JP2000217142A - Information processor, information processing method and provision/medium thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To readily comprehend the positions of a plurality of terminals. SOLUTION: Terminals A-C store a communication opposite party list, in which its own present position and current positions of other terminals obtained through communication are stored. Each of the terminals A-C makes communication with other terminal by each fixed time which is decided by its own terminal and transmits a current position of the terminal stored in the communication opposite list stored in own terminal to a communication opposite party. A terminal receiving the transmission registers the current position with a newer time stamp to its own communication opposite list.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and method, and a providing medium, and more particularly, to an information processing apparatus and method capable of more easily managing the positions of a plurality of moving objects, and Regarding the providing medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the development of wireless communication technology, systems for managing the positions of a plurality of moving objects are becoming widespread. In such a conventional system, a dedicated server for managing the positions of a plurality of mobiles is provided, and each mobile communicates with the server and transmits its current location to the server. Therefore, the server can always grasp the current location of the plurality of moving objects.

[0003]

However, in such a conventional system, it is necessary to provide a dedicated server, so that capital investment is required and a management cost for managing the server is incurred. For this reason, there has been a problem that the general user cannot easily use this system.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and it is an object of the present invention to easily grasp and manage the positions of a plurality of moving objects.

[0005]

An information processing apparatus according to claim 1 includes a detecting means for detecting a current location, a current location of another information processing apparatus, and a storage means for storing the current location of itself together with time information. Communication means for communicating with another information processing apparatus and mutually exchanging information stored in the storage means, time information included in the information stored in the storage means, and communication means obtained by communication. An update unit that compares the time information included in the information with the information obtained by the communication unit, and updates the information stored in the storage unit with the information obtained by the communication according to the comparison result; And a calculating means for calculating a time of next communication with another information processing apparatus from the present time information.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing method comprising: a detecting step of detecting a current position; a storing step of storing a current position of another information processing device and a current position of the own device together with time information; A communication step of communicating with the device and mutually exchanging information stored in the storage step;
Time information included in the information stored in the storage step;
An update step of comparing the time information included in the information obtained by the communication in the communication step and updating the information stored in the storage step with the information obtained by the communication in the communication step, in accordance with the comparison result; An information processing method, comprising: a calculating step of calculating a time of next communication with another information processing apparatus from the time information stored in the storing step.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a medium for providing an information processing apparatus that communicates with another information processing apparatus with a detection step of detecting a current location, a current location of the other information processing apparatus, and a current location of its own. A storage step of storing the information together with the information, a communication step of communicating with another information processing apparatus, and mutually exchanging the information stored in the storage step; a time information included in the information stored in the storage step; Comparing the time information included in the information obtained by the communication, and updating the information stored in the storage step with the information obtained by the communication in the communication step in accordance with the comparison result; A computer that executes a process including a calculating step of calculating a time of next communication with another information processing device from the stored time information is read by a computer. And providing a performance program.

[0008] The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, claim 4,
In the information processing method described in (1) and the providing medium described in (5), the current location of the other information processing apparatus and the current location of itself are stored together with time information. The stored information is exchanged with another information processing apparatus by mutual communication. According to the comparison result between the time information included in the stored information and the time information included in the information obtained by communication,
The stored information is updated with the information obtained through the communication.
The communication time is calculated from the stored time information.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. In order to clarify the correspondence between each means of the invention described in the claims and the following embodiments, each means is described. When the features of the present invention are described by adding the corresponding embodiment (however, an example) in parentheses after the parentheses, the result is as follows. However, of course, this description does not mean that each means is limited to those described.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the information processing apparatus detects a current position by detecting means (for example, the position detecting module 12 in FIG. 1), a current position of another information processing apparatus, and a current position of its own. And a communication unit (for example, the data input / output port shown in FIG. 1) for communicating with another information processing apparatus and mutually exchanging information stored in the storage unit. 10)
And the time information included in the information stored in the storage means is compared with the time information included in the information obtained by the communication means, and stored in the storage means in accordance with the comparison result. Updating means (for example, step S26 in FIG. 5) for updating information with information obtained by communication by the communication means;
A computing unit (for example, a computing unit) that computes the next communication time with another information processing apparatus from the time information stored in the storage unit.
Step S2) of FIG.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an information processing apparatus to which the present invention is applied. In FIG. 1, each component is connected to a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 1 via a main bus. The CPU 1 operates according to, for example, an OS (operating system) and application software stored in the hard disk 3 and various programs stored in the ROM 4, and controls the operation of each component connected via the main bus. I do.

The hard disk 3 stores an OS and application software, and is provided for recording and reproducing text data, image data, audio data, and other various file data. This is also used particularly when recording and reproducing image data having a large data amount such as a map.

The RAM 5 is a work RAM for temporarily storing data when the CPU 1 mainly processes data.

The input device 2 includes a so-called mouse, keyboard, touch switch, pen input device, etc., and converts an input from a user into data usable inside the device. The input device 2 includes, for example, setting information of a designated point such as a departure place, a destination, and a stopover required for automatic route search,
Whether to give priority to distance or time in automatic route search,
It is used to input calculation condition setting information such as. In addition,
The distance priority means searching for a route with the shortest distance during automatic route search, and the time priority means searching for a route with the shortest time during automatic route search.

The disk drive device 6 is, for example, a so-called CD-ROM disk, floppy disk, DVD (Digital
It drives a disk-shaped recording medium such as a Versatile Disc, reads data recorded on the disk-shaped recording medium, and writes data when the disk-shaped recording medium is recordable. When a disk on which digital map data is recorded (hereinafter, referred to as a map disk 30) is mounted as a disk-shaped recording medium, the disk drive device 6 reads the digital map data recorded on the map disk 30. Do. The map disk 30 includes not only map image data but also a map distance, a road legal speed limit, the number of traffic lights on the road, the number of lanes on the road,
Information such as a list of intersections, as well as tourist guides, shopping guide information, voice information for route guidance, other sound information, text information of characters, etc.
All information recorded on recent navigation disks is recorded.

The data input / output port 10 is not only a terminal for inputting / outputting digital data, for example, but also an insertion portion into which a semiconductor storage element such as a so-called memory card is inserted, or a cable connected to an external device via a network. Alternatively, an analog modem or TA (T
and a communication device such as an erminal adapter. The data input / output port 10 performs input / output of data via a data input / output terminal or a memory card, and data input / output to a portable electronic tool with a display, for example. Note that the digital map data is supplied not only when supplied from the map disk 30 but also via the data input / output port 10.
For example, it may be supplied by communication.

The display device 9 includes, for example, a CRT (cathode ray tube),
Any one of various display devices such as a liquid crystal display and a plasma display is applied, and generates an image signal based on image data or text data generated as described later and stored in the VRAM 8. , An image, characters, and the like corresponding to the image signal are displayed. On the display screen of the display device 9, map images, characters, and the like are mainly displayed.

The sound generating device 11 generates an analog sound signal from the sound data generated by the CPU 1, for example, and sounds the sound from a built-in speaker.

When an automatic route search is instructed, the CPU 1 sends various parameters such as distance information and legal speed limit read from the map disk 30 to be described later, the number of traffic signals, the number of lanes, one-way traffic, and intrusion prohibition information. Refer to input device 2
The optimum route is calculated based on either the time-priority or distance-priority calculation condition parameter input from the computer. Of course, it is possible to calculate not only such a route for an automobile but also an optimal route for a walking person or a traveling bicycle. In this case, the map disk 30 refers to parameters such as human walking speed and bicycle running speed. In addition, when a route for a person or a bicycle is determined, it is possible to determine a route through which a car cannot pass.

The printing module 7 lays out a rally map (an enlarged map of each intersection selected as necessary to reach the destination) from the data of the rally map generated by the CPU 1 so that it can be easily viewed in the order of routes. For example, print data for vertically printing an image in which a character string such as additional information for guidance corresponding to each intersection is written on A4 size paper.

The printer 20 prints a rally map on the A4 size paper 21 in the vertical direction based on the print data supplied from the print module 7.

The position detecting module 12 includes the GPS calculating section 1
3. It has a direction detection unit 14 and a distance calculation unit 15 and detects the current location. The GPS calculation unit 13 receives a radio wave from a satellite (not shown) and calculates the current location based on information included therein. The azimuth detecting unit 14 is formed of, for example, a gyro, and detects the azimuth of the information processing device. The distance calculation unit 15 calculates the distance traveled based on, for example, the distance from the current location in the past.

The apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is a portable personal computer (terminal), which is carried by a user.
You can move freely.

Next, referring to the flowchart of FIG.
The operation will be described. First, in step S1, the CPU 1 searches the communication partner list L stored in the hard disk 3 for a partner of the terminal type with the oldest time stamp Ts and with which communication is possible. FIG.
3 shows an example of a communication partner list L stored in the hard disk 3. As shown in the figure, the communication partner list L includes the name, telephone number, time stamp (information update time), member position (latitude and longitude), position type, and terminal The type is stored for each member. The communication partner list L also stores its own information. The user registers in advance the members who communicate with each other in the communication partner list as members participating in the party.

[0025] A party is a location communication system that allows users (members) participating in the drive to drive while mutually communicating location information when going out for a drive using a plurality of cars. means.

The telephone number is a telephone number to be called when communicating with the terminal. The time stamp represents the latest (immediately preceding) time when the user himself / herself communicates with another personal computer (terminal). The time stamp of the other member indicates the time when the member directly communicates with the member, and the time stamp of the information included in the communication partner list of the member that directly communicates.
It indicates the time when a member that has communicated directly exchanges information with another member. When the member has just been registered, the time stamp becomes a special initial value. For example, if the time stamp is set to a sufficiently old time, the update is promptly performed. The position is represented by latitude and longitude. The type of position indicates the method by which the position was detected. When the position is detected by GPS, the type of position is determined to be GPS. If the position is detected by a PHS (Personal Handyphone System), the type of the position is set to PHS. When the position is detected by the PHS, the position of the base station closest to the PHS is set as the current position. When the moving object is located at home, the type of position is set to home, and the position of the home is specified in advance by a user on a map. Further, the position can be designated on a map in a navigation system or the like. In this case, the type of position is designated on the map. Terminal types are, for example, analog modems, digital cellular phones, PHS (P
IAFS).

The communication partner (member) to be registered in the communication partner list L is selected by the user in advance by himself / herself.

In step S1, when a partner of the type of the terminal with the oldest and communicable time stamp Ts is found, in step S2, the CPU 1 determines whether the time (t + r) has elapsed from the time stamp Ts. , And waits until there is an incoming call from another terminal or until the user instructs termination. Here, t is a period time (in minutes) when the user periodically communicates with each member.
And the user sets and registers an arbitrary value in advance. Also,
r represents the time in seconds from -1 minute to +1 minute, and CP
U1 is a value determined each time by a random number. By determining the time r by using a random number, if the time t is set to the same value as another terminal, a call operation is performed simultaneously and periodically with respect to a partner who has once communicated with each other. A situation in which the user is busy and eventually cannot communicate is suppressed.

Note that this r does not necessarily have to be in the range from -1 minute to +1 minute, and if it is possible to set such that it is not always busy every time a call is made as described above, this range May be larger or smaller. In addition, as long as the uniqueness of the calling operation time is maintained for each terminal and the setting is made such that the terminal is not always busy, the calling time is determined by a method other than adding the random number r to the time t of the cycle set by the user. May be controlled.

In step S3, when it is determined that the end is instructed by the user, the CPU 1 ends the processing. If the termination has not been instructed by the user, the CPU 1 determines in step S4 whether an incoming call has been received from another terminal, and if an incoming call has been received, the CPU 1 controls the data input / output port 10 in step S7. , To answer the incoming call. Then, the process proceeds to step S8, in which a location information exchange process is performed with the other party receiving the incoming call. The details of this position information exchange processing will be described later with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 5, but here, the communication partner list L is exchanged with the other party.

If it is determined in step S4 that there is no incoming call, it means that the time (t + r) has elapsed since the time stamp Ts. Therefore, in this case, the process proceeds to step S5, in which the CPU 1 controls the data input / output port 10 to start a calling operation to the telephone number of the other party selected in step S1. In step S6,
It is determined whether the other party has answered, and if so,
Proceeding to step S8, a position information exchange process is executed.

If it is determined in step S6 that the other party has not responded within the predetermined time, the process proceeds to step S9, where the CPU 1 determines from the communication partner list L that the time stamp Ts is the next oldest and that communication is possible. Find out the type of device. In step S10, it is determined whether or not a communication partner has been found. If found, the process returns to step S2, and the subsequent processing is repeatedly executed. If it is determined in step S10 that the other party has not been found, the process returns to step S1, and the subsequent processing is repeatedly executed.

As described above, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, the calling operation is performed from the terminal A to the terminal B, and the location information exchange processing is performed between the terminal A and the terminal B.

Here, the position information exchange process is described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, in step S21, the CPU 1 sets the current time to its own time stamp in the communication partner list L. In step S22, the CPU 1 reads the communication partner list L from the hard disk 3, and causes the communication partner list L to be transmitted to the partner via the data input / output port 10. Similarly, the other party also transmits the communication partner list L ′ stored in the built-in hard disk, so that the CPU 1 controls the data input / output port 10 to receive it.

Next, in step S23, the CPU 1
Extracts one member M 'from the communication partner list L' received in step S22. In step S24, the CPU 1 determines whether or not the member M having the same telephone number (ID) as the member M 'exists in the communication partner list L of the own device. If there is a member M having the same telephone number as the member M ′, the process proceeds to step S25, and the CPU 1 determines whether the time stamp Ts of the member M ′ is newer than that of the member M. Time stamp Ts of member M '
If is more recent, in step S26, the CPU
1 rewrites (updates) the information of the member M of the communication partner list L stored by itself with the information of the member M ′ received in step S22. If it is determined in step S25 that the time stamp Ts of the member M 'is older than the member M, the update process of step S26 is skipped (the update process is not performed).

In this example, the telephone number is used as the ID. However, the ID may be a registration number of a car or the like, and is not necessarily a telephone number as long as the member can be identified.

If it is determined in step S24 that the member M having the same telephone number as the member M 'is not included in the communication partner list L, the member is a new member. Then, the information of the member M 'is additionally registered in the own communication partner list L.

After the processing in step S26 or S27, or in step S25, when it is determined that the time stamp of the member M 'is older than that of the member M, in step S28, the CPU 1 stores the time stamp in the communication partner list L'. It is determined whether other members still remain. If there are still other members, step S
Returning to step 23, the subsequent processing is repeatedly executed. If it is determined in step S28 that there is no unread member remaining in the communication partner list L ',
The process ends.

In this way, for example, when the terminal A
When the terminal A communicates for the first time, the terminal A transmits the contents of the communication partner list L held by itself to the terminal B. Thereby, the terminal B can know at least the current location of the terminal A. Although the terminal C is also registered in the communication partner list L, the current location is still blank because the terminal A has not communicated with the terminal C yet. Therefore, the terminal B can know that the terminal C is a party participant. Terminal B also registers its current location in its own communication partner list L.
And the terminal A records the current location of the terminal B in its own communication partner list L.

Next, when the time (t + r) elapses from the time stamp Ts of the terminal C and the terminal A communicates with the terminal C, the terminal A has already grasped not only the current position of the terminal A but also the current position of the terminal B. You are doing. As a result, terminal C
, The current location of terminal A and the current location of terminal B are transmitted from terminal A. At this time, the terminal C transmits its current location to the terminal A. As a result, the terminal A becomes the terminal B and the terminal C
You know your current location.

Assuming that the terminal B calls the terminal C after the time t set by the terminal B itself (more precisely, the time (t + r)) from the time stamp Ts of the terminal C,
Stores the current location of the terminal A and the current location of itself in the communication partner list L, so that the contents are transmitted to the terminal C. Terminal C has already registered the positions of terminal A and terminal B in its communication partner list L, but if the time stamp included in the information transmitted from terminal B is newer, the information is To update old information.

In the following, the terminal C also performs the same operation at a timing when a predetermined time t has elapsed from the partner's time stamp Ts.
A call is made to another terminal A or terminal B.

Next, a display example displayed on the display device 9 will be described. FIG. 6 is a display example of the display device 9 of the terminal of the member performing the communication by the party. A sub window 42 is displayed in the main window 41. A dialog box 43 is displayed on the right end, and a toolbar 44 is displayed on the left end. A portion other than the dialog box 43 and the toolbar 44 of the sub window 42 is a work area 45. In this example, a map is displayed.
The map information is read from the map disk 30 into the VRAM 8 via the disk drive 6 or the map data received by the data input / output port 10 through communication.
After being read into the VRAM 8 and output to the display device 9, it is displayed in the work area 45.

The dialog box 43 has a mode display column 51 at the top and displays the current mode. In this example, the mode is the "party communication" mode. Below that, there is a name display column 52 for the user, and the name set by the user is displayed. In this example, “member 0” is set by the user, and “member 0” is displayed.

Below the user's name display field 52, there is a position information display field 53, which displays a method of displaying the position of the user. In this example, it is “designated on the map”, and the information of the position (latitude and longitude) on the communication partner list L in FIG.
It is read from the hard disk 3 and is displayed as a flag 74 on the work area 45 to indicate the position of the user.

Below the position information display column 53, there is a member list display column 54. A member addition button 54a is provided at the upper right of the member list display field 54. When the user operates the mouse of the input device 2 and clicks the member addition button 54a, a member addition display screen is displayed. By operating a keyboard of the input device 2 and executing predetermined processing, members can be added. As a result, the member is added to the communication partner list L in FIG.

The member list display field 54 has an update time display field 54b and a name display field 54c, and each piece of information is read from the communication partner list L recorded on the hard disk 3 as "member name" data. And "time stamp" data are displayed. In this example,
Members 1 to 3 are displayed as names, and “13:34 November 11, 1998” and “13:
54 1998/11/17 "and" 13:37
1998/11/17 "is displayed.

A set time display field 55a is provided below the member list display field 54, and a communication setting button 55 below the set time display field 55a is operated by the user operating the mouse of the input device 2,
When clicked, a communication setting display screen is displayed, and when a predetermined input is performed, communication is set. In this example, 10 minutes is set as the communication time interval.
Automatically communicate with members who have passed more than a minute ".

On the right side of the communication setting button 55, there is a party start button 56. When the user operates the mouse of the input device 2 and clicks this button, "party end" and "party start" are displayed each time the button is clicked. It is displayed alternately, so that the on / off mode of the party communication can be switched.

Further below, there is a communication status display column 58, which displays the current communication status. In this example,
"Communicating with member 1" is displayed, indicating that this terminal is in communication with the terminal of member 1.

Below the dialog box 43, there is a position display column 57, which shows the position (latitude and longitude) on the map pointed to by a mouse pointer (not shown).

Points 71a to 73a indicate the positions of the members 1 to 3, respectively. The map data read from the map disk 30 based on the data (latitude and longitude) of the communication partner list L in FIG. The data is plotted on the map data received by the data input / output port 10 from above or by communication, and output to the display device 9 via the VRAM 8,
Is displayed. The symbols at the points 71a to 73a indicate the type of each position, and the data of the type of position in the communication partner list L recorded on the hard disk 3 is read and displayed based on this data. In this example, member 1 and member 3
Since the type of position is GPS, a picture of an artificial satellite is displayed at the points 71a and 73a as GPS symbols. Also, since the position type is the PHS, the member 2 has the point 72a as a symbol of the mobile phone.
Shows a picture of a mobile phone.

For the points 71a to 73a, columns 71b to 73b are displayed, respectively. The columns 71b to 73b show the names and times of the members of the communication partner list L of FIG. The stamp is read and displayed. In this example, the column 71b displays "Member 1 13:34 at present", the column 72b displays "Member 2 13:54 at present", and the column 73b displays "Member 3 13:37 at present". .

As described above, since the image is displayed on the display device 2,
The user can visually grasp the positions of the members participating in the party.

As described above, each terminal periodically communicates its position with each other, and simultaneously transmits its own information and the information of its other terminals. Then, the position of the terminal participating in the party (location contact system) can be grasped. Since communication is only performed individually between terminals, centralized devices such as servers and centers are not required in this system. Therefore, no capital investment is required, and only a mobile terminal having a communication function is required, so that an increase in cost is suppressed.

In this specification, the system is
It is assumed that the device as a whole is constituted by a plurality of devices.

Further, as a providing medium for providing a user with a computer program for performing the above-described processing,
In addition to recording media such as magnetic disks, CD-ROMs, and solid-state memories, communication media such as networks and satellites can be used.

[0058]

As described above, the information processing apparatus according to the first aspect, the information processing method according to the fourth aspect, and the fifth aspect.
According to the providing medium described in the above, the stored information is obtained by communication in accordance with the comparison result between the time information included in the stored information and the time information included in the information obtained by communication. , And the next communication time is calculated from the stored time information, so that it is possible to realize a system that can easily grasp and manage the position between a plurality of information processing devices. Becomes

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an information processing apparatus to which the present invention has been applied.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the information processing apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a communication partner list L stored in a hard disk 3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating communication between a plurality of terminals.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating details of a position information exchange process in step S8 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a display example of the display device 2.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 CPU, 2 input devices, 3 hard disk,
4 ROM, 6 disk drive device, 7 printing module, 9 display device, 10 data input / output port, 11 sound generation device, 12 position detection module,
13 GPS calculation unit, 14 direction detection unit, 15 distance calculation unit, 20 printer, 21 paper, 30 map disk, 43 dialog box, 45 work area, 51 mode display column, 54 member list display column, 54a member addition button, 54b Update time display field, 54c name display field, 55 communication setting button, 56 party start button, 57 position display field, 58 communication status display field, 71a to 73a
Points, 71b-73b column, 74 flags

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An information processing apparatus that communicates with another information processing apparatus, comprising: a detection unit that detects a current position; a storage unit that stores a current position of the other information processing device and a current position of itself together with time information. A communication unit that communicates with the other information processing apparatus and mutually exchanges information stored in the storage unit; a time information included in the information stored in the storage unit; Updating means for comparing the time information included in the information obtained by the above, and updating the information stored in the storage means with the information obtained by communication by the communication means, in accordance with the comparison result; An information processing apparatus comprising: an operation unit that calculates a time of next communication with the other information processing apparatus from time information stored in a storage unit. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit stores at least the telephone number, the time when the information was updated, and the current location as the information of the other information processing apparatus. Information processing device. 3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the storage unit further stores a type of the another information processing apparatus. 4. An information processing method for an information processing apparatus that communicates with another information processing apparatus, comprising: a detecting step of detecting a current location; and storing a current location of the other information processing apparatus and a current location of itself together with time information. A communication step of communicating with the other information processing apparatus and mutually exchanging information stored in the storage step; a time information included in the information stored in the storage step; and the communication step And the time information included in the information obtained by the communication in, and according to the comparison result,
An update step of updating the information stored in the storage step with information obtained by the communication in the communication step; and, from the time information stored in the storage step, a time of next communication with the other information processing apparatus. And an operation step of performing an operation. 5. An information processing apparatus that communicates with another information processing apparatus, a detecting step of detecting a current location, a storing step of storing the current location of the other information processing apparatus and its own current location together with time information, A communication step of communicating with the other information processing apparatus and mutually exchanging information stored in the storage step; time information included in the information stored in the storage step; and communication obtained in the communication step. Time information included in the received information, and in accordance with the comparison result,
An update step of updating the information stored in the storage step with information obtained by the communication in the communication step; and, from the time information stored in the storage step, a time of next communication with the other information processing apparatus. A providing medium for providing a computer-readable program for causing a computer to execute a process including an operation step of performing an operation.