JP2003209886A - Mobile terminal, position information providing system, and imaging system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an imaging system that allows a digital camera to acquire up-to-date place name/facility name at all times and to easily print out the place name/facility name on a photographing image without e.g. the need for enlarging the camera and the need for provision of place searching data and character fonts in the camera itself. <P>SOLUTION: In the imaging system, a mobile phone 70 calculates latitude and longitude information by using a GPS receiver built in the mobile phone 70 itself and transmits the information to a position information service center 110, which generates the newest position information data, the mobile phone 70 obtains the newest position information data, and the mobile phone 70 uses local wireless communication to transmit the position information data to the digital camera 30. Thus, the digital camera 30 can print out place name/facility name data on the photographed image. <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 portable terminal device having a positioning means for positioning the current position, a position information providing system for providing position information on a place name and a facility name based on the positioning information of the current position, and the above-mentioned. The present invention relates to an image capturing system that adds position information provided by a position information providing system to a captured image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A global positioning system using signals from a Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite has already been incorporated into general-purpose products.

Further, in recent years, a current position positioning method using a personal handyphone system (PHS) telephone device proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-327064 and a mobile phone proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-322752. A current location positioning method using a signal from the base station has been proposed. The current position positioning method using a PHS telephone device proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-327064 selects specific map information corresponding to the area designation information in each area set in a cell shape. By calculating the current position information as the position on the selected map information, it is possible to measure the current position without using GPS or the like.
Further, the current location positioning method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-322752 is that "a mobile station apparatus converts a first unique signal sequence PN1 from a PN1 generating section into a predetermined format by a transmission signal processing section and uses it as a position estimation reference signal. The transmitting unit transmits to the base station device, and the base station device transmits the second unique signal sequence PN2 from the PN2 generating unit to the mobile station in synchronization with the first unique signal sequence PN1 received by the receiving unit. Then, the mobile station compares the phases of the first peculiar signal sequence PN1 transmitted and the second peculiar signal sequence PN2 received by the phase comparison unit to obtain a phase difference, and based on the phase difference, the base station The estimated distance to the mobile station is calculated by the distance calculation unit to estimate the position of the mobile station. "

Further, as in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-103537, a proposal has been made to download and utilize position information relating to a user's current location from a data center using a mobile phone communication line. This is a position information notifying method of notifying a predetermined computer of the position information of the mobile communication terminal acquired in the mobile communication network accommodating the mobile communication terminal capable of wireless communication.

However, the products having these positioning system functions only use the current position data for their own applications, and do not supply the position information regarding the current position to other products.

On the other hand, although digital cameras have been widely used in recent years, the function of imprinting a date on a photograph taken has been well known since the days of film cameras. As a similar function, printing a photographed place name has been proposed as a GPS-equipped camera by Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 5-224290 and 8-313988. The camera disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 5-224290 receives positioning radio waves from GPS satellites, and displays position information based on the received radio waves on a display unit of the camera or a recording medium. In addition, JP-A-8-3139
The camera disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 88 selects an external storage medium corresponding to a shooting location from a plurality of external storage media in which place names are stored for each predetermined area, and mounts the external storage medium on the camera. , The place name corresponding to the position information output from the GPS receiver is searched, and the place name information indicating the searched place name is recorded on the film.

Since these are equipped with a GPS receiver, the camera itself becomes large, and there is a lot of processing on the camera side, and it is necessary to install a high-speed CPU. In addition, it is necessary to have a huge place name database in a recording medium in the camera, which has a drawback of increasing cost.

Further, even if the place name data can be stored in the camera without increasing the cost, the place name and the facility name are constantly updated, and it is impossible or impossible to install new place name data in the camera. It requires a lot of work for the user.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and does not require, for example, a digital camera itself to be large in size, and does not require place name search data or character fonts in the camera itself. An object of the present invention is to provide a mobile terminal device, a position information providing system, and an image capturing system that can always obtain the latest place name / facility name and easily print the place name / facility name on a photographed image.

[0010]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a portable terminal device according to the present invention is provided by a current position positioning device for positioning the current position to obtain positioning information, and a current position positioning device. Positioning information transmitting means for transmitting the measured positioning information to the positional information supplying device which supplies the positional information regarding the place name and the facility name from the positioning information, and the positional information according to the positioning information transmitted by the positioning information transmitting means. A position information receiving means for receiving the position information transmitted from the supply device, and a wireless communication means for transmitting the position information received by the position information receiving means to the image photographing devices existing in the vicinity by a wireless signal. .

In order to solve the above problems, the position information providing system according to the present invention is a mobile terminal that transmits the positioning information obtained by positioning the current position to an external device and receives the position information based on the positioning information. A position information providing system comprising an apparatus and an external supply device that is an external device that supplies position information according to the positioning information to the mobile terminal device, wherein the mobile terminal device measures the current position and performs positioning. Depending on the current position positioning means for obtaining information, the positioning information transmission means for transmitting the positioning information obtained by the current position positioning means to the external supply device, and the positioning information transmitted by the positioning information transmission means. Position information receiving means for receiving the position information transmitted from the position information supplying device, and device for receiving the position information received by the position information receiving means by radio signals in the vicinity. Wireless communication means for transmitting to the external supply device, the external supply device, other positioning information including the positioning information transmitted from the positioning information transmission means of the portable terminal device, and the place name, facility corresponding to these other positioning information A database means for accumulating position information about the name and a searching means for searching the position information based on the transmitted positioning information by referring to the database means are provided.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the image capturing system according to the present invention transmits the positioning information obtained by positioning the current position to an external device and receives the position information based on the positioning information. And an external supply device that is an external device that supplies position information according to the positioning information to the mobile terminal device, and a subject is photographed based on the position information passed from the external supply device via the mobile terminal device. An image capturing system including an image capturing device that displays a place name and a facility name on a captured image, wherein the mobile terminal device measures a current position to obtain positioning information, and the current position positioning device. Positioning information transmitting means for transmitting the positioning information obtained in step 1 to the external supplying device, and transmission from the position information supplying device according to the positioning information transmitted by the positioning information transmitting means. The external supply device is provided with position information receiving means for receiving the received position information, and wireless communication means for transmitting the position information received by the position information receiving means to image capturing devices existing in the vicinity by a wireless signal. Is a database means for accumulating position information related to other positioning information including the positioning information transmitted from the positioning information transmitting means of the mobile terminal device, a place name corresponding to these other positioning information, and a facility name, The image capturing device includes a search unit that searches the position information based on the transmitted positioning information by referring to the database unit, and the image capturing device transmits the position information transmitted from the wireless communication unit of the mobile terminal device. Wireless communication means for receiving the position information by a wireless signal, position information recording means for recording the position information received by the wireless communication means on a recording medium, and the position information recording means. Comprising a position information addition means for adding to the image reads the recorded position information, an image recording means for recording the image position information is added by the position information adding unit in the image recording medium.

According to this image capturing system, for example,
By transmitting the latitude and longitude (positioning information) obtained from the position measuring device (current position measuring means) built in the mobile phone to the position information service center (position information supplying device), the position information data (position information) is obtained. By acquiring and transmitting the position information data to the digital camera (image capturing device), the place name of the place where the image is captured can be attached to the captured image (photographic image).

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. This embodiment is an image capturing system as shown in FIG. 1, and includes a mobile phone device 70, a position information service center 110, and a digital camera 30. This image capturing system transmits the latitude and longitude calculated by the GPS receiver built in the mobile phone device 70 to the position information service center 110, and causes the position information service center 110 to create the latest position information data. The device 70 obtains the latest position information data, and further, the position information data is transmitted from the mobile phone device 70 to the digital camera 30 using local wireless communication. As a result, the digital camera 30 can print the place name / facility name data on the captured image.

The portable telephone device 70, as shown in FIG.
There is a function capable of wirelessly communicating with the base station 62 from the baseband processing unit 83 through the RF unit 82 and the mobile phone antenna 81 so that voice communication and packet communication can be performed. It is displayed on the LCD 75. In addition, the mobile phone device 70
Uses the baseband processing unit 83 to the RF unit 82 and the mobile phone antenna 81 to configure a mobile phone signal positioning processing unit that receives a base station signal from the mobile phone base station 62 for position measurement. In addition, the mobile phone device 70 is
A GPS receiver (hereinafter, referred to as a GPS unit) that receives GPS signals from the PS satellites 61 is also provided. The GPS antenna 91 constitutes the GPS unit, and the mobile phone antenna 8
Reference numeral 1 constitutes the mobile phone signal positioning processing unit. The mobile phone device 70 also includes a local wireless communication unit similar to that included in the digital camera 30, and the local wireless communication antenna 103 constitutes the local wireless communication unit. The mobile phone signal positioning processing unit 80 receives the radio wave from the mobile phone base station 62 at the mobile phone antenna 81, and
The F processing unit 82 extracts the signal, and the baseband processing unit 83 processes the signal. Then, the position difference of the processed signals is measured by the position measuring unit 84 to obtain the latitude and longitude of the current position. Also, processed during voice communication and packet communication,
Information about the communication status and operation is displayed on the LCD 75 through the LCD control unit 74.

The GPS unit 90 receives the radio wave from the GPS satellite 61 by the GPS antenna 91, extracts the signal by the RF processing unit 92, processes the signal by the position measuring unit 93, and obtains the latitude and longitude of the present location.

The local wireless communication unit 100 transmits / receives data to / from peripheral devices. The data to be transmitted is mixed with the transmission wave in the local radio baseband processing unit 101 through the communication control unit 104, and the RF unit 10
2. It is possible to transmit to peripheral devices through the local wireless communication antenna 103. Conversely, it can also receive data from other devices.

The cellular phone signal positioning processing unit 80 and the GPS unit 9
The latitude / longitude of the current position calculated by 0 is passed to the CPU 72 through the interface (I / F) unit 71.

The latitude and longitude of the current position passed to the CPU 72 are signal-processed by the baseband processing unit 83, and the RF unit 8
At 2, the signal is put on the transmission wave and transmitted from the mobile phone antenna 81.

The portable telephone device 70 also has a built-in program ROM 76, which enables the operating system (O
S) or application software executed subsequently to this OS, specifically, a program for transmitting the latitude and longitude to the position information service center 110 after measuring the current position is stored. These programs are C
Memory 72 taken out by the PU 72 to the memory 73
Is used as a work area.

Further, the portable telephone device 70 is connected to the CPU 72 via a bus with a key input section 77 including a position information button 77a. The key input unit 77 is a general term for the 10 keys necessary for making a call, operation buttons such as a call button, screen operation buttons, and the like. The position information button 77a is a button that the user presses when he / she wants to acquire position information regarding the current position. When the position information button 77a is pressed by the user, the CPU 72 performs a process of acquiring position information.

Next, the configuration of the digital camera 30 will be described with reference to FIG. Focus control unit 35
An image of a subject photographed using the lens 36 whose focus is adjusted by is converted into an image signal by the CCD 37 and recorded in the photographing memory 38 as a digital signal (image data). The image of this subject (photo image) is LC
It is displayed on the LCD 40 via the D control unit 39, and the user confirms this and presses the shutter 41.

In addition to the above, the digital camera 30 records a photographed image on a memory card 50 described later, or a recording / reading unit 45 for reading out the photographed image recorded on the memory card 50, and a memory card control unit. There is 46.

The memory card 50 is a memory stick that has been widely used in recent years as a storage medium for digital cameras and notebook PCs (personal computers).
(Registered trademark) or the like, a nonvolatile flash memory is mounted inside, and data can be held and read.

Further, the digital camera 30 has a local wireless communication section 31 which realizes a local wireless communication function,
Data is transmitted and received through the communication control unit 43.

Further, the digital camera 30 is provided with a CPU 42 which controls the operation of each section via an internal bus. A request signal output from the digital camera 30 to the mobile phone device 70 is transmitted from the CPU 42 via the communication control unit 43 to the baseband processing unit 32 of the local wireless communication unit 31.
The signal is processed by the RF processor 33, and the RF processor 33 puts it on the transmitted wave.
It is wirelessly transmitted to the navigation device 10 from the local wireless communication antenna 34. On the contrary, the mobile phone device 70
Radio waves wirelessly transmitted from are received by the local wireless communication antenna 34, extracted by the RF unit 33, processed by the baseband signal processing unit 32, and transmitted to the CPU 42 via the communication control unit 43.

The digital camera 30 also has a flash memory 44. The flash memory 44 usually stores a program for operating the CPU 42, and the program automatically starts when power is input. When the digital camera is a high-end model, various data may be stored in the flash memory 44. For example, frame data for decorating the edge of a photograph and character font data for character writing are stored.

The digital camera 30 may store the character font data in the memory card 50. Further, the spot search data referred to according to the latitude and longitude may be stored in the flash memory 44 or the memory card 50. This digital camera 30
Does not have a character font. If the digital camera 30 has a character font, the location information service center 110 generates a place name character code and receives the place name character code via the mobile phone device. The place name can be printed.

The location information service center 110 is shown in FIG.
As shown in, the subscriber processing device 111 connected to the mobile phone base station 62, the subscriber / billing information database (DB) 112 connected to the subscriber processing device 111, and the subscriber processing device 111 are also connected. Position information supply device 1
13 and a position information database (DB) 114 connected to the position information supply device 113.

The subscriber processing device 111 refers to the subscriber / billing information DB 112 that the mobile phone device is an authorized one when the mobile phone is accessed through the mobile phone base station 62. While judging.

As shown in FIG. 4, the position information supplying device 113 is a workstation computer for a data server which is generally widely used. CPU 122, subscriber processing unit I / F unit 121, HDD via internal bus
123, display control unit 124, memory 1
26 and the database reading unit 127 are connected. The subscriber processing device 1 / F unit 121 is an I / F with the subscriber processing device 111. Display control unit 124
Is connected to the display 125. DB reading unit 1
27 is connected to the position information DB 114.

The position information supplying device 113 can send and receive data to and from the mobile phone device 70, and stores data such as addresses and facility names in various places according to the latitude and longitude from the mobile phone device 70. It can be read from the information DB 114 through the DB reading unit 127.

The position information DB 114 stores the position data according to the record format shown in FIG. It includes not only latitude and longitude, but also data type, range polygon, and place name facility name character string. Of these, as shown in FIG. 6, the data types are classified into 11: prefectures, 12: municipalities, 13: large letters, 10: administrative boundaries, and 2
1: Restaurant, 22: Hotel, 23: Amusement park ... 20: Facility name, 31: Intersection name, 32: Road name ... 30: Road-related name, and 40 : Postal code, 50: Area code, 60: Station ... Further, the range polygon is a polygonal line for expressing the shape, and here, as shown in FIG. 7, it is given by a point and a line indicating the effective range of the place name or the facility name. It is a polygon, and the data string is the difference latitude from the latitude / longitude of the reference point (polygon reference point: N0) to the next nearest point (N1), the difference longitude, and the difference from N1 to the next point (N2). Latitude, differential longitude, and differential latitude, differential longitude from N2 to the next point (N3), ...
In FIG. 7, for the points indicating the effective range of the city A, the differential latitude and the differential longitude from the polygon reference point to the next point sequentially form a data string. FIG. 8 shows the format of the range polygon. Including the latitude and longitude of the polygon reference point, N pieces of data related to latitude and longitude, that is, the reference point and each difference data are described. The position information DB 114, which stores data regarding these positions, is constantly updated with the latest data. Next, the operation of the image capturing system shown in FIG. 1 will be described in detail. This operation includes position information acquisition processing in the mobile phone device 70, position information generation / transmission processing in the position information service center 110, processing for transmitting the place name / facility name from the mobile phone device 70 to the digital camera 30, and digital processing. The process of receiving the place name / facility name data by the camera 30 and the process of printing the place name / facility name by the digital camera 30 can be divided.

First, the position information acquisition processing in the mobile telephone device 70 and the position information generation / transmission processing in the position information service center 110 including the steps that proceed simultaneously with the position information acquisition processing will be described. The user is the mobile phone device 70
It is assumed that the position information button 77a is pressed because the user wants to obtain the position information regarding the current location using.

The portable telephone device 70, which recognizes that the position information button 77a has been pressed, uses the portable telephone line to
Access the location information service center 110. At the location information service center 110, the subscriber / billing information D
Using the subscriber information in B, it is confirmed whether or not the subscriber processing device 111 is an access from a legitimate mobile phone subscriber, and whether or not the subscriber can receive the location information service. To confirm. The subscriber processing device 111 determines that the access is from a legitimate mobile phone subscriber, and authenticates that the subscriber can receive the location information service. The center 110 transmits the code of authentication OK to the mobile phone device 70.

The position information service is a service that a mobile phone subscriber can receive in advance by, for example, promising a payment of about 100 yen per month. For this charge, the mobile phone device uses a digital camera or a mobile information terminal. It also includes a claim for the right to transfer location information to (PDA). The mobile phone device 70 that has received the code of the authentication of the location information service from the location information service center 110 is
The position information request data to be transmitted to the position information service center 110 is created based on the latitude and longitude of the current position calculated by the GPS unit 90.

An example of the position information request data is shown in FIG. This position information request data is described in XML, and a request (<request>) tag indicating what kind of position information the user wants and a latitude / longitude (<pos>) tag indicating the user's current location. And a format (<format>) tag indicating the geodetic system of latitude and longitude and units. In the example of FIG. 9, in the request tag (<request>) tag, an address (<address>) tag that indicates a more detailed address than the municipality called “Oaza” and the closest 3 from the current location. Facility name (<poi>) tag of the location and data format (<style>) tag indicating that the location information you want to receive is a bitmap (bitmap) format image using a character string (string) and character font There is. The latitude / longitude (<pos>) tag indicates the latitude / longitude by a latitude (<lat>) tag and a longitude (<lon>) tag. Also, a format indicating the geodetic system and units
The (<format>) tag describes the geodetic system data indicated by the datum (<datum>) tag and the unit of latitude and longitude indicated by the unit (<unit>) tag. These data formats are registered in advance by the user using the user interface of the mobile phone device.

Then, the portable telephone device 70 sends the created location information request data to the location information service center 1
Send to 10.

The position information service center 110 checks whether or not the received position information request data is in the correct format, and if the position information request data is judged to be correct, the position information is calculated based on the latitude and longitude written in the position information request data. The data of DB114 is read, the positional information suitable for the present location of the user and desired by the user is searched, and the positional information data is created. The record format of the position information DB 114 has already been described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 10 shows a specific example of the XML portion of the position information data created by the position information service center 110 reading out data from the position information DB 114 based on the position information request data and searching it. The address (<address>) related to the address of the bold character level in the request (<request>) tag that has been described in the location information request data.
>) Tags and the facility name (<poi>) tags at the three closest locations from the current location are used to generate the data. In other words, this location information data is data represented by an address (<address>) tag that indicates the address of the user's current location and a facility name (<poi>) tag that indicates the three closest facility names from the current location. is there. The address (<address>) tag is a character string (<string>) tag indicating a character string indicating the address of the current location in a large-scale (bruise) level, and a bitmap (<bitmap>) indicating the character string with bitmap data. ) Includes data by tag. In addition, the facility name (<poi>) tag is the facility name (<name>) tag for three facilities near the user, the distance (<distance>) tag indicating the straight line distance to the facility, and the facility name With the string bitmap (<bitmap>) tag,
It composes data according to the description content of the request data. The bitmap indicating the character string does not exist as actual data in the XML format data, and only the character string bitmap data name is, for example, "bitmap1" or "bit".
Map2 ”and“ bitmap3 ”are shown, and the actual bitmap data is XML format data as shown in FIG.
After (XML part), for example, "Odaiba Kaihin Koen" corresponding to "bitmap1", for example "○○" corresponding to "bitmap2"
“Δ ×” and “bitmap3” correspond to, for example, “Δ × ○ Δ”. An example of a character string bitmap corresponding to "bitmap1", such as "Odaiba Kaihin Koen", is shown in FIG.

The position information data created by the position information service center 110 is transmitted to the portable telephone device 70.

The portable telephone device 70 which has received the position information data displays the position information on the LCD 75 as shown in FIG. 13 so that the user can confirm it (position information display 130). In this position information display 130, following the so-called title, which is the current position information, three peripheral facilities in which an address and a linear distance are written together, and latitude and longitude are displayed. Also,
A communication sensitivity meter 131 and a battery voltage remaining meter 132 are also displayed on the LCD 75. The mobile phone device 70 includes the above-mentioned mobile phone line antenna 81 and GP.
The S antenna 91, the local wireless communication antenna 103, and the position information button 77a are arranged at predetermined positions. Further, next to the position information button 77a, a screen operation button 140 for performing a screen operation described later is arranged. The screen operation button 140 is a so-called jog dial button, and is a rotation and push-in operation unit that moves a cursor by a rotation operation by a user and makes a selection decision by a push-in operation by the user.

Next, referring to FIG. 14, the portable telephone device 7 will be described.
The procedure of the position information acquisition process at 0 will be described. This is a procedure in which the CPU 72 follows the position information acquisition program stored in the program ROM 76.

In step S41, it is confirmed whether or not the position information button 77a has been pressed by the user, and if it is determined that the position information button 77a has been pressed (YES), the portable telephone device 70 proceeds to step S42 and moves to the position information service center 110. to access.

At the accessed location information service center 110, this access is an access from a legitimate subscriber of the mobile telephone device 70, and there is a problem in certifying that it is a subscriber who can receive the location information service. Authentication is performed on the mobile phone device 70 after determining that there is no
Send the K code.

Whether the authentication is OK or not is determined in step S4.
When it is confirmed in step 3 that the result of authentication OK is sent from the position information data service center 110, the mobile phone device 70 determines in step S44 GPS
The position information request data described above is created from the latitude and longitude calculated by the unit 90. If the authentication OK is not sent from the location information data service center 110, the mobile phone device 70 ends the location information acquisition process.

When the creation of the position information request data in step S44 is completed, the portable telephone device 70 proceeds to step S45 and transmits the position information request data to the position information data service center 110.

On the side of the position information data service center 110, the position information data is created as described above based on the position information request data, and is sent to the portable telephone device 70.

The portable telephone device 70 confirms in step S46 whether or not the position information data is received, and if it is determined that the position information data is received (YES), the process proceeds to step S47 and the position information data is displayed on the LCD 75. It is displayed as shown in FIG.

Next, the procedure of position information generation / transmission processing in the position information service center 110 will be described with reference to FIG. This is the CPU 1 of the position information supply device 113.
22 is a procedure according to the position information generating / sending program stored in the HDD 123 or the like.

First, in step S51, the portable telephone device 7
Confirm whether or not there is access from 0. If the subscriber processing device 111 determines that the access is from an authorized mobile phone subscriber, the process advances to step S52 to authenticate whether or not the mobile phone subscriber can receive the location information service. If the subscriber processing device 111 determines in step S52 that there is no problem in authentication, the process proceeds to step S53, and the location information service center 110 transmits a result of authentication OK to the mobile phone device 70. If the authentication check in step S52 determines that the authentication cannot be performed (NG), the position information generation / transmission program ends.

After transmitting the authentication OK to the portable telephone device 70 in step S53, the location information service center 110
Waits for the reception of the position information request data from the mobile phone device 70 (step S54), and when received, proceeds to step S55 to check whether the received position information request data is in the correct format. Here, if it is determined that the position information request data is in the correct format, the position information supply device 113 of the position information service center 110 proceeds to step S56, and the position information is determined based on the latitude and longitude in the position information request data. Search the DB 114. That is, the position information suitable for the user's current location and desired by the user is searched.

Then, the position information data is created as described above in step S57, and the position information data is transmitted to the portable telephone device 70 in step S58.

Next, the process of transmitting the place name / facility name from the portable telephone device 70 to the digital camera 30 will be described.

The user confirms the positional information data displayed as the positional information display 130 on the LCD 75 of the portable telephone device 70 shown in FIG. 13 and displays the optimum place name / facility name for the place to be printed on the photograph. The operation button 140 is used to make a selection as shown in FIG. For example, as shown in FIG. 16 (A), the screen operation button 140 is rotated to move the cursor 133 to a desired place name, and the screen operation button 140 is pushed in to display “Odaiba Kaihin Koen 1
When “0 m” is selected, the LCD 75 displays a status display of “current position information transmission” as shown in FIG. 16B, and the selected place name “Odaiba Kaihin Koen” and the latitude and longitude are displayed below it. It is displayed and it is displayed that the camera is being searched (display screen 134).

Then, the portable telephone device 70 searches for the digital camera 30 capable of receiving the place name / facility name through the local wireless communication unit 100. Digital camera 30
If it is found, the bit map of the place name / facility name is transmitted to the digital camera 30 using the local wireless communication unit 100. From this mobile phone device 70 to the digital camera 30
The procedure of the process of transmitting the facility name will be described with reference to FIG. This is a procedure in which the CPU 72 follows the place name / facility name data transmission program stored in the program ROM 76.

First, in step S61, it is checked whether or not the user has selected a place name to be transmitted to the digital camera, and if it is determined that the place name has been selected (YES), the process proceeds to step S62. In step S62, the mobile phone device 70 searches the local wireless communication unit 100 for a digital camera 30 that can receive the place name / facility name. In step S63, the digital camera is checked, and if found (YES), the process proceeds to step S64.
Place name / facility name data (bitmap) selected by the user
Is transmitted to the digital camera 30. If no digital camera is found in step S63 (NO), this process ends.

Next, the process of receiving the place name / facility name data in the digital camera 30 will be described. Here, the description will proceed assuming that the digital camera 30 can receive the place name / facility name data. First, if the mobile phone device 70 is searched, the mobile phone device 70 is replied that the place name / facility name data can be received. When the place name / facility name data sent from the mobile phone device 70 is received, the place name / facility name data is recorded in the flash memory 44 of the digital camera.

FIG. 18 shows a procedure of receiving processing of place name / facility name data in the digital camera 30. This is CP
U42 is flash memory 44 or memory card 5
This is a procedure according to the place name / facility name data reception program stored in 0.

First, in step S71, it is confirmed whether or not the mobile phone device is searched, and if it is determined that the search is made (YES), the process proceeds to step S72, and the place name / facility name data can be received. This is returned to the mobile phone device 70.

Then, in step S73, it is confirmed whether or not the place name / facility name data is received, and it is received (YES).
If it is determined, the process proceeds to step S74 and the received place name / facility name data is recorded in the flash memory 44.

As described above, the place name / facility name data is a bitmap because the digital camera does not need a character font and can be easily pasted on a photographed image.

Next, a place name / facility name printing process in the digital camera 30 will be described. When the user puts the digital camera 30 in the shooting standby state and presses the shutter 41 toward the subject, the digital camera 30 checks whether the flash memory 44 has place name / facility name data. If there is place name / facility name data, a bitmap of the place name / facility name is attached to the photographed image, and the photographed image is recorded in the memory card 50.

FIG. 19 shows a procedure of a place name / facility name printing process in the digital camera 30. This is a procedure according to the place name / facility name printing program stored in the flash memory 44 or the memory card 50 by the CPU 42.

First, in step S81, it is confirmed whether or not the photographing standby state is set by the user. If the photographing standby state is set (YES), step S8 is performed.
The process proceeds to 2 and waits for the shutter 41 to be pressed.

If it is determined in step S82 that the shutter has been pressed (YES), step S8
In step 3, it is checked whether or not there is place name / facility name data in the flash memory 44. If it is determined that there is place name / facility name data in the flash memory 44 (YES), the flow advances to step S84 to attach the place name / facility name bitmap to the captured image, and then step S84.
Proceed to step 85 to record the photographed image in the memory card 50. If, in step S83, the flash memory 4
If it is determined that there is no place name / facility name data in 4, the process skips step S84 and proceeds to step S85 to record only the captured image in the memory card 50.

According to the image capturing system 60 described above, it is possible to obtain a photograph in which a place name is printed. That is, in the image 55 obtained by photographing the subject with the digital camera 30, characters indicating the place name "Odaiba Seaside Park" are printed in the lower left corner.

As described above, according to the image capturing system 60, the data about the place name can be received by the digital camera 30 while the user is not aware of the troublesome work. The digital camera 30 has a GP
Since the S receiver is not installed, the camera itself does not become large, and the place name search data and the character font are not required for the digital camera 30, and the place name can be easily printed on the photographed image.

In the image capturing system 60 described above, an example of using the GPS system, the mobile phone positioning information system, or the GPS One positioning system using both the GPS signal and the radio wave from the mobile phone base station is used for positioning the present location. However, the present invention is not limited to this, an assisted GPS system that receives positioning data from GPS satellite orbit data, a differential GPS system that receives data that can cancel a positioning error, and a snap trap that performs GPS signal processing on a center server. System, PHS base station radio positioning system, short-wave or long-wave radio positioning system for televisions and radios, and positioning systems such as gyro, compass, and map matching may be used.

Further, the above-mentioned image photographing systems 1 and 60
2.4GHz, which is called Bluetooth, is a local wireless communication method that sends and receives place name / facility name data.
Although it has been described that the wireless communication uses the z band, the present invention is not limited to this, and IEEE8O2.11 communication in the 5 GHz band, a wireless communication system used in a mobile phone or a cordless phone, FM.
Modulation wireless communication or infrared communication may be used.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the example in which the memory card 50 is a memory stick (registered trademark) has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a semiconductor device called by another name. A magnetic recording method such as a memory card, a hard disk, a flexible disk, or an optical disk method such as a CD-R or a mini disk may be used.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, an example in which the device for receiving the place name / facility name data is a digital camera has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a personal computer PC or a portable terminal device equipped with a CCD camera is provided. (PDA),
It may be a photographing device such as a video camera or a film camera.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, it is stated that XML is used for the position information request data and the position information data, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the binary data format, ASCII character format, HTML (HyperText Markup Langu).
age) format, WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) format, PostScript (page description language developed by Adobe Inc. in the US), JAVA (registered trademark) script (Sun Microsyste in the US)
Program development language developed by ms Inc.).

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, it has been stated that the place name / facility name data transmitted to the digital camera uses the bitmap which is the most general image format format used in the PC, but the present invention is not limited to this. No, "JP
EG ”(Joint Photograph Experts Group),“ PNG ”
(Portable Network Graphics), "GIF" (GRAPHICSIN
Image compression methods such as TERCHANGE FORMAT) are also acceptable.

[0075]

The portable terminal device, the position information providing system, and the image capturing system according to the present invention can be used, for example, without increasing the size of the digital camera (image capturing device) itself.
The location name / facility name can be easily obtained by printing the latest location name / facility name without requiring the location name search data and character fonts on the camera itself.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall view of an image capturing system according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a mobile phone device that constitutes the image capturing system.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a digital camera that constitutes the image capturing system.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a position information supply device in a position information service center that constitutes the image capturing system.

FIG. 5 is a record format diagram of a position information database.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the definition of data type.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a range polygon.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a format of a range polygon.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of position information request data.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of position information data.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a structure of position information data.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a place name / facility name by a bitmap.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of position information display on the LCD of a mobile phone device.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a procedure of location information acquisition processing of the mobile phone device.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a procedure of position information transmission processing at a position information service center.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of a place name selection process to be transmitted to a digital camera performed by a mobile phone device.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing a procedure of processing for transmitting place name / facility name data from a mobile phone device to a digital camera.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing the procedure of a place name / facility name data reception process in a digital camera.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing a procedure of printing processing of place name / facility name data in the digital camera.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 digital camera, 31 local wireless communication unit, 70
Mobile phone device, 80 mobile phone signal positioning processing unit, 81
Mobile phone antenna, 90 GPS unit, 91 GPS antenna, 100 local wireless communication unit, 103 local wireless communication antenna, 110 position information service system

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) H04Q 7/20 H04B 7/26 106A 7/34 H04Q 7/04 Z F term (reference) 5C022 AA13 AB00 AC00 AC01 5J062 AA08 BB05 CC07 FF01 HH00 HH04 5K024 AA71 CC11 DD01 DD06 FF03 FF04 GG10 5K067 AA34 EE02 EE07 EE10 EE12 FF03 JJ56

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. Current position positioning means for positioning the current position to obtain positioning information, and position information for supplying the positioning information obtained by the current position positioning means with position information relating to a place name and a facility name from this positioning information. Positioning information transmitting means for transmitting to the supply device, position information receiving means for receiving the position information transmitted from the position information supplying device according to the positioning information transmitted by the positioning information transmitting means, and the position information A mobile terminal device, comprising: wireless communication means for transmitting the position information received by the reception means to an image capturing apparatus existing in the vicinity by a wireless signal. 2. The mobile terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the positioning information transmitting means transmits the positioning information to the position information supplying device using a mobile phone line. 3. A mobile terminal device that transmits positioning information obtained by positioning the current position to an external device and receives position information based on the positioning information, and position information corresponding to the positioning information. A position information providing system including an external supply device that is an external device that supplies the position information to the mobile terminal device, wherein the mobile terminal device measures the current position and obtains positioning information, and Positioning information transmitting means for transmitting the determined positioning information to the external supply device, and a position for receiving the positional information transmitted from the positional information supply device according to the positioning information transmitted by the positioning information transmitting means. The external supply device includes an information receiving unit and a wireless communication unit that transmits the position information received by the position information receiving unit to a device existing in the vicinity by a wireless signal. A database means for accumulating position information on other positioning information including the positioning information transmitted from the positioning information transmitting means of the terminal device, and a place name and a facility name corresponding to the other positioning information; and the database means. A location information providing system, comprising: a search unit that refers to and retrieves location information based on the transmitted positioning information. 4. The external supply device receives the positioning information transmitted from the positioning information transmitting means of the mobile terminal device using a mobile phone line via a mobile phone base station. The position information providing system according to claim 3. 5. A mobile terminal device that transmits positioning information obtained by positioning a current position to an external device and receives position information based on the positioning information, and position information according to the positioning information. From an external supply device that is an external device that supplies an image of a subject on the basis of position information passed from the external supply device via the mobile terminal device, and an image capturing device that displays a place name and a facility name. In the image capturing system, the mobile terminal device transmits current position positioning means for positioning the current position to obtain positioning information, and positioning information obtained by the current position positioning means to the external supply device. Positioning information transmitting means, position information receiving means for receiving the position information transmitted from the position information supplying device according to the positioning information transmitted by the positioning information transmitting means, and the position The external supply device is transmitted from the positioning information transmission unit of the mobile terminal device, the wireless communication unit includes a wireless communication unit that transmits the position information received by the information reception unit to an image capturing device existing in the vicinity by a wireless signal. Based on the other positioning information including the positioning information, a database means that stores position information about a place name and a facility name corresponding to the other positioning information, and the positioning information transmitted by referring to the database means. And a wireless communication unit that receives the position information transmitted from the wireless communication unit of the mobile terminal device by a wireless signal, and the wireless communication unit. Position information recording means for recording the received position information on a recording medium, and position information for reading the position information recorded in the position information recording means and adding it to the image. Imaging system comprising: the adding means, and image recording means for recording the image position information is added by the position information adding unit in the image recording medium.