JP2002334174A - Guidance system in facility - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a guidance system in a facility which is suitable to guide in a facility. SOLUTION: A portable telephone 20 urges a user to input a retrieval condition and makes the user input the retrieval condition to the portable terminal 20. The portable terminal 20 transmits the inputted retrieval condition to a radio wave communication terminal 40 by a radio wave, and the radio wave communication terminal 40 receives the retrieval condition and transmits the retrieval condition to a host computer 30. The host computer 30 extracts a position code coinciding with the retrieval condition and its relevant information from a database on the basis of the received retrieval condition, and transmits retrieval results to the radio wave communication terminal 40. The radio wave communication terminal 40 receives the retrieval results, etc., from a LAN 50 and transmits the retrieval results, etc., to the portable terminal 20. The portable terminal 20 receives the retrieval results, etc., transmitted from the radio wave communication terminal 40. Meanwhile, an optical communication terminal 10 transits a position code from a light beacon 10a, and the portable terminal 20 receives the position code. The portable terminal 20 displays a course on the basis of the received position code and retrieval results.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an in-facility guidance system, and more particularly to a system suitable for guidance in a specific facility.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a navigation system for detecting a current position using a GPS or the like and guiding a route from the detected current position to a destination. In such a system, the current location is calculated based on radio waves from artificial satellites. Therefore, the error in the detected position is about several meters, and cannot be used when guidance within a relatively narrow range of this level is required. In addition, it cannot be used in indoor facilities that cannot receive radio waves from artificial satellites.

Therefore, for example, as in the human guidance system described in Japanese Patent No. 2923251, a person to be guided is detected by detection means installed at a predetermined point including a branch point, and the arrangement of the branch point stored in the storage means is detected. In some cases, the direction determining means determines the direction to go next based on the position of the destination and the position detected by the detecting means, and the notifying means notifies the person to be guided of the determined direction. In this way, the person to be guided can be guided to the destination.

[0004]

However, in this human guidance system, devices installed at points including branch points include:
It is necessary to have a detecting means for detecting a person to be guided, and a function of notifying the direction determining means and the storage means of detecting a person to be guided. Therefore, there is a problem that the configuration of the device installed at the branch point becomes complicated, and the cost of such a device increases. Further, each time the user comes to the branch point, it is necessary to access the host computer or the like provided with the storage means from each device. Therefore, data communication frequently occurs between the device installed at the point and the host computer, and the host computer needs to perform processing each time the device installed at the point detects a person to be guided. There is. In particular, this problem becomes remarkable when such devices are installed at many branch points.

Further, when a configuration is adopted in which a signal is transmitted from a portable terminal to detect a person to be guided, it is necessary to transmit different signals from the portable terminal in order to distinguish a plurality of persons to be guided. In consideration of the fact that signals are transmitted from a plurality of mobile terminals at the same time, an apparatus to be installed at a branch point must be configured. Need to be treated separately. Moreover, such processing is required for each point.

In a facility, instead of searching for a location of a destination from a specific place name or address as in the case of ordinary road navigation (route guidance), a location corresponding to the purpose of the user is searched. Often it is necessary. For example,
In the case of a hospital, it is necessary to search from medical departments, doctor names, patient names, disease names, and the like. Also company (company)
If so, it is necessary to search from the personal name, telephone number, department / section, etc., the product in charge, etc. It may be difficult to store all the various information related to these points in the portable terminal due to the limitation of the capacity of the terminal device and the security problem.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an in-facility guidance system which solves the above-mentioned problems.

[0008]

According to the in-facility guidance system according to the first aspect of the present invention, which has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, a mobile terminal (for example, including a portable terminal) is provided. After obtaining the point identification information of the destination from the host computer, receiving the point identification information from the point identification information transmitting device installed in the facility,
Route guidance can be provided. Therefore, it is not necessary to receive information from each mobile terminal by a device installed at each point and process the information by a host computer as in the related art. Therefore, the processing at the device installed at each point or the host computer can be simplified, and the cost of the device installed at each point can be reduced.

Further, the mobile terminal communicates with the host computer to receive the point specifying information associated with various information corresponding to the search condition, and guide the route to the point corresponding to the point specifying information. . Therefore, it is not necessary to store the point identification information of all points in the facility and various information related thereto in the mobile terminal, and the required capacity of the storage device of the mobile terminal can be reduced. Further, security can be ensured as compared with a case where all information in the facility is stored in the mobile terminal.

Further, not only the point specifying information but also various information corresponding to the search condition may be transmitted from the host computer to the mobile terminal. The various information may be any information as long as it is information relating to the point, and may include, for example, a name of a place near the point, a service obtained near the point, a name of a person near the point, and the like. it can.

When there are a plurality of points specifying information corresponding to various kinds of information corresponding to the search condition, it is preferable to select points to be guided as described in claim 2. In this way, for example, the user simply inputs, as a search condition, a keyword or the like related to a place where he / she wants to go, and various information corresponding to the search condition is extracted and displayed on the mobile terminal. The user
When the user himself / herself selects various types of information considered to be his / her destination from the various types of displayed information, the user can receive guidance to a point corresponding to the selected various types of information.

[0012] Such a point specifying information transmitting apparatus and host computer can be configured as in claim 3. For example, each point specifying information transmitting device transmits point specifying information by an optical beacon. The communication of the search condition and the search result is configured to be transmitted and received by, for example, a radio beacon connected to the host computer. It is necessary to transmit the point specifying information from the point where the point specifying information transmitting device is installed within a range that the mobile terminal can handle as the point specifying information. Therefore, it is desirable to use transmission means that can easily control the transmission range of the point identification information. By using light for transmitting the point specifying information, the transmission range can be easily controlled by optical control of a lens or the like. On the other hand, it is desirable that the point specifying information indicating the point to be guided can be obtained by searching from any place in the facility. Therefore, the communication between the host computer and the mobile terminal may use radio waves.

When the point specifying information transmitting apparatus transmits the point specifying information using light, the mobile terminal may be configured as in claim 4. With this configuration, it is possible to easily install the light receiving unit of the mobile terminal on the mobile object according to the installation position of the point identification information transmitting device.

By the way, the guidance of the route is described, for example, in claim 5
This can be performed as described in claim 8. According to the in-facility guidance system described in claim 5, the user can know the direction to go next. Note that “notification” refers to, for example, displaying the direction to go next, or outputting by voice or the like.

According to the in-facility guidance system according to the sixth aspect, the user can grasp the relationship between the destination and the current location, and can refer to the route to the destination. The relationship between the current location and the destination can be indicated by a map including a route, for example.

The route calculation can be performed only when the point to be guided (point at the destination) is determined. However, as described in claim 8, the point identification information received by the mobile terminal is updated. It can be performed at any time when it is done. In this way, route guidance can always be provided based on the latest route.

In order to display the map and guide the route, the map may be displayed on the basis of the map information and the point specifying information stored in the mobile terminal in advance. It may be obtained from a computer. Further, the communication between the host computer and the mobile terminal may be enabled only in a facility to be guided as described in claim 10. For example, if communication is performed by radio waves, the reach of the radio waves should be limited within the facility as much as possible. This makes it impossible to obtain various information and point identification information in the facility from the mobile terminal at a location away from the facility. Therefore, security can be further secured.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. It is needless to say that the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the following examples, and can take various forms as long as they belong to the technical scope of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a specific facility guidance system 1 according to the embodiment. Guidance system 1 in specific facility
Is an optical communication terminal 10 and a mobile terminal 20A as shown in FIG.
And a mobile terminal 20 comprising a mobile terminal 20B, a host computer 30, and a radio communication terminal 40.

A plurality of optical communication terminals 10 are installed in a facility, and each optical communication terminal 10 stores a unique position code. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, in a facility including a plurality of buildings and a plurality of floors and having a passage 90 in a grid pattern, the optical communication terminal 1
0 is provided (the optical communication terminal 10 is indicated by a star in FIG. 2). Each of these optical communication terminals 10 has a function of transmitting a unique position code using light of a specific wavelength. This position code is a code in which the building number, floor number, X-axis position (the number of the path extending in the Y-axis direction in FIG. 2), and Y-axis position (the number of the path extending in the X-axis direction in FIG. 2) are arranged in this order. is there. That is, for example, at the point A shown in FIG.
Since the floor, the X-axis position is 4, and the Y-axis position is 0, the position code of the optical communication terminal 10 installed at the point A is a position code “1240” in which these numerical values are arranged in order. These position codes are stored in the optical beacon 1 provided in the optical communication terminal 10.
0a is output as light of a specific wavelength.

The optical beacon 10a is mounted on the ceiling at the intersection, and transmits a position code from the optical communication terminal 10 to a predetermined range, for example, as shown in FIG. Note that FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram drawn ignoring the influence of the wall surface facing the passage and the like. As shown in FIG. 1, a host computer 30 and a radio communication terminal 40 are provided in the facility. The radio communication terminal 40 has a function of communicating with the mobile terminal 20 wirelessly. The radio communication terminal 40 has a communication area covering one building, and the radio communication terminal 4 is provided for each building.
0 is provided. Each radio communication terminal 40 and the host computer 30 are connected via a LAN 50.

The radio communication terminal 40 has a radio beacon and has a function of receiving information wirelessly transmitted from the portable terminal 20 and transmitting the information to the host computer 30 via the LAN 50. In addition, L from the host computer 30
It has a function of receiving information transmitted via the AN 50 and transmitting the information wirelessly by a radio beacon.

The host computer 30 is a general server or personal computer, and includes a CPU, a ROM,
RAM, I / O, etc., I / O has hard disk,
A display, a keyboard, a mouse, a LAN 50, and other various input / output devices are connected. The host computer 30 stores the position code of each optical communication terminal 10, the map data including the image data of the schematic map of the facility, and various kinds of information in the facility as a database in a storage device such as a hard disk in association with each other. ing. Various information in the facility includes things at the location corresponding to the location code, people at the location corresponding to the location code, services available at the location corresponding to the location code, and other locations related to the location code And information related to such information. For example, if this facility is a hospital, the location code and specialty field (medical subject etc.), consultation time,
A doctor's name, telephone number, and the like are stored in association with each other. In the case of a company, for example, a department, a member, a product in charge, and the like are stored as various types of information in the facility. If this facility is in a station yard, for example, a train schedule and a platform number are stored as various information in the facility. Hereinafter, various types of information corresponding to such position codes will be referred to as related information. The related information may include fixed information that does not change for a predetermined period, variable information that changes every day, and the like.

When receiving the search condition from the LAN 50, the host computer 30 searches the storage device for a position code and related information corresponding to the received search condition, and transmits the position code and the related information as a search result to the request source. It has a function to do. For example, in the case of the above-mentioned hospital, if a medical department name is input as a search condition, a position code and medical hours, a doctor's name, a telephone number, etc., corresponding to the location of the medical department are searched. Send to requester.

The portable terminal 20 comprises a portable terminal 20A and a portable terminal 20B as shown in FIG.
Is a radio communication I / O for communicating with the radio communication terminal 40.
F unit, a first storage unit serving as a work area and a map database (second storage unit) storing a schematic map of the facility, an operation unit, a notification unit, and an optical beacon communication I for performing communication with the portable terminal 20B. / F section. On the other hand, the mobile terminal 20B
An optical beacon sensor (an optical sensor capable of receiving light from the optical beacon) and a gyro sensor are provided, and are connected to the optical beacon communication I / F section of the communication terminal 20A by a cable. The mobile terminal 20A can be configured as, for example, a PDA or a mobile phone having a built-in wireless communication function. In addition, a display device such as a liquid crystal display and a sound output device such as a speaker and an earphone can be used as the notification unit.
The communication between the mobile terminal 20A and the mobile terminal 20B may be performed wirelessly instead of using a cable (wired).

On the other hand, the portable terminal 20B is, for example, as shown in FIG.
As shown in (c), it can be configured as a device attached to the name tag 23. That is, the light receiving unit 21 is provided on the front surface 23 a side and the upper side of the name tag 23, and the light incident from the light receiving unit 21 is converted into an electric signal by the optical sensor 22. Since such a name tag is generally attached to the user's chest or the like, the light receiving unit 21 captures light from the traveling direction of the user and from above. Therefore, the light receiving unit 21 easily receives light from the optical communication terminal 10 installed in the front of the user in the traveling direction or on the ceiling. In addition, since the front light is mainly captured without capturing the light behind the user, for example, when the user is on the path between the intersections, the light from the optical communication terminal 10 installed at both intersections It is possible to catch only the light from the optical communication terminal 10 in the traveling direction without receiving the light at the same time.

The processing of each device of the specific facility guidance system 1 will be described below. FIG. 4 shows the portable terminal 2
4 is a flowchart showing processing in the radio communication terminal 40, the optical communication terminal 10, and the host computer 30.
First, the user receives the mobile terminal 20 at the reception of a facility (for example, a company or a hospital).

The mobile terminal 20 prompts the user to input search conditions (S100 in FIG. 4). If the user is a company,
In the case of a hospital, the personal terminal, telephone number, department / section, etc., the product in charge, etc., and the search condition including the medical treatment subject to be examined, the name of the patient to visit, the name of the doctor, the telephone number, etc. Enter

The mobile terminal 20 transmits the inputted search condition by radio wave (S110). The radio communication terminal 40 receives the search condition transmitted from the mobile terminal 20 (S21).
0), to the host computer 30 via the LAN 50,
Send the received search condition. Host computer 30
In, based on the received search conditions, extract the position code that matches the search conditions and its related information from the database,
The search result is transmitted to the radio communication terminal 40 via the LAN 50 (S410, 420). At this time, the search condition and information (for example, terminal ID) for specifying the requesting portable terminal 20 are stored (S430). The radio communication terminal 40 receives the search result from the LAN 50 and wirelessly transmits the search result to the mobile terminal 20 (S220). The mobile terminal 20 receives the search result transmitted from the radio communication terminal 40 (S1).
20) and store it (S130).

On the other hand, the optical communication terminal 10 transmits the position code from the optical beacon 10a as described above (S31).
0). The mobile terminal 20 receives this position code (S
140) and store it (S150). Then, based on the position code received from the optical communication terminal 10 and the search result received from the radio communication terminal 40 (S160), the route is displayed (S170).

Next, referring to FIG. 5 to FIG.
A part of the process will be described in more detail. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing in the portable terminal 20 on the left and the processing in the radio wave communication terminal 40 and the host computer 30 in the right. In addition, the optical communication terminal 10 always transmits the position code.

The portable terminal 20 receives the position code transmitted from the optical beacon 10a of the optical communication terminal 10 and stores it as a current location code (S1010 in FIG. 5) (FIG. 4).
(Not shown) and prompts the user to input search conditions. That is, the search condition input screen is displayed on the display device of the mobile terminal 20, and the search conditions can be input from the input device such as the touch panel and the keyboard of the mobile terminal 20 (S1020).

If an instruction to input a search condition is further input (S1030: YES), the process proceeds to S1020 to prompt the input, and if an instruction to complete search condition input is input (S1040: NO), , To S1040. S1030 and S1040 correspond to S100 in FIG.

At S1040, the portable terminal 20 is
As shown in (a), search request information including a time stamp, a mobile terminal code, and a search condition (search key and condition) is transmitted by radio waves via a radio communication I / F unit. The time stamp is the date and time when the search condition was input, and is obtained from a clock built in the mobile terminal 20. The mobile terminal code is a unique code for identifying each mobile terminal 20, and is stored in the memory of the mobile terminal 20. This step corresponds to S110 in FIG.

On the other hand, the radio communication terminal 40 is
Receiving the search request information transmitted from (S201)
0), as shown in FIG. 6B, generates search request information to which the reception radio communication terminal code is added, and transmits the search request information to the host computer 30 via the LAN 50 (S2020). S
2010 and S2020 correspond to S210 in FIG.
Note that the received radio communication terminal code is
Is a unique code assigned to the radio communication terminal 4.
0 is stored in the memory.

Then, the host computer 30 sends the LA
The search request information is received via N50 (S2030),
The search request information having the duplicate mobile terminal code and time stamp is deleted, and only one request is left (S2040).
That is, the radio wave transmitted from the mobile terminal 20 is received by the plurality of radio wave communication terminals 40 and is transmitted to the host computer 30.
May have been sent to In this case, the host computer 30 receives a plurality of the same search request information from the LAN 50. When such duplicate search request information is received, the host computer 30
The processing is performed using only the search request information. S
2030 and S2040 correspond to S410 in FIG.

Next, the host computer 30 searches the database for related information and a position code corresponding to the search condition included in the search request information (S2050).
Then, as shown in FIG. 6C, the reception radio terminal code included in the search request information of FIG. 6B is set as the transmission radio terminal code, and the position code and the related information of the search result are stored in the time stamp / terminal. It is transmitted to the radio communication terminal 40 via the LAN 50 as search result information in addition to the code / search key (S2060). At this time, when the search request information is received from the plurality of radio communication terminals 40 in S2040, the search request information is transmitted to all the radio communication terminals 40. S2
Steps 050 and S2060 correspond to S420 in FIG.

Then, the radio communication terminal 40 receiving the search result information transmits the search result information from the radio beacon (S2070). S2070 corresponds to S230 in FIG. On the other hand, after transmitting the search request information for the predetermined time (S1050: YES), the mobile terminal 20 proceeds to S1060.

The portable terminal 20 receives the search result information transmitted from the radio communication terminal 40 in S1060. S1060 corresponds to S120 in FIG. In S1070 of FIG. 7, a map including a point corresponding to the position information and the related information which is the search result included in the search result information is displayed (S1).
070).

Then, a screen for prompting input of whether or not to start guidance to this point is displayed, and when an instruction to start guidance is input based on the search result (S1080: YE
S), and proceeds to S1090. If an instruction not to start guidance is input (S1080: NO), S10
Return to 20 (see FIG. 5).

In S1090, it is confirmed whether or not the current position has moved by receiving the position code transmitted from the optical beacon 10a, and if not moving (S109).
0: YES), the process proceeds to S1110, and if the device is moving (S1090: NO), the process proceeds to S1100. S
In 1100, the position code received from the optical beacon 10a is stored as the current position code, and the flow shifts to S1110.

In S1110, the user is prompted to enter whether or not to display a route in the handicapped person priority mode. If an instruction to display a route in the handicapped person priority mode is input (S1110:
YES), S1130 is calculated, and the shortest route not using the stairs is calculated. On the other hand, when the mode is not the handicapped person priority mode (S1110: NO), the flow shifts to S1120 to calculate the shortest route.

Next, an example of the shortest route calculation processing in S1120 and S1130 will be described with reference to S3010 to S3090 in FIG. In S3010, it is determined whether or not the current location code and the building number match. If the current location code and the building number match (S3010: YES), the process proceeds to S3030, and if the current location code and the building number do not match. Is (S3
010: NO), and proceeds to S3020.

In S3020, a communication passage between the buildings is set as a target for route calculation. In S3030, it is determined whether or not the floor number of the current location code and the destination code match,
If they match (S3030: YES), S3050
If not (S3030: NO),
The process moves to S3040.

In S3040, the relay point is set as an object of the route calculation. In S3050, a distance is calculated from the map. As shown in FIG. 9, this map stores the distance between intersections in the passage 90 in FIG. FIG. 9A is a table showing the distances when moving between the intersections in the Y-axis direction in FIG. For example, if the X-axis position is 0 (X =
When the path of 0) is moved from the Y-axis position 0 to 1, the upper left value “15” is selected. Note that FIG.
The units of the values in the tables of FIGS. 9A and 9B are meters. That is, the distance between the intersections is 15 m. Similarly, FIG. 9 (B) shows the distance when moving between the intersections in the X-axis direction in FIG. FIG. 9C is a table showing weighting factors for steps, and FIG. 9D is a table showing weighting factors for elevators. The distance of the first floor of the stairs and the elevator is 5 m, and this value is multiplied by a weighting factor to convert the value into the moving distance of the passage.

As shown in FIG. 10, in the shortest route mode, a route using a stair is also subjected to route calculation. on the other hand,
In the handicapped person mode (mode for displaying the shortest route that does not use stairs), calculation is performed with priority given to routes that do not use stairs.
FIG. 10 illustrates a case where the mobile terminal that has received the position code 1152 from the optical communication terminal 10 calculates a route to the point of the destination position code 1242, for example, in the shortest route mode (the process of S1120). , Position code 1152
→ 1142 → 1143 → A1144 → A1244 → 12
43 → 1242. Then, the distance of this route is obtained from the maps shown in FIGS. This distance is, as shown in FIG. 9E, a distance L (X, Y) =
(5-4,2) + (4,2-3) + (4,3-4) +0
+ A (1,1-2) +0+ (4,4-3) + (4,3-
2) = 10 + 15 + 15 + 5 × 1.5 + 15 + 15 = 7
7.5.

Similarly, in the case of the handicapped person mode (processing of S1130: calculation of the shortest route without using the stairs), FIG.
A distance of 132.5 m can be obtained as shown in FIG. Then, in subsequent S3060 (see FIG. 8), it is determined whether or not the distance is shorter than the previously calculated route. If the distance is shorter (S3060: YES), the process proceeds to S3070, and if the distance is not shorter, (S3060: NO),
The process moves to S3080.

In S3070, the calculated route and distance are stored. In S3080, it is determined whether there is another route. If there is another route (S3080: YES), the process returns to S3050; otherwise (S3080: NO), the shortest route calculation process ends, and the process proceeds to S1140 in FIG. .

With the above processing, the shortest path can be obtained. After calculating the shortest route, S1140 in FIG.
Then, the simplified map including the position corresponding to the current location code is read from the map database stored in the memory of the mobile terminal 20, and written as display information in layer 0 of the display memory of the mobile terminal 20.

As shown in FIG. 12, the display memory has three areas from layer 0 to layer 2, and the display control device reads out the display information written in each layer, and as shown in FIG. A display signal is generated by superimposing so that layer 2 is at the top and layer 0 is at the bottom, and is displayed on the display device.

In the following S1150, S1120 or S1120
Based on the route information calculated in 1130, the route to the destination or the relay point is written to the layer 1 of the display memory as the display information. Then, in S1160, the current location cursor is written as display information in layer 2 of the display memory based on the current location code. In this way, an image in which layers 0 to 2 are superimposed is displayed on the display device.

At S1170, the position code is received from the optical communication terminal 10, and it is determined whether or not the position code is different from the current position code. If the current position code and the received position code are different (S1170: YES), the received position code is set as a new current position code, and the flow shifts to S1180.

In S1180, the current position cursor of layer 2 is redrawn at a position corresponding to the new current position code.
In S1190, a passing point mark is drawn on the path between the position corresponding to the new current position code of Layer 2 and the position corresponding to the previous current position code.

In S1200, it is determined whether or not the current location code and the relay point code match.
The process proceeds to 1140, and a schematic map ahead of the relay point is displayed. On the other hand, if the current location code and the relay point code do not match or there is no relay point code (S1200: N
O), and proceed to S1210.

In S1210, it is determined whether or not the current location code matches the destination code. If the current location code and the destination code do not match (S1210: NO),
It returns to S1170. On the other hand, if the current location code and the destination code match (S1210: YES), the guidance ends.

By such processing, a destination corresponding to the search condition input by the user can be searched, and the user can be guided to the destination. That is, the search condition of the target person / room from an arbitrary place in the facility is entered in the mobile terminal 20.
Except that the mobile terminal 20 receives only the position code transmitted from the highly directional optical beacon 10a provided in the passage 90, except that the mobile terminal 20 transmits the searched position information to the host computer 30 from the radio beacon. Determines the direction to be guided.

Therefore, transmission and reception between the host computer 30 and the radio communication terminal 40 and the portable terminal 20 can be reduced, and the use of radio waves can be suppressed. Then, the load on the host computer 30 can be reduced. Further, only the host computer 30 stores the detailed related information, and the portable terminal 20 stores only the simplified map associated with the position code.
Even if the mobile terminal 20 is taken out of the facility, all the related information is not taken out. That is, leakage of confidential information can be prevented.

In the above embodiment, the facility having the lattice-shaped passage 90 as shown in FIG. 2 has been described. However, the present invention can be applied to any facility. That is, the optical communication terminal 10 can be installed at an arbitrary place such as a passage, a room, a staircase, an elevator, and the like. In this case, a different position code may be transmitted at a place where the portable terminal 20 is to be recognized as a different place. That is, the position code may be assigned to each optical communication terminal 10 so that the location can be uniquely specified. For example,
A unique number (ID) may be assigned.

In S2060 of FIG. 5 of the above embodiment, when the host computer 30 receives the search request information from the plurality of radio communication terminals 40, the host computer 30 transmits the search result information to all the radio communication terminals 40. However, for example, the radio communication terminal 40 at the center position may be determined from the plurality of received radio communication terminals 40, and the search result information may be transmitted to the radio communication terminal 40. Also, the search request information transmitted by the portable terminal 20 in S1040 is transmitted including the position code received in S1010, and the radio communication terminal 40 closest to the position code is searched in S2060 of the host computer 30, and the radio communication terminal is searched. The search result information may be transmitted to only 40 via the LAN 50.

When there are a plurality of search results, all of them are sent from the host computer 30 to the radio communication terminal 40.
To the mobile terminal 20 via the mobile terminal 20. In step S1070, the related information of the search result is displayed. In step S1080, the user is prompted to select the related information to be guided, and the location of the position code corresponding to the selected related information. It is good to start guidance to. The shortest route may be recalculated and displayed each time the position code received by the mobile terminal 20 is updated.

In the above embodiment, the mobile terminal 20 stores the schematic map. However, the mobile terminal 20 does not have the schematic map and receives the map information from the host computer 30 via the radio communication terminal 40. You may use it. Further, in the above embodiment, the mobile terminal 20 is configured by the mobile terminal 20A and the mobile terminal 20B, but the function of the mobile terminal 20B may be integrated so as to be included in the mobile terminal 20A. Although the mobile terminal 20B is attached to the name tag 23, the portable terminal 20B may be attached to a portable device when the user moves in the facility.

Then, for example, the portable terminal may include a plurality of optical sensors as shown in FIG. In this case, an optical sensor may be attached so that light in different directions can be received. In this way, light from the optical communication terminal can be received even when the person to be guided has entered a shade or shade or when the portable terminal is not directed in the traveling direction. Further, the position corresponding to the current location code may be corrected based on a signal from the gyro.

The optical communication terminal 10 is, for example, as shown in FIG.
An apparatus as shown in FIG. That is, the upper part 10b has a hemispherical shape, the upper part 10b is attached to the ceiling of the intersection, and the optical beacon 10a is provided in the direction in which the passage intersecting at the intersection extends. That is, optical beacons 10a are provided in four directions at intersections where passages extend in four directions, optical beacons 10a are provided in three directions at intersections intersecting in three directions, and optical beacons 10a are provided in two directions at intersections intersecting in two directions.
Further, an optical beacon 10a may be provided in the lower part 10c of the optical communication terminal 10 to transmit the position code immediately below the intersection.

Further, various configurations and functions can be added to the above-mentioned specific facility guidance system 1. For example, as shown by a broken line in FIG.
It can also be used to connect to a personal computer in the facility to use the information in the database or to update the database. Also, the mobile terminal 20 transmits the terminal ID to the optical communication terminal 10, and the optical communication terminal 1
If the ID of the portable terminal 20 is received at 0, the own position code and the received terminal ID are transmitted to the host computer 30 so that the position of the user in the facility can be grasped. When the optical communication terminal 10 is installed at the entrance of the facility and the ID of the optical communication terminal 10 is received so as to prevent forgetting to return the portable terminal 20 when leaving the facility,
The mobile terminal 20 may perform voice guidance or display for prompting return of the mobile terminal 20.

If the facility is a hospital, it can be connected to a patient management system or the like, and the location of the patient can be transmitted in response to a search request from the portable terminal 20. In this embodiment, the optical communication terminal 10 corresponds to a point specifying information transmitting device, the mobile terminal 20 corresponds to a mobile terminal,
The host computer 30 corresponds to a host computer. The position code corresponds to point specifying information, and the related information corresponds to various information.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an in-facility guidance system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a facility and an installation position of an optical communication terminal.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an optical communication terminal and a portable terminal.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing processing and information flow in a portable terminal, a radio wave communication terminal, an optical communication terminal, and a host computer.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a part of the processing of FIG. 4 in detail;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing contents of information exchanged between the respective devices in FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart that follows the flowchart of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating details of a shortest route calculation process in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a map and distance calculation.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of routes in the shortest route mode and the handicapped person mode.

FIG. 11 is a continuation of the flowchart of FIG. 7;

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of layers.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the portable terminal.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Guidance system in specific facility 10 ... Optical communication terminal 10a ... Optical beacon 20A, 20B ... Portable terminal 21 ... Light receiving part 22 ... Optical sensor 23 ... Name tag 30 ... Host computer 40 ... Radio communication terminal 90 ... Passageway

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2F029 AA07 AB05 AB13 5H180 AA23 BB02 BB05 5K067 AA21 BB21 BB36 BB37 BB43 DD19 DD20 DD51 EE02 EE06 EE37 FF02 FF03 HH23 JJ52 KK15

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A point specifying information transmitting device installed at each predetermined point in a facility and transmitting point specifying information for specifying the point near the predetermined point, and transmitted by the point specifying information transmitting device. A mobile terminal that receives point identification information to be performed, and an in-facility guidance system including a host computer that stores the point identification information and various types of information related to the point in association with each other, wherein the mobile terminal A search condition for searching for the target point is transmitted to the host computer, and the host computer extracts the point specifying information associated with various information corresponding to the search condition received from the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal transmits from the host computer to the mobile terminal. Facility guidance system, characterized in that the route to the point specified by Shin the point specification information, guidance is based on the point specification information transmitted from said point specific information transmitting apparatus. 2. The facility guidance system according to claim 1, wherein the host computer transmits the various information corresponding to the search condition to the mobile terminal, and the mobile terminal transmits the various information. An in-facility guidance system that receives and displays the information and guides a route to a point specified by point specifying information corresponding to various types of information selected by a user. 3. The in-facility guidance system according to claim 1, wherein the point specifying information transmitting device transmits information using light, and the communication between the host computer and the mobile terminal includes:
An in-facility guidance system characterized by radio waves. 4. The in-facility guidance system according to claim 1, wherein the light receiving section of the light of the mobile terminal is formed separately from a main body of the mobile terminal. In-facility guidance system. 5. The in-facility guidance system according to claim 1, wherein the guidance of the route is performed by informing a next direction to travel. 6. The in-facility guidance system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the route guidance is performed by displaying a point of a destination, a point of a current location, and a relationship between the destination and the current location. An in-facility guidance system characterized by performing. 7. The in-facility guidance system according to claim 1, wherein the guidance of the route is performed by displaying a map including the route. 8. The in-facility guidance system according to claim 1, wherein the route guidance is updated when the point identification information received from the point identification information transmitting device is updated. An in-facility guidance system characterized by performing based on point identification information. 9. The in-facility guidance system according to claim 1, wherein the various information includes map information for guiding the route. 10. The in-facility guidance system according to claim 1, wherein the communication between the host computer and the mobile terminal includes:
An in-facility guidance system characterized in that it can be performed only in a facility to be guided.