JP2003110514A - Information providing system utilizing teletext broadcasting - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide many kinds of information on the spot in various forms with a high degree of freedom closely that are closely related to an area in order to make information more effectively provided by teletext broadcasting. SOLUTION: The information providing system is provided with a receiver capable of receiving various kinds of information, which are closely related to the area and transmitted from a large number of kinds of information sources by a large number of kinds of means, a generator for generating information to be provided by appropriately editing/working the received information, and a transmitter for sending the generated information as FM multiple broadcasting.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information providing system using character multiplex broadcasting such as FM broadcasting.
The present invention relates to an information providing system for providing various information such as living information and tourist information closely related to a region in a local municipality.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, character multiplex broadcasting in FM broadcasting has become possible, and by using a radio capable of displaying characters, users have become able to receive not only voice information but also character information. . This FM multiplex broadcasting technology is based on DARC (Data Radio Channel).
This is a method called l), and by multiplexing the signal in a frequency region higher than the baseband signal of FM audio stereo broadcasting, the information service using characters, figures, and data can also be F
This is possible with M broadcasting.

As an example of conventional information provision using such FM multiplex broadcasting, VI for providing road traffic information for each area
There is a CS, and the provided information can be received by a car navigation system that supports FM multiplex broadcasting.

Further, the information provided by the DARC system can be divided into a plurality of programs, and the user can select a program from a menu of programs displayed on a radio or the like which can display characters.
By selecting a favorite program, the information of the program can be sequentially browsed while scrolling the screen of the radio.

[0005]

However, the above-mentioned V
In the information provision using the conventional FM multiplex broadcasting such as the information provision by ICS, the information provided is related to a relatively wide area, and detailed information closely related to local areas such as local municipalities is not provided.

[0006] In the conventional case, the information provided is often generated from a fixed and centralized information source for each program, which lacks immediacy and effectiveness. Furthermore, FM
Information was not provided by linking voice and text in multiplex broadcasting.

Further, as described above, when the information is received by the FM multiplex broadcasting, there is only a usage method of sequentially browsing the contents of the information for each program, and various usage modes such as the user extracting only the necessary information. Was not provided. Therefore,
In the conventional information provision using the character multiplex broadcasting, there are inconveniences and lack of effectiveness.

[0008] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to make it more effective to provide information using the character multiplex broadcasting, so that various kinds of information that are closely related to the area and have immediacy can be provided in a variety of forms with a high degree of freedom. An object of the present invention is to provide an information providing system using the character multiplex broadcasting that can be provided.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, one aspect of the present invention is to receive various kinds of information closely related to a region, which are transmitted from various types of information sources by various types of means. It is to provide an information providing system having a receiving device capable of performing the above processing, a generating device that appropriately edits / processes the received information to generate providing information, and a transmitting device that transmits the generated information as FM multiplex broadcasting. Therefore,
According to the present invention, it becomes possible to provide a variety of information that is closer to the area and more immediate than ever before in the area.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, another aspect of the present invention is an information providing system for providing living information, tourist information, etc. regarding a predetermined area to the area by using character multiplex broadcasting. , Emails from multiple sources,
A receiving device for receiving a plurality of types of area information closely related to the area, which is transmitted by a plurality of communication means such as wireless and FAX, a storage device for storing the received area information, and a storage device for storing the received area information. Based on the generated regional information, the provision information to be provided within the region is divided into a plurality of programs and is generated, and the generated provision information.
And a transmission device for transmitting using character multiplex broadcasting.

Further, in a preferred aspect of the above-mentioned invention, the generation device generates information included in one of the programs by using regional information transmitted from a plurality of the information sources. To do.

Further, in the above invention, a preferable aspect is characterized in that the plurality of information sources include a moving body such as a bus.

In the above invention, another aspect is
It is characterized in that the generation device includes, in the provision information, index information indicating a storage position in the provision information of each piece of information constituting the program.

Further, in the above invention, a preferred aspect is characterized in that the index information is added to the provided information as one or a plurality of the programs. This makes it possible to easily realize various usage patterns on the receiving side of the character multiplex broadcast.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, another aspect of the present invention is an information providing system for transmitting the provided information generated by dividing the program into a plurality of programs by using the character multiplex broadcasting. The index information indicating the storage position of each piece of information constituting the above in the provision information is added to the provision information and transmitted.

Further, in the above invention, a preferred aspect thereof is characterized in that the index information is added to the provided information as one or a plurality of the programs.

Further objects and features of the present invention will be apparent from the embodiments of the invention described below.

[0018]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. However, such an embodiment does not limit the technical scope of the present invention.
In the drawings, the same or similar components will be described with the same reference numerals or reference symbols.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of an information providing system to which the present invention is applied. An information providing system 2 shown in the figure is the information providing system according to the present embodiment, receives information closely related to various areas transmitted from the information source 1, and provides the information within the area from the information. Various types of information are generated, and the generated information is sent to the information providing destination 3 via the FM multiple wave or the Internet.

As shown in FIG. 1, there are various kinds of information sources 1 such as a moving body 11, a sensor 12, a mobile phone 13, and a store 14, and the information collected from each information source 1 is:
It is transmitted to the information providing system 2 by a communication means suitable for each information source 1, that is, wireless, e-mail, fax, or the like. For example, as the mobile body 11, there is a transportation system such as a bus that runs in the area, and transmits the current position information and the like at a predetermined timing. Further, the sensor 12 is installed in, for example, a parking lot, and transmits the availability of the parking lot and the like. Also, from the mobile phone 13, the congestion status of the tourist spots in the area confirmed by the person, etc. from the store 14,
The time service information of the store is transmitted.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1, the information providing destination 3 has a car navigation system 31 and a radio 3 which can receive FM multiplex broadcasting.
2 and the city display 33, and a mobile phone 34 that can access the Internet. Information provider 3
A conventional device can be used as the device, but an application program for more effectively using the information provided by the information providing system 2 is incorporated as necessary.

The information provided to the information providing destination 3 includes road traffic conditions in the area, availability of parking lots, transit information of transportation facilities, event information, etc., and life information and tourism closely related to the area. Tourist information for customers is provided from the information providing system 2.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the information providing system 2 according to the present embodiment. As shown in the figure, the information providing system 2 includes various receiving devices (21 to 23) that receive information from the information source 1, a database (24) that stores the information, and a generating device that generates the information to be provided. (25) and a sending device (26, 27) for sending information to the information providing destination 3 and the like.

The wireless information receiving device 21 is a device for receiving wireless data transmitted from the above-mentioned moving body 11 and the like, and is constituted by a wireless receiver and the like. The mail information receiving device 22 is a device that receives information by e-mail from the mobile phone 13 or a personal computer. Also, FAX
The receiving device 23 receives the FAX and uses FCR by OCR or the like.
This is a device that can receive the information written on the AX paper as character information. Although not shown, a device that receives information transmitted by a method other than wireless communication, electronic mail, or FAX can be added.

Next, the area information database 24 stores information transmitted from the information source 1 and received by each of the receiving devices,
It is a database that stores various master data necessary for providing information, and appropriately extracts information in response to an access from an additional information generating device 25 described later. As information to be stored, for example, with respect to parking lots, there are names of parking lots existing in the area, locations, number of cars accommodated, current availability, etc., and various types of information necessary for living and sightseeing in the area. Information is stored.

Next, the additional information generating device 25 retrieves necessary information from the area information database 24 at regular intervals or at the timing when the receiving device receives the information, and processes and edits the necessary information to provide it. A device that generates information. The character information provided by FM multiplex broadcasting is generated by dividing it into program units in a format conforming to the conventional DARC standard, but in order to increase the degree of freedom of use at the information providing destination 3, it is generated by adding index information described later. It is characterized by doing. Further, voice information linked with the character information is also generated as needed. In addition, the information provided via the Internet is generated in the form of being posted on the homepage or being transmitted by electronic mail. The provided information generation device 25 can be configured by a computer program that describes the procedure of the generation process and a control device that executes the process based on the computer program.

Next, the FM multiplex broadcasting transmitter 26 and We
The b server 27 is a device for transmitting the information generated by the additional information generating device 25 to the various information providing destinations 3 described above by the FM multiple wave and the Internet, respectively, and is a conventional FM multiplex broadcast transmitting device or server system. Is used.

The information providing system 2 according to the present embodiment configured as described above receives various types of regional information from various types of information sources 1 at any time, and edits / processes them to generate information. Information that has immediacy and is closely related to the area
It is intended to be provided to local residents and tourists using M multiplex broadcasting or the Internet.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a flow of processing performed by the information providing system 2. First, various types of regional information are appropriately input from the information source 1 (step S1 in FIG. 3) and transmitted to the information providing system 2. As described with reference to FIG. 1, the input and transmission of such regional information are performed by a method suitable for each information source 1, and the timings thereof are also different.

Further, in order to make it easier for the information providing system 2 to receive the information, each information source 1 is provided with a fixed format according to the transmission method and the transmission contents.
For example, when transmitting the congestion status of a tourist spot by electronic mail, a fixed format in which a place and a place to input the congestion degree are predetermined is prepared. Also, FAX
In the case of utilizing, as shown in FIG. 4, a fixed-size FAX sheet readable by OCR is prepared. The example of FIG. 4 is a FAX sheet for the store 14 in the area to transmit the information of the time service, and the information described in the mass medium is read by the FAX information receiving device 23 of the information providing system 2.

Next, various kinds of information transmitted from the information source 1 are received at any time by the above-mentioned information receiving devices (21 to 23) (step S2 in FIG. 3), each time,
The received information is stored in the area information database 24 (step S3 in FIG. 3). In the area information database 24, a data table is prepared for each of the various kinds of area information described above, and stores necessary data for each piece of area information.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a data table in the area information database 24. (A) of the figure is a data table containing information on parking lots existing in the area, and information on locations and the number of vehicles (X part in the figure) pre-registered as master data for each parking lot. And the current information source 1 (sensor 12) such as the current vacancy status (Y part in the figure)
Stores information that is sent from and updated. Also,
(B) and (c) of the figure are data tables containing information on the congestion status of the tourist attractions and the operating status of the bus, respectively. It contains data such as the current location that is wirelessly transmitted from a bus.

Next, the provision information generating device 25 edits and processes the information stored in the region information database 24 to generate various provision information to be provided within the region (step S4 in FIG. 3). The process of generating the provided information is performed at fixed time intervals or at the timing when the information is updated, depending on the type of information. Also, as mentioned above,
The provided information is generated in a data format for FM multiplex broadcasting and for the Internet, and is sent to the FM multiplex broadcasting sending device 26 and the Web server 27, respectively.

The provision information for FM multiplex broadcasting is generated in program units according to the conventional standard as described above.
It is provided as a program showing the parking lot situation, a program showing the bus operation situation, and so on. Further, the information that constitutes one program can be generated from the information from a plurality of information sources 1, and in this respect, the conventional information provision that configures the information of the program based on one fixed information source is provided. different. For example, in the information indicating the time required to reach each tourist spot, various types of information such as road condition information in the area, bus operation condition information, and congestion information of tourist spots are used, which provides immediacy. It is possible to provide accurate information.

Next, the provision information generated by the provision information generation device 25 is transmitted from the FM multiplex broadcast transmission device 26 and the Web server 27 to the various information provision destinations 3 described above (step S5 and step S5 in FIG. 3). S6). Information is transmitted from the FM multiplex broadcasting transmission device 26 to the area by the FM multiplex wave, and information is transmitted from the Web server 27 via the Internet to a personal computer or the like connected to the Internet.

The various kinds of provided information sent out correspond to the various information providing destinations 3 described with reference to FIG. 1, that is, the car navigation system 3.
1, is displayed on the radio 32, the city display 33, the mobile phone 34, etc., and is used according to the intended use (step S7 in FIG. 3). FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example of provision information at the information provision destination 3.

FIG. 5A shows an example of displaying a parking lot status program on the radio 32 capable of receiving FM multiplex broadcasting, and data containing parking lot information as shown in FIG. 5A. The data in the table is used. In this example, the information contained in the parking lot status program is not sequentially displayed as in the conventional case, but an empty parking lot around the area (○○ in the figure) selected (instructed) by the user ( In the figure, B, C,
Only information regarding E) is displayed. This is a function that is easily realized by including the index information, which will be described in detail later, in the provided information to be transmitted. In order to realize such a function, a specialized application that uses the index information is a radio 32
Installed on.

(B) of the figure shows an example in which the crowded state of each tourist spot in the area is displayed on the city display 33.
In the figure, "a, ro, ha" etc. refer to the names of tourist spots as "high,
"Medium, low" indicates the degree of congestion of the tourist spot. The information in the data table illustrated in FIG. 5B is used to provide this information. It is also possible to control the flow of people such as tourists visiting the area.

Next, (c) of the figure is an example in which the operation status of the bus is displayed on the city display 33 installed at the bus stop. The shaded area in the figure shows the bus stop, and the blackened area shows the current position of the bus. Further, as shown in the figure, waiting time and expected travel time to a predetermined destination are also shown, which is convenient for passengers. The provided information is generated by extracting necessary information from a data table regarding the current position of the bus illustrated in FIG. 5C, a data table including information regarding the congestion status of the road, and the like. In the street display device 33, such as the example shown in (b) and (c) of FIG. 6, of the various information transmitted by the information providing system 2 in the FM multiplex broadcast, only the related predetermined program is received. It is set to display.

Next, FIG. 6D shows an example in which transit information of transportation facilities is displayed on the radio 32 capable of receiving FM multiplex broadcasting. In this case as well, as in the case shown in (a) of the figure, the user has a departure point (○○ in the figure) and a destination (□ in the figure).
□) is selected and only the corresponding information is displayed. Therefore, as in the case of FIG.
A specialized application that realizes such a function using the index information is incorporated in the radio 32.

The voice information linked with the display of the character information as shown in FIG. 6 may be flowed from each information providing destination 3. At that time, the same contents as the character information may be repeatedly sent or related detailed information may be sent.

As described above, by the information providing system 2, the information which is closer to the area and which is more immediate than the conventional one is FM.
It becomes possible to provide the information to the area through multiplex broadcasting, and residents and tourists in the area can easily obtain useful living information and sightseeing information from the radio 32 or the like.

Next, the above-mentioned index information added when the present information providing system 2 generates the additional information for FM multiplex broadcasting will be described. FIG. 7 is a diagram exemplifying a structure of information transmitted by a conventional FM multiplex broadcast. As described above, information is a unit called a program (program x, y,
z), as shown in the figure, a number (# 011 or the like in the figure) is attached to each program, and information of each program is listed after that. For example, information related to parking lots is program x,
All the information about the parking lot is described below # 011.

Further, as shown in the figure, information called a menu for introducing those programs is generated at the head of the information to be transmitted as number # 000. This menu (# 0
00) includes information on the program included in the information to be transmitted and its number (# 011 or the like).

On the side of the radio 32 that has received the information thus configured, the information of the menu is first presented to the user by the application installed on the side of the radio 32, and then the program selected by the user is displayed. Display information in the order listed. For example, if the program x is selected, the information contained in # 011 and below is sequentially displayed on the radio 3
It is displayed on the display screen of 2.

However, as described above, in such a form, the degree of freedom in providing information is low, and the user cannot promptly obtain only information suitable for himself. For example, in FIG.
As shown in (a) and (d) above, it is not possible to display only the parking information near the destination of one's own destination or the transfer information to a specific destination. In order to realize such a highly flexible usage pattern, it is indispensable that the application installed on the radio 32 side can easily retrieve the location of each information contained in one program. is there.

Therefore, when the additional information generating device 25 of the information providing system 2 generates information for FM multiplex broadcasting, index information is added as described above. The index information is information indicating a detailed position of each piece of information (information unit smaller than the program) contained in the program, and the information is numbered as one program and transmitted. included. Therefore, even if the index information is added, the information is generated and transmitted in the format according to the conventional DARC standard.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining such index information. Part (a) of the figure schematically shows the contents of the index information. As described above, the index information includes information indicating the detailed location of each piece of information (information unit smaller than a program), and the application at the information providing destination 3 such as the radio 32 can find the relevant information from the information. It is possible to know at which position of which program the information necessary for the application is located, and it is possible to easily realize the above-described highly flexible usage pattern.

Since the information in the program is usually handled in page units, the position display of the index information is performed by the program number (#), the page number, the information on the character in the page, and the like. Further, as described above, since the index information itself is also treated as the program information, it has the program number (#XXX in the figure), but the index information is divided for each application of the information providing destination 3 and a plurality of pieces of program information are provided. May be added as. Also, in the index information,
Not only the location information of each piece of information, but also a part of the contents of the information and how the application handles the information can be included. With these additional information, the processing in the application can be made faster.

FIG. 6B is a diagram showing an example of the relationship between index information for parking lot applications and program information of parking lots. As shown in the figure, the index information added as the program number # 111 includes each parking lot (A in the figure,
The whereabouts of information regarding B and C) are shown. Therefore, in this example, each piece of information in the program indicating the location is set as a parking lot unit, and the location of the information is as shown in the figure.
It is written on the program number and the start / end page.

On the other hand, in the parking lot program (# 011), as shown in the figure, two pages of information per parking lot are listed in order from the information on the parking lot A. When the application wants to use the information on the parking lot B, the index information (# 111) is referred to and the information is # 011.
It is not necessary to search for the program information (# 011) in order from the top, knowing that it is on pages 3 to 4 and can immediately access it to obtain desired information.

As described above, by adding index information to the transmission information of the FM multiplex broadcast, the information providing destination 3 is provided with a highly flexible usage pattern as illustrated in (a) and (d) of FIG. It can be easily realized by a built-in application program or the like.

As described above, by using the information providing system 2 according to the present embodiment, information that is close to the area, has immediacy, and is diversified can be obtained using FM multiplex broadcasting and the Internet. It will be easy to provide. Also, by adding the above-mentioned index information to the FM multiplex broadcast, information can be provided in various forms.

Information is transmitted from the various information sources 1 to the information providing system 2 as described above, but the information providing system 2 such as the time service information of the store 14 is provided.
If there is an advertising effect due to the provision of information by
In the information providing system 2, the information source 1 may be charged. The charge amount can be determined according to the number of characters to be provided and the content of information.

The protection scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, but extends to the inventions described in the claims and their equivalents.

[0056]

As described above, according to the present invention, by using the character multiplex broadcasting, various kinds of information that are closely related to the area and have immediacy can be obtained.
It is possible to provide in various forms with a high degree of freedom,
Information provision using the character multiplex broadcasting can be made more effective.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of an information providing system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of an information providing system 2 according to the present exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a flow of processing performed by the information providing system 2.

FIG. 4 is a diagram exemplifying a FAX sheet for a store 14 in a region to transmit time service information.

5 is a diagram showing an example of a data table in a regional information database 24. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example of provision information at the information provision destination 3.

FIG. 7 is a diagram exemplifying a structure of information transmitted in a conventional FM multiplex broadcast.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining index information.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Information source 2 Information provision system 3 Information providers 11 moving body 12 sensors 13 mobile phones 14 stores 21 wireless information receiver 22 Mail information receiver 23 FAX information receiver 24 area information database 25 Provision information generator 26 FM multiplex broadcasting device 27 Web server 31 car navigation 32 radio 33 city display 34 mobile phones

Continued front page    F term (reference) 5K061 AA09 BB06 BB12 FF01 JJ06                       JJ07                 5K067 AA21 BB04 DD51 EE02 EE10                       EE16 FF02 FF03 FF23 HH23                       KK15

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An information providing system for providing living information, tourist information, etc. concerning a predetermined area in the area by using character multiplex broadcasting, which comprises a plurality of information sources such as electronic mail, wireless communication, and FAX. A receiving device that receives a plurality of types of regional information closely related to the region, which is transmitted by a plurality of communication means, a storage device that stores the received regional information, and a regional information stored in the storage device. On the basis of the above, there is provided a generating device that divides the provision information to be provided in the area into a plurality of programs, and a transmission device that transmits the generated provision information by using character multiplex broadcasting. Information providing system. 2. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the generation device generates information included in one program by using regional information transmitted from a plurality of the information sources. 3. The information providing system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the plurality of information sources include a moving body such as a bus. 4. The provision information according to claim 1, wherein the generation device includes, in the provision information, index information indicating a storage position in the provision information of each piece of information forming the program. Characteristic information provision system. 5. The information providing system according to claim 4, wherein the index information is added to the provided information as one or a plurality of the programs. 6. An information providing system for transmitting provided information generated by dividing into a plurality of programs by using a character multiplex broadcast, and representing a storage position in the provided information of each piece of information constituting the program. An information providing system, wherein index information is added to the provided information and transmitted. 7. The information providing system according to claim 6, wherein the index information is added to the provided information as one or a plurality of the programs.