JP2004199617A - Remote monitoring system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a remote monitoring system for efficiently monitoring a number of monitored places and easily responding to a change or increase in the monitored positions or the like. <P>SOLUTION: This remote monitoring system 10 for remotely monitoring a plurality of monitored places divided into a plurality of groups comprises a monitoring device 20 provided in every monitored place, which monitors the monitored place concerned and outputs monitoring information divided to the plurality of groups, at least one monitoring center 30 which receives the monitoring information divided to the groups via a network 50 and outputs an alarm signal for each monitored place divided to the groups, and a plurality of regulating offices 40 provided in conformation to the groups of the monitored places. Each regulating office 40 receives the alarm signal of every monitored place of the group controlled by each regulating office 40 via the network 50. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a remote monitoring system for monitoring a number of monitored sites such as a large number of power receiving facilities and electrical devices, and more particularly to a remote monitoring system capable of efficiently monitoring a large number of monitored sites.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, in a remote monitoring system, a monitoring device is installed at a monitored location, and when a sensor of this monitoring device detects an abnormality, the monitoring information that notifies this abnormality is served as a monitoring center via a public telephone line etc. Is reported to the remote monitoring device at the site. In the jurisdiction, the monitoring information received from the monitoring device is recorded, and personnel are dispatched to a monitored location where an abnormality has occurred (for example, see Patent Document 1).
For example, as shown in FIG. 6, when monitoring a large number of monitored locations 70 such as power receiving equipment and electrical equipment, a large number of monitored locations 70 are divided into regions, and each region is divided into local regions. A plurality of offices 80a, 80b for monitoring the plurality of monitored locations 70a, 70b are provided, and a technical service representative is stationed at each office 80a, 80b, and a monitoring system is installed. Each monitoring system collects monitoring information from monitoring devices installed for each of the monitored locations 70a and 70b using an analog public telephone line, and based on the monitoring information, the monitored locations 70a and 70b in which an abnormality has occurred. And dispatches technical service staff to
[0003]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-2002-112243 (page 2)
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the above-described conventional example, when the number of monitored locations 70 increases, the time required for dial-up connection to connect to the analog public telephone line increases, and the efficiency decreases. Furthermore, an expensive surveillance system that operates without interruption is required for each of the offices 80a and 80b. When a new facility is added to the monitored location 70, the work of adding or changing the facility data of the surveillance system accordingly. Required. In addition, when changing the area under the jurisdiction of the offices 80a and 80b, it is necessary to change the system data and confirm the test of the offices 80a and 80b whose jurisdiction is to be changed. Work. For example, if tens of thousands of client facilities are monitored locations 70, more than 5,000 monitored locations 70 are usually added or changed annually. Therefore, it is important to improve the efficiency of system data maintenance. Become. In addition, when a new type of monitoring sensor is introduced into the monitored location 70, the software of the monitoring system needs to be changed for the monitoring systems of all the jurisdictions 80a and 80b, which is not efficient. Furthermore, it is difficult to add monitoring software of another manufacturer having a different monitoring method from the existing monitoring system to the existing monitoring system.
[0005]
Further, in order to cope with the trouble of the monitoring system, it is necessary to arrange a system engineer having a high technical level as a technical service person for each of the offices 80a and 80b. In addition, when services other than monitoring control are provided, there is a problem that a new system needs to be constructed.
[0006]
Therefore, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a remote monitoring system that can efficiently monitor a monitored location such as a large number of power receiving facilities and electrical devices, and can easily respond to changes and increases in the monitored location. To provide.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, an invention according to claim 1 is a remote monitoring system for remotely monitoring a plurality of monitored locations, wherein the plurality of monitored locations are divided into a plurality of groups, A monitoring device that monitors the monitored location and outputs monitoring information that is divided into the plurality of groups, and receives the monitoring information that is divided into the plurality of groups via a network, and At least one monitoring center that outputs an alarm signal for each monitored location divided into groups, and a plurality of jurisdiction establishments provided corresponding to the group of monitored locations, wherein each of the jurisdiction establishments Is a remote monitoring system characterized by receiving, via a network, the alarm signal for each group of the monitored locations controlled by the respective offices.
As a result, the plurality of monitored locations are divided into a plurality of groups, and a monitoring device arranged for each monitored location monitors each monitored location and outputs monitoring information, and the monitoring information is output to at least one location. The monitoring center receives the information via the network and outputs alarm information. A jurisdiction office that has jurisdiction over the group of monitored locations receives this alarm information via a network. For this reason, the jurisdiction office that has received the alarm information can remotely monitor the monitored location in the jurisdiction group.
[0008]
Further, according to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the monitoring device monitors the monitored location and outputs a monitoring signal, and the monitoring device outputs the monitoring signal as the monitoring information for each monitored location. Abnormal signal notification means for notifying the abnormal signal to which the information of the group is added when the monitoring signal is abnormal, wherein the monitoring center receives the abnormal signal to which the information of the group is added, Selecting a jurisdictional office that has jurisdiction over the group of the monitored location indicated by the abnormal signal based on the information of the added group, and reporting an alarm signal indicating that the abnormality has occurred to the selected jurisdictional office. Is a remote monitoring system.
Thus, when the monitoring signal of the monitored location output by the sensor of the monitoring device is abnormal, the abnormal signal reporting unit reports the abnormal signal to which the group information of the monitored location is added, and reports the abnormal signal. The monitoring center receives and sends an alert signal to the business office selected based on the group information. For this reason, the selected jurisdiction office can know that an abnormality has occurred in the monitored location in the group under its jurisdiction.
[0009]
Further, in the invention according to claim 3, in the invention according to claim 2, the jurisdiction office includes group monitoring means for monitoring a monitored location of the group under jurisdiction. A remote monitoring system, wherein the group monitoring means collects data of the abnormal signal from the monitoring center via a network.
Thus, the selected jurisdiction office collects the abnormal signal data of the monitored location from the monitoring center by the group monitoring means, and specifies the monitored location where the abnormality has occurred and the content of the abnormality. it can.
[0010]
Further, in the invention according to claim 4, in the invention according to claim 1, the monitoring center includes data management means for organizing and recording the monitoring information. The monitoring information of the monitored location stored in the data management means of the monitoring center can be browsed via a network. As a result, the office in charge can obtain the monitoring information arranged and recorded by the data management means of the monitoring center at any time.
[0011]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an outline of a remote monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 shows an example of a connection state of the remote monitoring system, and FIG. 3 shows details of each part of the remote monitoring system.
[0012]
In FIG. 1, a remote monitoring system 10 includes a plurality of monitoring devices 20 at a plurality of monitored locations, a plurality of monitoring centers 30 that receive monitoring information from the monitoring devices 20, and a plurality of offices that receive alarm signals from the plurality of monitoring centers 30. 40.
The monitoring device 20, the monitoring center 30, and the office 40 are connected by a network (communication network) 50 such as a dedicated line or the Internet. Information transmission in the network 50 is indicated by a broken line with an arrow.
For example, the monitoring device 20 is divided into first to twelfth monitoring devices 20a to 20m, the monitoring center 30 is divided into first to fourth monitoring centers 30a to 30d, and the business establishment 40 is Offices 40a to 8h.
The monitoring centers 30 are installed at several places according to the number of monitored places. In this example, the monitoring centers 30 are installed at four places. In addition, an appropriate number of jurisdiction establishments 40 are provided in consideration of management of monitored locations.
The IP addresses in the network 50 are assigned in consideration of grouping (grouping) processing, thereby forming a virtual network for a remote monitoring system.
[0013]
As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of monitored locations such as power receiving equipment and devices of the client are divided into groups to be managed for each of the first to eighth business establishments (40a to 40h). The twelfth monitoring devices (20a to 20m) output monitoring information to the respective monitoring centers (30a to 30d) via the network 50. Here, monitoring information of the monitoring devices 20a to 20c (first group), the monitoring devices 20d to 20f (second group), the monitoring devices 20g to 20i (third group), and the monitoring devices 20j to 20m (fourth group) Are sent to the first monitoring center 30a, the second monitoring center 30b, the third monitoring center 30c, and the fourth monitoring center 30d, respectively.
[0014]
As shown in FIG. 3, each of the monitoring devices 20a to 20m includes a communication unit 21, a monitoring unit 22, a group information (grouping information) adding unit 23, an abnormality detecting unit 24, an abnormal signal automatic reporting unit 25, and a data storage unit. Means 26 are provided.
The communication unit 21 is a unit that allows the monitoring device 20 to communicate monitoring information and the like with the monitoring center 30 via the network 50. The monitoring unit 22 includes a sensor for monitoring a monitored location, an imaging unit, a recording unit, a failure detection detecting unit, and the like, and outputs monitoring information. Here, the sensor detects electric current, voltage, power consumption, insulation, electric leakage, temperature, position, pressure, and the like of an electric device, a machine, and the like. Further, the insulation is detected by detecting an ultrasonic wave that generates a corona discharge in a high-voltage distribution line of, for example, 6000 volts.
The group information adding means 23 is means for adding information for identifying the group to which the monitored part belongs to the monitoring information. Here, the “information for identifying a group” is a classification code that can be classified into, for example, a region or an organization for each monitoring device (20a or the like), and its transmission destination and transmission route are combined with an IP address. A plurality of transmission destinations / transmission paths (including a backup path) can be set.
[0015]
The abnormality detecting means 24 detects an abnormal state of the monitored location in the monitoring information and outputs an abnormal signal to the abnormal signal automatic notifying means 25. The abnormality detecting unit 24 sets an abnormal state when detecting that the monitoring information exceeds a threshold value, when detecting the failure display, and the like. The abnormal signal automatic notification means 25 automatically outputs the abnormal signal to the monitoring center 30. The data storage unit 26 is a unit that records the monitoring information, the abnormal signal, and the like.
[0016]
As shown in FIG. 3, the monitoring center 30 (such as 30a in FIG. 1) includes communication means 31, 32, data management means 33, abnormal group discriminating means 34, abnormal data storing means 35, alarm signal generating means 36, and data collection. Means 37 are provided.
The communication means 31 and 32 are means for communicating with the monitoring device 20 and the responsible office 40 via the network 50, respectively. The data management means 33 can organize and record the monitoring information received (collected) from the monitoring device 20 by the monitoring center 30, and can further edit a monthly report, an annual report, and the like of the monitoring information. The abnormal group determining unit 34 is a unit that determines the group of the monitored location from the group information added to the abnormal signal or the like. Here, the abnormal group is determined by analyzing the grouping information added to the abnormal signal and referring to the grouping table to determine (select) a basic jurisdiction office. The abnormal group discriminating means 34 refers to the grouping table, checks the group configuration at the present time, groups monitoring information, and, if requested by the office in the group, converts the monitoring information data. Enable sending.
[0017]
The abnormal data storage unit 35 is a unit for storing abnormal data of the monitored location included in the abnormal signal. When receiving the abnormal signal from the monitoring device 20, the alarm signal generating unit 36 refers to the grouping table and is selected as having jurisdiction over the group determined from the group information added to the abnormal signal. This is a means for transmitting an alarm signal to the jurisdiction 40.
In addition, as for the technical service staff of the jurisdiction office (40a etc.), as the setting / change of the grouping in the grouping table, the change of the basic jurisdiction office (40a etc.) and the authorized jurisdiction office (40a etc.) are required. It is possible to do so by requesting and displaying a setting / change screen of the group monitoring means 43 in the same manner as monitoring data collection. In addition, the grouping function can change the combination or scale of the jurisdiction office (40a or the like) and the monitored location at any time in response to an emergency such as night, holiday, or typhoon.
In the grouping table, the inter-group link of the monitoring information may be configured to permit access between the monitoring information data groups.
[0018]
In addition, when the monitoring center (30a or the like) to which the legitimate information is to be transmitted and the network 50 are abnormal, the transmission path is changed, the service is performed by another monitoring center (30a or the like), and the system configuration of the monitoring system is dynamically changed. Can be.
The data collection unit 37 periodically (for example, once a day) collects and stores data of the monitoring information / abnormal signal from the data storage unit 26 of the monitoring device 20 via the network 50.
[0019]
The jurisdiction 40 (such as 40a in FIG. 1) includes a communication unit 41, an alarm signal receiving unit 42, and a group monitoring unit 43, as shown in FIG.
The communication means 41 is means for communicating with the monitoring center 30 via the network 50. The alarm signal receiving means 42 is a means for receiving an alarm signal output from the monitoring center 30, and includes, for example, a pilot lamp indicating that an abnormality has occurred in each group of the monitored location. The group monitoring unit 43 is a unit that monitors a group of monitored places under the jurisdiction.
[0020]
As shown in Fig. 2, the monitoring layer of "Layer 1" (local sensor monitoring layer), the super-piser layer of "Layer 2" (remote monitoring layer), and the user response layer of "Layer 3" (service response layer) are hierarchical. Each node, that is, the monitoring device 20, the monitoring center 30, and the jurisdictional office 40 constitute an autonomous decentralized system that transmits monitoring control information in an autonomous decentralized manner. Further, the number of the nodes can be easily increased or changed. That is, each node can be grown.
[0021]
The group information added to the monitoring information transmitted from the monitoring device 20 at the monitored location divided into each group (corresponding to the group of the monitoring devices 20 in FIG. 1) and the setting of each monitoring center 30a, 30b, 30c, 30d are set. The monitoring system system is configured based on normal times, night / holidays, emergency times, and failures of the monitoring center (30a, etc.). For example, as shown by a two-dot chain line, a backup route is formed by acting on behalf of each jurisdiction (40a to 40h) or a plurality of monitoring centers 30a to 30d. Can be managed by the monitoring center 30a, and the monitoring center 30b can be stopped.
[0022]
Further, as shown in FIG. 1, in parallel with the normal jurisdiction 40, the monitoring device (for example, 20f, 20g, 20h) of the affiliated store facility as a monitored location where the client (customer) itself is dispersed in various places. A centralized management location 60 for clients can also be installed as a kind of the jurisdiction 40 for collective management.
[0023]
With the above configuration, the remote monitoring system 10 can perform the following operations. 4 and 5 are flowcharts showing the operation of the remote monitoring system 10. As shown in FIG. 4, when the monitoring means 22 provided for each of a plurality of monitored locations monitors each monitored location (S1), and the abnormality detecting means 24 detects an abnormality in the monitoring information (S2), the group information is displayed. The group information is added to the monitoring information by the adding means 23 (S4), and the abnormal signal is automatically reported to the monitoring center 30 via the communication means 21 and the network 50 by the abnormal signal automatic reporting means 25 (S5). Further, the monitoring information data in which the abnormality is detected is stored in the data storage unit 26 (S3).
[0024]
Next, in the monitoring center 30, the abnormal signal is received (S6), the abnormal group of the monitored location is determined by the abnormal group determining means 34 from the received abnormal signal (S7), and the abnormal data is stored in the abnormal data storing means 35. (S8). Further, an alarm signal is generated and notified to the jurisdictional establishment 40 selected as having jurisdiction over the abnormal group by the alarm signal generating means 36 (S9).
[0025]
Next, in the jurisdiction 40, the alarm signal receiving means 42 receives the alarm signal (S10), and based on the received alarm signal, displays the occurrence of an abnormality in the monitored location (S11).
[0026]
As shown in FIG. 5, when a technical service representative stationed at the jurisdiction office 40 wants to obtain detailed information on the abnormal signal, the group operates the group monitoring means 43 to request monitoring information data (S21). ), The monitoring center 30 receives the request (S22), and determines whether or not the requested monitoring information data exists (S23). When the abnormal data storage means 35 holds the requested monitoring information data, the monitoring information data is used, and when the requested monitoring information data is not in the abnormal data storage means 35, the monitoring center 30 Monitoring information data is collected from the data storage unit 26 of the monitoring device 20 at the monitoring location (S24). In this way, the monitoring center 30 transmits the requested monitoring information data to the responsible office 40 (S25). Then, the responsible office 40 displays the received monitoring information data (S26).
[0027]
Also, changes such as new addition of each node can be handled by changing the system data only for the layer concerned, and the lower layer method is the same as the existing layer method for different manufacturers or sensors of the new method. Even if it is different from the above, it can be dealt with by adopting the new method only for the lower layer and matching the method of the upper layer with the processing method of the existing layer. Further, the degree of freedom for change and growth of the configuration of the remote monitoring system 10 is high, and the flexibility for new services is increased. In addition, management of monitoring information data and centralization of maintenance of the remote monitoring system 10 can be performed efficiently.
[0028]
Also, the monitoring information automatically notified by the upper layer from the lower layer shall be the minimum necessary for deciding the action of the upper node, and the other nodes shall collect the information at their own discretion and at regular intervals as necessary, and Efficiency can be improved.
[0029]
The monitoring center 30 determines the jurisdiction 40 that has jurisdiction over the monitored location based on the monitoring information from the monitored location obtained at “Layer 2” in FIG. The information is patterned into the minimum necessary information serving as a guideline for the action of the technical service staff stationed at the office 40 and notified to the warning signal receiving means 42 of the office 40 under the jurisdiction. The contents of this pattern are as follows:
a. Items requiring immediate response, such as on-site dispatch b. Processing within a certain time c. Things to keep track of d. A technical service representative relating to a monitored location in another jurisdiction can determine based on the information displayed by the alarm signal receiving means 42 and collect necessary detailed information from the monitoring center 30.
[0030]
The IP network provider can construct and provide a virtual dedicated monitoring system network that performs reliable information transmission between the nodes of the remote monitoring system 10 by allocating a private IP address suitable for group processing and the like. .
[0031]
In addition, a wide-area and large-scale remote monitoring system 10 that monitors power receiving facilities and devices of tens of thousands or more clients can be efficiently realized by utilizing an IP (Internet Protocol) network.
Furthermore, the problem of dial-up connection time can be solved by using the IP connection network, and Internet technology with excellent versatility and expandability can be applied.
[0032]
In the above embodiment, a plurality of monitoring centers and business establishments are set for a plurality of monitored locations. However, the present invention is not limited to those shown in the embodiment. And the number of jurisdictions can vary as needed.
[0033]
【The invention's effect】
According to the first aspect of the present invention, the jurisdiction office that has received the alarm information can remotely monitor the monitored location of its own jurisdiction group via the monitoring center. For this reason, the monitored location can be remotely monitored efficiently, and the monitored location can be easily changed or increased.
Further, according to the invention of claim 2, together with the effect of the invention of claim 1, the responsible office can easily know that an abnormality has occurred in the own jurisdiction group.
Further, according to the third aspect of the present invention, together with the effect of the second aspect of the present invention, the responsible office can easily specify the monitored location where the abnormality has occurred and the content of the abnormality.
Further, according to the invention described in claim 4, together with the effect of the invention described in claim 1, the jurisdiction office can obtain monitoring information of the monitored location at any time.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a remote monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a connection state of the remote monitoring system.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing details of each part of the remote monitoring system.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation of the remote monitoring system.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the remote monitoring system, similarly to FIG. 4;
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a conventional remote monitoring system.
[Explanation of symbols]
Reference Signs List 10 remote monitoring systems 20, 20a to 20m monitoring device 21 communication means 22 monitoring means 23 group information adding means 24 abnormality detection means 25 abnormality signal automatic notification means 30, 30a to 30d monitoring centers 31, 32 communication means 33 data management means 34 abnormality Group discriminating means 36 Alarm signal generating means 40, 40a to 40h Jurisdiction office 41 Communication means 42 Alarm signal receiving means 43 Group monitoring means 50 Network

Claims (4)

In a remote monitoring system for remotely monitoring a plurality of monitored locations,
The plurality of monitored locations are divided into a plurality of groups,
A monitoring device that is provided for each monitored location, monitors the monitored location, and outputs monitoring information divided into the plurality of groups;
At least one monitoring center that receives the monitoring information divided into the plurality of groups via a network and outputs an alarm signal for each monitored part divided into the plurality of groups;
A plurality of jurisdictional offices provided corresponding to the group of monitored sites, wherein each of the jurisdictional offices transmits the alarm signal for each group of the monitored sites controlled by each of the monitored offices via a network. A remote monitoring system characterized by receiving at a remote location. The remote monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein
The monitoring device is a sensor that monitors the monitored location and outputs a monitoring signal. The monitoring device monitors the monitored location and outputs a monitoring signal for each monitored location. Abnormal signal reporting means for reporting a signal,
The monitoring center receives the abnormal signal to which the information of the group has been added, and selects a jurisdiction office that has jurisdiction over the group of the monitored part indicated by the abnormal signal according to the information of the added group, and is selected. A remote monitoring system for notifying a responsible office of an alarm signal indicating that the abnormality has occurred. The remote monitoring system according to claim 2, wherein
The jurisdiction has group monitoring means for monitoring a monitored location of the group under the jurisdiction,
The remote monitoring system, wherein the jurisdiction office receiving the alarm signal collects the data of the abnormal signal from the monitoring center via a network by the group monitoring means. The remote monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein
The monitoring center includes a data management unit that organizes and records the monitoring information, and the group monitoring unit of the jurisdiction of the business office monitors a monitored location stored in the data management unit of the monitoring center via a network as needed. A remote monitoring system capable of browsing monitoring information of a remote controller.

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