Confined Space Estimation via Grid Annular Shape Detection

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional methods for confirming confined spaces during disasters fail to accurately identify areas with no changes in the number of persons across multiple grids, leading to incomplete extraction of confined spaces, especially in widespread areas.

Innovation Solution

A system that divides geographical space into grids, aggregates terminal data, identifies grids or boundaries with no terminal changes, determines if these can form an annular shape, and estimates the confined space within that shape.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of manufacture

If conventional methods count persons in each grid independently without considering changes between grids, then the extraction process is simple, but the accuracy of confined space identification deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveextraction process simplicityVSAvoidconfined space identification accuracy

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of manufactureVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent merges the analysis of multiple grids by determining whether extracted grids or boundaries can be linked to form an annular shape. This combines individual grid extraction results into a collective spatial pattern recognition process, improving accuracy while maintaining reasonable process complexity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

2Reliability

If the system extracts grids with no change in terminal numbers, then it identifies potential confined spaces, but it cannot distinguish between isolated grids and actual annular confined spaces

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveconfined space detection capabilityVSAvoidspatial configuration information

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The patent adds a spatial configuration dimension by determining whether extracted grids or boundaries form an annular shape. This transforms the problem from identifying static grids with no terminal changes to recognizing dynamic spatial patterns, thereby recovering the lost spatial configuration information and enabling accurate confined space identification.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

3Measurement precision

If the system only identifies grids with no terminal changes, then it works for small areas, but it fails to accurately confirm widespread confined spaces formed by multiple grids

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveconfined space identification accuracy for small areasVSAvoidgeographical coverage area

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSArea of stationary object

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the geographical space into multiple grids and processes each grid independently to extract those with no terminal changes. This segmentation allows the system to handle large geographical areas by breaking them down into manageable units while maintaining identification accuracy through subsequent annular shape determination.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent merges the results from multiple segmented grids by determining whether they can be linked to form an annular shape. This combination process enables the system to accurately identify widespread confined spaces that span multiple grids while preserving the precision achieved in individual grid analysis.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

4Measurement precision

If the system determines annular shape formation by linking extracted grids, then it improves confined space accuracy, but the computational complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveconfined space identification accuracyVSAvoidsystem computational complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent performs preliminary extraction of grids or boundaries with no terminal changes before determining annular shape formation. This preliminary action filters the data set, reducing the number of grids that need to be analyzed for annular shape determination, thereby managing computational complexity while maintaining high identification accuracy.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentUS10368191B2Confined space estimation system and confined space estimation method

Publication Date: 2019.07.30 HITACHI LTD

AI summary

A confined space estimation system, and a confined space estimation method capable of accurately confirming a confined space formed in the event of a disaster, estimates a confined space comprising a storage device which stores information indicating a geographical space, and a processor which divides the geographical space into grids. Based on location information sent from a terminal, the processor periodically aggregates a number of terminals within the grids or a number of terminals that passed through boundaries between the grids, extracts grids or boundaries in which the aggregated number of terminals is a predetermined number and in which there is no change in the aggregated number of terminals, determines whether the extracted grids or boundaries can be linked to form an annular shape, and, if the annular shape can be formed, estimates a geographical space configured from the grids within the formed annular shape as the confined space.