Monitoring apparatus, method and system of the same

A monitoring method comprising:

• a first step of inputting image data of a work situation including a worker and a work object;
• a second step of recognizing areas of the worker and the work object from the input image data;
• a third step of specifying a combination of the positional relationship of the recognized areas of the worker and the work object;
• a fourth step of acquiring, from a storage unit, model data including data indicating that the combination of the positional relationship of the area of the worker and the area of the work object has occurred in the past;
• a fifth step of calculating an abnormality degree in the combination of the positional relationship of the areas of the worker and the work object, based on the specified combination of the positional relationship of the areas of the worker and the work object and the acquired model data;
• a sixth step of outputting the abnormality degree in the combination of the positional relationship of the areas of the worker and the work object to an apparatus;
• and
• a seventh step of updating the model data of the storage unit.

A monitoring system comprising a monitoring apparatus including a processing unit and a data storage unit and an external apparatus that outputs a situation relating to an abnormality from the monitoring apparatus,

• wherein the data storage unit stores image data of a work situation including a worker and a work object and model data including data indicating that a combination of a positional relationship between an area of the worker and an area of the work object has occurred in the past, and
• wherein the processing unit includes:
• a recognition unit that inputs an image of the work situation and recognizes the areas of the worker and the work object from the input image;
• a model acquisition unit that acquires the model data from the data storage unit;
• an abnormality degree calculation unit that calculates an abnormality degree in the combination of the areas of the worker and the work object based on the recognized areas of the worker and the work object and the model data;
• and
• an interface unit that outputs data relating to the abnormality to the external apparatus.