JP5404234B2 - REGIONAL INFORMATION OUTPUT DEVICE, REGIONAL INFORMATION OUTPUT METHOD, AND PROGRAM - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a device for outputting information about facilities in an area indicated by a map on a map.

  As a conventional area information output device, for example, together with the current location, map data around the current location is read from the map database, displayed on the display, and when a facility display request is input from the operation unit, from the order closest to the current location There has been known a navigation device that sequentially displays detailed information on facilities on a display and highlights icons of facilities on which detailed information is displayed on map data (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2000-266550 A (first page, FIG. 1 etc.)

  However, in a conventional online map or a local information output device such as a car navigation system, a map that changes the display area of the map or gives an instruction to select a category of regional information to be displayed on the map, etc. There has been a problem that it is not possible to appropriately provide information on facilities in the area indicated by the map in accordance with the operation related to.

  For example, even if the user has performed an operation of changing the display area of the map or changing the scale in order to find information on facilities in the area that match the desired purpose (for example, to find a restaurant) In the conventional area information output device, only the map information of the area specified by the operation performed by the user and the facility information set in advance for the area are output. In response, regional information could not be output in a manner that would help find the desired purpose.

  The area information output device of the present invention includes a map information storage unit that can store map information that is information relating to a map, facility identification information that is facility identification information, facility location information that is information indicating the location of a facility, A facility information storage unit that can be stored in association with category information that is information indicating a facility category, a region designation information reception unit that receives region designation information that is information for designating a map region, and region designation information reception A map information acquisition unit that acquires map information in the region indicated by the region specification information received by the unit, a facility detection unit that detects a facility in the region specified by the region specification information using the facility position information, and map information An image information configuration unit that configures image information that is image information of a map in which information indicating the facility detected by the facility detection unit is arranged on the map indicated by the map information acquired by the acquisition unit, and an image information configuration By using the output unit that outputs the map image information configured by the category information stored in the facility information storage unit, the region designation information receiving unit newly receives the category-specific information in the region designated by the region designation information. Information that counts the number of facilities, compares the counted number of facilities with the number of facilities by category counted in the past, detects changes in the number of facilities by category, and specifies the category of the facility according to the change A category designation information acquisition unit that acquires category designation information, and the facility detection unit is associated with category information indicating a category designated by the category designation information obtained by the category designation information acquisition unit. And the output unit receives information indicating the facility detected by the facility detection unit using the category specification information. Parts are regional information output device for outputting the map image information placed on the map indicated by the map information in the area indicated by the newly received area specifying information.

  With such a configuration, the category of the facility arranged in the map is designated according to the change in the number of facilities by category output in the map in accordance with the change in the area displayed on the map. According to the operation for changing the area of the map, which is an operation related to, information on facilities in the area indicated by the map can be appropriately provided.

  Further, the area information output device according to the present invention is the area information output device, wherein the category designation information acquisition unit includes category designation information for designating a category having an increased ratio of the number of facilities as a result of comparison of the number of facilities by category. This is an area information output device to be acquired.

  With this configuration, it is possible to selectively output a facility of a category having a high ratio of the number of facilities on the map.

  Further, in the regional information output device according to the present invention, in the regional information output device, the category designation information acquisition unit has the region designation information excluding the category in which the ratio of the number of facilities is reduced as a result of the comparison of the number of facilities by category. It is an area information output device that acquires category designation information for designating a category in a designated area.

  With this configuration, it is possible to prevent a facility of a category having a low ratio of the number of facilities from being output on the map.

  In the area information output device of the present invention, in the area information output apparatus, the area designation information receiving unit transmits the area designation information corresponding to the position of the running car sequentially transmitted from the apparatus for detecting the position of the car. It is a regional information output device that accepts.

  With such a configuration, it is possible to output a map around the position of the automobile where facilities according to changes in the position of the running car are arranged.

  The area information output device according to the present invention includes a map information storage unit that can store map information that is information relating to a map, facility identification information that is facility identification information, and facility location information that is information indicating the location of the facility. Category information that is stored in association with category information that is hierarchical information indicating the category of facility, and user category designation information that receives user category designation information that is information for designating a category by the user A reception unit, a region specification information reception unit that receives region specification information that is information for specifying a map region, and a map information acquisition unit that acquires map information in the region indicated by the region specification information received by the region specification information reception unit And the category information indicating the category specified by the user category specification information received by the user category specification information receiving unit, Map image information in which information indicating the facility detected by the facility detection unit is arranged on the map indicated by the map information acquired by the map information acquisition unit and the facility detection unit that detects the facility in the region specified by the area specification information The information specifying the category according to the history of the user category specifying information received by the user category specifying information receiving unit, the output unit outputting the map image information configured by the image information configuring unit, and the user category specifying information receiving unit A category specifying information acquiring unit that acquires certain category specifying information, and the facility detecting unit is a facility in the region specified by the region specifying information that is associated with the category information indicating the category specified by the user category specifying information. And the facility associated with the category information indicating the category designated by the category designation information is detected. There are a regional information output device for outputting the map image information in which are arranged the information indicating the facility of the acquired facilities.

  With such a configuration, the category of the facility arranged in the map is changed according to the history of the category specifying the facility arranged in the map, so that the operation related to the map is arranged in the map. According to the operation of changing the category of the facility to be performed, information on the facility in the area indicated by the map can be appropriately provided.

  Further, the area information output device of the present invention is the area information output device, wherein the category designation information acquisition unit is configured such that the user category designation information received by the user category designation information receiving unit corresponds to the user category designation information received in the past. To determine the category of the higher hierarchy, and if it is higher, obtain category designation information that specifies the category specified in the user category designation information received in the past as an exclusion target, The facility detection unit is a facility in the area specified by the area specifying information that is associated with the category information indicating the category specified by the user category specifying information, and the category indicating the category specified as the exclusion target by the category specifying information. It is an area information output device that detects a facility associated with category information excluding information.

  With this configuration, it is possible to exclude the image indicating the facility that was output immediately before from the map so that information unnecessary for the user is not output.

  According to the area information output device and the like according to the present invention, it is possible to appropriately provide information on facilities in an area indicated by a map in accordance with an operation related to the map.

The block diagram of the area information output device in Embodiment 1 of this invention Flow chart for explaining the operation of the regional information output device The figure which shows the facility information management table for explaining operation of the same area information output device The figure which shows the facility information management table for explaining operation of the same area information output device The figure which shows the facility number information according to category for demonstrating operation | movement of the same area information output device The figure which shows the example of a display of the same area information output device The figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the area information output device The figure which shows the facility information management table for explaining operation of the same area information output device The figure which shows the facility number information according to category for demonstrating operation | movement of the same area information output device The figure which shows the ratio of the number of facilities according to category for explaining operation of the regional information output device The figure which shows the example of a display of the same area information output device The block diagram which shows the modification of the same area information output device The block diagram of the area information output device in Embodiment 2 of this invention Flow chart for explaining the operation of the regional information output device The figure which shows the user category designation | designated information log | history management table for demonstrating operation | movement of the same area information output device. The figure which shows the output example of the same area information output device The figure which shows the user category designation | designated information log | history management table for demonstrating operation | movement of the same area information output device. The figure which shows the category hierarchy management table for demonstrating operation | movement of the same area information output device The figure which shows the example of a display of the same area information output device The schematic diagram which shows an example of the external appearance of the computer which implement | achieves the area information output device by embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the internal structure of the computer which implement | achieves the same area information output device

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of an area information output device and the like will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, since the component which attached | subjected the same code | symbol in embodiment performs the same operation | movement, description may be abbreviate | omitted again.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an area information output device 1 in the present embodiment.
The area information output device 1 includes a map information storage unit 101, a facility information storage unit 102, a region designation information reception unit 103, a map information acquisition unit 104, a facility detection unit 105, a category designation information acquisition unit 106, and a user category designation information reception unit. 107, an image information configuration unit 108, and an output unit 109.

  The map information storage unit 101 may store one or more pieces of map information that is information related to the map. The map information is, for example, map image information. The image information may be bitmap data (raster data) or vector data. The image information may include character information. The plurality of map information stored in the map information storage unit 101 is, for example, map information indicating a map divided into tiles, and displays maps of various regions by appropriately combining these map information. be able to. Each map information may be associated with identification information. The map information storage unit 101 may store different scale maps for the same region. The “map” described here is a topographic map, a topographic map, a geological map, a land use map, or the like. Moreover, a road map, a house map, a route map, a guide map, a guide map, a bird's-eye view, etc. may be sufficient. Further, the “map” here may be an aerial photograph or satellite photograph in which the topography, roads, etc. can be grasped, or a symbol character or the like written on the aerial photograph or satellite photograph. The map information is coordinate information indicating absolute coordinates, such as the longitude and latitude of the map displayed by the map information, and a relative relationship between each map information so that the correspondence between the positions indicated by each map can be understood. You may have the coordinate information which shows a coordinate. For example, you may have the information which defines the range of the map which map information displays with the range of latitude and longitude. Note that these pieces of information may be accumulated in the map information storage unit 101 in association with the map information.

  The process in which map information is accumulated in the map information storage unit 101 is not limited. For example, map information may be accumulated in the map information storage unit 101 via a recording medium, map information transmitted via a communication line or the like may be accumulated in the map information storage unit 101, or an input device The map information input via the map information may be accumulated in the map information storage unit 101. The map information storage unit 101 is preferably a non-volatile recording medium, but can also be realized by a volatile recording medium.

  The facility information storage unit 102 can store facility identification information, which is facility identification information, facility position information, which is information indicating the location of the facility, and category information, which is information indicating the category of the facility, in association with each other. . A facility is equipment such as a building that provides a specific purpose or use, or equipment such as a building that is provided for a specific purpose or use. For example, the facility is a building that provides food and drink such as restaurants and restaurants. Alternatively, it is a building for selling products such as convenience stores and supermarkets. Further, it may be a facility, a school, a municipal office, a building such as a hall.

  The facility identification information may be information that can identify the facility. For example, the facility identification information is a facility name. The facility identification information may be a facility telephone number or an address. Alternatively, the abbreviation of the facility may be used.

  The location information of the facility may be information as long as it can specify the location of the facility on the map indicated by the map information. For example, the location information of the facility may be information on the latitude and longitude of the facility. Moreover, the combination of the information (for example, identification information of map information) which designates the map information which shows the map where the said facility is located, and the coordinate information in this map information may be sufficient. In addition, when information such as an address is assigned to the map, it may be address information such as a facility address.

  The category information is information indicating the purpose and usage category of the facility. The category information may be considered as information indicating the purpose of the facility and the classification of the usage. The category information is category identification information such as a category name or a symbol indicating the category. For example, in the case of a restaurant, the category may be information indicating the genre of food and drink provided by the restaurant, such as sushi, soba noodles, okonomiyaki, and hot pot. The category information may be hierarchized information. Hierarchical category information may be expressed in any way. For example, the hierarchical category information is represented in a format such as a path or XML in which categories in which facilities are included are arranged in order from the upper category. For example, if “sushi” is a subordinate category of “Japanese food”, and “Japanese food” is a subordinate category of “restaurant”, the category information of store A, which is a sushi restaurant, is set to “restaurant / Japanese food”. / Sushi "may be used in the form of a path. From such category information, it is possible to obtain information indicating that the category of the store A is “restaurant”, “Japanese food”, and “sushi”. When the category information is hierarchized information, all information indicating the category of each hierarchy for a certain facility may be considered as the category information of the facility. For example, in the case of the above A store, any of “restaurant”, “Japanese food”, and “sushi” may be considered as category information.

  In the facility information storage unit 102, the facility identification information, the facility location information, and the category information may be stored in direct association with each other, or may be stored in association with each other indirectly. Indirect association is, for example, that identification information corresponding to each is associated, for example, that identification information corresponding to each is associated, or one information And the identification information of the other information are associated with each other. Further, the facility identification information, the facility location information, and the category information may be stored in the physically same storage medium, but when the facility information storage unit 102 is configured by a physically different storage medium, It may be stored in each storage medium. In addition, for example, facility identification information, facility location information, and category information may be managed using management information that manages a set of these information as a plurality of items of one record. This management information may be stored in, for example, the facility information storage unit 10 or a storage unit (not shown). This also applies to two or more pieces of information stored in association with each other in other storage units.

  The process in which the facility identification information, the facility position information, and the category information are stored in the facility information storage unit 102 is not limited. For example, it can be accumulated in various manners similar to the map information storage unit 101 described above. The facility information storage unit 102 is preferably a non-volatile recording medium, but can also be realized by a volatile recording medium.

  The area designation information accepting unit 103 accepts area designation information which is information for designating a map area. As a result, the area designation information may be information that can designate an area of the map to be output. For example, the area designation information may be information that designates an area on the map information, or designates an actual area. It may be information. For example, the information is a combination of the latitude and longitude of one point (for example, the center) in an actual region desired to be displayed on a map and the size (for example, the vertical and horizontal widths) of the region based on that point. Moreover, the information which combined the latitude and the longitude of the four corners of an actual area | region or two corners which are diagonal may be sufficient. Further, the area designation information may be information indicating the position on the map information described above. For example, the map information to be displayed may be information specifying map information, for example, identification information or coordinate information in the map information to be displayed. Further, the area designation information may include information for designating a map scale or a map enlargement rate. Here, the reduction rate is also considered as the enlargement rate. Further, the area designation information may be only position information that is information indicating the position of the area displayed on the map. For example, when the area size or the like is designated by default in advance, information on the latitude and longitude of one point in the actual area to be displayed on the map may be received as the area designation information. The area designation information receiving unit 103 receives an input of a local address or a keyword such as a place name, and acquires and receives area designation information prepared in advance corresponding to the address or keyword. good.

  Note that the area designation information receiving unit 103 may receive area designation information corresponding to the position of the traveling automobile that is sequentially transmitted from the device that detects the position of the automobile. An apparatus for detecting a position is known as, for example, a GPS (global positioning system). The area designation information transmitted from the automobile is, for example, latitude and longitude information that designates a position transmitted by such GPS, or the size of the area to be displayed on the map designated by the default or the user. It is a combination with information indicating. There is no limitation on the timing at which the area designation information corresponding to the position is transmitted from such a device for detecting the position of the automobile. For example, information on the position of the vehicle may be acquired at a predetermined or indefinite timing designated in advance, and region designation information including the information may be transmitted.

  The reception of area designation information described here refers to reception of information input from an input device such as a keyboard, mouse, touch panel, reception of information transmitted via a wired or wireless communication line, an optical disk, a magnetic disk, a semiconductor It is a concept including reception of information read from a recording medium such as a memory. The area designation information input means may be anything such as a numeric keypad, a keyboard, a mouse, or a menu screen. The area designation information receiving unit 103 can be realized by a device driver of an input unit such as a numeric keypad or a keyboard, menu screen control software, or the like.

  The map information acquisition unit 104 acquires map information in the area indicated by the area designation information received by the area designation information reception unit 103. For example, the map information of the area designated by the area designation information is acquired from the map information stored in the map information storage unit 101. For example, map information including a position on the map indicating the same combination of latitude and longitude as the combination of latitude and longitude indicating the center position of the area specified by the area specification information, and centering on this combination of latitude and longitude The map information having a size corresponding to the size of the area specified by the area specifying information is acquired. Specifically, the area specified by the area specifying information is converted into the size of the map information using the scale of the map indicated by the map information by converting the size of the area specified by the area specifying information (for example, the vertical width and the horizontal width). The size of the map information corresponding to the size of is calculated. In addition, when the area designation information is information indicating a combination of latitude and longitude information of two or more corners of the area, the map information storage unit 101 selects a position (coordinates) that matches the combination of two or more latitudes and longitudes. Is detected on the map indicated by the map information stored in the map, and the map information in the area determined at these two or more positions is acquired. Further, when the area designation information is identification information of map information and information for designating an area on the map information corresponding to the identification information, the area designation information is designated from the map information designated by the area designation information. You may acquire the map information of an area | region. In addition, when the area designation information is information that designates one or more tile-shaped map information, one or more designated tile-shaped map information may be read and acquired. Note that the map information acquisition unit 104 may acquire the map information of the area designated by the area designation information in any way, or may obtain it by a method other than the above. In addition, since the structure which acquires the map information of the area | region designated with area | region designation | designated information is a well-known technique in Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 2005-165055 etc., detailed description is abbreviate | omitted here, for example. The map information acquisition unit 104 can be usually realized by an MPU, a memory, or the like. The processing procedure of the map information acquisition unit 104 is usually realized by software, and the software is recorded in a recording medium such as a ROM. However, it may be realized by hardware (dedicated circuit).

  The facility detection unit 105 detects a facility in the region designated by the region designation information using the facility position information. For example, if the facility location information is information indicating a combination of the actual facility latitude and longitude, the latitude and longitude range of the region specified by the region specification information is acquired from the information indicated by the region specification information, and The facility whose location indicated by the facility location information is within this range is detected. When the area designation information includes, for example, a combination of the latitude and longitude of the center of the area and the size (vertical width and horizontal width) of the area, the latitude range of the area and the longitude range are indicated from these pieces of information. Calculate information. Further, when the area designation information is information indicating the latitude range and longitude range of the area, this information may be acquired as it is. In addition, when the area designation information is information for designating an area on the map information, the area designation is performed using information indicating a combination of the latitude and longitude of the area indicated by the map information associated with the map information. Information on the latitude range and longitude range of the actual area indicated by the information may be acquired, and a facility whose position indicated by the corresponding facility location information is within this range may be detected.

  The facility detection unit 105 is a facility associated with category information indicating a category specified by the acquired category specification information when the category specification information acquisition unit 106 described later acquires the category specification information. The facility that is the facility in the region designated by the region designation information may be detected. The category information indicating the category specified by the category specification information means that the category specified by the category specification information not only matches the category specified by the category specification information but also belongs to the category specified by the category specification information. You may think. For example, belonging to a category may be the same category as the category specified by the category designation information, or may be a category below the category designated by the category designation information. Accordingly, the facility detection unit 105 is configured such that the position indicated by the corresponding facility position information is a facility in the area specified by the area specifying information, and the category indicated by the corresponding category information is the category specified by the category specifying information described later. A facility belonging to may be detected. For example, the facility detection unit 105 detects a facility associated with category information having the same category name as the category name designated by the category designation information.

  Further, the facility detection unit 105 specifies that the received user category designation information is designated when the user category designation information accepting unit 107 (to be described later) accepts the user category designation information, as in the case where the category designation information is acquired. The facility in the area specified by the area specifying information associated with the category information indicating the category to be detected may be detected. Alternatively, when the user category designation information receiving unit 107 described later accepts user category designation information, the received category category information is associated with category information indicating the category designated by the received user category designation information and designated by the category designation information. You may detect the facility in the area | region which the area | region designation | designated information matched with the category information which shows a category. For example, when the user category specification information is information specifying a higher category and the category specification information is information specifying a lower category, the user category specification information is a direct lower category of the category specified by the user category specification information. Thus, the facility corresponding to the category that is the lower category designated by the category designation information is detected from the area designated by the area designation information. For example, when two or more categories indicated by the category designation information belong to two or more different upper categories, only the category belonging to the one upper category designated by the user attribute designation information is set as a detection target category. You can narrow down.

  If the category designation information is information for designating a category to be excluded from the category of the facility to be output, the facility detection unit 105 excludes the category to be excluded designated by the category designation information. May be detected. For example, the facility detection unit 105 is a facility in an area designated by the area designation information that is associated with category information indicating a category designated by the user category designation information, and designates the category designation information as an exclusion target. The facility associated with the category information excluding the category information indicating the category may be detected.

  For example, the facility detection unit 105 may read out the facility identification information and the like of the detected facility and store it in a storage medium (not shown), or among the records of information about the facility stored in the facility information storage unit 102 A flag or the like indicating the detection may be set on the record of the detected facility. The facility detection unit 105 can usually be realized by an MPU, a memory, or the like. The processing procedure of the facility detection unit 105 is usually realized by software, and the software is recorded in a recording medium such as a ROM. However, it may be realized by hardware (dedicated circuit).

  The category designation information acquisition unit 106 uses the category information stored in the facility information storage unit 102 to determine the number of facilities by category in the area designated by the area designation information newly received by the area designation information reception unit 103. Count. This is information for comparing the number of the counted facilities with the number of facilities for each category counted in the past, detecting a change regarding the number of facilities for each category, and specifying the category of the facility according to the change. Get category specification information.

  The category designation information described here is, for example, information for designating a category of a facility to be output on a map. However, the information may be information that specifies the category of the facility to be output as a result, and may be information that specifies the category of the facility to be excluded from the output target. That is, it may be information specifying the category of the facility to be excluded. For example, when the category designation information is information for designating the category of the facility to be excluded from the output target, the facility detection unit 105 described later detects the facility from the category excluding the category to be excluded specified by the category designation information. To do.

  For example, the category designation information acquisition unit 106 first counts the number of facilities for each category for the facilities detected by the facility detection unit 105. The count by the category designation information acquisition unit 106 is triggered by a predetermined or indefinite timing designated in advance, the reception of area designation information newly received by the area designation information reception unit 103, or the like. However, a trigger etc. are not ask | required. For example, when category information is hierarchized, the count for each category described here is performed by counting the number of facilities having the same category (specifically, category information) in a predetermined hierarchy. . The category of the hierarchy specified in advance may be, for example, the lowest category or the nth category (n is a natural number) from the highest. The category hierarchy may be designated in advance by default, or may be changed according to the scale of the map. The category designation information acquisition unit 106 stores the counted number of facility information for each category in association with the category in a storage medium (not shown) or the like. Associating with a category may be considered as associating with category information, for example. The category designation information acquisition unit 106 uses the information on the number of facilities by category to calculate the ratio of the number of facilities by category to the number of facilities in the area, and stores the calculation result in association with each category. Also good.

  Next, the category designation information acquisition unit 106 reads information on the number of facilities for each category counted in the past from a storage medium or the like (not shown). The information on the number of facilities for each category counted in the past described here is preferably information on the number of facilities for each category counted immediately before in view of the latest change. For example, the category designation information acquisition unit 106 reads information on the number of facilities for each category counted immediately before from a storage medium (not shown). Then, the number of facilities by category counted for the facilities in the area designated by the newly received area designation information, that is, the number of facilities for the latest area, and the number of facilities by category counted immediately before, that is, the area immediately before Comparison with the number of facilities in each category. The comparison regarding the number of facilities by category performed here means comparison using the number of facilities by category. This comparison is, for example, a comparison of the ratio of the number of facilities by category. That is, the ratio of the newly counted number of facilities by category to the total number of facilities counted in the same area and the total number of facilities counted in the same area of the number of facilities counted by category in the past It is a comparison with the ratio. The comparison process described here may be considered, for example, as a process of determining whether the ratio of facilities by category has increased or decreased. Specifically, this is a process of calculating the difference in the ratio of the number of facilities for each category. The comparison described here may be a simple comparison of the number of facilities by category. Further, the average of the ratio of the number of facilities by category for the past m times (m is an integer of 2 or more) may be compared with the ratio of the number of facilities by category newly counted. Alternatively, it may be a comparison of the ratio from the number of facilities by category in the past m times (m is an integer of 2 or more) to the newly counted number of facilities by category. This comparison may be other than the above comparison. Note that the number of facilities by category counted in the past and the number of facilities by category newly counted are usually the number of facilities by category counted for different areas.

  The category designation information acquisition unit 106 detects a change related to the number of facilities for each category through the above comparison. The change related to the number of facilities by category is, for example, the ratio of the number of facilities by category or the increase or decrease of the number of facilities. This change may be considered as the rate of change. The process of detecting the change may be considered as a process of determining whether or not the value of the difference in the ratio of the number of facilities by category is positive, for example.

  Then, the category designation information acquisition unit 106 acquires category designation information for designating a category according to the change detection result. The acquired category designation information is temporarily stored in a storage medium (not shown). The category designation information may be information that can designate one or more categories, and may be category information such as a category name or a symbol indicating a category. As described above, the category designation information only needs to be information that can designate a category to be designated as an output target as a result. For example, the category designation information may be information that designates a category not desired to be designated, that is, a category desired to be excluded. “According to a change detection result” means, for example, that category designation information is acquired in accordance with a rule or the like designated in advance according to a change detection result.

  The category designation information acquisition unit 106 acquires, for example, category designation information that designates a category whose ratio of the number of facilities has increased as a result of comparison of the number of facilities by category.

  In addition, the category designation information acquisition unit 106 reduces the ratio of the number of facilities from the category of one or more facilities in the area specified by the newly acquired area designation information as a result of the above-mentioned comparison of the number of facilities by category. You may acquire the category designation | designated information which designates the category except a category. Obtaining according to the result of change may be considered to include not obtaining depending on the result of change.

  The category designation information acquisition unit 106 can usually be realized by an MPU, a memory, or the like. The processing procedure of the category designation information acquisition unit 106 is usually realized by software, and the software is recorded on a recording medium such as a ROM. However, it may be realized by hardware (dedicated circuit).

  The user category designation information accepting unit 107 accepts user category designation information that is designated by the user and is information for designating a category. The user category designation information is information for designating a category that the user wants to output, for example. However, the user category designation information may be information that eventually designates a category that is desired to be output, for example, information that designates a category that is desired to be excluded from the output target. For example, when the user category designation information is information for designating a category to be excluded, the facility detection unit 105 detects a facility of a category excluding the category to be excluded designated by the user category designation information. Since the user category designation information is the same information as the category designation information described above, detailed description thereof is omitted here.

  The reception described here is, for example, reception from an input unit, reception of an input signal transmitted from another device, reading of information from a recording medium, or the like. The user category designation information input means may be anything such as a numeric keypad, keyboard, mouse or menu screen. The user category designation information receiving unit 107 can be realized by a device driver for input means such as a numeric keypad or a keyboard, control software for a menu screen, and the like.

  The image information configuration unit 108 configures map image information that is image information of a map in which information indicating the facility detected by the facility detection unit 105 is arranged on the map indicated by the map information acquired by the map information acquisition unit 104. When the map information acquired by the map information acquisition unit 104 includes a plurality of pieces of map information, the image information configuration unit 108 may compose the map image information by appropriately combining the map information. Further, the image information configuration unit 108 arranges map image information in which information indicating the facility detected by the facility detection unit 105 is arranged at a position corresponding to the actual position of the facility detected by the facility detection unit 105 on the map information. Configure. For example, the image information configuration unit 108 acquires coordinate information on the facility map from the facility location information of the facility detected by the facility detection unit 105. For example, the latitude and longitude indicated by the facility position information are converted by calculating using the latitude and longitude information of the map information acquired by the map information acquisition unit 104, and the coordinate information of the facility on the map information is acquired. To do. Further, when the facility position information is coordinates on the map information, the coordinate information on the map information may be simply acquired. The information indicating the facility may be arranged and synthesized on the map image information configured using the map information, or the information indicating the facility is arranged when the map image information is configured using the map information. Information may be configured. The information indicating the facility is, for example, information for indicating a position on the map where the facility exists, and is usually information associated with the facility identification information of the facility. The information indicating the facility may be, for example, facility identification information such as the above-described facility name, or may be image information or character information such as an icon, a mark, or a sign associated with the facility identification information. The image information may be vector data or bitmap data. The image information may be a still image or a moving image. For example, the image information configuration unit 108 may configure map image information in which character string information of a facility name is arranged at a position on a map corresponding to the facility. Further, the image information indicating the facility stored in advance in a storage medium (not shown) or the like may be read, and the map image information may be configured by arranging the image information indicating the facility at the position of the map information corresponding to the facility. In this case, a link button for the corresponding facility identification information or the like is set in the image information so that the correspondence between the facility image information and the facility identification information such as the facility name can be understood, or the image information indicating the facility It is preferable that image information such as a table in which information such as numbers is combined and the numbers are associated with facility identification information such as facility names is also configured as part of the map image information. The map image information may be image information including information attached to the map as described above. For example, when the map information acquisition unit 104, the facility detection unit 105, or the like acquires new map information or performs a facility detection process, the image information configuration unit 108 reconstructs image information. For example, when the facility detection unit 105 detects a facility using the category designation information, the image information configuration unit 108 uses the region designation information newly received by the region designation information reception unit 103 as information indicating the detected facility. The map image information arranged on the map indicated by the map information in the area indicated by the information is configured. However, the timing for reconstructing the image information does not matter. In addition, you may think that the process which comprises the map image information described here is a process until it writes map image information in what is called VRAM. The image information configuration unit 108 can usually be realized by an MPU, a memory, or the like. The processing procedure of the image information configuration unit 108 is usually realized by software, and the software is recorded on a recording medium such as a ROM. However, it may be realized by hardware (dedicated circuit).

  The output unit 109 outputs the map image information configured by the image information configuration unit 108. Further, for example, when the facility detection unit 105 detects a facility using the category designation information, the output unit 109 displays the map image information configured by the image information configuration unit 108, that is, information indicating the detected facility. The area designation information receiving unit 103 outputs the map image information arranged on the map indicated by the map information in the area indicated by the area designation information newly received. The output described here means display on a display, projection using a projector, printing on a printer, transmission to an external device, storage on a recording medium, processing result to other processing devices or other programs, etc. It is a concept that includes delivery. The output unit 109 may or may not include an output device such as a display. The output unit 109 can be realized by output device driver software, or output device driver software and an output device.

  Next, an example of operation | movement of the area information output device 1 is demonstrated using the flowchart of FIG. Here, the category designation information acquisition unit 106 obtains category designation information indicating a category in which the newly counted ratio of the number of facilities by category is increased with respect to the ratio of the number of facilities by category as the previous count result. An example of the case will be described.

  (Step S201) The user category designation information receiving unit 107 determines whether user category designation information has been received. If accepted, the process proceeds to step S202. If not accepted, the process returns to step S201.

  (Step S202) The region designation information receiving unit 103 determines whether or not region designation information has been received. If accepted, the process proceeds to step S203. If not accepted, the process returns to step S202.

  (Step S203) The map information acquisition unit 104 acquires map information corresponding to the map region specified by the region specification information received in step S202 from the map information storage unit 101. For example, map information having a predesignated size centered on latitude and longitude included in the area designation information is acquired. For example, the map information acquisition unit 104 may cut out map information of a necessary size from the map information stored in the map information storage unit 101.

  (Step S204) The facility detection unit 105 is a facility associated with category information indicating the category designated by the user category designation information received in Step S201, and the corresponding facility location information is the region designation received in Step S202. The facility indicating the position in the area specified by the information is detected. The determination as to whether the facility location information is within the area designated by the area designation information is, for example, the actual latitude and longitude of the area designated by the area designation information, the latitude and longitude information included in the area designation information, It is obtained by calculation or the like using information such as the size of the region, and it is determined whether or not the combination of the latitude and longitude of the facility indicated by the facility position information is included in the region. If detected, the facility identification information of the detected facility may be acquired and stored in a storage medium (not shown), or the record that manages the information about the detected facility indicates that it has been detected. A flag or the like may be set. When category designation information is acquired in step S211 or the like described later, the facility detection unit 105 is a facility detected as described above, and further indicates a category indicating the category designated by the category designation information. The facility associated with the information is detected. That is, the facility is detected using the category designation information as a further AND condition.

  (Step S205) The category designation information acquisition unit 106 counts the number of facilities for each category for the facilities detected in Step S204. The category here is assumed to be a category of a hierarchy specified in advance, for example. Or it is good also as a category of the hierarchy of one lower level of the category designated by user category designation information. The number of facilities as the count result is accumulated in a storage medium (not shown) for each category.

  (Step S206) The category designation information acquisition unit 106 determines whether there is a count result that has already been accumulated before the count is performed in Step S205, that is, the number of facilities by category. If there is, the process proceeds to step S209, and if not, the process proceeds to step S207.

  (Step S207) The image information configuration unit 108 configures map image information in which information indicating the facility detected in Step S204 is arranged on the map indicated by the map information acquired in Step S203.

  (Step S208) The output unit 109 outputs the map image information configured in step S207. Then, the process returns to step S202.

  (Step S209) The category designation information acquisition unit 106, for the latest information on the number of facilities by category stored in the previous step S205, indicates the number of facilities by category acquired immediately before, that is, the previous one. Information is read from a storage medium (not shown). Note that before and after the count result may be determined from information such as a count end time accumulated in association with the count result, a storage time of the count result, and the like. Alternatively, a value such as a number incremented for each accumulation may be added to the accumulated count result, and the determination may be made from this value.

  (Step S210) The category designation information acquisition unit 106 determines whether there is a category in which the ratio of the number of facilities has increased. If there is, the process proceeds to step S211, and if not, the process returns to step S207.

  (Step S211) The category designation information acquisition unit 106 acquires category designation information indicating the category for which the ratio is determined to have increased in step S210.

  (Step S212) The facility detection unit 105 detects a facility using the user category designation information, the category designation information, and the region designation information, as in step S204.

  (Step S213) Similarly to step S205, the category designation information acquisition unit 106 counts the number of facilities for each category for the facilities detected in step S212. The count result is accumulated as in step S205. Then, the process returns to step S207.

  In the flowchart of FIG. 2, the process is terminated by powering off or a process termination interrupt.

  Hereinafter, a specific operation of the area information output device 1 in the present embodiment will be described.

(Concrete example)
First, it is assumed that the map information storage unit 101 stores one or more pieces of map information in advance. Here, as an example, at least map information of Kyoto is stored.

  Further, it is assumed that the facility information storage unit 102 stores information about the facility in advance. Here, as an example, it is assumed that at least information about facilities in Kyoto is stored.

  FIG. 3 is a facility information management table for managing information about facilities stored in the facility information storage unit 102. The facility information management table has items of “ID”, “facility name”, “position (latitude, longitude)”, “category information”, and “detection”. “ID” is identification information for managing a record of information about each facility. The “facility name” is a facility name. Here, a case where a facility name is used as the facility identification information is shown as an example. “Position (latitude, longitude)” is facility location information, and here indicates the actual latitude and longitude of the facility. “Category information” is category information. Here, the category information is hierarchized. In this “category information”, the hierarchized categories are represented in order from the higher-order category as described above through “/”. However, the category hierarchy may be managed in any way. “Detection” is so-called flag information indicating whether or not the facility detection unit 105 detects the facility record. Here, it is assumed that a value of “1” is a record of a detected facility, and a value of “0” is a record of a facility that has not been detected. In the initial stage, all values are “0”.

  First, the user operates the operation menu or the like using a mouse or a keyboard with respect to the regional information output device 1, and indicates a facility whose category is “Japanese food”. It is assumed that an instruction to display information is given. In response to this instruction, the area designation information receiving unit 103 receives area designation information for designating an area around Kyoto station. The user category designation information receiving unit 107 receives user category designation information “Japanese food”.

  The map information acquisition unit 104 acquires the map information around the Kyoto station from the map information storage unit 101 using the area designation information indicating the area around the Kyoto station accepted by the area designation information accepting unit 103. In addition, since the process which acquires the map information of the designated area | region is a well-known technique, detailed description is abbreviate | omitted here.

  Next, the facility detection unit 105 detects a facility in a category designated by the user category designation information, which is a facility in the region designated by the region designation information received by the region designation information receiving unit 103. Here, first, information indicating the range of latitude and longitude of the area specified by the area specifying information is obtained from the area specifying information by calculation. Then, from each record of the facility information management table shown in FIG. 3, the value of the “position (latitude, longitude)” item, which is the facility position information of each facility, is acquired in order, and the latitude and longitude of these values are obtained. Whether the combination indicates a position within the range of latitude and longitude specified by the area specifying information is sequentially determined for each record.

  And about the record judged to show the position within the range of the latitude and longitude which area specification information specifies, one of the values of "category information" corresponds with "Japanese food" which is user category specification information Determine whether or not. For example, the “category information” of the record whose “ID” is “001” is “gourmet / restaurant / Japanese food / sushi”, so “gourmet”, “restaurant”, “Japanese food”, and “sushi”. It has four categories of different hierarchies. Since this “category information” has a category “Japanese food”, it is determined that the category information of this record is the same category as the category indicated by the user category designation information. In this way, the facility detection unit 105 changes the “detection” value of the record having “category designation information” determined to include a category that matches the category designated by the user category designation information to “1”. . The user category designation information that exists in the area designated by the area designation information received by the area designation information accepting section 103 detected by the facility detection section 105 is the facility of the record whose “detection” value is “1”. The facility belongs to the specified category

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a facility information management table in which the detection result is reflected by the facility detection unit 105. Here, the facilities corresponding to the records with “ID” “001”, “004” to “007”, and “009” to “013” are detected by the facility detection unit 105. As a result, “detection” of these records is detected. The value of is updated to “1”.

  Next, the category designation information acquisition unit 106 counts the number of facilities by category for all the facilities detected by the facility detection unit 105. Here, all lower-level categories that can be assigned to each facility are prepared in advance. Then, one of the categories is read out, and from the records managed in the facility information management table, the value of “category information” is a record including a category that matches the one read out category. Then, a record having a “detection” value of “1” in the facility information management table is searched, and the number of searched records is counted. This count is the number of facilities in this one category. Similar processing is repeated for other categories among all the categories prepared in advance. The number of facilities of each category acquired in this way is stored in a storage medium (not shown) in association with each category.

  FIG. 5 shows the number of facilities by category indicating the number of facilities by category acquired by the category designation information acquisition unit 106. In the figure, “category” is a category that is designated in advance and has the lowest hierarchy that can be assigned to facilities. “Count number #n” (where n is a positive integer) is the count number of each category counted n times, that is, the number of facilities. Here, since it is the first count, “count number # 1” is set. It is assumed that this item is added every time count processing is performed. The count of facilities that are not counted is “0”.

  Next, the image information configuration unit 108 sequentially acquires image information for indicating the facilities detected by the facility detection unit 105 for each facility from a storage medium (not shown) prepared in advance. The image information indicating the facility acquired here is, for example, image information in which one character of a different alphabet is arranged. Then, the map image information in which the facility image information is arranged at the position indicated by the facility position information of each facility on the map image information configured using the map information acquired by the map information acquisition unit 104 is configured. In addition, the image information configuration unit 108 associates the facility name of each facility with a letter of the alphabet included in the image information acquired for each facility so that the correspondence between each facility and the image information can be understood. Configure the facility image correspondence table. In addition, in this way, the facility image showing the correspondence relationship between the image showing the facility and the facility name, etc., constituting the map image information in which the image showing the facility is arranged at the position where the facility is arranged on the map Since the processing for constructing the correspondence table and the like is a known technique, a detailed description thereof is omitted here.

  The output unit 109 displays the map image information configured by the image information configuration unit 108 on a monitor (not shown).

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a display example of map image information. As shown in the figure, on the map 60, one or more images 61 composed of image information for indicating facilities are arranged. A facility image correspondence table 62 is arranged at the lower left side of the map 60. An image 63 indicating a category designated by the user is displayed on the upper left side of the map 60.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 7, the user gives an instruction to enlarge and display a part of the area 70 in the map 60 by operating the mouse or the like on the map 60 shown in FIG. 6. To do.

  The area designation information receiving unit 103 receives area designation information corresponding to the changed area 70. And the map information acquisition part 104 acquires map information similarly to the above about the area | region which this changed area | region designation | designated information designates. In addition, the facility detection unit 105 detects a facility in the region designated by the region designation information in the same manner as described above.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a facility information management table detected by the facility detection unit 105 and reflected by the facility detection unit 105. Here, as a result of detecting the facilities corresponding to the records with “ID” “001”, “004” to “006”, “009” by the facility detection unit 105, the “detection” of these records is detected. The value is changed to “1”, and the value of “detection” in other records is changed to “0”.

  Next, the category designation information acquisition unit 106 counts the number of facilities for each category as described above, and acquires the number of facilities for each category.

  FIG. 9 shows the number-of-category facility number information indicating the number of facilities by category acquired by the category designation information acquisition unit 106. Here, a record of the information on the number of facilities by category acquired this time is added to the information on the number of facilities by category shown in FIG. “Count # 2” is the value of the number of facilities by category acquired this time.

  Next, the category designation information acquisition unit 106 uses the information on the number of facilities for each category acquired this time, that is, the record “count number # 2”, to detect all the facilities detected in the area designated by the area designation information. The ratio of the number of facilities in each category to the number is calculated. Similarly, each category for all facilities detected in the area designated by the area designation information using the information on the number of facilities by category acquired immediately before, that is, the record “count number # 1”. The ratio of the number of facilities is calculated.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the ratio of the number of facilities by category calculated by the category designation information acquisition unit 106. In the figure, “category” is a category, “ratio # 2” is the ratio (%) of the number of facilities by category calculated using the record “count number # 2,” and “ratio # 1” is “ The ratio (%) of the number of facilities for each category calculated using the record “count # 1” is shown.

  The category designation information acquisition unit 106 uses the calculated ratio of the number of facilities by category to calculate a difference by category between the ratio of the number of facilities this time and the ratio of the number of facilities immediately before. Specifically, for each category, the difference is obtained by subtracting the ratio of the previous number of facilities from the ratio of the number of facilities this time. Then, a category in which this difference is positive is detected. For example, since the ratio of the number of facilities this time in the “sushi” category is 80% and the ratio of the number of facilities immediately before is 60%, the difference is 20%, which is positive. Therefore, the category designation information acquisition unit 106 detects the category “sushi” as a category having a positive difference. Further, for example, the ratio of the number of facilities this time in the “yakitori” category is 20%, and the ratio of the number of facilities just before is 20%, so the difference is 0%, which is not positive. For this reason, the category designation information acquisition unit 106 does not detect this category “yakitori” as a category having a positive difference.

  In this way, it is assumed here that only the “sushi” category is detected. The category designation information acquisition unit 106 acquires category designation information for designating this “sushi”.

  Since the category designation information acquisition unit 106 has acquired the category designation information, the facility detection unit 105 is a facility in the area designated by the area designation information received by the area designation information reception unit 103, as described above. The facility of the category designated by the designation information is detected, and the facility associated with the category information that matches the category designated by the category designation information is detected from the detected facilities. That is, a facility located in the region 70 designated by the region designation information and having “Japanese food” and “Sushi” as category information is detected. Here, the facilities associated with the records whose “ID” is “001”, “004”, “005”, “009”, that is, “A store”, “D store”, “E store”, “I” "Store" is detected.

  Further, in the same manner as described above, the number of facilities is counted for each detected facility, and a record indicating the number of facilities for each category indicating the count result is added to the number of facilities for each category shown in FIG. Note that counting here may be omitted. Similarly to the above, map image information in which information indicating the facility detected by the facility detection unit 105 is arranged using the map information acquired by the map information acquisition unit 104 is configured by the image information configuration unit 108, and an output unit 109.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a map display example by the output unit 109. Here, a map of the area 70 shown in FIG. 7 is displayed. Further, only an image 61 indicating a facility whose category is “sushi” is arranged on the map.

  In addition, when the category designation information is not obtained by the category designation information acquisition unit 106, the information indicating the facility detected by the facility detection unit 105 is obtained using the map information acquired by the map information acquisition unit 104 as described above. The arranged map image information is constructed and output.

  For example, when the user is searching for a facility of a desired category while changing the area displayed on the map, the display area is changed to an area where many facilities of interest to the user are arranged, It is conceivable to enlarge an area around a facility and display an image. Therefore, as in this specific example, when the ratio of the number of facilities when the designation of the area to be displayed is changed is increased compared to before the area change, the increased facilities By displaying only the facilities of this category on the map assuming that the facilities are in the category of interest, the user can easily find the facility of interest. For example, by narrowing down the categories and displaying the facilities on the map, it is possible to avoid overlooking the facilities in the desired category by being mixed in with many categories of facilities. In addition, since only the facilities of the category that the user is interested in while browsing the map are output, there is no need to newly specify the category by manual input or the like. Thereby, the operability can be improved.

  In the above specific example, the case where the category designation information acquisition unit 106 obtains category designation information for designating a category in which the ratio of the number of facilities in the current area is higher than the ratio of the number of facilities in the immediately preceding area will be described. However, the category designation information acquisition unit 106 excludes the category in which the ratio of the number of facilities in the current area is lower than the ratio of the number of facilities in the immediately preceding area from all the categories to which the facilities detected in the current area belong. You may make it acquire the category designation | designated information which designates the selected category. Or you may make it acquire the category designation | designated information which designates the category which excluded the predetermined number of categories in an order from the category with the large ratio reduction | decrease from the category where the ratio decreased.

(Modification)
In this modification, the area information output device 1 having the configuration shown in FIG. 1 is mounted on a vehicle, and a position detection unit such as a GPS is further provided, and information on the current location of the vehicle output from the position detection unit. The area designation information will be described as an example when the area designation information accepting unit 103 accepts the area designation information. The area information output device 1a of this modified example may be considered as a part of a so-called car navigation system, and a GPS or the like of the car navigation system may be used as the position detection unit.

  FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the area information output device 1a of the present modification. In the figure, the configuration other than the position detection unit 1201 is the same as in FIG.

  The position detection unit 1201 acquires position information indicating the current location. The position information is information that combines, for example, latitude and longitude. The position detection unit 1201 may perform position detection in any way. For example, like GPS, signals from a plurality of satellites may be received by a receiver, and the current position may be detected using a time difference between transmission and reception. Alternatively, the current position may be detected from the strength of radio waves transmitted from a plurality of wireless LAN access points, a plurality of base stations of mobile phones, and the like. Since such a position detection technique is publicly known, description thereof is omitted. The position detection unit 1201 outputs information indicating the position detection result to the region designation information reception unit 103. The position detection unit 1201 is, for example, a GPS. The position detection unit 1201 may perform position detection at any timing. For example, position detection may be performed at a predetermined timing that is specified in advance or at a predetermined time, or position detection may be performed when specified by the user. The position detection unit 1201 can be usually realized by an MPU, a memory, or the like. The processing procedure of the position detection unit 1201 is usually realized by software, and the software is recorded on a recording medium such as a ROM. However, it may be realized by hardware (dedicated circuit).

  Note that the region designation information receiving unit 103 in this modification may be considered as an input interface for receiving the region designation information output from the position detection unit 1201.

  The regional information output device 1a of this modification may be considered as a part of a so-called car navigation system, and the position detection unit 1201 may also be used as a GPS of a car navigation system.

  For example, if the user is moving around Kyoto Station by car and wants to search for a Japanese restaurant, as described above, the area information output device 1 is activated and the information “Japanese food” is input. The user category designation information accepting unit 107 accepts user category designation information “Japanese food”.

  The position detection unit 1201 detects and outputs position information of the current position of the automobile, here, for example, information combining latitude and longitude as an example at a predetermined timing. The area designation information receiving unit 103 receives the position information of the current position output from the position detection unit 1201. The area information acquisition unit 104 acquires map information in a predetermined range specified in advance with the current position as the center, using the position information of the current position received by the area designation information reception unit 103. In addition, the facility detection unit 105 detects a facility whose category is “Japanese food” within a predetermined range centered on the current position. Then, as in the above specific example, after counting the number of facilities by category, information on a map including an image showing the facility is displayed on a monitor or the like (not shown).

  Further, if the position detection unit 1201 detects and outputs the position information of the current position of the car at the next timing after a predetermined time has elapsed, the area designation information reception unit 103 is configured so that the position detection unit 1201 The output current position information is received. In addition, the area information acquisition unit 104 acquires map information in a predetermined range that is specified in advance with the current position as the center, using the position information of the current position received by the area designation information reception unit 103. In addition, the facility detection unit 105 detects a facility whose category is “Japanese food” within a predetermined range centered on the current position.

  Here, as in the above specific example, the category designation information acquisition unit 106 counts the number of facilities detected by this current position information for each category, and calculates the ratio to the number of all facilities detected at the same position. calculate. Further, the ratio of the number of facilities by category detected at the position immediately before the automobile to the number of all facilities detected at the same position immediately before is calculated. Then, a category whose ratio is increased is detected, and category designation information indicating this category is acquired. Then, similarly to the above specific example, using this category designation information, the facility in the area indicated by the current position is detected again, and map image information is constructed and output.

  In such a modification, the area designation information indicating the current position can be acquired at any time according to the driving of the automobile, so that the map display area is changed along with the driving of the automobile and the map display area is changed. It is possible to present an image showing facilities belonging to the category determined according to the change on the map. For example, it is possible to selectively show a facility of a category whose number of facilities is increasing in the traveling direction on the map. Alternatively, the facilities of the category excluding the category where the number of facilities decreases in the traveling direction can be selectively shown on the map.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, according to a change in the number of facilities by category, for example, a change in the ratio of the number of facilities by category, a facility of an appropriate category is detected and output on the map. Information on facilities in the area indicated by the map can be appropriately provided in accordance with the related operation, specifically, the change of the area to be output of the map.

(Embodiment 2)
FIG. 13 is a block diagram of the area information output device 2 in the present embodiment.
The regional information output device 2 includes a map information storage unit 101, a facility information storage unit 102, a region designation information reception unit 103, a map information acquisition unit 104, a user category designation information reception unit 107, an output unit 109, a facility detection unit 200, a category A designation information acquisition unit 201 and an image information configuration unit 202 are provided.

  Since the map information storage unit 101, the facility information storage unit 102, the area designation information reception unit 103, the map information acquisition unit 104, the user category designation information reception unit 107, and the output unit 109 are the same as in the above embodiment, The description is omitted here. However, here, the category information associated with the facility is hierarchical information.

  The facility detection unit 200 detects a facility in the region specified by the region specification information associated with the category information indicating the category specified by the user category specification information received by the user category specification information reception unit. Further, the facility detection unit 200, when the category designation information acquisition unit 201 described later acquires category designation information, the area designated by the area designation information associated with the category information indicating the category designated by the user category designation information And the facility associated with the category information indicating the category designated by the category designation information is detected. The facility detection unit 200 detects a facility in the region specified by the region specification information that is associated with the category information indicating the category specified by the user category specification information received by the user category specification information reception unit 107. Since it is the same as the facility detection unit 105 of the first embodiment, description thereof is omitted here. Further, it is a facility in the area designated by the area designation information that is associated with the category information indicating the category designated by the user category designation information, and is associated with the category information indicating the category designated by the category designation information. In the process of detecting the facility, for example, the facility associated with the category specified by the category specifying information may be searched and the facility may be detected. For example, a facility associated with category information indicating a category specified by the category specification information is selected from facilities in the region specified by the area specification information, which are associated with category information indicating the category specified by the user category specification information. What is necessary is just to make it detect.

  In addition, when the category designation information is information for designating a category to be excluded from the category of the facility to be output, the facility detection unit 200 excludes the category to be excluded designated by the category designation information. May be detected. That is, the facility detection unit 200 is a facility in the area specified by the area specifying information that is associated with the category information indicating the category specified by the user category specifying information, and the category specified by the category specifying information as an exclusion target. The facility associated with the category information excluding the category information indicating “” may be detected. For example, it is a facility in the area designated by the area designation information, which is associated with the category information indicating the category designated by the user category designation information, and is associated with the category information indicating the category designated by the category designation information. In the process of detecting a facility, for example, a facility associated with a category to be excluded designated by category designation information may be searched so that this facility is not detected. For example, from the facilities in the area specified by the area specification information, which is associated with the category information indicating the category specified by the user category specification information, it is associated with the category information indicating the category to be excluded specified by the category specification information. Excluded facilities should be excluded.

  The facility detection unit 200 can usually be realized by an MPU, a memory, or the like. The processing procedure of the facility detection unit 200 is usually realized by software, and the software is recorded in a recording medium such as a ROM. However, it may be realized by hardware (dedicated circuit).

  The category designation information acquisition unit 201 acquires category designation information that is information for designating a category in accordance with the history of user category designation information received by the user category designation information reception unit 107. The category designation information acquired by the category designation information acquisition unit 201 is information for designating the category of the facility to be output, for example. However, the category designation information may be information that designates the category of the facility to be excluded that is desired to be excluded from the output target as long as it is information that specifies the output target category as a result. That is, information specifying the category of the facility to be excluded may be considered as category specifying information. In this case, the category designated by the category designation information is a category excluding the category designated by the category designation information as an exclusion target.

The category designation information acquisition unit 201 stores, for example, information indicating the history of the user category designation information received by the user category designation information reception unit 107 in a history storage unit (not shown) configured by a storage medium or the like. Specifically, I will add. When accumulating, for example, information such as the accepted order, the number indicating the accumulated order, the received time, the accumulated time, etc. Information is stored in association with user category designation information. Then, using this history, the category designation information acquisition unit 201 detects a category to be output, and acquires category designation information of the detected category. Alternatively, the category designation information acquisition unit 201 may detect a category to be excluded using the above history, and may acquire category designation information that designates the detected category as a category to be excluded. For example, the category designation information acquisition unit 201 indicates whether or not the user category designation information received by the user category designation information reception unit 107 indicates a category in a higher hierarchy than the user category designation information received in the past. If it is higher, category designation information that excludes the category designated by the user category designation information received in the past is acquired. The user category designation information received in the past described here is preferably the user category designation information received immediately before, that is, one before. In addition, for example, the category designation information acquisition unit 201 has the same hierarchy in which the user category designation information received by the user category designation information reception unit 107 is subordinate to a category in the same upper hierarchy as the user category designation information received immediately before. If the user category designation information received two times before indicates a category of a direct higher hierarchy, and if these conditions are satisfied, You may acquire the category designation | designated information which designates categories other than the category designated by the user category designation | designated information received 1 time ago and 2 times ago as an exclusion object. In other words, this category designation information may be considered as information that designates a category other than the exclusion target category indicated by the category designation information as an output target. Such category designation information for designating a category to be excluded may be considered as category exclusion information. In order to determine the category hierarchy relationship, a category hierarchy management table or the like for managing the category hierarchy relationship may be stored in advance in a storage medium (not shown).
The category designation information acquisition unit 201 may acquire category designation information by making a determination other than these determinations using the history of category designation information.

  The category designation information acquisition unit 201 can usually be realized by an MPU, a memory, or the like. The processing procedure of the category designation information acquisition unit 201 is usually realized by software, and the software is recorded on a recording medium such as a ROM. However, it may be realized by hardware (dedicated circuit).

  The image information configuration unit 202 configures map image information in which facility instruction information, which is information indicating the facility detected by the facility detection unit 200, is arranged on the map indicated by the map information acquired by the map information acquisition unit 104. In addition, when the category designation information acquisition unit 201 acquires the category designation information, the map image in which the information indicating the facility detected by the facility detection unit 200 is arranged using the category designation information acquired by the category designation information acquisition unit 201. Information may be configured. Note that the process in which the image information configuration unit 202 configures the map image information in which information indicating the facility detected by the facility detection unit 200 is configured using the map information acquired by the map information acquisition unit 104 is described in the above embodiment. Since this is the same as 1, the description is omitted here. In this embodiment, the output unit 109 outputs the map image information configured by the image information configuration unit 202.

  In the present embodiment, the image information configuration unit 202 uses the information indicating the hierarchical relationship of categories stored in a storage medium (not shown) to display an image for indicating the hierarchical relationship of facility categories. Including map image information may be configured. In addition, in the information indicating the hierarchical relationship, it is preferable that the category specified by the user category specifying information is easily visually determined.

  The image information configuration unit 202 can usually be realized by an MPU, a memory, or the like. The processing procedure of the image information configuration unit 202 is usually realized by software, and the software is recorded on a recording medium such as a ROM. However, it may be realized by hardware (dedicated circuit).

  Next, the operation of the area information output device 2 will be described using the flowchart of FIG. In FIG. 14, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 2 indicate the same or corresponding steps, and the description thereof is omitted here. A case will be described in which it is determined whether or not the category designation information is acquired based on whether or not the latest user category designation information is a category higher than the immediately preceding category designation information.

  (Step S1400) The user category designation information receiving unit 107 determines whether user category designation information has been received. If accepted, the accepted user category designation information is accumulated in a storage medium or the like that stores the history, and the process proceeds to step S1401. If not accepted, the process returns to step S1400.

  (Step S1401) The category designation information acquisition unit 201 determines whether a history of user category designation information is stored in a storage medium (not shown) or the like. Note that the history of the latest user category designation information is excluded from judgment targets. If stored, the process advances to step S1405. If not, the process proceeds to step S1402.

  (Step S1402) The facility detection unit 200 is a facility associated with category information indicating the category specified by the user category specification information received by the user category specification information reception unit 107, and the corresponding facility position information is a region specification. The facility indicating the position in the area specified by the area specifying information received by the information receiving unit 103 is detected.

  (Step S1403) The user category designation information receiving unit 107 determines whether user category designation information has been received. If accepted, the accepted user category designation information is accumulated in a storage medium or the like for storing the history, and the process returns to step S203. If not accepted, the process proceeds to step S1404. In this case, in the process of step S203, map information is acquired using the area designation information received in the immediately preceding step S202.

  (Step S1404) The area designation information receiving unit 103 determines whether or not area designation information has been received. If accepted, the process returns to step S203. If not accepted, the process returns to step S1403. In this case, in the process of step S203, map information is acquired using the area designation information received in step S1404.

  (Step S1405) The category designation information acquisition unit 201 determines that the category indicated by the latest user category specification information received by the user category specification information reception unit 107 is immediately before the user category specification information history, that is, the previous user category. It is determined whether the category is higher than the category indicated by the designation information. For example, using information that manages the hierarchical relationship of categories, the category indicated by the immediately preceding user category specification information is one of the categories specified as the lower categories of the category indicated by the latest user category specification information, and Determine whether they match. If it is higher, the process proceeds to step S1406. If it is not higher, the process returns to step S1402.

  (Step S1406) The category designation information acquisition unit 201 acquires category designation information that designates a category designated by the immediately preceding user category designation information as a category to be excluded. Then, the process returns to step S1402.

  In the flowchart of FIG. 14, the process is terminated by powering off or a process termination interrupt.

(Concrete example)
Hereinafter, a specific operation of the area information output device 2 in the present embodiment will be described. Since the map information stored in the map information storage unit 101 and the facility information stored in the facility information storage unit 102 are the same as the specific example of the above embodiment, detailed description thereof is omitted.

  First, the user operates the operation menu or the like using the mouse or the keyboard with respect to the regional information output device 1, and indicates a facility whose category is “sushi”. It is assumed that an instruction to display information is given. In response to this instruction, the area designation information receiving unit 103 receives area designation information for designating an area around Kyoto station. The user category designation information receiving unit 107 receives user category designation information “sushi”. The user category designation information received by the user category designation information receiving unit 107 is accumulated in a storage medium (not shown) as history information.

  FIG. 15 is a user category designation information history management table for managing the history of user category designation information. The user category designation information history management table has items of “accumulation order” and “user category designation information”. The “accumulation order” indicates the order of accumulation, in other words, the order of acceptance. The smaller the value, the older the accumulated order. “User category designation information” is accepted user category designation information. Here, it is assumed that the user category designation information is the same information as the category to be designated. It should be noted that continuous overlapping histories in the received user category designation information may not be accumulated.

  Here, since only the latest user category designation information is stored in the history and there is no previous user category designation information, the category designation information acquisition unit 201 does not obtain the category designation information.

  For this reason, the facility detection unit 200 detects a facility using the latest user category designation information and area designation information in the same manner as the facility detection unit 105 of the specific example of the above embodiment. Here, for example, “ID” is “001”, “004”, “005”, “2005” as a facility of a category that matches the category “sushi” specified by the user category specifying information in the area specified by the area specifying information. Assume that the facilities “009” to “011” are detected.

  Similar to the specific example of the above embodiment, the image information configuration unit 202 uses the map information acquired by the map information acquisition unit 104 to display map image information in which information indicating the facility detected by the facility detection unit 200 is arranged. The configured map image information is output from the output unit 109. Here, the image information configuration unit 202 uses the category hierarchy management table for managing the hierarchical relationship of the facility categories, and configures an image to be displayed in a tree shape with the hierarchical relationship of the facility categories. In addition, since the process which comprises the image which shows information in tree shape from the hierarchical relationship of information is a well-known technique, description is abbreviate | omitted here.

  The output unit 109 outputs the map image information detected by the image information configuration unit 202.

  FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an output example of map image information by the output unit 109. As shown in the figure, on the map 160, one or more images 161 composed of image information for indicating facilities are arranged. A facility image correspondence table 162 is arranged at the lower left side of the map 160. Also, an image 163 showing the hierarchical relationship of the facility categories is displayed on the upper left side of the map 160. In this image 163, the category “sushi” designated by the user is highlighted.

  Next, when the user operates the operation menu or the like and gives an instruction to display information indicating a facility whose category is “Japanese food”, the user category designation information receiving unit 107 displays the user category “Japanese food”. Accept specified information. The received user category designation information “Japanese food” is accumulated as a history, and a record is added to the user category designation information history management table shown in FIG.

  FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a user category designation information history management table to which records are added.

  The map information acquisition unit 104 acquires map information of the area indicated by the area designation information. However, since the new area designation information is not received and the area designation information is not changed here, the map information acquired immediately before may be used as it is without acquiring new map information.

  Next, the category designation information acquisition unit 201 determines from the user category designation information history management table shown in FIG. 16 that user category designation information other than the latest user category designation information is stored as a history. Then, the previous user category designation information, that is, the user category designation information whose “accumulation order” is “1” is the latest user category designation information, ie, the user category designation information whose “accumulation order” is “2”. It is determined whether the category designation information is higher than the information.

  FIG. 18 is a category hierarchy management table for managing the hierarchy relationship of categories to which facilities belong. The category hierarchy management table has items of “parent category” and “child category”. The “parent category” indicates a category in the upper hierarchy immediately under the corresponding “child category”. The category hierarchy management table is stored in advance in a storage unit such as a storage medium (not shown).

  Specifically, the category designation information acquisition unit 201 reads the previous user category designation information “sushi” and the latest user category designation information “Japanese food”, and the previous user category designation information “sushi”. It is determined using the category hierarchy management table shown in FIG. 18 whether or not “Japanese food”, which is the latest user category designation information, exists as the parent category. Specifically, first, a record in which “child category” matches “sushi” in the previous user category designation information is detected in the category hierarchy management table. Then, it is determined whether or not the “parent category” of the record matches “Japanese food” that is the latest user category designation information. If they do not match, a record having a “child category” that matches the “parent category” is further detected, and whether or not the “parent category” of this record matches “Japanese food” that is the latest user category designation information. Judging. This process is repeated until a “parent category” that matches the latest user category designation information “Japanese food” is detected or a “child category” that matches the “parent category” is not detected. When the “parent category” that matches the “Japanese food” that is the latest user category designation information is detected, the latest user category designation information is a category in a higher hierarchy than the previous user category designation information. To be judged. Further, when a “child category” that matches the “parent category” is no longer detected, it is determined that the category is not a higher-level category.

  Here, the “parent category” of the record that matches the “sushi” in which the “child category” is the previous user category designation information searched in the category hierarchy management table is the latest user category designation information “Japanese food” Therefore, it is determined that the latest user category designation information is a category in a higher hierarchy than the previous user category designation information.

  Therefore, the category designation information acquisition unit 201 acquires category designation information that designates the category “sushi” indicated by the immediately preceding user category designation information as a category to be excluded. In other words, this category designation information is category designation information that designates a category other than the category “sushi” as an output target.

  The facility detection unit 200 includes the latest region designation information received by the region designation information reception unit 103, the latest user category designation information received by the user category specification information reception unit 107, and the category acquired by the category specification information acquisition unit 201. The facility is detected using the specified information. Since the area designation information is not changed here, the area designation information received first is used as it is. Specifically, the category designation information acquisition unit 201 is a facility located in an area designated by the latest area designation information, and the category indicated by the corresponding category information is the category “ A facility that indicates a category that includes “Japanese food” and that is not the category “sushi” that the category designation information designates as an exclusion target is detected.

  For example, in the facility information management table shown in FIG. 3, a record of a facility in which the position indicated by the corresponding “position (latitude, longitude)” is the position in the area specified by the latest area specifying information is “ID”. Is a record from “001” to “013”, the facility detection unit 200 includes “category information” in the record including “Japanese food” and does not include “sushi”. Detect records. Here, “006”, “007”, “012”, and “013” are detected as “ID”.

  Thereafter, in the same manner as described above, the image information configuration unit 202 configures map image information in which an image indicating the facility detected by the facility detection unit 200 is arranged on the map specified by the region designation information, and outputs this map image information. The unit 109 outputs to the monitor.

  FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating a map display example by the output unit 109. On this map, only an image 161 indicating a facility whose category is “Japanese food” other than “Sushi” is arranged.

  For example, when a user selects a category of a facility to be displayed and outputs the facility on a map, immediately after selecting a lower category, it is assumed that a higher category of the category is selected. In this case, it is considered that the interest in the facility in the lower category selected immediately before the user is satisfied, and the object of interest has changed to the category in the upper hierarchy. In such a case, it is effective to present on the map the facilities included in the upper category excluding the lower category where the interest is satisfied. This is because even if a facility in a lower category that is filled with interest is displayed, only unnecessary images are displayed on the map, making it difficult to find necessary information. Therefore, in the above specific example, an appropriate facility can be selectively presented to the user.

  As a specific example, the user tried to search for a restaurant in the category “sushi”, but because a suitable store was not found, the range of categories to be searched was expanded and the higher category “Japanese food” ”Is considered to determine an appropriate store from among the categories. In this case, it is conceivable that the user first selects the category “sushi” and then performs an operation of selecting the category “Japanese food”, which is a category higher than “sushi”. In this case, the user's interest has changed from “sushi” to an interest in “Japanese food” as a whole. At this time, since “sushi” was selected immediately before, the user's request regarding “sushi” is satisfied, so information on facilities in categories other than “sushi” in the category “Japanese food” is mapped. It is effective to present above. As a result, facilities whose category has already been considered “sushi” are not displayed on the map, and facilities in categories other than “sushi” in the category “Japanese food” can be easily considered.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, when the category specified by the latest user category specifying information is higher than the category specified by the immediately preceding user category specifying information, the immediately preceding category is specified as an exclusion target. It is related to the map by acquiring the category specification information and displaying on the map the facilities other than the facility belonging to the category immediately before of the facilities belonging to the category specified by the latest user category specification information. The facility in the area indicated by the map can be appropriately selected according to the operation for designating the category, which is the operation performed, and the information on the facility in the area indicated by the map can be appropriately provided. In addition, an operation for preventing the facility information of the category designated immediately before from being output is unnecessary, and the operability is improved.

  Also in the area information output device 2 of the present embodiment, one detection unit or the like may be provided and the area information output device 2 may be mounted on an automobile or the like, as in the above embodiment. The area information output device 2 may be incorporated as a part of a so-called car navigation system.

  In each of the above embodiments, the facility information storage unit 102 stores facility related information that is information related to the facility in association with the facility identification information and the like, and the image information configuration unit 108 includes the facility detection unit. 105 or the facility detection unit 200 acquires the facility-related information corresponding to the facility output on the map, and further includes image information such as a list in which the facility-related information is associated with the facility identification information. The map image information may be configured, and the output map 109 may output the configured map image information. The facility-related information may be information related to the facility. For example, the facility-related information may be contact information such as a facility address, a telephone number or an e-mail address, or image information such as a photograph of the facility or an illustration. Information on products and services provided by the facility may be used.

  In each of the above embodiments, each process (each function) may be realized by centralized processing by a single device (system), or by distributed processing by a plurality of devices. May be.

  Further, in each of the above embodiments, it goes without saying that two or more communication means (such as an information transmission unit) existing in one apparatus may be physically realized by one medium.

  In each of the above embodiments, information related to processing executed by each component, for example, each component receives, acquires, selects, generates, transmits, and receives Information and information such as threshold values, mathematical formulas, addresses, etc. used by each component in processing are retained temporarily or over a long period of time on a recording medium (not shown) even if not explicitly stated in the above description. May be. Further, the storage of information in the recording medium (not shown) may be performed by each component or a storage unit (not shown). Further, reading of information from the recording medium (not shown) may be performed by each component or a reading unit (not shown).

  In each of the above embodiments, the case where the regional information output device is stand-alone has been described. However, the regional information output device may be a stand-alone device or a server device in a server / client system. . In the latter case, the output unit or the reception unit receives an input or outputs a screen via a communication line.

  In each of the above embodiments, each component may be configured by dedicated hardware, or a component that can be realized by software may be realized by executing a program. For example, each component can be realized by a program execution unit such as a CPU reading and executing a software program recorded on a recording medium such as a hard disk or a semiconductor memory.

  In addition, the software which implement | achieves the area information output device in each said embodiment is the following programs. In other words, this program causes the computer to receive map information in the area indicated by the area designation information receiving section that receives the area designation information that is information for designating the area of the map, and the area designation information received by the area designation information receiving section, A map information acquisition unit that acquires from a map information storage unit that can store map information that is information about the map, facility identification information that is facility identification information in the facility information storage unit, and category information that is information indicating a category of the facility, The facility detection unit that detects the facility in the region specified by the region designation information and the map information acquisition unit use the facility position information that is stored in association with the facility and indicates the location of the facility. An image information configuration unit that configures image information that is image information of a map in which information indicating the facility detected by the facility detection unit is arranged on the map indicated by the map information, and an image information configuration By using the output unit that outputs the map image information configured by the category information stored in the facility information storage unit, the region designation information receiving unit newly receives the category-specific information in the region designated by the region designation information. Information that counts the number of facilities, compares the counted number of facilities with the number of facilities by category counted in the past, detects changes in the number of facilities by category, and specifies the category of the facility according to the change The facility detection unit is associated with category information indicating a category specified by the category specification information acquired by the category specification information acquisition unit. The facility in the area designated by the area designation information is detected, and the output section is detected by the facility detection section using the category designation information. The information indicating the setting is a program for outputting map image data arranged on the map indicated by the map information in the area indicated by the area designation information area designation information receiving portion is newly received.

  The program also includes a user category designation information accepting unit that accepts user category designation information that is information for designating a category by a user, and area designation information acceptance that accepts area designation information that is information for designating a map area. A map information acquisition unit for acquiring map information in a region indicated by the region designation information received by the region designation information receiving unit from a map information storage unit capable of storing map information that is information relating to the map, and facility information storage Using the category information, which is the information indicating the category of the facility, and the facility position information, which is the information indicating the position of the facility, stored in association with the facility identification information which is the facility identification information, Corresponding to the category information indicating the category specified by the user category specifying information received by the category specifying information receiving unit. The map image information in which information indicating the facility detected by the facility detection unit is arranged on the map indicated by the map information acquired by the map information acquisition unit and the facility detection unit that detects the facility in the region specified by the region specification information Information specifying the category according to the history of the user category specification information received by the user category specification information receiving unit, the output unit for outputting the map image information configured by the image information configuration unit, and the user category specification information receiving unit The facility detection unit has a region specification information associated with category information indicating a category specified by the user category specification information. Detects and outputs facilities in the specified area that are associated with category information indicating the category specified by the category specification information Is a program for facility detecting unit outputs the map image information in which are arranged the information indicating the facility for facilities obtained using the category designation information.

  In the program, the functions realized by the program do not include functions that can be realized only by hardware. For example, a function that can be realized only by hardware such as a modem or an interface card in an acquisition unit that acquires information or an output unit that outputs information is not included in the function realized by the program.

  Further, the computer that executes this program may be singular or plural. That is, centralized processing may be performed, or distributed processing may be performed.

  FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the external appearance of a computer that executes the program and realizes the regional information output apparatus according to the embodiment. The above-described embodiment can be realized by computer hardware and a computer program executed on the computer hardware.

  20, a computer system 900 includes a computer 901 including a CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory) drive 905 and an FD (Floppy (registered trademark) Disk) drive 906, a keyboard 902, a mouse 903, a monitor 904, and the like. Is provided.

  FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an internal configuration of the computer system 900. In FIG. 21, in addition to the CD-ROM drive 905 and the FD drive 906, a computer 901 is connected to an MPU (Micro Processing Unit) 911, a ROM 912 for storing a program such as a bootup program, and the MPU 911. A RAM (Random Access Memory) 913 that temporarily stores program instructions and provides a temporary storage space, a hard disk 914 that stores application programs, system programs, and data, and an MPU 911 and a ROM 912 are interconnected. And a bus 915. The computer 901 may include a network card (not shown) that provides connection to the LAN.

A program that causes the computer system 900 to execute the functions of the regional information output device and the like according to the above-described embodiment is stored in the CD-ROM 921 or the FD 922, inserted into the CD-ROM drive 905 or the FD drive 906, and the hard disk 914. May be forwarded to. Instead, the program may be transmitted to the computer 901 via a network (not shown) and stored in the hard disk 914. The program is loaded into the RAM 913 when executed. The program may be loaded directly from the CD-ROM 921, the FD 922, or the network.
The program does not necessarily include an operating system (OS) or a third-party program that causes the computer 901 to execute the functions of the regional information output apparatus according to the above-described embodiment. The program may include only a part of an instruction that calls an appropriate function (module) in a controlled manner and obtains a desired result. How the computer system 900 operates is well known and will not be described in detail.

  As described above, the regional information output device according to the present invention is suitable as a device that outputs a map, and is particularly useful as a device that outputs a map or the like in which facility information is arranged.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 1a, 2 Area information output device 101 Map information storage part 102 Facility information storage part 103 Area designation information reception part 104 Map information acquisition part 104 Area information acquisition part 105,200 Facility detection part 106,201 Category designation information acquisition part 107 User category designation information reception unit 108, 202 Image information configuration unit 109 Output unit 200 Area detection unit 1201 Position detection unit

Claims (9)

A map information storage unit that can store map information that is information about the map;
A facility information storage unit capable of storing facility identification information that is facility identification information, facility position information that is information indicating the location of the facility, and category information that is information indicating the category of the facility in association with each other; ,
An area designation information receiving unit for receiving area designation information which is information for designating an area of the map;
A map information acquisition unit that acquires map information in the region indicated by the region specification information received by the region specification information reception unit;
Using the facility location information, a facility detection unit that detects a facility in the region designated by the region designation information;
An image information configuration unit that configures image information that is image information of a map in which information indicating the facility detected by the facility detection unit is arranged on a map indicated by the map information acquired by the map information acquisition unit;
An output unit that outputs map image information configured by the image information configuration unit;
Using the category information stored in the facility information storage unit, the number of facilities for each category in the area designated by the area designation information newly received by the area designation information reception unit is counted, and the number of the counted facilities And category count information that is information that specifies the category of the facility according to the change by comparing the number of facilities by category counted in the past and detecting the change in the number of facilities by category A designated information acquisition unit,
The facility detection unit detects a facility in an area designated by the area designation information, which is associated with category information indicating a category designated by the category designation information acquired by the category designation information acquisition unit,
The output unit displays information indicating a facility detected by the facility detection unit using category specification information on a map indicated by map information in a region indicated by the region specification information newly received by the region specification information reception unit. A regional information output device that outputs arranged map image information. The area information output device according to claim 1, wherein the category designation information acquisition unit acquires category designation information for designating a category having an increased ratio of the number of facilities as a result of the comparison of the number of facilities by category. The category designation information acquisition unit acquires category designation information for designating a category in an area designated by the area designation information excluding a category having a reduced ratio of the number of facilities as a result of the comparison of the number of facilities by category. Item 1. The regional information output device according to Item 1. The regional information output device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the region designation information reception unit receives region designation information corresponding to the position of a running vehicle sequentially transmitted from a device that detects the position of the vehicle. A map information storage unit that can store map information that is information about the map;
Facility that can be stored in association with facility identification information that is facility identification information, facility location information that is information indicating the location of the facility, and category information that is hierarchical information indicating the category of the facility An information storage unit;
A user category designation information receiving unit for receiving user category designation information which is information for designating a category by a user;
An area designation information receiving unit for receiving area designation information which is information for designating an area of the map;
A map information acquisition unit that acquires map information in the region indicated by the region specification information received by the region specification information reception unit;
A facility detection unit for detecting a facility in the region specified by the region specification information, associated with category information indicating a category specified by the user category specification information received by the user category specification information reception unit;
An image information constituting unit constituting map image information in which information indicating the facility detected by the facility detecting unit is arranged on a map indicated by the map information acquired by the map information acquiring unit;
An output unit that outputs map image information configured by the image information configuration unit;
A category designation information obtaining unit for obtaining category designation information, which is information for designating a category, in accordance with a history of user category designation information received by the user category designation information receiving unit;
The facility detection unit is a facility in an area designated by the area designation information that is associated with category information indicating a category designated by the user category designation information, and indicates a category designated by the category designation information Detect facilities associated with category information,
The output unit outputs map image information in which information indicating a facility about a facility acquired by the facility detection unit using category designation information is arranged ,
The category designation information acquisition unit determines whether or not the user category designation information received by the user category designation information reception unit indicates a category of a higher hierarchy with respect to the user category designation information received in the past. If it is a higher rank, obtain category designation information that designates the category specified in the user category designation information received in the past as an exclusion target,
The facility detection unit is a facility in an area designated by the area designation information that is associated with category information indicating a category designated by the user category designation information, and the category designation information designates an exclusion target. An area information output device for detecting a facility associated with category information excluding category information indicating a category . A map information storage unit that can store map information that is information relating to a map, facility identification information that is facility identification information, facility location information that is information indicating the location of the facility, and information that indicates a category of the facility Facility information storage unit that can be stored in association with certain category information, region designation information reception unit, map information acquisition unit, facility detection unit, image information configuration unit, output unit, and category designation information acquisition A regional information output method performed using
An area specifying information receiving step for receiving area specifying information which is information for specifying an area of the map;
A map information acquisition step in which the map information acquisition unit acquires map information in an area indicated by the area specification information received in the area specification information reception step;
A facility detection step in which the facility detection unit detects a facility in an area designated by the area designation information using the facility position information;
Image information constituting image information, which is image information of a map in which the information indicating the facility detected in the facility detection step is arranged on the map indicated by the map information acquired by the map information acquisition step. Configuration steps;
The output unit outputs the map image information configured in the image information configuration step;
The category designation information acquisition unit uses the category information stored in the facility information storage unit to determine the number of facilities by category in the area designated by the area designation information newly received in the area designation information acceptance step. Count, compare the number of facilities counted and the number of facilities by category counted in the past, detect changes in the number of facilities by category, and specify the category of the facility according to the change A category specification information acquisition step for acquiring certain category specification information,
The facility detection unit step detects a facility in an area designated by the area designation information associated with category information indicating a category designated by the category designation information acquired in the category designation information acquisition step,
In the output step, the information indicating the facility detected using the category specifying information in the facility detecting step is displayed on the map indicated by the map information in the region indicated by the region specifying information newly received in the region specifying information receiving step. A regional information output method for outputting arranged map image information. A map information storage unit that can store map information that is information relating to a map, facility identification information that is facility identification information, facility location information that is information indicating the location of the facility, and a hierarchy that indicates the category of the facility specifying information and facility information storage unit in which the category information may be stored in association with a that is, the user category designation information receiving portion, and the area designation information receiving unit, a map information acquiring unit, a category by Yu over tHE This is a regional information output method that is performed using a user category designation information receiving unit that receives user category designation information, a facility detection unit, an image information configuration unit, an output unit, and a category designation information acquisition unit. And
An area specifying information receiving step for receiving area specifying information which is information for specifying an area of the map;
A map information acquisition step in which the map information acquisition unit acquires map information in an area indicated by the area specification information received in the area specification information reception step;
A facility detection step in which a facility detection unit detects a facility in an area specified by the area specification information, which is associated with category information indicating a category specified by the user category specification information received in the user category specification information reception step. When,
An image information configuration unit that configures map image information in which information indicating the facility detected in the facility detection step is arranged on the map indicated by the map information acquired in the map information acquisition step;
An output step of outputting the map image information configured in the image information configuration step;
The category designation information acquisition unit includes a category designation information acquisition step for obtaining category designation information that is information for designating a category according to the history of the user category designation information accepted in the user category designation information acceptance step,
The facility detection step is a facility in an area designated by the area designation information that is associated with category information indicating a category designated by the user category designation information, and indicates a category designated by the category designation information Detect facilities associated with category information,
The output step outputs map image information in which information indicating a facility about the facility acquired using the category designation information in the facility detection step is arranged ,
The category designation information acquisition step determines whether or not the user category designation information received in the user category designation information reception step indicates a higher hierarchy category than the user category designation information received in the past. If it is a higher rank, obtain category designation information that designates the category specified in the user category designation information received in the past as an exclusion target,
The facility detection step is a facility in an area designated by the area designation information that is associated with category information indicating a category designated by the user category designation information, and the category designation information designates an exclusion target. A regional information output method for detecting a facility associated with category information excluding category information indicating a category . Computer
An area designation information receiving unit for receiving area designation information which is information for designating an area of the map;
A map information acquisition unit that acquires map information in the region indicated by the region designation information received by the region designation information reception unit from a map information storage unit in which map information that is information about the map can be stored;
Using facility location information, which is information indicating the location of a facility, stored in the facility information storage unit in association with facility identification information, which is facility identification information, and category information, which is information indicating the category of the facility. A facility detection unit for detecting a facility in the region designated by the region designation information;
An image information configuration unit that configures image information that is image information of a map in which information indicating the facility detected by the facility detection unit is arranged on a map indicated by the map information acquired by the map information acquisition unit;
An output unit that outputs map image information configured by the image information configuration unit;
Using the category information stored in the facility information storage unit, the number of facilities for each category in the area designated by the area designation information newly received by the area designation information reception unit is counted, and the number of the counted facilities And category count information that is information that specifies the category of the facility according to the change by comparing the number of facilities by category counted in the past and detecting the change in the number of facilities by category A program for functioning as a specified information acquisition unit,
The facility detection unit detects a facility in an area designated by the area designation information, which is associated with category information indicating a category designated by the category designation information acquired by the category designation information acquisition unit,
The output unit displays information indicating a facility detected by the facility detection unit using category specification information on a map indicated by map information in a region indicated by the region specification information newly received by the region specification information reception unit. A program that outputs map image information. Computer
A user category designation information receiving unit for receiving user category designation information which is information for designating a category by a user;
An area designation information receiving unit for receiving area designation information which is information for designating an area of the map;
A map information acquisition unit that acquires map information in the region indicated by the region designation information received by the region designation information reception unit from a map information storage unit in which map information that is information about the map can be stored;
Using the category information, which is information indicating the category of the facility, and the facility position information, which is information indicating the position of the facility, stored in the facility information storage unit in association with the facility identification information that is identification information of the facility A facility detection unit for detecting a facility in the region specified by the region specification information, which is associated with category information indicating a category specified by the user category specification information received by the user category specification information receiving unit;
An image information constituting unit constituting map image information in which information indicating the facility detected by the facility detecting unit is arranged on a map indicated by the map information acquired by the map information acquiring unit;
An output unit that outputs map image information configured by the image information configuration unit;
According to a history of user category designation information received by the user category designation information receiving unit, a program for functioning as a category designation information acquisition unit for acquiring category designation information that is information for specifying a category,
The facility detection unit is a facility in an area designated by the area designation information that is associated with category information indicating a category designated by the user category designation information, and indicates a category designated by the category designation information Detect facilities associated with category information,
The output unit outputs map image information in which information indicating a facility about a facility acquired by the facility detection unit using category designation information is arranged ,
The category designation information acquisition unit determines whether or not the user category designation information received by the user category designation information reception unit indicates a category of a higher hierarchy with respect to the user category designation information received in the past. If it is a higher rank, obtain category designation information that designates the category specified in the user category designation information received in the past as an exclusion target,
The facility detection unit is a facility in an area designated by the area designation information that is associated with category information indicating a category designated by the user category designation information, and the category designation information designates an exclusion target. A program for detecting a facility associated with category information excluding category information indicating a category .

Images