JP6271386B2 - Information providing system and information providing method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information providing system and an information providing method.

  Some Web services obtain user information about a user of the service from a user terminal and provide the service using the user information. Among these services, there is a service in which a user terminal transmits terminal position information indicating the position of the own device to a Web server, and the Web server transmits information related to the terminal position information.

  As a technique in which a user terminal obtains terminal location information of its own device, a terminal device described in Patent Document 1 below is known. One or more applications in the terminal device request positioning data from the positioning method selection device. The positioning method selection device uses one or more positioning methods. At this time, the positioning method selection device compares the quality of positioning data provided by a certain positioning method with the quality of positioning required by the application, and provides positioning data to one or more applications.

  The terminal position information measured by the positioning method selection device is collected in a server. The provider who provides the application can grasp the position of the user terminal by using the terminal position information collected in the server.

JP 2011-209298 A

  However, since the terminal location information collected in the server is enormous, there is a problem that handling of the terminal location information becomes complicated. In particular, when the application provider obtains terminal location information at each timing, the terminal location information measured by each user terminal may increase by the number of applications. In this case, there is a problem that the terminal position information collected in the server is further increased. The collected terminal location information may be used against the user's intention.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and provides an information providing system and an information providing method capable of improving convenience when using terminal location information collected in a server. Let it be an issue.

  (1) In order to solve the above-described problem, an information providing system according to an aspect of the present invention includes terminal position information indicating a position of a terminal device and permission setting information indicating whether or not the terminal position information can be used. A storage unit that stores the associated information; an extraction unit that searches the storage unit for terminal location information permitted to be used by the permission setting information; and a terminal device that corresponds to the terminal location information searched by the extraction unit. A recommendation information acquisition unit that acquires recommendation information to be notified, and a transmission unit that transmits the recommendation information acquired by the recommendation information acquisition unit to the terminal device corresponding to the terminal location information searched by the extraction unit, Prepare.

  (2) According to one aspect of the present invention, the information providing system according to (1) described above includes a first server that includes the extraction unit, a recommendation information acquisition unit, and a second server that includes the transmission unit. And comprising.

  (3) According to one aspect of the present invention, in the information providing system according to (1) or (2) described above, the storage unit associates the terminal location information with correspondence information corresponding to the terminal location information. The extraction unit extracts correspondence information corresponding to the searched terminal location information.

  (4) According to one aspect of the present invention, in the information providing system according to (1) or (2), the storage unit associates the terminal location information with correspondence information corresponding to the terminal location information. The extraction unit extracts the terminal location information searched using the correspondence information as a search key.

  (5) One aspect of the present invention is the information providing system according to (4) described above, wherein the extraction unit extracts the terminal position information based on a change in the value of the correspondence information.

  (6) One aspect of the present invention is the information providing system according to any one of (3) to (5), wherein the correspondence information includes terminal identification information for identifying the terminal device, and the terminal position When the position indicated by the information is within a predetermined area, the terminal identification information corresponding to the terminal position information is extracted, and the transmission unit transmits the terminal identification information extracted by the extraction unit to the terminal device indicated by the terminal identification information. Send recommendation information.

  (7) One aspect of the present invention is the information providing system according to (6), in which the extraction unit has a position of the terminal device indicated by the terminal position information within a predetermined area for a predetermined period or more. Terminal identification information is extracted based on the determination result.

  (8) According to one aspect of the present invention, in the information providing system according to (7) or (8) described above, the extraction unit searches and searches the terminal position information indicating a position in a predetermined area. Terminal identification information corresponding to the terminal location information is extracted, and the recommendation information acquisition unit is at least one of the number of terminal devices indicated by the terminal identification information extracted by the extraction unit and the degree of change of the number Based on one, the recommendation information is acquired.

  (9) According to one aspect of the present invention, information in an information providing system including a storage unit that stores terminal position information indicating the position of a terminal device and permission setting information indicating whether or not the terminal position information can be used in association with each other. In the providing method, the information providing system searches the storage unit for terminal location information permitted to be used by the permission setting information, and the information providing system is searched in the extracting step. A recommendation information acquisition step for acquiring recommendation information to be notified to a terminal device corresponding to the terminal position information, and the information providing system is searched for the recommendation information acquired in the recommendation information acquisition step in the extraction step. Transmitting to the terminal device corresponding to the terminal location information, Is information providing method according to symptoms.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the convenience at the time of utilizing the terminal location information collected on the server can be improved.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the recommendation system in one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the terminal device which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the other structure of the terminal device which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the other structure of the terminal device which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process sequence performed in the terminal device which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the procedure of the master determination process performed in the terminal device which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the procedure of an acquisition and transmission process of the terminal location information performed in the terminal device which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the operation screen for setting the permission setting information which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the positional infomation server which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the corresponding | compatible table which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the POI server which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the application server which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence chart which shows an example of the operation | movement procedure of the recommendation system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, a recommendation system 1 according to an embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. A recommendation system 1 according to the present embodiment is an information providing system that presents information to a terminal device.

[Outline of location information system]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a recommendation system 1 according to the embodiment. The recommendation system 1 includes a plurality of terminal devices 10A, 10B,..., 10N (hereinafter simply referred to as “terminal device 10” when collectively referred to), a location information server 30, an authentication server 40, a POI (Point Of Interest) server 42, contractor information server 44, and application servers 50A, 50B,..., 50N (hereinafter simply referred to as “application server 50” when collectively referred to).
Note that an application is installed in the terminal device 10. The application server 50 and the application installed in the terminal device 10 correspond to each other. Further, the application in the present embodiment is an application that uses the terminal position information of the terminal device 10.

In the recommendation system 1, the terminal device 10 is a device that transmits terminal location information indicating the location of the device itself to the location information server 30. In addition, the terminal device 10 executes an application that performs processing according to the recommendation information received from the application server 50. That is, the terminal device 10 presents recommendation information received from the application server 50 to the user by executing the application. Here, the recommendation information is information presented to the user according to the position of the terminal device 10 or the like. Specifically, the recommendation information relates to the location of the terminal device 10 such as recommended information (not limited to information according to the user's preference and behavior), advertisements, coupons, news, and congestion around the location. Information.
The terminal device 10 executes only applications that are permitted to be used by the user and the authentication server 40. Hereinafter, an application whose use is permitted is referred to as a licensed application.

The location information server 30 is a device that manages terminal location information received from the terminal device 10. The location information server 30 extracts information from the own device, the POI server 42, and the contractor information server 44 using the terminal location information. Then, the location information server 30 transmits the extracted information only to the application server 50 corresponding to the licensed application among the application servers 50.
The POI server 42 is a device that manages POI information. The POI information will be described later.
The contractor information server 44 is a device that manages attribute information of the user of the terminal device 10.

  The application server 50 is a device that transmits recommendation information to the terminal device 10. The application server 50 receives various information managed by the location information server 30 from the location information server 30. The application server 50 selects recommendation information to be transmitted to the terminal device 10 according to the received various information. The application server 50 transmits the selected recommendation information to the terminal device 10.

As a result, the recommendation system 1 provides the recommendation information via the application when the permission of the user or the like is obtained. Therefore, the convenience of using the terminal location information collected in the location information server 30 is improved. Can be improved.
In the following, a case where the location information server 30 acquires information from the POI server 42 or the contractor information server will be described. However, the application server 50 does not pass through the location information server 30 and the POI server 42 or the contractor information. Information may be obtained directly from the server 44.

[Overview of terminal equipment]
The terminal device 10 transmits the terminal position information at an arbitrary transmission timing or every predetermined period. The terminal location information includes positioning time, latitude, and longitude. In the present embodiment, an example will be described in which terminal location information is transmitted at a transmission timing determined in advance in the terminal device 10. However, the transmission timing of the terminal location information of the terminal device 10 may be set by the location information server 30.

  The terminal device 10 includes identification information (terminal ID) for identifying each terminal device 10, web history information, program execution history information, operation history information, charging history information, posture change information, environment information, and the like, together with the terminal position information. Transmit to the location information server 30. Here, the terminal ID is associated with the user ID of the user who is the owner of the terminal device 10. The user ID is identification information for identifying a user. Web history information, program execution history information, operation history information, charging history information, attitude change information, environment information, cell ID information, and WiFiAP information will be described later. These pieces of information are managed in the position information server 30 in association with the terminal device 10. Hereinafter, in the recommendation system 1, information associated with the terminal position information may be referred to as correspondence information. Web history information, program execution history information, operation history information, charging history information, posture change information, environment information, cell ID information, WiFiAP information, user attribute information, and POI information are examples of correspondence information.

  In addition, when receiving the recommendation information from the application server 50, the terminal device 10 executes an application corresponding to the application server 50 and performs display based on the received recommendation information. Thereby, the application server 50 can display the advertisement etc. according to the position of the said terminal device 10 on the terminal device 10, for example, and can perform recommendation.

[Outline of location information server]
Next, an outline of the location information server 30 will be described.
As described above, the location information server 30 extracts information from the own device, the POI server 42, and the contractor information server 44 using the terminal location information. Hereinafter, this process is referred to as an extraction process. Information extracted by the extraction process is referred to as an extraction result. In the extraction process, the position information server 30 refers to the extraction condition and extracts information that matches the extraction condition as an extraction result. This extraction condition is information that defines key information and its value, and request extraction result information. The key information is information that determines a search key in the extraction process. The request extraction result information is information that determines the type of information to be output in the extraction process. The key information and the request extraction information defined in the extraction condition can be specified from terminal position information and correspondence information managed by the position information server 30, the POI server 42, and the contractor information server 44, respectively. In the present embodiment, the extraction condition is determined for each application server 50. In addition, the extraction condition may be transmitted from the application server 50 or may be stored in the location information server 30 in advance.

Here, the extraction processing executed by the location information server 30 includes two methods, a first extraction method and a second extraction method.
The first extraction method is a method of extracting correspondence information using terminal position information as a search key. In the first extraction method, the location information server 30 refers to, for example, the terminal location information and extracts the terminal identification information of the terminal device 10 located in a predetermined area.
The second extraction method is a method of extracting terminal position information using correspondence information as a search key. In the second extraction method, the location information server 30 refers to, for example, terminal identification information that is an example of correspondence information, and extracts terminal location information of a specific terminal device 10.
As described above, since the position information server 30 uses the terminal position information in either the key information or the extraction result, the application server 50 transmits recommendation information corresponding to the position of the terminal device 10 to the terminal device 10. be able to.

Further, there are two transmission methods of terminal position information from the position information server 30 to the application server 50: a pull method and a push method.
The pull method is a method in which the location information server 30 transmits an extraction result based on the extraction condition to the requesting application server 50 in response to receiving the extraction condition from the application server 50.
The push method is a method in which the location information server 30 executes an extraction process at a predetermined timing such as a predetermined time interval or a predetermined date. In the case of the push method, the extraction condition is stored in the position information server 30 in advance, for example.

  Further, as described above, the position information server 30 transmits the extracted information only to the application server 50 corresponding to the licensed application among the application servers 50. The location information server 30 can determine whether or not the application server 50 supports the license application by referring to the license setting information. Here, the permission setting information is information indicating whether or not the application is a licensed application. In other words, the permission setting information is information indicating whether or not the position information server 30 transmits the extraction result to the application server 50. The location information server 30 stores terminal location information and permission setting information in association with each other.

  However, when the terminal device 10 acquires the terminal location information, even if the application has not been licensed to use the terminal location information, the license period is changed retroactively. When the use is permitted, the location information server 30 can transmit the terminal location information to the application server 50. That is, the location information server 30 transmits terminal location information corresponding to a license period during which use of the terminal location information is licensed to the application server 50. The permission period during which the terminal location information can be used can be changed at any time.

Next, setting of permission setting information will be described.
The user can set permission or non-permission of use of the terminal location information for each application, for example.
A setting value indicating permission or non-permission set by the user is hereinafter referred to as permission setting information. The permission setting information is a setting value set for each application, for example, and is a setting value indicating whether or not to permit use of the terminal position information.
Here, there are cases where the user wants to notify the terminal position information (for example, his current position) of the terminal device 10 to others other than himself or not. As an example of a case where the user wants to notify the other person of the terminal position information, there is a case where the user waits at a certain place with another person or a case where the user wants to acquire information on a certain place. In this case, the user can provide the terminal position information of the terminal device 10 to others by permitting the use of the terminal position information. In addition, when the user does not want to notify the terminal position information to others, the user can stop providing the terminal position information by not using the terminal position information.

  In addition, the user can set permission or non-approval of use of the terminal position information for the terminal position information after the present. Further, the user can set the permission or non-approval of the use of the terminal position information retroactively with respect to the past terminal position information. In other words, the permission or non-permission setting of the use of terminal location information here includes the meaning of whether or not to use new terminal location information and the meaning of whether or not to use already registered terminal location information. .

  The application here is software that provides a predetermined function when installed in the terminal device 10. This application includes an application installed in the terminal device 10 and an application not installed in the terminal device 10. The permission setting information described above may be set not only for applications installed on the terminal device 10 but also for applications not installed on the terminal device 10.

  The application includes an application authenticated by the authentication server 40 and an application that is not authenticated by the authentication server 40. Here, the application authenticated by the authentication server 40 is an application permitted to be used in the terminal device 10 by the authentication server 40. The application that is not authenticated by the authentication server 40 is an application that is not permitted to be used in the terminal device 10 by the authentication server 40. The permission setting information described above is set not only for applications that are permitted to be used in the terminal device 10 by the authentication server 40 but also for applications that are not permitted to be used in the terminal device 10 by the authentication server 40. Also good.

  The permission setting information can be set by various methods. For example, the terminal device 10 may be set for each application. Alternatively, the terminal device 10 may access the location information server 30 and set each of all applications managed by the location information server 30. As a result, the user can set permission setting information for each application on the terminal device 10 as well as access the position information server 30 to set permission setting information. For example, by displaying a list of currently used applications on the terminal device 10, the user can set permission setting information for each application, for each company, or for each type of application while viewing the list. Further, when a new application is installed in the terminal device 10, that fact may be automatically uploaded to the location information server 30 or may be uploaded by a push instruction from the location information server 30. The location information server 30 may request the terminal device 10 to set whether or not to permit use of the terminal location information for a newly installed application.

  Further, the permission setting information is not limited to information for setting permission or non-permission of use of the terminal position information in the future from the time of setting. The permission setting information may be set retroactively from the time of setting. For example, a permission period indicating a period during which the use of the terminal location information is permitted may be set as the permission setting information.

  The permission setting information can be managed in various ways. For example, the terminal device 10 or the location information server 30 holds permission setting information for which permission or non-permission is determined for each application or each user ID. Further, the permission setting information may be held in both the terminal device 10 and the location information server 30.

  The location information server 30 can acquire permission setting information by various methods. For example, the permission setting information stored in its own storage unit may be updated based on the permission setting information received from the terminal device 10. The update includes a process for registering a set value from a state in which there is no set value and a process for changing the set value to another value. Further, when the permission period is set in the terminal device 10, the location information server 30 updates the permission setting information stored in its storage unit based on the information indicating the permission period received from the terminal device 10. Also good.

  Here, the position information server 30 may associate the terminal position information with the permission setting information by itself, or may acquire the terminal position information and permission setting information associated with the terminal apparatus 10 from the terminal apparatus 10. Good. Hereinafter, the former method is referred to as a server linking method. The latter method is hereinafter referred to as a terminal linking method.

The server linking method will be described. In the case of this method, the position information server 30 holds permission setting information indicating whether or not the application is permitted to use the terminal position information. The location information server 30 receives terminal location information from the terminal device 10. The position information server 30 refers to the permission setting information, and based on the positioning time included in the received terminal position information, the user of the terminal device 10 that transmitted the terminal position information at the positioning time is permitted to use the terminal position information. Identify the applications that are running. Note that the location information server 30 refers to the permission setting information, and based on the information associated with the received terminal location information, the user of the terminal device 10 that has transmitted the terminal location information is permitted to use the terminal location information. You may identify the application that Information associated with the terminal location information includes terminal ID, user ID, OS information, web history information, program execution history information, operation history information, charging history information, posture change information, environment information, terminal information, Contains information such as battery level.
The location information server 30 stores information (permission setting information) indicating that use of the identified application is permitted in the storage unit in association with the terminal location information. Note that the permission setting information transmitted by the terminal device 10 includes an application ID indicating the application for which use of the terminal position information is permitted, or the name and type of the application. Further, the permission setting information transmitted by the terminal device 10 may include information indicating a permission period for which use of the terminal location information is permitted.

  The terminal linking method will be described. In the case of this method, the terminal device 10 reads permission setting information indicating whether or not the application is permitted to use the terminal position information from the storage unit. When the permission setting information is stored in the position information server 30, the terminal device 10 may refer to the permission setting information of the position information server 30. The terminal device 10 refers to the permission setting information, and identifies an application that is permitted to use the terminal position information at the positioning time based on the positioning time included in the terminal position information transmitted to the position information server 30. The terminal device 10 may identify an application that is permitted to use the terminal position information based on information associated with the terminal position information transmitted to the position information server 30 with reference to the permission setting information.

[Application Server Overview]
The application server 50 is a server device corresponding to each of a plurality of applications. A plurality of application programs can be installed in the terminal device 10. In the present embodiment, a case where application programs A to C are installed in the terminal device 10 will be described as an example. In this specific example, the application server 50A is a server device corresponding to the application program A. The application server 50B is a server device corresponding to the application program B. The application server 50C is a server device corresponding to the application program C. This application server 50 is extracted via the position information server 30 as correspondence information extracted using the terminal position information of the terminal device 10 that is permitted to use its own application as a search key or the correspondence information as a search key. Receive terminal location information.

Then, the application server 50 executes application processing based on the extraction result acquired from the position information server 30. Here, the application processing includes acquisition of recommendation information by the application server 50 and transmission of recommendation information from the application server 50 to the terminal device 10. Hereinafter, the terminal device 10 to which the recommendation information is transmitted may be referred to as a recommendation target.
The application server 50 acquires recommendation information corresponding to the extraction result received from the position information server 30 in the application process. Specifically, for example, the application server 50 performs information analysis on the behavior of the user of the terminal device 10 based on the extraction result, and selects recommendation information to be transmitted to the terminal device 10 based on the information analysis. Generate. An example of information analysis will be described later.

[Overview of authentication server]
The authentication server 40 performs various authentication processes when the terminal device 10 starts communication with the location information server 30. The authentication process performed by the authentication server 40 includes, for example, a terminal authentication process, a user authentication process, or an application authentication process. Specific examples of these authentication processes will be described. In the terminal authentication process, the authentication server 40 makes the authentication successful when the terminal ID transmitted from the terminal device 10 matches the terminal ID stored in advance. Here, the terminal ID is information such as a unique symbol or number for identifying the terminal device 10. The authentication server 40 in the user authentication process makes the authentication successful when the user ID transmitted from the terminal device 10 matches the user ID stored in advance. Here, the user ID is information such as a unique symbol or number for identifying a user who uses the terminal device 10. The authentication server 40 in the application authentication process makes the authentication successful when the application ID transmitted from the terminal device 10 matches the application ID stored in advance. Here, the application ID is information such as a unique symbol or number for identifying each application program.

  When the authentication by the authentication server 40 is successful, the authentication server 40 generates a token in the terminal device 10 and transmits it to the terminal device 10. The token transmitted from the authentication server 40 is stored in the terminal device 10. Thereby, the terminal device 10 can perform secure communication with the position information server 30 and the application server 50. Note that the token may be updated at an arbitrary timing. Thereby, the terminal device 10 can perform more secure communication.

  In addition, when the terminal device 10 is a mobile phone, the authentication server 40 may use an IP (Internet Protocol) address and a telephone number in the terminal authentication process. The authentication server 40 receives the IP address and telephone number transmitted from the terminal device 10 via the location information server 30. The authentication server 40 collates the received IP address and telephone number with a valid IP address and telephone number. If the received IP address and telephone number can be verified with a valid IP address and telephone number, the authentication server 40 transmits an authentication result permitting communication to the location information server 30.

[Outline of POI server]
The POI server 42 stores POI information. The POI information includes at least information indicating the latitude and longitude of a store or the like. The POI server 42 receives a request from the terminal device 10, the position information server 30 or the application server 50. This request includes the terminal position information of the terminal device 10. The POI server 42 searches for POI information corresponding to the terminal position information in response to the reception of this request, and returns POI information near the terminal position information. The POI information may include a location ID such as a store, a location name, and a category. As a result, the POI server 42 can return the location ID, location name, category, etc. corresponding to the terminal position information as a search result.
The POI server 42 may search the terminal device 10 using the POI information as a key. As a result, the POI server 42 can extract the terminal device 10 corresponding to the POI information and send it back as a search result. For example, the POI server 42 can search for the terminal device 10 present in a certain store and send back the user ID of the terminal device 10.

[Configuration of terminal device]
Next, the configuration of the terminal device 10 will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the terminal device 10 according to the embodiment. The terminal device 10 includes a processing unit 12, a communication unit 14, a GPS (Global Positioning System) positioning unit 16, and a storage unit 18. The terminal device 10 is a device that is owned and moved by a user. The terminal device 10 may be a mobile phone or a smartphone, for example.

  The communication unit 14 communicates with the position information server 30. The communication unit 14 is configured by a communication IC chip, for example. The communication unit 14 converts the terminal position information supplied from the processing unit 12 into predetermined communication data and transmits the predetermined communication data to the position information server 30. When the authentication server 40 performs application authentication, the terminal location information may be associated with the application ID of the application that has been successfully authenticated. When communication data is received from the position information server 30 or the application server 50, the communication unit 14 performs a predetermined process on the received communication data and outputs it to the processing unit 12.

  The GPS positioning unit 16 functions as a position information acquisition unit that acquires terminal position information. The GPS positioning unit 16 specifies the position of the device itself, generates terminal position information, and outputs the terminal position information to the processing unit 12. At this time, the GPS positioning unit 16 receives a GPS signal including the position and time of the GPS satellite from a plurality of GPS satellites. The GPS positioning unit 16 calculates the distance between the plurality of GPS satellites and the terminal device 10, and specifies the position of the own device by triangulation calculation. The specified position and time are supplied from the GPS positioning unit 16 to the processing unit 12 as terminal position information.

  The GPS positioning unit 16 operates in at least two states, a sleep state and a normal operation state. Among these, the sleep state is a state in which standby is performed without performing positioning, and is a state in which power consumption is less than that in the normal operation state. The normal operation state is a state in which positioning is performed, and is a state in which power consumption is higher than that in the sleep state. The GPS positioning unit 16 changes the state according to the activation request from the processing unit 12 and the completion of the normal operation. Specifically, the operation state of the GPS positioning unit 16 transitions from the sleep state to the normal operation state with the activation request from the processing unit 12 as a trigger. The operation state of the GPS positioning unit 16 transitions from the normal operation state to the sleep state, triggered by the completion of the positioning calculation. Here, the activation request is a request that is output from the processing unit 12 to the GPS positioning unit 16, and is a command that requests execution of a process of specifying the position of the own device and generating terminal position information.

  In other words, the GPS positioning unit 16 is in a sleep state during a period of waiting for an input of an activation request output from the processing unit 12. The sleep state is a state of operating with power saving and is canceled by a start request. The GPS positioning unit 16 is activated in response to an activation request input from the processing unit 12. As a result, the GPS positioning unit 16 switches from the sleep state to the normal operation state. The activation request is a command for acquiring terminal location information of the own device. When the GPS positioning unit 16 acquires the terminal position information in response to the activation request and outputs it to the processing unit 12, the GPS positioning unit 16 enters a sleep state after a predetermined time.

Note that the position information acquisition unit that acquires terminal position information may acquire the terminal position information by another method.
This location information acquisition unit may acquire terminal location information by a cell ID (mobile phone base station) method. In the cell ID method, when the terminal device 10 is a mobile phone terminal, the current location of the terminal device 10 is calculated based on radio wave information of three or more mobile phone base stations by applying a communication function as a mobile phone terminal. .
The position information acquisition unit may acquire terminal position information by a Wi-Fi method. In the Wi-Fi method, radio waves transmitted from wireless LAN access points around the terminal device 10 are detected, and the terminal location information of the terminal device 10 is obtained from the access point or a predetermined server based on the terminal location information of the access point. get.
Further, the position information acquisition unit may acquire terminal position information by a network positioning method. In the network positioning method, terminal position information is acquired by positioning using the cell ID method and the Wi-Fi method.
As described above, the position information acquisition unit is activated from the sleep state in response to the activation request from the processing unit 12 even in a configuration using not only the GPS positioning method but also the cell ID method or the Wi-Fi method. Terminal location information can be acquired.
In the present embodiment, the terminal device 10 gives priority to the positioning method by the GPS positioning unit 16 over the Wi-Fi method and the cell ID method as the terminal position information acquisition method. The terminal device 10 switches to the positioning by the cell ID method or the Wi-Fi method instead of the positioning by the GPS positioning unit 16 in a situation where the GPS positioning unit 16 cannot perform positioning, for example, the terminal device 10 is indoors.

  The processing unit 12 is a software function unit that functions when a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) executes a program stored in a memory. Some or all of these functional units may be hardware functional units such as LSI (Large Scale Integration) and ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit).

  The processing unit 12 includes application processing units 120A, 120B, and 120C (hereinafter simply referred to as “application processing unit 120” when collectively referred to). The application processing units 120A, 120B, and 120C are software function units that function when the CPU executes the application programs A, B, and C. In the present embodiment, each of the plurality of application processing units 120A, 120B, and 120C executes arbitrary application processing. Moreover, although this embodiment demonstrates the example which performs three application programs A, B, and C, it is not restricted to this. The application processing unit 120 only needs to execute two or more application programs at the same time.

  The terminal device 10 may perform an operation for application authentication when the application programs A, B, and C are activated. In this case, when the application program is activated, the terminal device 10 transmits an application ID predetermined for each application program to the authentication server 40. More specifically, the terminal device 10 transmits an application ID indicating the application program A to the authentication server 40 when the application program A is activated. The terminal device 10 receives an authentication result indicating whether application authentication is permitted from the authentication server 40. The terminal device 10 permits the application program to be activated only when the authentication result is “permitted”.

  The processing unit 12 can execute a plurality of application programs A, B, and C at the same time. The processing unit 12 executes an application program with a low priority among the plurality of application programs A, B, and C in the background. Note that the application programs A, B, and C may be set to output activation requests to the GPS positioning unit 16 at predetermined intervals. The predetermined period may be set for each of the application programs A, B, and C. Examples of the predetermined period include 1 minute, 10 minutes, 1 hour, and the predetermined period may be changed according to the position of the terminal device 10 and the like.

  In addition, the predetermined period is set to a frequency suitable for each application server 50 corresponding to each application to make a recommendation. Specifically, for example, in the case of the application server 50 that transmits advertisement information of a store near the user's location as recommendation information, when the terminal device 10 is located in a crowded area of the store, the information is acquired at a higher frequency. If the recommendation information can be transmitted based on the terminal position information, it is possible to distribute an advertisement of a store closer to the user, and therefore, a high-quality recommendation may be performed. On the other hand, when the terminal device 10 is located in a depopulated area of the store, even the terminal location information acquired at a low frequency may be sufficient for the recommendation. As described above, in the recommendation system 1, the acquisition frequency of the terminal location information suitable for the recommendation is different for each application and the application server 50.

In the terminal device 10 of the present embodiment, even if the application program outputs an activation request, any one of the position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C outputs the activation request to the GPS positioning unit 16.
The terminal device 10 uses the single location information acquisition control unit 122 as, for example, the location information acquisition control unit 122 having the highest frequency of making a startup request, thereby maintaining the quality of the recommendation and maintaining the power of the positioning. Consumption can be suppressed.

  The storage unit 18 stores a terminal location information library attached to each of the application programs A, B, and C. In the embodiment, a terminal location information library A is attached to the application program A. In addition, the terminal location information library B is attached to the application program B, and the terminal location information library C is attached to the application program C. In the following description, these terminal location information libraries A, B, and C are collectively referred to as a terminal location information library.

  The terminal location information library is software executed by the CPU of the terminal device 10. That is, in the terminal device 10, the CPU executes the terminal position information library. Thereby, the terminal device 10 constitutes position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C (hereinafter, simply referred to as “position information acquisition control unit 122” when collectively referred to) as software function units. That is, the processing unit 12 has the position information acquisition control unit 122 for each application.

  The position information acquisition control units 122 </ b> A, 122 </ b> B, and 122 </ b> C output activation requests to the GPS positioning unit 16. In the embodiment, the activation request is output from any one of the position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C. The position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C acquire the terminal position information generated by the GPS positioning unit 16 in response to the activation request, and output the acquired terminal position information to the application processing units 120A, 120B, and 120C. . In the embodiment, the GPS positioning unit 16 outputs the generated terminal position information to any one of the position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C that output the activation request. Any one of the position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C to which the terminal position information is input may output the terminal position information to another position information acquisition control unit. As a result, each of the application processing units 120A, 120B, and 120C can use the terminal location information generated by the GPS positioning unit 16.

  Here, the position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C output the terminal position information to the application processing unit 120 corresponding to the application that is permitted to use the terminal position information based on the permission setting information. Also good. That is, the position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C do not output terminal position information to the application processing unit 120 corresponding to an application that is not permitted to use the terminal position information. The position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C may refer to the permission setting information stored in the terminal device 10, or may refer to the permission setting information stored in the position information server 30.

  The application programs A, B, and C are accompanied by terminal location information libraries A, B, and C, respectively, but all location information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C are not necessarily connected to the GPS positioning unit 16. However, it is not necessary to output an activation request. That is, the processing unit 12 has one position information acquisition control unit that allows the application processing unit 120 to use the terminal position information by acquiring the terminal position information among the plurality of position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C. 122 should just exist. “One location information acquisition control unit 122” is realized by a terminal location information library as a master, which will be described later. As described later with reference to FIG. 3, “one location information acquisition control unit 122” may be attached as one terminal location information library corresponding to a plurality of applications.

The application processing unit 120 uses terminal location information that is acquired by the GPS positioning unit 16 by one location information acquisition control unit 122.
In the terminal device 10, “use terminal location information” includes using the terminal location information in the terminal device 10. For example, the application processing unit 120 can display the position of the own device on the map based on the terminal position information acquired by the GPS positioning unit 16 by using the terminal position information.
In the terminal device 10, “use terminal location information” includes using information based on the terminal location information acquired by the GPS positioning unit 16. The information based on the terminal position information is new information obtained by using the terminal position information. The information based on the terminal position information may be information obtained by processing based on the terminal position information in the terminal device 10 or obtained by processing based on the terminal position information in the application server 50. Information may be provided. For example, the application processing unit 120 may extract advertisement information of a store close to the position of the own device and display the advertisement information as a push advertisement. The application processing unit 120 may receive the advertisement information extracted based on the terminal position information by the application server 50 and display the advertisement information as a push advertisement.

The application processing unit 120 makes available the terminal location information acquired by one location information acquisition control unit 122. “Making terminal position information available” includes causing a device other than the terminal device 10 to acquire the terminal position information and enabling a device other than the terminal device 10 to process the terminal position information.
For this purpose, the application processing unit 120 permits the use of the terminal position information acquired by the GPS positioning unit 16. At this time, the application processing unit 120 asks the user whether to permit transmission of the terminal position information. When the user permits transmission of the terminal location information, the application processing unit 120 generates permission information that permits the use of the terminal location information. The application processing unit 120 transmits the generated permission information to the location information server 30. After receiving the permission information transmitted from the terminal device 10, the location information server 30 can accumulate the terminal location information transmitted from the terminal device 10 and transmit it to the application server 50 and the like thereafter. Accordingly, the application processing unit 120 can cause the application server 50 to analyze the position of the terminal device 10 by using the terminal position information.

  Furthermore, the application processing unit 120 is installed in the terminal device 10 in advance. The application processing unit 120 may be installed in the terminal device 10 as the terminal location information library is supplied to the terminal device 10. Specifically, the application program with the terminal location information library attached is downloaded and installed in the terminal device 10 at the same time. Accordingly, the terminal device 10 can include the application processing unit 120 and the position information acquisition control unit 122.

The terminal location information library is downloaded according to the user's permission. When the application program is activated, the application processing unit 120 displays a screen for inquiring whether transmission of terminal location information of the own device is permitted. When transmission of terminal location information is permitted based on a user operation, the application processing unit 120 transmits a download request for the terminal location information library.
The location information server 30 transmits a terminal location information library to the terminal device 10 in response to receiving the download request. Thereby, the terminal device 10 starts downloading the terminal position information library. When the download is completed, the processing unit 12 attaches the terminal location information library to each application program.

The processing unit 12 may attach the downloaded terminal location information library to another application. The processing unit 12 duplicates the downloaded terminal location information library and incorporates it into an application that does not include the terminal location information library. Accordingly, the processing unit 12 can attach the terminal position information library to an application that does not have the terminal position information library.
The processing unit 12 may update to the latest version of the terminal location information library instead of the old version of the terminal location information library already incorporated in the application. Thereby, the processing unit 12 can update the terminal location information library of the application to the latest one.

  As described above, the position information acquisition control unit 122 makes an activation request to the GPS positioning unit 16. One position information acquisition control unit 122 among the plurality of position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C attached to the plurality of application processing units 120A, 120B, and 120C makes an activation request to the GPS positioning unit 16. One position information acquisition control unit 122 that makes an activation request among the plurality of position information acquisition control units 122 is specified in advance. That is, it is specified which application program among the plurality of application programs A, B, and C outputs the activation request from the position information acquisition control unit 122 to the GPS positioning unit 16.

  The terminal position information is supplied from the GPS positioning unit 16 to the position information acquisition control unit 122 that has output the activation request among the plurality of position information acquisition control units 122. The location information acquisition control unit 122 notifies the other location information acquisition control unit 122 that the terminal location information has been supplied from the GPS positioning unit 16. The other location information acquisition control unit 122 requests the terminal location information from the location information acquisition control unit 122 that has output the activation request in response to the notification indicating that the terminal location information has been supplied. The location information acquisition control unit 122 that has output the activation request outputs terminal location information to the other location information acquisition control unit 122 in response to a request from the other location information acquisition control unit 122. Here, the location information acquisition control unit 122 that has output the activation request is the location information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application specified in advance. The other position information acquisition control unit 122 is a position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to an application other than the application specified in advance. That is, the location information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application specified in advance outputs the terminal location information to the location information acquisition control unit 122 attached to another application. Thereby, the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to another application can acquire the terminal position information generated by the GPS positioning unit 16 without making a start request to the GPS positioning unit 16.

Here, the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application specified in advance is also referred to as a position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master. Further, the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to an application other than the application specified in advance is also referred to as a position information acquisition control unit 122 that does not have master authority or a slave position information acquisition control unit 122.
In other words, one location information acquisition control unit 122 that outputs an activation request has master authority over the other location information acquisition control unit 122. The other position information acquisition control unit 122 functions as a slave with respect to the master position information acquisition control unit 122. The other position information acquisition control unit 122 does not transmit an activation request to the GPS positioning unit 16. When receiving the notification from the master location information acquisition control unit 122, the other location information acquisition control unit 122 requests the terminal location information from the master location information acquisition control unit 122 and acquires the terminal location information.

  The storage unit 18 is a recording medium that stores various types of information. The storage unit 18 accumulates terminal location information acquired by the location information acquisition control unit 122. The storage unit 18 stores terminal position information in time series. The storage unit 18 may store permission setting information. The permission setting information may include information indicating the date and time when the use of the terminal position information is permitted, information indicating the date and time when the use of the terminal position information is not permitted, and the like.

  The storage unit 18 also stores a terminal location information library as a location acquisition control program for operating the location information acquisition control unit 122. The position acquisition control program is a program that can be read by a computer.

Further, the storage unit 18 stores the following information.
The storage unit 18 stores a terminal ID assigned to the terminal device 10.
The storage unit 18 stores a user ID assigned to the user of the terminal device 10.
The storage unit 18 stores web history information related to an access history to the web page accessed by the terminal device 10 at the position indicated by the terminal position information and an operation history of the activated web browser. The web history information includes the time when the terminal device 10 accessed a corporate advertisement or a web page such as a home page and the address of the accessed web page.

  The storage unit 18 stores program execution history information related to a program executed by the terminal device 10 at the position indicated by the terminal position information. The program execution history information includes the time when the terminal device 10 executes the program and the name and type of the executed program. The program execution history information includes the time when the program is started and the time when the program is restarted from the sleep state. The programs executed by the terminal device 10 include, for example, a camera program, a mail program, a telephone program, a music playback program (which may include a played music name, etc.), a calculator program, and the like.

  The storage unit 18 stores operation history information related to an operation from the user received by the terminal device 10 at the position indicated by the terminal position information. The operation history information includes the time when the terminal device 10 receives an operation and the name and type of the received operation. The operations received by the terminal device 10 include, for example, an operation to turn on the power, an operation to turn off the power, an operation to adjust the speaker volume, and an operation to switch to the power saving mode.

  The storage unit 18 stores charging history information indicating whether or not the terminal device 10 is in the charging mode at the position indicated by the terminal position information. The charging history information includes a time when the terminal device 10 starts charging and a time when charging ends. Further, the charge history information may include the remaining capacity of the terminal device 10 and the ratio of the remaining capacity.

  The storage unit 18 stores posture change information indicating a change in posture of the terminal device 10 at the position indicated by the terminal position information. The posture change information includes the time when the posture of the terminal device 10 is changed. Note that the change in the attitude of the terminal device 10 is detected by an acceleration sensor or the like to be described later.

  The storage unit 18 stores environment information acquired by the terminal device 10 at the position indicated by the terminal position information. The environmental information includes sound information collected by the terminal device 10, a communication history of near field communication, and the like. The sound information collected by the terminal device 10 is information on audible sounds and inaudible sounds that are circulated in stores, for example. The communication history of near field communication includes, for example, the time when Bluetooth (registered trademark) and infrared communication are performed.

  The storage unit 18 stores a cell ID that identifies the cell in which the terminal device 10 is located at the position indicated by the terminal position information. The cell ID includes the time when the terminal device 10 starts communication with the base station forming the cell and the time when communication is terminated.

  The storage unit 18 stores WiFi information that identifies an access point (AP) of a WiFi network with which the terminal device 10 communicates at the position indicated by the terminal location information. The WiFi AP information includes a time when the terminal device 10 starts communication with the access point and a time when communication ends.

  Web history information, program execution history information, operation history information, charging history information, posture change information, environment information, cell ID information, and WiFi AP information are generated by the processing unit 12.

  When transmitting the terminal location information to the location information server 30, the location information acquisition control unit 122 reads the terminal location information stored in the storage unit 18 and outputs it to the communication unit 14. Thereby, the position information acquisition control unit 122 causes the communication unit 14 to transmit the terminal position information read from the storage unit 18 to the position information server 30. The position information acquisition control unit 122 may transmit all or part of the web history information, the program execution history information, the operation history information, the charging history information, the posture change information, and the environment information together with the terminal position information.

  Furthermore, the position information acquisition control unit 122 may store the terminal position information transmission completion or transmission failure as a transmission history each time the terminal position information is read from the storage unit 18 and communicated by the communication unit 14. For example, when the location information acquisition control unit 122 cannot transmit the terminal location information due to the influence of radio waves around its own device, the location information acquisition control unit 122 stops transmitting the terminal location information and cannot transmit it in association with the terminal location information. The transmission history is stored in the storage unit 18. The position information acquisition control unit 122 refers to the transmission history at the transmission timing, reads out the terminal position information acquired by the GPS positioning unit 16 after the previous transmission timing and the terminal position information that cannot be transmitted from the storage unit 18, and performs communication. Communication is performed by the unit 14. Thereby, the position information acquisition control unit 122 can transmit the terminal position information without omission even when the situation where the terminal position information cannot be transmitted occurs.

The position information acquisition control unit 122 associates information related to the terminal device 10 such as a user ID, a terminal ID, a terminal model name, and an OS (Operating System) type with the terminal position information via the communication unit 14. You may transmit to the information server 30. Further, the position information acquisition control unit 122 may transmit the terminal position information in association with the positioning method of the terminal position information and the positioning error of the terminal position information measured by the positioning method. Examples of the positioning method include a GPS positioning method, a cell ID method, a Wi-Fi method, and a network positioning method. Furthermore, when the terminal device 10 exists in the Wi-Fi network, the location information acquisition control unit 122 may transmit the terminal location information in association with the ID of the access point of the Wi-Fi network. Furthermore, when the terminal device 10 is communicating by starting the Bluetooth (registered trademark) function, the location information acquisition control unit 122 transmits the terminal location information in association with the ID as the Bluetooth (registered trademark) terminal. May be. Further, permission settings may be set for each piece of terminal location information.
Further, the location information acquisition control unit 122 may transmit the terminal location information directly to the application server 50 without using the location information server 30.

The position information acquisition control unit 122 causes the terminal apparatus 10 to transmit terminal position information to the position information server 30 when a predetermined condition is met. The predetermined condition is a transmission timing determined in advance in the terminal device 10. The predetermined condition may be a predetermined period transmitted from the location information server 30. Thereby, the terminal device 10 can transmit the terminal position information to the position information server 30 at a frequency requested by the position information server 30.
The predetermined condition may be a timing set by an application. For example, the terminal device 10 may measure the terminal position information in accordance with the push instruction from the position information server 30. Further, the push instruction of the position information server 30 may be performed according to the positioning timing instructed from the application server 50 to the position information server 30. Thereby, the terminal device 10 can transmit the terminal position information to the position information server 30 at a frequency requested by the application.
The predetermined condition may be a predetermined period transmitted from the application server 50 when the terminal position information is transmitted directly to the application server 50 without going through the position information server 30. Thereby, the terminal device 10 can transmit the terminal position information to the application server 50 at a frequency requested by the application server 50.

Next, an example of associating information indicating whether or not the terminal location information is an application permitted to use the terminal location information in a system in which the terminal association method is adopted will be described.
For example, the processing unit 12 associates information indicating whether or not the application is permitted to use the terminal position information with the terminal position information. Note that the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master is not limited to the processing unit 12, and may associate information indicating whether the terminal position information is an application permitted to use the terminal position information with the terminal position information. Good. The processing unit 12 refers to the permission setting information and associates an application ID indicating an application for which use of the terminal position information is permitted by the user of the terminal device 10 with the terminal position information acquired during the permission period. The permission period is, for example, a period during which use of the terminal location information is permitted by the user. The permission period is set by the user for each application program. The permission period is included in the permission setting information.

  As described above, the GPS positioning unit 16 measures the terminal position information in response to the activation request output by the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master. However, in the present embodiment, the processing unit 12 associates application IDs indicating all applications permitted to use the terminal location information with the terminal location information when the terminal location information is measured. That is, the processing unit 12 is associated with the terminal location information including the application ID indicating the application having the authority of the slave, not limited to the application having the authority of the master that has output the activation request. By receiving the terminal location information and permission setting information associated with each other in this way, the location information server 30 writes the following information in the correspondence table 38T.

  For example, it is assumed that the positioning interval of the app A is every 5 minutes, the positioning interval of the app B is 1 hour, and the positioning interval of the app C is 3 hours. Here, when the application A has the master authority, the terminal position information measured at intervals of 5 minutes is written in the correspondence table 38T of the position information server 30. Further, when the use of the terminal position information is permitted in each of the applications A to C, “◯” is displayed in the columns of “application A”, “application B”, and “application C” in the permission setting information of the correspondence table 38T. Is written. Thereby, the position information server 30 can provide terminal position information measured at intervals of 5 minutes to all of the application servers 50A to 50C of the applications A to C. Further, the application servers 50B and 50C of the applications B and C can use terminal location information measured at intervals shorter than the prescribed positioning intervals.

  FIG. 3 shows another configuration example of the terminal device 10. The terminal device 10 is not limited to the configuration shown in FIG. 2, and may be configured as shown in FIG. The terminal device 10 in FIG. 3 has one position information acquisition control unit 122 for a plurality of application processing units 120A, 120B, and 120C. The position information acquisition control unit 122 is implemented as one terminal position information library corresponding to a plurality of applications.

FIG. 4 shows still another configuration example of the terminal device 10. In the terminal device 10, the position information acquisition unit 160 includes an acceleration sensor 161 in addition to the GPS positioning unit 16 described above. The acceleration sensor 161 changes its physical quantity in accordance with a change in acceleration applied to the terminal device 10 that is its own device. The acceleration sensor 161 may be a semiconductor capacitance sensor.
The terminal device 10 may include a gravity sensor, a gyro sensor, or a geomagnetic sensor in order to detect the behavior of the device itself. In the present embodiment, it is described that only the acceleration sensor 161 is provided. However, the gravity sensor, the gyro sensor, or the geomagnetic sensor may be provided together with the acceleration sensor 161 or instead of the acceleration sensor 161.

  The acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor 161 corresponds to the behavior of the terminal device 10. The position information acquisition unit 160 detects the movement of the own device based on the behavior detected by the acceleration sensor 161. The position information acquisition unit 160 updates the movement amount in response to detecting the movement of the own device. Unlike the actual movement amount of the terminal device 10, this movement amount is a movement amount estimated from the behavior of the terminal device 10. This movement amount is output from the position information acquisition unit 160 to the processing unit 12. Thereby, the processing unit 12 can accumulate in the storage unit 18 terminal position information of the own device that changes according to the amount of movement.

  Note that the position information acquisition unit 160 may detect that the device itself has moved based on a change in physical quantity in the acceleration sensor 161. The position information acquisition unit 160 can cause the position information acquisition control unit 122 to determine the positioning timing in response to detecting that the own apparatus has moved. For example, the position information acquisition control unit 122 can determine that it is the positioning timing when the own apparatus is in a moving state. The position information acquisition control unit 122 can determine that it is the positioning timing when the movement distance per unit time or the movement distance from the predetermined position exceeds a predetermined distance (for example, 100 meters). .

  Further, the position information acquisition control unit 122 may determine the positioning timing based on an identifier of a communication area in which the communication unit 14 can communicate. Examples of the identifier of the communication area include a cell ID of a base station or an access point ID in a Wi-Fi network. The position information acquisition control unit 122 can determine that the timing at which it is determined that the identifier of the communication area detected by the communication unit 14 has changed is the positioning timing.

  Next, the operation of the terminal device 10 will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart for determining whether to perform master determination processing for determining the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master by the terminal device 10 configured as shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of master determination processing.

  First, in step S100 of FIG. 5, the terminal device 10 determines whether or not a plurality of application programs are simultaneously activated by the processing unit 12. If a plurality of application programs are activated, the process proceeds to step S102. When only one application program is activated, the terminal device 10 repeats this determination.

  In step S102, the processing unit 12 performs the master determination process of FIG. This master determination process is described as being performed by the processing unit 12 of each position information acquisition control unit 122. Note that this master determination process is merely an example, and it is a matter of course that the terminal location information library as a master may be determined by other processes.

  First, in step S200 of FIG. 6, the processing unit 12 determines whether or not the current operation mode of the own apparatus is the power saving mode. At this time, the processing unit 12 refers to the remaining battery level in the own device. The processing unit 12 determines that the power saving mode is set when the remaining battery level is equal to or less than a predetermined value. If so, the process proceeds to step S202; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S204. Note that the processing unit 12 may detect that the power saving mode is set by a user operation.

  In the next step S202, the processing unit 12 determines the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application program corresponding to the power saving mode as the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master. At this time, the processing unit 12 may determine the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application program with the old version as the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master. The processing unit 12 may determine the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to an application program with less information to be acquired as the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master. The processing unit 12 determines the position information acquisition control unit 122 other than the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master as the slave position information acquisition control unit 122.

In step S204, the processing unit 12 detects the position information acquisition control unit 122 that matches a predetermined master determination condition. As the predetermined master determination condition, a condition for setting the terminal position information library as the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master is set in advance. The predetermined master determination condition may be the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to an application that frequently makes a start request to the GPS positioning unit 16 among a plurality of applications. In this case, the processing unit 12 refers to data including a history of application program activation times. The processing unit 12 detects an application having the largest number of activations. Thus, the processing unit 12 detects the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application with the largest number of activations as the position information acquisition control unit 122 of the master candidate.
The predetermined master determination condition may be the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application activated first among the plurality of applications. In this case, the processing unit 12 refers to data including a history of application activation times. The processing unit 12 detects an application having the oldest activation time among currently activated applications. The position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application with the oldest start time is detected as the master candidate position information acquisition control unit 122.
The predetermined master determination condition may be a terminal location information library having the latest version among a plurality of terminal location information libraries. In this case, the processing unit 12 refers to the version information of each terminal location information library attached to a plurality of applications. The processing unit 12 detects the terminal location information library of the latest version information from the version information of the terminal location information library. The processing unit 12 detects the location information acquisition control unit 122 corresponding to the terminal location information library of the latest version information as the location information acquisition control unit 122 of the master candidate.

  Note that the predetermined master determination conditions may include other conditions. The processing unit 12 may detect the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application program having the oldest installation date and the least likely to be deleted as the position information acquisition control unit 122 of the master candidate. Good. Further, the processing unit 12 may detect the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application having the most types of terminal position information to be acquired as the position information acquisition control unit 122 of the master candidate. Further, the processing unit 12 may detect the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application with the highest positioning frequency as the position information acquisition control unit 122 of the master candidate.

  In step S206, the processing unit 12 determines the position information acquisition control unit 122 corresponding to the predetermined master determination condition detected in step S204 as the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master. The processing unit 12 determines the position information acquisition control unit 122 other than the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master as the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the slave. When a plurality of master candidate position information acquisition control units 122 are detected, the processing unit 12 determines that the position information acquisition control unit 122 that has a large number that matches a predetermined master determination condition The information acquisition control unit 122 may determine the information.

In this embodiment, the location information acquisition controller 122 may be determined by the location information server 30 having the authority of the master. The location information server 30 receives from the terminal device 10 a list that defines information about the running application and permission information that the user has permitted to use the terminal location information. The location information server 30 refers to the received list and determines which of the applications that are permitted to use the location information of the terminal and that is active and that is associated with the application. it can. The location information server 30 notifies the terminal device 10 of the application to which the determined master location information library is attached. Thereby, the terminal device 10 can set the terminal location information library attached to the application determined by the location information server 30 as a master.
Note that the location information server 30 allows the terminal device 10 to use the application location information and the user to use the terminal location information from the terminal device 10 periodically, at a fixed date and time, or when a change occurs in the previously transmitted list. You may receive the list which defined permission information. As a result, the location information server 30 can notify the terminal device 10 of the next master without delay even when there is a change in the permission information that the running application or user has permitted the use of the location information of. it can.
Further, the location information server 30 receives information indicating the remaining amount of charging together with the terminal location information from the terminal device 10, and issues an instruction to change the master when the remaining amount of charging falls below a predetermined capacity. Good.

  In addition, the location information server 30 includes a master location information library based on the list of application information received from the terminal device 10 and permission information that the user has permitted to use the location information. A list may be created that defines the order of attached applications. Thereby, when the application to which the master terminal location information library is attached is deleted, the terminal device 10 can determine the terminal location information library attached to the next rank application as the master.

  As described above, the processing unit 12 can determine any one of the plurality of position information acquisition control units 122 as the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure in the terminal device 10 for acquiring the terminal position information by the master position information acquisition control unit 122 and transmitting the acquired terminal position information to the position information server 30.

  First, in step S300, the master position information acquisition control unit 122 determines whether or not the positioning timing has come. The positioning timing is a timing for acquiring the terminal position information of the own device. The positioning timing is a time interval set in advance in the own apparatus. The positioning timing may be a time interval specified by the position information server 30.

  In the next step S <b> 302, the master position information acquisition control unit 122 outputs an activation request to the GPS positioning unit 16. Thereby, the GPS positioning part 16 receives a GPS signal, performs a triangulation calculation, and pinpoints the position of an own apparatus. The GPS positioning unit 16 acquires the specified position as terminal position information. The terminal position information acquired by the GPS positioning unit 16 is supplied to the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master. The location information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master accumulates the supplied terminal location information in the storage unit 18 together with the positioning time.

  In the next step S304, the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master notifies the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the slave that the terminal position information has been acquired in step S302.

  In the next step S306, the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master determines whether or not the request is received from the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the slave. When the request is received (step S306: YES), the location information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master stores the terminal location accumulated in step S302 in the location information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the slave that has transmitted the request. Information is output (step S308). The location information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master outputs the terminal location information to the location information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of all the slaves that have output the requests. After the notification in step S304, if there is no request from the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the slave and a predetermined time has elapsed, the process may be timed out and the process proceeds to step S310.

In step S <b> 310, the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master determines whether it is the transmission timing of the terminal position information to the position information server 30. The transmission timing of the terminal position information is when a predetermined time has elapsed from the previous transmission timing. The predetermined time is a time determined in advance in the own apparatus. The predetermined time may be a time interval requested by the location information server 30.
When the transmission timing of the terminal location information is reached (step S310: YES), the location information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master reads out the terminal location information not transmitted to the location information server 30 from the storage unit 18, The information is sent to the information server 30 (step S312). If it is not the transmission timing, the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master returns the process to step S300.

Next, an operation screen for setting permission setting information will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation screen for setting permission setting information.
The operation screen may be a screen displayed on the terminal device 10 when the terminal device 10 accesses the location information server 30, and is displayed on the terminal device 10 when the terminal device 10 accesses a predetermined address. It may be a screen.
As shown in FIG. 8, on the operation screen for setting permission setting information, “all application permission” B1, “permission” B2, and “non-permission” B3 are displayed. “Permission” B2 and “Non-Permission” B3 are provided for each application. For example, an application installed in the terminal device 10 is displayed on the operation screen for setting the permission setting information. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and on the operation screen for setting the permission setting information, an installable application that is not yet installed in the terminal device 10 may be displayed.

  The “all application permission” B1 is an operation unit that receives an operation for permitting the use of the terminal position information for all applications displayed on the operation screen. When “all application permission” B1 is instructed, a setting for permitting the use of terminal location information for all applications displayed on the operation screen for setting permission setting information is accepted.

The “permission” B2 is an operation unit that receives an operation for permitting use of the terminal position information for the associated application. When “permission” B2 is instructed, a setting for permitting the use of the terminal position information for the associated application is accepted.
The “non-permitted” B3 is an operation unit that receives an operation for not permitting use of the terminal position information for the associated application. When “non-permitted” B3 is instructed, a setting not to permit the use of the terminal position information for the associated application is accepted.

The applications associated with “permitted” B2 and “non-permitted” B3 are applications displayed on the left side of the respective operation screens of “permitted” B2 and “unlicensed” B3. In the illustrated example, the use of the terminal location information is permitted for the app A, and the use of the terminal location information is not permitted for the apps B and C. In the “permitted” B2 and the “non-permitted” B3, the character display color is lighter than the background color. On the other hand, the display mode that is not set is determined and displayed, and the character color is darker than the background color.
In addition, the operation screen for setting permission setting information can be set for each type of information transmitted to the external device when the permission is granted, for the purpose of transmitting information to the external device, and for each type of application. It is described that there is.

  Next, the configuration of the location information server 30 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the location information server 30 according to the embodiment. The location information server 30 includes a processing unit 32, a first communication unit 34, a second communication unit 36, and a storage unit 38.

The first communication unit 34 includes a reception unit and a transmission unit that communicate with the terminal device 10. The first communication unit 34 receives terminal position information from the terminal device 10. Further, the first communication unit 34 receives from the terminal device 10 permission or non-permission setting values (permission setting information) for use of the terminal position information.
The second communication unit 36 includes a reception unit and a transmission unit that communicate with the application server 50. The second communication unit 36 transmits the terminal position information to the application server 50 that provides an application for which use of the terminal position information is permitted by the user.

The storage unit 38 stores terminal location information received from the terminal device 10. Here, an example of the correspondence table 38T stored in the storage unit 38 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the correspondence table 38T stored in the storage unit 38. As illustrated in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 10, the correspondence table 38T includes a user ID, permission setting information, terminal position information, web history information, program execution history information, operation history information, charging history information, and posture change information. This is a table for associating environmental information.
The user ID, terminal position information, web history information, program execution history information, operation history information, charging history information, posture change information, and environment information are information received from the terminal device 10. The permission setting information is information received from the terminal device 10 in the case of the terminal association method, and is information associated with the position information server 30 in the case of the server association method.

Details of the permission setting information and terminal location information associated with the user ID in the correspondence table 38T will be described.
The permission setting information includes a column for each application ID. The permission setting information may be composed of only a column of applications installed in the terminal device 10, or may include a column of all applications recognized by the location information server 30. That is, the permission setting information may include a column of applications that are not installed in the terminal device 10. In each row of the permission setting information, information indicating whether or not the use is permitted by the user is stored for each terminal position information. In the figure, “◯” indicates that the user is permitted to use the terminal position information. “-” Indicates that the user is not permitted to use the terminal location information.
The terminal location information includes a column indicating latitude and longitude, and a column indicating positioning time.

The processing unit 32 is a software function unit that functions when a processor such as a CPU executes a program stored in a memory. In addition, some or all of these functional units may be hardware functional units such as an LSI or an ASIC.
The processing unit 32 includes an extraction unit 321 and an authentication unit 322. The authentication unit 322 determines whether or not the application server 50 that requests the terminal location information is a valid application server 50. The legitimate application server 50 is a server that is permitted to acquire terminal position information. For example, the authentication unit 322 cooperates with the authentication server 40 and determines that the application server 50 authenticated by the authentication server 40 is a valid application server 50. The authentication unit 322 may determine whether or not the application server 50 is a legitimate application server 50 by executing a process similar to the authentication process executed by the authentication server 40. The authentication as to whether or not the application server 50 is legitimate may be authentication based on a combination of an ID and a password, or may be authentication using an IP address.

  The extraction unit 321 extracts terminal position information that satisfies the extraction condition from the storage unit 38. When the application server 50 sets an extraction condition, the second communication unit 36 receives extraction condition information for setting the extraction condition. The extraction unit 321 extracts terminal position information that satisfies the extraction condition set by the extraction condition information received by the second communication unit 36. The second communication unit 36 transmits the extraction result extracted based on the extraction condition set by the application server 50 to the application server 50 that transmitted the extraction condition information.

  Hereinafter, a specific example of processing executed by the extraction unit 321 will be described. Here, a case will be described in which terminal location information is defined as request extraction result information for extraction conditions. Although not described here, the extraction unit 321 stores arbitrary information associated with the correspondence table 38T and arbitrary information managed by the POI server 42 and the contractor information server 44. Can be extracted.

  For example, when an application is set as a search key for extraction conditions, the extraction unit 321 includes terminal position information associated with permission setting information indicating that the application is permitted to use terminal position information. Terminal location information associated with an application set as a search key is extracted. More specifically, the extracting unit 321 refers to the correspondence table 38T and corresponds to an application in which “○” indicating that the use of the terminal location information is permitted is written among the applications set as the search key. The attached terminal location information is extracted. As a result, the extraction unit 321 can extract terminal position information corresponding to the set application, which is permitted to be used, and transmit the extracted terminal position information to the application server 50. Therefore, the application server 50 can acquire and display only the terminal position information regarding its own application among the terminal position information licensed by the user.

  Further, the extraction unit 321 refers to the user attribute information associated with the user ID based on the user ID indicating the user permitted to use the application set as the search key, and permits the use of the set application. You may extract the user's attribute. As a result, it is possible to extract the attributes of a user who is permitted to use a specific application.

For example, when a user attribute is set as the search key for the extraction condition, the extraction unit 321 refers to the user attribute information associated with the user ID, and the user satisfying the user attribute set as the search key Terminal location information associated with the user ID is extracted. More specifically, the extracting unit 321 searches the user ID associated with the set user attribute with reference to the correspondence table 38T, and the terminal position associated with the user ID obtained by the search. Extract information. Note that user attribute information associated with the user ID may be stored in the storage unit 38 or may be stored in an external server. The user's attribute information includes, for example, age, gender, preference, area where they live, area where they often go out, and the like. Thereby, the extraction unit 321 can extract terminal position information indicating the position where the user having the set attribute exists.
Here, with reference to the correspondence table 38T, the extraction unit 321 is permitted to use the terminal position information among the terminal position information associated with the user ID of the user who satisfies the user attribute set as the search key. Terminal location information associated with permission setting information indicating that the application is a current application may be extracted.

  For example, when the time or period is set as the search key for the extraction condition, the extraction unit 321 refers to the positioning time included in the terminal position information, and the terminal position measured at the time or period set as the search key Extract information. More specifically, the extraction unit 321 refers to the correspondence table 38T and extracts terminal position information including positioning time that matches the set time or time. Matching the time may be a case where it matches the set time, and includes a case where the time is included in a predetermined period including the set time. Matching the time means a case where the time is included within a set time, for example, from 12:00 to 13:00. Thereby, the extraction part 321 can extract the terminal position information which shows the position where the terminal device 10 existed in the set time or period.

Here, the extraction unit 321 refers to the correspondence table 38T, and indicates that the use of the terminal position information is permitted among the terminal position information measured at the time or period set as the search key. The terminal position information associated with the permission setting information shown may be extracted.
Further, the extraction unit 321 refers to the user attribute information associated with the terminal ID based on the terminal ID indicating the terminal device 10 that has transmitted the terminal location information at the set time or time, and sets the set time or You may extract the attribute of the user of the terminal device 10 which transmitted terminal position information in time. Thereby, the attribute of the user of the terminal device 10 that has transmitted the terminal position information at a specific time or time can be extracted.

A future period or date / time may be designated as the search key. In this case, the position information server 30 extracts the terminal position information, the user ID, and the like measured during the designated period or date when the period or date determined by the search key has elapsed, and transmits the extracted information to the application server 50. To do. Thereby, the recommendation system 1 can perform recommendation in real time.
Here, an example of the operation of the recommendation system 1 in this real-time recommendation will be described. First, the application server 50 requests the location information server 30 to extract the terminal ID of the terminal device 10 located in a predetermined area, for example, from 12:00 to 13:00 tomorrow. Next, the position information server 30 extracts the terminal ID of the terminal device 10 located in a predetermined area at 12:00 on that day. Then, the location information server 30 sequentially transmits the extracted terminal IDs to the application server 50 until 13:00. The application server 50 transmits the recommendation information to the terminal device 10 indicated by the terminal ID sequentially received from the position information server 30. As described above, the application server 50 may reserve the extraction of information by the position information server 30.
The area is an area divided by latitude and longitude, for example.

  For example, when a location is set as a search key for extraction conditions, the extraction unit 321 refers to map data and extracts terminal location information corresponding to a predetermined range including the location set as a search key. More specifically, the extraction unit 321 refers to the correspondence table 38T and extracts terminal position information of latitude and longitude included within a predetermined radius centered on the latitude and longitude of the place set as the search key. To do. Locations set as search keys include, for example, facilities such as stations, landmarks, mountains, rivers, seas, and the like. The map data may be stored in the storage unit 38 or may be stored in an external server. Thereby, the extraction unit 321 can extract terminal location information indicating the location of the terminal device 10 that exists in the vicinity of the set location or the set location.

Here, the extraction unit 321 refers to the correspondence table 38T and is an application that is permitted to use the terminal position information among the terminal position information corresponding to the predetermined range including the place set as the search key. Terminal location information associated with permission setting information indicating that may be extracted.
Further, the extraction unit 321 refers to the user attribute information associated with the terminal ID based on the terminal ID indicating the terminal device 10 existing at the set location, and determines the attribute of the user existing at the set location. It may be extracted. Thereby, the attribute of the user who existed in the specific place can be extracted.

For example, when the facility category is set as the search key for the extraction condition, the extraction unit 321 refers to the map data, and the terminal position falls within a predetermined range including the location of the facility of the category set as the search key. Extract information. More specifically, the extraction unit 321 refers to the correspondence table 38T, and the terminal location information of latitude and longitude included in a predetermined radius centered on the latitude and longitude of the facility of the category set as the search key. To extract. It is assumed that there are a plurality of facilities of the category set as the search key. The extraction unit 321 extracts terminal position information included in a predetermined range centered on at least one of the facilities. Examples of categories set as search keys include restaurants, convenience stores, book stores, parking lots, supermarkets, nurseries, schools, and the like. The facility category includes a store name, a parking lot name, and the like. Thereby, the extraction part 321 can extract the terminal position information which shows the position of the terminal device 10 which existed in the facility of the set category. For example, when a convenience store is set as a category, the extraction unit 321 can extract terminal location information indicating the location of the terminal device 10 existing in a convenience store with a different store name.
Here, with reference to the correspondence table 38T, the extraction unit 321 is permitted to use the terminal position information among the terminal position information corresponding to the predetermined range including the location of the facility of the category set as the search key. Terminal location information associated with permission setting information indicating that the application is a certain application may be extracted.
Further, the extraction unit 321 exists in the facility of the set category with reference to the user attribute information associated with the terminal ID based on the terminal ID indicating the terminal device 10 existing in the facility of the set category. User attributes may be extracted. Thereby, the attribute of the user who existed in the facility of the specific category can be extracted.

  For example, when a website is set as the search key for the extraction condition, the extraction unit 321 refers to the web history information, for example, a terminal indicating the position of the terminal device 10 that has accessed the website set as the search key Extract location information. Specifically, the extraction unit 321 refers to the correspondence table 38T and extracts terminal location information associated with web history information indicating the access history to the set website. Thereby, the terminal position information indicating the position of the terminal device 10 that has accessed the specific website can be extracted together with the website information.

Here, the extraction unit 321 refers to the correspondence table 38T, and accesses the website set as the search key based on the permission setting information of the application or the application server 50 that is permitted to use the terminal position information. Terminal position information indicating the position of the device 10 may be extracted.
Further, the extraction unit 321 refers to the attribute information of the user associated with the terminal ID based on the terminal ID indicating the terminal device 10 that has accessed the set website, and the user who has accessed the set website Attributes may be extracted. Thereby, the attribute of the user who accessed the specific website can be extracted.

For example, when the type or name of the program is set as the search key for the extraction condition, the extraction unit 321 refers to the program execution history information and the terminal device 10 executes the program of the type or name set as the search key. The terminal position information indicating the selected position is extracted. Specifically, the extraction unit 321 refers to the correspondence table 38T and extracts terminal position information associated with program execution history information indicating the set program. Thereby, terminal location information indicating the location of the terminal device 10 that has executed the specific program can be extracted.
Here, the extraction unit 321 refers to the correspondence table 38T and permits use of the terminal position information among the terminal position information indicating the position where the terminal device 10 has executed the program of the type or name set as the search key. Terminal location information associated with permission setting information indicating that the application is a registered application may be extracted.
Further, the extraction unit 321 refers to the attribute information of the user associated with the terminal ID based on the terminal ID indicating the terminal device 10 that has executed the set program, and determines the attribute of the user who has executed the set program. It may be extracted. Thereby, the attribute of the user who executed the specific program can be extracted.

  For example, when the type or name of the operation by the user is set as the search key, the extraction unit 321 refers to the operation history information, and the terminal device 10 accepts the operation of the type or name set as the search key from the user. Terminal location information indicating the location is extracted. Specifically, the extraction unit 321 refers to the correspondence table 38T and extracts terminal position information associated with operation history information indicating the set operation. Thereby, terminal position information indicating a position where a specific operation is input to the terminal device 10 can be extracted.

Here, the extraction unit 321 refers to the correspondence table 38T and uses the terminal position information among the terminal position information indicating the position where the terminal device 10 has received the operation of the type or name set as the search key from the user. Terminal location information associated with permission setting information indicating that the application is licensed may be extracted.
Further, the extracting unit 321 refers to the user attribute information associated with the terminal ID based on the terminal ID indicating the terminal device 10 that has received the set operation, and determines the attribute of the user who has input the set operation. It may be extracted. Thereby, the attribute of the user who input a specific operation can be extracted.

  For example, when the charging state is set as the search key for the extraction condition, the extraction unit 321 refers to the charging history information and extracts terminal position information indicating the position where the terminal device 10 was in the charging state. . More specifically, the extraction unit 321 refers to the correspondence table 38T and extracts terminal position information including the positioning time from the time when charging starts to the time when charging ends. Thereby, the terminal position information indicating the position where the terminal device 10 is charged can be extracted.

Here, the extracting unit 321 refers to the correspondence table 38T and indicates that the application is permitted to use the terminal position information among the terminal position information indicating the position where the terminal device 10 is in the charged state. Terminal position information associated with the permission setting information may be extracted.
Further, the extraction unit 321 refers to the user attribute information associated with the terminal ID based on the terminal ID indicating the terminal device 10 in the charged state, and determines the user attribute of the terminal device 10 in the charged state. It may be extracted. Thereby, the attribute of the user who is charging can be extracted.

  For example, when a change in posture is set as a search key for extraction conditions, the extraction unit 321 refers to the posture change information and extracts terminal position information indicating a position where the posture of the terminal device 10 has changed. Specifically, the extracting unit 321 refers to the correspondence table 38T and extracts terminal position information associated with the posture change information. Thereby, the terminal position information indicating the position where the attitude of the terminal device 10 has changed can be extracted. When the attitude change information indicates how the attitude has changed, the extraction unit 321 indicates terminal position information indicating the position where the attitude of the terminal device 10 satisfies the attitude change condition set as the search key. May be extracted. Further, the extraction unit 321 may determine the state of the user based on the posture change information. For example, the extraction unit 321 determines whether the user is moving or the user is traveling based on a time-series change indicated by the posture change information. When the user's state is set as a search key, the extraction unit 321 extracts terminal position information associated with posture change information indicating that the user is running.

Here, the extraction unit 321 refers to the correspondence table 38T and indicates that the application is permitted to use the terminal position information among the terminal position information indicating the position where the attitude of the terminal device 10 has changed. Terminal position information associated with the setting information may be extracted.
Further, the extraction unit 321 refers to the user attribute information associated with the terminal ID based on the terminal ID associated with the posture change information, and extracts the user attribute of the terminal device 10 whose posture has changed. Also good. Thereby, the attribute of the user who was moving can be extracted.

  For example, when any one of the environmental conditions is set as the search key for the extraction condition, the extraction unit 321 refers to the environmental information and extracts terminal position information indicating the position that satisfies the environmental condition set as the search key. To do. More specifically, the extraction unit 321 refers to the correspondence table 38T and extracts terminal location information associated with environment information that satisfies the set environment conditions. Thereby, the terminal location information indicating the location of the terminal device 10 that is likely to exist in the set environmental condition can be extracted. For example, in a predetermined facility, an audible sound or an inaudible sound including identification information indicating a place is output. The terminal device 10 existing in this facility extracts the identification information from the collected audible or inaudible sound and outputs it to the position information server 30. Thus, when it is desired to grasp the position of the facility that outputs the audible sound or the inaudible sound including the identification information indicating the location, the fact that the terminal device 10 has received the identification information indicating the location is set as a search key. Thereby, the extraction unit 321 can extract terminal position information indicating the position of the facility that satisfies the extraction condition.

Here, the extraction unit 321 refers to the correspondence table 38T and uses the terminal position information among the terminal position information indicating the position where the terminal device 10 has acquired the environmental information that satisfies the environmental conditions set as the key information. Terminal location information associated with permission setting information indicating that the application is permitted may be extracted.
Further, the extraction unit 321 refers to the attribute information of the user associated with the terminal ID based on the terminal ID indicating the terminal device 10 that exists in the environment that satisfies the environment condition, and the user of the user that exists in the environment that satisfies the environment condition. Attributes may be extracted. Thereby, the attribute of the user who existed in the environment which satisfy | fills environmental conditions can be extracted.

Moreover, the extraction part 321 may perform the analysis process which analyzes the action of the user who owns the terminal device 10 based on the extracted information.
Note that the extraction unit 321 may perform extraction based on key information obtained by combining the plurality of search keys described above. Specifically, for example, when the application server 50 determines the combination of the user state and the terminal state as key information, and determines the terminal ID of the user who is moving on foot and operating the terminal device 10 as the extraction result The extraction unit 321 refers to the posture change information and the operation history information. Then, the terminal ID of the terminal device 10 in which the posture of the terminal device 10 indicated by the posture change information indicates movement on foot and the state of the terminal device 10 indicated by the operation history information is being accepted (powered on) is extracted. To do. Thereby, the application server 50 can make a recommendation to the user who is moving on foot and operating the terminal device 10. As described above, the application server 50 may acquire information from the position information server 30 by designating a combination of a plurality of search keys. As a result, the application server 50 can determine the search key and the extraction result in the extraction process executed by the location information server 30 in more detail, and can perform more effective recommendations.

Note that the extraction unit 321 may perform extraction based on a search key indicating a change in information. Specifically, for example, the application server 50 can determine a change in the movement state of the user, a change in the state of the terminal device 10, and the like in the key information.
For example, when the application server 50 defines the key information that the user's moving state changes from boarding to walking and sets the terminal position information of the terminal device 10 as an extraction result, the position information server 30 is continuous in time. The posture change information associated with the two terminal position information is sequentially referred to. And when the movement state which posture change information shows changes from boarding to walking, the extraction part 321 extracts the terminal position information matched with the said posture change information.

Further, for example, when the application server 50 sets the key information that the state of the terminal device 10 changes from power OFF to power ON and sets the terminal location information of the terminal device 10 as an extraction result, the location information server 30 The operation history information associated with the two terminal position information that are continuous in time is sequentially referred to. When the terminal state indicated by the operation history information changes from power OFF to power ON, the extraction unit 321 extracts terminal position information associated with the posture change information.
In addition, for example, the application server 50 sets the key information to change from the state where the web operation is not performed in the terminal device 10 to the state where it is performed, and sets the terminal position information of the terminal device 10 as the extraction result. In this case, the location information server 30 sequentially refers to the program execution history information associated with the two temporally continuous terminal location information. Then, when the program execution history information indicates the start of the web browser program or a change from background execution to foreground execution, the extraction unit 321 extracts terminal position information associated with the program execution history information. .

  Thus, the location information server 30 may extract terminal location information and other correspondence information based on the change of the correspondence information. As a result, the application server 50 can make a recommendation to a user in a specific situation, for example, when there is a change in the moving state of the user or when there is a change in the state of the terminal device 10. In addition, more effective recommendations can be made. Specifically, for example, the application server 50 can acquire the terminal position information of the terminal device 10 of the user who gets off the bus or the train, and can make recommendations such as store information around the getting-off place.

  Note that the extraction unit 321 may transmit a plurality of extraction results for one key information. Here, a case where the application server 50 determines a period and an area as a search key will be described. For example, when the application server 50 determines the number of terminal devices 10 and the number of terminal devices 10 that are permitted to use terminal position information, the extraction unit 321 searches the search key during the period specified by the search key. The terminal ID of the terminal device 10 located in the area defined in the above is searched. Next, the extraction unit 321 counts the number of searched terminal IDs. Further, the extraction unit 321 refers to the permission setting information associated with the searched terminal ID, and the terminal that is permitted to use the terminal location information for the application corresponding to the requesting application server 50 Search for an ID. Next, the extraction unit 321 counts the number of searched terminal IDs. As a result, the application server 50 determines the number of terminal devices 10 located in the designated area and the number of terminal devices 10 that can be used by the own device among the terminal devices 10 during the period designated by the own device. Can be obtained.

  In the above description, the example in which the permission setting information is information indicating permission or non-permission of use of the terminal position information has been described, but the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, the permission setting information may include information indicating whether or not to permit use of at least one of web history information, program execution history information, operation history information, charging history information, posture change information, and environment information. Each user can also set whether or not to permit the use of each piece of information. Further, the user can set permission or non-permission of use of these pieces of information for each application. When these usages are permitted, the extraction unit 321 of the location information server 30 can extract the terminal location information using the usage-licensed information.

  As described above, according to the location information server 30, the application that is permitted to use the terminal location information and the application server 50 do not individually store and manage the terminal location information, but store one set for each user. The terminal location information can be shared by a plurality of applications and the application server 50. As a result, the management of terminal location information can be made more efficient and the server capacity can be reduced.

  Further, according to the location information server 30, as long as it is included in the license period for using the terminal location information, the application and the application server 50 can use the terminal location information within that period. Thereby, it is possible to acquire information other than the terminal location information item set by the application and the application server 50 and information other than the positioning timing.

  Further, according to the location information server 30, when information permitted to be used by a plurality of applications is associated with one terminal location information, one terminal location information is commonly used for the plurality of applications. Can be used. As a result, the management of terminal location information can be made more efficient and the server capacity can be reduced.

  Further, according to the position information server 30, the terminal position information acquired by the position information acquisition unit 16 based on the activation request determined according to the relationship between the plurality of applications that can be used in the terminal device 10 is stored. That is, the position information server 30 can manage whether or not to permit use of each terminal position information, which is measured when the positioning timing of another application is not its own positioning timing, for each application. . Thereby, the application server 50 or the like can use not only the terminal position information measured at the positioning timing of its own application but also the terminal position information measured at a timing other than the positioning timing of its own application. .

Next, the configuration of the POI server 42 will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the POI server 42.
The POI server 42 includes a processing unit 422, a first communication unit 424, and a storage unit 428.

The first communication unit 424 includes a reception unit and a transmission unit that communicate with the position information server 30. In response to a request from the location information server 30, the first communication unit 424 transmits various information managed by the own device to the location information server 30 that is the request source.
The second communication unit 426 includes a reception unit and a transmission unit that communicate with the application server 50.

The storage unit 428 stores POI information and the like. In the present embodiment, the POI information includes a location ID (location name) for identifying a location such as a store, location position information indicating the location of the location, and category information indicating the type (category) of the location. Here, the location is an arbitrary place such as a landmark such as a station or facility, a mountain, a river, or the sea. The location position information includes, for example, information indicating the reference position of the location and information defining a distance from the reference position. The category is a concept of integrating a plurality of places such as restaurants, convenience stores, bookstores, parking lots, supermarkets, nurseries, schools, and the like.
The processing unit 422 is a software function unit that functions when, for example, a processor such as a CPU executes a program stored in a memory. In addition, some or all of these functional units may be hardware functional units such as an LSI or an ASIC.
The processing unit 422 provides various types of information such as a location ID and location position information managed by the own device in response to a request from the position information server 30 or the application server 50.

  For example, when the first communication unit 424 receives a location ID indicating a specific facility, the processing unit 422 refers to the POI information stored in the storage unit 428. The processing unit 422 extracts location position information corresponding to the received location ID from the POI information. The processing unit 422 transmits the extracted location position information to the position information server 30.

  For example, when the first communication unit 424 receives terminal position information indicating the position of a specific terminal device 10 from the position information server 30, the processing unit 422 refers to the POI information stored in the storage unit 428. To do. The processing unit 422 specifies location position information indicating a position within a predetermined distance from the position indicated by the received terminal position information among the location position information in the POI information. Next, the processing unit 422 extracts a location ID associated with the specified location position information in the POI information. Then, the processing unit 422 transmits the extracted location ID to the position information server 30 via the first communication unit 424.

  Note that the processing unit 422 may extract the location ID based on the category information. Here, the aspect which acquires location ID based on terminal position information, the information of the distance from the terminal device 10, and category information is demonstrated. Specifically, first, the first communication unit 424 receives terminal position information, distance information from the terminal device 10, and category information from the position information server 30. Next, the processing unit 422 searches for the location ID of the landmark located in the range determined by the terminal position information and the distance information from the terminal device 10. Then, the processing unit 422 acquires a location ID in which the category information associated with the searched location ID matches the category information received from the position information server 30 in the POI information. Then, the processing unit 422 transmits the acquired location ID to the position information server 30 via the first communication unit 424. Thereby, the location information server 30 can acquire the location ID of a convenience store located within a radius of 1 km of a certain terminal device 10, for example.

  Note that the processing unit 422 may extract area information based on the location ID. Specifically, first, first communication unit 424 receives a location ID from position information server 30. Next, the processing unit 12 acquires location position information corresponding to the received location ID. Next, the processing unit 12 transmits the acquired location position information to the position information server 30. This location position information represents a circular area by, for example, the latitude and longitude of the center of the location and the distance from the center. Then, the position information server 30 may extract the terminal ID of the terminal device 10 located in the area indicated by the received location position information and transmit it to the application server 50. Thereby, the application server 50 can transmit recommendation information with respect to the terminal device 10 located in the area within 1 km radius from the center of a landmark, for example.

  In this example, the location position information has been described as information representing an area by the position of the center of the location and the distance from the center, but is not limited thereto. For example, the location position information may be information indicating the center position of the location. In this case, the application server 50 separately designates the distance from the center position of the location. Then, the position information server 30 extracts the terminal ID of the terminal device 10 located in the area determined by the center position of the location acquired from the POI server 42 and the distance specified by the application server 50.

  As described above, the processing unit 422 transmits various information included in the POI information in response to a request from the position information server 30 or the application server 50. In the above description, the example in which the POI server 42 transmits information in response to a request from the location information server 30 has been described. However, the POI server 42 may transmit information in response to a request from the application server 50. Good.

Next, the configuration of the application server 50 will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the application server 50.
The application server 50 includes a processing unit 52, a first communication unit 54, a second communication unit 56, and a storage unit 58.

The first communication unit 54 includes a reception unit and a transmission unit that communicate with the terminal device 10. For example, the first communication unit 54 transmits recommendation information to the terminal device 10.
The second communication unit 56 includes a reception unit and a transmission unit that communicate with the position information server 30. The second communication unit 56 functions as an extraction condition transmission unit that transmits extraction condition information. Moreover, the 2nd communication part 56 functions as an extraction result receiving part which receives the extraction result according to the extraction condition information which the own apparatus transmitted.
The storage unit 58 stores recommendation information and the like. The recommendation information is stored in the storage unit 58 in association with the terminal ID, location ID, position, and the like, for example.
The processing unit 52 is a software function unit that functions when a processor such as a CPU executes a program stored in a memory. In addition, some or all of these functional units may be hardware functional units such as an LSI or an ASIC.

  Further, the processing unit 52 includes a recommendation information acquisition unit 521. The recommendation information acquisition unit 521 acquires the recommendation information when the second communication unit 56 receives the extraction result from the position information server 30. Here, the recommendation information acquisition unit 521 acquires the recommendation information by reading the recommendation information stored in advance in the storage unit 58 or generating the recommendation information based on the extraction result. The recommendation information acquisition unit 521 transmits the acquired recommendation information to the terminal device 10 to be recommended via the first communication unit 54.

  Note that the application server 50 may transmit the recommendation information at an arbitrary timing. Specifically, for example, the application server 50 transmits the recommendation information a predetermined number of times in a predetermined period. For example, the application server 50 transmits the recommendation information at a predetermined time interval. In addition, the application server 50 repeatedly transmits the recommendation information to the terminal device 10 that has been operated according to the transmitted recommendation information. More specifically, for example, when the application server 50 transmits recommendation information for introducing a website to the terminal device 10 to be recommended, and then there is a reaction such as access to the website from the terminal device 10. The application server 50 transmits new recommendation information corresponding to the reaction to the same terminal device 10. Thereby, the application server 50 can perform an interactive recommendation to the user of the terminal device 10.

[Recommendation system operation]
Next, an example of the flow of processing by the recommendation system 1 will be described with reference to FIG.
Here, a case where recommendation information is transmitted by the push method will be described.
First, in step S400, the terminal apparatus 10 transmits terminal position information indicating the position of the own apparatus to the position information server 30. Then, the recommendation system 1 advances a process to step S402.
Next, in step S402, the location information server 30 receives the terminal location information from the terminal device 10, and stores the received terminal location information in time series. The location information server 30 manages the received terminal location information together with permission setting information. Thereafter, the recommendation system 1 advances the processing to step S404.

Next, in step S <b> 404, the location information server 30 refers to the extraction condition information for each application server 50 stored in its own device, and executes extraction processing. Thereafter, the recommendation system 1 advances the processing to step S406.
Next, in step S <b> 406, the position information server 30 transmits the extraction processing result in step S <b> 404 to the application server 50. Thereafter, the recommendation system 1 advances the processing to step S408.
Next, in step S <b> 408, the application server 50 receives the extraction result transmitted from the position information server 30. Thereafter, the recommendation system 1 advances the processing to step S410.

Next, in step S <b> 410, the application server 50 acquires the recommendation information by reading the recommendation information from the storage unit 58 of its own device or generating the recommendation information based on the information acquired from the application server 50. . Thereafter, the recommendation system 1 advances the processing to step S412.
Next, in step S412, the application server 50 transmits the acquired recommendation information to the terminal device 10. Then, the recommendation system 1 advances a process to step S414.

Next, in step S414, the terminal device 10 receives the recommendation information transmitted from the application server 50. Thereafter, the recommendation system 1 advances the processing to step S416.
Next, in step S416, the terminal device 10 executes an application corresponding to the application server 50 that is the transmission source of the recommendation information, and presents the recommendation information by display, voice, or the like. And the recommendation system 1 complete | finishes the process shown by FIG.

Next, a specific example of the operation of the recommendation system 1 will be described.
(1) Recommendation according to the current position of the terminal device 10 In this recommendation method, the recommendation system 1 presents geographical information of the location of the terminal device 10 to be recommended.
First, the application server 50 transmits the extraction condition information including the terminal ID indicating the recommended terminal device 10 as key information and the terminal position information as request extraction result information to the position information server 30. Next, the location information server 30 searches for terminal location information of the terminal device 10 designated as key information, that is, terminal location information corresponding to the designated terminal ID. Next, the location information server 30 refers to the permission setting information, and acquires the terminal location information when use of the searched terminal location information is permitted. Next, the location information server 30 transmits the acquired terminal location information to the application server 50. When receiving the terminal position information of the terminal device 10, the application server 50 reads, for example, recommendation information associated with the position indicated by the terminal position information from the storage unit of the own device. This recommendation information is, for example, geographic information. The application server 50 transmits the read recommendation information to the terminal device 10 to be recommended.

(2) Recommendation of landmarks located around terminal device 10 In this recommendation method, the recommendation system 1 presents landmark advertisements, coupons, etc. located around the terminal device 10 to be recommended.
First, the application server 50 transmits the extraction condition information including the terminal ID indicating the recommended terminal device 10 as key information and the location ID as request extraction condition information to the position information server 30. Next, the position information server 30 searches for terminal position information corresponding to the terminal ID specified as the key information. Next, the location information server 30 refers to the permission setting information, and acquires the terminal location information when use of the searched terminal location information is permitted. Next, the location information server 30 transmits the acquired terminal location information to the POI server 42. Next, the POI server 42 refers to the POI information managed by its own device, and searches for a location located within a predetermined distance from the position indicated by the received terminal position information. Next, the POI server 42 transmits a location ID indicating the searched location to the position information server 30. Next, the location information server 30 transmits the location ID received from the POI server 42 to the application server 50. Next, when receiving the location ID from the position information server 30, the application server 50 reads, for example, the recommendation information associated with the location ID from the storage unit of the own device. This recommendation information is information which shows an advertisement and a coupon, for example. Then, the application server 50 transmits the read recommendation information to the terminal device 10 to be recommended.

(3) Recommendation to the terminal device 10 located at a specific location In this recommendation method, the recommendation system 1 advertises to the terminal device 10 located at a predetermined location (hereinafter referred to as “target location”). Present coupons and coupons. The location information server 30 transmits the extraction result to the application server 50 by a pull method. Here, a case where the location position information represents the center position of the location will be described.

  First, the application server 50 transmits the extraction condition information including the location ID indicating the target location and the distance as key information and the terminal ID as request extraction condition information to the position information server 30. Next, when receiving the extraction condition information, the position information server 30 transmits the location ID specified as the key information to the POI server 42. Next, the POI server 42 refers to the POI information managed by the own device, and searches for the center position of the target location indicated by the received location ID. Next, the POI server 42 transmits location position information indicating the center position of the searched target location to the position information server 30. Next, the position information server 30 determines the position indicated by the terminal position information among the terminal position information managed by the own apparatus based on the center position indicated by the received location position information and the distance received from the application server 50. Search for terminal location information included in the area. Next, the position information server 30 refers to the permission setting information, and acquires the terminal ID corresponding to the searched terminal position information when the use of the searched terminal position information is permitted. Here, the acquired terminal ID is a terminal ID indicating the terminal device 10 to be recommended. Next, the recommendation system 1 transmits the acquired terminal ID to the application server 50. Next, when receiving the terminal ID from the position information server 30, the application server 50 reads, for example, recommendation information associated with the location ID of the target location from the storage unit 58 of the own device. Then, the application server 50 transmits the read recommendation information to the terminal device 10 indicated by the terminal ID acquired from the position information server 30.

Thus, the application server 50 can acquire the terminal ID of the terminal device 10 located in the area by designating the location ID of the target location and its radius. And recommendation can be performed with respect to the terminal device 10 which acquired terminal ID shows.
Note that the application server 50 may narrow down the information extracted by the location information server 30 by designating the location information server 30 by specifying a period or a value of any other corresponding information.

(4) Recommendation to the terminal device 10 located in a specific area In this recommendation method, the recommendation system 1 is configured with respect to the terminal device 10 located in a predetermined area (hereinafter referred to as “target area”). It presents advertisements, coupons, etc. Further, the location information server 30 transmits the extraction result to the application server 50 by a push method.
First, the application server 50 transmits extraction condition information including information indicating the range of the target area as key information and the terminal ID as request extraction condition information to the position information server 30. In this example, the extraction condition information is transmitted to the location information server 30 in advance and stored in the storage unit 38 of the location information server 30. Next, when receiving the terminal position information from the terminal device 10, the position information server 30 determines whether or not the position indicated by the terminal position information is included in the range of the target area. When the position of the terminal device 10 is included in the range of the target area, the position information server 30 refers to the permission setting information. Then, when the use of the received terminal location information is permitted, the location information server 30 transmits a terminal ID corresponding to the searched terminal location information to the application server 50. Here, the transmitted terminal ID is a terminal ID indicating the terminal device 10 to be recommended. Next, the recommendation system 1 transmits the acquired terminal ID to the application server 50. Next, when receiving the terminal ID from the location information server 30, the application server 50 reads, for example, recommendation information associated with the target area from the storage unit 58 of the own device. Then, the application server 50 transmits the read recommendation information to the terminal device 10 indicated by the terminal ID acquired from the position information server 30.

  In the recommendation (4) described above, an arbitrary condition may be added to the condition for transmitting the terminal ID by the location information server 30. Specifically, for example, when the position of the terminal position information transmitted from the same terminal apparatus 10 is within the target area a predetermined number of times during the predetermined period, the position information server 30 Is transmitted to the application server 50. That is, the position information server 30 transmits the terminal ID of the user to the application server 50 when the position information of the specific user has been acquired a predetermined number of times or more. Further, for example, the position information server 30 is configured such that the position indicated by the two terminal position information transmitted from the same terminal device 10 with an interval of a predetermined period or longer is within the target area. The terminal ID is transmitted to. That is, the position information server 30 transmits the terminal ID of the user to the application server 50 when the specific user stays in the target area for a predetermined time or more. Thus, the position information server 30 may transmit the terminal ID indicating the terminal device 10 to the application server 50 when the position of the terminal device 10 is within a predetermined area for a predetermined period or longer.

  Next, a specific example of the operation of the recommendation system 1 when the application server 50 analyzes the extraction result received from the location information server 30 and acquires recommendation information will be described. Hereinafter, for the sake of brevity, the description of the extraction processing by the location information server 30 is omitted. Although the application server 50 performs the analysis of the extraction result here, the position information server 30 may perform the analysis.

(5) Notification of congestion status based on analysis of congestion status In this recommendation method, the recommendation system 1 determines the congestion status around the location of the terminal device 10 and presents the determination result.
First, the application server 50 acquires terminal position information, environment information, cell ID information, WiFi AP information, and the like of the terminal device 10 to be analyzed from the position information server 30 using the terminal ID of the terminal device 10 to be recommended as key information. . Next, the application server 50 determines a range within a predetermined distance from the current position of the terminal device 10 specified from the acquired terminal position information, environment information, cell ID information, WiFiAP information, etc. Divide into Next, the application server 50 acquires the number of terminal devices 10 located in each area from the location information server 30 using the divided areas as extraction conditions. At this time, for example, the position information server 30 extracts terminal position information in which the position indicated by the terminal position information is included in each area from the terminal position information managed by the device, and corresponds to the extracted terminal position information. The number of terminal devices 10 located in each area is calculated by counting the number of terminal IDs to be performed. Next, the application server 50 determines the congestion status of each area by comparing the acquired number of terminal devices 10 in each area with a predetermined threshold. Next, the application server 50 generates recommendation information indicating a determination result regarding the congestion status of each area. Then, the application server 50 transmits the generated recommendation information to the terminal device 10 to be recommended.

Thereby, the application server 50 can perform the recommendation according to the congestion situation around the user. Here, the application server 50 may notify recommendation information corresponding to the type of application supported by the own device based on the analysis result of the congestion situation. Here, as a specific example, when the application is a navigation app that guides to a destination, or when it is a gourmet app that introduces restaurants, the app is a transport guide app that guides access to public transport The case will be described.
When the application server 50 corresponds to the navigation application, the application server 50 recommends a route with less congestion among a plurality of routes to the destination, for example. Thereby, the user can reach the purpose in a short time while avoiding congestion.

When the application server 50 corresponds to a gourmet application, for example, when the application server 50 determines that congestion has occurred, the application server 50 presents reservation guidance for restaurants around the terminal device 10. Thereby, the user can use time effectively until congestion is eliminated.
When the application server 50 is a transportation guide application, the application server 50 presents a contact information for a taxi dispatch center, for example. Also, for example, the bus boarding position and boarding time are presented. Thereby, the user can avoid being involved in congestion.

The application server 50 may recommend an application. For example, when the application server 50 determines that congestion has occurred, the application server 50 presents an application that is not installed in the terminal device 10. Thereby, the user can avoid problems caused by the occurrence of congestion, such as being unable to reach the destination, wasting time, and being unable to move efficiently.
In addition, the area for determining the congestion situation may be arbitrarily determined. For example, the area may be predetermined as a rectangular area. In this case, the application server 50 may determine the congestion status in the area where the terminal device 10 to be recommended is located and its adjacent area.

Note that the determination of the congestion status by the application server 50 is not limited to the above-described example. Specifically, for example, the application server 50 may determine whether or not congestion has occurred by comparing a rate of increase in the number of terminal devices 10 in each area with a predetermined threshold. In this case, for example, the application server 50 calculates an average value for every 30 minutes of the number of terminal devices 10 in each area. And the application server 50 compares the average for every 30 minutes before and behind, and when the increase rate is 30% or more, it determines with the congestion having generate | occur | produced.
In the determination of the congestion situation, the application server 50 may refer to information other than the number of terminal devices 10. For example, the application server 50 may acquire information indicating the congestion status of a car or a train from an external device and determine the congestion status.

As described above, the recommendation information acquisition unit 521 may select the recommendation information by analyzing the position and state of the terminal device 10 based on the information extracted from the position information server 30 based on a plurality of extraction conditions.
Note that the various functions included in the position information server 30, the application server 50, the POI server 42, and the contractor information server 44 described above may be included in an integrated device or a separate device. Also good.

As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was explained in full detail with reference to drawings, the specific structure is not restricted to this embodiment, The design change etc. of the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention are included.
The present invention can be implemented as, for example, a location information server.

Further, a computer program for realizing the functions of the terminal device 10 and the location information server 30 described above is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, and the program recorded on the recording medium is read into a computer system and executed. You may do it. Here, the “computer system” may include an OS and hardware such as peripheral devices.
“Computer-readable recording medium” refers to a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk, a ROM, a writable nonvolatile memory such as a flash memory, a portable medium such as a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk), and a built-in computer system. A storage device such as a hard disk.

Further, the “computer-readable recording medium” means a volatile memory (for example, DRAM (Dynamic DRAM) in a computer system that becomes a server or a client when a program is transmitted through a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line. Random Access Memory)), etc., which hold programs for a certain period of time.
The program may be transmitted from a computer system storing the program in a storage device or the like to another computer system via a transmission medium or by a transmission wave in the transmission medium. Here, the “transmission medium” for transmitting the program refers to a medium having a function of transmitting information, such as a network (communication network) such as the Internet or a communication line (communication line) such as a telephone line.
The program may be for realizing a part of the functions described above.
Furthermore, what can implement | achieve the function mentioned above in combination with the program already recorded on the computer system, and what is called a difference file (difference program) may be sufficient.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Recommendation system 10, 10A, 10B, ..., 10N ... Terminal device, 12 ... Processing part, 14 ... Communication part, 16 ... GPS positioning part, 160 ... Position information acquisition part, 161 ... Acceleration sensor, 18 ... Storage unit, 30 ... location information server, 40 ... authentication server, 42 ... POI server, 50, 50A, 50B, ..., 50N ... application server, 120, 120A, 120B, 120B ... application processing unit, 122, 122A, 122B, 122C ... Position information acquisition control unit, 32 ... Processing unit, 321 ... Extraction unit, 34 ... First communication unit, 36 ... Second communication unit, 38 ... Storage unit

Claims (8)

A terminal device, a first server, and a second server;
The terminal device
By using the terminal position information indicating the position of the terminal device, an application processing unit for executing an application program that provides a predetermined function in the terminal device,
An input accepting unit that accepts input of permission setting information for each of the application programs from the user of the terminal device;
With
The first server is
A storage unit that stores the terminal position information and permission setting information of the terminal position information in association with each other;
An extraction unit that searches the storage unit based on the extraction condition received from the server corresponding to the application program among the second servers , the terminal location information permitted to be used by the permission setting information;
A first server transmission unit that transmits the terminal location information searched by the extraction unit to the second server by a pull method or a push method;
With
The second server is
A recommendation information acquisition unit for acquiring recommendation information to be notified to the terminal device indicated by the terminal location information received from the first server ;
A second server transmission unit that transmits the recommendation information acquired by the recommendation information acquisition unit to the terminal device corresponding to the terminal location information searched by the extraction unit;
An information providing system comprising: The storage unit stores the terminal location information and correspondence information corresponding to the terminal location information in association with each other,
The extraction unit extracts correspondence information corresponding to the searched terminal location information ,
The information providing system according to claim 1 , wherein the first server transmission unit transmits the correspondence information extracted by the extraction unit to the second server by a pull method or a push method . The storage unit stores the terminal location information and correspondence information corresponding to the terminal location information in association with each other,
The extraction unit, the information providing system according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that to extract the terminal location information searching the correspondence information as a search key. The information providing system according to claim 3 , wherein the extraction unit extracts the terminal location information based on a change in the value of the correspondence information. The correspondence information includes terminal identification information for identifying the terminal device,
The extraction unit extracts terminal identification information corresponding to the terminal position information when the position indicated by the terminal position information is within a predetermined area;
The first server transmission unit transmits the terminal identification information extracted by the extraction unit to the second server by a pull method or a push method,
The second server transmitting section according to any one of claims 4 to claim 2, wherein transmitting the recommendation information to the terminal device indicated by the terminal identification information extracted by the extracting unit is Information provision system. The extraction unit determines whether or not the position of the terminal device indicated by the terminal position information is within a predetermined area for a predetermined period or longer, and extracts terminal identification information based on the determination result. The information providing system according to claim 5 . The extraction unit searches the terminal position information indicating a position in a predetermined area, extracts terminal identification information corresponding to the searched terminal position information,
The recommendation information acquisition unit acquires the recommendation information based on at least one of the number of terminal devices indicated by the terminal identification information extracted by the extraction unit and the degree of change of the number. The information providing system according to claim 5 or 6 . An information providing method in an information providing system comprising a terminal device, a first server, and a second server,
An application processing step in which the terminal device uses terminal position information indicating the position of the terminal device to execute an application program that provides a predetermined function in the terminal device;
An input receiving step for receiving, from the user of the terminal device, permission setting information indicating whether or not the terminal location information of the terminal device can be used for each application program;
From the storage unit in which the first server stores the terminal position information and permission setting information of the terminal position information in association with each other, the terminal position information permitted to be used by the permission setting information is An extraction step of searching based on an extraction condition received from a server corresponding to the application program among the two servers;
A first transmission step in which the first server transmits the terminal location information searched in the extraction step to the second server by a pull method or a push method;
The second server acquires recommendation information to be notified to the terminal device indicated by the terminal location information received from the first server; and
A second transmission step in which the second server transmits the recommendation information acquired in the recommendation information acquisition step to the terminal device corresponding to the terminal location information searched in the extraction step;
An information providing method comprising:

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