Privacy-Aware Watching System With Abnormality-Triggered Imaging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing watching systems fail to consider the privacy of the target person, leading to a sense of being monitored and psychological burden, particularly for individuals like elderly or sick persons who are remotely watched.
Innovation Solution
A watching system that includes an infrared array sensor to detect the state of the target person, a master camera with a coverable lens to prevent image capture until an abnormality is detected, and a slave camera for security purposes, ensuring privacy protection through visual cues and controlled image capture.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If continuous image capture is performed to monitor the target person, then the reliability of abnormality detection is improved, but the target person's privacy is compromised and psychological burden increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs periodic image capture only when abnormality is detected, rather than continuous monitoring. The control unit triggers the imaging unit to capture images at specific intervals after abnormality detection, maintaining monitoring reliability while significantly reducing privacy infringement during normal states.
Solution Approach 2:
The system extracts and separates the imaging function from continuous operation. The cover unit physically isolates the imaging unit during normal states, and only exposes it when abnormality is detected. This extraction principle ensures that image capture occurs only when necessary, balancing reliability with privacy protection.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If image capture is performed only when abnormality is detected, then privacy protection is improved, but the response time for abnormality detection increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary detection using the sensor unit that continuously monitors physiological parameters without capturing images. When abnormality is detected through this preliminary sensing, the imaging unit is then activated. This preliminary action approach maintains privacy while ensuring rapid response to actual abnormalities.
Solution Approach 2:
The control unit acts as an intermediary between the sensor unit and imaging unit. It receives data from the sensor unit, determines whether abnormality exists, and then triggers the imaging unit accordingly. This intermediary mechanism coordinates the timing of image capture to minimize delay while protecting privacy during normal states.
3Productivity
If the imaging unit is always exposed to capture images, then the productivity of monitoring is improved, but the target person's sense of privacy violation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cover unit dynamically changes its state between covering and exposing the imaging unit based on abnormality detection results. During normal states, the imaging unit remains covered to protect privacy. When abnormality is detected, the cover unit moves to expose the imaging unit for image capture, then returns to covering position afterward, maintaining monitoring productivity while reducing privacy violation.
4Measurement precision
If multiple sensors and cameras are used to improve detection accuracy, then the measurement precision of target person state is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system combines the sensor unit and imaging unit into an integrated monitoring device with a unified control unit. The sensor unit detects physiological parameters while the imaging unit captures visual information, and the control unit processes both data streams together. This merging approach improves measurement precision through multi-modal sensing while managing device complexity through integrated architecture.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system effectively detects abnormalities while maintaining the privacy of the target person by preventing unnecessary image capture and providing visual cues to reassure the individual, thereby reducing psychological burden.
Implementation Method 1
an infrared array sensor to detect the state of the target person
Data Source
AI summary
There is provided a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a program that causes a computer to execute a process, the process including causing an imaging unit, which captures an image including a target person, to start capturing the image when a state of the target person estimated from data acquired by an acquisition unit that acquires the data on the state of the target person is a predetermined state, and detecting the state of the target person based on the image captured by the imaging unit.