Surveillance system with surveillance terminals and surveillance center

• US 20040113769A1
• Filed: 07/10/2003
• Published: 06/17/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd., Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Nakamura, Taku, Yoshio, Hiroaki, Inata, Keisuke, Kageyama, Masahiro, Ueda, Masaomi, Imaide, Takuya, Niki, Teruki, Ohtsubo, Hiroyasu
• Granted Patent: US 7,088,240 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/506
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/10 using wireless transmission systems G08B25/009 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 27/005 with transmission via computer network

Abstract

The present invention provides a surveillance system, surveillance terminals, and a surveillance center, the surveillance system being configured to perform effective hazard alert signaling, depending on the hazard type, and a hazard and alert signaling method. The surveillance system of the invention where a plurality of surveillance terminals are connected to the surveillance center by a network carries out hazard and alert signaling. One surveillance terminal detects a hazard and sends a hazard information signal reporting what hazard has just been detected to the surveillance center. The surveillance center receives the hazard information signal, identifies what type of the hazard source and the surveillance terminal that sent the hazard information signal, selects surveillance terminals to be alerted to the hazard from among the plurality of surveillance terminals, depending on the identified type of the hazard source and its locality, and sends a hazard alert signal to the selected surveillance terminals.

Claims

1. A surveillance system comprising a plurality of surveillance terminals and a surveillance center, the plurality of surveillance terminals being connected to the surveillance center by a network,

wherein one of said surveillance terminals detects a hazard and sends a hazard information signal reporting what hazard has just been detected to said surveillance center, and

said surveillance center receives said hazard information signal, identifies what type of the hazard source and the surveillance terminal that sent the hazard information signal, selects surveillance terminals to be alerted to the hazard from among said plurality of surveillance terminals, depending on the identified type of the hazard source and its locality, and sends a hazard alert signal to the selected surveillance terminals.

4. A surveillance system according to claim 1,

wherein said surveillance center sends said hazard signal to the selected ones of said plurality of surveillance terminals and mobile terminals related to the selected surveillance terminals to alert on over said network.

5. A surveillance system according to claim 1,

wherein, when two or more of said plurality of surveillance terminals respectively detect a plurality of hazards and send respective hazard information signals to said surveillance center,

said surveillance center selects all the surveillance terminals to alert on that should be selected separately, depending on each hazard source type from the received hazard information signals and sets the surveillance mode of each surveillance terminal to alert on at the highest accuracy one of the different-level surveillance modes in which said hazard information signal is sent in different levels of information depth, separately assigned to each surveillance terminal to alert on, depending on each hazard source type.

6. A surveillance system according to claim 1,

wherein, when two or more of said plurality of surveillance terminals respectively detect a plurality of hazards and send respective hazard information signals to said surveillance center,

said surveillance center judges a relationship between the sources of the plurality of hazards from the received hazard information signals, adds a weight corresponding to the relationship to the respective hazard sources, and sets the surveillance terminals to alert on.

9. A surveillance system according to claim 1,

wherein said surveillance center changes said surveillance terminals to alert on as said hazard moves from its initial locality, the locality extends, or the hazard scatters.

11. A surveillance system according to claim 1, wherein external agencies send said hazard information signal to said surveillance center.

2. A surveillance system comprising a plurality of surveillance terminals and a surveillance center, the plurality of surveillance terminals being connected to the surveillance center by a network,

wherein one of said surveillance terminals detects a hazard and sends a hazard information signal reporting what hazard has just been detected to said surveillance center, and

said surveillance center receives said hazard information signal, identifies what type of the hazard source and the surveillance terminal that sent the hazard information signal, selects areas to be alerted to the hazard from among a plurality of areas studded with said plurality of surveillance terminals, depending on the identified type of the hazard source and its locality, and sends a hazard alert signal to the surveillance terminals that fall in the selected areas.

3. A surveillance system comprising a plurality of surveillance terminals and a surveillance center, the plurality of surveillance terminals being connected to the surveillance center by a network,

wherein one of said surveillance terminals detects a hazard and sends a hazard information signal reporting what hazard has just been detected to said surveillance center, and

said surveillance center receives said hazard information signal, identifies what type of the hazard source and the surveillance terminal that sent the hazard information signal, and sends commands of different-level surveillance modes in which said hazard information signal is sent in different levels of information depth to said plurality of surveillance terminals, one of the commands of the different-level surveillance modes to be sent to each surveillance terminal being selected, depending on the identified type of the hazard source and its locality.

10. A surveillance system according to claim 3,

wherein, when two or more of said plurality of surveillance terminals respectively detect hazards and send respective hazard information signals to said surveillance center,

said surveillance center receive said respective hazard information signals, identifies what type of the hazard source and the surveillance terminal that sent the hazard information signal for each of the plurality of hazards, and, depending on the identified type of the hazard source and its locality, sets the surveillance mode of each of said plurality of surveillance terminals at the highest accuracy one of the different-level surveillance modes separately assigned to the area in which the surveillance terminal falls, depending on each hazard source type.

7. A surveillance system comprising a plurality of surveillance terminals and a surveillance center, the plurality of surveillance terminals being connected to the surveillance center by a network,

wherein one of said surveillance terminals detects a hazard and sends a hazard information signal reporting what hazard has just been detected to said surveillance center, and

said surveillance center receives said hazard information signal, identifies what type of the hazard source and the surveillance terminal that sent the hazard information signal, selects areas to be alerted to the hazard from among a plurality of areas studded with said plurality of surveillance terminals, depending on the identified type of the hazard source and its locality, sends a hazard alert signal to the surveillance terminals that fall in the selected areas, and sends commands of different-level surveillance modes in which said hazard information signal is sent in different levels of information depth to said plurality of surveillance terminals, one of the commands of the different-level surveillance modes to be sent to each surveillance terminal being selected, according to the area in which the surveillance terminal falls.

8. A surveillance system according to claim 7,

wherein, when two or more of said plurality of surveillance terminals respectively detect a plurality of hazards and send respective hazard information signals to said surveillance center,

said surveillance center sets the surveillance mode for each of said areas to be alerted at the highest accuracy one of said different-level surveillance modes separately assigned to the area, depending on each hazard source type.

12. A surveillance terminal connectable to a surveillance center via a network, said surveillance terminal comprising:

equipment which is able to detect a plurality of hazards; and

a communications unit which sends a hazard information signal reporting what hazard has just been detected as one of the plurality of hazards to the surveillance center.

13. A surveillance center to which a plurality of surveillance terminals can be connected via a network, said surveillance center comprising:

a communications unit which receives a hazard information signal sent from a surveillance terminal when a hazard occurs and sends a hazard alert signal to terminals;

an identifier which identifies what type of the hazard source and the surveillance terminal that sent the hazard information signal; and

a selector which selects surveillance terminals to be alerted to the hazard from among said plurality of surveillance terminals.

14. A hazard and alert signaling method for use in a surveillance system where a plurality of surveillance terminals are connected to a surveillance center by a network,

said hazard and alert signaling method comprising a first process to be performed at one of said surveillance terminals and a second process to be performed at said surveillance center,

said first process comprising the steps of:

detecting a hazard; and

sending a hazard information signal reporting what hazard has just been detected to said surveillance center,

said second process comprising the steps of;

receiving said hazard information signal;

identifying what type of the hazard source and the surveillance terminal that sent the hazard information signal;

selecting surveillance terminals to be alerted to the hazard from among said plurality of surveillance terminals, depending on the identified type of the hazard source and its locality; and

sending a hazard alert signal to the selected surveillance terminals.

17. A hazard and alert signaling method for use in a surveillance system according to claim 14,

wherein, said second process further includes the step of changing said surveillance terminals to alert on as said hazard moves from its initial locality, the locality extends, or the hazard scatters.

15. A hazard and alert signaling method for use in a surveillance system where a plurality of surveillance terminals are connected to a surveillance center by a network,

said hazard and alert signaling method comprising a first process to be performed at one of said surveillance terminals and a second process to be performed at said surveillance center,

said first process comprising the steps of:

detecting a hazard; and

sending a hazard information signal to said surveillance center,

said second process comprising the steps of;

receiving said hazard information signal;

identifying what type of the hazard source and the surveillance terminal that sent the hazard information signal;

selecting areas to be alerted to the hazard from among a plurality of areas studded with said plurality of surveillance terminals, depending on the identified type of the hazard source and its locality; and

sending a hazard alert signal to the surveillance terminals that fall in the selected areas.

16. A hazard and alert signaling method for use in a surveillance system where a plurality of surveillance terminals are connected to a surveillance center by a network,

said hazard and alert signaling method comprising a first process to be performed at one of said surveillance terminals and a second process to be performed at said surveillance center,

said first process comprising the steps of:

detecting a hazard; and

sending a hazard information signal to said surveillance center,

said second process comprising the steps of;

receiving said hazard information signal;

identifying what type of the hazard source and the surveillance terminal that sent the hazard information signal; and

sending commands of different-level surveillance modes in which said hazard information signal is sent in different levels of information depth to said plurality of surveillance terminals, wherein one of the commands of the different-level surveillance modes to be sent to each surveillance terminal is selected, depending on the identified type of the hazard source and its locality.