JP2005051569A - Information offering system, its method, personal digital assistant using it, and server - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information offering system which alleviates user load when information specific to a region which a user lives in is provided, and easily provides information of large capacity and rich in presentation including motion image information. <P>SOLUTION: When a personal digital assistant 10 receives information specific to a region which the personal digital assistant 10 lives in, for example, map information for the region from a server 20 using location information of the personal digital assistant 10, the personal digital assistant 10 downloads the information collectively using a high-speed wide area network 200. Then, if the personal digital assistant 10 moves, the server 20 sends only information for the difference between before and after the movement via a public mobile communication network 100. According to the arrangement, a time required for displaying information after the movement is reduced, and moreover, information rich in presentation using data of large capacity such as moving video unattainable until now can be provided. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an information providing system and method, and a portable information terminal and server used therefor, and more particularly to an information providing method for obtaining information about a region where a user is currently using the portable information.

  In recent years, mobile information terminals such as mobile phones have become widespread, and users always carry mobile information terminals when they go out for leisure, travel, and business trips, and they want to use them anytime and anywhere via the network. Communication with the other party is possible.

  In particular, there may be a need for information specific to the area where the user is away, such as map information, shopping information, facility information, traffic information, weather information, event information, etc. In such a case, use a portable information terminal. Thus, a system has been proposed in which the user can acquire such information regarding the area.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 7, there is a system in which a portable information terminal 10 (hereinafter simply referred to as a terminal) and a server 20 that provides region-specific information are connected by a public mobile communication network 100. The terminal 10 includes a position measuring unit 11 that measures its own position, a communication unit 12 that communicates with the server 20, a display unit 13 that displays information provided to the user, and a control unit (CPU) that controls these units. 15 and a ROM 16 in which the operation procedure of the control unit is stored in advance as a program.

  The server 20 includes a communication unit 21 that communicates with the terminal 10, a database 22 that stores information corresponding to the location information of the terminal 10, that is, information specific to the region where the user is located, and a control unit (CPU) 23 that controls these. The ROM 24 stores the operation procedure of the control unit as a program in advance.

  In the information service system having such a configuration, the position information of the terminal 10 measured by the terminal 10 by the position measuring unit 11 is notified to the server 20 by the communication unit 12 via the public mobile communication network 100, and the server 20 is notified. It requests the provision of region-specific information according to the location information. In the server 20, the control unit 23 extracts region-specific information corresponding to the position information received by the communication unit 21 from the database 22, and transmits it to the terminal 10 via the public mobile communication network 100 by the communication unit 21. In the terminal 10, the information received by the communication unit 12 is displayed on the display unit 13, thereby providing region-specific information to the user.

  There is also a car navigation system that provides and displays map information related to the position where the user is. FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram of the car navigation device 30 in this car navigation system. As shown in FIG. 8, a position measuring unit 31 for measuring the position of the device 30 itself and region-specific information corresponding to the position are held. The database 32 includes a display unit 33, a control unit (CPU) 34, and a ROM 35 storing a program.

  The car navigation system having such a configuration can handle a large amount of information, but since the database 32 is provided on a CD-ROM, DVD, etc., it is difficult to provide information that changes in a short period of time. There are drawbacks. Therefore, in order to solve the disadvantage, in the car navigation system, the first communication network having a small transmission capacity and the second communication network having a large transmission capacity are used, and the communication of data having a large capacity uses the second communication network. However, a technique has been proposed in which a destination is specified using a first communication network, and travel route guidance and detailed map distribution are performed at a high speed while reducing the burden on the user (Patent Document 1). See).

JP 2003-108454 A

  In the information providing system shown in FIG. 7 described above, when the terminal 10 moves, the region-specific information to be provided changes. Therefore, by repeating the same operation as described above, information suitable for the destination is given to the user. It has come to offer. That is, since the information to be displayed is transmitted from the server 20 to the terminal 10 each time via the relatively low-speed public mobile communication network 100, it takes time to display the information, and the capacity is large. In the case of a moving image that requires communication time, it becomes difficult to display information.

  Also, in the car navigation system disclosed in Patent Document 1, when the terminal moves, detailed map information or the like is transmitted again using the second communication network. While receiving information, even if you move within a narrow area rather than a wide area, such as on foot, the area-specific information will not change significantly, but you will receive new area-specific information from the server again. As a result, there is a problem that the burden on the user increases.

  An object of the present invention is to provide information that can easily provide a large amount of expressive information including moving image information by reducing the burden on the user when providing information specific to the region where the user is located. It is to provide a providing system and method, a portable information terminal and a server used therefor, and a program for operating them.

  In the information providing system according to the present invention, the portable information terminal and the information providing server can communicate with each other via a first communication network and a second communication network having a higher speed and a wider bandwidth than the communication network, and respond to a request from the terminal. An information providing system for providing information relating to a region where the terminal is located from a server to the portable information terminal, wherein the server responds to an information provision request from the terminal, Means for transmitting to the portable information terminal via a second communication network; and in response to a movement notification from the terminal, display difference information before and after movement is sent to the portable information terminal via the first communication network. Means for transmitting to.

  In the information providing method according to the present invention, the portable information terminal and the information providing server can communicate with each other via the first communication network and the second communication network having a higher speed and a wider bandwidth than the communication network, and respond to a request from the terminal. An information providing method for providing information relating to an area where the terminal is located from a server to the portable information terminal, wherein in the server, in response to an information provision request from the terminal, the information relating to the area A step of transmitting to the portable information terminal via a second communication network; and in response to a movement notification from the terminal, display difference information before and after movement is sent to the portable information terminal via the first communication network. And transmitting to.

  The server according to the present invention can communicate with the portable information terminal through the first communication network and the second communication network having a higher bandwidth than the communication network, and in response to a request from the terminal, the position of the terminal is determined. An information providing server for providing information relating to a region, wherein the information relating to the region is transmitted to the portable information terminal via the second communication network in response to an information provision request from the terminal; Means for transmitting display difference information before and after movement to the portable information terminal via the first communication network in response to a movement notification from the terminal.

  The portable information terminal according to the present invention can communicate with the information providing server, the first communication network, and the second communication network having a higher speed and a wider bandwidth than the communication network, and provide information on the area where the user is located from the server. A portable information terminal that receives the location information and transmits a request for providing information about the area to the server; and information about the area from the server via the second communication network. Means for receiving and displaying; means for transmitting a movement notification to the server in response to movement; and before and after movement transmitted from the server via the first communication network in response to the movement notification The display difference information is received, and the display difference information is reflected and displayed on the information on the area.

  The program according to the present invention can communicate with the portable information terminal, the first communication network, and the second communication network having a higher speed and wider than the communication network, and the terminal is located in response to a request from the terminal. A program for causing a computer to execute an operation of an information providing server that provides information relating to a region, wherein the information relating to the region is transmitted via the second communication network in response to an information provision request from the terminal. A process of transmitting to the portable information terminal, and a process of transmitting display difference information before and after movement to the portable information terminal via the first communication network in response to a movement notification from the terminal. It is characterized by.

  Another program according to the present invention can communicate with an information providing server, a first communication network, and a second communication network having a higher speed and a wider bandwidth than the communication network, and provides information on an area where the user is located from the server. A program for causing a computer to execute the operation of the portable information terminal so that the location information is acquired and a request for providing information on the area is transmitted to the server; and the area from the server Processing for receiving and displaying information on the second communication network, processing for transmitting a movement notification to the server in response to movement, and the first communication from the server in response to the movement notification Receiving display difference information before and after movement transmitted via the network and reflecting the display difference information in the information related to the area. The features.

  The operation of the present invention will be described. In the information providing service in which the portable information terminal uses the location information obtained by the GPS or positioning means to obtain information on the area of the location from the server, when the information is first downloaded collectively, a high-speed broadband such as a wireless LAN When high-speed processing is performed using a communication network, and the portable information terminal subsequently moves, only the display difference information before and after the movement is transmitted using a general public mobile communication network. Reduce the time to display. As a result, it is possible to provide a service rich in expressiveness using a large amount of information that has been impossible to realize such as moving images.

  The first effect of the present invention is that the time until display of position information can be shortened. The reason is that a high-speed broadband communication network is first used to download a plurality of pieces of information at a time, and thereafter only the difference information due to the movement is transmitted, so that the amount of communication data during movement can be reduced. is there.

  The second effect of the present invention is that a large amount of information can be handled and a service rich in expressiveness can be provided. The reason is that it is only necessary to indicate which information should be displayed even when moving by downloading a plurality of large-capacity information at a time.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and the same parts as those in FIG. 7 are denoted by the same reference numerals. Referring to FIG. 1, the terminal 10 includes a position measurement unit 11 that measures its own position, a communication unit 12 that communicates with the server 20, a display unit 13, and a data storage unit that stores information downloaded from the server 20. 14, a control unit (CPU) 15, and a ROM 16 storing a program.

  In addition, the server 20 includes a communication unit 21 that communicates with the terminal 10, a database 22 that holds region-specific information regarding the region, a control unit (CPU) 23, and a ROM 24 that stores a program. The terminal 10 and the server 20 are a high-speed broadband communication network 200 that communicates at a high speed, and the public mobile communication network 100 that communicates when the terminal 10 and the server 20 cannot communicate via the high-speed broadband communication network 200, such as when the terminal is moving. Is connected through.

  In FIG. 1, a terminal (portable information terminal) 10 having a position measurement unit 11 that measures its own position receives its position information measured by the position measurement unit 11 via the high-speed broadband communication network 200 by the communication unit 12. The server 20 is notified and a batch download of the region specific information according to the position of the terminal 10 is requested.

  The server 20 receives a request from the terminal 10 through the communication unit 21, takes out region-specific information corresponding to the position of the terminal 10 from the database 22, and sends information to the terminal 10 through the high-speed broadband communication network 200 by the communication unit 21. Download all at once. The terminal 10 temporarily stores the information received from the server 20 by the communication unit 12 in the data storage unit 14 and displays the information instructed from the server 20 on the display unit 13.

  When the terminal 10 moves, the terminal 10 measures its own position again by the position measurement unit 11 and notifies the server 20 of the position information of the terminal 10 via the public mobile communication network 100 by the communication unit 12. The server 20 takes out only the display information change difference due to the change of the position of the terminal 10 from the position information of the terminal 10 received by the communication unit 21 from the database 22 and transmits it through the public mobile communication network 100 by the communication unit 21. To the terminal 10. The terminal 10 displays the difference information received by the communication unit 12 and a part of the information stored in the data storage unit 14 on the display unit 13.

  In this way, by first downloading the information collectively through the high-speed broadband communication network 200, the amount of information communication from the next time is reduced, so even if the moved location is a place where high-speed broadband communication is not possible, the information It is possible to shorten the time until the “” is displayed, and it is possible to display expressive information such as a moving image.

  Next, the overall operation of the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the sequence diagram of FIG. First, in step A <b> 1, the terminal 10 acquires the position of the terminal 10 by the position measurement unit 11. Next, in step A2, the terminal 10 notifies the server 20 of the position information of the terminal 10 via the high-speed broadband communication network 200 by the communication unit 12, and requests batch downloading of the peripheral information of the position. Next, in step A <b> 3, the server 20 refers to the position information of the terminal 10 received by the communication unit 21, and acquires information around the position of the terminal 10 from the database 22. Next, in step A4, the server 20 collectively downloads information around the terminal 10 via the high-speed broadband communication network 200 by the communication unit 21.

  Next, in step A <b> 5, the terminal 10 once stores information collectively downloaded from the server 20 in the data storage unit 14. Next, in step A <b> 6, the terminal 10 displays information instructed from the server 20 on the display unit 13. Next, in step A7, assuming that the terminal 10 has moved to a place where communication via the high-speed broadband communication network 200 is not possible, in the next step A8, the terminal 10 acquires the position of the terminal 10 again by the position measuring unit 11. .

  Next, in step A9, the terminal 10 notifies the server 20 that the terminal 10 has moved and its location information via the public mobile communication network 100 by the communication unit 12. Next, in step A <b> 10, the server 20 refers to the position information of the terminal 10 received by the communication unit 21, and acquires display difference information from movement of the terminal 10 from the database 22. Next, in step A <b> 11, the server 20 transmits display difference information to the terminal 10 via the public mobile communication network 100 by the communication unit 21. Next, in step A12, the terminal 10 causes the display unit 13 to display the difference information transmitted from the server 20 by reflecting it on the information downloaded in a batch.

  Next, a specific example will be described. In the service for displaying the peripheral map of the terminal, as shown in FIG. 3, the server 20 acquires the map data around the position of the terminal 10 and the position display information of the terminal 10 from the database 22 (step B3). The surrounding map data and the position display information of the terminal 10 are downloaded together (step B4). That is, a wide range of map data including the current position of the terminal 10 is downloaded in a batch. By doing so, it is not necessary to transmit the map data from the server 20 to the terminal 10 each time the terminal moves within a certain range. In addition, by using the high-speed broadband communication network 200, communication time can be reduced even if a large amount of map data is downloaded at once.

  The high-speed broadband communication network 200 includes a wireless LAN (Local Area Network), and the user accesses the server 20 by connecting the terminal 10 such as a mobile phone to the wireless LAN 200 at a nearby hot spot. Download map data, which is region-specific information, in a batch.

  When viewing the display on the display unit 13 of the terminal 10 while moving away from the hot spot, the terminal 10 moves to a place where the wireless LAN, which is a high-speed broadband communication network, cannot be used (step B7). However, at this time, only the difference data is transmitted and received by connecting to the server 20 via the public communication network 100 (steps B8 to B10). If it is within a certain range, the map data has already been downloaded to the terminal 10 at once, so the server 20 only notifies the terminal 10 of the position display information of the terminal 10 and the display range of the map (step B11). The map around the position of the terminal 10 can be displayed without transmitting the map data (step B12). Thus, since the amount of transmission data can be reduced, the map can be displayed in a short time even in the public mobile communication network 100 that can communicate only at a low speed.

  Similarly, in the service for displaying the store information around the terminal 10, as shown in FIG. 4, the server 20 is rich in expressive power using the map information around the location of the terminal 10 from the database 22, the store identifier, the moving image, and the like. A plurality of store advertisement information consisting of store information is acquired (step C3), and downloaded to the terminal 10 in a lump (steps C4 and C5). Then, the terminal 10 displays the store advertisement position, the surrounding map, and the store position on the display unit 13 (steps C6 and C7).

  Next, when the terminal 10 has moved (step C8), the store identifier of the store closest to the moving position is notified from the server 20 to the terminal 10 (steps C9 to C12). Store information whose store identifier matches from the advertisement information is displayed (step C13).

  Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 5, the same parts as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals. Referring to FIG. 5, the terminal 10 and the server 20 in the present embodiment are the same as those in FIG. In addition to the configuration of FIG. 1, a location information database 30 as location information registration means is provided, and this location information database 30 can be connected to the high-speed broadband communication network 200 and the public mobile communication network 100.

  Next, the overall operation of the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the sequence diagram of FIG. First, in step D <b> 1, the terminal 10 acquires the position of the terminal 10 by the position measurement unit 11. Next, in step D2, the terminal 10 requests the location information database 30 to register the location of the terminal 10 via the public mobile communication network 100 by the communication unit 12.

  Next, in step D3, the position information database 30 registers the position information of the terminal 10 in the database. Next, in step D4, the terminal 10 requests the server 20 to collectively download the peripheral information of the terminal 10 from the communication unit 12 via the high-speed broadband communication network 200. Next, in step D <b> 5, the server 20 specifies that the terminal requested from the request received by the communication unit 21 is the terminal 10.

  Next, in step D6, the server 20 requests the position information database to acquire the position information of the terminal 10. Next, in step D7, the location information database 30 returns the location information of the terminal 10 to the server 20. Next, in step D <b> 8, information about the location of the terminal 10 is obtained from the database 22 with reference to the obtained location information of the terminal 10. Next, in step D <b> 9, the server 20 uses the communication unit 21 to collectively download information around the terminal 10 via the high-speed broadband communication network 200.

  Next, in step D <b> 10, the terminal 10 temporarily stores the information collectively downloaded from the server 20 in the data storage unit 14. Next, in step D <b> 11, the terminal 10 displays information instructed from the server 20 on the display unit 13. Next, when the terminal 10 moves to a place where communication with the high-speed broadband communication network 200 is not possible in step D12, the terminal 10 acquires the position of the terminal 10 again by the position measurement unit 11 in step D13. Next, in step D14, the terminal 10 requests the location information database 30 to register the location of the terminal 10 via the public mobile communication network 100 by the communication unit 12.

  Next, in step D15, the position information database 30 registers the position information of the terminal 10 in the database. Next, in step D <b> 16, the terminal 10 notifies the server 20 that the terminal 10 has moved via the public mobile communication network 100 by the communication unit 12. Next, in step D <b> 17, the server 20 specifies that the terminal that has moved from the movement notification received by the communication unit 21 is the terminal 10.

  Next, in step D18, the server 20 requests the position information database to acquire the position information of the terminal 10. In step D19, the position information database 30 returns the position information of the terminal 10 to the server 20. Next, in step D <b> 20, the server 20 refers to the acquired position information of the terminal 10, and acquires display difference information due to movement of the terminal 10 from the database 22. Next, in step D <b> 21, the server 20 transmits display difference information to the terminal 10 via the public mobile communication network 100 by the communication unit 21. Next, in step D <b> 22, the terminal 10 displays the difference information transmitted from the server 20 by the display unit 13.

  As a terminal in the above embodiment, a portable information processing terminal such as a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) can be used in addition to a cellular phone. It is obvious that the operation of the terminal or the server can be configured such that the operation procedure is stored in advance in the ROM as a program and is read and executed by a CPU that is a computer.

It is a schematic block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention. It is a sequence diagram explaining operation | movement of one embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram explaining an example of the specific operation | movement of one embodiment of this invention shown in FIG. It is a sequence diagram explaining the other example of the specific operation | movement of one embodiment of this invention shown in FIG. It is a schematic block diagram of other embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram explaining operation | movement of other embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic block diagram for demonstrating a prior art example. It is a schematic block diagram for demonstrating the other example of the past.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Terminal 11 Position measurement part 12,21 Communication part 13 Display part 14 Data storage part 15,23 Control part (CPU)
16, 24 ROM
20 server 22 database 30 location information database 100 public mobile communication network 200 high-speed broadband communication network

Claims (11)

The mobile information terminal and the information providing server can communicate with each other through the first communication network and the second communication network having a higher speed and wider than the communication network, and in response to a request from the terminal, the area where the terminal is located An information providing system for providing information related to a portable information terminal from a server,
The server
Means for transmitting information about the area to the portable information terminal via the second communication network in response to an information provision request from the terminal;
An information providing system comprising: means for transmitting display difference information before and after movement to the portable information terminal via the first communication network in response to a movement notification from the terminal. The portable information terminal has means for acquiring its own location information and transmitting it to the server together with the request,
The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the server transmits information on the area according to the position information. A location information registration means that is connectable to the first and second communication networks and that registers the location of the portable information terminal;
The portable information terminal has a means for acquiring its own position information and transmitting it to the position information registration means, and for transmitting the request to the server,
In response to the request, the server obtains location information of the terminal from the location information registration means and transmits information related to an area where the terminal is located to the portable information terminal. The information providing system according to claim 1. The portable information terminal has a means for acquiring its own position information in response to movement and transmitting it to the position information registration means, and for transmitting a movement notification to the server,
In response to the movement notification, the server obtains position information after movement of the terminal from the position information registration unit, and displays display difference information before and after movement through the first communication network. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the information providing system is configured to transmit to the information. The mobile information terminal and the information providing server can communicate with each other through the first communication network and the second communication network having a higher speed and wider than the communication network, and in response to a request from the terminal, the area where the terminal is located An information providing method for providing information about a server to the portable information terminal,
In the server,
In response to an information provision request from the terminal, transmitting information related to the area to the portable information terminal via the second communication network;
And a step of transmitting display difference information before and after movement to the portable information terminal via the first communication network in response to a movement notification from the terminal. In the portable information terminal, it has the step of acquiring its own location information and transmitting it to the server together with the request,
6. The information providing method according to claim 5, wherein the server transmits information related to the area according to the position information. The portable information terminal can communicate with the first communication network and the second communication network having a higher speed and wider than the communication network, and responds to a request from the terminal and provides information on the area where the terminal is located. An information providing server,
Means for transmitting information about the area to the portable information terminal via the second communication network in response to an information provision request from the terminal;
Means for transmitting display difference information before and after movement to the portable information terminal via the first communication network in response to a movement notification from the terminal.   8. The server according to claim 7, wherein in response to the request including position information from the portable information terminal, information on the area is transmitted to the portable information terminal in accordance with the position information. A portable information terminal that is communicable with an information providing server, a first communication network, and a second communication network that has a higher speed and a wider bandwidth than the communication network, and that receives information about a region where a user is located from the server. There,
Means for acquiring the position information and transmitting a request for providing information on the area to the server;
Means for receiving and displaying information about the area from the server by the second communication network;
Means for transmitting a movement notification to the server in response to movement;
Means for receiving display difference information before and after movement transmitted from the server via the first communication network in response to the movement notification and reflecting the display difference information in information relating to the area And a portable information terminal. The mobile information terminal can communicate with the first communication network and the second communication network having a higher speed and wider than the communication network, and responds to a request from the terminal to provide information on the area where the terminal is located. A program for causing a computer to execute the operation of the information providing server,
In response to an information provision request from the terminal, processing for transmitting information related to the area to the portable information terminal via the second communication network;
And a process of transmitting display difference information before and after movement to the portable information terminal via the first communication network in response to a movement notification from the terminal. An information providing server, a first communication network and a portable information terminal capable of communicating via a second communication network having a higher speed and a wider bandwidth than the communication network, and receiving information from the server about the area where the user is located. A program for causing a computer to execute an operation,
Processing for obtaining the location information and transmitting a request for providing information on the area to the server;
Processing for receiving and displaying information about the region from the server by the second communication network;
Processing to send a movement notification to the server in response to movement;
A process of receiving display difference information before and after movement transmitted from the server via the first communication network in response to the movement notification and reflecting the display difference information on information related to the area The program characterized by including.

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