JP2000132482A - Portable information terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To select and process only necessary information, to structure a data base of the information according to position information on a terminal and to store the information while linking it with a scheduler, and to display the information again afterward on the basis of the position information and temporal elements of the scheduler. SOLUTION: When a reception part 36 receives service information provided from an information transmission system, an information selection and control part 39 processes the information as a user indicates and stores it in a memory 38 while relating the information with the position information on a portable information terminal 21 detected by a position detection part 35 and temporal elements of the scheduler as application software. Consequently, the information can be reused, for example, by being displayed again through retrieval from the memory based upon the position information and temporal elements of the scheduler without sending an information request to the information transmission system thereafter.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable information terminal having a wireless communication function capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving images and sounds.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a PDA (Personal Digital Assis
Some portable information terminals, such as tant), have a wireless communication function, and can transmit and receive images and sounds wirelessly while moving. A system for providing various kinds of service information such as weather forecast, news, entertainment, etc. to a portable information terminal having such a wireless communication function has been developed (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-326873). On the portable information terminal side, the service information provided by the information provider can be browsed, and stored in a memory as needed.

[0003]

In the future, moving pictures can be transmitted to portable information terminals by using a low bit rate moving picture coding scheme such as MPEG4. Along with this, it is possible to edit image information with a large amount of information, extract and store only necessary information, link it with the scheduler of the application software of the portable information terminal, or change the information sent from the information provider. Therefore, there is a need for a function of selecting only necessary information and information processing such as creating a database in association with position information of the portable information terminal.

However, conventionally, the portable information terminal has only a function of simply browsing and storing information sent from an information provider, and the position information of the portable information terminal as described above is not included in the information. It could not be used to build a database based on it or link it to a scheduler.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and selects and processes only necessary information, stores the information in a database based on the location information of the terminal, or stores the information by linking with a scheduler. It is an object of the present invention to provide a portable information terminal that can be used later, for example, to display again based on location information and a time element of a scheduler.

[0006]

A portable information terminal according to the present invention, when receiving information provided from the outside, processes the information and constructs a database based on the position information when the information was received. It is something to do.

According to such a configuration, if the service information is received once, it can be read out from the database using the position information at the time of receiving the information as a keyword without issuing a request to the information provider each time. Can be.

Further, the portable information terminal according to the present invention, in a portable information terminal having a schedule function, processes the information when it is received from the outside and associates the information with the time element of the schedule function. It is made to memorize.

According to such a configuration, if the service information is received once, it is read out from the schedule function using the date and time information at the time of receiving the information as a keyword without issuing a request to the information provider each time. be able to.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an information transmission system using a portable information terminal according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0011] Information transmission system 11 in the present embodiment
Is a system for providing various kinds of service information such as weather forecast, news, entertainment, etc., and includes a wireless communication device 12, a communication control device 13, an information selection / processing unit 14, and an information providing unit 15.

The communication control device 13 is connected to the radio communication device 12 and the information selection / processing unit 14 and transmits information such as images, sounds, and characters sent from the information selection / processing unit 14 to the radio communication device 12. To the portable information terminal 21 via the wireless communication device 12, and receives an instruction command sent from the portable information terminal 21 via the wireless communication device 12 to select information.
Send to processing unit 14.

Further, the communication control device 13 includes a position detecting section 16 for detecting the position of the portable information terminal 21 in cooperation with the wireless communication device 12. For example, PHS (Pers
onalHandy System), a wireless communication device such as a cellular phone has a function called a handover in which an area where a wireless communication service is performed is divided into zones, and when a terminal moves, communication is performed while switching zones. . In this case, since information as to which zone each terminal is located in is always registered, the position of the portable information terminal 21 can be grasped for each zone using this function.

The position information detected by the position detector 16 is as follows:
The information is input to the information selection / processing unit 14. The information selection / processing unit 14 determines information to be sent to the portable information terminal 21 based on an instruction command from the portable information terminal 21 and position information of the portable information terminal 21. First, an information request signal is sent to the information providing unit 15, and the information providing unit 15 receives the information request signal, searches the database for information such as images, voices, and characters, and sends the information to the information selection / processing unit 14. The information selection / processing unit 14
The information sent from the information providing unit 15 is transferred to the portable information terminal 2
1 to the communication control device 12 as service information to be provided to the communication control device 12. The communication control device 12 transmits the service information to the portable information terminal 31 via the wireless communication device 12.

On the other hand, the portable information terminal 21
It has a wireless communication function such as S, cellular, etc., receives various service information transmitted wirelessly (radio wave) from the information transmission system 11, and selects only necessary information from the service information. A function of arbitrarily processing (editing) the selected information, a function of creating a database based on the position information of the portable information terminal 21 when the information is received, and storing the information in association with a time element of the scheduler It has the function to do.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the portable information terminal 21. The portable information terminal 21 is composed of a portable personal computer or the like having a wireless communication function. As shown in FIG. 2, an information input unit 31, an information output unit 32, an information encoding unit 33, a transmission unit 34, a position detection It comprises a unit 35, a receiving unit 36, and an information decoding unit 37.

The information input unit 31 includes, for example, a keyboard, a video camera, a microphone, and the like, and inputs information such as characters, images, and voices. The information output unit 32 includes a display, a speaker, and the like, and outputs characters, images, and sounds.

The information encoding section 33 encodes information input from the information input section 31 by a predetermined method. The transmitting unit 34 converts the information encoded by the information encoding unit 33 into a radio frequency and transmits the radio frequency. The position detection unit 35
It comprises a PS (global positioning system), a gyro, etc., and detects the current position of the portable information terminal 21.
The position information obtained by the position detection unit 35 and the position information obtained by the base station are also input to the information encoding unit 33 and transmitted to the information transmission system 11.

The information transmission system 11 converts the selected information or the information requested by the user into a radio frequency based on the position information, and transmits it to the portable information terminal 21 as service information. The receiving unit 36 receives these wireless information signals. The information decoding unit 37 decodes the wireless information signal received by the receiving unit 36 by a predetermined method. The information decoded by the information decoding unit 37 is displayed on the display screen by the information output unit 32 if it is a character or image, and is output through a speaker if it is audio.

Here, in the present embodiment, the portable information terminal 21 has a memory 38 for selecting and processing necessary information and storing it, a selection of received information, and storing the necessary information in the memory 38. At this time, there is provided an information selection / control unit 39 for performing control such as linking with application software for managing a schedule or constructing a database that can be searched later based on position information. With such a database, there is an advantage that information previously stored at the location can be displayed again based on the current location information of the portable information terminal.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the data contents of the memory 38. The memory 38 stores programs for controlling the portable information terminal 21 and various application software such as a scheduler. In this embodiment, a database 41, a schedule management table 42, a code conversion table 43, and an information selection table 44 are stored. Are provided in a predetermined area.

The database 41 stores the information transmission system 1
1 stores various service information provided from the server 1 based on the location information, and includes a location information code and service information as shown in FIG. The location information code is
This is code information indicating the position of the portable information terminal 21 when the service information provided from the information transmission system 11 is received, and is obtained from the position detection unit 35 or the base station. The types of service information include “weather forecast”, “news”, and “entertainment”, and these are processed and stored by the user as necessary.

The schedule management table 42 is a management table of a scheduler (schedule management function) installed in the portable information terminal 21 in advance, and includes, as shown in FIG. The service information is stored in association with the date and time.

As shown in FIG. 6, the code conversion table 43 is a table in which a position information code indicating the position of the portable information terminal 21 is associated with user position information recognizable by the user. The position information code is code information composed of a predetermined number of bits predetermined by the system. On the other hand, the user position information is obtained by replacing the position information code with information recognizable by the user. For example, the position information code “C1” is replaced with a character string such as “A station square”, and the position information code “C2” is replaced with a character string such as “B station square”.

The information selection table 44 is a table that stores the type of information required by the user and the time zone thereof, and these information are set on an information selection setting screen as shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 shows an information selection setting screen.
The portable information terminal 21 according to the present embodiment has a function of selecting necessary information from various types of service information provided from the information transmission system 11. This information selection function is realized by the user setting the necessary information type and time zone in advance on the information selection setting screen as shown in FIG.

The information selection setting screen is provided with a type setting section 51 for setting the type of information and a time zone setting section 52 for setting a time zone. When receiving the information, the type of the desired information and the time zone are set in the type setting section 51 and the time zone setting section 52. The types of information include, for example, “weather forecast”, “news”, “entertainment”, and the like, and desired information is set by key input or the like. The time zone is set by pointing a desired time zone with a mouse or the like in the time zone setting section 52 having a 24-hour bar as shown in the figure. The information of the information type and the time zone set on the information selection setting screen are stored in the information selection table 44.

In the example of FIG. 7, the service information relating to the “weather forecast” is in the time zone from 6:00 to 8:00, the service information relating to the “news” is the time period from 6:00 to 12:00, and the service information relating to the “entertainment” is represented by 18 hours. It is set so as to be selected in the time zone from hour to midnight.

Next, the operation of the embodiment will be described. FIG.
FIG. 8A is a flowchart showing an information transmission process in the embodiment. FIG. 8A shows an information acquisition process on the portable information terminal 21 side, and FIG. 8B shows an information provision process on the information transmission system 11 side.

First, from the portable information terminal 21 to the information transmission system 11, the position information of the portable information terminal 21 estimated by the zone of the base station, or the position detecting unit 35 (GPS -Sends the position information detected by the gyro function) and requests service information required by the user, such as "search in front of station" (step A11).

Upon receiving the user request (step B11), the information transmission system 11 searches the database held by the information transmission system 11 (step B12), and, in addition to the information requested by the user, information transmission The system 11 converts information to be provided (including commercials and the like) into a radio signal and transmits the information as service information to the portable information terminal 21 as the information requester (step B13).

When the portable information terminal 21 receives various information sent from the information transmission system 11 (step A1)
2), the portable information terminal 21 sorts the information (step A13). This is performed by the information selection / control section 39 provided in the portable information terminal 21 referring to the information selection table 44 in the memory 38.

That is, in addition to the information requested by the user, various information is provided from the information transmission system 11 as service information. Among the service information, the information required by the user is stored in the information selection table 44. A process of selecting based on the stored information type and time zone is performed.
For example, when the setting as shown in FIG. 7 is made, assuming that the time zone is from 6:00 to 8:00, in addition to the information requested by the user, information on “weather forecast”
Information on "news" will be selected as necessary information.

If there is no need to process the received information (No in step A14), the information selection / control section 39 displays the information on the display of the information output section 32 and then stores it in the memory as it is. 38 is stored in the database 41 (step A15). At this time, as shown in FIG. 4, the information selection / control unit 39 stores the information in the database 41 based on the position information code indicating the position of the portable information terminal 21 when receiving the information. This position information code is obtained by the position registration function of the base station or the position detection unit 35 of the portable information terminal 21.

When it is necessary to process the received information (No in step A14), the information selection / control section 39 displays the information on the display of the information output section 32, and then, in accordance with the user's instruction, for example, Zoom in / out,
A process of processing the information into an arbitrary shape is performed by cutting out only necessary portions or inserting comments (step A16).

It is to be noted that the necessity of processing information is determined by the user, and if there is a need for processing, after the user is instructed to do so, the information is processed by key operation.

When there is no need to associate the information processed in this way with the schedule (step A17)
No), the information selection / control section 39 converts the processed information into the portable information terminal 21 when the information is received in the same manner as described above.
Is stored in the database 41 of the memory 38 based on the position information code indicating the position (step A15).

If it is necessary to associate the processed information with the schedule (Yes in step A17), the information selection / control unit 39 associates the information with the time element of the schedule management software (step A18), and The information is stored in the schedule management table 42 of the memory 38 (Step A19).

It is to be noted that the necessity of association with the schedule is determined by the user, and if there is necessity, the user is instructed to do so. Upon receiving the instruction, the information selection / control unit 39 stores the information in the schedule management table 42 in association with the time element of the schedule management software.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 5, when the date and time when the information is received matches the date and time of the schedule registered in advance in the schedule management table 42, the information is added to the schedule. . Also,
The date and time when the information was received is the schedule management table 4
2 does not match the date and time of the schedule registered in advance, that is, if the service information is received at a time other than the date and time of the schedule registered in advance, the reception date and time are added to the schedule management table 42 and Information shall be stored.

As described above, the information obtained from the information transmission system 11 is arbitrarily processed as necessary, and the information is stored in a database based on the position information or stored in association with the time element of the schedule. ,
It can be displayed again based on the position information (see FIG. 9) or displayed again based on the date and time information of the schedule (see FIG. 10).

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of the information retrieval process based on the position information in the embodiment. After the database 41 based on the location information is constructed as described above, when the service information stored in the database 41 is to be displayed again, the service information to be displayed is received at a location where the service information is received, for example, in front of the A station. To display the service information again, the user inputs the position information indicating the area in front of the station A (step C11). As the position information at this time, user position information that can be recognized by the user is used. That is, for example, a character string such as “A station square” is input instead of the code information of the predetermined number of bits used by the system.

When the user position information is input, the information selection / control section 39 converts the input user position information into a position information code with reference to the code conversion table 43 of the memory 38 (step C12). Then, the database 41 of the memory 38 is searched based on the position information code (step C13). If there is the corresponding service information in the database 41 (Yes in step C14),
The information selection / control unit 39 displays the service information on the display of the information output unit 32 (Step C15).

If there is no corresponding service information in the database 41 (No in step C14), the information selection / control section 39 notifies the user by displaying a message on the display of the information output section 32 or the like. (Step C16).

As described above, various kinds of service information received in the past can be displayed again based on the position information at that time. Thus, for example, a map in front of Station A,
If the service information specific to the place is received once and stored in a database, the place can be immediately identified using the place as a keyword without requesting the same information from the information transmission system 11.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of the information retrieval process based on the date and time information in the embodiment.
After the service information is stored in the schedule management table 42 based on the time element at the time of scheduling as described above, when the service information stored in the schedule management table 42 is displayed again, the service information is displayed. The date and time information when the service information was received is input (step D11).

When the date and time information is input, the information selection / control unit 39 stores the information in the memory 38 based on the input date and time information.
Is searched in the schedule management table 42 (step D12). If there is the corresponding service information in the schedule management table 42 (Yes in step D13),
The information selection / control unit 39 displays the service information on the display of the information output unit 32 (Step D14).

If there is no corresponding service information in the schedule management table 42 (No in step D13), the information selection / control section 39 informs the information output section 3 of the fact.
The user is notified by displaying a message on the display 2 (step D15).

As described above, various service information received in the past can be displayed again based on the date and time information of the schedule at that time. Thus, for example, if the service information relating to the contents of the meeting is received once and registered in the schedule at the time of the meeting, the schedule date and time can be changed without requesting the same service information from the information transmission system 11 thereafter. You can quickly check the keywords.

Note that the method described in the above-described embodiment includes, as programs that can be executed by a computer, for example, a magnetic disk (floppy disk, hard disk, etc.), an optical disk (CD-ROM,
It can be applied to various devices having a wireless communication function by writing to a recording medium such as a DVD) or a semiconductor memory, or transmitted by a communication medium and applied to these devices.

[0051]

As described above, according to the present invention, service information provided from an information transmission system is processed and stored in a memory in association with position information and a time element of a scheduler of built-in application software. By providing the function, it is possible to use the information such as re-display based on the location information and the time element of the scheduler without requesting the information transmission system each time, thereby providing a user-friendly portable information terminal. Can be.

By providing a function of selecting various kinds of service information provided from the information transmission system, the user can selectively store only necessary information and use it later.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an information transmission system using a portable information terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the portable information terminal.

FIG. 3 is a view showing data contents of a memory provided in the portable information terminal.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a database stored in the memory.

FIG. 5 is a view showing a configuration of a schedule management table stored in the memory.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of a code conversion table stored in the memory.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary view showing an information selection setting screen in the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an exemplary flowchart illustrating information transmission processing in the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is an exemplary flowchart illustrating the operation of an information search process based on position information in the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an exemplary flowchart showing the operation of an information search process based on date and time information in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Information transmission system 21 ... Portable information terminal 31 ... Information input part 32 ... Information output part 33 ... Information encoding part 34 ... Transmission part 35 ... Position detection part 36 ... Reception part 37 ... Information decoding part 38 ... Memory 39 ... Information selection / control circuit 41 Database 42 Schedule management table 43 Code conversion table 44 Information selection table

Claims (3)

[Claims] A receiving means for receiving information provided from the outside, an information processing means for processing information received by the receiving means, and a receiving position of the information processed by the information processing means. A portable information terminal, comprising: storage means for storing based on the position information shown; and information search means for searching information stored in the storage means based on the position information. 2. A portable information terminal having a schedule function, a receiving means for receiving information provided from the outside, an information processing means for processing information received by the receiving means, and a processing means for processing the information by the information processing means. Storage means for storing the set information in association with the time element of the schedule function; and information search means for searching the information stored in the storage means based on the time element of the schedule function. A personal digital assistant characterized by: 3. The portable information according to claim 1, further comprising an information selecting means for selecting various kinds of information received by said receiving means on the basis of a type and a time zone of the information. Terminal.