring, the photographing unit 210 photographs the target to be monitored so that it is within the photographing range of the photographing unit 210. At this time, the photographing unit 210 may perform control to move the photographing direction of the photographing unit 210 so that the target to be monitored is within the angle of view, or may perform control to move the moving body 200 so that the target to be monitored is within the angle of view. By performing such control, the moving body 200 tracks the target to be monitored. Note that, as a method of photographing the target to be monitored so that it is within the angle of view, for example, a method of detecting the target to be monitored from the photographing data of the next frame using information on the outer shape of the target to be monitored detected from the photographing data of the previous frame, and photographing the detected target to be monitored so that it is located at the center of the angle of view, can be considered.

[0056] The photographing unit 210 may also detect information on the category of the object included in the photographed data. The category information is information indicating the type of the object, such as a person, a crowd, a car, or a bicycle. This allows the moving body 200 to change the algorithm for detecting the object to be monitored according to the category of the object to be monitored, and therefore to detect the object to be monitored more accurately. The photographing unit 210 may transmit the detected category information to the control device 101 via the communication unit 250.

[0057] The position information generating unit 220 acquires position information indicating the position of the mobile object 200. For example, the position information generating unit 220 may acquire the position information by a positioning signal receiving device mounted on the mobile object 200. Specifically, for example, the position information generating unit 220 may be configured to receive a signal transmitted from a positioning satellite of a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), such as a Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite, and acquire position information indicating the position of the mobile object based on the received signal. The position information generating unit 220 transmits the acquired position information to the control device 101 via the communication unit 250.

[0058] The battery information acquisition unit 230 acquires battery information, which is information related to a battery mounted in the moving object 200. The battery information acquisition unit 230 transmits the acquired battery information to the control device 101 via the communication unit 250.

[0059] The abnormality determination unit 240 determines whether the moving body 200 is in an abnormal state. Specifically, the abnormality determination unit 240 determines that the moving body 200 is in an abnormal state when the amount of stored power in a battery mounted on the moving body 200 becomes equal to or less than a predetermined value, or when a malfunction of a mechanism or a sensor mounted on the moving body 200 is detected. The abnormality determination unit 240 may determine that the moving body 200 is in an abnormal state when, for example, a monitoring target cannot be detected, the number of monitoring targets has changed, or the category of the monitoring target has changed, or may determine that the moving body 200 is in an abnormal state when the distance to another moving body becomes equal to or less than a predetermined value. When the abnormality determination unit 240 determines that the moving body 200 is in an abnormal state, it transmits information indicating the abnormal state to the control device 101 via the communication unit 250.

[0060] The communication unit 250 communicates with the control device 101 and the standby facility 300. Specifically, the communication unit 250 transmits the image capture data, the position information, the battery information, and the information indicating the abnormal state to the control device 101. When transmitting each of the image capture data, the position information, the battery information, and the information indicating the abnormal state, the communication unit 250 transmits to the control device 101 the identification information of the moving object 200, the information indicating whether the moving object 200 is being monitored, and the information indicating whether the moving object 200 is on standby. Note that the moving object 200 may transmit these pieces of information to the control device 101 via the standby facility 300.

[0061] Furthermore, the communication unit 250 receives information relating to the control of the moving object from the control device 101. The communication unit 250 may receive the information relating to the control of the moving object via the standby facility 300.

[0062] [Details of Standby Facility 300] As shown in FIG. 4, the standby facility 300 includes a management unit 310. The management unit 310 manages the standby location and charging facility of the standby facility 300, and the standby mobile object waiting at the standby facility 300. Specifically, the management unit 310 acquires information indicating availability of the standby location and charging facility of the standby facility 300, and transmits it to the control device 101. The information indicating the standby location and availability of the charging facility of the standby facility 300 is also simply referred to as "information indicating availability of the standby facility." The information indicating availability of the standby facility includes location information of each of the standby facilities 300. Note that the management unit 310 may acquire identification information of the standby mobile object, battery information of the standby mobile object, and location information of the standby mobile object from the standby mobile object, and transmit them to the control device 101. Here, the location information of the standby mobile object may be location information of the standby facility 300.

[0063] Furthermore, when the management unit 310 receives information relating to the control of the moving object from the control device 101, the management unit 310 may control the moving object based on the received information.

[0064] [Details of the control device 100] 4, the control device 101 includes an acquisition unit 111, a prediction unit 121, a selection unit 131, a control unit 141, a detection unit 150, an extraction unit 160, and a matching unit 170. The acquisition unit 111, the prediction unit 121, the selection unit 131, and the control unit 141 each perform the operations described below in addition to the operations of the acquisition unit 110, the prediction unit 120, the selection unit 130, and the control unit 140 described in the first embodiment.

[0065] The acquisition unit 111 sequentially acquires the identification information and the photographed data of the monitored moving object from the monitored moving object. The acquisition unit 111 transmits the acquired photographed data to a device equipped with a display (not shown). The acquisition unit 111 may store the identification information and the photographed data in the storage device 400 in association with each other.

[0066] Furthermore, the acquisition unit 111 acquires the identification information, information on the operational status, and mobility performance information of each of the moving objects 200. Specifically, when the detection unit 150 described later detects that information indicating an abnormal state has been received by a communication means (not shown) (hereinafter, also simply referred to as when information indicating an abnormal state is detected), the acquisition unit 111 acquires the identification information of the moving object 200 and the information on the operational status from each of the moving objects 200. Then, the acquisition unit 111 associates the acquired identification information and the information on the operational status, and stores them in the operational status information database 410 of the storage device 400. In this specification, the database is also referred to as a "DB."

[0067] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the operation status information DB 410. In the example of FIG. 5, the identification information and the information on the operation status of each of the moving objects 200 are stored in association with each other. In this example, the information on the operation status is battery information, location information, a monitoring flag, and a standby flag. The monitoring flag is information indicating whether the moving object 200 is a monitoring moving object. In this example, when the monitoring flag is "1", it indicates that the moving object is a monitoring moving object. The standby flag is information indicating whether the moving object 200 is a standby moving object waiting at the standby facility 300. In this example, when the standby flag is "1", it indicates that the moving object is a standby moving object. In addition, in this example, information indicating the battery capacity and the remaining battery power is shown as the battery information. For example, the second line of Figure 5 shows that the battery remaining charge of a mobile object with identification information "001" is "891mAh", the battery capacity is "2970mAh", the location information is "(x1, y1)", the monitoring flag is "1", and the waiting flag is "0".

[0068] Furthermore, when the detection unit 150 detects information indicating an abnormal state, the acquisition unit 111 reads out the mobility performance information DB 420 from the storage device 400 and acquires the mobility performance information of each of the moving bodies 200. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the mobility performance information DB 420. In the example of FIG. 6, the identification information of each of the moving bodies 200 and information indicating the normal speed and maximum speed of the moving body, which is the mobility performance information, are stored in association with each other. For example, the second line of FIG. 6 indicates that the normal speed of the moving body with the identification information "001" is "25km / h" and the maximum speed is "50km / h". Here, the normal speed indicates the speed at which the moving body 200 can operate most efficiently (i.e., the speed at which the moving body 200 can move in the most fuel-efficient state).

[0069] The acquiring unit 111 may acquire information from each of the moving objects 200 via the standby facility 300. For example, the acquiring unit 111 may acquire information from the moving object being monitored from the control device 101 via the standby facility 300 that is installed at a position closer than the moving object being monitored. This allows the control device 101 to acquire information more reliably even when the communication status between the moving object being monitored and the control device 101 is unstable.

[0070] Moreover, the acquiring unit 111 acquires, from the standby facility 300, information indicating the availability of the standby facility.

[0071] The prediction unit 121 predicts the available monitoring time for each of the moving objects 200 based on the information on the operating status and the mobility performance information acquired by the acquisition unit 111.

[0072] For example, when predicting the available monitoring time of a waiting mobile object, if normal speed is used as the mobility performance information, the prediction unit 121 calculates the travel time when the waiting mobile object moves to the position of the monitored mobile object at normal speed.Then, the prediction unit 121 further uses the battery information to calculate the operating time from when the waiting mobile object starts operating until the amount of stored power in the battery reaches a predetermined value.The prediction unit 121 then predicts the available monitoring time of each waiting mobile object by subtracting the travel time from the calculated operating time.

[0073] The prediction unit 121 also predicts the cruising distance of each of the moving bodies 200. The cruising distance is a distance that the moving body 200 can continue traveling without charging the battery. For example, the prediction unit 121 predicts the cruising distance of the moving body under monitoring based on the amount of stored power in the battery of the moving body under monitoring and mobility performance information.

[0074] The selection unit 131 selects at least one moving body from among the moving bodies 200, based on the available monitoring time predicted by the prediction unit 121. For example, when the prediction unit 121 predicts the available monitoring time of each of the waiting moving bodies, the selection unit 131 selects at least one moving body from among the waiting moving bodies.

[0075] The control unit 141 controls the moving object selected by the selection unit 131. Specifically, for example, when a waiting moving object is selected by the selection unit, the control unit controls the selected moving object to move to the position of the moving object being monitored. When the selected moving object moves to the position of the moving object being monitored, the control unit 141 causes the selected moving object to capture an image of the periphery of the position and generate captured image data. Here, when a target to be monitored is detected from the captured image data of the selected moving object by processing by the extraction unit 160 and the collation unit 170 described later, the control unit 141 controls the selected moving object to monitor the target to be monitored.

[0076] The control unit 141 also controls the moving of the monitored mobile object to the standby facility 300. Specifically, the control unit 141 designates a standby facility that is available in the standby facility 300 and is located closest to the location of the monitored mobile object, based on information indicating the availability of the standby facilities and the distance from the location of the monitored mobile object to each of the standby facilities. The control unit 141 moves the monitored mobile object to the designated standby facility. If the cruising distance of the monitored mobile object is insufficient for the distance from the location of the monitored mobile object to the designated standby facility, the control unit 141 moves the monitored mobile object to the standby facility located closest to the location of the monitored mobile object. In this case, the standby mobile object waiting at the standby facility located closest to the location of the monitored mobile object is moved to another standby facility.

[0077] The detection unit 150 detects information indicating an abnormal state from a mobile object being monitored.

[0078] The extraction unit 160 extracts features from video based on the imaging data generated by the moving body 200. Specifically, for example, the extraction unit 160 decodes the imaging data generated by the moving body under monitoring to generate analog video, and extracts features of the monitoring target from the generated analog video. The extraction unit 160 also extracts features of objects included in video based on the imaging data generated after the selected moving body moves to the position of the moving body under monitoring.

[0079] In this way, the extraction unit 160 extracts the feature amount of the object included in the video based on the image capturing data transmitted from the selected moving body and the feature amount of the monitoring target included in the video based on the image capturing data transmitted from the moving body being monitored. The extraction unit 160 is an example of an extraction means.

[0080] The matching unit 170 performs matching of the features using the features extracted by the extraction unit 160. Specifically, the matching unit 170 matches the features of the monitoring target extracted from the video based on the shooting data generated by the mobile object under monitoring with the features of the object included in the video based on the shooting data generated by the selected mobile object. If the features of the monitoring target and the features of the object match, the shooting data generated by the selected mobile object includes the monitoring target. That is, the matching process of the matching unit 170 detects the monitoring target from the shooting data of the selected mobile object.

[0081] In this manner, the matching unit 170 matches the feature amount of the object with the feature amount of the target to be monitored. The matching unit 170 is an example of a matching means.

[0082] [Operation of control device 101] Next, the operation of the control device 101 will be described with reference to Figures 7, 8 and 9. In the operation described below, it is assumed that the control device 101 is installed in place of the control device 100 in the situation shown in Figure 1.

[0083] 7 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the control device 101. The acquisition unit 111 acquires information including image capture data from a moving object under monitoring (S201). At this time, the acquisition unit 111 may acquire information detected in the moving object under monitoring, such as identification information of the moving object under monitoring, information on a category of a monitoring target, and location information of the moving object under monitoring, in addition to the image capture data.

[0084] When the detection unit 150 detects information indicating an abnormal state of the monitored mobile object itself from the monitored mobile object (Yes in S202), the control device 101 performs a monitoring handover process described below (S203). When the detection unit 150 does not detect information indicating an abnormal state of the monitored mobile object itself (No in S202), the control device 101 ends the operation. Note that the control device 101 repeats the processes from S201 to S203 as long as the monitored mobile object continues to be monitored.

[0085] FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining an example of the monitoring takeover process of the control device 101. Note that each of the processes from S301 to S305 corresponds to each of the processes from S101 to S105 in the flowchart shown in FIG. 3. That is, the control device 101 acquires the location information, battery information, and mobility performance information of each of the multiple moving objects, predicts the monitoring available time of the waiting moving object based on the acquired location information, battery information, and mobility performance information, selects a moving object based on the predicted monitoring available time, and moves the selected moving object to a position for monitoring the monitoring target. Therefore, a detailed description of the processes from S301 to S305 is omitted. In this operation example, it is assumed that the moving object 200-2 is selected in the process of S205.

[0086] After the selected moving object moves to the position of the moving object being monitored, i.e., the position where the target to be monitored is monitored, the control unit 141 causes the selected moving object to capture an image of the periphery of the position where the target to be monitored is monitored (S306). For example, after the moving object 200-2 moves to the position of the moving object 200-1, the control unit 141 causes the moving object 200-2 to capture an image of the periphery of that position.

[0087] The extraction unit 160 acquires the imaging data generated by the moving object being monitored, and extracts the feature of the monitoring target from the video based on the imaging data generated by the moving object being monitored (S307). The extraction unit 160 also acquires the imaging data generated by the selected moving object, and extracts the feature of the object included in the video based on the imaging data generated by the selected moving object (S308). For example, the extraction unit 160 extracts the feature of the monitoring target from the video based on the imaging data of the moving object 200-1, and extracts the feature of the object included in the video based on the imaging data of the moving object 200-2.

[0088] The collation unit 170 collates the feature amount of the monitoring target with the feature amount of the object (S309). If the collation result shows that the feature amount of the monitoring target matches the feature amount of the object (Yes in S310), the control unit 141 causes the selected moving object to monitor the target to be monitored (S311). For example, if the feature amount of the monitoring target matches the feature amount of the object, the control unit 141 causes the moving object 200-2 to monitor the monitoring target. If the collation result shows that the feature amount of the monitoring target does not match the feature amount of the object (No in S310), the control device 101 performs the process of S308. For example, at this time, the extraction unit 160 extracts the feature amount again from the image data captured by the moving object 200-2 of the surroundings of the position of the moving object being monitored.

[0089] After the process of S311, the control unit 141 moves the moving object being monitored to the standby facility 300 (S312). For example, after the control unit 141 has the moving object 200-2 monitor the target to be monitored, the control unit 141 moves the moving object 200-1 to one of the standby facilities 300.

[0090] FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of a process for moving a moving object under monitoring to a standby facility.

[0091] The acquisition unit 111 acquires the location information, battery information, and mobility performance information of the monitored mobile object (S401). Then, the acquisition unit 111 acquires information indicating the availability of the standby facilities from each of the standby facilities 300 (S402). In this operation example, it is assumed that the standby facility 300-1 has availability and the standby facility 300-2 does not have availability.

[0092] The prediction unit 121 uses the position information of the monitored moving object and the position information of each of the standby facilities 300 to calculate the distance from the position of the monitored moving object to each of the standby facilities 300 (S403). Then, the prediction unit 121 uses the battery information and mobility performance information of the monitored moving object to calculate the cruising distance of the monitored moving object (S404). For example, the prediction unit 121 calculates the distance between the moving object 200-1 and the standby facility 300-1, and the distance between the moving object 200-1 and the standby facility 300-2. Then, the prediction unit 121 calculates the cruising distance of the moving object 200-1.

[0093] The control unit 141 designates a standby facility 300 that has vacant space and is located closest to the position of the monitored mobile object based on the availability information of the standby facilities and the information on the distance from the position of the monitored mobile object to each of the standby facilities 300 (S405). If the range of the monitored mobile object is sufficient for the distance between the designated standby facility and the position of the monitored mobile object (Yes in S406), the control unit 141 moves the monitored mobile object to the designated standby facility (S407). For example, when the control unit 141 designates the standby facility 300-1, the control unit 141 determines whether the range of the mobile object 200-1 is sufficient for the distance between the mobile object 200-1 and the standby facility 300-1. If the range of the mobile object 200-1 is sufficient, the control unit 141 moves the mobile object 200-1 to the standby facility 300-1.

[0094] If the range of the monitored moving object is insufficient to cover the distance between the designated standby facility and the position of the monitored moving object (No in S406), the control unit 141 moves the moving object waiting at the standby facility closest to the monitored moving object to another standby facility (S408). Then, the control unit 141 moves the monitored moving object to the standby facility closest to the monitored moving object (S409). For example, if the range of the moving object 200-1 is insufficient to cover the distance between the moving object 200-1 and the standby facility 300-1 but is sufficient to cover the distance between the moving object 200-1 and the standby facility 300-2, the control unit 141 moves the moving object 200-3 to the standby facility 300-1. Then, the control unit 141 moves the moving object 200-1 to the standby facility 300-2.

[0095] In this way, the control device 101 of the second embodiment can hand over monitoring to a mobile object that can be monitored for a longer time, even when monitoring is performed using multiple types of mobile objects with different performance. Therefore, for example, the control device 101 does not need to frequently switch the video showing the target to be monitored, and can reduce the possibility that a user watching the video will have difficulty understanding the state of the target to be monitored. Therefore, the control device 101 of the second embodiment can obtain the effect of being able to appropriately monitor the target even when multiple types of mobile objects with different performance are used for monitoring.

[0096] Furthermore, the control device 101 of the second embodiment extracts the feature of an object included in the video based on the shooting data transmitted from the selected moving body and the feature of the monitoring target included in the video based on the shooting data transmitted from the monitoring moving body, and compares the feature of the object with the feature of the monitoring target. If the feature of the object matches the feature of the monitoring target, the control device 101 controls the selected moving body to monitor the monitoring target. With this configuration, the control device 101 of the second embodiment has the selected moving body monitor the monitoring target after the object photographed by the selected moving body matches the monitoring target photographed by the monitoring moving body, so that it is possible to reliably take over monitoring of the monitoring target to the selected moving body.

[0097] Furthermore, the control device 101 of the second embodiment acquires information indicating the availability of standby equipment where the mobile object is kept waiting, and based on the information indicating the availability of the standby equipment, moves the mobile object being monitored to the standby equipment that has availability and is located closest to the location of the mobile object being monitored. With this configuration, the control device 101 of the second embodiment can charge a mobile object whose battery has become low in charge at the standby equipment and use the mobile object again for monitoring, thereby obtaining the effect of enabling monitoring to be performed more continuously.

[0098] Furthermore, the control device 101 of the second embodiment predicts the cruising distance of the mobile object being monitored based on the battery information of the mobile object being monitored and the mobility performance information of the mobile object being monitored, and if the cruising distance is insufficient for the distance from the position of the mobile object being monitored to the standby facility to which it is to be moved, it moves the mobile object waiting at the standby facility located closest to the mobile object being monitored to another standby facility, and moves the mobile object being monitored to the standby facility located closest to the mobile object being monitored. With this configuration, the control device 101 of the second embodiment can change the standby facility to which the mobile object is to be moved in accordance with, for example, the amount of charge stored in the battery of the mobile object being monitored, and therefore has the effect of reducing the possibility that the mobile object being moved will run out of battery before it is moved to the standby facility.

[0099] [Variation 1] When there are multiple standby facilities 300, each of the standby facilities 300 does not need to have both a standby place and a charging facility. At least one of the multiple standby facilities 300 needs to have a charging facility.

[0100] At this time, information indicating whether each standby facility 300 is equipped with only charging facilities, only a standby area, or both a standby area and charging facilities (hereinafter referred to as standby facility information) is stored in advance in the memory device 400.

[0101] In the first modification, in the process (S312) of moving the moving object being monitored to the standby facility 300, the control device 101 moves the moving object being monitored further by using the standby facility information.

[0102] The acquisition unit 111 acquires the location information, battery information, mobility performance information, and information indicating the availability of standby facilities of the mobile object under monitoring, as well as standby facility information.

[0103] The prediction unit 121 selects standby equipment that is equipped with charging equipment from among the standby equipment 300 based on the standby equipment information. Then, the prediction unit 121 calculates the distance between the position of the monitored moving object and each of the selected standby equipment.

[0104] The control unit 141 uses information indicating the availability of the standby facilities to specify a standby facility having a charging facility that has a vacant charging facility and is closest to the position of the monitored mobile object. If the cruising distance of the monitored mobile object is sufficient for the distance from the position of the monitored mobile object to the standby facility, the control unit 141 moves the monitored mobile object to the standby facility. If the cruising distance of the monitored mobile object is insufficient for the distance from the position of the monitored mobile object to the standby facility, the control unit 141 moves the standby mobile object that is waiting at the charging facility of the standby facility that is closest to the monitored mobile object to another standby facility. Then, the control unit 141 moves the monitored mobile object to the standby facility that is closest to the monitored mobile object among the standby facilities having a charging facility.

[0105] As a result, the control device 101 of variant example 1 can reliably charge the mobile body being monitored by using the standby facilities 300 that are equipped with charging facilities, even if not all of the standby facilities 300 are equipped with charging facilities.

[0106] [Variation 2] When the moving object 200 no longer detects the monitoring target, the control unit 141 may cause the moving object 200 to search for the monitoring target for a predetermined period of time.

[0107] When the photographing unit 210 is unable to photograph the monitoring target so that it falls within the angle of view of the photographing unit 210, the abnormality determination unit 240 determines that an abnormal state exists. The communication unit 250 transmits information indicating the abnormal state to the control device 101. When the photographing unit 210 is unable to photograph the monitoring target so that it falls within the angle of view, for example, the moving body 200 is able to detect the monitoring target from the photographing data of the previous frame, but is unable to detect the monitoring target from the photographing data of the next frame.

[0108] At this time, the detection unit 150 detects information indicating an abnormal state, including the fact that the monitoring target could not be detected, from the mobile object being monitored.

[0109] The control unit 141 causes the mobile object under monitoring to monitor a predetermined range including the position where the monitoring target could not be detected. Then, when the mobile object under monitoring does not detect the monitoring target within a predetermined time, the control unit 141 causes the mobile object under monitoring to move to a standby facility.

[0110] As a result, when the moving object being monitored fails to detect the monitoring target, the control device 101 of the second modification can move the moving object being monitored to the standby facility before the battery of the moving object being monitored runs out.

[0111] [Variation 3] The selection unit 131 may select the moving object 200 based on information on the category of the object to be monitored.

[0112] For example, if the target to be monitored is a car, a slow moving object may not be able to track the target. In that case, it is desirable to monitor using a fast moving object. Also, if the target to be monitored is a person, it is possible to monitor using a moving object that can move at the speed that the person can move.

[0113] Specifically, in the process of S301, the acquisition unit 111 acquires information on the category of the monitored object from the monitored mobile object.

[0114] Then, in the process of S304, the selection unit 131 selects at least one of the waiting moving objects based on the available monitoring time and the information on the category of the monitoring object. For example, when the monitoring object is an automobile, the selection unit 131 selects a moving object with a maximum speed of 60 km / h or more from among the moving objects with an available monitoring time of a predetermined value or more.

[0115] As a result, the control device 101 of variant example 3 can select a moving body 200 that can be monitored, even if the target to be monitored is one that is moving quickly, and can therefore appropriately and continuously monitor the target to be monitored.

[0116] <Third embodiment> Next, a monitoring system including a control device according to a third embodiment will be described. In the third embodiment, an operation will be described when a plurality of monitored moving bodies are monitoring their respective targets and the control device detects a notification from the monitored moving body that the distance between the moving body and another moving body has become equal to or less than a predetermined value.

[0117] More specifically, when multiple monitored moving bodies are operating and approach each other, there is a possibility that the monitoring targets of the monitored moving bodies may have merged. In the third embodiment, an example of control of the moving body 200 when multiple monitored targets have merged is described. Note that, when multiple monitored targets are each a person, the people gather together. This example is not limited to this, and the case where multiple monitored targets have merged may also be when a person who is a monitored target gets into a car that is another monitored target.

[0118] Fig. 10 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a monitoring system 1002 according to the third embodiment. As shown in Fig. 10, the monitoring system 1002 includes a control device 102 instead of the control device 101 in the second embodiment, and is otherwise similar to the monitoring system 1001 described in the second embodiment. That is, the monitoring system 1002 includes the control device 102 and standby equipment 300-1, 300-2, ..., 300-n. Note that a description of the configuration and operation of the monitoring system 1002 shown in Fig. 10 that overlaps with the description of the second embodiment will be omitted.

[0119] 10, the control device 102 includes an acquisition unit 111, a prediction unit 121, a selection unit 131, a control unit 141, a detection unit 150, an extraction unit 161, and a matching unit 171. The extraction unit 161 and the matching unit 171 perform the operations described below in addition to the operations of the extraction unit 160 and the matching unit 170 described in the second embodiment, respectively.

[0120] The extraction unit 161 extracts the feature amount of the monitoring target from the video based on the image capturing data of each of the multiple monitored moving objects. Specifically, when the information indicating the abnormal state detected by the detection unit 150 includes information indicating that the distance between the monitored moving object and another moving object is equal to or less than a predetermined value, the extraction unit 161 extracts the feature amount of the monitoring target from the video based on the image capturing data of the multiple monitored moving objects.

[0121] The collation unit 171 collates each of the extracted features of the monitoring targets. If the feature matches as a result of the collation, it is found that the monitoring targets of the multiple monitoring moving objects are the same. At this time, it can be determined that the monitoring targets of the multiple monitoring moving objects have joined together.

[0122] [Operation of the control device 102] Next, the operation of the control device 102 according to the third embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0123] 11 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the control device 102. The acquisition unit 111 acquires information including photographed data from a moving object under monitoring (S201). This process is similar to the process of S201 shown in FIG.

[0124] When the detection unit 150 detects information indicating an abnormal state from multiple monitored moving objects, including information indicating that the distance from other moving objects has become equal to or less than a predetermined value (Yes in S204), the control device 102 performs a process of selecting a navigating moving object, which will be described later (S205). When the detection unit 150 does not detect information indicating an abnormal state from multiple monitored moving objects, including information indicating that the distance from other moving objects has become equal to or less than a predetermined value, the control device 102 ends the operation. Note that, similar to the operation shown in FIG. 7, the control device 102 repeats the processes of S201, S204, and S205 as long as the monitored moving object continues to be monitored.

[0125] 12 is a flowchart for explaining an example of a selection process of a navigating mobile object by the control device 102. The extraction unit 161 extracts a feature amount of a monitoring target from a video based on the image capturing data of each of a plurality of monitoring mobile objects (S501). The collation unit 171 collates the feature amount extracted by the extraction unit 161 (S502).

[0126] If the feature amounts of the respective monitoring targets do not match (No in S503), the selection process of the navigating vehicle ends.

[0127] When the feature amounts of the respective monitoring targets match (Yes in S503), the prediction unit 121 predicts the possible monitoring time of each of the multiple monitored moving objects (S504). The selection unit 131 selects the moving object with the longest possible monitoring time from among the monitored moving objects (S505). The control unit 141 causes the selected moving object to monitor the monitoring target (S506). The control unit 141 moves the moving object not selected by the selection unit 131 from among the multiple monitored moving objects to one of the standby facilities 300 (S507). Note that in the process of S507, the control device 102 may perform a process of moving the monitored moving object to the standby facility shown in FIG. 9.

[0128] In this way, when a plurality of monitored moving objects are each monitoring a respective one of a plurality of targets to be monitored, and when the plurality of targets to be monitored join together, the control device 102 of the third embodiment controls one of the plurality of moving objects to monitor the target to be monitored after the joining, and controls the other moving objects to move to a standby facility. With this configuration, the control device 102 of the third embodiment can charge a moving object that is no longer required for monitoring among the plurality of monitored moving objects and use that moving object again for monitoring, thereby obtaining the effect of enabling monitoring to be performed more continuously.

[0129] [Variation 4] When the respective monitoring targets join together, the control device 102 does not need to control the movement of the non-selected moving objects to the standby facility 300 until a predetermined time has elapsed.

[0130] Specifically, in the process of S503, if the feature amounts of the respective monitoring targets match, the control device 102 does not perform the processes of S504 and thereafter until a predetermined time has elapsed.

[0131] As a result, even if the monitoring targets after merging are dispersed again within a predetermined time, the control device 102 of the fourth modification can continue to monitor each of the dispersed monitoring targets.

[0132] <Fourth embodiment> Next, a description will be given of a monitoring system including a control device according to a fourth embodiment. In the fourth embodiment, a description will be given of processing performed when the number of monitoring targets of the moving object 200 increases.

[0133] Fig. 13 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a monitoring system 1003 according to the fourth embodiment. As shown in Fig. 13, the monitoring system 1003 includes a control device 103 instead of the control device 101 in the second embodiment, and is otherwise similar to the monitoring system 1001 described in the second embodiment. That is, the monitoring system 1003 includes the control device 103 and standby equipment 300-1, 300-2, ..., 300-n. Note that a description of the configuration and operation of the monitoring system 1003 shown in Fig. 13 that overlaps with the description of the second embodiment will be omitted.

[0134] When the photographing unit 210 detects that the number of monitoring targets has increased, the abnormality determination unit 240 determines that an abnormal state has occurred. The communication unit 250 transmits information indicating the abnormal state, including information indicating that the number of monitoring targets has increased, to the control device 103. An increase in the number of monitoring targets occurs, for example, when the monitoring targets are a crowd and the crowd disperses, or when the monitoring targets are automobiles and people get off the automobiles and the people and the automobiles move separately.

[0135] 13, the control device 103 includes an acquisition unit 111, a prediction unit 121, a selection unit 131, a control unit 142, a detection unit 150, an extraction unit 160, a collation unit 170, and a priority setting unit 180. The control unit 142 performs the operations described below in addition to the operations of the control unit 141 described in the second embodiment.

[0136] The priority setting unit 180 sets a monitoring priority for the monitoring targets. Specifically, when the detection unit 150 detects an alarm indicating an increase in the number of monitoring targets, the priority setting unit 180 sets a monitoring priority for each of the monitoring targets. As a method of calculating the priority, for example, it is possible to detect the size of each monitoring target based on the shooting data generated by the moving object being monitored, and set a higher priority in the order of the detected monitoring target size. Specifically, for example, when a crowd that is one monitoring target increases to two, the priority setting unit 180 sets a higher priority for the larger crowd of the two crowds and a lower priority for the smaller crowd. The method of setting the priority is not limited to this example, and for example, the speed of the monitoring target may be measured from the shooting data generated by the moving object being monitored, and a higher priority may be set in the order of the speed of the monitoring target being faster. In this way, the priority setting unit 180 sets a monitoring priority for each target to be monitored. The priority setting unit 180 is an example of a setting means.

[0137] The control unit 142 causes the currently monitored mobile unit to monitor the target to be monitored according to the set priority. Specifically, the control unit 142 controls the currently monitored mobile unit to monitor the target to be monitored that has the highest set priority.

[0138] Then, for targets to be monitored that have second or subsequent higher priorities set, the control device 103 selects moving objects to be monitored in the order of highest priority.

[0139] [Operation of control device 103] Next, the operation of the control device 103 of the fourth embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0140] 14 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the control device 103. The acquisition unit 111 acquires information including photographed data from a moving object under monitoring (S201). This process is similar to the process of S201 shown in FIG.

[0141] If the detection unit 150 detects information indicating an abnormal state including information indicating an increase in the number of monitoring targets (Yes in S206), the control device 103 performs a mobile object addition process (S207) described below. If the detection unit 150 does not detect information indicating an abnormal state including information indicating an increase in the number of monitoring targets, the control device 103 ends the operation. Note that, similar to the operation shown in Fig. 7, the control device 103 repeats the processes of S201, S206, and S207 as long as the monitored mobile object continues to be monitored.

[0142] 15 is a flowchart for explaining an example of a moving object addition process of the control device 103. The priority setting unit 180 calculates a monitoring priority for each monitoring target based on the photographed data (S601). The control unit 142 causes the monitored moving object to monitor the target with the highest priority (S602).

[0143] Each of the processes from S603 to S606 corresponds to each of the processes from S301 to S304 in the flowchart shown in Fig. 8. That is, the control device 103 acquires the position information, battery information, and mobility performance information of each of the multiple moving objects, predicts the monitoring available time of the waiting moving object based on the acquired position information, battery information, and mobility performance information, and selects the moving object based on the predicted monitoring available time. Therefore, a detailed description of the processes from S603 to S606 is omitted.

[0144] The control unit 142 moves the selected moving object to a position for monitoring the next highest priority monitoring target (S607). The extraction unit 160 extracts the feature amount of the next highest priority monitoring target from the image capture data of the moving object being monitored (S608).

[0145] Each of the processes from S609 to S612 corresponds to each of the processes from S308 to S311 in the flowchart shown in Fig. 8. That is, the control device 103 extracts feature amounts of an object from a video based on the shooting data of the selected moving object, and when a match is found using the extracted feature amounts, causes the selected moving object to monitor the monitoring target. Therefore, a detailed description of the processes from S608 to S612 is omitted.

[0146] When each of the moving objects 200 has been caused to monitor all of the increased targets to be monitored (i.e., all of the targets to be monitored for which priorities have been set) (Yes in S613), the control device 103 ends the moving object addition process. When each of the moving objects 200 has not been caused to monitor all of the increased targets to be monitored (Yes in S613), the control device 103 returns to the process of S606.

[0147] In this way, when there are multiple targets to be monitored, the control device 103 of the fourth embodiment sets a monitoring priority for each target. Then, when the number of targets to be monitored increases, the control device 103 sets a priority for each target to be monitored, and controls the monitored mobile object to monitor the target with the highest calculated priority. With this configuration, the control device 103 of the fourth embodiment can continue to monitor at least the targets with high priority, even when the number of targets to be monitored increases.

[0148] Furthermore, the control device 103 of the fourth embodiment predicts the monitoring time of multiple waiting moving objects in order of the target to be monitored, starting with the target to be monitored having the higher set priority, excluding the target to be monitored by the monitoring moving object, selects at least one moving object from the multiple waiting moving objects, and moves the selected moving object to a position to monitor the target to be monitored. With this configuration, the control device 103 of the fourth embodiment can add a moving object to be monitored even if the number of targets to be monitored increases, and therefore can continue to appropriately monitor.

[0149] <Fifth embodiment> The fifth embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

[0150] 16 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control device 104 according to the fifth embodiment. As shown in FIG. 16, the control device 104 includes an acquisition unit 510, a prediction unit 520, a selection unit 530, and a control unit 540.

[0151] The acquisition unit 510 acquires the location information, the battery information, and the mobility performance information of each of the multiple moving objects.

[0152] The prediction unit 520 predicts the monitoring available time, which is the time during which each of the waiting mobile bodies is able to monitor the target to be monitored, based on location information of a monitoring mobile body, which is a mobile body among the multiple moving bodies that is monitoring the target to be monitored, location information of a waiting mobile body, which is a mobile body among the multiple moving bodies that is waiting, and battery information and mobility performance information of each of the multiple moving bodies.

[0153] The selection unit 530 selects at least one moving object from the plurality of waiting moving objects based on the available monitoring time.

[0154] The control unit 540 controls the selected moving object to move to a position where the target to be monitored is monitored.

[0155] With the above configuration, the control device 104 of the fifth embodiment can hand over monitoring to a mobile object that can be monitored for a longer time, even when monitoring is performed using multiple types of mobile objects with different performance. Therefore, for example, the control device 104 does not need to frequently switch the video showing the target to be monitored, so that the possibility that a user watching the video will have difficulty understanding the state of the target to be monitored can be reduced. Therefore, the control device 104 of the fifth embodiment can obtain the effect of being able to appropriately monitor the target to be monitored, even when the multiple mobile objects used for monitoring are multiple types of mobile objects with different performance.

[0156] <Control device hardware configuration example> The hardware constituting the control device of the above-mentioned first, second, third, fourth, and fifth embodiments will be described. Fig. 17 is a block diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of a computer device that realizes the control device in each embodiment. Each block shown in Fig. 17 can be realized by a combination of a computer device 10 that realizes the control device and information processing method in each embodiment and software.

[0157] 17, a computer device 10 includes a processor 11, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 12, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 13, a storage device 14, an input / output interface 15, a bus 16, and a drive device 17. The control device may be realized by a plurality of electric circuits.

[0158] The storage device 14 stores a program (computer program) 18. The processor 11 executes the program 18 of the present control device using the RAM 12. Specifically, for example, the program 18 includes a program that causes the computer to execute the processes shown in FIG. 3, FIG. 7, FIG. 8, FIG. 9, FIG. 11, FIG. 12, FIG. 14, and FIG. 15. In response to the processor 11 executing the program 18, the functions of each component of the present control device (the above-mentioned acquisition units 110, 111, 510, prediction units 120, 121, 520, selection units 130, 131, 530, and control units 140, 141, 142, 540, etc.) are realized. The program 18 may be stored in the ROM 13. In addition, the program 18 may be recorded in the recording medium 20 and read out using the drive device 17, or may be transmitted to the computer device 10 from an external device (not shown) via a network (not shown).

[0159] The input / output interface 15 exchanges data with peripheral devices (such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a display device) 19. The input / output interface 15 functions as a means for acquiring or outputting data. The bus 16 connects the various components.

[0160] There are various variations in the method of implementing the control device. For example, the control device can be implemented as a dedicated device. Also, the control device can be implemented based on a combination of multiple devices.

[0161] The scope of each embodiment also includes a processing method for recording a program for implementing each component of the function of each embodiment on a recording medium, reading the program recorded on the recording medium as code, and executing the program on a computer. That is, a computer-readable recording medium is also included in the scope of each embodiment. Also, a recording medium on which the above-mentioned program is recorded, and the program itself are included in each embodiment.

[0162] The recording medium is, for example, a floppy disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD (Compact Disc)-ROM, a magnetic tape, a non-volatile memory card, or a ROM, but is not limited to these examples. Furthermore, the program recorded on the recording medium is not limited to a program that executes processing by itself, but also includes a program that operates on an OS (Operating System) to execute processing in cooperation with other software and functions of an expansion board, within the scope of each embodiment.

[0163] Although the present invention has been described above with reference to the embodiment, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. Various modifications that can be understood by those skilled in the art can be made to the configuration and details of the present invention within the scope of the present invention.

[0164] A part or all of the above-described embodiments can be described as, but is not limited to, the following supplementary notes.

[0165] <Additional Notes> [Appendix 1] An acquisition means for acquiring location information, battery information, and mobility performance information of each of a plurality of moving objects; a prediction means for predicting a monitoring available time, which is a time during which each of the waiting mobile bodies is able to monitor the target to be monitored, based on location information of a monitoring mobile body which is a mobile body monitoring the target to be monitored among the plurality of mobile bodies, location information of a waiting mobile body which is a mobile body waiting among the plurality of mobile bodies, and battery information and mobility performance information of each of the plurality of mobile bodies; a selection means for selecting at least one moving object from the plurality of waiting moving objects based on the monitoring available time; a control means for controlling the selected moving body to move to a position for monitoring the target to be monitored; A control device comprising:

[0166] [Appendix 2] the selection means selects, from among the waiting moving objects, a moving object having the longest monitoring available time. 2. The control device according to claim 1.

[0167] [Appendix 3] When there are a plurality of moving objects with the longest monitoring time, the selection means selects a moving body that takes the shortest time for the waiting moving body to move to the position of the monitored moving body; 3. The control device according to claim 2.

[0168] [Appendix 4] Further comprising a priority setting means for setting a monitoring priority for each of the targets when there are a plurality of targets to be monitored; When the number of targets to be monitored increases, the priority setting means sets a priority for each of the targets to be monitored; the control means controls the monitored moving object to monitor the target to be monitored that has been set to the highest priority among the set priorities; 4. The control device according to claim 1 ,

[0169] [Appendix 5] Among the plurality of objects to be monitored, excluding objects to be monitored that are being monitored by the monitoring moving body, the objects to be monitored are selected in order starting from the object to be monitored having the highest set priority, The prediction means predicts the monitoring available time of the plurality of waiting moving objects, The selection means selects at least one moving object from the plurality of waiting moving objects, The control means moves the selected moving object to a position for monitoring the target to be monitored. 5. The control device according to claim 4.

[0170] [Appendix 6] In a case where a plurality of the monitoring targets are monitored by a plurality of the monitoring moving bodies, when the plurality of the monitoring targets join together, The control means controls one of the plurality of moving bodies to monitor the target to be monitored after the junction, and controls the other moving bodies to move to a standby facility where the moving body is to wait. 6. The control device according to claim 1 .

[0171] [Appendix 7] The plurality of moving bodies are An imaging means for capturing an image and generating imaging data; and a communication means for transmitting the photographing data, an extraction means for extracting a feature of an object included in an image based on the photographing data transmitted from the selected moving body and a feature of the target to be monitored included in the image based on the photographing data transmitted from the moving body under surveillance; A matching unit is further provided for matching the feature amount of the object with the feature amount of the target to be monitored, the control means controls the selected moving object to monitor the target when the feature amount of the object matches the feature amount of the target to be monitored. 7. The control device according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

[0172] [Appendix 8] The acquiring means acquires information indicating an availability status of a standby facility where the mobile object is kept waiting, the control means moves the mobile object under monitoring to a standby facility that has a vacancy and is located closest to the position of the mobile object under monitoring, based on information indicating a vacancy status of the standby facility. 8. The control device according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

[0173] [Appendix 9] The prediction means predicts a cruising distance of the monitored moving object based on battery information of the monitored moving object and mobility performance information of the monitored moving object, When the cruising distance is insufficient for the distance from the position of the moving body under monitoring to the standby equipment to which the moving body is to be moved, the control means moves the mobile object waiting at the standby facility located closest to the mobile object under monitoring to another standby facility having vacant space, and moves the mobile object under monitoring to the standby facility located closest to the mobile object under monitoring. 9. The control device according to claim 8.

[0174] [Appendix 10] When the monitoring moving body no longer detects the target to be monitored, the control means causes the monitoring mobile body to monitor a predetermined range including a position where the target to be monitored is no longer detected, and when the monitoring mobile body does not detect the target to be monitored within a predetermined time, moves the monitoring mobile body to a standby facility where the mobile body is kept waiting. 10. The control device according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

[0175] [Appendix 11] The acquisition means acquires information on a category of the target to be monitored, the selection means selects, from among the waiting moving objects whose monitoring available time is equal to or longer than a predetermined value, a moving object capable of moving at a speed corresponding to a category of the target to be monitored. 11. The control device according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

[0176] [Appendix 12] a standby facility including a management means for managing the standby mobile object that is waiting at the standby facility; A control device according to any one of claims 1 to 11, the management means transmits to the control device position information of the standby mobile object waiting at the standby facility and battery information of the standby mobile object waiting at the standby facility; Surveillance system.

[0177] [Appendix 13] the management means acquires location information of the monitored mobile object and battery information of the monitored mobile object from the monitored mobile object, and transmits the acquired location information of the monitored mobile object and battery information of the monitored mobile object to the control means; 13. The monitoring system of claim 12.

[0178] [Appendix 14] Acquire location information, battery information, and mobility performance information for each of a plurality of moving objects; predicting a monitoring available time, which is a time during which each of the waiting mobile bodies is able to monitor the target to be monitored, based on location information of a monitoring mobile body which is a mobile body monitoring the target to be monitored among the plurality of mobile bodies, location information of a waiting mobile body which is a mobile body waiting among the plurality of mobile bodies, and battery information and mobility performance information of each of the plurality of mobile bodies; selecting at least one moving object from the plurality of waiting moving objects based on the monitoring available time; performing control to move the selected moving object to a position for monitoring the target to be monitored; Control methods.

[0179] [Appendix 15] selecting a mobile object having the longest monitoring available time from among the waiting mobile objects; 15. The control method of claim 14.

[0180] [Appendix 16] When there are a plurality of moving objects with the longest monitoring time, selecting a moving body that takes the shortest time for the waiting moving body to move to the position of the monitoring moving body; 16. The control method according to claim 15.

[0181] [Appendix 17] When the number of targets to be monitored increases, Setting a monitoring priority for each of the targets to be monitored; a control is performed on the mobile object being monitored to monitor the target to be monitored for which the highest priority among the priorities is set; 17. A control method according to any one of claims 14 to 16.

[0182] [Appendix 18] Among the plurality of objects to be monitored, excluding objects to be monitored that are being monitored by the monitoring moving body, the objects to be monitored are selected in order starting from the object to be monitored having the highest set priority, predicting the monitoring possible time of the plurality of waiting moving objects; Selecting at least one moving object from the plurality of waiting moving objects; moving the selected moving object to a position for monitoring the target to be monitored; 18. The control method of claim 17.

[0183] [Appendix 19] In a case where a plurality of the monitoring targets are monitored by a plurality of the monitoring moving bodies, when the plurality of the monitoring targets join together, Controlling one of the plurality of moving bodies to monitor the target to be monitored after the junction, and controlling the other moving bodies to move to a standby facility where the moving body is to wait. 19. A control method according to any one of appendix 14 to 18.

[0184] [Appendix 20] The plurality of moving bodies are An imaging means for capturing an image and generating imaging data; a communication means for transmitting the photographing data, extracting feature amounts of an object included in an image based on the photographing data transmitted from the selected moving body and feature amounts of the target to be monitored included in an image based on the photographing data transmitted from the moving body under surveillance, Matching the feature amount of the object with the feature amount of the target to be monitored; When the feature amount of the object matches the feature amount of the target to be monitored, control is performed to cause the selected moving object to monitor the target to be monitored. 20. A control method according to any one of claims 14 to 19.

[0185] [Appendix 21] Acquire information indicating availability of a standby facility for storing the moving object; moving the mobile object under monitoring to a standby facility that has a vacancy and is located closest to the location of the mobile object under monitoring based on information indicating a vacancy status of the standby facility; 21. The control method according to any one of claims 14 to 20.

[0186] [Appendix 22] predicting a cruising distance of the monitored moving object based on battery information of the monitored moving object and mobility performance information of the monitored moving object; When the cruising distance is insufficient for the distance from the position of the moving body under monitoring to the standby equipment to which the moving body is to be moved, moving a mobile object waiting at a standby facility located closest to the mobile object under monitoring to another standby facility having vacant space, and moving the mobile object under monitoring to the standby facility located closest to the mobile object under monitoring; 22. The control method of claim 21.

[0187] [Appendix 23] When the monitoring moving body no longer detects the target to be monitored, making the monitoring mobile unit monitor a predetermined range including the position where the target to be monitored is no longer detected, and when the monitoring mobile unit does not detect the target to be monitored within a predetermined time, moving the monitoring mobile unit to a standby facility where the mobile unit is kept waiting; 23. The control method according to any one of claims 14 to 22.

[0188] [Appendix 24] Obtaining information on the category of the object to be monitored; selecting a mobile object capable of moving at a speed corresponding to a category of the target to be monitored from among the waiting mobile objects whose monitoring available time is equal to or longer than a predetermined value; 24. A control method according to any one of claims 14 to 23.

[0189] [Appendix 25] A process of acquiring location information, battery information, and mobility performance information of each of a plurality of moving objects; a process of predicting a monitoring available time, which is a time during which each of the waiting mobile bodies is able to monitor the target to be monitored, based on location information of a monitoring mobile body which is a mobile body monitoring the target to be monitored among the plurality of mobile bodies, location information of a waiting mobile body which is a mobile body waiting among the plurality of mobile bodies, and battery information and mobility performance information of each of the plurality of mobile bodies; A process of selecting at least one moving object from the plurality of waiting moving objects based on the monitoring available time; and a process of controlling the selected moving body to move to a position where the target to be monitored is monitored. A computer-readable recording medium.

[0190] [Appendix 26] In the selection process, a moving object having the longest monitoring available time is selected from among the waiting moving objects. 26. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 25.

[0191] [Appendix 27] When there are a plurality of moving objects with the longest monitoring time, In the selection process, a moving body that takes the shortest time for the waiting moving body to move to the position of the monitored moving body is selected. 27. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 26.

[0192] [Appendix 28] When there are a plurality of targets to be monitored, a process of setting a monitoring priority for each target is further executed; When the number of targets to be monitored increases, In the process of setting the priority, a priority is set for each of the targets to be monitored; In the control process, a control is performed on the mobile object being monitored to monitor the target to be monitored that is set to the highest priority among the set priorities. 28. A computer-readable storage medium according to any one of appendixes 25 to 27.

[0193] [Appendix 29] Among the plurality of objects to be monitored, excluding objects to be monitored that are being monitored by the monitoring moving body, the objects to be monitored are selected in order starting from the object to be monitored having the highest set priority, In the prediction process, the monitoring available time of the plurality of waiting moving objects is predicted; In the process of selecting, at least one moving object is selected from the plurality of waiting moving objects; In the control process, the selected moving object is moved to a position where the object to be monitored is monitored. 29. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 28.

[0194] [Appendix 30] In a case where a plurality of the monitoring targets are monitored by a plurality of the monitoring moving bodies, when the plurality of the monitoring targets join together, In the control process, one of the plurality of moving bodies is controlled to monitor the target to be monitored after the junction, and the other moving bodies are controlled to move to a standby facility where the moving body is to wait. 30. A computer-readable storage medium according to any one of appendix 25 to 29.

[0195] [Appendix 31] The plurality of moving bodies are An imaging means for capturing an image and generating imaging data; and a communication means for transmitting the photographing data, A process of extracting a feature amount of an object included in an image based on the photographing data transmitted from the selected moving body and a feature amount of the target to be monitored included in the image based on the photographing data transmitted from the moving body under monitoring; and further executing a process of matching the feature amount of the object with the feature amount of the target to be monitored; In the control process, when the feature amount of the object matches the feature amount of the target to be monitored, control is performed to cause the selected moving object to monitor the target to be monitored. 31. A computer-readable storage medium according to any one of appendixes 25 to 30.

[0196] [Appendix 32] In the acquiring process, information indicating an availability status of a standby facility where the mobile object is kept waiting is acquired, In the control process, the standby facility is vacant based on information indicating an availability status of the standby facility, and the monitored mobile object is moved to the standby facility that is closest to the location of the monitored mobile object. 32. A computer-readable storage medium according to any one of appendixes 25 to 31.

[0197] [Appendix 33] In the prediction process, a cruising distance of the monitored moving object is predicted based on battery information of the monitored moving object and mobility performance information of the monitored moving object; When the cruising distance is insufficient for the distance from the position of the moving body under monitoring to the standby equipment to which the moving body is to be moved, In the control process, the mobile object waiting at the standby facility located closest to the mobile object under monitoring is moved to another standby facility having vacant space, and the mobile object under monitoring is moved to the standby facility located closest to the mobile object under monitoring. 33. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 32.

[0198] [Appendix 34] When the monitoring moving body no longer detects the target to be monitored, In the control process, the monitoring-ongoing mobile unit is made to monitor a predetermined range including a position where the target to be monitored is no longer detected, and when the monitoring-ongoing mobile unit does not detect the target to be monitored within a predetermined time, the monitoring-ongoing mobile unit is moved to a standby facility where the mobile unit is kept waiting. 34. A computer-readable storage medium according to any one of appendixes 25 to 33.

[0199] [Appendix 35] In the acquiring process, information on a category of the target to be monitored is acquired; In the selection process, a mobile object capable of moving at a speed corresponding to a category of the target to be monitored is selected from among the waiting mobile objects whose monitoring available time is equal to or longer than a predetermined value. 35. A computer-readable storage medium according to any one of appendixes 25 to 34. [Explanation of symbols]

[0200] 100, 101, 102, 103, 104 Control device 110, 111, 510 acquisition part 120, 121, 520 Prediction Department 130, 131, 530 Selection section 140, 141, 142 Control section 150 Detection unit 160, 161 Extraction part 170, 171 Collation section 180 Priority setting unit 200 Moving body 300 Standby device 400 Memory device

Claims

1. A process for making a first moving body, which is a moving body monitoring an object to be monitored, monitor a predetermined range including a position where the first moving body has stopped detecting the object to be monitored when the first moving body stops detecting the object to be monitored; If the first moving body does not detect the target to be monitored within a predetermined time, A process of determining whether the first moving object is capable of moving to a first standby facility; a process of moving a second moving body, which is waiting at a second standby facility that is closer to the first moving body than the first standby facility, from the second standby facility according to a result of the determination; A process of moving the first moving body to the second standby facility according to a result of the determination; A program that causes a computer to execute the following.

2. The method further includes a process of acquiring a cruising distance of the first moving object, The program according to claim 1 , which determines whether the first moving body is capable of moving to the first standby facility by comparing the cruising distance with the distance from the first standby facility to the first moving body.

3. The program according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the second standby facility is a standby facility that is closest to the first moving object.

4. A process of acquiring availability information of each of a plurality of standby facilities from the plurality of standby facilities; The program according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a process of selecting, from among the plurality of standby facilities, a standby facility that has provided availability information indicating that the standby facility is available, as the first standby facility.

5. The program according to claim 4, further comprising: selecting, from among the standby facilities that have provided availability information indicating that the standby facilities are available, the standby facility that is closest to the first moving body as the first standby facility.

6. The program according to claim 1 , further comprising: making the determination in response to detection of an abnormality occurring in the first moving object.

7. 6. The program according to claim 1, wherein the determination is made in response to a process of monitoring an object that was being performed by the first moving body being taken over by another moving body.

8. An acquisition process for acquiring category information related to a moving speed of the target to be monitored; a selection process for selecting, from among the waiting moving bodies waiting at the second standby facility, a waiting moving body that has a monitoring available time, which is a time during which the target to be monitored can be monitored, that is equal to or longer than a predetermined value and that can move at a speed according to a category of the target to be monitored, as a second moving body to be moved from the second standby facility; A program as described in any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein in a process of moving the second moving body waiting at the second standby facility from the second standby facility, the second moving body waiting at the second standby facility is moved from the second standby facility depending on the result of the selection process and the result of the judgment.

9. The computer When a first moving body, which is a moving body monitoring an object to be monitored, stops detecting the object to be monitored, the first moving body is made to monitor a predetermined range including a position where the object to be monitored is no longer detected; If the first moving body does not detect the target to be monitored within a predetermined time, determining whether the first moving object is capable of moving to a first standby facility; According to a result of the determination, a second moving body that is waiting at a second standby facility that is closer to the first moving body than the first standby facility is moved from the second standby facility; moving the first moving body to the second standby facility according to a result of the determination; Control methods.

10. A monitoring means for causing a first moving body, which is a moving body monitoring an object to be monitored, to monitor a predetermined range including a position where the first moving body no longer detects the object to be monitored when the first moving body no longer detects the object to be monitored; a determination means for determining whether the first moving body is capable of moving to a first standby facility when the first moving body does not detect the target to be monitored within a predetermined time; a first moving means for moving, according to a result of the determination, a second moving body that is waiting at a second standby facility that is closer to the first moving body than the first standby facility, from the second standby facility; and a second moving means for moving the first moving body to the second standby facility according to a result of the determination. Control device.

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