EP0716402A1
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Human occupancy detection method and system for implementing the same
Assignee: Panasonic Holdings Corp
•
Filing: 1995-12-07
•
Granted: —
•
Expires: 2015-12-07
Abstract
Abstract A primary object of the invention is to provide a method and system for detecting humans present in a restricted space, particularly, in a commuter train, a building, etc., by using an infrared sensor capable of detecting the presence of humans, and for judging the ratio of human occupancy in that space. To accomplish this object, according to the invention, the infrared sensor is installed, for example, on a ceiling near the center of a room, and the whole room space is scanned by the infrared sensor to detect in which region of the room a human is present. The proportion of human presence regions thus detected to the whole detection region is determined as the ratio of human occupancy. More specifically, a designated space is detected by the infrared sensor, and only human presence regions are extracted from that space; then, the ratio of human occupancy in the room is estimated from the ratio of the area of the extracted human presence regions to the area of the whole detection area.
Inventors
- 👤 Kazuhiko Hashimoto
- 👤 Nobuyuki Yoshiike
- 👤 Katsuya Morinaka
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 18:43
CPC Classifications
G; G07; G07C; G07C9/00; G06; G06V; G06V40/00; G06V40/10; G06V40/103; G08; G08B; G08B13/00; G08B13/18; G08B13/189; G08B13/19; G08B13/193; G08B13/194; B; B66; B66B; B66B1/00; B66B1/34; B66B1/3476
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 16
Claim 1
Independent Claim
53 words
A human occupancy detection method, wherein within a designated space a region containing at least a human is detected using an infrared sensor, a proportion that the detected object occupies in said space is calculated, and based on a result of the calculation, a ratio of human occupancy in said space is estimated.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
60 words
A human occupancy detection method for detecting a ratio of human occupancy in a designated space, wherein said space is detected by an infrared sensor, only a human presence region is extracted from said detected space, and an area ratio of said extracted human presence region relative to a whole detection region is taken as the ratio of human occupancy.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
78 words
A human occupancy detection method for detecting a ratio of human occupancy in a designated space, wherein said space is detected by an infrared sensor, a human presence impossible region and a human presence region are extracted from said detected space, said human presence impossible region is subtracted from a whole detection region, and an area ratio of said extracted human presence region relative to a result of the subtraction is taken as the ratio of human occupancy.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
88 words
A human occupancy detection method for detecting a ratio of human occupancy in a designated space, wherein said space is detected by an infrared sensor, a human presence region is extracted from said detected space, the number of signal strength local peaks within said human presence region is obtained, and by taking into account the number of the local peaks thus obtained, the ratio of said human occupancy is estimated on a basis of an area ratio of said extracted human presence region to a whole detection region.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
56 words
A human occupancy detection method for detecting a ratio of human occupancy in a designated space, according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein, when extracting only a human presence region from the space detected by the infrared sensor, the human presence region is identified by using a clustering technique based on fuzzy inference.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
56 words
A human occupancy detection method for detecting a ratio of human occupancy in a designated space, according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein, when extracting only a human presence region from the space detected by the infrared sensor, the human presence region is identified by using a modeling technique based on fuzzy inference.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
56 words
A human occupancy detection method for detecting a ratio of human occupancy in a designated space, according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein, when extracting only a human presence region from the space detected by the infrared sensor, the human presence region is identified by dividing said detection region in a matrix form.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
122 words
A human occupancy detection method for detecting a ratio of human occupancy in a designated space, according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein an infrared array sensor is constructed by arranging a plurality of detector elements in an array, infrared radiation incident on said sensor is periodically interrupted by chopping means, after making measurements on the outputs of said detector elements for an aiming direction of said infrared array sensor, said aiming direction is turned through a prescribed angle by driving means, said measurements are sequentially repeated, and after finishing said measurements for a final aiming direction, said driving means is rotated backward to an initial aiming direction, thereby extracting the human presence region from the whole detection region.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
96 words
A human occupancy detection system for detecting a ratio of human occupancy in a designated space in a railroad car or a vestibule of a railroad car, wherein said space is detected by an infrared sensor, a human presence region is extracted from a whole detection region, the ratio of human occupancy in the detected space in the railroad car or the vestibule of the railroad car is detected from an area ratio ofsaid extracted human presence region relative to said whole detection region, and said detected human occupancy ratio is notified to passengers in advance.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
94 words
A human occupancy detection system for detecting a ratio of human occupancy in a designated space in an elevator hall, wherein said space is detected by an infrared sensor, a human presence region is extracted from a whole detection region, the ratio of human occupancy in the detected space in said elevator hall is detected from an area ratio of said extracted human presence region relative to said whole detection region, and said detected human occupancy ratio on each floor is fed back to an elevator control system, thereby facilitating smooth operation of elevators.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
92 words
A human occupancy detection system for detecting a ratio of human occupancy in a designated space in a theater, exhibition hall, or like building, wherein said space is detected by an infrared sensor, a human presence region is extracted from a whole detection region, the ratio of human occupancy in the detected space in said building is detected from an area ratio of said extracted human presence region relative to said whole detection region, and said detected human occupancy ratio is fed back to air-conditioning and illumination control systems for said space.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
90 words
A human occupancy detection system for detecting a ratio of human occupancy in a designated space at a bus stop, wherein said space is detected by an infrared sensor, a human presence region is extracted from a whole detection region, the ratio of human occupancy in the detected space of said bus stop is detected from an area ratio of said extracted human presence region relative to said whole detection region, and said detected human occupancy ratio is notified to a bus driver, thereby facilitating smooth operation of bus service.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
56 words
A human occupancy detection system for detecting a ratio of human occupancy in a designated space, according to any one of claims 9 to 12, wherein, when extracting only a human presence region from the space detected by the infrared sensor, the human presence region is identified by using a clustering technique based on fuzzy inference.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
56 words
A human occupancy detection system for detecting a ratio of human occupancy in a designated space, according to any one of claims 9 to 12, wherein, when extracting only a human presence region from the space detected by the infrared sensor, the human presene region is identified by using a modeling technique based on fuzzy inference.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
56 words
A human occupancy detection system for detecting a ratio of human occupancy in a designated space, according to any one of claims 9 to 12, wherein, when extracting only a human presence region from the space detected by the infrared sensor, the human presence region is identified by dividing said detection region in a matrix form.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
154 words
A human occupancy detection system for detecting a ratio of human occupancy in a designated space, according to any one of claims 9 to 12, wherein an infrared array sensor is constructed by arranging a plurality of detector elements in an array, infrared radiation incident on said sensor is periodically interrupted by chopping means, after making measurements on the outputs of said detector elements for an aiming direction of said infrared array sensor, said aiming direction is turned through a prescribed angle by driving means, said measurements are sequentially repeated, and after finishing said measurements for a final aiming direction, said driving means is rotated backward to an initial aiming direction, thereby extracting the human presence region from the whole detection region, and thus detecting the ratio of human occupancy in said detected space from a ratio of areas thereof, said detected human occupancy ratio then being fed back to a responsible control system.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
Maintenance schedule is calculated for granted US utility patents.