JP2003067385A - System for retrieving information - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To quickly specify a position of a traveler and necessary information to be provided, for example, when consulted by the traveler. SOLUTION: A control computer C is provided with a map information storage part 1 stored with maps of plural areas, a facility information storage part 4 stored with an attribute data such as a position and a feature of a facility in the every facility, and a data processing part 2. The data processing part is provided with a function for specifying the present address based on a present-address retrieving condition when the present-address retrieving condition is input, a function for specifying a destination based on a destination retrieving condition when the destination retrieving condition is input, and a display-processing function for selecting the map including the specified present address and the specified destination to be displayed on a display 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information retrieval system useful for promptly returning appropriate answers to inquiries from travelers, such as overseas travel destinations.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When traveling abroad and traveling to an illness or an accident, it is often difficult to know what to do. For such a traveler, for example, an insurance company or the like may outsource the work to a company that performs an outside assistance business, accepts a telephone call, and provides a service to provide necessary information. The above insurance companies may have a consultation desk locally, but the consultation center established in Japan often accepts telephone calls from overseas and allows counselors to provide consultation. From overseas, for example, "I want to go to a hospital, but I want you to tell me a hospital that speaks Japanese."
Various consultations such as "What should I do if I cannot return to the hotel?" Are received.

The counselor who received the above consultation first asks where the traveler is calling from,
Information must be provided according to the situation of the country or the city. For example, in the case of searching for hospitals, several hospitals are extracted from hospital information for each city under conditions regarding the contents of hospitals such as clinical departments. Then, look at the map, identify the current location of the traveler and the location of the extracted hospital, and give information about the hospital and directions.

[0004]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As described above, the counselor is required to consult while looking at a map of a foreign city. However, it is difficult for an experienced person to identify the position of the traveler or the desired place on the map. For example, if a traveler says, "I'm in Hotel B in City A,"
It is difficult to put out a map of city A and quickly find B hotel on the map unless you have been to the land or have seen the same map many times in the past.

In particular, in the case of a city with few tourists from Japan, it is difficult to find a specific place on the map because there is little information about the city. Therefore, there was a problem that it took time to give an appropriate response to an inquiry from overseas. The subject of this invention is, for example,
It is an object of the present invention to provide an information search system that can quickly identify and provide the location of the traveler and necessary information when the traveler receives a consultation.

[0006]

A first aspect of the present invention is a facility in which a management computer stores a map information storage unit that stores maps of a plurality of regions, and attribute data such as position and characteristics of each facility. The data processing unit includes an information storage unit and a data processing unit. When the current location search condition is input, the data processing unit receives the destination search condition and the function of identifying the current location based on the current location search condition. At that time, with the function to specify the destination based on the destination search condition,
It is characterized by having a display processing function of selecting a map including the specified present location and destination and displaying it on a display. Note that the above map also includes photographs.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the display processing function calculates the distance between the present position and the destination and the center point so that the distance becomes a preset ratio with respect to the display range on the display. The map image is enlarged or reduced, and the center point is displayed so as to match the center of the map display range of the display.

A third aspect of the present invention includes an area information storage section that stores area information corresponding to a plurality of areas, and the data processing section specifies the area information and the map corresponding to the selected area. The feature is that the regional information and the map are displayed in association with each other. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the map information storage unit stores maps of different scales including the same area, and the data processing unit includes a map including a current position and a destination.
The feature is that it has a function to select the map with the largest scale. The large scale map above is the actual length,
It is the ratio to the corresponding length on the map. For example, 1:25
When comparing 00 and 1: 50000, 1: 5000
0 is called a small scale.

A fifth invention is provided with a traveler terminal connectable to a management computer via a communication line,
The data processing unit is characterized by having a function of identifying an area where the traveler terminal exists from the line number of the source traveler terminal and selecting and displaying a map corresponding to the area.

[0010]

1 to 8 show an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, a management computer C is installed in the consultation center. At the counseling center, the counselor who receives the phone call operates the management computer C to retrieve necessary information and reply to the traveler. The management computer C includes a map information storage unit 1, a data processing unit 2, a regional information storage unit 3, a facility information storage unit 4, and a display 5.

The map information storage unit 1 stores a map for each area that the consultation center will receive. Here, the area unit is not limited to an administrative unit such as a municipality, but is divided into a size that can deal with consultation.
Then, these regional maps enable enlargement / reduction of the local area. In short, the map information storage unit 1 stores a map for each area divided according to the purpose. However, the same point may be included in multiple maps. The map of each area is expressed in detail so that roads and main facilities in the area can be understood. These maps may be digital maps or paper maps read by a scanner or the like. The map may be a photograph.

Further, the area information storage unit 3 stores various kinds of information on areas such as a specific city. For example, as regional information on a certain city, the regional information storage unit 3 stores basic information M1, medical information M2, and accident information M.
Area information classified into 3 or the like is stored. The basic information M1 is the time difference from Japan, the language, the currency unit of the country, the climate, etc. The medical information M2 is general medical information such as telephone medical service information or ambulance calling. Besides, it is the name of the hospital in the city. Further, the accident information M3 is a method of coping with an accident, a method of contacting the police and the like.

The facility information storage unit 4 stores the attributes of each facility, such as a hotel, an airport, and a hospital, which is a search target in this system. For example, when the facility is a hospital, its name, address, latitude / longitude, telephone number, medical department, Japanese language, payment method of medical treatment, etc. are stored as attribute data. Then, these attribute data become search conditions when searching for facilities. The facility information storage unit stores the latitude / longitude information of a specific facility, but the map information storage unit 1 stores, together with the map,
The latitude and longitude of the point are associated with the coordinates on the map and stored. Therefore, for a specific facility such as a specific hotel, the position on the map of the facility can be specified from the latitude and longitude of the facility information storage unit 4 and the map information of the map information storage unit 1.

Further, the data processing section 2 performs information retrieval based on the data in the respective storage sections 1, 3 and 4 and the data input from the outside, and obtains a map and other information.
It is also displayed on the display 5. That is, the display processing function of the present invention is included in the function of the data processing unit 2.

Next, an example will be described in which a counselor uses this system to provide information to travelers in response to inquiries from travelers traveling abroad. Management computer C
Then, when this system is started up, the display 5 shows
Since the city selection screen 6 shown in FIG. 2 is displayed, the counselor is waiting in that state.

[0016] When receiving a telephone call from a traveler who has a consultation, the counselor uses the city selection screen 6 to
Select the city the traveler is currently in. This city selection screen 6
Has a city name selection frame 7 and a map display frame 8. Figure 2
Then, although the world map is displayed in the map display frame 8,
Map display switch button 9 displayed at the bottom of the screen
The maps to be displayed can be switched by a to 9h. That is, "World Map" 9a, "Europe"
9b, "Africa" 32b, "Oceania" 9d, "Asia" 9e, "NIS countries" 9f, "North America" 9g, "South America" 9h You can display the corresponding map by clicking each button. I am trying.

Further, the city name selection frame 7 is provided with a country name selection box 7a, a state / province name selection box 7b, and a city name selection box 7c, and each box can specify the location of the traveler. . When specifying the location of the traveler, the selection can be started from any of the selection boxes 7a to 7c. However, when a country is specified in the country name selection box 7a, only the states / provinces belonging to the previously specified country can be selected in the state / province name box 7b and the city name selection box 7c. Become. In addition, in the state / province name selection box 7b, after the state or province name is desired, in the city name selection box 7c,
Only the city names belonging to that state or province can be selected.

Enter a part of the name in each box,
Each "Candidate selection" button 10a, 10b, 10c
If you click, the country name, state name and
A list of province names and city names is displayed. In this way, specify the country name, state name, and city name, and at the end, select "Select" 7d
Click to specify the city. The country name can be selected from the map displayed in the map display frame 8. For example, when designating the United States of America, clicking the position on the world map as shown in FIG. 2 means that "United States" is selected as the country name. And, in the country name selection box 7a,
"United States" is displayed automatically. As described above, when a country name is selected from the map, the map display switching buttons 9a to 9h can be used to display a map in which the position of the country is displayed in an easy-to-understand manner. When the city name is decided, a mark such as a star mark 8a is displayed at the corresponding position on the map.

When the city name is specified as described above,
The display 5 has a city map display screen 20 shown in FIG.
Is displayed. The city map displayed here is enough to grasp the whole of the city, but it is possible to know what kind of city the traveler is in. A button for selecting regional information is displayed on the city map display screen 20 shown in FIG. As a selection button for selecting the above-mentioned regional information, "basic information" 11, "medical care" 12,
"Accident" 13, "Loss and theft" 14, "Death Accident" 15,
... "Service window" 18 is displayed. When these buttons are clicked, the data processing unit 4 extracts the regional information corresponding to the city of the map displayed at that time from the regional information storage unit 3 and displays it.

For example, when the basic information button 11 is clicked on the screen 20 of FIG. 3, the area information display screen 21 of FIG. 4 is displayed.
Is displayed. In the screen 21, the city name display field 22
Then, the basic information frame 23 and the main facility display frame 24 are displayed. As described above, the basic information frame 23 displays the time difference from Japan, language, currency, telephone code, and the like. In the main facility display frame 24, a hospital, an embassy,
Main facility names in the area of the map displayed on the city map display screen of FIG. 3, such as a police station, are displayed. When the facility name is selected from these and the map display button 25 is clicked, a map with the mark of the clicked facility position is displayed. The map displayed here is similar to the map shown in FIG. 6 described later. On the other hand, when the user has finished viewing the basic information on the screen 21 of FIG. 4, clicking the close button 26 returns to the city map display screen 20 of FIG. Although the case where the regional information is provided in units of cities has been described here, the unit of regional information does not necessarily have to be in units of cities. You can use smaller units,
It can be a large unit. In that case, the city map displayed corresponding to the area information is an area map corresponding to the unit of the area information.

As described above, the regional information of the city in which the traveler is located can be provided.
If you ask for a hospital, the counselor will
You can answer as follows. Since the counselor must search the hospital, that is, the facility after specifying the current position of the traveler, he / she clicks the “facility search” button 19 on the city map display screen 20 shown in FIG.
Then, the search screen 30 shown in FIG. 5 is displayed. In the search screen 30 of FIG. 5, a city name frame 31 such as a country, a group / state, and a city name is displayed at the top.

A hotel search frame 32 is displayed on the search screen 30. Depending on the hotel, the location of the traveler can be specified. For example, when a traveler calls from the hotel, the hotel check box 32a is clicked and the hotel name is input in the hotel name input box 32b.
The name entered in the hotel name input field 32b does not have to be complete. Enter a part of the name and display the list button 3
By clicking on 2c, a list of hotel names including some of the above names will be displayed, from which the traveler's staying hotel can be selected.

The hotel specified as above corresponds to the present location of the present invention. However, in reality,
Sometimes people call the consultation center from places other than the hotel. In that case, the hotel near the traveler is considered to be the current location. In addition, in this embodiment, the position of the hotel is regarded as the current location of the traveler, but not only the hotel but also a landmark or other facility may be specified as the current location.

Next, the destination is searched. Search screen 3 above
0 shows the destinations such as pharmacies to be searched, major facilities such as embassies, complaint agents, representative offices,
Search boxes 33, 3 for searching landmarks, hospitals, and airports
4, 35, 36, 37, 38 and 44 are respectively displayed. Since a hospital is searched here, the hospital search frame 38 will be described in detail. In the figure, reference numeral 3
4a and 34b are an embassy selection box and a police station selection box, respectively. Reference numeral 37a is a list display button related to landmarks.

In the hospital search frame 38, a list 39 of clinical departments is provided.
Is displayed, and a check box 39a is displayed in front of each subject name. This check box 3
9a is a place where a check mark is added when the medical department required by the traveler is specified. Also, a form list 40 for selecting a hospital form is displayed, and each item includes
A check box 40a is provided. This hospital type has items such as whether it is a general hospital or a family doctor. In addition, you can communicate in Japanese or have an emergency response, and you can treat on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.
Check boxes 41a to 41
Corresponds to g.

Further, as for the name, it is possible to input the name or a part thereof in the name input field 42 as in the case of specifying the present location. In addition, button 42 in the list
When a is clicked, a list of hospital names corresponding to the entered name is displayed in the name input field 42, and the hospital name can be selected from the list. All the subjects and the like displayed in the hospital search frame 38 are search conditions for hospitals. Therefore, the counselor selects the check boxes 39a, 40a, 41a to 41g according to the wishes of the traveler.
The search condition is determined by putting a check mark inside. When the check box 43 is checked, when there are a plurality of hospitals extracted based on other search conditions, only the hospital closest to the current location of the traveler is extracted from the extracted hospitals.

When the search condition is decided and the counselor clicks the "execute search" button 45 at the bottom of the screen 30, the data processing unit 2 compares the data in the facility information storage unit 4 with the search condition. Then, the hospitals that match the above search conditions are extracted. Since the position of the destination hospital extracted here can be specified by the latitude / longitude data of the facility information, the data processing unit 2 determines the destination hospital as
It can be specified on the map stored in the map information storage unit 1. Maps of various regions are stored in the map information storage unit 1, and the data processing unit 2 identifies a map that includes the current location and the destination at the same time from among them, and The map display screen 50 shown in is displayed on the display 5. After inputting the search conditions as described above, if the user wants to cancel the search or input the conditions again, the "Cancel" button 46 at the bottom of the screen is clicked.

In the map display screen 50 of FIG. 6, the current location 51 is the location of the traveler's hotel, and the destination 52 which is the searched hospital is also circled. This allows the counselor to know the location of the traveler and explain the route from the present location 51 to the destination 52. In addition, "facility information" in the map tool 53 described later
Click 53g and then click on the current location 51 on the map.
Alternatively, when the circle mark of the destination 52 is clicked, the attribute of the facility is displayed. That is, the data processing unit 2 retrieves the corresponding attribute data from the facility information storage unit 4 and displays it.

The data processing unit 2 also has a function of displaying the relationship between the present location and the destination on the map display screen 50 so that it is easy to understand. This display processing function will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8. 7 and 8
The map display screen 50 is a rectangle surrounded by the lengths S1 and S2, and the point O2 is the center point of the screen 50. This rectangle is the display range of the map of the present invention.

FIG. 7 shows a case where the data processing unit 2 selects a map including the current location 51 and the destination 52 at the same time and displays the map as it is. In this way, it is assumed that the current location 51 and the destination 52 are both biased toward the upper portion of the screen 50. For example, when explaining the route from the present location 51 to the destination 52 to a traveler who has called the consultation center, a large irrelevant place is displayed and it is displayed in the center of the screen 50. Become. Therefore, the screen of FIG. 8 is the result of processing for enlarging the map and displaying the necessary part in the center of the screen.

A method of processing the map so that it is easy to see will be described below. First, in the state of FIG. 7, the distance L1 in the x direction and the distance L2 in the y direction between the current position 51 and the destination 52 on the map are calculated, and the center point O1 between the two points is specified. Next, the distance L1 is the length S1 of the display screen in the x direction.
With respect to the y-direction length S2 of the screen, the map is enlarged so that the center point O1 becomes the center O of the screen.
Match 2

For example, when the distance between both points is set to be α times the length S1, on the enlarged map,
The distance L1 between the two points shown in FIG. 7 is expanded to the distance L3 as shown in FIG. Here, the α is a value of 1 or less, but the closer α is to 1, the more the display distance between the current position and the destination becomes. And the distance L3 = S
It is 1 × α. The magnification β for changing the distance L1 to the distance L3 is β
= (S1 × α) / L1. That is, by enlarging the map by β times, as shown in FIG. 8, the current position 51 and the destination 52 are displayed at positions evenly separated from the center of the screen. It should be noted that the distance L4 = L2 × β in FIG.

Here, an example in which the map enlargement ratio β is determined on the basis of the distance in the x direction has been described. However, by expanding the map magnification β times, the distance L4 in the y direction at both points becomes y in the screen. If it exceeds the directional length S2, β is determined based on the distance L2 in the y direction. That is, β = (S2 × α) / L2. However, in the calculation for calculating the enlargement ratio β, the method of deciding which distance to base is not limited to the above method, and the method of deciding the distance between both points may be any method.

In short, it suffices if the distance between the present location and the destination is separated to some extent so that the relationship between them can be displayed in an easy-to-understand manner. The data processing unit 2 performs the above-described processing and displays it on the screen 50.
The map between 1 and the destination 52 is easy to see. Therefore, the explanation to the traveler will be appropriate. In addition, for example, when a plurality of search results such as hospitals are extracted, it is possible to display the search results before narrowing them down. In that case, considering the rectangle surrounding the present location and all hospitals, each side may be set as the x-direction distance and the y-direction distance.

When the map information storage unit stores map data in which different scale maps are read, a plurality of maps including the current location and the destination may be extracted. In that case, select the map with the largest scale. A large-scale map is one in which the ratio of the distance on the map to the actual distance is large. For example, in a map of 1: 25000 and 1: 50000, 1: 2500 is called a large scale. Further, the larger the scale of the map, the more detailed information can be displayed. Therefore, by selecting the large scale map, the counselor can provide more detailed information to the traveler.

Incidentally, the map tool 5 is displayed on the screen 50 of FIG.
3 is provided so that the displayed map can be processed. For example, when the move button 53a is clicked, the map display is switched in the moving direction of the mouse by dragging using the left mouse button in the map. Further, according to the enlargement 53b and the reduction 53c, it is possible to enlarge or reduce the map in the range selected by dragging or in the range centered on the clicked point. Enlargement or reduction can be performed by inputting a numerical value in the display magnification input field 53f, or the changed magnification or position can be returned to the original by "return" 53d or "display position reset" 53e. Furthermore, "distance measurement" 53
The distance on the map can also be measured by h.

When the "display setting" 53i is clicked, a display setting screen is displayed. In this display setting screen,
You can set the facilities to be displayed on the map. For example, in an area with many hotels, if all the hotels are displayed, the current location or the destination facility is difficult to see on the map. It can be set not to display. Label display / non-display can be set on this display setting screen. The label is, for example, a hospital name or a hotel name. And on the map,
The label is not displayed, but it can be set to display only that position. For example, if the display of hospitals is set and the label is hidden, individual hospital names are not displayed, but the hospital mark is displayed on the map. The displayed map can be printed by clicking "Print" 53j. When selecting a new city, the city selection screen is displayed when the "city search" button 54 is clicked.

As described above, when the city name is input, the city map is displayed, and various area information corresponding to the city can be selectively displayed. By looking at the city map and the regional information, the counselor can grasp the situation of the place where the traveler is present and can give appropriate advice. If the counselor knows the location of the traveler and asks, "Is there a ** near you?"
For travelers who are consulting, they can feel a sense of security and trust.

If the system of the above embodiment is used, the counselor only inputs the search conditions for the current location and the destination, and the map is automatically displayed in the most readable form. Etc. can be performed appropriately. Moreover, since the map is automatically displayed, even a counselor who is not familiar with the local geography can provide counseling on how to reach a specific facility.

Further, the map with the present location and destination marked on it shown in FIG. 6 can be sent to a traveler by fax or can be attached to an electronic mail and sent. In order to receive the map by e-mail, the traveler side also needs to have a receiving terminal equipped with a display. Alternatively, a telephone call from a traveler can be directly connected to the management computer C, and the data processing unit 2 can specify the current location of the traveler from the telephone number of the telephone call. In this case, the management computer C needs to have a telephone number recognition means. Then, in identifying the current location of a traveler based on a telephone number, not only is it possible to identify the current location only from the telephone number, but the above telephone number is used as one of the search conditions to search for the current location. Those that do are included.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, an example in which a Japanese person traveling abroad is targeted is described, but the tourists also include non-Japanese persons. In addition, this system can be applied to foreigners who are staying in other countries, such as foreigners who are staying in Japan and Japanese who are staying overseas. The management computer may be installed in any country.

[0042]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to search for the present location and the destination, and to automatically display a map including both points. According to the second invention, it is possible to process and display a map including the current location and the destination so that the positions of both points are easy to see.
According to the third invention, it is possible to display the map and the area information of the area in association with each other. According to the fourth invention, the map with the largest scale is selected from the maps with different scales, so that more detailed map information is displayed. According to the fifth aspect, the management computer can automatically recognize the current location of the traveler.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an example of a city selection screen of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a city map display screen of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a basic information display screen according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a search screen according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a map showing search results.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the display processing method of the embodiment, schematically showing a map before performing image processing.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the display processing method of the embodiment, and is a schematic view of a map after image processing is performed.

[Explanation of symbols]

C management computer 1 Map information storage 2 Data processing section 3 area information storage 4 Facility information storage 5 display 20 City map display screen 21 Area information display screen 30 Search screen 50 Map display screen S1, S2 screen length O1 center point (between points) O2 screen center

Front page continuation (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) G09B 29/10 G09B 29/10 A (72) Inventor Shozo Akabane 1-2-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo International Assistance Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Takashi Kato 3-14, Udagawa-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Shibuya Central Building Link Information System Co., Ltd. (72) Toru Kanno 3-14, Udagawa-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Shibuya Central Building Link information System Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Shuji Sasaki 3-14 Udagawa-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo F-Term (reference) within Shibuya Central Building Link Information System Co., Ltd. (reference) 2C032 HB05 HC13 HC27 5B050 BA17 CA07 EA12 EA13 FA02 5B075 ND06 PQ02 PQ48 PQ49 UU14

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A management computer is provided with a map information storage unit that stores maps of a plurality of regions, a facility information storage unit that stores attribute data such as position and characteristics of each facility, and a data processing unit. With the provision, the data processing unit, when the current location search condition is input, a function to specify the current location based on the current location search condition, and when the destination search condition is input, based on the destination search condition An information retrieval system having a function of specifying a destination and a display processing function of selecting a map including the specified present location and destination and displaying the map on a display. 2. The display processing function calculates a distance and a center point between the current position and the destination, and enlarges the map image so that the distance becomes a preset ratio with respect to the display range on the display. The information search system according to claim 1, wherein the center point is displayed while being reduced in size so as to match the center of the map display range of the display. 3. A regional information storage unit that stores regional information corresponding to a plurality of regions, and the data processing unit comprises:
3. Area information and a map corresponding to the selected area are specified. The specified area information and the map are displayed in association with each other, and the information search system according to claim 1 or 2. 4. The map information storage unit includes the same area,
The map having different scales is stored, and the data processing unit has a function of selecting a map having the largest scale among the maps including the current location and the destination, and the data processing section has any one of claims 1 to 3. Information retrieval system described. 5. A traveler terminal that can be connected to a management computer via a communication line is provided, and the data processing unit identifies an area in which the traveler terminal exists from the line number of the sender traveler terminal, 5. A function for selecting and displaying a map corresponding to a region is provided.
The information search system described in any one of 1.