JP2003115099A - Map information providing method and map information providing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide map information around a destination in the case that the location of the destination is unclear. SOLUTION: In a system constituted by providing a map information providing device provided with a map information DB storing the map information for providing the map information corresponding to a request from a portable telephone and portable telephones A and B provided with a function of detecting the position of the present machine, a map information providing method is provided with a process in which the portable telephone A detects the position information A of the present machine and receives the position information B of the portable telephone B from the portable telephone B, a process in which the map information providing device receives a map acquisition request and the position information A and B from the portable telephone A, a process in which the map information providing device extracts the map information of an area range including the positions of the portable telephones A and B from the map information DB, a process in which the map information providing device transmits the extracted map information to the portable telephone A, and a process in which the portable telephone A adds marks indicating the positions of the portable telephones A and B to the map information on the basis of the position information A and B and displays the added map information.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a map information providing method and a map information providing apparatus, and more particularly, it is provided with a map information database in which map information is stored, and the map information is provided in response to a request from a portable terminal. A map information providing apparatus that provides a map information providing apparatus and a plurality of mobile terminals that have a function of communicating with the map information providing apparatus and a function of detecting the position of the own apparatus. Relates to a map information providing method for providing map information to the portable terminal, and the map information providing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, mobile phones and mobile terminals (hereinafter,
Services that provide various types of information using display screens (such as mobile phones) have become widespread. For example, a service that provides map information around the building or facility whose location is known in advance, or a mobile phone that has or is equipped with a GPS function can easily obtain your current location. A service that provides map information around the current position by transmitting the acquired current position information to a server is known.

On the other hand, with the rapid spread of mobile phones and the like in recent years, there is a need to use a mobile phone or the like to confirm where the other party is waiting when making a meeting in a town.

[0004]

However, the above-mentioned service is a service for providing map information around a destination (building, facility, owner of a mobile phone, etc.) when the location is known, As mentioned above, it is not possible to provide map information regarding a meeting partner whose location is unknown.
For this reason, there is a demand for a service that can provide map information around the destination even when the location of the destination is unknown.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and provides a map information providing method and apparatus capable of providing map information around a destination when the location of the destination is unknown. The purpose is to provide.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a map information providing method according to the present invention comprises a map information database in which map information is stored, and the map information is provided in response to a request from a portable terminal. A map information providing device that provides
In the communication system configured to include a plurality of mobile terminals having a function of communicating with the map information providing apparatus and a function of detecting the position of the own apparatus, the map information providing apparatus causes the mobile terminal to map information. A map information providing method for providing a map information providing apparatus, wherein the map information providing device receives a map acquisition request and position information of one or more mobile terminals from the mobile terminal; An extracting step in which the device extracts map information of an area range including the positions of the one or more portable terminals from the map information database; and a map information providing device that requests the extracted map information in the portable device. The map transmitting step of transmitting the map information to the portable terminal, and the portable terminal having received the map information determines the position of the one or more portable terminals based on the positional information of the one or more portable terminals. Ma The click is added to the map information, characterized in that and an output step of outputting the map information the mark is added.

In this map information providing method, when the map information providing device receives the map acquisition request and the position information of one or more mobile terminals from the portable terminal in the request receiving step, the map information providing apparatus performs the extracting step in the extracting step. The map information providing device extracts the map information of the area range including the positions of one or more portable terminals from the map information database, and the map information providing device outputs the extracted map information in the map transmitting step. Send to requested mobile device. Then, the mobile terminal that has received the map information maps the mark indicating the position of the one or more mobile terminals based on the position information of the one or more mobile terminals in the output step. It is added to the information and the map information with the mark is output. As a result, the user of the mobile terminal that has made the map acquisition request can visually recognize the output map information with the mark indicating the position of the one or more mobile terminals. The output mode of the map information is generally displayed on the screen, but it may be displayed on the display screen of the mobile terminal by connecting to another mobile terminal having a larger size display screen. Alternatively, it may be printed out by connecting to a printer. As described above, it is possible to provide the map information around the destination with one or more mobile terminals whose location is unknown as the destination.

In the above map information providing method, one portable terminal detects the positional information of its own device and also obtains the positional information of the other portable terminal from another portable terminal prior to the request receiving step. You may further provide the positional information acquisition process to receive.

In the request receiving step, the map information providing device receives the position information of the one portable terminal, the identification information of the other portable terminal, and the map acquisition request from the one portable terminal. , A position information requesting step in which the map information providing device requests position information to the other mobile terminal based on the identification information of the other mobile terminal, and a map information providing device uses the other mobile terminal. A second receiving step of receiving the position information of the other portable terminal from the portable terminal may be included.

Further, the request receiving step is a receiving step in which the map information providing device receives the position information of the one portable terminal, the identification information of the other portable terminal, and the map acquisition request from the one portable terminal. And a determining step of determining whether or not the map information providing device has received the position information of the other portable terminal, the identification information of the one portable terminal, and the map acquisition request from the other portable terminal. And the map information providing device may be configured to include a control step of controlling to proceed to the extraction step when a positive determination is made in the determination step.

On the other hand, in addition to the map information database, a map information providing device including a correspondence relation database storing the correspondence relation between the mobile terminal of the map information request source and the mobile terminal of the map information request target is included. The invention of the following map information providing method can be given as a map information providing method executed in the configured communication system.

That is, a map information database in which map information is stored and a correspondence relation database in which correspondence relations between a mobile terminal as a map information request source and a map information request target mobile terminal are stored are provided, and the map information request is made. A map information providing device that provides map information in response to a request from the original mobile terminal, and a plurality of mobile terminals having a function of communicating with the map information providing device and a function of detecting the position of the own device. A map information providing method, wherein the map information providing device provides map information to the portable terminal in a communication system including the map information providing device, wherein the map information providing device is provided from one portable terminal,
A request receiving step of receiving a map acquisition request including the identification information of the mobile terminal of the map information request target, and the map information providing device, the correspondence relationship between the one mobile terminal and the mobile terminal of the map information request target. Determination step for determining whether or not is stored in the correspondence relation database, and when the correspondence relation is stored, the map information providing device acquires position information for the portable terminal as the map information request target. A request transmitting step of transmitting a request, and a portable terminal as a map information request target that has received the position information acquisition request detects the position of the own device and sends the detected position information of the own device to the map information providing device. A position transmitting step of transmitting and a map information providing apparatus extracting from the map information database map information of an area range including at least the position of the portable terminal for which the map information is requested. Map information providing device, and a map transmission step of transmitting the location information of the map information is extracted and the map information request target portable terminal to the one mobile terminal,
The one portable terminal receiving the map information adds a mark indicating the position of the portable terminal of the map information request target to the map information, and outputs the map information with the mark added. It is characterized by having.

In this map information providing method, when the map information providing device receives the map acquisition request including the identification information of the portable terminal which is the target of the map information request from the one portable terminal in the request receiving step, the determining step is performed. Then, the map information providing device determines whether or not the correspondence relationship between one mobile terminal and the mobile terminal for which map information is requested is stored in the correspondence database. Here, when the correspondence is stored, the map information providing device transmits a position information acquisition request to the portable terminal for which map information is requested in the request transmitting step.

Then, the portable terminal which is the object of the map information request receiving the position information acquisition request detects the position of the own device in the position transmitting step and transmits the detected position information of the own device to the map information providing device. Then, the map information providing device extracts the map information of the area range including at least the position of the mobile terminal of the map information request target from the map information database in the extracting step, and the map information extracted in the map transmitting step and The position information of the portable terminal for which the map information is requested is transmitted to one portable terminal.

Further, the one portable terminal which has received the map information adds a mark indicating the position of the portable terminal of the map information request target to the map information in the output step, and the map information to which the mark is added is added to the map information. Output. Thereby, the user of the one portable terminal can visually recognize the output map information with the mark indicating the position of the portable information requesting portable terminal. As described above, it is possible to provide the map information around the destination with the mobile terminal of the map information request target whose location is unknown as the destination.

By using the present invention, it is possible to easily confirm where the other party (for example, a child or an old person) who possesses the portable terminal for which information is requested, and to effectively use the route information. It is possible to move to the location of the other party and quickly find and protect the other party.

Further, since only the map acquisition request relating to the portable terminal for which the map information is requested, the correspondence of which is previously stored in the correspondence database, is accepted, the map information for which the map information is requested is sent to a malicious third party. The inconvenience of being provided can be prevented.

The map information providing method may be configured as follows. That is, in the request receiving step, the map information providing device receives from the one portable terminal a map acquisition request further including the position information of the one portable terminal, and in the extracting step, the map information providing device, The map information of the area range including the position of the one portable terminal and the position of the portable terminal of the map information request is extracted, and in the output step, the one portable terminal represents the position of the one portable terminal. A mark and a mark indicating the position of the portable terminal for which map information is requested may be added to the map information. In this case, the user of the one portable terminal can visually recognize the map information of the area range including both the one portable terminal and the portable terminal for which the map information is requested.

Each of the map information providing methods described above may be configured as follows. That is, in the map transmitting step, the map information providing device is preferably configured to further transmit navigation software for performing navigation based on the extracted map information.

The extraction step includes an information extraction step of extracting the map information of the area range from the map information database, and a mark indicating at least the position of the portable terminal for which the map information is requested is added to the extracted map information. It is preferable that the map image data generation step of generating the map image data described above is included, and the output step is configured to output the received map image data without adding the mark.

The invention relating to the map information providing method can be described as an invention relating to the map information providing apparatus as follows. That is, the map information providing device according to the present invention is
Map information provision that provides map information in response to a request from a mobile terminal that has a function of detecting the position of the own device and a function of adding a mark indicating the corresponding position to the map information based on the position information and outputting the map information. An apparatus, a map information database in which map information is stored, a request receiving means for receiving a map acquisition request and position information of one or more mobile terminals from the mobile terminal, and the one or Extracting means for extracting map information of an area range including positions of two or more portable terminals from the map information database; map transmitting means for transmitting the extracted map information to the requesting portable terminal;
It is characterized by having.

Further, the map information providing apparatus according to the present invention,
Map information provision that provides map information in response to a request from a mobile terminal that has a function of detecting the position of the own device and a function of adding a mark indicating the corresponding position to the map information based on the position information and outputting the map information. The device is a map information database in which map information is stored, a correspondence relation database in which correspondence relations between a map information requesting portable terminal and a map information requesting portable terminal are stored, and one portable type The request receiving means for receiving a map acquisition request including the identification information of the mobile terminal of the map information request target from the terminal, and the correspondence relationship between the one mobile terminal and the mobile terminal of the map information request target correspond to the correspondence. Determining means for determining whether or not it is stored in a relational database, and when the correspondence is stored,
Request transmitting means for transmitting a position information acquisition request to the portable terminal as the map information requesting object, and at least the portable type when position information of the portable terminal is received from the portable terminal as the map information requesting object. Extraction means for extracting map information of an area range including the position of the terminal from the map information database, and transmitting the extracted map information and the position information of the map information requesting portable terminal to the one portable terminal. And a map transmission means.

The request receiving means receives from the one portable terminal a map acquisition request further including the position information of the one portable terminal, and the extracting means is the one portable terminal. It is preferable to extract the map information of the area range including the position and the position of the portable terminal for which the map information is requested.

Further, it is preferable that the map transmitting means further transmits navigation software for performing navigation based on the extracted map information.

[0025]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment]

The network system of the first embodiment is
It is composed of a plurality (two as an example) of mobile phones and a map information providing device that can communicate with each other via a wireless network. The configurations of the mobile phone and the map information providing device will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

As shown in FIG. 1, the mobile phone 10 displays a wireless communication unit 12 for performing voice communication and data communication via a wireless network, and character / numeric data and image data such as a route search map described later. Display 13 and microphone 14 for inputting voice (hereinafter referred to as microphone)
, A speaker 15 for outputting a voice, a key input unit 16 for inputting a telephone number, selecting desired contents, and a global positioning system (GPS).
position detecting unit 17 for detecting the position of the own device using the ionization system), a map data storing unit 19 as a storage region for map data, and writing / reading of map data to / from the map data storing unit 19. A map information control unit 18,
A navigation program storage unit 21 as a storage area for a navigation program (hereinafter referred to as a navigation program)
And a navigation program control unit 20 for writing / reading the navigation program to / from the navigation program storage unit 21,
A position information storage unit 2 as a storage area for storing the position information of the own device obtained by the position detection unit 17 and the position information of another mobile phone received by the wireless communication unit 12.
2 and a control unit 11 that monitors and controls the operation of each of the above units.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the map information providing device 30 includes a communication section 32 for performing data communication via a wireless or wired network, a map data storage section 34 as a storage area for map data, A map information control unit 33 for writing / reading map data to / from the map data storage unit 34, and a storage unit for storing position information and a telephone number information of the mobile phone 10 received by the communication unit 32. 36, a position information control unit 35 that writes and reads information to and from the position information storage unit 36, a navigation program storage unit 38 that stores a navigation program, and a navigation program that is read from the navigation program storage unit 38 and is portable. The navigation program control unit 37 that transmits to the telephone 10, the mobile phone that is the request source of the map information, and the mobile phone that is the target of the map information The correspondence database 39 response relationship is stored, it is configured to include a control unit 31 for monitoring and controlling the operation of the respective units. The correspondence database 39 is not an essential component in this embodiment,
It plays a predetermined role in a fourth embodiment described later. This will be described in the fourth embodiment.

Next, as an operation of the present embodiment, an outline of the processing of the mobile phone 10 and the map information providing device 30 in the network system will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 shows the operations of three parties, namely, the mobile phone A that is the main body that acquires the map information, the mobile phone B that is the communication partner of the mobile phone A, and the map information providing apparatus, and the exchange of data between the three parties. Further, FIG. 4 shows a flow chart of processing of the mobile phone A, and FIG.
6 shows a flow chart of processing of the mobile phone B, and FIG. 6 shows a flow chart of processing of the map information providing device 30.

First, the mobile phone A sends a position information request to the mobile phone B (procedure 1 in FIG. 3, step A11 in FIG. 4).
When the mobile phone B receives an incoming call (step B11 in FIG. 5).
Then, it is determined whether or not it is the reception of the position information request signal (step B12 in FIG. 5). If it is not the reception of the position information request signal, it can be determined that the call is a voice call. Therefore, the process for voice call is performed (step B18 in FIG. 5), and the process ends.

On the other hand, if an affirmative decision is made in step B12 of FIG. 5, the mobile phone B detects the position information B of its own by the position detection section 17 (procedure 2 in FIG. 3, step B1 in FIG. 5).
3), the position information B is transmitted to the mobile phone A (procedure 3 in FIG. 3, step B14 in FIG. 5).

When the mobile phone A receives the position information B (step A12 in FIG. 4), the position detecting section 17 detects the position information A of the mobile phone A (procedure 4 in FIG. 3, step A13 in FIG. 4). Then, the mobile phone A transmits a map information request together with the position information A and B to the map information providing device 30 (procedure 5 in FIG. 3, step A14 in FIG. 4).

The map information providing device 30 receives the map information request and the position information A and B (step C11 in FIG. 6).
Affirmative determination), position information A and B are stored in the position information storage unit 36.
The map information of the area range including the positional information A and B is stored in (FIG. 2) and is extracted from the map data storage unit 34 by the map information control unit 33 (procedure 6 in FIG. 3, step C12 in FIG. 6). . Then, the map information providing device 30 transmits the extracted map information to the mobile phone A (procedure 7, FIG.
In step C13 of FIG. 6, the navigation program is read from the navigation program storage unit 38 and transmitted to the mobile phone A (step C14 in FIG. 6), and the process ends.

When the mobile phone A receives the map information, the map information control unit 18 stores the map information in the map data storage unit 19 (step A15 in FIG. 4). When the navigation program is received, the navigation program control unit 20 stores the navigation program in the navigation program storage unit 21 (step A16 in FIG. 4). Then, the mobile phone A adds a mark indicating each of the position information A and B to the map information,
The map information with the mark added is displayed on the display unit 13 (procedure 8 in FIG. 3, step A17 in FIG. 4). At this time, the navigation program can be activated by the user operation to add the route information between the position information A and B to the map information. Thereby, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, star marks A and B indicating the positions of the mobile phones A and B and position information A,
It is possible to display a map in which the route R between B is described. Further, the mobile phone A transmits the map information to which the mark is added, and optionally route information and a navigation program to the mobile phone B (step 9 in FIG. 3, step A in FIG. 4).
18), the process ends.

When the mobile phone B receives the map information / navi program (affirmative determination in step B15 of FIG. 5), the mobile phone B stores the map information / navi program in the map data storage unit 19,
The map information stored in the navigation program storage unit 21 (step B16 in FIG. 5) is displayed on the display unit 13 with the mark indicating each of the position information A and B (procedure 10 in FIG. 3, FIG. 5). Step B17), and the process is terminated. At this time, the navigation program can be activated by the user operation to add the route information between the position information A and B to the map information.

Through the above processing, the users of the mobile phones A and B visually confirm the map information with the marks indicating the position information A and B, respectively, even if the locations of the other parties are not known to each other. be able to. Further, the route information between the position information A and B can be displayed by the user operation to visually confirm the route. This makes it possible to easily confirm where the meeting partner is using a mobile phone when making a meeting in town, and by effectively using the route information, the person can move to the location of the meeting partner and promptly meet the meeting partner. Can meet with Regarding the display of the map information on the mobile phones A and B, it may be connected to a mobile terminal having a display screen of a larger size, a portable information display, or the like and displayed on the screen. Further, the map information may be printed out by connecting to a printer (not shown) by a user operation.

[Second Embodiment]

Next, a second embodiment according to the present invention will be described. The configurations of the network system according to the second embodiment, the mobile phone 10 and the map information providing apparatus 30 that configure the network system are the same as those in the first embodiment, and therefore the description thereof will be omitted.

Therefore, as an operation of the present embodiment, an outline of the processing of the mobile phone 10 and the map information providing device 30 in the network system will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 to 10 and FIG. FIG. 8 shows the operations of the three parties of the mobile phone A that is the main body for acquiring the map information, the mobile phone B that is the communication partner of the mobile phone A, and the map information providing device, and the data exchange between the three parties. Further, FIG. 9 is a flow chart of processing of the mobile phone A, FIG. 5 is a flow chart of processing of the mobile telephone B (similar to the first embodiment), and FIG. 10 is a flow chart of processing of the map information providing device 30. , Respectively.

First, the mobile phone A detects the position information A of its own by the position detection unit 17 (procedure 1 in FIG. 8, step A21 in FIG. 9) and attaches the telephone number of the mobile phone B as a communication partner. The generated map information request and the position information A of the own device are transmitted to the map information providing device 30 (procedure 2 in FIG. 8, step A22 in FIG. 9).

Upon receiving the map information request and the position information A (affirmative determination in step C21 of FIG. 10), the map information providing device 30 stores the position information A in the position information storage unit 36 (FIG. 2), and A location information request is sent to mobile phone B based on the telephone number of mobile phone B (step 3 in FIG. 8, FIG.
0 step C22). When the mobile phone B receives an incoming call (affirmative determination in step B11 in FIG. 5), it determines whether or not it is the reception of the position information request signal (step B12 in FIG. 5). If it is not the reception of the position information request signal, it can be determined that the call is a voice call. Therefore, the process for voice call is performed (step B18 in FIG. 5), and the process ends.

On the other hand, if an affirmative decision is made in step B12 of FIG. 5, the mobile phone B detects the position information B of its own by the position detection section 17 (procedure 4 in FIG. 8, step B1 in FIG. 5).
3), the position information B is transmitted to the map information providing device 30 (procedure 5 in FIG. 8, step B14 in FIG. 5).

Upon receiving the position information B (step C23 in FIG. 10), the map information providing device 30 stores the position information B in the position information etc. storage unit 36 (FIG. 2) and includes the position information A and B. The map information of the dark area range is extracted from the map data storage unit 34 by the map information control unit 33 (FIG. 8).
Procedure 6), step C24 in FIG. 10). The map information providing device 30 then extracts the extracted map information and position information A,
B is transmitted to each of the mobile phones A and B (procedure 7 in FIG. 8, step C25 in FIG. 10), the navigation program is read from the navigation program storage unit 38 and transmitted to each of the mobile phones A and B (see FIG. 10). Step C26), and the process ends.

The mobile phone A has map information and position information A,
When B is received, the map information control unit 18 stores the map information in the map data storage unit 19 and the location information B in the location information storage unit 22 (step A2 in FIG. 9).
3) When the navigation program is received, the navigation program control unit 20 stores the navigation program in the navigation program storage unit 21 (step A24 in FIG. 9). And
The mobile phone A adds a mark indicating each of the position information A and B to the map information, and displays the map information with the mark added on the display unit 13 (procedure 8 in FIG. 8, step A2 in FIG. 9).
5). At this time, the navigation program can be activated by the user operation to add the route information between the position information A and B to the map information. Thereby, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, star marks A and B indicating the positions of the mobile phones A and B are displayed.
And a map in which the route R between the position information A and B is described can be displayed.

On the other hand, the mobile phone B receives the map information, the position information A and the navigation program (step B in FIG. 5).
15), the map information / navi program is stored in the map data storage unit 19 and the navigation program storage unit 21 (step B16 in FIG. 5), and the position information A, B is stored.
The map information with the mark indicating each of the
Displayed on the screen (procedure 8 in FIG. 8, step B17 in FIG. 5),
The process ends. At this time, by user operation,
It is also possible to activate the navigation program and add the route information between the position information A and B to the map information.

By the above processing, even if the users of the mobile phones A and B do not know the location of the other party, the map information to which the marks indicating the position information A and B and the route information between them are added. Since it is possible to visually confirm, it is possible to easily confirm where the other person is to meet using a mobile phone when making a meeting in the town. Further, by effectively utilizing the route information, it is possible to move to the location of the meeting partner and quickly meet the meeting partner.

[Third Embodiment]

Next, a third embodiment according to the present invention will be described. The configurations of the network system according to the third embodiment, the mobile phone 10 and the map information providing apparatus 30 that configure the network system are the same as those in the first embodiment, and therefore the description thereof will be omitted.

Therefore, as an operation of the present embodiment, an outline of the processing of the mobile phone 10 and the map information providing device 30 in the network system will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 to 13. FIG. 11 shows the operations of the three parties of the mobile phones A and B and the map information providing apparatus and the data exchange between the three parties. Further, FIG. 12 shows a process flow chart of each mobile phone, and FIG. 13 shows a process flow chart of the map information providing apparatus 30. Here, it is assumed that the map information requests are transmitted to the map information providing device 30 in the order of the mobile phones A and B of the two mobile phones.

First, the mobile phone A detects its own position information A by the position detector 17 (procedure 1 in FIG. 11, FIG. 12).
Step S31) of the communication partner, the map information request with the telephone number of the mobile phone B as a communication partner and the position information A of the own device are transmitted to the map information providing device 30 (procedure 2 in FIG. 11, step S32 in FIG. 12). ).

Upon receiving the map information request and the position information A from the mobile phone A (step C31 in FIG. 13), the map information providing device 30 stores the position information A and the phone numbers of the mobile phone B in the position information storage unit 36 ( (Fig. 2)
The mobile phone A waits to receive the map information request and the position information B from the mobile phone B, which is a communication partner of the mobile phone A (step C32 in FIG. 13).

The mobile phone B detects the position information B of its own by the position detecting unit 17 (procedure 3 in FIG. 11, step S31 in FIG. 12), and the telephone number of the mobile phone A as a communication partner is attached. The map information request and the position information B of the own device are transmitted to the map information providing device 30 (procedure 4 in FIG. 11, step S32 in FIG. 12).

When the map information providing device 30 receives the map information request and the position information B from the mobile phone B (affirmative determination in step C32 of FIG. 13), the position information B is stored in the position information storage unit 36 (FIG. 2). Store and store location information A, B
The map information of the area range including the is extracted from the map data storage unit 34 by the map information control unit 33 (procedure 5 in FIG. 11, step C33 in FIG. 13). Then, the map information providing device 30 transmits the extracted map information and position information A and B to each of the mobile phones A and B (steps 6 and 13 in FIG. 11).
Step C34), the navigation program is read from the navigation program storage section 38 and transmitted to each of the mobile phones A and B (step C35 in FIG. 13), and the process is ended.

When each of the mobile phones A and B receives the map information and the position information A and B (affirmative determination in step S33 of FIG. 12), the map information control unit 18 stores the map information in the map data storage unit 19. , The location information B or A of the other party is stored in the location information storage unit 22 (step S34 in FIG. 12), and when the navigation program is received, the navigation program control unit 20 stores the navigation program in the navigation program storage unit 21. (Step S35 in FIG. 12). Then, each mobile phone adds a mark indicating each of the position information A and B to the map information and displays the map information with the mark added on the display unit 13 (step 7 in FIG. 11, step in FIG. 12). S36). At this time, by user operation,
It is also possible to activate the navigation program and add the route information between the position information A and B to the map information. Thereby, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, it is possible to display a map in which the star marks A and B indicating the positions of the mobile phones A and B and the route R between the position information A and B are described.

By the above processing, even if the users of the mobile phones A and B do not know the location of the other party, the map information to which the marks indicating the position information A and B and the route information between them are added. Since it is possible to visually confirm, it is possible to easily confirm where the other person is to meet using a mobile phone when making a meeting in the town. Further, by effectively utilizing the route information, it is possible to move to the location of the meeting partner and quickly meet the meeting partner.

[Fourth Embodiment]

Next, a fourth embodiment according to the present invention will be described. The respective configurations of the network system of the fourth embodiment and the mobile phone 10 and the map information providing apparatus 30 which configure the network system are almost the same as those of the first embodiment, and therefore detailed description thereof will be omitted. However, the map information providing device 30 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, a correspondence relation database 39 in which the correspondence relation between the mobile phone of the map information request source and the mobile phone of the map information request target is stored is provided.
Only when a map information request for a corresponding mobile phone for which map information is requested is received from the mobile phone for which map information is requested to be registered in It is configured to send to a mobile phone.

Therefore, as an operation of the present embodiment, an outline of the processing of the mobile phone 10 and the map information providing device 30 in the network system will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 14 shows the operations of three parties, that is, the mobile phone A that is the main body that acquires the map information, the mobile phone B that is the target for acquiring the map information, and the map information providing device, and the exchange of data between the three parties. Further, FIG. 15 shows a flow chart of processing of the mobile phone A, FIG. 16 shows a flow chart of processing of the mobile telephone B, and FIG. 17 shows a flow chart of processing of the map information providing device 30.

First, the mobile phone A detects its own position information A by the position detector 17 (procedure 1 in FIG. 14, FIG. 15).
Step A41), the map information request for the mobile phone B to which the telephone number of the mobile phone B as the communication partner is attached and the position information A of the own device are transmitted to the map information providing device 30 (procedure 2, FIG. 14, FIG. 14). 15 step A42).

Upon receiving the map information request and the position information A, the map information providing device 30 stores them in the position information storage unit 36 (FIG. 2) (step C41 in FIG. 17).
Then, it is determined whether or not the correspondence relationship between the mobile phone A and the mobile phone B is registered in the correspondence relationship database 39 (procedure 3 in FIG. 14, step C42 in FIG. 17). Here, if the correspondence relationship between the mobile phone A and the mobile phone B is not registered, it can be determined that the map information request for the mobile phone B from the mobile phone A is invalid, and therefore the map information is provided to the mobile phone A. Without that, the process of FIG. 17 ends.

On the other hand, if the correspondence between mobile phone A and mobile phone B is registered, a position information request is sent to mobile phone B based on the telephone number of mobile phone B (steps 4 and 17 in FIG. 14).
Step C43). When the mobile phone B receives an incoming call (affirmative determination in step B41 of FIG. 16), it determines whether or not it is the reception of the position information request signal (step B42 of FIG. 16). If it is not the reception of the position information request signal, it can be determined that the call is a voice call, so the process for voice call is performed (step B45 in FIG. 16), and the process ends.

On the other hand, if an affirmative decision is made in step B42 of FIG. 16, the mobile phone B detects the position information B of its own by the position detection section 17 (procedure 5 of FIG. 14, step B43 of FIG. 16), The position information B is transmitted to the map information providing device 30 (procedure 6 in FIG. 14, step B44 in FIG. 16),
The process ends.

Upon receiving the position information B (step C44 in FIG. 17), the map information providing device 30 stores the position information B in the position information storage unit 36 (FIG. 2) and includes the position information A and B. The map information of the dark area range is extracted from the map data storage unit 34 by the map information control unit 33 (see FIG. 1).
4), step C45 in FIG. 17). The map information providing device 30 then extracts the extracted map information and position information B.
Is transmitted to the mobile phone A (step 8 in FIG. 14, step C46 in FIG. 17), the navigation program is read from the navigation program storage unit 38 and transmitted to the mobile phone A (step C47 in FIG. 17), and the process is ended. .

When the mobile phone A receives the map information and the position information B, the map information control unit 18 stores the map information in the map data storage unit 19 and the position information storage unit 22 in the position information B of the other party. (Step A4 in FIG. 15)
3) When the navigation program is received, the navigation program control unit 20 stores the navigation program in the navigation program storage unit 21 (step A44 in FIG. 15). Then, the mobile phone A adds a mark indicating each of the position information A and B to the map information, and displays the map information with the mark added on the display unit 13 (procedure 9 in FIG. 14, step in FIG. 15). A45). At this time, the navigation program can be activated by the user operation to add the route information between the position information A and B to the map information. This gives, for example,
As shown in FIG. 7, it is possible to display a map in which star marks A and B indicating the positions of the mobile phones A and B and a route R between the position information A and B are described.

By the above processing, even if the user of the mobile phone A does not know the location of the intended user of the mobile phone B, the marks indicating the position information A and B and the route information between them are added. Map information can be visually confirmed. With this, it is possible to easily confirm where the lost child or old person is, and by effectively using the route information, it is possible to move to the location of the opponent and promptly find and protect the opponent. it can.

Further, since only the map acquisition request for the map information request target mobile phone whose correspondence relationship is stored in advance in the correspondence relationship database is accepted, the malicious third party is provided with the map information concerning the map information request object. It is possible to prevent such an inconvenience.

[0068]

As described above, according to the present invention,
A portable terminal whose location is unknown can be used as a destination, and map information around the destination can be provided, and the user of the portable terminal can output one or more portable terminals or map information request targets. It becomes possible to visually recognize the map information with the mark indicating the position of the portable terminal.

Further, if the present invention is used, the other party (for example, a child, an elderly person, etc.) who possesses the portable terminal for which information is requested
It is possible to easily confirm where is, and by effectively utilizing the route information, it is possible to move to the location of the other party and promptly find and protect the other party.

Further, since the configuration is such that only the map acquisition request relating to the map information requesting portable terminal whose correspondence relationship is stored in the correspondence relationship database in advance is accepted, the malicious third party receives the map information requesting map information. The inconvenience of being provided can be prevented.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration of a mobile phone according to first to fourth embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration of a map information providing device according to first to fourth embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing operations of three parties and exchanges of data between the three parties of the mobile phones A and B and the map information providing apparatus according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing processing contents of the mobile phone A according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing processing contents of the mobile phone B in the first and second embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the map information providing device in the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a display example of map information.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing operations of three parties and exchanges of data between the three parties of the mobile phones A and B and the map information providing apparatus according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the mobile phone A in the second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the map information providing device in the second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing operations of three parties and exchanges of data between the three parties of the mobile phones A and B and the map information providing apparatus according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of each mobile phone in the third embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the map information providing device in the third embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing operations of three parties and exchanges of data between the three parties of the mobile phones A and B and the map information providing apparatus according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the mobile phone A in the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the mobile phone B in the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the map information providing device in the fourth embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Mobile phone, 11 ... Control unit, 12 ... Wireless communication unit, 1
3 ... Display unit, 14 ... Microphone, 15 ... Speaker, 16 ...
Key input section, 17 ... Position detection section, 18 ... Map information control section, 19 ... Map data storage section, 20 ... Navigation program control section, 21 ... Navigation program storage section, 22 ... Position information storage section, 30 ... Map information provision Device, 31 ... Control unit, 32 ...
Communication unit 33 ... Map information control unit 34 ... Map data storage unit 35 ... Position information control unit 36 ... Position information storage unit 37 ... Navigation program control unit 38 ... Navigation program storage unit 39 ... Correspondence Relational database

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) G08G 1/137 G08G 1/137 G09B 29/00 G09B 29/00 AZ 29/10 29/10 A F term (Reference) 2C032 HB02 HB05 HB11 HB22 HB25 HC22 HD03 HD12 HD13 HD16 2F029 AA07 AB07 AB13 AC02 AC09 AC14 AC16 5B075 ND06 PQ12 UU13 5H180 AA21 BB05 CC12 FF05 FF13 FF22 FF25 FF27 FF32 FF35 FF22

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A map information providing device that includes a map information database in which map information is stored, and that provides map information in response to a request from a portable terminal, a function of communicating with the map information providing device, and the own device. A map information providing method in which the map information providing device provides map information to the mobile terminal in a communication system including a plurality of mobile terminals having a function of detecting a position, the map information providing method comprising: A request receiving step in which a providing device receives a map acquisition request and position information of one or more mobile terminals from the mobile terminal; and a map information providing device in the one or more mobile terminals. An extracting step of extracting map information of an area range including the position from the map information database; and a map transmitting step in which the map information providing device transmits the extracted map information to the requesting portable terminal. The mobile terminal receiving the map information adds a mark indicating the position of the one or more mobile terminals to the map information based on the position information of the one or more mobile terminals. A map information providing method comprising: an output step of outputting map information to which the mark is added. 2. A position information acquisition step in which, prior to the request reception step, one mobile terminal detects the position information of the mobile terminal itself and receives the position information of the other mobile terminal from another mobile terminal. The map information providing method according to claim 1, further comprising: 3. The request receiving step, wherein the map information providing device receives the position information of the one portable terminal, the identification information of the other portable terminal, and the map acquisition request from the one portable terminal. 1 reception step, the map information providing device requests the position information to the other mobile terminal based on the identification information of the other mobile terminal, and the map information providing device sets another The second receiving step of receiving the position information of the other portable terminal from the portable terminal, the map information providing method according to claim 1. 4. The request receiving step, wherein the map information providing device receives from one mobile terminal a position information of the one mobile terminal, identification information of another mobile terminal, and a map acquisition request. Steps and determination of whether or not the map information providing device has received from the other mobile terminal position information of the other mobile terminal, identification information of the one mobile terminal, and a map acquisition request 2. The map information providing method according to claim 1, further comprising: a step; and a control step, in which the map information providing device controls the process to proceed to the extracting step when an affirmative determination is made in the determination step. 5. The map information request comprises: a map information database storing map information; and a correspondence relationship database storing a correspondence relationship between a map information requesting mobile terminal and a map information request target mobile terminal. A map information providing device that provides map information in response to a request from the original mobile terminal, and a plurality of mobile terminals having a function of communicating with the map information providing device and a function of detecting the position of the own device. A map information providing method in which the map information providing apparatus provides map information to the portable terminal in a communication system including the map information providing apparatus, wherein the map information providing apparatus receives a map information request target from one portable terminal. The request receiving step of receiving the map acquisition request including the identification information of the portable terminal, and the map information providing apparatus has a correspondence relationship between the one portable terminal and the portable terminal for which the map information is requested. A determination step of determining whether or not the correspondence information is stored in the correspondence relation database; and when the correspondence relation is stored, the map information providing device sends a position information acquisition request to the portable terminal as the map information request target. A request transmitting step of transmitting, and a portable terminal as a map information request target that has received the position information acquisition request detects the position of its own device and transmits the detected position information of the own device to the map information providing device. A position transmitting step, an extraction step in which the map information providing device extracts map information of an area range including at least the position of the map information request target portable terminal from the map information database, and a map information providing device is extracted. The map transmitting step of transmitting the map information and the position information of the portable terminal of the map information request to the one portable terminal, and the one portable terminal receiving the map information, A map information providing method comprising: an output step of adding a mark indicating the position of the portable terminal of the map information request target to the map information and outputting the map information to which the mark is added. 6. In the request receiving step, the map information providing device receives a map acquisition request from the one portable terminal, the map acquisition request further including position information of the one portable terminal, and in the extracting step, The map information providing device extracts the map information of the area range including the position of the one mobile terminal and the position of the mobile information request target mobile terminal, and in the output step, the one mobile terminal, The map information providing method according to claim 5, wherein a mark indicating the position of the one portable terminal and a mark indicating the position of the portable terminal for which the map information is requested are added to the map information. 7. The map information providing apparatus further transmits navigation software for performing navigation based on the extracted map information in the map transmitting step. The method for providing map information described in. 8. The information extracting step of extracting map information of the area range from the map information database in the extracting step, and at least the position of the portable terminal of the map information request target with respect to the extracted map information. A map image data generating step of generating map image data to which a mark is added, wherein the output step outputs the received map image data without adding the mark. The map information providing method according to any one of Items 1 to 7. 9. The map information is displayed in response to a request from a portable terminal having a function of detecting the position of the own device and a function of adding a mark indicating the corresponding position to the map information based on the position information and outputting the map information. A map information providing device for providing, a map information database in which map information is stored, and a request receiving means for receiving a map acquisition request and position information of one or more mobile terminals from the mobile terminal. Extracting means for extracting map information of an area range including positions of the one or more portable terminals from the map information database; and map transmitting means for transmitting the extracted map information to the requesting portable terminal. And a map information providing device. 10. The map information is displayed in response to a request from a mobile terminal having a function of detecting the position of the own device and a function of adding a mark indicating the corresponding position to the map information based on the position information and outputting the map information. A map information providing device for providing, a map information database in which map information is stored, and a correspondence relationship database in which a correspondence relationship between a mobile terminal of a map information request source and a map information request target mobile terminal is stored. A request receiving unit that receives a map acquisition request including identification information of the mobile terminal of the map information request target from the one mobile terminal; and the one mobile terminal and the mobile terminal of the map information request target Determination means for determining whether or not the correspondence relation is stored in the correspondence relation database; and when the correspondence relation is stored, position information acquisition is performed for the portable terminal of the map information request target. Request transmitting means for transmitting a request, and, when the position information of the portable terminal is received from the portable terminal for which the map information is requested, the map information of the area range including at least the position of the portable terminal is used as the map information. A map information providing device comprising: an extracting unit that extracts from a database; and a map transmitting unit that transmits the extracted map information and the position information of the portable terminal for which the map information is requested to the one portable terminal. 11. The request receiving means receives a map acquisition request from the one mobile terminal, the map acquisition request further including position information of the one mobile terminal, and the extraction means is the one mobile terminal. 11. The map information providing device according to claim 10, wherein the map information of the area range including the position and the position of the portable terminal for which the map information is requested is extracted. 12. The map transmission means further transmits navigation software for performing navigation based on the extracted map information.
11. The map information providing device according to any one of 11 above.