JPH11252121A - Position dependent information service system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow the system to detect a position of the user with high accuracy and to surely serve information corresponding to a detected position to the user without being affected by movement of the user and a change in the posture of the user. SOLUTION: At least one of position information transmitters 11-1n or over is placed at a proper position in an exhibition hall, each transmitter has an infrared ray communication on function, makes infrared ray communication with a portable terminal (any of terminals 31-3n) moved within a reach of an infrared ray to serve information denoting an installed position of each transmitter as current position information to the terminal. The terminals 31-3n which are carried by visitors or the like are moved in the exhibition hall and make radio communication with a server 11 set on a network 7 through bridges 51-5n. Thus, desired information (data) is acquired from a database 9 via the server 11. The terminals 31-3n also make infrared ray communication with the transmitters 11-1n.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a position-dependent information providing system, and more particularly to an improvement of a position-dependent information providing system applied to indoor facilities.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an indoor position-dependent information providing system, information corresponding to the current position of each visitor is provided by speech to an unspecified number of visitors in an exhibition hall such as a museum. Voice guidance systems are known.
In this system, the visitor carrying the portable terminal moves into the infrared range of the infrared light emitting device at an appropriate place in the exhibition hall, so that the infrared light receiving section of the terminal is positioned by infrared communication from the above device. By receiving the identification information, the voice guide information corresponding to the position is retrieved from the non-volatile memory of the terminal and reproduced.

[0003]

By the way, in the above-mentioned system, infrared rays having strong directivity are used for detecting the current position of each visitor, that is, the current position of the terminal. For this reason, each visitor uses the roaming function of the PHS (simple mobile phone system) that uses radio waves in the 1.9 gigahertz (GHz) band that easily reflects on ceilings, walls, floors, and the like of the building. As compared with the case of detecting the current position of each visitor, the current position of each visitor can be detected quite accurately (with an accuracy of several meters).

However, in the above system, information provided to a visitor is stored in a nonvolatile memory (CD) of a terminal in advance.
The information corresponding to the detected current position is retrieved from the information corresponding to the installation position of each exhibit stored in the ROM). Therefore, there is a problem that a non-volatile memory having a large storage capacity must be mounted on the terminal. Further, since the above information is stored in the nonvolatile memory in advance, it is naturally fixed information. Therefore, for example, recommendation (introduction) of an exhibit with the least congestion at the present time and which is most suitable for the tour is performed. There is also a problem that the information that changes cannot be provided to a visitor unless the contents of the nonvolatile memory are sequentially changed.

[0005] Therefore, a method has been proposed in which not only information relating to the current position of the visitor but also information relating to the exhibit or the like is transmitted from the host computer (host) or the like to the terminal through infrared communication. However, in this method, since the infrared ray has strong directivity, while the terminal is receiving the above information from the host or the like, the terminal side infrared transceiver is fixed to the host side infrared transceiver. Must be. Therefore, there is also a problem that the visitor cannot carry the terminal and move or change the posture until the provision of the information is completed, which is very inconvenient.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to detect a user's position with good accuracy, and to ensure that information corresponding to the detected position is not affected by changes in the user's movement or posture. An object of the present invention is to provide a location-dependent information providing system that can be provided to a user.

[0007]

A position-dependent information providing system according to a first aspect of the present invention transmits position information by a first propagation wave in response to a request by a first propagation wave having strong directivity. In response to a request from the first device and the omnidirectional or weakly directional second propagating wave, information satisfying the request is selected from information set corresponding to each of the plurality of positions, and A second device that transmits by the second propagation wave, and information that satisfies the request by requesting the acquisition of the information corresponding to the position by the second propagation wave after acquiring the position information by the request by the first propagation wave. And a mobile terminal that acquires

[0008] According to the above configuration, after the position information is acquired by the request by the first propagation wave, the information that satisfies the request is acquired by requesting the acquisition of the information corresponding to the position by the second propagation wave. And Therefore, the position of the user can be detected with good accuracy, and the detected position correspondence information can be reliably provided to the user without being affected by the movement or the change of the posture of the user.

In a preferred embodiment according to the first aspect of the present invention, for example, an infrared ray is used as the first propagation wave having strong directivity. The transmission of the position information is performed by modulating the infrared rays radiated from the first device with the position information. For example, a radio wave (an electromagnetic wave having a frequency of 3000 gigahertz (GHz) or less and propagating in a space without an artificial waveguide) is used as the omnidirectional or weakly directional second propagation wave.

In the present embodiment, the frequency band of this radio wave is set to the 2.4 GHz (GHz) band or the 1.9 GHz band. One or more first devices are installed. The first device is installed for each specific place or each area that has been divided in advance.

In this embodiment, the transmission of the position information from the first device to the mobile terminal is performed by using a protocol such as IrDA (Infrared Data Association). Of course, a unique protocol may be created and used.

The transmission of information from the second device to the mobile terminal is performed by using a wireless LAN (local area network) or a PHS network. The mobile terminal performs predetermined processing on the information provided from the second device to generate and output image information or audio information. In the present embodiment, for example, a notebook personal computer or a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) is used as the mobile terminal.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program medium, comprising: a first device for transmitting position information by a first propagation wave in response to a request by a strongly directional first propagation wave; Or as required by the weakly directional second propagating wave,
A second device that selects information that satisfies a request from information set corresponding to each of a plurality of positions and transmits the selected information by a second propagation wave, and acquires position information by a request by the first propagation wave After that, the computer is operated as each of the above-described devices and terminals in the position-dependent information providing system including a mobile terminal that obtains information that satisfies the request by requesting the acquisition of information corresponding to the position by the second propagation wave. Computer-readable program for carrying the same.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a position-dependent information providing system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

The above system is applied to an exhibition hall for displaying various exhibits such as museums and art museums. The system includes a plurality of position information transmitting apparatuses (transmitting apparatuses) 11, 12, 13, 13, 14,.
And multiple mobile clients (portable terminals) 31,
... 3n and a plurality of wireless bridges (bridges) 51
... 5n, a wired network (network) 7,
A database 9 and a server 11 are provided.

Each of the transmitting devices 11 to 1n is installed at least one or more at an appropriate place in the exhibition hall. It is installed for each area. Each of the transmitting devices 11 to 1n notifies the portable terminals (terminals) 31 to 3n that move in the exhibition hall while being carried by a visitor or the like about the current position of each terminal 31 to 3n in the exhibition hall. Has functions. That is, each of the transmission devices 11 to 1n has an infrared communication function, and performs infrared communication with a terminal (one of 31 to 3n) that has moved into the infrared range of each of the transmission devices 11 to 1n. This provides the terminal (any of 31 to 3n) with information indicating the installation location of each of the transmission devices 11 to 1n as current position information.

Each of the terminals 31 to 3n carries desired wireless communication with each of the bridges 51,..., 5n while traveling in the exhibition hall carried by a visitor or the like, so that desired information (data) can be obtained. It is obtained from the database 9 via the server 11 on the network 7. Each of the terminals 31 to 3n also performs infrared communication with each of the transmitting devices 11 to 1n. In this embodiment, for example, a notebook personal computer, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), or the like is used as each of the terminals 31 to 3n.

Each of the bridges 51,..., 5n is installed in the exhibition hall, and communicates with each of the terminals 31 to 3n by a radio wave (as described above, the radio wave propagates through the space without an artificial waveguide).
Wireless communication using electromagnetic waves having a frequency of 00 gigahertz (GHz) or less is performed. That is, each bridge 51,.
A modulated wave transmitted from a terminal (any of 31 to 3n) is received, and a data acquisition request signal obtained by demodulating the modulated wave is output to server 11 through network 7. Each of the bridges 51,..., 5n receives the data output from the server 11, and supplies the data to the terminal (one of 31 to 3n) that has issued the acquisition request. Transmit the modulated wave. In the wireless communication using radio waves, for example, a wireless L using a radio wave in the 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) band as a carrier wave.
An AN or a PHS (Simplified Mobile Phone System) network using radio waves in the 1.9 GHz band as carrier waves can be used.

The database 9 stores data relating to various exhibits in the exhibition hall described above in advance.

The server 11 inputs a data transmission request from each of the bridges 51,..., 5n and a terminal (any of 31 to 3n) provided through the network 7, and stores data corresponding to the transmission request from the database 9. Read. Then, the read data is transferred to the terminal (31
5n through the network 7 to be given to any of the bridges 51,..., 5n.

FIG. 2 shows each of the transmission devices 11 to 11 shown in FIG.
1n is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of a transmission device 11 of 1n. Since each of the transmitting devices 11 to 1n has the same configuration, FIG. 2 shows only the internal configuration of the transmitting device 11, and illustration of the remaining transmitting devices 12 to 1n is omitted.

As shown, the transmitting device 11 includes an infrared light receiving / emitting unit (light receiving / emitting unit) 13 and a communication interface unit (interface unit) 15.

The light receiving / emitting unit 13 is provided with the terminal (3) which has moved into the infrared range with reference to the installation position of the device 11.
1 to 3n) for infrared communication. That is, when the light emitting and receiving unit 13 receives the infrared ray radiated from the terminal (any of 31 to 3n), it notifies the interface unit 15 to that effect. Then, the position identification information 1
7 is output from the interface unit 15 to the effect that infrared communication has been received (a connection request from the terminal has been received) in order to establish a communication connection with the terminal required for transmitting 7 to the terminal. Then, it is transmitted to the terminal by infrared communication. Next, when the information 17 held by the interface unit 15 is output, the information 17 is input, and at the same time, the infrared ray modulated by the information 17 is emitted and emitted to the terminal (one of 31 to 3n). .

The interface unit 15 performs the above-described infrared communication with a terminal (any one of 31 to 3n) within the infrared range through the light receiving / emitting unit 13 to establish the above-described communication connection. After the establishment of the communication connection, the information 17 held is transmitted to the terminal. The above information 17
Is for identifying the installation location (position) of the transmitting device 11 in the exhibition hall. The information 17 is provided from the interface unit 15 to the terminal (one of 31 to 3n) in the infrared range through the light emitting / receiving unit 13 in the above-described manner based on the notification from the light emitting / receiving unit 13. Here, any information may be used as the information 17 as long as the installation location of each of the transmission devices 12 to 1n including the transmission device 11 can be uniquely identified in the present system. For example, numbers (natural numbers) such as 1, 2, 3,..., N are adopted as the information 17 and are assigned to the respective installation locations. May be held. For transmission from the interface unit 15 to the terminals (31 to 3n), for example, a protocol such as IrDA (Infrared Data Association) may be used, or a unique protocol may be created and used. .

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the terminal 31 among the terminals 31 to 3n shown in FIG. Since the terminals 31 to 3n have the same configuration, FIG. 3 shows only the internal configuration of the terminal 31 and the remaining terminals (to 3n)
Is omitted from the drawing.

As shown, the terminal 31 includes an infrared light receiving / emitting unit (light receiving / emitting unit) 19, an infrared communication interface unit (interface unit) 21, an antenna 23, a radio communication interface unit using radio waves (wireless communication interface unit). ) 25. The terminal 31 further includes a position-dependent information acquisition unit (acquisition unit) 27 and a user interface unit (interface unit) 29 in addition to the above configuration.

The light receiving / emitting unit 19 is configured such that the terminal 31 transmits the transmitting device (11
１1n)
The infrared communication is performed with the transmitting device (any one of 11 to 1n).

That is, the light emitting / receiving unit 19 emits infrared light, and the fact that the emitted infrared light is received by, for example, the light emitting / receiving unit 13 of the transmitting device 11 indicates that infrared light has been received from the light receiving / emitting unit 13 (that is, the connection When a response indicating that the request has been received, or an infrared ray modulated by the information 17 or the like is emitted, the infrared ray is received. Then, it outputs to the interface unit 21.

The interface section 21 receives and demodulates the infrared rays output from the light emitting / receiving section 19, respectively. Then, when the information obtained as a result of the demodulation is a response from the transmitting device 11 to the effect that the connect request has been received, it recognizes that a communication connection with the transmitting device 11 has been established. On the other hand, when the information obtained as a result of the demodulation is the information 17, the information 17 is output to the acquisition unit 27.

The wireless communication interface unit 25 receives the data acquisition request signal output from the acquisition unit 27 and sends the modulated wave generated by the request signal to the server 11 via the antenna 23 in order to provide the request signal to the server 11. Send.
The interface unit 25 also inputs a modulated wave transmitted from each of the bridges 51 to 5n and received by the antenna 23, and outputs data from the server 11 obtained by demodulating the modulated wave to the acquisition unit 27. I do.

The acquisition unit 27 receives the position identification information output from the interface unit 21 (in the example described above, the transmitting device 1
Information 17) from 1 is input, and the current position of the terminal 31 in the exhibition hall is recognized based on the information. Then, a data acquisition request signal is output to the interface unit 25 to request the server 11 to acquire data corresponding to the information. When the data output from the server 11 and wirelessly transmitted in the above-described manner is output from the interface unit 25, the acquisition unit 27 outputs the data to the user interface unit 29.

The user interface unit 29 includes the acquisition unit 2
By inputting the data output from the terminal 7 and performing predetermined processing on the data, the data is generated as image information and output to a display unit (not shown) provided in the terminal 31; The data is generated as audio information and output to a speaker (not shown) of the terminal 31. Thus, the data is recognized by a visitor or the like holding the terminal 31.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the server 11 shown in FIG.

As shown, the server 11 includes a wired network interface unit (interface unit) 31 and
A database search unit (search unit) 33;

The interface unit 31 is connected to each bridge 51
-5n and receives data acquisition request signals from terminals (31-3n) provided through the network 7. The interface unit 31 also receives the data output from the search unit 33 and supplies the data to the terminals (31 to 3n) through the network 7 to provide the data to the terminals (31 to 3n).
Output to 5n.

The search unit 33 uses the data acquisition request signal output from the interface unit 31 as a parameter and stores a large number of data 35 stored in the database 9 (shown in FIG. 1) corresponding to each position in the exhibition hall. And finds the corresponding data from the list, and outputs it to the interface unit 31.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing operation of each of the transmission devices 11 to 1n described above. As mentioned above,
Since each of the transmission devices 11 to 1n has the same configuration,
The processing operation is the same. Therefore, hereinafter, only the processing operation related to the transmission device 11 will be described, and the description of the processing operation of the remaining transmission devices 12 to 1n will be omitted.

In FIG. 5, immediately after being activated, the transmission device 11 enters a connection request waiting state in which it waits to receive infrared radiation from each of the terminals 31 to 3n as a connection request (connection request) (step S41). In this state, the terminals (31 to 3n) are within the infrared range of the transmission device 11.
Is moved (step S4).
2) When receiving the infrared ray radiated from the terminal, the transmitting device 11 recognizes the infrared ray radiated from the terminal as a connect request issued by the terminal. Then, in order to transmit the position identification information 17 of the transmitting device 11 to the terminal by infrared communication, the terminal receives infrared light to the terminal, that is, transmits a response to the effect that a connect request has been received by infrared communication. A communication connection is established with the terminal (step S43). Next, position identification information 1
The infrared ray modulated by 7 is emitted toward the above-mentioned infrared ray reaching range. As a result, the terminal (any of 31 to 3n) located in the infrared range receives the infrared ray. When there are a plurality of terminals within the infrared range, all of these terminals receive the infrared ray (step S44). When the processing operation shown in step S44 ends, the communication connection established in step S43 is disconnected (step S45), and step S41 is performed again.
Move to That is, the transmitting device 11 repeats the above-described processing operation every time the terminal moves into the infrared range as long as the supply of the driving power is continued.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the processing operation of each of the terminals 31 to 3n described above.

As described above, since each of the terminals 31 to 3n has the same configuration, the processing operation is the same. Therefore, hereinafter, only the processing operation related to the terminal 31 will be described, and the description of the processing operation of the remaining terminals (〜3n) will be omitted.

In FIG. 6, a terminal 31 is connected to each transmitting device 11
In order to issue a connect request to .about.1n, infrared rays are emitted immediately upon activation (step S51). Terminal 31
However, when a certain transmission device (any of 11 to 1n) receives infrared light (that is, receives a connect request) due to having moved into the infrared range of any of the transmission devices 11 to 1n, A response to the connect request is transmitted from the transmitting device by infrared communication (step S
52). Thereby, a communication connection between the terminal 31 and the transmitting device is established (step S53), and the position identification information held by the transmitting device is transmitted from the transmitting device by infrared communication.

After the terminal 31 receives the position identification information (step S54), the communication connection established in step S53 is disconnected (step S55), and the previously received position identification information is compared with the currently received position identification information. To check whether the two are the same (step S5).
6). As a result of this check, if it is confirmed that they are the same, it is considered that the terminal 31 (visitor) has not stopped moving and stayed at the same position, and the process proceeds to step S51, and the above-described process is performed. Continue issuing connect requests. As a result of the above check, when it is confirmed that the two are different, a request to search data corresponding to the current position of the terminal 31 is made to the server 11 using the position identification information received in step S54 as a parameter. On the other hand, radio transmission is performed by radio waves (step S57). When data corresponding to the above request is transmitted from the server 11, the data is provided to the user as image information or audio information (step S58). The above processing operation is executed each time the terminal 31 moves and enters the infrared range of another transmitting device different from the transmitting device described above.

As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, when the current position of the terminal (visitor) is specified, infrared communication having strong directivity is used, and information corresponding to the current position is transmitted. At the time of acquisition, wireless communication using radio waves with omnidirectionality and high transmission speed was used. Therefore, not only can the current position of the terminal be specified with a precision of several meters, but also the information provided to the terminal (visitor) can be provided from the network at high speed, irrespective of the movement of the visitor and changes in attitude. can do.

It should be noted that the above-mentioned contents relate only to an embodiment of the present invention, and do not mean that the present invention is limited to only the above-described contents.

For example, in the above embodiment, the terminals (31 to
3n) issues a connect request, but the transmitting device (11)
~ 1n) issues a connect request and the terminal (31 ~ 3n)
The device may wait for the connection request to be received. That is, when the terminal (31 to 3n) moves into the infrared range of one of the transmission devices (11 to 1n) and receives the connect request from the corresponding transmission device, the terminal (31 to 3n) transmits the connection request from the terminal to the transmission device. Send a response,
As a result, a communication connection is established.

In the above-mentioned infrared communication protocol, a broadcast-type protocol that does not establish a communication connection can be used instead of a communication connection type. That is, each of the transmitting devices (11 to 1n) always transmits the current position identification information at a constant period by the broadcast protocol, and the terminal (31 to 3n) transmits any of the transmitting devices (11 to 1n)
By moving into the infrared range of n), the above-mentioned identification information is received without establishing a communication connection by the same broadcast-type protocol as above.

[0048]

As described above, according to the present invention,
A position-dependent information providing system that can detect the position of a user with good accuracy and can reliably provide information corresponding to the detected position to the user without being affected by changes in the movement or posture of the user. Can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a position-dependent information providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the position information transmitting device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary block diagram showing the internal configuration of the portable terminal shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the server shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing operation of the position information transmitting device.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing operation of the portable terminal.

[Explanation of symbols]

11-1n Location information transmitting device (transmitting device) 31-3n Portable terminal (mobile client) 51-5n Wireless bridge (bridge) 7 Wired network (network) 9 Database 11 Server 13 Communication interface unit (interface unit) 15, 19 Infrared light receiving / emitting unit (light receiving / emitting unit) 17 Position identification information 21 Infrared communication interface unit (interface unit) 23 Antenna 25 Radio communication interface unit using radio wave (wireless communication interface unit) 27 Position-dependent information acquisition unit (acquisition unit) 29 User interface Unit (interface unit) 31 Wired network interface unit (interface unit) 33 Database search unit (search unit) 35 Data corresponding to each position in the exhibition hall

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A first transmitting means for transmitting position information by a first propagating wave in response to a request by a first propagating wave having strong directivity.
Device, and in response to a request by the omnidirectional or weakly directional second propagation wave, selects information that satisfies the request from among information set corresponding to each of a plurality of positions, and A second device transmitting by the second propagation wave, and acquiring the position information by a request by the first propagation wave, and then requesting the acquisition of information corresponding to the position by the second propagation wave. And a mobile terminal that acquires information that satisfies the request. 2. The position-dependent information providing system according to claim 1, wherein said first propagation wave is an infrared ray. 3. The position-dependent information providing system according to claim 2, wherein the position information is transmitted by modulating an infrared ray radiated from the first device by the position information. Dependency information providing system. 4. The position-dependent information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the second propagation wave is a radio wave. 5. The position-dependent information providing system according to claim 4, wherein the frequency band of the radio wave is a 2.4 GHz band or 1.
A position-dependent information providing system, which is set in a 9 GHz band. 6. The position-dependent information providing system according to claim 1, wherein one or more first devices are provided. 7. The position-dependent information providing system according to claim 6, wherein the first device is installed for each specific place or for each area which is divided in advance. system. 8. The position-dependent information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the transmission of the position information from the first device to the mobile terminal is performed by IrDA. 9. The location-dependent information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the transmission of the information from the second device to the mobile terminal is performed using a wireless LAN or a PHS network. Location dependent information providing system. 10. The position-dependent information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the mobile terminal performs predetermined processing on information provided from the second device to generate image information or audio information. A position-dependent information providing system characterized by outputting. 11. The position-dependent information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the mobile terminal is a notebook personal computer or a PDA. 12. A first device for transmitting position information by the first propagation wave in response to a request by the first propagation wave having a strong directivity, and a second propagation device having a non-directional or weak directivity. A second device that selects information that satisfies the request from information set corresponding to each of a plurality of positions and transmits the information by the second propagation wave in response to a request by a wave; A mobile terminal that obtains the information that satisfies the request by requesting the acquisition of the information corresponding to the position by the second propagation wave after acquiring the position information according to the request by the propagating wave. A computer-readable program medium carrying a computer program for operating a computer as each of the devices and terminals in the information providing system.