JP2001144673A - Information guidance system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information guidance system by which a user can recognize a direction of an object with radio wave information by a mobile telephone before the user reaches an object place at which an information guidance service is received and the user can recognize the direction at the object place or in the vicinity of the object where the user can receive the information guidance service. SOLUTION: The user recognizes a direction of an object by means of radio wave information by a mobile telephone being a portable information terminal and approaches the vicinity of the object. A transmitter placed at a prescribed position in the vicinity of the object transmits guidance information in response to the object place or the object by means of a modulation means and a transmission means as transmission information. The user direct a reception means of the portable information terminal to the transmitter to recognize a direction of the object place by means of voice information, image information or voice/image information including characters stored in a storage means of the transmitter. The user can recognize the direction of the object place by referencing a measurement result of a ground direction identification means. When the measurement result is an electric signal, the portable information terminal converts its azimuth measurement value into a voice signal so as to allow the user to recognize the direction of the portable information terminal in voice.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system for providing an individual with information such as information on the location of a person or information on an object in the vicinity of the person. This is an information guidance system that provides information on articles and positions to healthy persons including:

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For the visually impaired or the like, many information guidance systems for guiding audio information instead of braille display have already been proposed. For example, radio waves (RF: Radio Fr)
transmission / reception in Japanese Patent Publication No. 4-17480, "Blind Guidance Guidance Device", JP-A-60-12483.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-241495, "Wireless Information Communication Device", Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-257424
Patent Publication "Method for Guiding Visually Impaired Persons"
Prior art, such as Japanese Patent Publication No. 0, "Voice Guidance and Guidance System", is disclosed. This also includes the technical concept of a “wireless (RF) tag” for notifying, by radio wave (RF), information indicating the name of an article or the like on a label.

[0003] However, those transmitting and receiving by radio waves (RF) are not suitable for information guidance including a specific direction and direction because of lack of directivity.

[0004] In view of this, an apparatus that transmits and receives using infrared rays (IR: Infra-Red) that has directivity instead of radio waves (RF) and does not adversely affect other electronic devices has already been disclosed. Prior arts such as Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-97002, "Voice guidance device and portable device for voice guidance device, voice guidance providing device", and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-116473, "Wireless tag and its system" are disclosed.

[0005]

In the various guide devices and systems using infrared rays as described above, the service can be received near the guide object or the destination. If information sources were not installed so that services could be received at all locations, it was difficult to reach the destination.

[0006] In addition, as for providing location information, P
Some are based on portable information terminals such as HS. This service is based on the position of an antenna station connected to a line for the user to connect to an information network, or provides the position of the user by GPS. However, an error of several tens of meters may occur in the position of the user in a short time during movement due to a radio wave acquisition environment for positioning or the like. Therefore, when the visually impaired person moves with the entrance of a specific facility or the like as the destination, it is difficult to accurately grasp the destination due to the error.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to determine the current position by radio wave information from a mobile phone before reaching a destination to receive an information guidance service. It is an object of the present invention to accurately know the direction in the vicinity of a destination or an object where the user can know and receive an information guidance service, and to ensure arrival.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an information guide system according to the present invention is provided at a predetermined position, and includes a transmitter for transmitting transmission information, comprising a modulator and an infrared transmitter, and a transmitter for transmitting the information. A mobile information terminal comprising infrared receiving means for receiving transmission information from the device, demodulation means for demodulating the received transmission information, and mobile telephone means using radio waves as a communication medium; Generally, the current position is known, and a direction facing the transmitter within a specific direction is detected by the infrared receiving means and the demodulating means.

At this time, audio information or image information as transmission information, or audio image information including characters can be stored in the storage means.

[0010] The portable information terminal may be provided with a direction specifying means for detecting a predetermined direction.

The direction specifying means provided in the portable information terminal may be constituted by a magnetic azimuth measuring means, and may be provided with a voice converting means for converting the measured azimuth value into a voice.

[0012]

According to the present invention, the approximate position of the user is known from the radio wave information from the mobile telephone of the portable information terminal. With this information, it is possible to reach the target vicinity. The transmitter arranged at a predetermined position near the destination transmits guide information according to the destination or the target as transmission information via the modulating means and the infrared transmitting means. By pointing the infrared receiving means of the portable information terminal toward the transmitter near the destination and recognizing voice information or image information as transmission information stored in the storage means of the transmitter, or voice image information including characters. , You can know the direction of the destination.

If the portable information terminal is provided with a direction specifying means, the direction of the destination can be known by referring to the measurement result. If the measurement result can be obtained as an electric signal, it can be converted into an audio signal based on the azimuth measurement value, and the direction of the portable information terminal can be known by voice, and the direction of the destination can be known. .

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of an information guide system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of the embodiment. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 denotes a transmitter installed at a predetermined location; 102, a control unit that controls the entirety of the transmitter 101; 103, a voice storage unit that stores guidance information individualized for each installed location; Is a character string storage unit that stores guide information individualized for each installed location as character string code data, and 105 stores guide information that is individualized for each installed location as image pattern information data. An image information storage unit. Reference numeral 106 denotes a modulator as a modulation unit that modulates infrared light, and modulates, for example, a specific carrier with transmission information. That is, modulation is performed by the voice information from the voice storage unit 103, the character string code data from the character string storage unit 104, and the image pattern information from the image information storage unit 105. Reference numeral 107 denotes an infrared light emitter as infrared transmission means for transmitting transmission information by infrared.

Reference numeral 110 denotes a portable information terminal carried by an individual, 111 denotes a mobile telephone means, for example, a mobile telephone unit of a PHS telephone, 112 denotes an antenna of a PHS telephone, and 113 denotes transmission information from the transmitter 101. An infrared receiver 114 serving as an infrared receiving means; a receiving angle adjuster 114 arranged on the infrared receiver 113;
5 is a demodulator for demodulating the transmission information received by the infrared receiver 113, 116 is a control unit for controlling the entire portable information terminal 110, and 117 is a signal for processing the demodulated information into a signal suitable for recognizing the demodulated information. A processing unit 118 for the demodulator 11
5 is an audio output device for outputting an audio signal from
a includes a speaker and 118b includes an earphone. 119 is a character display made of, for example, liquid crystal, 120 is an image display device made of, for example, liquid crystal, 121 is a magnetic azimuth measuring means for detecting a predetermined direction, for example, “north”, and 122 is a measurement value signal of the magnetic azimuth measuring means 121. A sound converter 123 that generates and generates a sound in the “direction” according to the information, and 123 is an information storage unit.

Infrared receiver 113 of portable information terminal 110
As shown in FIG. 2, a receiving angle adjuster 114 such as an optical diaphragm is provided on the light receiving side of the transmitter 10.
The receiving angle of the infrared signal radiated from 1 is limited. As shown in FIG. 2B, when the portable information terminal 110 is tilted and the reception angle adjuster 114 of the infrared receiver 113 is oriented in a direction in which the infrared emitter 107 of the transmitter 101 cannot receive the infrared light, no reception is performed. State. FIG.
When the transmitter 101 is within the reception range of the reception angle adjuster 114 as shown in FIG.
One direction can be specified. By adjusting the aperture, it is possible to widen or narrow the reception angle. The receiving angle can also be realized by changing the distance between the stop and the light receiving element of the infrared light receiver 113 and selecting elements having different light receiving angle characteristics of the light receiving element. The adjustment of the reception angle by the reception angle adjuster 114 is performed in order to increase the light reception angle when the user wants to gaze at the destination, and to narrow the light reception angle when the user wants to gaze in the direction of the destination. . Thereby, the convenience can be further improved.

Now, a case where a user goes from a certain point to a destination will be described. The user activates the mobile telephone unit 111 of the portable information terminal 110, calls a service for providing location information, and determines whether the user is based on the location of an antenna station connected to the line to connect to the information network, Know the approximate location by GPS.

The portable information terminal 110 has a magnetic azimuth measuring means 1
21 is provided, check the measurement results,
The direction of the destination with respect to the current position obtained by the PHS service or the like can be determined, and the vehicle can proceed in that direction. For a visually impaired person, the control unit 116 that has obtained the azimuth measurement value from the magnetic azimuth measurement unit 121 controls the audio converter 122 to generate an audio signal according to the azimuth measurement value, and
The speaker 18a or the earphone 118b of 18 can display the direction of the sound by voice. On the other hand, in the transmitter 101, the control unit 102 includes a voice storage unit 103, a character string storage unit 104, an image information storage unit 105
From the transmission information, modulated by the modulator 106,
The infrared light emitter 107 is driven, and the transmitter 101 emits infrared light including guide information. The transmitter 101 has a PH
The infrared light emission intensity is set or the installation distance between the transmitters is set so that the current position error due to the service of S or the like can be interpolated.

When the user approaches the destination according to the approximate current position by the PHS service or the like, the transmitter 1 installed at the destination
In the area where the infrared signal from the wireless communication terminal 01 can be obtained, the light receiving port of the reception angle adjuster 114 of the portable information terminal 110 is set to the transmitter 1
Orient to 01. When the infrared receiver 113 receives the infrared signal, it processes the infrared signal, and provides guidance information of the destination to the user by voice or the like, and also provides the direction of the destination. As you proceed while searching for directions, you can reach a destination, such as a door at a building entrance.

In the portable information terminal 110, the infrared signal is received by the infrared receiver 113 within the reception angle limited by the reception angle adjuster 114. The received signal is demodulated by the demodulator 115, and the control unit 116 performs signal processing for each information type of voice / character / image. After the processing, the audio signal is output to the speaker 118a or the earphone 118b via the audio output device 118, the character signal is output to the character display 119, and the image signal is output to the image display 120. When there are a plurality of these information type signals, the audio output device 118, the character display device 119,
Output to the image display device 120 at the same time. In addition, by providing the information storage unit 123, the information obtained once is temporarily stored and read out during that time, so that the information can be displayed without maintaining the orientation of the portable information terminal 110 in the direction of the transmitter 110. It is possible to

In the above, the case where the mobile telephone means is a PHS has been described. However, if the mobile telephone means is connected to an information network capable of providing the position of a user (mobile telephone),
A mobile phone of another system may be used. Character display 1
19 and the image display device 120, but these may be configured to be shared.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Before arriving at the destination where the information guidance service is to be received, the direction of the destination can be known by the radio wave information from the mobile phone, and the direction can be known near the destination or the destination where the information guidance service can be received.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a receivable area of an infrared signal.

[Explanation of symbols]

101: transmitter, 102: control unit, 103: voice storage unit, 104: character string storage unit, 105: image information storage unit,
106: modulator (modulation means), 107: infrared light emitter (infrared transmission means), 110: portable information terminal, 111 ...
Mobile telephone unit, 112 antenna, 113 infrared receiver (infrared receiving means), 114 reception angle adjuster, 11
5 demodulator, 116 control unit, 117 signal processing unit, 1
18 Voice output device, 119 Character display device, 120 Image display device, 121 Magnetic azimuth measurement means, 122 Voice converter, 123 Information storage unit.

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Claims (4)

[Claims] A transmitter for transmitting transmission information provided at a predetermined position and including a modulator and an infrared transmitter; an infrared receiver for receiving transmission information from the transmitter; An information guide system comprising: a portable information terminal including demodulation means for demodulating and mobile telephone means using radio waves as a communication medium. 2. The information guide system according to claim 1, wherein voice information or image information as transmission information, or voice image information including characters is stored in the storage unit. 3. The information guidance system according to claim 1, wherein the portable information terminal is provided with a direction specifying means for detecting a predetermined direction. 4. The information guide according to claim 3, wherein a magnetic azimuth measuring means is used as the direction specifying means, and the azimuth measurement value by the magnetic azimuth measuring means is converted into an audio signal. system.