JP2003185452A - Server providing navigation service, program memory medium used in the server, navigation system using the server and program memory medium used in car navigation device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a server capable of reaching a navigation function to a region performing on behalf of so-called a personal driver of the user. <P>SOLUTION: A server 8 provides a navigation service on the network. Specifically, an inference mechanism 84 refers to knowledge stored in a knowledge base 83 and develops a dialogue inference against the user of a terminal having a present position information transmission function. It also provides a destination routing assist information including the destination and a path guide to the destination. At this moment, the inference mechanism 84 determines the destination routing assist information according to both of preference information including the destination visit history obtained through dialogue inference with the user and the present position information at the moment received from the terminal of the user. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a server that provides a navigation service that advises an appropriate place and can provide route guidance to the advised place.
And a program storage medium used for the service, a navigation system using the server, and a program storage medium used for a car navigation device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, with the improvement of information infrastructure,
Various navigation systems using the Internet have been proposed.

As a typical example of this type of navigation system, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-211479 (P200)
The technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 1-211479A) can be mentioned.

In the navigation system of the above publication, when the car navigation system and the mobile phone are connected to each other via a data communication adapter and the Internet is accessed from the mobile phone communication network via a server, the car navigation system and the data are transmitted. Both the communication adapter and the data communication adapter and the mobile phone perform an authentication operation at the time of hardware connection to determine whether or not access is permitted, and when connecting to the server, the mobile phone By performing the authentication operation and the authentication between the car navigation device and the server, the data communication is started when all the access is permitted.

[0005]

In the navigation system disclosed in the above-mentioned publication, access to the server can be denied when another device is illegally connected, which enhances security. However, the following problems have been pointed out.

That is, in the above navigation system, when a user's destination is given by voice input and / or key operation input, route guidance to the given destination is performed.

However, unless the destination is specifically and clearly given, not only "the user cannot provide route guidance to the destination", but also "the destination cannot be specified" in many cases. In other words, it is no exaggeration to say that in order to fully exercise the functions of the system, "a concrete and clear destination must be given." Therefore, in the above-mentioned navigation system, it is demanded that the navigation function be "reached to a range where a so-called user's driver (user's exclusive navigator) is replaced."

[0008] Such a requirement is one of the major themes not only in the navigation system using the Internet related to the above-mentioned publication but also in the car navigation device alone.

Therefore, the inventor of the present application has conceived that it is possible to meet the above-mentioned demand by adopting a next-generation expert system configuration capable of developing interactive inference with a user.

(1) Concept 1 A dialogue reasoning is developed with a user to provide destination route guidance information including a destination and route guidance to the destination desired by the user.

(2) Inspiration point 2 When developing inference with a user and providing destination route guidance information including a destination and route guidance to the destination, which the user desires, it is stored in advance. The destination route guidance information that matches the request information of the user is narrowed down from the plurality of destination route guidance information that is being displayed, and the narrowed down destination route guidance information is presented to the user.

The present invention has been made based on the above idea, and provides a server for providing a navigation service that allows the navigation function to reach a range where a so-called driver of a user (an exclusive navigator of the user) can be replaced, and a server for the same. An object of the present invention is to provide a program storage medium used in a server, a navigation system using the server, and a program storage medium used in a car navigation device.

[0013]

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention for solving the above problems is as follows.

<Invention Concerning Server Providing Navigation Service> The server according to the present invention viewed from the first aspect develops a dialogue reasoning with a user of a terminal having a current location information transmission function on a network, It is designed to provide destination route guidance information including destinations and route guidance to this destination that the user desires, and past destination visit history obtained by inference with the user. Control information for determining the destination route guidance information in accordance with both the preference information including the above and the current location information at that time received from the terminal of the same user.

According to the above configuration, it is possible to provide the destination route guidance information including the destination near the user's current location and the route guidance to this destination in consideration of the user's current location. Therefore, there is no such thing as “providing destination route guidance that is virtually impossible for users to visit”. As a result, it is possible to reach the range where the navigation function replaces the so-called driver of the user (in other words, it can be said to be the exclusive navigator of the user. The same applies below).

The server according to the present invention viewed from the second aspect develops a dialogue reasoning with a user of a terminal having a current location information transmission function on a network, and the destination and the purpose that the user desires. When providing destination route guidance information including route guidance to a destination, narrowing down destination route guidance information matching the request information of the user from a plurality of destination route guidance information stored in advance,
This narrowed down destination route guidance information is presented to the user, and includes the following control contents. (A) Using the connection-time acquisition information, which is obtained at the time of connection with the terminal, including the current location information and the time information received from the terminal as an initial value, and transmits speculative confirmation information corresponding to the initial value to the terminal. Stages. (B) The response information of the user to the confirmation information transmitted in the step (a) is received through the terminal, and the plurality of the response information are received according to both the response information and the preference information of the user stored in advance. The step of narrowing down the matching destination route guidance information from the destination route guidance information. (C) A step of transmitting the destination route guidance information narrowed down in the step (b) to the terminal.

In the above configuration, while the connection acquisition information is used as an initial value to predict the directionality of the information desired by the user, the destination route guidance information that matches the user's request is selected from a plurality of destination route guidance information. It is designed to narrow down. Therefore, in addition to being able to reach the area where the navigation function replaces the so-called driver of the user, it is possible to use all the necessary destination route guidance information to narrow down the matching destination route guidance information from multiple destination route guidance information. It is possible to provide an easy-to-use navigation service by reducing the number of user input operations for items. In addition, although the user does not provide it as request information, information that is insufficient for narrowing down destination route guidance information from connection acquisition information and / or preference information is supplemented,
The supplemented information is used to generate confirmation information and send it to the same user. Therefore, the confirmation information given to the user can include a warm, so-called healing element.

In the server according to the present invention viewed from the first aspect and the second aspect, when providing the above-mentioned target route guidance information, not only the preference information of the user but also the preference information similar to the preference information of the user. It further includes control contents provided according to destination visit information that other users who have visited in the past.

Here, "having similar preference information to the user's preference information" means that the impression or evaluation that one user has visited in the past and obtained the same destination is the same. If it is similar to the impression or evaluation of the other user who has visited, it means that the preference of the one user and the preference of the other user are similar (the same applies below). Therefore, it is presumed that the evaluation of destinations which one user has not visited, but which has been visited by other users, will be almost the same even if the user is the user. The information will be used to narrow down the candidates of destinations according to.

According to the above configuration, not only the preference information of the user to whom the destination route guidance information should be provided, but also the preference information of the other users whose preferences are similar to that of the one user are considered.
It is possible to provide destination visit information that has not been visited by the one user and is stored as preference information of the other user. Therefore, the preference information of a plurality of users stored in advance can be connected in a chain, and the user can be provided with the enjoyment of developing a new destination that matches a wider range of the users. In this case, the destination visit information provided to one user is given priority to the destination visit information extracted from the preference information of other users and is provided to the same user. It can contribute to the accumulation of new destination knowledge. In addition, if the destination is a store or the like (hereinafter referred to as a “store” or the like) operating a tertiary industry (so-called service industry), the store or the like side acquires new customers. There is an advantage that can be.

In the present invention viewed from the second aspect, the above (b) is characterized by including the following control contents. (B-1) In the case where the number of the destination route guidance information narrowed down is larger than the predetermined number of destination route guidance information, in order to narrow down the predetermined destination route guidance information from the plurality of destination route guidance information. To get information about time, location,
Generating confirmation information based on information that one of the destination and the route is insufficient, and transmitting the generated confirmation information to the terminal. (B-2) Based on the response information of the user to the confirmation information transmitted in the step (b-1),
A step of narrowing down matching destination route guidance information from the plurality of destination route guidance information. (B-3) Until the number of the destination route guidance information narrowed down in the step (b-2) becomes smaller than the predetermined number of destination route guidance information, the above (b-1) and (b-2). ) Repeating the above steps.

In the above configuration, in order to generate the most efficient confirmation information for finding the desired destination guidance route information, it is based on the information that any of time, present location, destination and route is insufficient. Confirmation information is generated, and from the above time, current location, destination and route, initial value obtained by connecting to the terminal is used to generate and transmit speculative confirmation information. It has become. Therefore, the user who received the confirmation information does not simply confirm the confirmation information such as "when are you going?", But "If it's from now, is it okay at 6 o'clock?" Or the current location information of the terminal. If the initial value is "Shibuya" and the destination information is insufficient as the information to be used for narrowing down, it is assumed that the destination is near the current location as confirmation information, and "Is it okay near Shibuya?" ? "
It is possible to provide confirmation information in the form of an additional question such as. In this way, when the user does not provide (do not provide) data specifically, the time, the current location, the destination, and the route are inferred to generate confirmation information, so that the user side Psychologically, there is a high possibility that the confirmation information will be perceived as warm, so-called healing confirmation information, as if a person such as a driver who is holding the confirmation information actually responds.

The server according to the present invention viewed from the third aspect develops a dialogue reasoning with a user of a terminal having a current location information transmission function on a network, and the destination and the purpose that the user desires. When providing destination route information including route guidance to a destination, the destination route guidance information that matches the user's request information is narrowed down from a plurality of destination route guidance information stored in advance, and this narrowed down The destination route guidance information is presented to the user and includes the following control contents. (A) The request according to both the connection-time acquisition information including the current location information and the time information received from the terminal, which is obtained at the time of connection with the terminal, and the request information voice-input by the user of the terminal. When narrowing down the destination route guidance information that matches the information, the confirmation information as voice information to be transmitted to the terminal in order to obtain any of time, current location, destination and route information from the request information is requested. Sending to the terminal as an additional question form based on the connection acquisition information. (B) The response information of the user to the confirmation information transmitted in the step (a) is received as voice information through the terminal, and is received as both the received response information and the preference information of the user stored in advance. Accordingly, a step of narrowing down the destination route guidance information to be matched from the plurality of destination route guidance information. (C) A step of transmitting the destination route guidance information narrowed down in the step (c) to the terminal.

In the above configuration, the request information from the user is decomposed into four attributes of time, present location, destination and action, and one of the missing attributes is checked to obtain the missing information. I try to form information.
therefore. In addition to being able to perform the so-called navigation function of the user's car driver, the navigation function can be narrowed down by an efficient dialogue inference method. The confirmation information is preferably generated as voice information of one phrase. In this case, the confirmation information becomes easy for the user who hears the confirmation information via the terminal. In addition, a well-known voice recognition system is adopted so that communication (conversation) with the server can be performed by voice input from the terminal. Therefore, even a person who needs to be accustomed to key input to the terminal can easily use it.

In the server according to the present invention viewed from the third aspect, a default value is set in any of the information regarding the time and the current location, and the request information includes the information regarding the time and the current location. If not, the current location information of the terminal is set as a default value as the current location, and "now" is set as the default value as the time.If these default values are set, the confirmation information is included in the confirmation information. It further includes a control content that forms an additional question type phrase including the current location and / or time set as the default value.

According to the above configuration, it is possible to narrow down by an extremely efficient dialog reasoning method.

The server according to the present invention viewed from the third aspect is characterized in that the following control contents are included between the steps (b) and (c). (1) A step of comparing the maximum number which is stored in advance and can be provided as the destination route guidance information with the number of the destination route guidance information which has been narrowed down. (2) As a result of the comparison in the above step (1), if the number of destination route guidance information items that have been narrowed down does not fall below the maximum number of destination route guidance information items stored in advance,
A step of transmitting confirmation information and repeating the narrowing-down step in the step (b) until the number of destination guide route information is less than or equal to the maximum number.

According to the above configuration, the user has limited specifications of the terminal (including a limited size of the display screen, etc.).
The same applies below. ), And it is possible to narrow down the number of destination route guidance information at any time so that the user does not have any difficulty in checking.

In the server according to the present invention viewed from the first aspect to the third aspect, at the next connection with the terminal, the questionnaire information about the destination route guidance information transmitted last time is transmitted, and the questionnaire information concerned. When the reply information for is received, it further includes control contents for updating the preference information based on the received reply information.

According to the above configuration, by appropriately updating the preference information, it is possible to provide the user with more matched destination route guidance information. In addition, by providing the questionnaire information, it becomes possible to confirm whether or not the user actually visited the destination based on the actually provided destination route guidance information.

In the server according to the present invention viewed from the third aspect, when the response information to the confirmation information in the additional question format does not include a response related to YES or NO to the confirmation information, It is determined that the user has not denied the confirmation information, and the determination result includes the control content used for narrowing down the destination route guidance information.

Here, "YES or N for confirmation information
If the answer related to O is not included, it is determined that the user has not denied the confirmation information. "
When evaluating the destination route guidance information that matches the user's request with four attributes of time attribute, current location attribute, destination attribute, and route attribute, "At present, it is ○○○ (current location), so at 18:00 Assuming that you received the response information, "Please make me Shibuya," in response to the confirmation information "Is it okay for Roppongi's △△△ (destination)?"
Since it does not include answers related to both “18:00” as the time attribute and “○○○” as the current location attribute, it is determined to be YES for both attributes and “Roppongi △△△” as the destination attribute. For "YE" called "Shibuya"
This means that the answer is NO because it includes "an answer related to S or NO".

The above configuration takes into consideration the psychological aspect. Therefore, as omitted in normal conversation,
For example, if the answer is "I want to eat ramen." In response to "Do you want to eat at ○○○ (destination)?" A smooth and natural conversation such as "I agree to do" can be established between the server and the user.

In the server viewed from the third aspect, the confirmation information in the additional question form is the phrase in the additional question form including the destination route guidance information of the first candidate and the destination guidance route information of the second candidate. Or, it is formed of two types of phrases, a phrase in the form of a question that includes recommended route guidance information, and if the response to the phrase in the form of a question is not included in the response information, at least the purpose of the second candidate. It includes control content for determining that the ground route guidance information is denied by the user.

The above-mentioned structure is based on the psychological aspect of human beings, like the above. Therefore, a smooth and natural conversation can be established between the server and the user.

<Invention Concerning Program Storage Medium Used in Server> The program storage medium according to the invention seen from the first aspect enables a dialogue reasoning with a user of a terminal having a current location information transmission function on a network. Unfold,
It is used by the server that provides the navigation service by providing the destination route information including the destination and route guidance to this destination, which is obtained by the user's dialogue reasoning. It also includes a control program for determining the destination route guidance information according to both the preference information including the past destination visit history and the current location information received from the terminal of the same user at that time.

According to the above configuration, there is no case where "the user is provided with route guidance that is virtually impossible to visit", and as a result, the navigation function is an area where the so-called driver of the user is replaced. Can be reached.

The program storage medium according to the present invention viewed from the second aspect develops a dialog reasoning with a user of a terminal having a current location information transmission function on a network, and a destination and a destination desired by the user. When providing the destination route guidance information to this destination, the destination route guidance information that matches the request information of the user is narrowed down from a plurality of destination route guidance information stored in advance, and this narrowed down is performed. A server that provides a navigation service by presenting destination route guidance information to the user is used, and includes the following control program. (A) Using the connection-time acquisition information, which is obtained at the time of connection with the terminal, including the current location information and the time information received from the terminal as an initial value, and transmits speculative confirmation information corresponding to the initial value to the terminal. program. (B) The response information of the user to the confirmation information transmitted by the program of (a) is received through the terminal, and the plurality of the response information are received according to both the response information and the preference information of the user stored in advance. A program to narrow down the matching destination route information from the destination route guidance information. (C) A program for transmitting the destination route guidance information narrowed down by the program of (b) to the terminal.

According to the above configuration, in addition to the navigation function being able to reach the so-called user-carried driver's substitute area, the destination route guidance information to be matched is narrowed down from a plurality of destination route guidance information. It is possible to reduce the number of input operations by the user for all the required items, to provide an easy-to-use navigation service, and to include confirmation information to be given to the user with a warm, so-called healing element.

In the program storage medium viewed from the first aspect and the second aspect, the provision of the destination route guidance information has not only the preference information of the user but also the preference information similar to the preference information of the user. It further includes a control program provided according to destination visit information that other users have visited in the past.

According to the above configuration, not only the preference information of the user to whom the destination route guidance information should be provided, but also the preference information of the other users who have similar preferences to the one user are considered,
As a result of being able to provide destination visit information that has not been visited by the one user, which is stored as the preference information of the other user, the preference information of a plurality of users stored in advance is connected in a chain, and more It is possible to provide the user with the enjoyment of developing a new destination in a wider range and more matched to the user.

In the program storage medium according to the present invention viewed from the second aspect, the program of (b) above includes the following control program. (B-1) In the case where the number of the destination route guidance information narrowed down is larger than the predetermined number of destination route guidance information, in order to narrow down the predetermined destination route guidance information from the plurality of destination route guidance information. To get information about time, location,
A program for generating confirmation information based on information that one of a destination and a route is insufficient and transmitting the generated confirmation information to the terminal. (B-2) A program for narrowing down matching store information again from the plurality of destination route guidance information based on the user's response information to the confirmation information transmitted by the program of (b-1). . (B-3) The above (b-1) and (b-2) until the number of the destination route guidance information narrowed down by the program of the above (b-2) becomes less than a predetermined number of destination route information. A program that repeats the program processing of.

According to the above configuration, when the user does not specifically provide the data, the confirmation information is generated by inferring the time, the current location, the destination and the route. As if the driver or other person who has the information is actually responding, there is a high possibility that it will be perceived as warm, so-called healing confirmation information.

The program storage medium according to the present invention viewed from the third aspect develops a dialog reasoning with a user of a terminal having a current location information transmission function on a network, and a destination and a destination desired by the user. When providing destination route information including route guidance to this destination, the destination route guidance information that matches the request information of the user is narrowed down from a plurality of destination route guidance information stored in advance, By presenting this narrowed-down destination route guidance information to the user, it is used by a server that provides a navigation service, and includes the following control program. (A) The request according to both the connection-time acquisition information including the current location information and the time information received from the terminal, which is obtained at the time of connection with the terminal, and the request information voice-input by the user of the terminal. When narrowing down the destination route guidance information that matches the information, the confirmation information as voice information to be transmitted to the terminal in order to obtain any of time, current location, destination and route information from the request information is requested. , A program to be transmitted to the terminal as an additional question form based on the connection acquisition information. (B) User's response information to the confirmation information transmitted by the program of (a) is received as voice information through the terminal, and is received as both the received response information and the user's preference information stored in advance. Accordingly, a program for narrowing down destination route guidance information to be matched from the plurality of destination route guidance information. (C) A program for transmitting the destination route guidance information narrowed down by the program of (c) to the terminal.

According to the above configuration, the navigation function can be made to reach the so-called user's surrogate driver's place, and the efficient inference method can be used for narrowing down and the key to the terminal can be used. It can be easily used by people who are not very confident in input operations.

In the program storage medium according to the present invention viewed from the third aspect, a default value is set in any of the information regarding the time and the current location, and the request information includes the information regarding the time and the current location. If not included, the current location information of the terminal is set as a default value as the current location, and "now" is set as the default value as the time, and if these default values are set, the confirmation information is Further included is a control program forming an additional interrogative phrase containing the current location and / or time set as its default value.

According to the above configuration, it is possible to narrow down by an extremely efficient dialog reasoning method.

In the program storage medium according to the present invention viewed from the third aspect, the following control program is included between the program processes of (b) and (c). (1) A program that compares the maximum number that is stored in advance and can be provided as destination route guidance information with the number of the destination route guidance information that has been narrowed down. (2) As a result of comparison by the program of (1) above, if the number of destination route guidance information items that have been narrowed down does not reach the maximum number of destination route guidance information items that are stored in advance,
A program that transmits confirmation information again and repeats the narrowing-down process in the program of (b) above until the number of destination route guidance information items becomes the maximum number or less.

According to the above configuration, it is possible for the user to narrow down the number of destination route guidance information at any time with the limited specifications of the terminal and at the time when the user does not have trouble checking the terminal.

In the program storage medium according to the present invention viewed from the first aspect to the third aspect, at the next connection with the above-mentioned terminal, the questionnaire information about the destination route guidance information transmitted last time is transmitted, When the reply information to the questionnaire information is received, it further includes a control program for updating the preference information based on the received reply information.

According to the above configuration, by appropriately updating the preference information, it is possible to provide the user with more matched destination route guidance information and also provide the questionnaire information. Based on the destination route guidance information that was actually provided,
It is possible to confirm whether the user actually visited the destination.

In the program storage medium according to the present invention as viewed from the third aspect, when the response information to the confirmation information in the additional question format does not include an answer related to YES or NO to the confirmation information. Further includes a control program for determining that the confirmation information is not denied by the user and using the determination result for narrowing down the destination route guidance information, while the confirmation information in the additional question form is Formed with two types of phrases: a phrase in an additional question format that includes 1 candidate destination route guidance information, and a phrase in a question format that includes the second candidate destination route information or recommended destination route guidance information. If the response to the phrase in the form is not included in the response information, it is determined that at least the second candidate destination route guidance information is denied by the user. Further comprising a control program.

With the above arrangement, a smooth and natural conversation can be established between the server and the user.

<Invention Related to Navigation System Utilizing Server> The navigation system according to the present invention provides a user with route guidance to a destination by a voice input system and / or a key operation input system. It uses the above server.

In the above navigation system, the navigation function can be made to reach the so-called user's substitute area for the driver.

The terminal may be a car navigation device connected to the network and mounted on the vehicle body, or may be an information terminal connected to the network.

<Invention Related to Program Storage Medium Used in Car Navigation Device> The program storage medium according to the present invention viewed from the first aspect is mounted on a vehicle body, and has a voice input method and / or key operation input. Depending on the method
It is used for a navigation device that guides a route to a destination to a user, develops a dialogue reasoning with the user, and wants the same user by a voice output method and / or a display method. , To provide destination route information including destination and route guidance to this destination, preference information including past destination visit history obtained by interactive reasoning with the user, and the user makes a request. It also includes a control program for determining the destination route guidance information according to both the current location information at that time.

According to the above configuration, the navigation function can reach the so-called user's substitute area for the driver.

The program storage medium according to the present invention viewed from the second aspect is mounted on a vehicle body and guides a user to a destination by a voice input method and / or a key operation input method. A navigation device that is used for a navigation device, develops inference with the user, and uses a voice output method and / or a display method to provide a destination desired by the user and a route guidance to the destination. When providing the information, the destination route guidance information that matches the request information of the user is narrowed down from the plurality of destination route guidance information stored in advance, and the narrowed down destination route guidance information is provided to the user. The following control programs are included for presentation. (A) The inquiring confirmation information corresponding to the initial value is given to the terminal, with the on-demand acquisition information obtained at the time of the user's request including the current location information and the time information requested by the user as an initial value. program. (B) Acquiring the response information of the user to the confirmation information given by the program of (a), and selecting the plurality of destinations according to both the response information and the preference information of the user stored in advance. A program to narrow down matching destination route information from route guidance information. (C) A program that gives the user the destination route guidance information narrowed down by the program of (b) above.

According to the above configuration, the navigation function can be made to reach the so-called user's driver's substitute area, and the destination route guidance information to be matched is narrowed down from a plurality of destination route guidance information. It is possible to reduce the number of input operations by the user for all the required items, to provide an easy-to-use navigation service, and to include confirmation information to be given to the user with a warm, so-called healing element.

In the program storage medium according to the present invention viewed from the first aspect and the second aspect, the destination route guidance information is provided not only by the user's preference information, but also by the user's preference information.
It further includes a control program provided in accordance with destination visit information visited by another user in the past who has similar preference information to the user's preference information.

According to the above configuration, the user's preference information stored in advance is connected in a chain, and the user is provided with the enjoyment of cultivating a new destination in a wider range and more matched to the user. You can

In the program storage medium according to the present invention viewed from the second aspect, the program of (b) above includes the following control program. (B-1) In the case where the number of the destination route guidance information narrowed down is larger than the predetermined number of destination route guidance information, in order to narrow down the predetermined destination route guidance information from the plurality of destination route guidance information. To get information about time, location,
A program that generates confirmation information based on information that one of a destination and a route is insufficient, and gives the generated confirmation information to the user. (B-2) A program for narrowing down the matching store information again from the plurality of destination route guidance information based on the user's response information to the confirmation information given by the program of (b-1). (B-3) The above (b-1) and (b-2) until the number of the destination route guidance information narrowed down by the program of the above (b-2) becomes less than a predetermined number of destination route information. A program that repeats the program processing of.

According to the above configuration, when the user does not specifically provide the data, the time, the current location, the destination and the route are inferred to generate the confirmation information. As a result, there is a high possibility that the confirmation information will be perceived as warm, so-called healing confirmation information as if the driver or other person actually holding the confirmation information.

The program storage medium according to the present invention viewed from the third aspect is mounted on a vehicle body, and guides a route to a destination to a user by a voice input method and / or a key operation input method. A navigation device that is used for a navigation device, develops a dialogue reasoning with a user, and includes a destination and a route guidance to the destination according to a voice output method and / or a display output method desired by the user. When providing the destination route information, the destination route guidance information matching the request information of the user is narrowed down from a plurality of destination route guidance information stored in advance, and the narrowed down destination route guidance information is displayed. It includes the following control programs to present to the user. (A) The request information according to both the request-time acquisition information obtained at the time of the user's request and the request information voice-input by the user of the terminal, including the current location information and time information acquired from the user. When narrowing down the destination route guidance information matching with, confirmation information as voice information given to this user in order to obtain information on time, current location, destination and route from the request information, The program given by the user as an additional question form based on the requested acquisition information. (B) The user's response information to the confirmation information given by the program of (a) is received as voice information, and according to both the received response information and the user's preference information stored in advance, A program for narrowing down destination route guidance information to be matched from the plurality of destination route guidance information. (C) A program for transmitting the destination route guidance information narrowed down by the program of (c) to the terminal.

According to the above construction, the navigation function can reach the range where the so-called driver of the user can be replaced, and in addition, the efficient inference method can be used for narrowing down and key input operation. Even people who are not very confident can use it easily.

In the program storage medium according to the present invention viewed from the third aspect, a default value is set in any of the information regarding the time and the current location, and the request information includes information regarding the time and the current location. If not included, the current location information as the current location is set as a default value and "now" is set as the default time as the relevant time. If these default values are set, the confirmation information is included in the confirmation information. It further includes a control program for forming an additional question type phrase including the present location and / or time set as its default value.

According to the above configuration, it is possible to narrow down by an extremely efficient dialog reasoning method.

In the program storage medium according to the present invention viewed from the third aspect, the following control program is included between the program processes of (b) and (c) above. (1) A program that compares the maximum number that is stored in advance and can be provided as destination route guidance information with the number of the destination route guidance information that has been narrowed down. (2) As a result of comparison by the program of (1) above, if the number of destination route guidance information items that have been narrowed down does not reach the maximum number of destination route guidance information items that are stored in advance,
A program which again gives confirmation information and repeats the narrowing-down process in the program of (b) until the number of destination route guidance information is equal to or less than the maximum number.

According to the above configuration, it is possible for the user to narrow down the number of destination route guidance information at any time with the limited specifications of the terminal and to the extent that the user does not have difficulty in checking.

In the program storage medium according to the present invention viewed from the first aspect to the third aspect, when the user makes the next request, the questionnaire information about the destination route guidance information presented last time is given, and the questionnaire is given. When the response information for the information is acquired, the control program further includes updating the preference information based on the acquired response information.

According to the above configuration, by appropriately updating the preference information, it is possible to provide the user with more matched destination route guidance information and also provide the questionnaire information. Based on the destination route guidance information that was actually provided,
It is possible to confirm whether the user actually visited the destination.

In the program storage medium according to the present invention viewed from the third aspect, YES or NO for the confirmation information in the response information for the confirmation information in the additional question format.
If the answer related to the above is not included, it is determined that the user has not denied the confirmation information, and further includes a control program that uses the determination result to narrow down the destination route guidance information. The confirmation information in the additional question format includes an additional question format phrase including the first candidate destination route guidance information, and a question format phrase including the second candidate destination route information or recommended destination route guidance information. A control program that determines that at least the second candidate destination route guidance information has been denied by the user when the response information to the phrase in the inquiry form is not included in the response information. Including further.

With the above arrangement, a smooth and natural conversation can be established between the server and the user.

[0075]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A portable device for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<Outline of Embodiment> First, an outline of a navigation system using the Internet according to this embodiment will be described.

(Summary 1) In the above navigation system, only the destination route guidance information (including the destination and route guidance to this destination. The same applies to the following) that the user can actually use is the same. Time to find out the destination and its route requested by the user from the current location, provide (present) the destination route guidance information according to the current location information to the user, and As a default value of / current location / destination / route attribute, target route guidance information is narrowed down.

(Summary 2) The communication mode between the user and the server when narrowing down the destination route guidance information is an interactive form using well-known voice input to narrow down the destination route guidance information from the server side. By using the confirmation information as a phrase in an inferred additional question form using the default value or the like, a warm and natural dialogue form is realized instead of a mechanical exchange.

(Summary 3) Ultimately, the destination route guidance information that the user really wants from the vast amount of destination route guidance information by the four attributes of time / present location / destination / route attribute. Is to narrow down.

Specifically, in the process of narrowing down to the above-mentioned four attributes, an initial value and a predetermined default value (for example, "tonight") as required time acquisition information such as current location information and time information that can be acquired from the user. If there is any information that can be interpreted as "18:00" and that can be perceived in a normal conversation with common sense, it is as if the driver (exclusive navigator) you have is based on the information prepared in advance as default values. As if trying to ask more timely information while inferring the request of the user who is the employer, the confirmation information inferring the request of the same user is generated using the above initial value and default value, and this generated confirmation information The user's request is converged to the above-mentioned four attributes by repeating the dialogue that throws the To provide a suitable destination route guidance information.

That is, by using the above-mentioned request-time acquisition information and the default value, it is possible for the user to comfortably hear the work of narrowing down the work while repeating the dialog reasoning. In other words, if the other party is a human being, naturally, useless conversation that can be easily inferred can be made possible by using the above-mentioned request-time acquisition information and default value.

(Outline 4) By giving the questionnaire information for the destination route guidance information provided through the above process immediately upon the next user request, a more intuitive evaluation of the destination route guidance information can be obtained. Therefore, by reflecting this evaluation information on the preference information of the same user, it is possible to narrow down the number of times of dialogue inference with respect to the subsequent request of the user. In this way, the above-mentioned questionnaire information is immediately given (provided) at the time of the next request, because the answer is more intuitive and true information when the user suddenly gives an unexpected problem. It is based on the psychology of human beings that "it is highly likely."

<First Embodiment> A navigation system using the Internet according to the first embodiment will be described.

(Overall Structure) Referring to FIG. 1, the navigation system according to the first embodiment includes a car navigation device 1 for guiding a route to a destination by voice input and / or key input operation, and a car navigation device. A mobile phone 3 connected to the navigation device 1 via a data communication adapter 2, a mobile phone communication network 6 connected to the mobile phone 3 via a relay station 4 and a control station 5, and servers scattered all over the world. Is connected to both the mobile phone communication network 6 and the Internet 7, which is an aggregate of the car navigation device 1 and the mobile phone 3 on a network including the mobile phone communication network 6 and the Internet 7. It is provided with a server 8 which provides various services to the user of the body terminal.

(Car Navigation Device) Referring to FIG. 2, the car navigation device 1 includes a GPS 21, a gyro sensor 22, and a CD storing map data.
-CD-ROM driver 2 loaded with ROM 23
4, a voice recognition unit 25 for recognizing voice, a voice synthesizing unit 26 for synthesizing and transmitting voice, an operation key group 27, a display 28, and a system processing unit 29.

The system processing unit 29 operates the CD-ROM driver 24 in order to exert a desired navigation function, and draws a map on the display 28 based on the map data stored in the CD-ROM 23. , A process of exchanging map data with an external storage device, a process of obtaining current position information based on the output from the GPS 21, a process of confirming the direction based on the output from the gyro sensor 22, a guide route (route) to the destination And a process of matching the current position, the destination, and the searched guide route with the map.

Referring to FIG. 1, the car navigation device 1 has a LAN function for exchanging data with the mobile phone 3 via the data communication adapter 2 in addition to the navigation function. is doing.

Between the car navigation system 1 and the data communication adapter 2, serial data communication can be carried out by a predetermined data communication protocol via the interface circuits provided in both devices. As this protocol, for example, both the car navigation device 1 and the data communication adapter 2 are RS-2.
When connecting with a cable conforming to the 32C specification, a cable conforming to the RS-232C protocol is adopted.

(Structure of Mobile Phone) The mobile phone 3 and the data communication adapter 2 can mutually perform data communication by a predetermined data communication protocol through the interface circuits provided in both devices. There is. This protocol is set to meet the packet communication protocol in consideration of access to the Internet 7 and the server 8.

In the mobile phone 3, the PDC (Personal Digit
al Cellular) system is adopted, and the relay station 4, the control station 5, and the mobile telephone communication network (hereinafter, referred to as "packet network / PDC
The server 8 can be accessed via the network 6.

Referring to FIG. 3, mobile phone 3 has a bus 301 which is a common path for exchanging signals therein.
Is equipped with. The bus 301 includes a CPU 302 that controls a control center, a memory 303 that stores an operation program, and an antenna 304a, and a transmission / reception unit 304 that transmits / receives signals to / from the relay station 4 and a transmission / reception unit 30.
A signal conversion processing unit 30 for converting the RF (Radio Frequency) signal received in 4 into a baseband signal and converting the baseband signal to be transmitted into an RF signal.
5, microphone 306, speaker 307,
A voice processing unit 308 that interfaces with the microphone 306 and the speaker 307, a display unit 309 that includes a display surface 309a that is composed of a liquid crystal display panel, etc., and serves as a touch panel setting key, an operation key group, a jog dial, and the like. An input unit 310 including the same is connected.

The CPU 302 is adapted to execute various operations in accordance with the operation program stored in the memory 303, and controls the above-mentioned units according to the operation. Various processing contents of the CPU 302 are displayed on the display surface 309a of the display unit 309 as necessary.

When the user inputs the telephone number of the desired call destination, the input section 310 provides the CPU 302 with data representing the telephone number. Then, the CPU 302
A connection request is transmitted via the transmission / reception unit 304 to the call destination represented by the telephone number input by the user. At this time, the packet network / PDC network 6 connects the line according to the response from the callee. When the line is connected, the transceiver 30
Reference numeral 4 gives the signal conversion processing unit 305 the RF signal received from the other party via the antenna 304a. Then, the signal conversion processing unit 305 converts the RF signal given from the transmitting / receiving unit 304 into a baseband signal. When this RF signal / baseband signal processing is completed, the signal conversion processing unit 305 gives the converted baseband signal to the audio processing unit 308. Then, the voice processing unit 308 outputs the voice signal from the call destination to the speaker 307.
To output as voice.

When the user inputs a voice through the microphone 306, the voice processing unit 308 gives the input voice signal supplied from the microphone 306 to the signal conversion processing unit 305. Then, the signal conversion processing unit 305
Converts a baseband signal into an RF signal. When the baseband signal / RF signal processing is completed, the signal conversion processing unit 305 gives the converted RF signal to the transmitting / receiving unit 15. With the supply of this RF signal, the transmission / reception unit 304 transmits the packet network / PDC via the antenna 304a.
When transmitted to the network 6, the RF signal is transmitted to the packet network / PDC.
It is transmitted to the call destination connected to the network 2. As a result, the user of the mobile phone 3 can have a conversation with the other user who is the call destination via the mobile phone.

The user inputs the input unit 310 and the display surface 309a.
By inputting various information including character information and specific selection information by operating the setting keys on the touch panel of
The CPU 302 converts the input information into packet data. After that, the CPU 302 transmits the converted packet data to the packet network / PDC network 6 via the signal conversion processing unit 305 and the transmission / reception unit 304. Packet network / P
The DC network 6 sends the transmitted packet data to the server 8. On the other hand, the packetized information transmitted from the server 8 via the packet network / PDC network 6 is:
It is superposed on the RF signal, and in this state is taken in via the transmission / reception unit 304 and the signal conversion processing unit 305, and is displayed on the display unit 309.
Is displayed on the display surface 309a. The mobile phone 3 is G
The PS unit 311 is provided, and the GPS unit 311 can appropriately transmit the current location information of the mobile phone 3, and the server 8 can use the current location information as connection acquisition information to receive various services. You can do it. Such a GPS function is standardly equipped in current mobile phones. Therefore, the user who uses the mobile phone 3 can receive various services provided by the server 8 with the server 8 that is the connection destination. The GPS unit 311 uses the common bus 301.
It is connected to the.

(Structure of Server) Referring to FIG. 4, the server 8 provides various services, and particularly provides the navigation service which is the essence of the present invention. Specifically, this server 8 is a terminal (car navigation device 1 and mobile phone 3 having a current location transmission function on a network including the mobile phone communication network 6 and the Internet 7.
(In combination with), develops interactive reasoning with the user, and provides the destination navigation information including the destination and the route guidance to the destination desired by the user to the car navigation device 1 through the mobile phone 3. It has the function of an expert system provided.

Particularly, when the server 8 exerts the function of the expert system and provides the destination route guidance information, the server 8 selects the user's destination route guidance information from among a plurality of destination route guidance information stored in advance. The destination route guidance information matching the request information is narrowed down, and the narrowed down destination route guidance information is presented to the user. Therefore, the server 8 is processed by the information processing unit 81 for converting the input voice information from the user of the terminal, which is the combination of the car navigation device 1 and the mobile phone 3, into the language information, and the conversion processing by the information processing unit 81. An information analysis unit 82 that decomposes linguistic information into parts of speech such as nouns and verbs and analyzes the meaning, a knowledge base 83 that accumulates knowledge for judgment, and an information analysis unit 82.
Based on the information accumulated in the knowledge base 83, the inference with the user is developed based on the information stored in the knowledge base 83, and the goal is the answer to the problem solution with the four attributes of time, present location, destination and route. Inference mechanism that narrows down to (infer
ence engine) 84, a real-time information analysis unit 85 that analyzes the current location information and time information as the connection acquisition information obtained when the mobile phone 3 and the server 8 are connected in real time and transfers them to the inference mechanism 84. A knowledge management unit 86 that edits and manages the knowledge of the knowledge base 83 is provided.

In the server 8, the inference mechanism (hereinafter also referred to as "information evaluation unit") 84 performs inference expansion (the target requested by the user while referring to the knowledge accumulated in the knowledge base 83). Infers the goal as) is in a sense equivalent to a so-called expert system. Such an expert system has already been applied to a medical diagnosis, an education system, or a design support system, but in the information evaluation unit 84,
As described above, the destination route guidance information desired by the user is inferred from the four attributes of time, position, purpose, and motion to narrow it down, which is different from the conventional expert system. There is. That is, the destination route guidance information desired by the user is narrowed down from the plurality of destination route guidance information stored in the personal database (described later) formed for each of the plurality of users performed by the information evaluation unit 84. It can be said that the evaluation aiming at a goal such as "is a novel feature and is one of the features of the present invention.

(1) Configuration of information processing unit The information processing unit 81 stores a voice dictionary and a translation dictionary. Therefore, the information processing section 81 refers to the voice dictionary and the translation dictionary to change the input voice information into language data at any time, and transfers the changed language data to the information analysis section 82.

(2) A Japanese analysis dictionary is stored in the configuration information analysis unit 82 of the information analysis unit. Therefore, the information analysis unit 82 decomposes the transferred language data into parts of speech such as nouns and verbs, and transfers them to the information evaluation unit 84 as semantic objects while referring to the Japanese analysis dictionary.

For example, if the language data is "I want to eat at a restaurant tonight, I want you to look for a shop" as the language data, the language "tonight" is used. Is converted to "after 18:00". In other words, in a general search system, "Sun" → "Earth", "Earth" → "Ground""Sea""Forest","Green" → "Forest",
"Red" → "Apple""Sun","Blue" → "Sky",
Although common sense words such as “sea” and “earth” and semantic related words such as general related words are not included in the search, the system of the information analysis unit 82 allows the user to search for such related words. It can be used as information for narrowing down the information that is desired.

(3) Construction of Knowledge Base The knowledge base 83 has a navigation database and a personal database which are sources of the above knowledge.

Navigation information (navigation knowledge) is stored in the navigation database, and this navigation information includes a map dictionary and the locations / telephone numbers of all institutions (including stores and leisure facilities). It includes a destination route guidance tool for searching a destination such as a landmark dictionary and a route (route) to this destination. Note that the map dictionary and the landmark dictionary are appropriately updated each time they are revised.

The personal database is created on the basis of a questionnaire or the like when a user registers as a member, and the knowledge management unit 86 performs an initial implementation in the knowledge base 83 in a state as shown in FIG. Be seen. The personal database initially mounted is additionally updated as needed in accordance with later use of the navigation service. In this way, the additional updating of the personal data is performed by "immediately inferring what the user wants from the current position information and time information when the user connects to the server 8 with the mobile phone 3 and immediately" Mr. ○ ×, is it breakfast? Today's breakfast is in △ □
A restaurant (destination) is recommended. I will guide you. The ultimate goal is to build a personal database that can present destination route guidance information such as ", that is, provide a high-quality navigation service such as your driver (user's exclusive navigator)" Because there is.

The personal database stores user's personal information (personal knowledge), social information (social knowledge) and environmental knowledge (environmental knowledge) shared with other users. The personal knowledge, the social knowledge, and the environmental knowledge are divided into three layers of surface knowledge, deep knowledge, and history knowledge.

Referring to FIG. 6, in particular, the surface knowledge, which is the first hierarchy of the personal knowledge, includes knowledge of items such as the user's name, age, occupation, sex, favorite items, favorite foods, and strengths. Remembered Such knowledge may be acquired when a user registers as a member to receive the navigation service, and at the time of this member registration, a login ID and a voice password are simultaneously registered in the server 8 for the user. To do. The deep knowledge as the second hierarchy stores information that is deeper than the surface knowledge such as the race of the user and the preference of each product. This deep information can be partially obtained by the questionnaire at the time of membership enrollment like the above-mentioned surface knowledge, but the result of using the destination route guidance provided by the previous navigation service at the beginning of the next service use Questionnaire information is provided from the server 8 side to the terminal, and the information is appropriately added or updated according to the answer information of the questionnaire information so that it is accumulated at any time. As the history knowledge as the third layer, the history of using the navigation service is accumulated as knowledge at any time.

(4) The internal memory of the configuration information evaluation unit 84 of the information evaluation unit (inference mechanism) is based on the voice information input by the user of the terminal which is a combination of the car navigation device 1 and the mobile phone 3. Refer to the knowledge accumulated in the knowledge base 83 (including navigation information in the navigation database (navigation knowledge) and personal information in the personal database (personal knowledge), social information (social knowledge) and environmental information (environmental knowledge)). While
Through the terminal (the combination of the car navigation device 1 and the mobile phone 3), the inference with the same user is developed, and the destination route guidance information according to the user's request as a goal is sent to the car via the mobile phone 3. A dialogue inference (evaluation) program for providing (presenting) to the navigation device 1 is stored.

That is, in the information evaluation section 84, the knowledge base 83 is based on the meaning object transferred from the information processing section 81 and the current location object and time object given by the real-time information analysis section 85.
While referring to the knowledge accumulated in the navigation database and the personal database, the destination route guidance information desired by the user is narrowed down and evaluated.

(5) Structure of Real-Time Information Analysis Unit The real-time information analysis unit 85 analyzes the time information at the time of connection with the server and the current position information of the user at that time in real time, and analyzes the analyzed time object and current position object. It is responsible for the processing of giving both to the information evaluation section 84.

(6) Structure of Knowledge Management Unit The knowledge base 83 has a knowledge-editing function for supporting the initial implementation of the personal database.

(Operation) Next, the operation related to the navigation service provision of the above system will be described.

(Pre-Processing) First, the user pre-registers as a member of the operating company (administrator) of the server 8 that provides the navigation service by mail or online operation.

By such member registration, the user can obtain both the login ID and the voice password required when using the navigation service of the server 8.

When the user connects to the server 8 via the mobile phone 3 and transmits the login ID and the voice password by the mobile phone 3, it is determined whether the login ID and the voice password are authentic or not. The user can receive the navigation service provided by the server 8 on the condition that the server 8 performs the authentication process and as a result of the authentication process, it is confirmed that the login ID and the voice password are authentic. become.
On the other hand, the server 8 side is associated so that it can recognize which personal information in the personal database of the knowledge base 83 corresponds to the user by the login ID transmitted from the mobile terminal.

(Flow of Navigation Service Providing Process) With reference to FIG. 7, a process flow relating to the provision of the navigation service will be described.

(1) Login Processing (Step S1) The user uses the mobile phone 3 to connect to the server 8 and operates to connect to a predetermined URL. When confirming the connection of the mobile phone 3, the server 8 automatically receives the telephone number (caller number notification) of the mobile phone 3 as the login ID, or the input unit 310 of the mobile phone 3 detects the above. Confirm whether or not the login ID is keyed. Here, when the automatic notification of the caller number is received or the key input is confirmed in the login ID, the server 8 prompts by voice to input both the date of birth and the voice password. When the input of the birth date and the voice password is completed on the user side, the server 8 performs the authentication process of the input voice password. Login I above
When the authentication between D and the voice password is completed, the server 8
Sends a call response message to the user and starts the navigation service, which is the essence of the present invention.

The reason why the birth date is requested in addition to the voice password so that the authentic use can be authenticated is based on the purpose of preventing illegal use. It goes without saying that the authentication can be performed using only one of the password and the date of birth.

[0118] Further, the "call response message" is created so as to include the user's name, and it may be changed depending on the time and season when the user's terminal (the combination of the car navigation device 1 and the mobile phone 3) is connected. It is preferable to add a changing phrase to perform an effect that enhances intimacy. At this time, it is more preferable to simultaneously extract date and time events, anniversaries, schedules, etc. from the personal information registered in advance and appropriately transmit them to the user's terminal (the combination of the car navigation device 1 and the mobile phone 3).

Furthermore, the terminal (car navigation device 1
If the history of previous provision of this navigation service remains when the server 8 is connected to the combination of the mobile phone 3) and the server 8, the destination route guidance information at that time is immediately available. Based on the above, listen to the impression of visiting the destination and collect the evaluation result information of the destination. In this way, at the beginning of connection, collecting evaluation information of visiting the destination based on the destination route guidance information provided last time is as true as possible from the psychological side of human beings. This is to obtain an evaluation result.

The collection of the evaluation information will be described with reference to a specific example. "The other day, a Chinese restaurant ○○○ (destination)
How was it? In the case where the answer information of “Evaluation is very good.” Is obtained in response to the evaluation question of “”, it is stored in the personal information shown in FIG. 5 that the expected value of the destination XX is 80% as history information. . This 80% is based on the answer information that "it was very good."

On the other hand, when there is no past history of obtaining destination route guidance information or when a predetermined period has elapsed since the last time this navigation service was used, the effect of obtaining the above evaluation information Can not be expected. Therefore, the process of collecting the evaluation information of this navigation service is omitted. The "predetermined predetermined period" is a unit such as months or years, and is a period in which the user is unlikely to remember the previous evaluation of the use of the navigation service itself. . The change of the period is achieved by changing the setting of the timer built in the server 8.

(2) Dialogue inference (evaluation introduction dialogue) processing (step S2) The server 8 is constituted by the car navigation device 1 and the mobile phone 3.
Requirement request information such as "Please tell us your requirements." Is sent to the user of the terminal, which is a combination of and.
This requirement request information is, for example, from the user side, in response to the requirement request information transmitted as a voice message, "I want to eat at a restaurant tonight, so I want you to find a store." Based on the request information and the connection-time acquisition information obtained at the time of connection, the information evaluation unit (inference mechanism) 84 uses the knowledge accumulated in the knowledge base 83 (navigation knowledge of the navigation database and the individual of the personal database). (Including knowledge, social knowledge, and environmental knowledge), it develops interactive reasoning and starts evaluation of destination route guidance information that satisfies the user's request.

As described above, the information evaluation unit 84 evaluates the evaluation of the destination route guidance information with the four attributes of the time attribute, the present location attribute, the destination attribute and the route attribute.

The above evaluation procedure will be described in detail. First, at the stage where the terminal (the combination of the car navigation device 1 and the mobile phone 3) and the server 8 are connected, the time attribute as user request information 2001
At 12:30 (connected time) on January 20, 2014, Shibuya (work place) is once defined as the value of the above attributes for the present location attribute.

[0125] After that, when the request information "I want to eat at a restaurant tonight, I want you to look for a store." Is received, the time attribute is today (January 20) at night (1
8:00 or later), the present location attribute is Shibuya, the destination attribute is a restaurant near Shibuya, and the route attribute is analyzed by searching for a guide route (route) to the restaurant,
The information obtained at the time of connection is updated at any time based on the information obtained later.

Next, the information evaluation unit 84 generates confirmation information based on the above-mentioned evaluation attributes, and updates the ambiguous portions of the above-mentioned attributes at any time based on the response information to this confirmation information. , Inducing dialogue with the user so as to obtain evaluation information that can finally narrow down the destination route guidance information sufficiently. That is, the uncertain part of the above attributes is, for example, for the above attributes,
It's not like "What time is tonight?"
The confirmation information of the phrase in the inferential and additional question form in which "tonight" is inferred as "18:00" is generated so that the dialogue is closer to that of a human. For example, based on the above-mentioned attributes (1) to (3) which are found or inferred at this stage, the user is provided with confirmation information such as "Is the time from 18:00 tonight? Is the place to eat near Shibuya?" Here, "18:00" and "near Shibuya" are inferred information and are not specified by the user himself. However, as a result of presenting this confirmation information, if not denied by the user, the information evaluation unit 84 determines that the result is YES (that is not wrong). Specifically, for example, if the user's response information to the confirmation information is “I want Aoyama or Roppongi”, “18:
It is determined that “00” is YES and “near Shibuya” is NO. The destination attribute, which was NO, is changed to "Aoyama or Roppongi" as requested by the user.

The above-mentioned attributes to be used for evaluation at this stage are "Today (January 20) night (18:00 or later)" for the time attribute and "Current location attribute" for Shibuya (working place) "and the destination attribute is" Aoyama or Roppongi restaurant "
The information evaluation unit 84 understands that the operation attribute is to search for a guidance route to the restaurant.

After that, the information evaluation unit 84 searches for store information with a high degree of expectation in Aoyama or Roppongi, for example, based on the history of past users, and if there is a hit, "the previous wedding anniversary, Roppongi. "How did you go to" ○○○ "?" Is sent. In response to the above confirmation information, when the user's response information such as "there was good. I want you to tell me a different shop again" was obtained, the information evaluation part 84 said, "there was good. "And the destination" ○○○ "was a French dish from the environmental information shown in FIG. 5, so in order to clarify the above-mentioned destination attribute, it is French cuisine or this French dish." It is inferred that it is an Italian dish similar to the dish, and confirmation information is generated based on this inference. The confirmation information generated at this time is formed by two types of phrases including a phrase in the additional question form for the first candidate, French cuisine, and a phrase in the form for inquiring Italian food, the second candidate. That is, the phrase "Is the meal good in French food or Italian food?" Is used as the confirmation information.

When response information that is completely unrelated to the above confirmation information is received, for example, "Because two people go,
I like a place where I can shop. If the response information is "," the information evaluation unit 84 determines that the answer information is "NO response to the phrase in the inquiry form", and the phrase in the additional question form is obtained. Since there is no response to, it is determined to be YES.

At this stage, the above-mentioned attributes to be used for evaluation based on "good for French cuisine" are:
For the time attribute, refer to "Today (January 20) at night (1
8:00)) ”, and for the current location attribute,
"Shibuya" and the destination attribute is "Aoyama or Roppongi French restaurant and shop to shop"
The information evaluation unit 84 understands that the route attribute is “search for a guidance route to the restaurant and the shopping store”.

[0131] Based on the above-mentioned attributes of ~ as the newly updated target, the information evaluation unit 84 asks, "Tonight, look for a French restaurant and a shop where you can shop around Aoyama or Roppongi." Confirmation information is sent.

When the user does not send the response information to the above confirmation information within a predetermined waiting time (for example, within 5 seconds), there is no additional condition, and matching (matching) with users having four attributes is performed. Understanding that the process has been completed, the process moves to the next information retrieval (evaluation) process.

The series of evaluation introduction dialogues described above are repeated until there is no response information to the confirmation information from the server 8 side, and the definition of the target goal is changed at any time.

(3) Evaluation Processing (Step S3) When the process proceeds to step S3, the information evaluation unit (inference mechanism) 8
4 is an evaluation process for narrowing down the destination route guidance information by understanding that the user has confirmed that there is no response to the confirmation information for all of the above-mentioned attributes within a predetermined period. I do.

The evaluation processing is an operation of narrowing down the optimum destination route guidance information by the evaluation program based on the personal database and the user's request information of the above attributes. In this program, if the information of the narrowed-down result is more than 10 which is the maximum number of destination route guidance information to be transmitted to the terminal 4 which is set in advance by the server 4, the user is notified to that effect. Then, the narrowing down is performed again or the destination route guidance information with the highest degree of expectation 10 is transmitted.

In the first embodiment, it is understood that the user's confirmation and consent can be obtained because the response information from the user for the confirmation information cannot be obtained within a predetermined time, and the destination route guidance is obtained. An evaluation process for narrowing down information will be performed. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the store information is always evaluated with the above-mentioned attributes, and the evaluation result is the maximum number of the destination route guidance information.
When the number of cases is less than or equal to the number of cases, regardless of the response to the confirmation information, the user is automatically notified of the evaluation candidate that "the destination route guidance information that meets the current conditions is ○". It is preferable to do so.

(4) Evaluation Candidate Transmission Process (Step S4) In the first embodiment, as a method of providing the destination route guidance information obtained by the above-described narrowing down, the user is requested to use the electronic mail service. It uses a delivery method.

Specifically, the time attribute is set to "today (January 2
Night (0th day) (after 18:00) ", the current location attribute is" Shibuya ", the destination attribute is" Aoyama or Roppongi French restaurant shopping ", and the route attribute is" the restaurant and the shopping ". If the result of the evaluation "Search for a route to the store" is seven destination route guidance information, the question is first "There are seven information, but what will be done?" On the other hand, if the user answers "Please tell me by e-mail.", The server 8 (information evaluation unit 84) sends the extracted seven destination route guidance information to the e-mail. To deliver to users.

(5) Related Information Guidance Processing (Step S5) On the other hand, when the user requests further narrowing down,
For example, if the user answers, "Where is the closest place?", "The nearest is Gaien Station on the Ginza Line" △△
△ ”, next is“ □□□ ”at Akasaka-Mitsuke Station. It is preferable to list two candidates, such as ".

In addition, when the user answered "I want a place with a good atmosphere." In response to the question "I have seven items of information, how would you like it?" Since the part 84 answers completely differently to the question, it understands that it requires further narrowing down, searches for a destination determined to have a good past atmosphere, and makes this destination the same as the same user. Find out whether there is any other user who has rated "good atmosphere" in the above, find the destination judged by other users as "good atmosphere" from the above 7 cases, and find the destination route guidance information Is delivered to the user's terminal.

That is, as described above, the vector is approximated using the history information of the user obtained by collecting the evaluation result information and the history information obtained by collecting the evaluation result information held by a plurality of other users. I try to find out the destination I made and provide it to the user. In this way, the destination route guidance information is provided to the user based on the relationship with other users who have the same hobbies and preferences. Therefore, for example, rather than the destination evaluation information collected by several reporters, it becomes possible to provide the destination route guidance information of the evaluation that matches the sensitivity of each user. This is "good atmosphere"
This is because each person's evaluation is different.

Of course, if the destination visited by the user in the past and evaluated as "good atmosphere" exists in the above seven cases, the destination route guidance information may be provided. In this case, for example, it is likely that you are looking for a destination that you have never visited from the user's response information saying "I want you to tell me a different place again", or introduce the destination and introduce it In order to collect the fee and cover the maintenance fee of the server 8, it is necessary to introduce new destinations more and more, so the priority should be directed to a destination that the user has never visited. It is preferable to construct a system that

In the above destination attribute, if the information that the purpose of visiting the destination is to eat with family or not to eat on date, the preference information of the user is not useful. Of course, the information of other users will be useful, of course.

For example, in the first embodiment, in response to a user's question “I want a place with a good atmosphere,”
"If it's a quiet shop, there is" ○○○ "on Aoyama-dori, and the chef who has a good reputation is Roppongi's" △△△ ". You can enjoy shopping."

(6) Evaluation result information collection processing (step S
6) In response to the above answer, "please send by email" from the user, or if there is no response within the specified period,
The destination route guidance information is judged to be sufficient, and two destination route guidance information are provided.

(Operation / Effect) The navigation system according to the first embodiment has the following operation / effect.

(1) Considering the current location of the user, it is possible to provide destination route guidance information including a destination near the current location of the user and route guidance to this destination. Therefore, "it provides destination guidance that is virtually impossible for users to visit."
There is no such thing. As a result, it is possible to reach the range where the navigation function replaces the so-called driver of the user (in other words, it can be said to be the exclusive navigator of the user. The same applies below).

(2) Narrowing down the destination route guidance information matching the user's request from a plurality of destination route guidance information while predicting the directionality of the information desired by the user with the connection acquisition information as an initial value. It is like this.
Therefore, in addition to the effect of (1) above, the number of input operations by the user for all necessary items for narrowing down the matching destination route guidance information from a plurality of destination route guidance information is reduced, and it is easy to handle. Navigation services can be provided. In addition, although the user does not provide it as request information, information that is insufficient for narrowing down destination route guidance information from connection acquisition information and / or preference information is supplemented, and confirmation information is generated using the supplemented information. I try to send it to the same user. Therefore, the confirmation information given to the user can include a warm, so-called healing element.

(3) Not only the preference information of the user to whom the destination route guidance information should be provided, but also the preference information of another user having similar preference to the one user is considered and stored as the preference information of the other user. It is possible to provide destination visit information that the user has never visited. Therefore, the preference information of a plurality of users stored in advance can be connected in a chain, and the user can be provided with the enjoyment of developing a new destination that matches a wider range of the users.
In this case, the destination visit information provided to one user is given priority to the destination visit information extracted from the preference information of other users and is provided to the same user. It can contribute to the accumulation of new destination knowledge. In addition, when the destination is a store or the like that operates a tertiary industry (so-called service industry), there is an advantage that the store or the like can acquire new customers.

(4) In order to generate the most efficient confirmation information for finding the desired destination guidance route information, confirmation is performed based on the information that any one of time, present location, destination and route is insufficient. The information is generated, and the initial value obtained by connecting with the terminal which is the combination of the car navigation device 1 and the mobile phone 3 is used from among time, present location, destination and route. It is designed to generate and send speculative confirmation information. Therefore, the user who received the confirmation information does not simply confirm the confirmation information such as "when are you going?", But "If it's from now, is it okay at 6 o'clock?" Or the current location information of the terminal. When the initial value is "Shibuya" and the destination information is insufficient as information to be used for narrowing down, as confirmation information, first estimate that the destination is near the current location and ask "Is it okay near Shibuya?" Confirmation information in the form of an additional question such as "?" Can be provided. In this way, when the user does not provide (do not provide) data specifically, the time, the current location, the destination, and the route are inferred to generate confirmation information, so that the user side Psychologically, there is a high possibility that the confirmation information will be perceived as warm, so-called healing confirmation information, as if a person such as a driver who is holding the confirmation information actually responds.

(5) Confirmation information in order to decompose the request information from the user into four attributes of time, present location, destination and action, and obtain any one of the missing information from the decomposed attributes. To form. therefore.
In addition to being able to perform the so-called navigation function of the user's car driver, the navigation function can be narrowed down by an efficient dialogue inference method. In addition, a well-known voice recognition system is adopted so that communication (conversation) with the server can be performed by voice input from the terminal. Therefore, even a person who needs to be accustomed to key input to the terminal can easily use it.

(6) A default value is set in any of the time and current location information, and when the request information does not include time and current location information,
When the current location information of the terminal (the combination of the car navigation device 1 and the mobile phone 3) is set as a default value as the current location, and "now" is set as the default value as the time, and when these default values are set, Form an additional interrogative phrase containing the current location and / or time set as its default value in the confirmation information. Therefore, it is possible to narrow down by an extremely efficient dialog reasoning method.

(7) The maximum number that is stored in advance and can be provided as destination route guidance information is compared with the number of the destination route guidance information that has been narrowed down, and as a result of this comparison,
If the number of destination route guidance information items that have been narrowed down does not reach the maximum number of destination route guidance information items that are stored in advance, confirmation information is transmitted again and the narrowing is repeated until the number of destination route route information items is less than or equal to the maximum number. It is like this. Therefore, it is necessary to narrow down the destination route guidance information to the extent that the user has limited specifications of the terminal (including the limited size of the display screen, etc.) and that does not make the user uncomfortable to check. Is possible.

(8) At the next connection of the terminal which is the combination of the car navigation device 1 and the mobile phone 3, the questionnaire information about the destination route guidance information transmitted last time is transmitted, and the answer information to the questionnaire information is transmitted. Is received, the preference information is updated based on the received answer information. Therefore, by appropriately updating the preference information, it is possible to provide more matched destination route guidance information to the user. In addition, by providing the questionnaire information, it becomes possible to confirm whether or not the user actually visited the destination based on the actually provided destination route guidance information.

(9) In consideration of the psychological aspect, when the response information to the confirmation information in the additional question format does not include the answer related to YES or NO for the confirmation information, the confirmation information is added. It is determined that the user has not denied, and the determination result is used for narrowing down the destination route guidance information. The confirmation information in the additional question format is in the additional question format including the destination route guidance information of the first candidate. It is made up of two types of phrases, a phrase in the form of a question that includes destination guidance route information of the second candidate or a destination route guidance information that is recommended, and the response information includes a response to the phrase of the question type. If there is not, at least the second candidate destination route guidance information is determined to be denied by the user. Therefore, a smooth and natural conversation can be established between the server and the user.

<Second Embodiment> Referring to FIG. 8, the feature of the navigation system using the Internet according to the second embodiment is that only mobile phone 3 is connected to server 8 and has a current location information function. The server 8 develops a dialog reasoning with the user of the mobile phone story ○ on a network including the mobile phone communication network 6 and the Internet 7, and the destination and this destination that the user wants. Point to provide destination route guidance information including route guidance up to, and request information of the same user from among a plurality of destination route guidance information stored in advance when providing the destination route guidance information to the user. The point is to narrow down the matching destination route guidance information and present this narrowed down destination route guidance information to the user. Other configurations and functions Effects are the same as in the first embodiment.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned first and second embodiments.

(1) The object of the present invention can be sufficiently achieved even if the storage medium storing the above-mentioned interactive inference (evaluation) program is used for the car navigation device alone.

(2) In the second embodiment, an example in which a mobile phone is applied as a terminal has been described. However, as a terminal, a network represented by an electronic notebook and a mobile computer can be constructed and the current location information is stored in a server. The same effect can be obtained even if an information terminal that can be transmitted to is applied.

Of course, various design changes and modifications can be made within the scope of the claims of the present invention.

[0161]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the navigation function can reach the range where the so-called driver of the user (the exclusive navigator of the user) is replaced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a simplified overall configuration of a navigation system using the Internet according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of a car navigation device.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of a mobile phone.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the server.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a personal database.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration related to personal information in a personal database.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing operations related to the provision of navigation services.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a simplified overall configuration of a navigation system using the Internet according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Car navigation system 3 mobile phones 6 Mobile phone communication network (packet network / PDC network) 7 Internet 8 servers 81 Information processing unit 82 Information Analysis Department 83 Knowledge Base 84 Reasoning mechanism (Information evaluation department) 85 Real-time Information Analysis Department 86 Knowledge Management Department

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) G06F 17/30 340 G06F 17/30 340B G08G 1/137 G08G 1/137 G09B 29/00 G09B 29/00 A 29/10 29/10 A H04Q 7/20 H04B 7/26 109M 7/38 H04Q 7/04 Z F term (reference) 2C032 HB05 HB22 HB25 HC08 HC11 HC14 HC16 HC27 HC31 HD16 HD30 2F029 AA02 AB07 AB09 AB13 AC02 AC06 AC08 AC18 AC20 5B075 KK07 ND20 PP07 PP24 PQ04 QS20 QT10 UU13 UU16 5H180 AA01 BB04 BB05 FF04 FF05 FF14 FF25 FF27 FF32 FF33 FF38 5K067 AA21 BB02 BB21 DD51 EE02 EE10 EE16 FF21) Inventive server and Inventive server Program storage medium used for Beam, and program storage medium that will be used in car navigation system

Claims (33)

[Claims] 1. A destination route guidance information including a destination and a route guidance to the destination which the user desires by developing a dialogue reasoning with a user of a terminal having a current location information transmission function on a network. Is provided for both the preference information including the past destination visit history obtained by the inference with the user, and the current location information at that time received from the user's terminal. Accordingly, a server for providing a navigation service, including a control content for determining the destination route guidance information. 2. A destination route guidance information including a destination and a route guidance to the destination, which the user desires, by developing a dialogue inference with a user of a terminal having a current location information transmission function on a network. When providing, the destination route guidance information that matches the request information of the user is narrowed down from a plurality of destination route guidance information stored in advance, and the narrowed down destination route guidance information is provided to the user. A server that provides a navigation service, characterized by including the following control contents. (A) Using the connection-time acquisition information, which is obtained at the time of connection with the terminal, including the current location information and the time information received from the terminal as an initial value, and transmits speculative confirmation information corresponding to the initial value to the terminal. Stages. (B) The response information of the user to the confirmation information transmitted in the step (a) is received through the terminal, and the plurality of the response information are received according to both the response information and the preference information of the user stored in advance. The step of narrowing down the matching destination route guidance information from the destination route guidance information. (C) A step of transmitting the destination route guidance information narrowed down in the step (b) to the terminal. 3. The server for providing the navigation service according to claim 1 or 2, when the destination route guidance information is provided, not only the preference information of the user but also the preference information similar to the preference information of the user. A server for providing a navigation service, further comprising control contents provided according to destination visit information that another user who has visited in the past. 4. The server for providing a navigation service according to claim 2, wherein the step (b) includes the following control contents. (B-1) In the case where the number of the destination route guidance information narrowed down is larger than the predetermined number of destination route guidance information, in order to narrow down the predetermined destination route guidance information from the plurality of destination route guidance information. To get information about time, location,
Generating confirmation information based on information that one of the destination and the route is insufficient, and transmitting the generated confirmation information to the terminal. (B-2) Based on the response information of the user to the confirmation information transmitted in the step (b-1),
A step of narrowing down matching destination route guidance information from the plurality of destination route guidance information. (B-3) Until the number of the destination route guidance information narrowed down in the step (b-2) becomes smaller than the predetermined number of destination route guidance information, the above (b-1) and (b-2). ) Repeating the above steps. 5. A destination route information including a destination and route guidance to the destination, which is desired by the user, is developed by developing interactive reasoning with a user of a terminal having a current location information transmission function on a network. At the time of providing, the destination route guidance information that matches the request information of the user is narrowed down from a plurality of destination route guidance information stored in advance, and the narrowed down destination route guidance information is provided to the user. A server for providing a navigation service, which is adapted to be presented, and which includes the following control contents. (A) The request according to both the connection-time acquisition information including the current location information and the time information received from the terminal, which is obtained at the time of connection with the terminal, and the request information voice-input by the user of the terminal. When narrowing down the destination route guidance information that matches the information, the confirmation information as voice information to be transmitted to the terminal in order to obtain any of time, current location, destination and route information from the request information is requested. Sending to the terminal as an additional question form based on the connection acquisition information. (B) The response information of the user to the confirmation information transmitted in the step (a) is received as voice information through the terminal, and is received as both the received response information and the preference information of the user stored in advance. Accordingly, a step of narrowing down the destination route guidance information to be matched from the plurality of destination route guidance information. (C) A step of transmitting the destination route guidance information narrowed down in the step (c) to the terminal. 6. The server that provides the navigation service according to claim 5, wherein a default value is set in any of the information regarding the time and the current location, and the request information includes information regarding the time and the current location. If not included, the current location information of the terminal is set as a default value as the current location, and "now" is set as the default value as the time, and if these default values are set, the confirmation information is A server for providing a navigation service, further comprising control contents for forming an additional question type phrase including a current location and / or time set as a default value therein. 7. The navigation service providing server according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that the following control contents are included between the steps (b) and (c). The server to serve. (1) A step of comparing the maximum number which is stored in advance and can be provided as the destination route guidance information with the number of the destination route guidance information which has been narrowed down. (2) As a result of the comparison in the above step (1), if the number of destination route guidance information items that have been narrowed down does not fall below the maximum number of destination route guidance information items stored in advance,
A step of transmitting confirmation information and repeating the narrowing-down step in the step (b) until the number of destination guide route information is less than or equal to the maximum number. 8. The server that provides the navigation service according to claim 1, when the next connection with the terminal is made, the questionnaire information about the destination route guidance information transmitted last time is transmitted, A server for providing a navigation service, further comprising a control content for updating the preference information based on the received answer information when the answer information to the questionnaire information is received. 9. The server providing the navigation service according to claim 5, wherein the response information for the confirmation information in the additional question format includes an answer related to YES or NO for the confirmation information. If not, the navigation service is characterized in that it is determined that the user has not denied the confirmation information, and the determination result includes the control content used to narrow down the destination route guidance information. server. 10. The server for providing a navigation service according to claim 5, wherein the confirmation information in the additional question format is an additional question format phrase including first destination route guidance information. And a phrase in the form of an inquiry including the destination guide route information of the second candidate or the recommended destination route information, and a response to the phrase in the inquiry form is included in the response information. A server for providing a navigation service, characterized in that at least the destination candidate route guidance information of the second candidate includes a control content for determining that the user has denied it if there is not. 11. A dialog reasoning is developed with a user of a terminal having a current location information transmission function on a network,
It is used by the server that provides the navigation service by providing the destination route information including the destination and route guidance to this destination, which is obtained by the user's dialogue reasoning. It is characterized by including a control program for determining the destination route guidance information according to both the preference information including the past destination visit history and the current location information received from the terminal of the same user at that time. Program storage medium. 12. A dialog reasoning is developed with a user of a terminal having a current location information transmission function on a network,
When providing destinations and destination route guidance information to this destination desired by the same user, a destination route that matches the user's request information from among a plurality of destination route guidance information stored in advance. A server that provides a navigation service by narrowing down guidance information and presenting this narrowed down destination route guidance information to the user, characterized by including the following control program: Program storage medium. (A) Using the connection-time acquisition information, which is obtained at the time of connection with the terminal, including the current location information and the time information received from the terminal as an initial value, and transmits speculative confirmation information corresponding to the initial value to the terminal. program. (B) The response information of the user to the confirmation information transmitted by the program of (a) is received through the terminal, and the plurality of the response information are received according to both the response information and the preference information of the user stored in advance. A program to narrow down the matching destination route information from the destination route guidance information. (C) A program for transmitting the destination route guidance information narrowed down by the program of (b) to the terminal. 13. The program storage medium according to claim 11, wherein the destination route guidance information is provided.
Program storage characterized by further including not only the user's preference information, but also a control program provided according to destination visit information visited by another user in the past who has similar preference information to the user's preference information Medium. 14. The program storage medium according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the program (b) includes the following control program. (B-1) In the case where the number of the destination route guidance information narrowed down is larger than the predetermined number of destination route guidance information, in order to narrow down the predetermined destination route guidance information from the plurality of destination route guidance information. To get information about time, location,
A program for generating confirmation information based on information that one of a destination and a route is insufficient and transmitting the generated confirmation information to the terminal. (B-2) A program for narrowing down matching store information again from the plurality of destination route guidance information based on the user's response information to the confirmation information transmitted by the program of (b-1). . (B-3) The above (b-1) and (b-2) until the number of the destination route guidance information narrowed down by the program of the above (b-2) becomes less than a predetermined number of destination route information. A program that repeats the program processing of. 15. A dialog inference is developed with a user of a terminal having a current location information transmission function on a network,
When providing destination route information that includes the destination and route guidance to this destination that the user wants, matching with the request information of the user from among a plurality of destination route guidance information stored in advance By narrowing down the destination route guidance information and presenting this narrowed down destination route guidance information to the user, it is used for the server providing the navigation service,
A program storage medium including the following control program. (A) The request according to both the connection-time acquisition information including the current location information and the time information received from the terminal, which is obtained at the time of connection with the terminal, and the request information voice-input by the user of the terminal. When narrowing down the destination route guidance information that matches the information, the confirmation information as voice information to be transmitted to the terminal in order to obtain any of time, current location, destination and route information from the request information is requested. , A program to be transmitted to the terminal as an additional question form based on the connection acquisition information. (B) User's response information to the confirmation information transmitted by the program of (a) is received as voice information through the terminal, and is received as both the received response information and the user's preference information stored in advance. Accordingly, a program for narrowing down destination route guidance information to be matched from the plurality of destination route guidance information. (C) A program for transmitting the destination route guidance information narrowed down by the program of (c) to the terminal. 16. The program storage medium according to claim 15, wherein a default value is set in any of the information regarding the time and the current location, and the request information includes information regarding the time and the current location. If not, the current location information of the terminal is set as a default value as the current location and "now" is set as the default value as the time, and if these default values are set, the A program storage medium further comprising a control program for forming an additional question type phrase including a current location and / or time set as a default value. 17. The program storage medium according to claim 15 or 16, wherein the following control program is included between the program processes of (b) and (c). (1) A program that compares the maximum number that is stored in advance and can be provided as destination route guidance information with the number of the destination route guidance information that has been narrowed down. (2) As a result of comparison by the program of (1) above, if the number of destination route guidance information items that have been narrowed down does not reach the maximum number of destination route guidance information items that are stored in advance,
A program that transmits confirmation information again and repeats the narrowing-down process in the program of (b) above until the number of destination route guidance information items becomes the maximum number or less. 18. The program storage medium according to claim 11, wherein at the next connection with the terminal, the questionnaire information about the destination route guidance information transmitted last time is transmitted, and the questionnaire information is transmitted. A program storage medium, further comprising a control program for updating the preference information based on the received reply information when the reply information is received. 19. The program storage medium according to claim 15, wherein the response information to the confirmation information in the additional question format is YES in the response information.
Or, if the answer related to NO is not included, it is determined that the user has not denied the confirmation information, and the control program that further uses the determination result to narrow down the destination route guidance information is included. A program storage medium characterized by. 20. The program storage medium according to any one of claims 15 to 18, wherein the confirmation information in the additional question format includes a phrase in an additional question format including first candidate destination route guidance information, and It is composed of two types of phrases, the inquiry form phrase including the candidate destination route information or the recommended destination route guidance information, and when the response to the inquiry form phrase is not included in the above response information. A program storage medium further comprising a control program for determining that at least the second candidate destination route guidance information has been denied by the user. 21. A voice input type method and / or a key operation input method is provided to guide a route to a destination to a user, and the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10. A navigation system characterized by using the described server. 22. The navigation system according to claim 21, wherein the terminal is a car navigation device connected to the network and mounted on a vehicle body. 23. The navigation system according to claim 21, wherein the terminal is an information terminal connected to the network. 24. It is mounted on a vehicle body and uses a voice input method and / or a key operation input method for a user,
It is used for a navigation device that guides a route to a destination, develops a dialogue reasoning with the user, and uses a voice output method and / or a display method to select the destination and the destination that the user wants. In order to provide destination route information including route guidance to the destination, preference information including past destination visit history obtained by interactive reasoning with the user, and the time when the user issued a request A program storage medium including a control program for determining the destination route guidance information according to both of the current location information. 25. It is mounted on a vehicle body and provides a user with a voice input method and / or a key operation input method,
It is used for a navigation device that guides a route to a destination, develops a dialogue reasoning with the user, and uses a voice output method and / or a display method to select the destination and the destination that the user wants. When providing the destination route guidance information to the destination, the destination route guidance information that matches the request information of the user is narrowed down from the plurality of destination route guidance information stored in advance, and this narrowed down target A program storage medium including the following control program for presenting the ground route guidance information to the user. (A) The inquiring confirmation information corresponding to the initial value is given to the terminal, with the on-demand acquisition information obtained at the time of the user's request including the current location information and the time information requested by the user as an initial value. program. (B) Acquiring the response information of the user to the confirmation information given by the program of (a), and selecting the plurality of destinations according to both the response information and the preference information of the user stored in advance. A program to narrow down matching destination route information from route guidance information. (C) A program that gives the user the destination route guidance information narrowed down by the program of (b) above. 26. The program storage medium according to claim 24, wherein the destination route guidance information is provided.
Program storage characterized by further including not only the user's preference information, but also a control program provided according to destination visit information visited by another user in the past who has similar preference information to the user's preference information Medium. 27. The program storage medium according to claim 25, wherein the program of (b) above includes the following control program. (B-1) In the case where the number of the destination route guidance information narrowed down is larger than the predetermined number of destination route guidance information, in order to narrow down the predetermined destination route guidance information from the plurality of destination route guidance information. To get information about time, location,
A program that generates confirmation information based on information that one of a destination and a route is insufficient, and gives the generated confirmation information to the user. (B-2) A program for narrowing down the matching store information again from the plurality of destination route guidance information based on the user's response information to the confirmation information given by the program of (b-1). (B-3) The above (b-1) and (b-2) until the number of the destination route guidance information narrowed down by the program of the above (b-2) becomes less than a predetermined number of destination route information. A program that repeats the program processing of. 28. It is mounted on a vehicle body, and by a voice input method and / or a key operation input method, to a user,
It is used for a navigation device that guides a route to a destination, develops a dialog reasoning with a user, and uses the voice output method and / or the display output method desired by the user to select the destination and the destination. When providing the destination route information including the route guidance to the destination, the destination route guidance information matching the request information of the user is narrowed down from the plurality of destination route guidance information stored in advance, A program storage medium including the following control program for presenting the selected destination route guidance information to the user. (A) The request information according to both the request-time acquisition information obtained at the time of the user's request and the request information voice-input by the user of the terminal, including the current location information and time information acquired from the user. When narrowing down the destination route guidance information matching with, confirmation information as voice information given to this user in order to obtain information on time, current location, destination and route from the request information, The program given by the user as an additional question form based on the requested acquisition information. (B) The user's response information to the confirmation information given by the program of (a) is received as voice information, and according to both the received response information and the user's preference information stored in advance, A program for narrowing down destination route guidance information to be matched from the plurality of destination route guidance information. (C) A program for transmitting the destination route guidance information narrowed down by the program of (c) to the terminal. 29. The program storage medium according to claim 28, wherein a default value is set for any of the information regarding the time and the current location, and the request information includes information regarding the time and the current location. If not, the current location information as the current location is set as a default value and "now" is set as the default value as the time, and when these default values are set, the default value in the confirmation information is set. A program storage medium further comprising a control program for forming a phrase in an additional question format including the present location and / or time set as 30. The program storage medium according to claim 29, further comprising the following control program between the program processes of (b) and (c). (1) A program that compares the maximum number that is stored in advance and can be provided as destination route guidance information with the number of the destination route guidance information that has been narrowed down. (2) As a result of comparison by the program of (1) above, if the number of destination route guidance information items that have been narrowed down does not reach the maximum number of destination route guidance information items that are stored in advance,
A program which again gives confirmation information and repeats the narrowing-down process in the program of (b) until the number of destination route guidance information is equal to or less than the maximum number. 31. The program storage medium according to claim 24, wherein when the user makes a next request, the user is given questionnaire information about the destination route guidance information presented last time, and a response to the questionnaire information. A program storage medium, further comprising a control program for updating the preference information based on the acquired answer information when the information is acquired. 32. The program storage medium according to claim 28, wherein the response information to the confirmation information in the additional question format is YES to the confirmation information.
Or, if the answer related to NO is not included, it is determined that the user has not denied the confirmation information, and the control program that further uses the determination result to narrow down the destination route guidance information is included. A program storage medium characterized by. 33. The program storage medium according to claim 28, wherein the confirmation information in the additional question format is a phrase in the additional question format including first destination route guidance information, and It is composed of two types of phrases, the inquiry form phrase including the candidate destination route information or the recommended destination route guidance information, and when the response to the inquiry form phrase is not included in the above response information. A program storage medium further comprising a control program for determining that at least the second candidate destination route guidance information has been denied by the user.