WO2018235361A1

WO2018235361A1 - Mobile terminal, position discrimination server, access point, indoor positioning system, and positioning method using mobile terminal

Info

Publication number: WO2018235361A1
Application number: PCT/JP2018/010899
Authority: WO
Inventors: 佐藤　直紀
Original assignee: シャープ株式会社
Priority date: 2017-06-22
Filing date: 2018-03-19
Publication date: 2018-12-27
Also published as: JPWO2018235361A1

Abstract

The present invention realizes a mobile terminal capable of detecting a current position indoors, even in an environment in which indoor positioning cannot be adequately performed using an indoor wireless signal compatible with a GPS signal. A mobile terminal (1) which can communicate mutually with at least one indoor position information transmitter (IMES transmitter 4a-4d) and at least one access point (2a, 2b) comprises an indoor positioning unit (23) that, when the magnetic field strength of a wireless signal received from the indoor position information transmitter is less than a prescribed threshold value, sets, as the current position of the mobile terminal itself, position information of an access point determined to be present near the mobile terminal.

Description

Portable terminal, position determination server, access point, indoor positioning system, and positioning method by portable terminal

The present invention relates to a mobile terminal capable of measuring the current position indoors.

A positioning system using positioning information acquired by satellite communication from a satellite to detect the current position of a portable terminal is known as prior art. There is also known a technique of detecting relative positions between a plurality of portable terminals using positioning information. For example, a positioning system is known that stably and accurately determines the relative positions of a plurality of GPS receivers regardless of the area where the user is.

However, since the above-mentioned positioning system uses satellite communication, there is a problem that the relative position between terminals can not be detected in an environment where satellite communication can not be performed sufficiently, such as indoors.

Then, the positioning system which measures the position of a terminal indoors which can not perform satellite communication sufficiently is also known. Patent Document 1 discloses a positioning system including a mobile terminal that performs indoor positioning using an indoor wireless signal compatible with a GPS signal received from a GPS satellite and a correction signal including correction information for indoor positioning. It is done.

Japanese Patent Publication "Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2014-153193" (August 25, 2014)

The invention described in Patent Document 1 is based on the premise that the reception intensity of the indoor radio signal received by the terminal is sufficient for performing indoor positioning. However, indoor transmitters that transmit indoor wireless signals compatible with GPS signals are arranged such that the coverage areas of the indoor wireless signals by the individual indoor transmitters do not overlap excessively. Therefore, there is a problem that effective indoor positioning can not be performed for a terminal outside the coverage area of the indoor radio signal that does not correspond to any of the coverage areas of the plurality of indoor transmitters.

One aspect of the present invention aims to solve the above problem, and detects the current position indoors even in an environment where indoor positioning with an indoor wireless signal compatible with GPS signals can not be performed sufficiently. The purpose is to realize a portable terminal that can

In order to solve the above problems, a portable terminal according to an aspect of the present invention includes at least one indoor position information transmitter that transmits a wireless signal including indoor position information, and at least one that transmits a beacon signal at a constant cycle. A mobile terminal capable of communicating with two access points, wherein a moving distance calculation unit that calculates a moving distance traveled by the mobile terminal from the position of the mobile terminal finally detected by the received wireless signal, and the wireless signal is received When the electric field strength of the mobile communication terminal is less than a predetermined threshold, the reception strength of the beacon signal received from the access point is transmitted to the access point together with its own movement distance calculated by the movement distance calculation unit, The position information of the access point received from the access point existing in the vicinity of the terminal is the current position of itself And indoor positioning unit be configured with a Configurations which comprises a.

In order to solve the above problems, a positioning method by a portable terminal according to an aspect of the present invention includes at least one indoor position information transmitter for transmitting a wireless signal including indoor position information, and transmitting a beacon signal at a constant cycle. A positioning method by a portable terminal capable of communicating with at least one access point and capable of positioning a position indoors using the wireless signal, the position detected last by the received wireless signal From the moving distance calculation step of calculating the moving distance traveled by the self, and when the electric field strength at the time of receiving the wireless signal is less than a predetermined threshold, the reception strength of the beacon signal received from the access point Transmitting to the access point along with the own movement distance calculated in the movement distance calculation step; Received from the access point that exists in the vicinity of the end, and indoor positioning step of setting the location information of the access point as the current position of its own, which is Configurations which comprises a.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mobile terminal capable of detecting the current position indoors even in an environment where indoor positioning with an indoor wireless signal compatible with GPS signals can not be performed sufficiently. The effect of being able to

It is a schematic diagram which shows the outline | summary of the indoor positioning system which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is the bird's-eye view which looked at the indoor positioning system which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention from a top. It is a block diagram which shows an example of a principal part structure of the portable terminal which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a block diagram showing an example of the principal part composition of the access point concerning Embodiment 1 of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows an example of a principal part structure of the position determination server which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is the bird's-eye view which looked at the place which the portable terminal moved to the dead zone in the indoor positioning system shown in FIG. When the indoor positioning system which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention is a structure of FIG. 6, it is a schematic diagram which shows an example of the position determination table in a position determination server. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process which the indoor positioning system which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention performs.

Embodiment 1
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 8.

(Configuration of indoor positioning system)
The configuration of the indoor positioning system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an outline of the indoor positioning system 100. As shown in FIG. FIG. 2 is an overhead view of the indoor positioning system 100 as viewed from above. FIG. 1 shows a part of FIG. 2. For example, FIG. 2 shows an access point 2b not shown in FIG. 1 and

IMES transmitters

4c and 4d. In addition, a plurality of portable terminals 1a to 1d are shown as markers indicating the positions where the portable terminals 1 are arranged. On the other hand, the position determination server 3 shown in FIG. 1 is not necessarily shown in FIG. 2 because it does not have to be in the range shown in FIG. Hereinafter, the indoor positioning system 100 including the portable terminal 1, the plurality of

access points

2a and 2b, the position determination server 3, and the plurality of IMES transmitters 4a to 4d will be described.

The indoor positioning system 100 includes a portable terminal 1, a plurality of

access points

2a and 2b, a position determination server 3, and a plurality of IMES transmitters 4a to 4d. In FIG. 2, the indoor positioning system 100 includes four IMES transmitters 4a to 4d, but at least one may be sufficient. In addition, at least one access point may be provided.

The indoor positioning system 100 is a system that measures the current position of the mobile terminal 1 indoors. In the illustrated example, when the portable terminal 1 is within the effective range of the wireless signal transmitted by one IMES transmitter, the indoor positioning system 100 determines the indoor position information included in the wireless signal received from the IMES transmitter. The current position of the mobile terminal 1 is measured using this. In FIG. 2, effective ranges of radio signals transmitted by the IMES transmitters 4a to 4d are shown as circular areas (indoor position information A to D) having predetermined radii centered on the IMES transmitters. Here, the effective range of the wireless signal can be set based on the electric field strength of the wireless signal, and can be, for example, a region showing the electric field strength equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold. For example, when the portable terminal 1 is at the position shown as the portable terminal 1a in FIG. 2, the portable terminal 1 is within the effective range of the wireless signal by the IMES transmitter 4a. At this time, the portable terminal 1 can measure its own current position based on the indoor position information ("A10" in the illustrated example) included in the wireless signal received from the IMES transmitter 4a.

On the other hand, when the portable terminal 1 is out of the effective range of the wireless signal, the current position of the portable terminal 1 is measured from the position information of the access point presumed to be closest to the portable terminal 1. The region outside the effective range of the radio signal is hereinafter referred to as a dead zone. As shown in FIG. 2, when there are a plurality of IMES transmitters, the dead zone indicates a region not included in the coverage of the wireless signal by any IMES transmitter. For example, when the portable terminal 1 is in the position shown as the portable terminal 1 b in FIG. 2, the portable terminal 1 exists in the blind zone. At this time, the portable terminal 1 can measure its own current position based on the position information ("B10" in the illustrated example) of the access point 2a.

The portable terminal 1 is a terminal capable of communicating with each of the plurality of access points 2a to 2b and each of the plurality of IMES transmitters 4a to 4d, and is, for example, a smartphone. When the portable terminal 1 is at a position within the effective range of the wireless signal transmitted by the IMES transmitter, which corresponds to any of the

portable terminals

1a and 1d in FIG. 2, the portable terminal 1 uses the received wireless signal. Positioning of the current position can be performed. Further, when the portable terminal 1 is at a position in the dead zone corresponding to any of the

portable terminals

1b, 1c and 1e of FIG. 2, the position information of the access point received from the access point is It can be set as a position. The detailed configuration of the mobile terminal 1 will be described later.

The

access points

2a and 2b are electric devices that can mutually communicate with the portable terminal 1, the position determination server 3, and the plurality of IMES transmitters 4a to 4d. The

access points

2a and 2b are, for example, routers that the portable terminal 1 connects to access an external network (eg, the Internet). The

access points

2a and 2b can transmit (transmit) a beacon signal necessary for the mobile terminal 1 to detect the

access points

2a and 2b at a constant cycle. The

access points

2a and 2b have information on the current position of the

access points

2a and 2b, and can transmit this information to the portable terminal 1 and the position determination server 3 together with other information. The

access points

2a and 2b store their own position information in advance, and can further measure their own current position by receiving radio signals from the IMES transmitters 4a to 4d. The detailed configuration of the access point 2 will be described later.

The position determination server 3 can receive information on the current positions of the plurality of

access points

2a and 2b and information on the portable terminal 1 from the plurality of

access points

2a and 2b. In addition, the position determination server 3 has an access point, which is a transmission source of a beacon signal having the highest reception strength in the mobile terminal 1 among the information received from the

access points

2 a and 2 b, in the vicinity of the mobile terminal 1. It can be determined as an access point.

The IMES transmitters 4a to 4d are indoor position information transmitters capable of transmitting a wireless signal including indoor position information to the mobile terminal 1 and the plurality of

access points

2a and 2b. The indoor position information may be any information as long as it includes information capable of measuring the current positions of the mobile terminal 1 and the plurality of

access points

2a and 2b. For example, it may be a wireless signal including location information of an IMES transmitter using IMES (Indoor MEssaging System). A wireless signal used in IMES is a wireless signal compatible with a signal used in satellite communication by a GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite.

(Configuration of portable terminal 1)
The detailed configuration of the mobile terminal 1 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the main configuration of the portable terminal 1 according to the present embodiment.

In the illustrated example, the portable terminal 1 includes a transmitting / receiving unit 11, a beacon signal receiving unit 12, an IMES receiving unit 13, a storage unit 14, and a control unit 20, and the control unit 20 includes an electric field strength determination unit 21 and movement. A distance calculation unit 22 and an indoor positioning unit 23 are provided.

The transmission / reception unit 11 can communicate with the plurality of

access points

2a and 2b. The beacon signal reception unit 12 can receive a plurality of beacon signals transmitted from each of the plurality of

access points

2 a and 2 b and transmit the plurality of beacon signals to the electric field strength determination unit 21.

The IMES receiving unit 13 can receive the radio signals transmitted from the plurality of IMES transmitters 4a to 4d. The IMES receiving unit 13 can transmit the received wireless signal to the electric field strength determination unit 21.

The storage unit 14 stores various types of information handled by the mobile terminal 1. In the present embodiment, the storage unit 14 may store history information of its own position detection result and the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor 15, which the mobile terminal 1 measured based on the wireless signal received from the IMES transmitter. it can.

The acceleration sensor 15 detects the acceleration of the mobile terminal 1. The acceleration sensor 15 may store the magnitude of the detected acceleration and the detected date and time in the storage unit 14 as history information of the acceleration.

The control unit 20 integrates and controls each unit of the mobile terminal 1. The control unit 20 can communicate with the plurality of

access points

2 a and 2 b via the transmission / reception unit 11. The control unit 20 can receive the beacon signal transmitted from each of the plurality of

access points

2 a and 2 b via the beacon signal reception unit 12. The control unit 20 can receive the wireless signal transmitted from the IMES transmitter via the IMES receiving unit 13. The control unit 20 can transmit the moving distance obtained by the moving distance calculation unit 22 to the access point 2 together with the reception intensity of the beacon signal received from each of the plurality of

access points

2a and 2b.

The electric field strength determination unit 21 can determine whether the electric field strength of the wireless signal received by the mobile terminal 1 from each of the plurality of IMES transmitters 4a to 4d is less than a predetermined threshold. Here, the predetermined threshold is, for example, a value considered to be able to stably and continuously receive a radio signal. The electric field strength determination unit 21 can measure the reception strength (field strength) of the beacon signal received by the portable terminal 1 from the access point 2.

The movement distance calculation unit 22 can calculate the distance the mobile terminal 1 has moved from the position of the mobile terminal 1 detected last by the wireless signal received from any of the IMES transmitters 4a to 4d. For example, the movement distance calculation unit 22 reads from the storage unit 14 history information regarding the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor 15 and the detection date and time of the acceleration, and time integration of the history information enables the last detection of the mobile terminal 1. The movement distance from the position can be calculated. That is, the movement distance calculation unit 22 may be configured to be able to measure the movement distance from the detection result of the acceleration sensor 15.

The indoor positioning unit 23 can measure the current position of the mobile terminal 1 indoors. When the electric field strength of the wireless signal received by the portable terminal 1 from the IMES transmitter is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold, the indoor positioning unit 23 determines the current position of the portable terminal 1 based on indoor position information and the like included in the wireless signal. The position can be measured. Further, when the electric field strength of the wireless signal is less than a predetermined threshold, the indoor positioning unit 23 can set the position information of the access point received from the access point as the current position of the access point.

(Configuration of access point)
The detailed configuration of the access point 2a according to the present embodiment will be described using FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of the main configuration of the access point 2a. Although the following description relates to the access point 2a, the access point 2a and the access point 2b have the same configuration, and the following description is also applied to the access point 2b.

The access point 2 a includes a transmission / reception unit 31, a beacon signal transmission unit 32, an IMES reception unit 33, a storage unit 34, and a control unit 40.

The transmission / reception unit 31 can communicate with the portable terminal 1 and the position determination server 3. The beacon signal transmission unit 32 can transmit a beacon signal to the mobile terminal 1. The IMES receiving unit 33 can receive the wireless signal transmitted from at least one of the plurality of IMES transmitters 4a to 4d.

The storage unit 34 stores various information handled by the access point 2a. In the present embodiment, the storage unit 34 can store current position information of the access point 2a set based on the wireless signal received from at least one of the plurality of IMES transmitters 4a to 4d.

Control part 40 unifies and controls each part of access point 2a. The control unit 40 determines the current position information of the access point 2a based on the wireless signal received from at least one of the plurality of IMES transmitters 4a to 4d via the IMES receiving unit 33, and stores it in the storage unit 34. It can be stored.

(Configuration of location determination server)
The detailed configuration of the position determination server 3 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an example of the main configuration of the position determination server 3.

The position determination server 3 includes a transmission / reception unit 51, a control unit 60, and a storage unit 70. The control unit 60 includes a position determination unit 61. In addition, the storage unit 70 includes a position determination table 71, and the position determination table 71 includes a reception strength 71a of a beacon signal, access point position information 71b, and a terminal movement distance 71c.

The transmitting and receiving unit 51 can communicate with the plurality of

access points

2a and 2b.

The control unit 60 integrates and controls the respective units of the position determination server 3. The position determination unit 61 can determine an access point present in the vicinity of the current position of the portable terminal 1 based on the information received from each of the plurality of

access points

2 a and 2 b via the transmission / reception unit 51.

The storage unit 70 stores various information handled by the position determination server 3.

The position determination table 71 is information related to the current positions of the portable terminal 1 and the access point, which are received from the plurality of

access points

2a and 2b.

The reception strength 71a of the beacon signal indicates the reception strength of the beacon signal when the portable terminal 1 receives the beacon signal transmitted from the plurality of

access points

2a and 2b.

The access point position information 71b is current position information of the plurality of

access points

2a and 2b. The position information of the plurality of

access points

2a and 2b may be set in advance, or is set according to the radio signal transmitted to the plurality of

access points

2a and 2b by at least one of the plurality of IMES transmitters 4a to 4d. May be

The terminal movement distance 71c indicates the distance the mobile terminal 1 has moved from the position of the mobile terminal 1 detected last by the wireless signal received from any of the IMES transmitters 4a to 4d. That is, the movement distance calculated by the movement distance calculation unit 22 of the mobile terminal 1 is set as the terminal movement distance 71c.

(Position determination method of portable terminal using position determination table)
A specific example of the position determination method of the portable terminal 1 using the position determination table 71 performed by the position determination unit 61 in the position determination server 3 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. 6 is a bird's-eye view from above of the mobile terminal 1 moving to a dead zone in the indoor positioning system 100 shown in FIG. 2, and FIG. 7 shows the indoor positioning system 100 having the configuration of FIG. 10 is a schematic view showing an example of the position determination table 71 in the position determination server 3.

In FIG. 6, when the portable terminal 1 moves from the position of the portable terminal 1a to the position indicated by the portable terminal 1a ′ or the portable terminal 1a ′ ′, or from the position of the portable terminal 1d to the position indicated by the portable terminal 1d ′ Show the case.

First, consider the case where the portable terminal 1 has moved from the position of the portable terminal 1a to the position indicated by the portable terminal 1a '. At the position of the portable terminal 1a, position information: A11 is set in the portable terminal 1 by positioning using a radio signal received from the IMES transmitter 4a and having the electric field strength equal to or higher than the predetermined threshold Rx. There is. At this time, it is considered that the mobile terminal 1 moves by a distance X1 from the position shown on the mobile terminal 1a and moves to the position shown on the mobile terminal 1a '. At the position of the portable terminal 1a ', the electric field strength of the wireless signal received from the IMES transmitter 4a is less than a predetermined threshold Rx, and the portable terminal 1 can detect that it has moved to the dead zone. When the mobile terminal 1 detects that it has moved to a dead zone, it receives beacon signals from each of the plurality of

access points

2a and 2b, and measures the reception strength of each beacon signal. The portable terminal 1 transmits the reception intensity with respect to each beacon signal to each access point which is the transmission source together with information such as position information before movement and movement distance. Then, each access point transmits the reception intensity and the movement distance received from the portable terminal 1 to the position determination server 3 together with its own position information.

When the portable terminal 1 moves from the position of the portable terminal 1a to the position indicated by the portable terminal 1a '', the portable terminal 1a '' is separated from the position of the portable terminal 1a by a distance X2, It is the same as the case of moving to the position shown in the terminal 1a '.

When the mobile terminal 1 moves from the position shown in the mobile terminal 1d to the position shown in the mobile terminal 1d ', position information: A41 is set at the position shown in the mobile terminal 1d, and the distance X3 from the position shown in the mobile terminal 1d It is the same as the above except moving to the position shown in the portable terminal 1 d ′ which is separated.

A method for the position determination unit 61 to determine an access point existing in the vicinity of the portable terminal 1 will be described using FIG. 7.

In the illustrated example, the item name "mobile terminal" indicates the current position of the mobile terminal 1, and for example, in the record where the value of "mobile terminal" is "A '", the mobile terminal 1 corresponds to the mobile terminal 1a in FIG. Indicates that it exists in the position of '. The item name “IMES information” indicates information when the portable terminal 1 lastly measured using the wireless signal received from the IMES transmitter, and “name” is information uniquely identifying the IMES transmitter. In the illustrated example, the record in which the name of “IMES information” is “A” indicates that the information is measured by the mobile terminal 1 using the wireless signal received from the IMES transmitter 4 a. The “position information” is position information of the portable terminal 1 when positioning is last performed when the electric field strength of the wireless signal is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold value Rx. The “reception strength (threshold Rx)” indicates whether the field strength of the radio signal last received from the IMES transmitter indicated by the “name” by the mobile terminal 1 is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold Rx.

The item name “moving distance from the previous detection position” is calculated by using the moving distance calculation unit 22 when the mobile terminal 1 detects that the mobile terminal 1 has moved to the dead zone. The movement distance from the last determined position is indicated using a radio signal received from either. That is, the item name “moving distance from the current detection position” corresponds to the terminal moving distance 71c in FIG.

The item name “access point information” indicates information on a plurality of

access points

2 a and 2 b. "Name" is information uniquely identifying an access point. The "position information" indicates the current position information of each access point. According to FIG. 6, the position information of the access point 2a is B10, and the position information of the access point 2b is B20. That is, the "position information" of the item name "access point information" corresponds to the access point position information 71b in FIG. The “reception strength of beacon signal” indicates the reception strength when the portable terminal 1 receives the beacon signal transmitted from each access point. That is, “reception strength of beacon signal” of the item name “access point information” corresponds to reception strength 71 a of the beacon signal in FIG. 5. In the illustrated example, it is assumed that the reception strength of the beacon signal is R1> R2, R3 <R4, and R5 <R6.

The item name “position information of the portable terminal” indicates the current position of the portable terminal 1 determined by the position determination unit 61 based on the contents of other items.

A case where the portable terminal 1 moves from the position of the portable terminal 1a in FIG. 6 to the position shown by the portable terminal 1a 'will be considered using FIG. According to the illustrated example, the records on lines 1 to 3 in FIG. 7 correspond to each other. That is, the record in the first line indicates the information at the position of the portable terminal 1a, and the record in the second line indicates the reception intensity of the beacon signal received by the access point 2a from the portable terminal 1 at the position of the portable terminal 1a '. Indicates the information included. And the record of the 3rd line has shown the information containing the receiving intensity of the beacon signal which access point 2b received from portable terminal 1 in the position of portable terminal 1a '.

The position determination unit 61 compares the value of “received strength of beacon signal” of “access point information”, that is, R1 and R2 for the record in the second row and the record in the third row, to obtain access point 2a and access point 2a. It is determined which of 2b is present in the vicinity of the portable terminal 1. In the illustrated example, since R1> R2, the position determination unit 61 accesses the transmission source of the record in the second row in which the value of “reception strength of beacon signal” in “access point information” is R1. It is determined that the point 2 a is an access point in the vicinity of the portable terminal 1. That is, according to the example of FIG. 6, it is determined that the access point 2 a, which is the transmission source of the beacon signal indicated as “beacon signal A” in the drawing, is an access point in the vicinity of the portable terminal 1. Do. Then, the position determination unit 61 sets B10, which is position information of the access point 2a, as the “position information of the portable terminal”.

The same applies to the case where the portable terminal 1 moves from the position of the portable terminal 1 a in FIG. 6 to the position indicated by the portable terminal 1 a ′ ′. That is, the position determination unit 61 compares the value of “reception strength of beacon signal” of “access point information”, that is, R3 and R4 for the record in the fourth line and the record in the fifth line of FIG. 7. Then, since R3 <R4, the position determination unit 61 is the source of the record of the fifth row, and the source of the beacon signal indicated as “beacon signal B” in FIG. Position information B20 is set as "position information of the portable terminal".

The same applies to the case where the portable terminal 1 moves from the position of the portable terminal 1 d in FIG. 6 to the position indicated by the portable terminal 1 d ′. That is, the position determination unit 61 can compare the record in the seventh line of FIG. 7 with the record in the eighth line to determine an access point existing in the vicinity of the portable terminal 1. Then, B20 which is the position information of the access point 2b, which is the transmission source of the beacon signal indicated as "beacon signal C" in FIG. 6, is set as "position information of the portable terminal".

Thus, the position determination unit 61 can determine the current position of the portable terminal 1 using the position determination table 71 and determine the position information to be set in the portable terminal 1.

The records in the first line and the line 6 are records when the reception intensity of the radio signal received by the mobile terminal 1 from the IMES transmitter is equal to or greater than the threshold Rx. At this time, the mobile terminal 1 does not have to perform positioning using the beacon signal transmitted from the access point. Therefore, it is not necessary to transmit the record in the first line and the record in the sixth line to the position determination server 3 via the access point. That is, in the illustrated example, the record in the first line and the record in the sixth line are for convenience of specifying the information before the movement of the portable terminal 1 and may not actually exist in the position determination table 71 .

When the portable terminal 1 measures using a beacon signal, the access point includes information corresponding to a record including the reception strength of the beacon signal, and any of the first line record and the sixth line record as information before movement. Information equivalent to the word may be transmitted. Then, the position determination server 3 may be configured to store either the record in the first line or the record in the sixth line in the position determination table 71 based on the received information.

(Flow of processing)
An example of the process which the indoor positioning system 100 which concerns on this embodiment performs is demonstrated below using FIG. FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the flow of processing performed by the indoor positioning system 100. It is assumed that the mobile terminal 1 has determined the current position by the wireless signal received in advance from any of the IMES transmitters 4a to 4d. Furthermore, it is assumed that the

access points

2a and 2b have already acquired their own position information by the wireless signal received from any of the IMES transmitters 4a to 4d.

First, the portable terminal 1 receives indoor position information from any of the IMES transmitters 4a to 4d via the wireless signal by the transmitting / receiving unit 11 (S1). The portable terminal 1 determines at the electric field strength determination unit 21 whether the electric field strength of the wireless signal received from any of the IMES transmitters 4a to 4d at S1 is less than a predetermined threshold Rx (S2). If it is determined that it is less than the predetermined threshold Rx (YES in S2), the electric field strength determination unit 21 determines that the portable terminal 1 is in the dead zone (S3). On the other hand, when it is determined that the threshold value is not less than the predetermined threshold value Rx (NO in S2), the portable terminal 1 updates its own position detection result in the control unit 20 (S4), and returns to the process of S1.

After S3, the mobile terminal 1 uses the travel distance calculation unit 22 to obtain the travel distance of the mobile terminal 1 from the acceleration detected after the previous position detection result (S5: travel distance calculation step).

After S5, the portable terminal 1 receives the beacon signal transmitted from the

access points

2a and 2b, and measures the reception strength of the beacon signal (S6). Then, the portable terminal 1 transmits the moving distance obtained in S5 and the received strength of the beacon signal received in S6 to the

access points

2a and 2b (S7: indoor positioning step). When the

access points

2a and 2b receive the information transmitted from the portable terminal 1 in S7, the

access points

2a and 2b further add their own position information and transmit the information to the position determination server 3 (S8).

The position determination server 3 uses the information received from the

access points

2a and 2b in S8 to determine the access point estimated to be closest to the portable terminal 1 by the position determination unit 61 (S9). The position determination server 3 transmits the position information of the access point closest to the portable terminal 1 determined in S9 to the portable terminal 1 via the access point (S10).

In the indoor positioning unit 23, the portable terminal 1 determines the current position of itself using the position information of the access point closest to the portable terminal 1, which is included in the information received in S10 (S11: indoor positioning step) ).

By the above-described processing, when the positioning using the wireless signal transmitted by the IMES transmitter 4 is possible, the indoor positioning system 100 according to the present embodiment can perform positioning using the wireless signal. Furthermore, when positioning using a wireless signal can not be performed because the portable terminal 1 has moved to a dead zone, etc., the current position is determined using a moving distance from the past position measured last by a wireless signal. be able to. In addition, since it is possible to measure the position of the mobile terminal 1 present in the dead zone, for example, the number of installed IMES transmitters can be reduced. Thereby, the indoor positioning system 100 can perform indoor positioning with high accuracy for the portable terminal 1 by combining the beacon signal and the measurement result of the acceleration sensor 15. Therefore, it is effective in the ability to provide the indoor positioning system which can perform indoor positioning even in the environment which can not fully perform indoor positioning by the indoor radio | wireless signal compatible with a GPS signal.

In addition, when the receiving intensity of a beacon signal is fluctuate | varied under the influence of external environment, there exists a possibility that judgment of the access point which exists in the vicinity of the portable terminal 1 may be misjudged. Therefore, for example, the position determination unit 61 may determine the access point existing in the vicinity of the portable terminal by further using information on the movement distance of the portable terminal in addition to the reception intensity of the beacon signal. Specifically, it may be used for the determination of the access point whether or not it exists within the range of the movement distance calculated by the movement distance calculation unit 22 based on the position information finally measured using the wireless information.

Moreover, in the above description, although the indoor positioning system 100 is configured to determine the current position with respect to one mobile terminal 1, the current position may be simultaneously determined with respect to a plurality of mobile terminals 1. At this time, the position determination server 3 provides small items such as “identifier (ID)” to the item name “mobile terminal” in order to uniquely identify the plurality of mobile terminals 1 in the position determination table 71, for example. It is also good.

Second Embodiment
Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described using FIGS. 1, 3, 4, 5, and 8. FIG. In addition, about the member which has the same function as the member demonstrated in the said embodiment for convenience of explanation, the same code | symbol is appended and the description is abbreviate | omitted.

(Configuration of indoor positioning system)
About the structure of the indoor positioning system 100 which concerns on this embodiment, a difference with the said Embodiment 1 is demonstrated using FIG.

The basic configuration of the indoor positioning system 100 is the same as that of the first embodiment, except that the position determination server 3 is not present.

The portable terminal 1 has the same basic configuration as that of the first embodiment, but further includes the position determination unit 61 and the position determination table 71 in FIG. 5 which the position determination server 3 has in the first embodiment The difference is that When the field strength of the wireless signal received from any of the IMES transmitters 4a to 4d is less than a predetermined threshold, the portable terminal 1 determines the received strength of the beacon signal received from the

access points

2a and 2b as a position determination table. 71 can be recorded. Then, the portable terminal 1 can set its own current position using the position determination unit 61.

The

access points

2a and 2b have the same basic configuration as that of the first embodiment but differ in that communication with the position determination server 3 does not occur.

(Flow of processing)
About an example of the process which the indoor positioning system 100 which concerns on this embodiment performs, the difference with the said Embodiment 1 is demonstrated below using FIG.

The processes of S1 to S6 are the same as in the first embodiment. In the present embodiment, since the portable terminal 1 determines an access point existing in the vicinity of itself, the process of S7 is unnecessary.

The difference is that the

access points

2a and 2b transmit only their own position information to the portable terminal 1 in S8.

The process of S9 is different in that it is executed by the portable terminal 1. Therefore, the process of S10 is unnecessary, and after S9, the process proceeds to S11.

Although the indoor positioning system 100 according to the present embodiment has a configuration in which the position determination server 3 does not exist by the above processing, the indoor positioning system 100 can not sufficiently perform indoor positioning using an indoor wireless signal compatible with the GPS signal. Even indoor positioning is possible.

[Modification]
In each of the above embodiments, the predetermined threshold used to determine the electric field strength of the wireless signal received by the mobile terminal 1 from the IMES transmitter is the threshold Rx common to the IMES transmitters 4a to 4d. However, different thresholds may be set depending on the IMES transmitter. For example, the portable terminal 1 has a predetermined threshold value used for the electric field strength of the wireless signal received from the IMES transmitter 4a different from the threshold value for the electric field strength of the wireless signal received from any of the IMES transmitters 4b to 4d. It may be set to

In each of the embodiments, the portable terminal 1 is configured to transmit the reception strength to the access point of the transmission source regardless of the magnitude of the reception strength of the beacon signal received from the access point. However, for example, when the reception strength of the beacon signal falls below a predetermined lower limit, the portable terminal 1 may not be configured to transmit the reception strength to the access point that is the transmission source of the beacon signal. The access point may not transmit information to the position determination server when it does not receive the communication regarding the reception strength of the beacon signal from the portable terminal 1 within the predetermined response time.

[Example of software implementation]
The control blocks of mobile terminal 1 and position determination server 3 (in particular, movement distance calculation unit 22, indoor positioning unit 23, and position determination unit 61) are implemented by a logic circuit (hardware) formed in an integrated circuit (IC chip) or the like. It may be realized by software using a CPU (Central Processing Unit).

In the latter case, the portable terminal 1 and the position determination server 3 are a CPU that executes instructions of a program that is software that implements each function, a ROM in which the program and various data are readably recorded by a computer (or CPU). It includes a Read Only Memory) or a storage device (these are referred to as a "recording medium"), a RAM (Random Access Memory) for expanding the program, and the like. The object of the present invention is achieved by the computer (or CPU) reading the program from the recording medium and executing the program. As the recording medium, a “non-transitory tangible medium”, for example, a tape, a disk, a card, a semiconductor memory, a programmable logic circuit or the like can be used. The program may be supplied to the computer via any transmission medium (communication network, broadcast wave, etc.) capable of transmitting the program. Note that one aspect of the present invention can also be realized in the form of a data signal embedded in a carrier wave in which the program is embodied by electronic transmission.

[Summary]
A portable terminal (1) according to aspect 1 of the present invention transmits at least one indoor position information transmitter (IMES transmitters 4a to 4d) that transmits a wireless signal including indoor position information, and a beacon signal at a constant cycle. A mobile terminal capable of communicating with at least one access point (2a, 2b), wherein a movement distance calculation unit (22 for calculating the movement distance of the mobile terminal itself from the position of the mobile terminal finally detected by the received wireless signal) And the received distance of the beacon signal received from the access point when the electric field intensity at the time of receiving the wireless signal is less than a predetermined threshold, the own movement distance calculated by the movement distance calculation unit The access point, which is transmitted to the access point and received from the access point existing in the vicinity of the portable terminal Indoor positioning unit for setting the location information as the current position of itself and (23), a Configurations which comprises a.

According to the above configuration, when the wireless signal received from the indoor position information transmitter falls below the predetermined threshold, the portable terminal is finally detected by the reception strength of the beacon signal received from the access point and the wireless signal. The current position can be set based on the movement distance from the own position. As a result, it is possible to realize a portable terminal capable of detecting the current position indoors even in an environment where indoor positioning using an indoor wireless signal compatible with GPS signals can not be performed sufficiently.

In the portable terminal (1) according to aspect 2 of the present invention, in the aspect 1, whether the electric field strength of the wireless signal received from the indoor position information transmitter (IMES transmitters 4a to 4d) is less than a predetermined threshold value The indoor positioning unit (23) further includes an electric field strength determination unit (21) for determining whether or not the electric field strength determination unit determines that the electric field strength is less than a predetermined threshold value. The reception strength of the beacon signal received from the access point (2a, 2b) may be transmitted to the access point together with the own movement distance calculated by the movement distance calculation unit.

According to the above configuration, the portable terminal can switch between positioning using wireless information and positioning using reception intensity of a beacon signal based on the determination result of the electric field strength determination unit.

The position determination server (3) according to aspect 3 of the present invention is a position determination server that determines the access point (2a, 2b) present in the vicinity of the portable terminal (1) according to the aspect 1 or 2 Among the information received from the access point, an access point that is a transmission source of the beacon signal having the highest reception strength at the mobile terminal may be determined as an access point existing near the mobile terminal. .

According to the above configuration, the position determination server can determine the access point existing in the vicinity of the portable terminal using the reception strength of the beacon signal received by the portable terminal from at least one access point.

The position determination server (3) according to aspect 4 of the present invention, in the aspect 3, further exists in the vicinity of the portable terminal using the information regarding the moving distance of the portable terminal received from the portable terminal (1) The access point (2a, 2b) may be determined.

According to the above configuration, the position determination server can further determine the access point existing in the vicinity of the portable terminal by further using the moving distance of the portable terminal.

An access point (2a, 2b) according to aspect 5 of the present invention is an access point for transmitting a beacon signal to the portable terminal (1) according to aspect 1 or 2, and a beacon for the portable terminal The beacon signal transmission unit (32) for transmitting a signal, the received intensity of the beacon signal at the portable terminal received from the portable terminal, the movement distance, and the position determination according to the aspect 3 or 4 together with its own position information The transmitter / receiver (31) transmitting to the server (3) may be provided.

According to the above configuration, the access point can transmit a beacon signal to the portable terminal, and can transmit the beacon signal to the position determination server together with the reception intensity of the beacon signal and the movement distance of the portable terminal and its own position information. By executing the above-described processing at the access point, the position determination server can determine the access point present in the vicinity of the portable terminal.

An indoor positioning system (100) according to aspect 6 of the present invention includes the portable terminal (1) according to aspect 1 or 2, and at least one indoor position information transmitter (IMES transmission) that transmits a wireless signal including indoor position information. It may be configured to include the devices 4a to 4d), the position determination server (3) according to the mode 3 or 4, and the access point (2a, 2b) according to the mode 5. According to the above-mentioned composition, the same operation effect as the above-mentioned mode 1 is produced.

In the positioning method by the portable terminal (1) according to aspect 7 of the present invention, at least one indoor position information transmitter (IMES transmitters 4a to 4d) transmitting a wireless signal including indoor position information, and a beacon signal at a constant cycle A wireless terminal capable of communicating with at least one access point (2a, 2b) that transmits the wireless signal, and capable of positioning a position indoors using the wireless signal, the received wireless signal Moving distance calculation step (S5) of calculating the moving distance traveled by the mobile terminal itself from the position of the vehicle itself finally detected, and the access when the electric field strength when the wireless signal is received is less than a predetermined threshold The received strength of the beacon signal received from the point is, together with its own movement distance calculated in the movement distance calculation step, And indoor positioning steps (S7, S11) of transmitting to the access point and setting position information of the access point, which is received from the access point existing in the vicinity of the mobile terminal, as the current position of the access point. It is a structure. According to the above-mentioned composition, the same operation effect as the above-mentioned mode 1 is produced.

Each element (portable terminal 1,

access points

2a and 2b, position determination server 3, and IMES transmitters 4a to 4d) constituting the indoor positioning system 100 according to each aspect of the present invention may be realized by a computer, In this case, the computer operates as each unit (software element) included in each element (portable terminal 1,

access points

2a and 2b, position determination server 3, and IMES transmitters 4a to 4d) constituting the indoor positioning system 100. The indoor positioning system 100 is realized by making each component (the portable terminal 1, the

access points

2a and 2b, the position determination server 3, and the IMES transmitters 4a to 4d) constituting the indoor positioning system 100 by computer. Each element (mobile terminal 1, access points 2a and 2 , The position determination server 3, and IMES transmitters 4a ~ 4d) control program, and a computer-readable recording medium recorded with the same are also included in the scope of the present invention.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the claims, and embodiments obtained by appropriately combining the technical means disclosed in the different embodiments. Is also included in the technical scope of the present invention. Furthermore, new technical features can be formed by combining the technical means disclosed in each embodiment.

1

portable terminal

2a, 2b access point 3 position determination server 4a-4d IMES transmitter (indoor position information transmitter)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 15 Acceleration sensor 21 Electric field strength determination part 22 Movement distance calculation part 23 Indoor positioning part 31 Transmission / reception part 32 Beacon signal transmission part 61 Position determination part 71 Position determination table 100 Indoor positioning system

Claims

A mobile terminal capable of communicating with at least one indoor location information transmitter that transmits a wireless signal including indoor location information, and at least one access point that periodically transmits a beacon signal,
A movement distance calculation unit that calculates the movement distance traveled by the user from the position of the vehicle last detected by the received wireless signal;
When the electric field strength at the time of receiving the wireless signal is less than a predetermined threshold, the access strength of the beacon signal received from the access point, together with its own movement distance calculated by the movement distance calculation unit An indoor positioning unit configured to transmit position data to a point and receive position information of the access point, which is received from an access point existing in the vicinity of the mobile terminal, as the current position of the access point; Terminal.
The apparatus further comprises an electric field strength determination unit that determines whether the electric field strength of the wireless signal received from the indoor position information transmitter is less than a predetermined threshold value,
The indoor positioning unit calculates the reception intensity of the beacon signal received from the access point by the movement distance calculation unit when the electric field strength determination unit determines that the electric field strength is less than a predetermined threshold. It transmits to the access point together with its own movement distance, and when the electric field strength determination unit determines that the electric field strength is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold, positioning of the current position is performed using the received wireless signal. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, characterized in that
It is a position determination server which determines the said access point which exists in the vicinity of the portable terminal of Claim 1 or 2, Comprising:
Among the information received from the access point, an access point which is a transmission source of the beacon signal having the highest reception strength at the portable terminal is determined as an access point existing near the portable terminal. Location determination server.
The position determination server according to claim 3, wherein the access point present in the vicinity of the portable terminal is determined by further using the information on the moving distance of the portable terminal received from the portable terminal.
An access point for transmitting a beacon signal to the mobile terminal according to claim 1 or 2,
A beacon signal transmission unit that transmits a beacon signal to the mobile terminal;
A transmitting / receiving unit for transmitting the reception intensity of the beacon signal in the mobile terminal and the movement distance received from the mobile terminal to the position determination server according to claim 3 or 4 together with the position information of the mobile terminal. An access point characterized by
A portable terminal according to claim 1 or 2;
At least one indoor position information transmitter for transmitting a wireless signal including indoor position information;
The position determination server according to claim 3 or 4;
An indoor positioning system comprising: the access point according to claim 5;
It is possible to communicate with at least one indoor position information transmitter that transmits a wireless signal including indoor position information, and at least one access point that emits a beacon signal at a constant period, and uses the wireless signal to position the indoor position. Positioning method using a portable terminal that can
A movement distance calculation step of calculating the movement distance traveled by the user from the position of the vehicle last detected by the received wireless signal;
When the electric field strength at the time of receiving the wireless signal is less than a predetermined threshold, the reception strength of the beacon signal received from the access point, together with its own movement distance calculated in the movement distance calculation step And indoor positioning step of setting the position information of the access point, which is transmitted to the access point and received from the access point existing in the vicinity of the mobile terminal, as the current position of the access point. Mobile terminal.