JP7499607B2 - Boarding and alighting assistance system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to technology that enables prompt assistance to be provided to users of mobile vehicles who require assistance.

For example, when physically disabled people or elderly people use moving vehicles such as trains, they may need assistance from a caregiver when getting on and off the vehicle. In such cases, the user needs to find a caregiver such as a station staff member and request the necessary assistance. In order to improve services for users, providers of mobile services need to be able to detect users who need assistance themselves and provide assistance to them quickly, rather than waiting for requests from users who need assistance.

For example, Patent Document 1 proposes a system for meeting the above-mentioned needs, in which when a user who requires assistance boards a train, station staff at the user's disembarking station are notified of the user's arrival time and the type of assistance required. In the system described in Patent Document 1, ID information such as the car number is transmitted from an RFID tag installed near the train door to the user's mobile terminal. The user's mobile terminal transmits the ID information received from the RFID tag, information indicating the type of assistance required by the user, information indicating the disembarking station, etc. to a communication center. Based on the information received from the mobile terminal, the communication center notifies station staff at the user's disembarking station of when the user who requires assistance will arrive and what type of assistance he or she requires. Therefore, when the train carrying the user who requires assistance arrives at the disembarking station, the station staff at the disembarking station can promptly provide assistance to the user.

JP 2006-42239 A

In the case of the system described in Patent Document 1, the user must register in advance to use the service, and must carry a mobile terminal with a program installed that receives ID information from the RFID tag and transmits information including the ID information to a communication center. Therefore, users who are unfamiliar with tasks such as setting up a mobile terminal cannot use the service casually. Furthermore, if the user forgets to carry their mobile terminal, they cannot receive the service. This creates a problem in that it is not possible to provide equal support to everyone who needs it.

In consideration of the above circumstances, the present invention provides a means for enabling managers of moving objects to smoothly provide assistance to users who need assistance and who travel on fixed routes, such as trains, without bothering the users.

The present invention proposes as a first aspect a boarding and alighting assistance guidance system which detects a person requiring assistance from images captured by a surveillance camera of a user of a mobile vehicle moving along a fixed route, and transmits information about the person requiring assistance, including boarding and alighting information, to an administrator terminal device located at a planned boarding and alighting location on the route, based on information recorded on a ticket for the person requiring assistance to board a mobile vehicle read by a reading device and obtained based on records of locations and times when the person requiring assistance has previously boarded and alighted on a mobile vehicle.

According to the boarding and alighting assistance guidance system of the first aspect, a manager of a mobile vehicle that travels along a fixed route and is located at a location where a person requiring assistance is scheduled to board and alight can smoothly assist the person requiring assistance.
In addition, even if the location where the person requiring assistance boards and disembarks the mobile vehicle is not entered into the boarding and disembarking assistance guidance system, the location where the person requiring assistance boards and disembarks the mobile vehicle can be correctly identified with a high probability, allowing managers, etc. to smoothly provide assistance to the person requiring assistance.
In addition, compared to not using the information recorded on the ticket used by the person requiring assistance to board a vehicle, the location where the person requiring assistance boards and disembarks the vehicle can be correctly identified with a high probability, allowing managers and others to provide assistance to the person requiring assistance smoothly.

The present invention proposes as a second aspect a boarding and alighting assistance guidance system which detects a person requiring assistance from images captured by a surveillance camera of a user of a mobile vehicle moving along a fixed route, and transmits information about the person requiring assistance including boarding and alighting information to an administrator terminal device located at a planned boarding and alighting location on the route based on boarding and alighting information including the planned boarding and alighting location of the person requiring assistance, which information is identified based on records of the locations and times when the person requiring assistance has previously boarded and alighted on a mobile vehicle, and to a crew terminal device inside the mobile vehicle in which the person requiring assistance is riding .

According to the boarding and alighting assistance guidance system of the second aspect, a manager of a mobile vehicle that travels along a fixed route and is at the planned boarding and alighting location for a person requiring assistance can smoothly assist the person requiring assistance.
In addition, the driver of the vehicle carrying the person requiring assistance can provide assistance to the person smoothly.
In addition, even if the location where the person requiring assistance boards and disembarks the mobile vehicle is not entered into the boarding and disembarking assistance guidance system, the location where the person requiring assistance boards and disembarks the mobile vehicle can be correctly identified with a high probability, allowing managers, etc. to smoothly provide assistance to the person requiring assistance.

In the boarding and alighting assistance guidance system according to the first or second aspect, a configuration may be adopted as a third aspect in which the boarding and alighting information includes a time when the person requiring assistance is scheduled to alight from the vehicle, determined based on operation information of the vehicle obtained from an external system.

The boarding and alighting assistance guidance system according to the third aspect allows managers and others to smoothly provide assistance to people requiring assistance even if there is a delay in the operation of the vehicle.

In the boarding and alighting assistance guidance system relating to the first aspect, a configuration in which the person requiring assistance is detected from an image of the user captured by a surveillance camera when the information recorded on the ticket is read by the reading device, and the planned boarding and alighting location of the person requiring assistance is identified based on the information read by the reading device may be adopted as a fourth aspect.

According to the boarding and alighting assistance guidance system of the fourth aspect, the location where the person requiring assistance boards and alights from the mobile vehicle can be correctly identified with a high probability compared to a case where the information recorded on the ticket used by the person requiring assistance to board the mobile vehicle is not used, thereby enabling managers and others to provide assistance to the person requiring assistance smoothly.

In the boarding and alighting assistance guidance system relating to any one of the first to fourth aspects, a configuration in which the person requiring assistance is detected from an image captured by a surveillance camera installed on a moving body may be adopted as a fifth aspect.

According to the boarding and alighting assistance guidance system of the fifth aspect, even if it is not possible to install a surveillance camera at the place where passengers get on and off the moving body, or even if the place where passengers get on and off is crowded with passengers and it is difficult to detect the person in need of assistance from the image of the place, the person in need of assistance can be detected. As a result, the manager or the like can smoothly support the person in need of assistance.

In the boarding/alighting assistance guidance system relating to any one of the first to fifth aspects, a configuration in which the surveillance camera identifies the moving object or the door of the moving object while the moving object is stopped from an image captured by the surveillance camera may be adopted as a sixth aspect.

According to the boarding and alighting assistance guidance system of the sixth aspect, the vehicle or the door of the vehicle on which the person requiring support gets on and off can be reliably identified, so the manager or the like will not mistake the vehicle on which the person requiring support gets on and off, or the location where the person requiring support gets on and off the vehicle. As a result, the manager or the like can smoothly support the person requiring support.

In the boarding and alighting assistance guidance system according to the sixth aspect, a configuration in which a one-dimensional code or a two-dimensional code contained in an image of the door is decoded to identify the moving object or the door may be adopted as a seventh aspect.

According to the boarding and alighting assistance guidance system of the seventh aspect, the risk of misrecognizing the moving object or its door is low, compared with the case where, for example, letters or symbols are used instead of the one-dimensional code or the two-dimensional code. As a result, the manager or the like can smoothly assist the person in need of assistance.

In the boarding and alighting assistance guidance system relating to any of the first to seventh aspects, an eighth aspect may be adopted in which, in response to an operation on one of a terminal device for an administrator of the boarding and alighting location of the person requiring assistance and a terminal device for a crew member of the mobile vehicle on which the person requiring assistance boards and alights, the other is notified of the start or completion of boarding or alighting of the person requiring assistance.

According to the boarding and alighting assistance guidance system of the eighth aspect, the person requiring assistance can reliably receive assistance at the location where he or she gets on and off the moving vehicle.

In the boarding and alighting assistance guidance system relating to the eighth aspect, a configuration may be adopted as a ninth aspect in which a screen is displayed on at least one of the terminal device for an administrator of the boarding and alighting location of the person requiring assistance and the terminal device for a crew member of the mobile vehicle at which the person requiring assistance boards and alights, which accepts at least one of an operation to select a mobile vehicle at which the person requiring assistance boards and alights from a plurality of candidate mobile vehicles and an operation to select a door that the person requiring assistance will use to board and alight from a plurality of candidate doors.

According to the boarding and disembarking assistance guidance system of the ninth aspect, the location where the person requiring assistance will board and disembark from the mobile vehicle is input by operation of a manager or crew member, so that a manager or crew member other than the one who input the information can smoothly assist the person requiring assistance without making any mistake about the mobile vehicle where the person requiring assistance will board and disembark or the position of the person requiring assistance on that mobile vehicle.

In the boarding and alighting assistance guidance system relating to any of the first to ninth aspects, a configuration may be adopted as a tenth aspect in which, when two mutually contradictory pieces of information about the person requiring assistance are obtained, the piece of information obtained later is used as the correct information.

According to the boarding and alighting assistance guidance system of the 10th aspect, managers and others can provide smooth assistance to persons requiring assistance with a high probability, compared to a case where the location where the person requiring assistance will board and alight from a moving vehicle is identified based on older information among conflicting information.

In the boarding and alighting assistance guidance system relating to any of the first to tenth aspects, a configuration may be adopted as the 11th aspect in which two mutually contradictory pieces of information regarding the person requiring assistance are obtained, and if one of the two pieces of information is information input by a user or administrator of the mobile body, the information input by the user or administrator of the mobile body of the two pieces of information is used as the correct information.

According to the boarding and alighting assistance guidance system of the first aspect, compared to a case where the location where a person requiring assistance will board and alight from a moving vehicle is identified based on conflicting information that has not been input by a human, a manager or the like can provide smooth assistance to the person requiring assistance with a high probability.

In a boarding and alighting assistance guidance system relating to any of the first to 11 aspects, when multiple persons requiring assistance are detected among users of a mobile body traveling on a fixed route, a configuration may be adopted as aspect 12 in which priorities are assigned among the multiple persons requiring assistance in accordance with an administrator's operation on an administrator terminal device located at the scheduled boarding and alighting locations on the route.

According to the boarding and alighting assistance guidance system of the first to second aspects, when there are a plurality of persons requiring assistance with different needs for assistance, assistance is provided preferentially to the person requiring assistance who is more in need of assistance.

1 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of an entry/exit assistance guidance system according to an embodiment; FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a two-dimensional code according to an embodiment is placed near a train door. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of the data configuration of a support-requiring person table according to an embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of the data configuration of a support-requiring person detection log table according to an embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the data configuration of a ticket information table according to an embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a data configuration of a surveillance camera table according to an embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a data configuration of a terminal device table according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration of a server device according to an embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a support-requiring person information notification screen according to an embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a support-requiring person information input screen according to an embodiment.

[Embodiment]
Hereinafter, a boarding and alighting assistance guidance system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. Fig. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic diagram of the overall configuration of the boarding and alighting assistance guidance system 1. The boarding and alighting assistance guidance system 1 in this example is a system that provides guidance to station staff (an example of a manager) and train crew so that the station staff and train crew can smoothly provide assistance to people who require some kind of assistance (hereinafter, referred to as persons requiring assistance) among users of trains (an example of a moving object that moves along a fixed route).

In Figure 1, Station A and Station B are shown as examples of locations where users board and disembark trains. In the following explanation, it is assumed that when a person requiring assistance P boards train 9 at Station A and disembarks from train 9 at Station B, boarding and disembarking assistance guidance system 1 provides guidance to station staff X at Station A, crew member Y of train 9, and station staff Z at Station B.

First, the boarding and alighting assistance guidance system 1 includes a server device 11 and a server device 12. The server device 11 is a server device that transmits information about a person requiring assistance to terminal devices (described later) used by station staff X, crew member Y, and station staff Z. The information about a person requiring assistance is information about a person requiring assistance, and includes the location and date and time when the person requiring assistance was detected, the type of assistance required by the person requiring assistance, and boarding and alighting information about the person requiring assistance. The boarding and alighting information is information about the train on which the person requiring assistance will board and alight, and includes information about the station (planned boarding and alighting location) and planned time at which the person requiring assistance plans to board and alight, and the station and time at which the person requiring assistance actually boarded and alighted.

Server device 12 (an example of an external system) is a server device that transmits train operation information to server device 11. The train operation information provided from server device 12 to server device 11 is information indicating the actual operation status of a train moving along a fixed route according to an operation plan, i.e., information indicating the arrival and departure times of the train at each station after reflecting any delays, etc. that may have occurred.

The hardware of server device 11 and server device 12 is a general computer equipped with a communication interface. In other words, server device 11 and server device 12 are devices that are realized by a computer processor performing data processing according to a program stored in the computer's memory.

The boarding and alighting assistance guidance system 1 further includes a ticket gate 13A (an example of a reading device) installed at station A, and a ticket gate 13B (an example of a reading device) installed at station B. Hereinafter, when there is no need to distinguish between the ticket gate 13A and the ticket gate 13B, they will be collectively referred to as the ticket gate 13.

The ticket gate 13 is a device that reads information recorded on a ticket (an example of a ticket for boarding a moving object) held by a train passenger when the passenger enters or leaves a station, and allows or restricts the passenger's entry or exit based on the information read. Types of tickets that the ticket gate 13 can read and write information on include, for example, magnetic tickets that read and write information using magnetism, and IC cards that read and write information using an IC chip. Note that IC cards that the ticket gate 13 can read and write information on include IC cards that comply with NFC (near field communication standard), which has become widespread in recent years.

In the example shown in FIG. 1, the ticket gate 13 has only one entrance lane through which users entering the station pass and one exit lane through which users leaving the station pass, but the number of these lanes may be two or more.

The boarding and alighting assistance guidance system 1 further includes a terminal device 14A (an example of a manager's terminal device) installed in the premises of station A, and a terminal device 14B (an example of a manager's terminal device) installed in the premises of station B. Hereinafter, when terminal devices 14A and 14B are not distinguished from each other, they will be collectively referred to as terminal devices 14. Terminal devices 14 are also called kiosk terminals, and provide various types of guidance to train users. However, in addition to the functions of a normal kiosk terminal, terminal device 14 included in boarding and alighting assistance guidance system 1 has a function to prompt a person requiring assistance who wishes to receive assistance from station staff or crew members to input information about the type of assistance the person requiring assistance requires and about the trains the person requiring assistance plans to board and alight, and to accept the input of such information by the person requiring assistance.

The boarding and alighting assistance guidance system 1 has a function to detect a person requiring assistance from images captured by a surveillance camera, which will be described later. The boarding and alighting assistance guidance system 1 also has a function to identify the station where the detected person requiring assistance plans to board and alight, based on information read from the ticket by the ticket gate 13 and information on stations where the person requiring assistance has previously boarded and alighted (described later). Therefore, it is not necessary for a person requiring assistance to input information into the terminal device 14 in order to receive assistance. However, there are cases where detection of a person requiring assistance from an image fails, and there are also cases where identification of the person requiring assistance's planned boarding and alighting location based on information read from a ticket, etc., is erroneous. However, by inputting the necessary information into the terminal device 14, a person requiring assistance can reliably receive assistance.

The boarding and alighting assistance guidance system 1 further includes multiple surveillance cameras installed at station A, multiple surveillance cameras installed at station B, and multiple surveillance cameras installed on train 9.

Note that, in FIG. 1, of the surveillance cameras equipped in the boarding and alighting assistance guidance system 1, only five surveillance cameras 15A(1) to 15A(5) installed at station A, five surveillance cameras 15B(1) to 15B(5) installed at station B, and two surveillance cameras 15C(1) and 15C(2) installed on train 9 are shown as examples. Hereinafter, when there is no need to distinguish between these surveillance cameras, they will be collectively referred to as surveillance cameras 15.

Surveillance camera 15A(1) photographs from the front of users passing through the entrance lane of ticket gate 13A. Surveillance camera 15A(2) photographs from the front of users passing through the exit lane of ticket gate 13A. Surveillance camera 15A(3) photographs from the front of people standing in front of terminal device 14A. Surveillance camera 15A(4) photographs from the front of people boarding a train through the right door at the very front of the leading car of a train stopping at station A. Surveillance camera 15A(5) photographs from the front of people disembarking from a train through the right door at the very front of the leading car of a train stopping at station A.

Surveillance camera 15B(1) photographs from the front of passengers passing through the entrance lane of ticket gate 13B. Surveillance camera 15B(2) photographs from the front of passengers passing through the exit lane of ticket gate 13B. Surveillance camera 15B(3) photographs from the front of people standing in front of terminal device 14B. Surveillance camera 15B(4) photographs from the front of people boarding a train through the right door at the very front of the leading car of a train stopping at station B. Surveillance camera 15B(5) photographs from the front of people disembarking from a train through the right door at the very front of the leading car of a train stopping at station B.

Surveillance camera 15C (1) captures from the front people getting on through the right door at the very front of the leading car of train 9, and people getting off through the left door at the very front of the leading car of train 9. Surveillance camera 15C (2) captures from the front people getting on through the left door at the very front of the leading car of train 9, and people getting off through the right door at the very front of the leading car of train 9.

The number of surveillance cameras 15 that the boarding and alighting assistance guidance system 1 actually has varies depending on the number of entrance lanes and exit lanes of the ticket gates 13 installed at the station, the number of terminal devices 14 installed at the station, the number of doors on the train, etc. In addition, the boarding and alighting assistance guidance system 1 may have surveillance cameras 15 installed in places within the station where ticket gates 13 and terminal devices 14 are not installed, for example.

The boarding and alighting assistance guidance system 1 further includes terminal devices carried by each of the station staff and the crew. Of the terminal devices included in the boarding and alighting assistance guidance system 1, FIG. 1 shows only terminal device 16X (an example of an administrator terminal device) carried by station staff X, terminal device 16Y (an example of a crew terminal device) carried by crew Y, and terminal device 16Z (an example of an administrator terminal device) carried by station staff Z. Hereinafter, when these terminal devices are not to be distinguished from one another, they will be collectively referred to as terminal devices 16.

The number of terminal devices 16 that the boarding and alighting assistance guidance system 1 actually has varies depending on the number of station staff and crew members, etc.

The hardware of the terminal device 16 is a tablet-type computer equipped with a communications interface, a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) unit, and a camera (used to read two-dimensional codes, which will be described later). In other words, the terminal device 16 is a device that is realized by a computer processor performing data processing in accordance with a program stored in the computer's memory. The terminal device 16 also has a touch screen, and displays a screen for notifying the user of various information, and accepts touch operations by the user on the screen and executes processing according to the accepted touch operations.

The server device 11 communicates with the server device 12, each of the ticket gates 13, each of the terminal devices 14, each of the surveillance cameras 15, and each of the terminal devices 16 via a network 8. The network 8 includes, for example, the Internet, a wired or wireless LAN (Local Area Network) connected to the Internet, a mobile communication network connected to the Internet, etc.

In this embodiment, among the surveillance cameras 15 equipped in the boarding and alighting assistance guidance system 1, surveillance cameras 15 (among the surveillance cameras 15 illustrated in FIG. 1, surveillance cameras 15A(5) and 15B(5)) that capture images of people getting off trains stopped at stations from the front are used to reliably identify the train, the carriage, and the door captured in the image. In order to do so, a two-dimensional code Q is placed near each door of the train.

Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating a two-dimensional code Q placed near the door of a train. In the example of Figure 2, the two-dimensional code Q is placed just above the door on the exterior of the train. The two-dimensional code Q may be placed anywhere as long as it is in the image of the surveillance camera 15 that captures the door when the train stops at the station. The two-dimensional code Q is a two-dimensional image that encodes information indicating the train number, car number, and door position (front, center, rear).

The memory of the server device 11 stores various tables for managing data to provide station staff and crew with information about people requiring assistance. These tables include a table for people requiring assistance, a log table for detecting people requiring assistance, a ticket information table, a surveillance camera table, and a terminal device table.

Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the data structure of the table of persons requiring support. The table of persons requiring support is a collection of records corresponding to each person requiring support who was detected at a station or train within a specified period of time in the past. A record in the table of persons requiring support has a "person requiring support ID" column, a "characteristic data" column, a "type of support" column, a "last detected location" column, a "last detected time" column, a "boarding station" column, a "boarding time" column, a "boarding vehicle number" column, a "boarding door position" column, a "boarding completion flag" column, a "disembarking station" column, a "disembarking time" column, a "disembarking completion flag" column, and a "person providing support" column.

The "ID of the person requiring assistance" field stores identification information of the person requiring assistance. The "Feature data" field stores feature data extracted from an image of the person requiring assistance captured by the surveillance camera 15. The "Type of assistance" field stores the type of assistance required by the person requiring assistance. Examples of the types of assistance required by the person requiring assistance include wheelchair assistance, visual assistance, hearing assistance, assistance for the elderly, assistance for the young, guidance assistance, etc.

The "Last detected location" field stores the location where the person requiring assistance was last detected. The "Last detected time" field stores the time when the person requiring assistance was last detected. The "Boarding station" field stores the name of the station where the person requiring assistance boards the train. The "Boarding time" field stores the time when the person requiring assistance boards the train.

The "Boarding Car Number" field stores the car number of the train on which the person requiring assistance will board. The "Boarding Door Position" field stores information indicating the position of the door that the person requiring assistance will use to board the train (e.g., front, middle, rear, etc.).

The "Boarding Complete Flag" column stores a flag indicating whether or not the person requiring assistance has boarded the train. In other words, "No" is stored in the "Boarding Complete Flag" column until the person requiring assistance boards the train, and "Yes" is stored in the "Boarding Complete Flag" column after the person requiring assistance boards the train.

The "Disembarking Station" column stores the name of the station where the person requiring assistance disembarks from the train. The "Disembarking Time" column stores the time when the person requiring assistance disembarks from the train.

The "Disembarkation Complete Flag" column stores a flag indicating whether the person requiring assistance has disembarked from the train. In other words, "No" is stored in the "Disembarkation Complete Flag" column until the person requiring assistance disembarks from the train, and "Yes" is stored in the "Disembarkation Complete Flag" column after the person requiring assistance disembarks from the train.

The "Support Provider" column stores identification information of the person providing support to the person requiring support. In this embodiment, the "Support Provider" column stores identification information of the terminal device 16 used by the person providing support (information in the "Terminal ID" column of the terminal device table (FIG. 7) described below), but the "Support Provider" column may also store, for example, the name of the person providing support. The person providing support is station staff at the boarding station until the person requiring support enters the station and boards the train, the train crew while the person requiring support is on the train, and station staff at the disembarking station until the person requiring support disembarks from the train and leaves the station. Note that when the person requiring support boards the train and disembarks from the train, the station staff and crew work together as appropriate to provide support.

Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the data structure of the support-requiring person detection log table. The memory of the server device 11 stores a support-requiring person detection log table corresponding to each record in the support-requiring person table. The support-requiring person detection log table is a table for recording the location, time, etc. at which a support-requiring person was detected in the past.

The support-requiring person detection log table is a collection of records for each detection of a person requiring assistance. A record in the support-requiring person detection log table has a "detection time" column, a "detection location" column, a "detection type" column, and a "boarding/disembarking" column.

The "Detection Time" column stores the time when the person requiring assistance was detected. The "Detection Location" column stores information indicating the location where the person requiring assistance was detected. The location where the person requiring assistance was detected means the location where the surveillance camera 15 is installed if the person requiring assistance was detected from an image captured by the surveillance camera 15, and means the location where the surveillance camera 15 that is closest to the position measured by the GNSS unit of the terminal device 16 at that time is installed if a station staff member or crew member inputs information about the person requiring assistance to the terminal device 16.

The "Detection type" column stores information indicating whether the person requiring assistance was detected by image recognition or by a station staff member or crew member inputting information into the terminal device 16. That is, if it is the former, the "Detection type" column stores "Image recognition," and if it is the latter, the "Detection type" column stores "Manual input."

When a person requiring assistance is detected, the "Boarding/Alighting" column will store "Boarding" if the person boards the train, and "Alighting" if the person alights from the train.

Figure 5 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure of the ticket information table. The ticket information table is a table for recording information read from a ticket by the ticket gate 13 when a person requiring assistance enters a station using a ticket with a designated disembarking station. Tickets with a designated disembarking station include magnetic tickets that can only be used once and commuter passes with a set usable area. Records in the ticket information table have columns for "time", "location", "ID of person requiring assistance", and "disembarking station".

The "Time" column stores the time when the person requiring support was photographed when the person entered the station using a ticket with a designated disembarking station. The "Location" column stores information indicating the location of the surveillance camera 15 that photographed the person requiring support when the person entered the station using a ticket with a designated disembarking station. The "ID of person requiring support" column stores identification information for the person requiring support. The "Disembarking station" column stores the name of the disembarking station read from the ticket.

In addition, if the read ticket is a commuter pass with a specified usable area, the "Deboarding Station" field stores the name of the boarding station identified according to the following rules.
(1) If the boarding station (the station where the passenger enters) is an end point (starting or ending point) of the usable section, the other end point station is the disembarking station, and the name of that station is stored in the “Disembarking Station” column.
(2) If the boarding station (the station where the passenger enters) is not an end station of the usable section, both of the end stations are considered as possible disembarking stations, and the names of those stations are stored in the "Disembarking Station" column.

Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of the data structure of the surveillance camera table. The surveillance camera table is a collection of records corresponding to each surveillance camera 15. A record in the surveillance camera table has a "camera ID" column, a "location" column, a "latitude and longitude" column, and a "shooting direction" column.

The "Camera ID" column stores identification information for the surveillance camera 15. The "Location" column stores information indicating the location where the surveillance camera 15 is installed. Information stored in the "Location" column is, for example, "Station A entrance ticket gate," "kiosk terminal near Station A ticket gate," "Station B platform 1, front right door of car 1," etc. The "Latitude and longitude" column stores the latitude and longitude of the location where the surveillance camera 15 is installed. The "Shooting direction" column stores information indicating the shooting direction of the surveillance camera 15.

Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of the data structure of the terminal device table. The terminal device table is a collection of records corresponding to each of terminal devices 14 and 16. A record in the terminal device table has a "Terminal ID" column, a "Location" column, and a "User Type" column.

The "Terminal ID" field stores the identification information of the terminal device 14 or the terminal device 16. The identification information stored in the "Terminal ID" field is used as information to identify the destination when the server device 11 transmits information about a person in need of support.

The "Location" column stores information indicating the location of the terminal device 14 or the terminal device 16. The "Location" column for the terminal device 14 stores information such as "near the ticket gate of Station A." The "Location" column for the terminal device 16 stores information indicating the location of the surveillance camera 15 that is closest to the position measured by the GNSS unit of the terminal device 16 among the surveillance cameras 15 that can capture the position.

The "User type" column stores information indicating the type of user of the terminal device 14 or terminal device 16. Specifically, the "User type" column stores either "Station staff" indicating that the terminal device 16 is used by station staff, "Train staff" indicating that the terminal device 16 is used by train crew, or "Shared" indicating that the terminal device 14 is installed in the station.

Figure 8 is a diagram showing a schematic diagram of the functional configuration of server device 11. That is, when the processor of the computer which is the hardware of server device 11 performs data processing according to the program stored in the memory, a device having the components shown in Figure 8 is realized. The functional configuration of server device 11 is explained below.

The memory unit 110 stores various data. The receiving unit 111 receives various data from external devices. The data received by the receiving unit 111 includes information read from tickets transmitted from each of the ticket gates 13, image data representing images transmitted from each of the surveillance cameras 15, and information on persons requiring assistance transmitted from each of the terminal devices 14 and 16. The data received by the receiving unit 111 is stored in the memory unit 110.

The image recognition unit 112 recognizes people and their belongings from the images represented by the image data received by the receiving unit 111 from each of the surveillance cameras 15. The belongings of people include white canes used by visually impaired people, wheelchairs used by people with disabilities in their lower limbs, pushcarts used by elderly people, and backpacks carried by young people. In the process of recognizing people and their belongings, the image recognition unit 112 generates feature amount data of those people (including their belongings).

Based on the similarity between the feature amount data of the person recognized by the image recognition unit 112 and the feature amount data stored in the table of persons requiring support (Figure 3), the person identification unit 113 identifies a person identical to the person newly recognized from the image data from among the persons requiring support whose data is registered in the table of persons requiring support. If the person identification unit 113 finds a person identical to the person newly recognized from the image data among the persons requiring support whose data is registered in the table of persons requiring support, it updates the record of that person in the table of persons requiring support (Figure 3) and adds a record related to the new detection to the support-requiring person detection log table (Figure 4) for that person.

When the person identification unit 113 determines that the person newly recognized from the image data is not among the people requiring support whose data is registered in the support-requiring person table, the support-requiring person determination unit 114 determines whether the person newly recognized from the image data is a person requiring support based on the type of belongings of the person. For example, if the person newly recognized from the image data is carrying a wheelchair, the support-requiring person determination unit 114 determines that the person newly recognized from the image data is a person requiring support whose type of support is "wheelchair assistance." When the support-requiring person determination unit 114 determines that the person newly recognized from the image data is a person requiring support, it adds a record of the person to the support-requiring person table (Figure 3) and also creates a new support-requiring person detection log table (Figure 4) for the person, and adds a record related to the new detection.

When the table of persons requiring support (Figure 3), the detection log table of persons requiring support (Figure 4), the ticket information table (Figure 5), and the operation information that server device 11 receives from server device 12 are updated, the boarding and alighting information identification unit 115 identifies (or re-identifies if already identified) unconfirmed boarding and alighting information of persons requiring support related to the updated information, i.e., information regarding the boarding station, boarding time, disembarking station, and disembarking time of the person requiring support, based on the updated information and the information stored in the surveillance camera table (Figure 6), and updates the table of persons requiring support (Figure 3) with the results.

When the boarding/disembarking information of a person requiring support is newly identified by the boarding/disembarking information identification unit 115 and the support-requiring person table (Figure 3) is updated, the notification destination identification unit 116 identifies the notification destination of the information of the person requiring support that includes the boarding/disembarking information based on the updated boarding/disembarking information.

Specifically, for a person requiring assistance before boarding a train, the notification destination specification unit 116 specifies the terminal device 16 of the station staff at the boarding station of the person requiring assistance (i.e., the station where the person requiring assistance is currently located) and the terminal device 16 of the crew of the train where the person requiring assistance is scheduled to board as notification destinations of the information about the person requiring assistance. Furthermore, for a person requiring assistance who has completed boarding a train and has not yet disembarked, the notification destination specification unit 116 specifies the terminal device 16 of the crew of the train where the person requiring assistance is boarding and the terminal device 16 of the station staff of the station where the person requiring assistance is scheduled to disembark as notification destinations of the information about the person requiring assistance.

The sending unit 117 sends the information about the person in need of support to the notification destination identified by the notification destination identification unit 116. This completes the description of the functional configuration of the server device 11.

Next, the operation of the boarding and alighting assistance guidance system 1 will be explained using the example of a case in which a person requiring assistance P boards a train 9 and travels from station A to station B.

First, the person in need of support P has his/her ticket read by ticket gate 13A (entrance lane), passes through ticket gate 13A, and enters station A. Ticket gate 13A transmits the information read from the ticket of person in need of support P to server device 11, and server device 11 registers the information in the ticket information table (Figure 5).

When the person in need of support P passes through ticket gate 13A, he or she appears in the image captured by surveillance camera 15A(1). Server device 11 generates feature data for person in need of support P from the image transmitted from surveillance camera 15A(1) and compares the data with the feature data stored in the table for persons in need of support (Figure 3), thereby determining whether or not person in need of support P is already registered in the table for persons in need of support.

If the person requiring support P is already registered in the support-requiring person table, the server device 11 updates the record of the person requiring support P in the support-requiring person table and adds a record regarding the new detection to the support-requiring person detection log table (Figure 4) for the person requiring support P.

If the person requiring support P is not yet registered in the table of people requiring support, the server device 11 adds a new record for the person requiring support P to the table of people requiring support, and creates a new record in the support-requiring person detection log table (Figure 4) for the person requiring support P. At that time, the server device 11 also identifies the type of support for the person requiring support P, and stores this information in the "Type of support" field of the record for the person requiring support P in the table of people requiring support.

When updating the record of person P requiring support in the support-requiring person table or when adding a new record of person P requiring support to the support-requiring person table, the server device 11 stores information indicating the location of the surveillance camera 15A(1) in the "Last detection location" column, stores the time when the surveillance camera 15A(1) photographed the person P requiring support in the "Last detection time" column, stores the name of station A in the "Boarding station" column, stores "No" in the "Boarding completion flag" column and the "Disembarking completion flag" column, and stores empty data (null values) in the "Boarding time", "Boarding vehicle number", "Boarding door position", "Disembarking station", and "Disembarking time" columns.

Then, the server device 11 refers to the information read from the ticket of the person in need of support P that has been newly registered in the ticket information table (Figure 5) (the information read by the ticket gate 13A at the same time that the surveillance camera 15A(1) photographed the person in need of support P), and if it can identify the disembarking station from that information, it stores the name of that disembarking station in the "Disembarking Station" column of the record for the person in need of support P in the table of people in need of support.

If the disembarking station cannot be identified based on the information read from the ticket of the person requiring support P, the server device 11 attempts to identify the disembarking station of the person requiring support P based on the information stored in the support-requiring person detection log table (Figure 4) for the person requiring support P. For example, if there is a record of the person requiring support P having boarded a train at station A in the past, the server device 11 identifies the time the train was boarded and the name of the station and time at which the person requiring support P disembarked from the train. Then, if there are a predetermined number or more records of the person requiring support P boarding a train at station A and disembarking at station C, for example, and if these boarding times are within a predetermined time before or after the current time, then the server device 11 considers that there is a high probability that the person requiring support P will disembark at station C. In this case, the name of station C is stored in the "disembarking station" column of the record of the person requiring support P in the support-requiring person table.

As described above, when the disembarking station of person requiring support P is identified based on the information in the ticket information table (Figure 5) or the support-requiring person detection log table (Figure 4), server device 11 identifies the train that person requiring support P is likely to board based on the latest operation information received from server device 12, and stores the time that the train arrives at station A in the "Boarding time" column of the record of person requiring support P in the support-requiring person table, and stores the time that the train arrives at the station in the "Disembarking station" column in the "Disembarking time" column. The train that person requiring support P is likely to board is, for example, the first train that arrives at station A after the current time plus a predetermined time (the time it normally takes for a user to move from ticket gate 13A to the platform) among the trains heading from station A to the station in the "Disembarking station" column.

As described above, when the train that person requiring support P plans to board is identified and information is stored in all of the "Boarding Station", "Boarding Time", "Dropping Station", and "Dropping Time" columns, the server device 11 refers to the terminal device table (Figure 7) to identify the terminal IDs of the terminal device 16 of the station staff at Station A and the terminal device 16 of the crew of the train that person requiring support P plans to board, and transmits information about the person requiring support to the terminal device 16 identified by those terminal IDs.

Figure 9 is a diagram showing an example of a screen (hereinafter referred to as the "support-requiring person information notification screen") that displays information on persons requiring support on the terminal device 16 of station staff and crew members. The support-requiring person information notification screen displays a list of information on persons requiring support that the terminal device 16 has received from the server device 11.

On the information notification screen for persons requiring support displayed on the station staff's terminal device 16, the rows of persons requiring support who have not yet boarded the train and whose "support provider" column does not include the terminal ID of the station staff's terminal device 16 are highlighted. Also, on the information notification screen for persons requiring support displayed on the train staff's terminal device 16, the rows of persons requiring support who have not yet disembarked from the train and whose "support provider" column does not include the terminal ID of the train staff's terminal device 16 are highlighted.

If the station staff or crew is available, they will determine which of the people requiring support highlighted on the support-requiring person information notification screen they will respond to based on factors such as the need for support, urgency, and the distance between the person requiring support and their own location. The station staff or crew will select and touch the row of the determined person requiring support, and then touch the "Response" button. In response to this operation, a response notification including the terminal ID of the terminal device 16 and the support-requiring person ID of the selected person requiring support is sent from the station staff or crew's terminal device 16 to the server device 11. When the server device 11 receives the response notification, it stores the terminal ID included in the response notification in the "Support responder" field of the record in the support-requiring person table (Figure 3) that corresponds to the support-requiring person ID included in the response notification.

Using the information displayed on the screen notifying the person in need of assistance, station staff head to the location of the person in need of assistance and provide assistance to that person. In addition, crew members use the information displayed on the screen to prepare to provide assistance to the person in need of assistance that they are responsible for.

After passing through ticket gate 13A, person P in need of support may go directly to the platform and board train 9, but if he or she wants to receive the necessary support reliably and smoothly, he or she goes to terminal device 14A and operates terminal device 14A to register his or her boarding and alighting information in boarding and alighting support guidance system 1. When person P in need of support arrives in front of terminal device 14A, person P in need of support appears in the image captured by surveillance camera 15A (3). Server device 11 recognizes person P in need of support from the image transmitted from surveillance camera 15A (3) and updates the "Last detected location" and "Last detected time" columns of the record for person P in need of support table (Figure 3). Server device 11 also adds a record related to the new detection to person in need of support detection log table (Figure 4) for person P in need of support.

In addition, as the table for persons requiring assistance and the table for detection of persons requiring assistance are updated, the updated information about the person requiring assistance P is sent to the terminal device 16 of the station staff at Station A and the crew of the train on which the person requiring assistance P is scheduled to board, and the display on the information notification screen for persons requiring assistance is updated.

The person in need of support P touches the screen of the terminal device 14A to display the screen shown in FIG. 10 (hereinafter referred to as the "support-requiring person information input screen"). Note that instead of displaying a screen and accepting touch operations by the person in need of support P on the screen, the terminal device 14A can also communicate with the person in need of support P using voice recognition and voice synthesis, and accept input from the person in need of support P by voice.

The screen for inputting information about the person requiring support displays an image of the person requiring support P captured by the surveillance camera 15A (3). The screen for inputting information about the person requiring support also displays columns for "Type of support," "Boarding station," "Boarding time," "Boarding vehicle number," "Boarding door position," "Disembarking station," and "Disembarking time." These columns display information stored in the same-name columns of the record of the person requiring support P in the table for persons requiring support (Figure 3). The person requiring support P checks the information in these columns, corrects any incorrect information, and inputs new information into the blank columns.

In each field of the support-requiring person information input screen, a menu of candidates for information to be entered based on operation information, etc. is displayed, and the support-requiring person P can easily complete input by selecting the correct candidate from the menu. For example, the "Deboarding Station" field displays a menu of station names that trains departing from Station A will pass through. The "Boarding Time" field also displays a menu of arrival times of trains heading from Station A to the station in the "Deboarding Station" field that will arrive at Station A after the current time plus a specified time (the time it usually takes for a user to move from terminal device 14A to the platform). Then, when the support-requiring person P enters information in the "Boarding Time" field, the time at which the train that departs from Station A at the time in the "Boarding Time" field and heads to the station in the "Deboarding Station" field will arrive at the station in the "Deboarding Station" field is automatically entered in the "Deboarding Time" field.

When the person requiring support P touches the "Register" button on the support-requiring person information input screen, the information entered on the support-requiring person information input screen is sent from the terminal device 14A to the server device 11, and the record of the person requiring support P in the support-requiring person table (Figure 3) is updated.

When the person requiring assistance P passes through the ticket gate 13A, the disembarking station has not been specified, and if the person requiring assistance P inputs a new disembarking station into the terminal device 14A, at this point information about the person requiring assistance is sent from the server device 11 to the terminal device 16 of the station staff at station A and the crew of the train that the person requiring assistance P is planning to board.

After passing through the ticket gate 13A, the person in need of support P, either directly or after inputting information about the person in need of support on the terminal device 14A, heads to the platform where the train he or she is to board will arrive, and when he or she arrives at one of the boarding positions on the platform, one of the surveillance cameras 15 installed on the platform captures the person in need of support P.

Now, assume that person P in need of support has arrived at the boarding position corresponding to the front door of the lead car at the platform where train 9 arrives. In this case, person P in need of support is captured in the image captured by surveillance camera 15A (4). Server device 11 recognizes person P in need of support from the image transmitted from surveillance camera 15A (4), and updates the "Last detected location", "Last detected time", "Boarding car number", and "Boarding door position" columns of the record for person P in the table for persons in need of support (Figure 3). In this case, "No. 1" is stored in the "Boarding car number" column, and "Front" is stored in the "Boarding door position" column. Server device 11 also adds a record related to the new detection to the support-requiring person detection log table (Figure 4) for person P in need of support.

As the person requiring assistance P moves to the platform, station staff member X at station A will head to the platform to assist person P. Additionally, crew member Y of train 9 will head to the front door of the leading car of train 9 to assist person P.

Station staff X finds person in need of support P waiting for train 9 on the platform, calls out to person in need of support, and waits with person in need of support for train 9 to arrive. During this time, if there is any information missing from person in need of support P displayed on the support-requiring person information notification screen (FIG. 9), station staff X asks person in need of support P for the missing information, touches the row for person in need of support P on the support-requiring person information notification screen, and then touches the "Information input" button. In response to this operation, a screen similar to the support-requiring person information input screen (FIG. 10) displayed on terminal device 14A (hereinafter, this screen is also referred to as the "support-requiring person information input screen") is displayed on terminal device 16X. Station staff X enters the information he/she heard into the support-requiring person information input screen and touches the "Register" button. This updates the information in the record for person in need of support P in the support-requiring person table (FIG. 3).

When train 9 arrives and stops at the platform where person in need of assistance P and station staff X are waiting, station staff X touches the "Read code" button on the screen for notifying information about the person in need of assistance (Figure 9) displayed on terminal device 16X, and then uses the camera of terminal device 16X to photograph two-dimensional code Q (Figure 2) placed above the door of train 9. Terminal device 16X decodes the two-dimensional code Q photographed by the camera and obtains information indicating the train number, car number, and door position of train 9.

The terminal device 16X transmits to the server device 11 an update request including information indicating the train number, car number, and door position, and the support-requiring person ID of the person in need of support P selected by the station staff X on the support-requiring person information notification screen. The server device 11 uses the information included in the update request received from the terminal device 16X and the operation information of the train 9 indicated by the train number included in the information to update the "Boarding car number", "Boarding door position", "Boarding time", and "Disembarking time" columns of the record for the person in need of support P in the support-requiring person table (Figure 3).

Crew member Y is waiting near the front door of the lead car of train 9 that has stopped at the platform, and person in need of assistance P boards train 9 with the assistance of station staff member X and crew member Y. At that time, person in need of assistance P appears in the image captured by surveillance camera 15C(1), and the table for persons in need of assistance (Figure 3) and the detection log table for persons in need of assistance (Figure 4) are updated.

When the person requiring support P has completed boarding the train 9, the station staff X touches the row for the person requiring support P on the support-requiring person information notification screen (Figure 9) displayed on the terminal device 16X, and then touches the "Boarding completed" button. In response to this operation, a boarding completion notification including the support-requiring person ID of the person requiring support P is sent from the terminal device 16X to the server device 11.

When the server device 11 receives the boarding completion notification, it stores "Yes" in the "Boarding completion flag" field of the record of the person requiring support P in the table of people requiring support (Figure 3). As a result, the crew of the train 9, including crew member Y, can confirm that the boarding of the person requiring support P has been completed on the support-requiring person information notification screen displayed on their own terminal device 16.

When the server device 11 receives the boarding completion notification, it refers to the terminal device table (Figure 7), identifies the terminal ID of the terminal device 16 of the station staff at station B indicated in the "Deboarding station" column, and transmits information about the person requiring support to the terminal device 16 identified by the terminal ID. As a result, information about the person requiring support P is displayed on the support-requiring person information notification screen (Figure 9) displayed on the terminal device 16 of the station staff at station B, including station staff Z.

The support-requiring person information notification screen (Figure 9) displayed on the station staff terminal device 16 at station B highlights the rows of support-requiring person whose boarding has been completed and whose terminal ID of the station staff terminal device 16 at station B is not included in the "Support provider" column. Station staff Z touches the row of support-requiring person P that is highlighted on the support-requiring person information notification screen, and then touches the "Response" button. This operation adds the terminal ID of terminal device 16Z to the "Support provider" column of the record of support-requiring person P in the support-requiring person table (Figure 3). Before train 9 arrives at station B, station staff Z heads to the front door of the lead car on the platform where train 9 will arrive and waits there.

When train 9 arrives at station B and stops, person P in need of assistance passes through the open door and disembarks from train 9, assisted by crew member Y and station staff member Z. At that time, person P in need of assistance is captured in an image taken by surveillance camera 15B (5), and the table of persons in need of assistance (Figure 3) and the detection log table of persons in need of assistance (Figure 4) are updated.

When person requiring assistance P has finished disembarking, station staff Z touches the row for person requiring assistance P on the support-requiring person information notification screen (Figure 9), and then touches the "Disembarkation completed" button. This operation stores "Yes" in the "Disembarkation completion flag" column for person requiring assistance P's record in the support-requiring person table (Figure 3). As a result, crew members of train 9, including crew member Y, can confirm that person requiring assistance P has finished disembarking on the support-requiring person information notification screen displayed on their own terminal device 16.

After that, with assistance from station staff Z if necessary, person P in need of support heads to ticket gate 13B, has ticket gate 13B read his/her ticket, and exits station B through the exit lane of ticket gate 13B. At that time, person P in need of support is captured in an image taken by surveillance camera 15B (2), and the table of persons in need of support (Figure 3) and the table of persons in need of support detection log (Figure 4) are updated. At that time, null data (null values) are stored in the "Boarding station", "Boarding time", "Boarding car number", "Boarding door position", "Boarding completion flag", "Deboarding station", "Deboarding time", and "Disembarkation completion flag" columns of the record of person P in the table of persons in need of support (Figure 3).

The above is an explanation of an example of the operation of the boarding and alighting assistance guidance system 1. With the boarding and alighting assistance guidance system 1 described above, a person requiring assistance who is using a train can smoothly receive assistance from station staff or crew members without needing to carry a terminal device or the like, and without having to take the time to search for station staff or crew members.

[Modification]
The above-described embodiment may be modified in various ways within the scope of the technical concept of the present invention. The modifications are shown below. Note that two or more of the modifications shown below may be combined as appropriate.

(1) The moving objects that can use the boarding and alighting assistance guidance system 1 are not limited to trains. The boarding and alighting assistance guidance system 1 can be used for any moving object that travels along a fixed route, including vehicles such as buses, ships, and airplanes.

(2) The terminal device 16 is not limited to a portable terminal device carried by the manager of the vehicle (such as a station staff member) or the crew member. For example, a part of the terminal device 16 may be a terminal device installed in an office where the manager waits or in a fixed position within the vehicle.

(3) The code placed near the door of the moving object and indicating the identification information of the moving object or its door is not limited to a two-dimensional code. A one-dimensional code indicating the same identification information may also be used.

(4) In the above-described embodiment, it is assumed that the information stored in the table for persons requiring support (Figure 3) is always more correct than information acquired at an earlier time (old information) in that the information acquired later (newer information), and that when updating, the old information is overwritten with the new information. If two pieces of conflicting information about a person requiring support are acquired and stored in the table for persons requiring support, it is not necessarily necessary to use the information acquired later as the correct information.

For example, the probability of an error occurring in recognizing people or belongings from images captured by the surveillance camera 15 is higher than the probability of an error contained in information entered by a person such as a user, manager, or crew member of the vehicle. Therefore, if a discrepancy occurs between information about a person in need of assistance identified based on information recognized from an image and information about a person in need of assistance entered by a user, manager, or other person, a configuration may be adopted in which the information entered by the person is used as the correct information.

(5) In the above-described embodiment, it is assumed that the ticket gates 13, terminal devices 14, surveillance cameras 15, and terminal devices 16 installed at stations, and the surveillance cameras 15 and terminal devices 16 installed on trains are directly connected to the network 8. Alternatively, a relay device that relays communication between these devices and the network 8 may be provided at stations or trains. In that case, the relay device may perform at least a part of the processing that is performed by the server device 11 in the above-described embodiment. Furthermore, at least a part of the processing that is performed by the server device 11 in the above-described embodiment may be performed by the terminal device 14 or the terminal device 16. For example, processing to recognize a person and the person's belongings from an image may be performed by the terminal device 14, the terminal device 16, or the relay device.

(6) In the above-described embodiment, information about the person requiring support is notified to the terminal device 16 of station staff at the boarding and disembarking stations of the person requiring support and to the terminal device 16 of the crew of the train on which the person requiring support is boarding, but the recipients of the information about the person requiring support are not limited to these. For example, if the boarding or disembarking station is an unmanned station, the information about the person requiring support may be notified to the terminal device 16 of station staff at a nearby station where there is an administrator who manages the unmanned station.

(7) The timing at which station staff and crew members are notified of information about the person requiring support is not limited to the timing described in the above embodiment. For example, in the above embodiment, information about the person requiring support is sent to the terminal device 16 of the station staff at the disembarking station when the person requiring support finishes boarding the train. However, for example, information about the person requiring support may be sent to the terminal device 16 of the station staff at the disembarking station when the disembarking station of the person requiring support is identified.

(8) A station staff member or a train crew member may be able to prioritize multiple detected persons requiring assistance in terms of the need for assistance, urgency, etc., by operating the support-requiring person information notification screen (Figure 9). For example, if station staff member S is dealing with support-requiring person T and notices that support-requiring person U, who has not yet been attended to, is in urgent need of assistance (for example, the departure time of the train that station staff member S is scheduled to board is approaching), station staff member S can set the priority of support-requiring person U high on the support-requiring person information notification screen, thereby encouraging other station staff member at the same station to respond quickly to support-requiring person U.

(9) In the above-described embodiment, when the person requiring assistance has finished boarding or disembarking the train, the station staff operates the terminal device 16, and in response to that operation, the crew's terminal device 16 is notified via the server device 11 of the completion of boarding or disembarking of the person requiring assistance. Alternatively or in addition, when the person requiring assistance starts to board or disembark the train, the station staff may operate the terminal device 16, and in response to that operation, the crew's terminal device 16 may be notified of the start of boarding or disembarking of the person requiring assistance via the server device 11. Also, instead of the station staff, the crew may operate the terminal device 16, and in response to that operation, the station staff's terminal device 16 may be notified of the start or completion of boarding or disembarking of the person requiring assistance via the server device 11.

1...boarding and alighting assistance guidance system, 8...network, 9...train, 11...server device, 12...server device, 13...ticket gate, 14...terminal device, 15...surveillance camera, 16...terminal device, 110...storage unit, 111...receiving unit, 112...image recognition unit, 113...person identification unit, 114...assistance-requiring person determination unit, 115...boarding and alighting information identification unit, 116...notification destination identification unit, 117...transmission unit.

Claims (12)

A boarding and alighting assistance guidance system that detects a person requiring assistance from images captured by a surveillance camera of a user of a mobile vehicle moving along a fixed route, and transmits information about the person requiring assistance, including boarding and alighting information, to an administrator terminal device located at a planned boarding and alighting location on the route, based on information recorded on a ticket for the person requiring assistance to board a mobile vehicle read by a reading device and obtained based on records of locations and times when the person requiring assistance has previously boarded and alighted on a mobile vehicle. A boarding and alighting assistance guidance system that detects a person requiring assistance from images captured by a surveillance camera of a user of a mobile vehicle traveling along a fixed route, and transmits information about the person requiring assistance, including boarding and alighting information, to an administrator terminal device located at a planned boarding and alighting location on the route based on boarding and alighting information including the planned boarding and alighting location of the person requiring assistance, which information is identified based on records of the locations and times when the person requiring assistance has previously boarded and alighted on a mobile vehicle, and to a crew terminal device inside the mobile vehicle in which the person requiring assistance is riding. The boarding and alighting assistance guidance system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the boarding and alighting information includes a time when the person requiring assistance is scheduled to alight from a mobile object, the time being specified based on operation information of the mobile object obtained from an external system. The boarding and alighting assistance guidance system of claim 1, wherein when the information recorded on the ticket is read by the reading device, the person requiring assistance is detected from an image of the user captured by the surveillance camera, and the planned boarding and alighting location of the person requiring assistance is identified based on the information read by the reading device. The boarding and alighting assistance guidance system according to claim 1 , wherein the person requiring assistance is detected from an image captured by a surveillance camera installed in a mobile body. The boarding / alighting assistance guidance system according to claim 1 , further comprising: identifying a moving object or a door of the moving object while the moving object is stopped from an image captured by the surveillance camera. The boarding/alighting assistance guidance system according to claim 6 , further comprising: decoding a one-dimensional code or a two-dimensional code included in an image of the door to identify the moving object or the door. The boarding and alighting assistance guidance system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising a terminal device for an administrator of the boarding and alighting location of the person requiring assistance and a terminal device for a driver of the vehicle on which the person requiring assistance is boarding and alighting, and notifying the other of the start or completion of boarding or alighting of the person requiring assistance in response to an operation on one of the terminal devices. The boarding and alighting assistance guidance system of claim 8, wherein at least one of a terminal device for an administrator of the boarding and alighting location of the person requiring assistance and a terminal device for a driver of the mobile vehicle at which the person requiring assistance boards and alights displays a screen that accepts at least one of an operation to select a mobile vehicle at which the person requiring assistance boards and alights from a plurality of candidate mobile vehicles and an operation to select a door that the person requiring assistance will use to board and alight from a plurality of candidate doors. The boarding and alighting assistance guidance system according to claim 1 , wherein, when two pieces of mutually contradictory information are acquired about the person requiring assistance, the information acquired later out of the two pieces of information is used as the correct information. A boarding and alighting assistance guidance system as described in any one of claims 1 to 10, which obtains two mutually contradictory pieces of information regarding the person requiring assistance, and if one of the two pieces of information is information entered by a user or administrator of the mobile vehicle, uses the information entered by the user or administrator of the mobile vehicle as the correct information. A boarding and alighting assistance guidance system as described in any one of claims 1 to 11, which, when multiple people requiring assistance are detected among users of a mobile vehicle traveling on a fixed route, assigns priorities to the multiple people requiring assistance in accordance with the operation of an administrator on an administrator terminal device located at the scheduled boarding and alighting locations on the route.

Images