JP2008077421A - Context information acquisition system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system for acquiring the information of various kinds of sensors from sensor nodes existing on the periphery of a portable terminal even when sensors are not loaded on a portable terminal itself. <P>SOLUTION: The portable terminal 10 is provided with a transmission message processing part 11a for preparing and transmitting a message requesting the information of the sensor, and a return message processing part 11b for acquiring the information of the sensor from a return message when the return message from the sensor nodes 20 and 30 is received. The sensor nodes 20 and 30 are provided with: reception message processing parts 21a and 31a for discriminating requested information when the message from the portable terminal 10 is received; sensor control parts 21b and 31b for selecting the sensor under management from the discriminated information and reading information detected by the sensor; and return message processing parts 21c and 31c for preparing the return message for returning the information read by the sensor control parts and transmitting it to the portable terminal 10. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a context information acquisition system for acquiring, for example, room temperature and illuminance context information.

  Conventionally, a technology has been proposed in which a sensor is mounted on a mobile terminal, status information (context) related to the mobile terminal is acquired from information of the mounted sensor, and used for the operation of the mobile terminal. For example, models that incorporate GPS (Global Positioning System), acceleration sensors, and geomagnetic sensors are already on the market for portable terminals. As the sensor to be installed and the context to be acquired, the position information of the mobile terminal is acquired by installing the GPS, the direction of the mobile terminal is acquired by mounting the geomagnetic sensor, and the radio key radio wave that the owner always carries Get the distance to the owner by receiving. Since a sensor mounted on a mobile terminal may not be able to obtain information accurately, a method has been proposed in which the sensor portion is physically separated and the sensor information is communicated wirelessly such as Bluetooth.

As another conventional technique, there is a method of acquiring biological information in which a sensor is separately attached and is in close contact with the body. In this method, the sensor is physically isolated using Bluetooth to obtain context information. However, in this prior art, the information collection device is not a portable terminal (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
As another conventional technique, there is a method of recognizing and using the position information of the mobile terminal by receiving a position beacon including the position information (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

JP 2001-344352 A JP 2002-271866 A

However, since the above-described conventional portable terminal is required to be small and light, it is difficult to mount a sensor with a large shape, a sensor with high power consumption, and a large number of sensors. In addition, due to such a property, it is difficult to provide a redundant configuration by mounting a plurality of the same sensors in preparation for sensor failure.
In addition, there is a problem that the detection capability of the mounted sensor becomes invalid depending on the situation when the portable terminal is carried. For example, when a microphone or illuminance sensor is installed, if the mobile terminal is stored in a bag or a pocket of clothes, these sensors do not function.

These problems are solved by the techniques described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, but in these existing techniques, the separated sensor needs to be paired with the mobile terminal in advance. Therefore, simultaneous sharing by a plurality of portable terminals is impossible. Further, when it is desired to send the acquired data to another mobile terminal instead of the own terminal, it is necessary for the mobile terminal to receive the data once and send it to the other mobile terminal.
Further, in Patent Document 2, position information is acquired by a position beacon, but this position beacon is a signal that is periodically transmitted from a transmitting device and is received by a portable terminal, and is not involved from the portable terminal. It was possible.

  The context information acquisition system according to the present invention includes a plurality of portable terminals that communicate through a communication network, and a sensor management device that is connected to the plurality of portable terminals through the communication network and manages various sensors. A send message processor that creates and sends a message requesting sensor context information, and a reply message processor that acquires sensor context information from the reply message when a reply message is received from the sensor management device When a message from the mobile terminal is received, the sensor management device selects a received message processing unit that determines requested context information from the message, and selects a managed sensor from the determined context information Read the context information detected by the sensor. And non-sensor control unit, creates a reply message to be returned context information read by the sensor control unit, a person who has a response message processing unit for transmitting to the mobile terminal for which the request.

  In the present invention, the mobile terminal creates and transmits a message requesting the sensor context information, and when a reply message is received from the sensor management device, acquires the sensor context information from the reply message, When a message from the mobile terminal is received, the sensor management device determines the requested context information from the message, selects a managed sensor, and returns the context information detected by the sensor. Since the reply message is created and transmitted to the mobile terminal that requested it, the user of the mobile terminal can use various sensors from the surrounding sensor management device even if the mobile terminal itself is not equipped with a sensor. Context information can be acquired. Further, at this time, since the sensor management device does not have to be paired with the mobile terminal on a one-to-one basis, the information can be obtained by exchanging messages as appropriate without the pairing process. Furthermore, since the sensor management device is not occupied by a specific mobile terminal by pairing, it can be shared and used by a plurality of mobile terminals. In addition, since the mobile terminal and the sensor management apparatus exchange information on a peer-to-peer basis, there is an advantage that a relay device such as a server is not required and the mounting is easy.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a context information acquisition system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
A mobile terminal 10 shown in FIG. 1 includes, for example, a mobile phone, a PDA (personal digital assistant), a PHS, and the like, and a terminal control unit 11 that performs signal processing includes a transmission message processing unit 11a and a reply message processing unit 11b. . For example, when the transmission message processing unit 11a detects an acquisition instruction of sensor context information from the operation of the key operation unit 12, the IP address of the terminal 10, the IP addresses of sensor nodes 20 and 30 to be described later, and the necessary sensor An instruction to input context information is prompted from the display unit 16 through the LCD drive 15, and when the information is input, a message requesting the context information is created according to a predetermined format, and a message is displayed when a transmission operation is detected. The data is transmitted to the transmission / reception unit 13 and transmitted from the antenna 14 as a radio signal. When the wireless signal of the reply message from the sensor nodes 20 and 30 is received by the antenna 14, the reply message processing unit 11 b reads the reply message via the transmission / reception unit 13 and determines whether the destination IP address is its own IP address. If it is determined that the IP address is its own IP address, the sensor context information is acquired from the reply message, and the sensor detection information is displayed on the display unit 16 through the LCD drive 15. When it is determined that the destination is not its own IP address, the reply message is discarded.

  The sensor node 20 (sensor management device) is installed on, for example, an indoor wall, and is sent and received by a sensor node control unit 21, a temperature sensor 22 that detects indoor air temperature, an illuminance sensor 23 that detects indoor brightness, and the like. The unit 24 and the antenna 25 are provided. When the message from the mobile terminal 10 is received, the sensor node control unit 21 determines whether or not the destination is its own IP address. When the destination is determined to be its own IP address, the sensor node control unit 21 is requested from the received message. The received message processing unit 21a that discards the received message when it is determined that the destination is not its own IP address, the temperature sensor 22 and the illuminance sensor 23 under management from the determined context information, or any A sensor control unit 21b that selects either of them and reads the context information detected by the sensor, and a reply message that returns the context information read by the sensor control unit 21b are created. And a reply message processing unit 21c that transmits the message.

  When the received message processing unit 21a described above confirms that the context information of all the sensors is requested in the received message, the received message processing unit 21a issues an instruction to read the context information of all the sensors to the sensor control unit 21b. When the broadcast address is confirmed, it is determined whether or not the destination is its own IP address. When it is determined that the destination is its own IP address, the requested context information is determined from the received message to control the sensor. Notify the unit 21b. The broadcast address is an address for designating an unspecified number of sensor nodes arranged in a predetermined reception range.

  The received message processing unit 21a determines whether or not the destination is its own IP address when confirming the forward address in the received message, and when it determines that the destination is its own IP address, The requested context information is determined and notified to the sensor control unit 21b. In this case, the reply message processing unit 21c creates a reply message that returns the context information read by the sensor control unit 21b, and sends it to the other mobile terminal 40 with the forward address from the mobile terminal 10 that requested the context information of the sensor. Send. Here, a personal computer, a mobile phone, a PDA, a PHS, or the like can be cited as another mobile terminal 40 having a forward address.

  The control unit 41 of the other portable terminal 40 is provided with a received message processing unit 41a. When the received message processing unit 41a receives a message via the antenna 43 and the transmission / reception unit 42, the received message processing unit 41a determines whether or not the destination is its own IP address. The sensor context information is acquired from the received message, and the sensor detection information is displayed on the display unit 45 through the LCD driver 44.

The sensor node 30 is installed in, for example, a vending machine at a convenience store, and includes a sensor node control unit 31, a position information transmitter 32, a transmission / reception unit 33, and an antenna 34. The sensor node control unit 31 includes a received message processing unit 31a, a sensor control unit 31b, and a reply message processing unit 31c. These are the same as those provided in the sensor node control unit 21 of the sensor node 20 described above. The location information transmitter 32 has location information where the node 30 is installed, and provides location information according to reading from the sensor control unit 31 b of the sensor node control unit 31. From this position information, it is possible to know where the owner of the mobile terminal 10 is based on the convenience store.
The mobile terminal 10, the sensor nodes 20, 30 and the other mobile terminals 40 use, for example, a TCP / IP network as a communication network.

  Next, the operation of the embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is an example diagram showing field information of a message for context information exchange. The IP address of the mobile terminal 10 is “10.123.234.1”, the IP address of the sensor node 20 is “10.123.234.10”, the IP address of the sensor node 30 is “10.123.234.11”, and the IP address of the personal computer 41 is “10.123.23”. This will be described as “234.2”.

In the portable terminal 10, the transmission message processing 11 a of the terminal control unit 11 is configured as follows when the context information of the self and destination IP addresses, the requested temperature and illuminance is set by the operation of the key operation unit 12. The message shown is created and transmitted as a radio signal through the transmission / reception unit 13 and the antenna 14.
From: 10.123.234.1
To: 10.123.234.10
Context_Temperature: Required
Context_Illuminance: Required

  On the other hand, when the message transmitted from the mobile terminal 10 reaches the sensor nodes 20 and 30, each message is received. In this case, the sensor node 30 determines whether or not the received message processing unit 31a of the sensor node control unit 31 takes in the received message and describes its own IP address in the “To” field (destination). In this case, the received message is discarded because it is different from its own IP address. Further, the sensor node 20 determines whether or not the received message processing unit 21a of the sensor node control unit 21 captures the received message and describes its own IP address in the “To” field. When it is determined that they are the same, another field following the “To” field is accessed to determine context information (Temperature: Required, Illuminance: Required), and this is notified to the sensor control unit 21b.

Based on the notification (request for temperature and illuminance), the sensor control unit 21b reads the temperature from the temperature sensor 22 and the illuminance from the illuminance sensor 23, and notifies the reply message processing unit 21c. At this time, the reply message processing unit 21c sets the acquired context information in the field, sets its own IP address in the “From” field, and sets the IP address of the mobile terminal 10 that requested it in the “To” field. A reply message is created and transmitted as a radio signal through the transmission / reception unit 24 and the antenna 25. Here, assuming that values of 25 (° C.) from the temperature sensor 22 and 500 (Lx) from the illuminance sensor 23 are obtained, the reply message is as follows.
From: 10.123.234.10
To: 10.123.234.1
Context_Temperature: 25
Context_Illuminance: 500

When the mobile terminal 10 receives a radio signal (message), the reply message processing unit 11b of the terminal control unit 11 captures it and determines whether or not its own IP address is described in the “To” field. If it is determined that it is the same as its own IP address, the value of the context information is read by accessing other fields following the “To” field, and each information of the temperature 25 (° C.) and the illuminance 500 (Lx) is obtained. The image is displayed on the display unit 16 through the LCD driver 15.
When the mobile terminal 10 requests the context information of either the temperature sensor 22 or the illuminance sensor 23, the sensor node 20 returns the context information corresponding to the request.

Next, when the mobile terminal 10 acquires the context information of all the sensors under the management of the sensor node 20, the field name “Any_Context_Required” is used as shown in FIG. An example of the transmission message is shown below.
From: 10.123.234.1
To: 10.123.234.10
Any_Context_Required:
When the sensor node 20 receives this, the received message processing unit 21a of the sensor node control unit 21 takes in the received message and determines whether or not its own IP address is described in the “To” field. When the IP address is determined to be the same as the IP address, the next field is accessed to determine the context information. In this case, as described above, since it is the content requesting the context information of all the sensors, the fact is notified to the sensor control unit 21b.

When the sensor control unit 21b confirms the notification, the sensor control unit 21b reads the temperature from the temperature sensor 22 and the illuminance from the illuminance sensor 23, and notifies the reply message processing unit 21c. The reply message processing unit 21c creates a reply message in which the acquired context information of all sensors is written. When creating this message, the field name “Any_Context_Required” is deleted and the reply message shown below is obtained.
From: 10.123.234.10
To: 10.123.234.1
Context_Temperature: 25
Context_Illuminance: 500
When the mobile terminal 10 receives this reply message, the information on the temperature 25 (° C.) and the illuminance 500 (Lx) is displayed on the display unit 16 as described above.

Next, a case where context information is acquired from an unspecified sensor node will be described. When the mobile terminal 10 acquires context information from an unspecified sensor node, it is possible to use the IP address broadcast address. The transmission message at that time is as follows.
From: 10.123.234.1
To: 10.123.234.255
Context_Temperature: Required
Context_Illuminance: Required
Context_Position: Required
In this message, the broadcast address in the IP address is set in the “To” field. When this message is transmitted from the mobile terminal 10, the sensor node having its own IP address “10.123.234. *” Among the sensor nodes that have received the message recognizes it as a message to itself, Process based on. The subnet mask is assumed to be “255.255.255.0”.

For example, when the sensor nodes 20 and 30 exist within the reception range, the transmission message from the portable terminal 10 is received together. As described above, the sensor node 20 creates a reply message in which the context information of the temperature and the illuminance is written as follows, and transmits the reply message as a radio signal through the transmission / reception unit 24 and the antenna 25.
From: 10.123.234.10
To: 10.123.234.1
Context_Temperature: 25
Context_Illuminance: 500
Further, the sensor node 30 creates a reply message in which the position information of the position information transmitter 32 is written as follows, and transmits it as a radio signal through the transmission / reception unit 24 and the antenna 25 as described above.
From: 10.123.234.11
To: 10.123.234.1
Context_Position: Osaka_12345
On the other hand, the mobile terminal 10 receives two reply messages, acquires the temperature, illuminance, and position information and displays them on the display unit 16.

Next, a case where the sensor context information requested from the mobile terminal 10 is transmitted as information from the terminal 10 to another mobile terminal 40 will be described.
In this case, the transmission message processing unit 11a of the terminal control unit 11 creates the following transmission message. In this message, the field name “Forward_to” is inserted, and the IP address of the other portable terminal 40 is described.
From: 10.123.234.1
To: 10.123.234.10
Forward_to: 10.123.234.2
Context_Temperature: Required
Context_Illuminance: Required

When the sensor node 20 receives the transmission message, the reception message processing unit 21a of the sensor node control unit 21 takes in the reception message and determines whether or not its own IP address is described in the “To” field. When it is determined that it is the same as its own IP address, the other field is accessed to determine the context information, and this is notified to the sensor control unit 21b. When the reply message processing unit 21c obtains the temperature and illuminance information by this notification, a reply message having the destination as the other portable terminal 40 is created and transmitted by a wireless signal in the same manner as described above. This message looks like this:
From: 10.123.234.1
To: 10.123.234.2
Forwarded_by: 10.123.234.10
Context_Temperature: 25
Context_Illuminance: 500

In this case, since the “TO” field is “10.123.234.2”, the other portable terminal 40 receives the reply message from the sensor node 20, and the received message processing unit 41a of the control unit 41 captures the reply message. It is determined whether it is an IP address. When it is determined that it is its own IP address, the value of the context information is read by accessing another field, and each information of the temperature 25 (° C.) and the illuminance 500 (Lx) is used as the context information from the mobile terminal 10 and the LCD The information is displayed on the display unit 45 through the driver 44.
When the mobile terminal 10 requests the context information of either the temperature sensor 22 or the illuminance sensor 23, the sensor node 20 transmits context information corresponding to the request to the other mobile terminal 40.

  As described above, according to the embodiment, the user of the mobile terminal 10 acquires context information of various sensors from the sensor nodes 20 and 30 existing in the vicinity even if the sensor is not mounted on the mobile terminal itself. be able to. Further, at this time, since the sensor nodes 20 and 30 do not have to be paired with the mobile terminal on a one-to-one basis, information can be obtained by appropriately exchanging messages without the pairing process. Furthermore, since the sensor nodes 20 and 30 are not occupied by a specific mobile terminal 10 due to pairing, the sensor nodes 20 and 30 can be shared and used by a plurality of mobile terminals 10.

Further, the mobile terminal 10 and the sensor nodes 20 and 30 exchange information on a peer-to-peer basis, and there is an advantage that a relay device such as a server is not required and the mounting is easy.
Also, by making broadcast available, the user of the mobile terminal 10 can acquire context information without knowing the arrangement status of the sensor nodes 20 and 30 existing in the vicinity. By using “Any_Context_Required”, it is possible to obtain the context information without knowing the acquirable context information accurately.

  Furthermore, since the requested context information can be notified to the terminal 40 by setting the destination of the message to the other portable terminal 40, for example, the child is allowed to carry the portable terminal 10 and the context information is periodically updated. By forwarding to the parent mobile terminal 40, the state of the child can be monitored.

  In the above-described embodiment, when “Any_Context_Required” is included in the message from the mobile terminal 10, the context information of the managed sensor is read and returned to the mobile terminal 10. The sensor context information of other sensor management devices arranged in the above may be acquired.

For example, when it is confirmed that the sensor management device 20 requests the sensor context information of another sensor management device arranged in the vicinity through the received message processing unit 21a, the context information is requested to the other sensor management device. A transmission message processing unit (not shown) that creates and transmits a transmission message to be transmitted, and the reception message processing unit 21a receives context information from the reception message when the message is received in response to the transmission message. Is extracted and notified to the reply message processing unit 21c. In this case, the information of the temperature sensor 22 and the illuminance sensor 23 under the control of the device 20 and the information of various sensors obtained from other sensor management devices are put in a transmission message, and the mobile terminal 10 requested Reply to The sensor management device 30 is also provided with a transmission message processing unit (not shown), and when receiving the request for the context information of the sensors of other sensor management devices arranged in the vicinity, The same processing as the sensor management device 20 is performed.
When such a configuration is adopted, the context information can be obtained without knowing the acquirable context information accurately.

  In the embodiment described above, the context information of the sensor is acquired by one mobile terminal 10, but there are a plurality of mobile terminals 10 having the same function on the system, each of which receives the context information of the sensor. Needless to say, it can be acquired.

  Further, although a description has been given using a TCP / IP network with an IP address, the network is not limited to TCP / IP, and Bluetooth, a wireless original standard, or the like may be used. Also, the address is not limited to the IP address, but may be any ID such as a MAC address that can uniquely recognize the device and can broadcast.

  In addition, a plurality of sensors having the same function may be mounted on one sensor node, or may be separately mounted on a plurality of sensor nodes. By adopting such a redundant configuration of sensors, it is possible to realize a system that is robust against sensor failures.

  In the above-described embodiment, the sensor node only communicates context information with the mobile terminal, but may communicate other information. For example, it may normally function as a base station or access point for a mobile terminal, or handle voice and data communications. When there is a request for acquiring context information, the context information can be given to voice or data using a managed sensor.

  Although the sensor node has been described as having a sensor, the sensor and the sensor node may not be connected by wire. For example, the sensor node may wirelessly communicate with other sensor nodes present in the vicinity, and sensor information may be obtained from the other sensor nodes. When such a configuration is adopted, there is an advantage that the sensor node does not need to have a sensor and the configuration of the sensor can be easily changed.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the context information acquisition system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is an example figure which shows the field information of the message for context information communication.

Explanation of symbols

10 mobile terminals, 11 terminal control units, 11a transmission message processing units, 11b reply message processing units, 20, 30 sensor nodes, 21, 31 sensor node control units,
21a, 31a Received message processing unit, 21b, 31b Sensor control unit, 21c, 31c Reply message processing unit, 22 Temperature sensor, 23 Illuminance sensor, 32 Location information transmitter.

Claims (5)

A plurality of portable terminals that communicate through a communication network, and a sensor management device that is connected to the plurality of portable terminals through a communication network and manages various sensors,
The portable terminal is
A transmission message processing unit for creating and transmitting a message for requesting sensor context information;
When a reply message is received from the sensor management device, a reply message processing unit that acquires the context information of the sensor from the reply message,
The sensor management device includes:
When a message from the mobile terminal is received, a received message processing unit that determines requested context information from the message;
A sensor control unit that selects a managed sensor from the determined context information and reads the context information detected by the sensor; and
A context information acquisition system comprising: a reply message processing unit that creates a reply message that returns the context information read by the sensor control unit and transmits the reply message to the requested mobile terminal. When the received message processing unit of the sensor management device confirms the broadcast address in the message, it determines whether or not the destination is its own address. Determine the context information and notify the sensor control unit,
2. The context information acquisition system according to claim 1, wherein the reply message processing unit of the mobile terminal acquires the context information of the sensor from an unspecified number of sensor management devices within a predetermined reception range specified by a broadcast address. . When the received message processing unit of the sensor management apparatus confirms the forward address in the message, it determines whether or not the destination is its own address. Determine the context information and notify the sensor control unit,
The reply message processing unit of the sensor management device creates a reply message that returns the context information read by the sensor control unit, and transmits it to the terminal at the forward address as the mobile terminal that requested the sensor context information. The context information acquisition system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that   When the received message processing unit of the sensor management device confirms in the message that the context information of all the managed sensors is requested, it notifies the sensor control unit to that effect and displays the context information of all the sensors. 4. The context information acquisition system according to claim 1, wherein the context information acquisition system is read. The sensor management device includes:
When it is confirmed that the context information of the sensor of another sensor management device arranged in the vicinity is requested through the reception message processing unit, a transmission message for requesting the context information is generated and transmitted to the other sensor management device. A transmission message processing unit,
The received message processing unit of the sensor management device extracts context information from the received message and notifies the reply message processing unit when a message is received in response to the transmitted message. Item 5. The context information acquisition system according to any one of Items 1 to 4.

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