JP2003274440A - Status notice system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a status notice system wherein a plurality of predetermined members share location information of a person and a state depending on the location information without being conscious of notifying operation. <P>SOLUTION: A message client (200) mounted on a mobile terminal automatically updates a status being a value of denoting a state of a user A possessing the mobile terminal and registers the status to a server (112). Other users permitted to reference the status of the user A in advance references the status to recognize a current location and a state of the user A. <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 system for transmitting and receiving a message based on position information using a mobile terminal.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In addition to e-mail, which is the most general service, telecommunication means using an IP network include a message service in which a plurality of users exchange messages in real time for electronic conversation. There is. The message service is a service that emphasizes real-time and interactive properties compared to electronic mail, and is also called chat. In this message service, the presence service is a service for knowing a user who is connected to the network and can exchange messages. In the presence service, it is possible to exchange a status, such as “online” or “offline”, which indicates a user's state, between users. A plurality of products and services are provided as the presence service and the message service, and the standard specifications are defined by RFC2778.

Further, as a means for knowing the state of a specific partner, there is a system for notifying the existence of a user by moving a device at a remote place based on the operation information of home electric appliances such as electric pots. This is to answer the need to confirm the existence of the other party without having to keep in touch with each other by telephone or e-mail, and it is not necessary for both the notifier and the notified person to actively perform the operation. Is a feature.

On the other hand, although mobile phones and PHS were originally developed for telephone calls, these days, in addition to the telephone call function,
Various services using location information are appearing.
For example, a system that calculates the position information of a person who owns a mobile terminal based on the arrival time of radio waves from one or more base stations to the mobile terminal and provides it to the person or a third party has already been provided as a service. There is. Also, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-299
Japanese Patent No. 891 discloses a technique for controlling a home electric appliance located in a remote place based on position information of a person who owns a mobile terminal. There is an error of 100 m to several 100 m in the accuracy of position detection by the mobile terminal and the base station.
By using S, the accuracy can be increased to several tens of meters.

[0005]

Problems to be Solved by the Invention There is a need to communicate the current position and status between family members and friends who are located far away, or members of an organization such as a company. On the other hand, although it is possible to make contact using e-mail, message service, mobile phone, etc., the user who notifies even regular and standard contact performs the operation for notification one by one. There is a need. In addition, the user who receives the notification also needs to receive the message, open the message, and pick up the phone, which gives a feeling of mutual bondage. On the other hand, there is a service in which the tracker unilaterally receives the position information of the target person by using the position information from the mobile terminal. However, such services are for the purpose of protecting children and old people with wandering habits, and are not suitable for use by equal family members or friends.

[0006] Further, when it is desired to contact a friend or a member of the same organization who is at the same place on the go, it is possible to contact a specific member by a mobile phone.
It is difficult to contact if you do not know who is nearby.

[0007]

According to the present invention, information dependent on position information is automatically disclosed to a predetermined partner based on the position information, so that the position information of a specific partner can be obtained. And a system for notifying the status of a notifier who depends on location information.

The present invention is a system for facilitating mutual discovery of members by registering information of persons existing in a certain place in a server based on position information for a group composed of a plurality of members. I will provide a.

The present invention comprises one or more wireless base stations, I
P network, a mobile terminal capable of specifying position information based on radio waves from the base station, and a plurality of communication software installed in the mobile terminal or PC and communicating with each other through the base station and the IP network In the system described above, the communication software holds a status indicating the state of the user, and a status editing unit that changes the status managed by the communication software based on the position information of the mobile terminal, and a unit that records the status. And a means for designating a partner to be notified of the updated status at the time of updating the status, and a means for notifying the updated status.

Further, the communication software holds a response policy instructing to execute a predefined operation when the status notified from the other communication software and the status managed by itself correspond to a certain condition. When the information that actually matches the conditions is received, it has means for executing the defined operation.

[0011]

1 is a system configuration diagram in a first embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, the base station 1 (120) is in the vicinity, and the cellular phone and the location information service can be used.
The user A passing through this point has the mobile terminal A (100). In addition, the server (112) for the message service and the presence service operated by the network provider Y is I of the network provider Y.
It is connected to the P network Y (110). The server (112) provides a message service and a presence service defined in RFC2778. The user A is subscribed to the message service and the presence service, the mobile terminal A has a client (200), and the user A is from the mobile terminal A (100) to the base station (120) and mobile unit. It is possible to access the server (112) via the IP network X (111) operated by the communication carrier X and the IP network Y (110) to use the message service and the presence service.

On the other hand, a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a PC) installed in the home of the user A (131)
Is an IP operated by the Internet provider Y through an access network such as ADSL via the router (130).
It is connected to the network Y (110). This PC
Also has a message client (200).

In the above system configuration, the mobile terminal A
The client (200) of (100) can obtain position information by radio waves from the base station. The position information is information indicating a location such as "ZZ address, YY town, Totsuka ward, Yokohama city, Kanagawa prefecture".

FIG. 4 shows the server (11
FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram of a presence service included in 2). The presence service is a server (11) that operates on a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a PC) or the like.
2) and clients (412, 413). The server (400) has a list (401) of users who are currently connected to the presence service and an access control list (40) that restricts reference to user information.
2) Hold and. The user list (401) includes a user name (403), an address (404), and a status (4).
05), the access control list (402) is registered with each user name (406) and the user name (407) whose status can be referred to. In the presence service, the status is a character string that describes the state of the user who uses the presence service, and can take any value such as “waiting for contact” and “working”. In this presence service, the clients (412, 413) use the server (11).
The status of the own user can be set in 2) (408). When the client designates a target user and performs status notification registration (409), when the status of the target user changes, the server notifies the registered client of the status change of the target user (410). ). This allows the client to know the status change of a particular user.
In addition, the user has access control list (402)
It is possible to limit the users who can refer to the status by setting (411).

The presence service is originally a service for knowing the connection member of the message service, and informs the existence on the network. In this embodiment, the status of the user A is linked with the position information, so that the presence service can be used to allow the user A and the user B to mutually confirm the physical location or the state of the user depending on the location. Furthermore, by providing a mechanism for the message client to automatically register the status in the server and automatically respond to detected status changes, such as voice playback and message transmission, the status notifier and recipient The notification person will be able to confirm the position information and the state depending on the position information without performing the operation for contacting each other.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the message client (200) built in the portable terminal A (100). The message client issues a status setting for the presence service based on the presence service setting information (500), an access control list setting for the status, and a status notification registration request, a setting / registration request transmission unit (204). And a status acquisition unit (205) that acquires the status of another user
And read the message entered by the user,
Presence service setting information including a message sending unit (210) for sending using a message service, a message receiving unit (206) for receiving and displaying the sent message, and its own status registered in the server (112). Presence setting / editing unit (202) for registering, changing, and deleting information, presence setting recording unit (203) for holding presence settings, position information acquisition unit (201) for obtaining position information from the mobile terminal (100), and automatic response target Response policy rule editing unit (208) that defines the message and the status and the response content, and the response policy recording unit (209) that records the edited policy (300)
A response policy evaluation unit (207) for instructing execution of a predefined process according to the sender or content of the received message; a sound reproduction unit (211) for reproducing a registered voice; A message / sound recording unit (21) that holds the written message and sound.
2) consists of and.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the response policy (300). The response policy (300) consists of one or more response policy rules (310). The response policy rule (310) is composed of a condition section (301) that specifies the conditions of the automatic response and an action section (302) that specifies the content of the automatic response.
In 1), the user name (303) who notified the status,
It is possible to specify the notified status (304) and the status (305) of the user who possesses the mobile terminal equipped with the message client. The action section (302) specifies a process (307) to be executed when the status of another user or oneself and the received message satisfy the condition, and a file name (308) of a file used in the specified process. As the above process (307), the reproduction of the voice registered in advance and the transmission of the message registered in advance are designated,
Which voice and message to use depends on the file name (30
Specify in 8).

For example, response policy rule 1 (311)
Indicates that the status of user A is "coming home", and
When the status of the owner of the portable terminal or PC equipped with the message client is "waiting for contact", "registered sound 1" is reproduced. The response policy rule 2 (312) is such that when an arbitrary status is received from an arbitrary user, when the status of the user B who is the owner of the mobile terminal or PC equipped with the message client is the same as the received status. , "Registered sentence 1" is transmitted as a message to users having the same status. The user can implement such a response policy rule by the message client (20
(0, 200) is registered using the response policy rule editing unit (208).

FIG. 5 shows a message client (200).
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the configuration of presence service setting information (500) held by FIG. The presence service setting information (500) includes a status (501), a status public user list (502) that is a list of user names of users who are allowed to refer to the status (501), and a status requesting notification of status. Acquisition user list (5
03) and a status map (504) showing correspondence between position information and status.

When the presence setting / editing unit (202) of the message client (200) receives new position information from the position information acquiring unit (201), the presence information editing unit (202) receives the position information based on the status map (504). Then, the status (501) is determined and updated, and the status is registered in the server. Further, the presence setting / editing unit (202) sets a status public user list (502) in the server and limits the users who can acquire the own status. Further, the presence setting editing unit (202) requests the server to notify the user of the status included in the status acquisition list (503). The status map (504) is composed of a combination of position information (505) and status (506), but it is also possible to associate a plurality of position information with one status. When a plurality of pieces of position information are associated with one status, when the plurality of pieces of position information are acquired in the registered order, the own status (501) is changed to the associated value. .

FIG. 6 is a screen transition diagram of the portable terminal (100) when the status map (504) in the presence service setting information (500) is created.
The underlined part in each screen is the character string entered by the user,
Other than that, the character string is displayed on the screen of the mobile terminal (100). The mobile terminal (100) includes a main button for registering and confirming screen display contents and a button for inputting letters and numbers. The role of the main button is displayed in the center of the bottom of the display.

The mobile terminal (100) has a function list of the communication software (200). When the user selects "create status map" from the function list, the status registration screen (901) is displayed on the mobile terminal (100). 100) on the display. Then, the user inputs a character string representing the status on the status registration screen (901) and presses the main button that signifies the registration to register.

Next, the portable terminal (100) displays the position information input screen (902). Location information input screen (9
02) displays the options of the position information input method and prompts the user to make a selection. Options for inputting position information include “direct input” in which the user inputs position information using a button and “current position information” in which the current position information acquired by the mobile terminal (100) is used. The user uses the numeric buttons to select the input method for the positional information. Click the 0 button to select “Direct Input” and the 1 button to select “Current Position Information”.
Press the button.

When the user selects "direct input" on the position information input screen (902), the portable terminal (100) displays the position information direct input screen (903). The user is
The position information is input to the position information direct input screen (903), and the main button that signifies the determination is pressed.

When the user selects "current position information" on the position information input screen (902), the portable terminal (100)
Displays the current position information screen (904). The user is
The displayed current position information screen (904) is confirmed, and if it is the intended position information, the main button which means “determine” is pressed.

When the registration of the position information is completed, the mobile terminal (100) displays the status map confirmation screen (905). The status map confirmation screen (905) displays the registered status and the position information associated with the status. The user confirms the displayed content,
Press the main button, which means registration. Now, the combination of the status and the position information is the status map (50) in the presence service setting information (500).
4) is registered.

When the user selects "reference status map" from the function list, the registered status map (504) is displayed on the status map screen (906). The status map screen (906) displays the registered status, and the user selects an arbitrary status and presses the main button to display the selected status.
Transition to 5). The user can confirm the registered status map (504) by referring to the status map confirmation screen (905).

FIG. 7 is a message sequence diagram for making a contact based on position information. User A and User B
Is a family, and both subscribe to the above message service and presence service.

First, the user B uses the presence setting editing unit (202) of the message client (200) of the PC to add the status public user list (502) and the status acquisition user list (503) of the presence setting (500) to the user. A is registered (601). on the other hand,
The user A uses the presence setting editing unit (202) of the message client (200) of the mobile terminal A possessed by the user B in the status setting user list (502) and the status acquisition user list (503) of the presence setting (500). In addition, two status information “XX line Totsuka station” is registered in the status map (504),
"YZ, YY, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa" and "coming home"
Are associated with each other (602). That is, the mobile terminal A (10
0) is "XX line Totsuka station", "YY, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa"
When the signals are received in the order of “town ZZ address”, the user A is considered to be home.

Next, the user B and the user A use the response policy editing section (208) of the message client of the PC (131) possessed by the response policy rule 1
(311) is registered (603, 604).

Further, the user B uses the presence setting editing section (202) at home to set the presence setting (500).
The inside status (501) is changed to "waiting for contact" (605). The presence setting editing unit (202) passes the changed status to the setting / registration request transmitting unit (204). The setting / registration request transmission unit (204) sets the status in the server (112) (606). Further, registration is performed in the server so as to notify the status of the user A (607).

On the other hand, the user A passes through the station area and the message client (200) of the mobile terminal A (100).
The location information acquisition unit (201) first acquires “XX line Totsuka station” as position information, then acquires “XX address, YY town, Totsuka ward, Totsuka ward, Yokohama city, Kanagawa prefecture”, and the presence setting editing unit ( 202). Presence setting editor (2
02) refers to the status map (504) and changes the status (501) of the presence setting (500) to “coming home” which means that he / she is about to go home (60).
8) Pass it to the setting / registration request transmission unit (204). Configuration·
The registration request transmission unit (204) uses the status (50
1) is set to the server (112) (609).

The server (112) receives the status setting request of the user A and notifies the message client (200) of the user B's PC (130) of the changed status of the user A, "coming home" ( 610). Status acquisition unit (2) of message client (200)
05) receives the status notification message and passes it to the response policy evaluation unit (207). Response policy evaluation unit (2
07) evaluates the response policy rule example 1 (311). Then, when the passed status and the self status satisfy the condition, the processing specified as the action is executed. Specifically, the response policy evaluation unit (207) instructs the sound reproduction unit (211) to reproduce the registered sound 1 registered in advance (613). The sound reproducing unit (211) takes out the registered sound 1 from the message / voice recording unit (212) and reproduces it.

As a result, the user B hears the registered sound 1,
Know that user A is "at home". That is, the user B can notify the user A of the current position and the status without performing a special operation for contacting both the user A and the user B.

Next, a second embodiment will be described. In the second embodiment, only the differences from the first embodiment will be described.

FIG. 8 is a system configuration diagram in the second embodiment of the present invention. In the area C in the present embodiment, the base station (120) is nearby and a mobile phone can be used. The user A who uses the area C has the mobile terminal A (100a). In addition, the server (112) for the message service and the presence service operated by the network provider Y is I of the network provider Y.
It is connected to the P network Y (110). The user A is subscribed to the message service and the presence service, the mobile terminal A has a message client (200a), and the user A is from the mobile terminal A (100a) to the base station (120) and the user. IP network X (111) operated by mobile telecommunications carrier X to which A subscribes, and the above-mentioned IP network Y
It is possible to access the server (112) via (110) and use the message service. On the other hand, user B (201) who uses the same area C
Owns a mobile terminal B, and this mobile terminal B (200
b) also has a messaging client (200b) and subscribes to messaging and presence services.

In the above system configuration, the mobile terminal A
The message client (200a) of (100a) receives the signal transmitted by the base station (120) and identifies the location of the user A.

In the present embodiment, the message clients (200a) (200b) and the presence setting information (50
0), the structure of the response policy rule (300) is the same as that of the first embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a message sequence diagram for finding a friend. The user A and the user B are friends, and the user A has a presence setting editing unit (202) of the message client (200a) of the portable terminal A possessed by the user A and the user A.
Using, the user B is registered in the status public user list (502) and the status acquisition user list (503) of the presence setting (500), and further, in the status map (504), the area information “area C” is displayed. The status "area C" is associated (801).

On the other hand, the user B has a portable terminal B (1
00b) using the presence setting editing unit (202) of the message client (200b), user A is added to the status public user list (502) and status acquisition user list (503) of the presence setting (500).
Is registered and the status map (504) associates “area C”, which is position information, with the status “area C” (802).

The user A has a portable terminal A (100
Using the response policy editing unit (208) of the message client (200a) of a), the response policy rule 2
Register (313) (803).

The user B enters the area C, and the location information acquisition unit (201) of the message client (200b) of the mobile terminal B passes "area C" as location information to the presence setting editing unit (202) to set the presence setting. The editing unit (202) refers to the status map (504) and refers to the status (501) of the presence setting (500).
Is changed to “Area C” (804) and passed to the setting / registration request transmission unit (204). The setting / registration request transmission unit (204) sets this status (501) in the server (112) (805). Further, the status notification is registered in the server so as to notify the status of the user A (8
06).

Similarly, the user A also enters the area C, and the position information acquisition unit (201) of the message client (200a) of the mobile terminal A passes "Area C" as the position information to the presence setting / editing unit (202). The presence setting editing unit (202) refers to the status map (504) and refers to the status (5) of the presence setting (500).
01) is changed to “Area C” (807) and passed to the setting / registration request transmission unit (204). This status (50
1) The setting / registration request transmission unit (204) uses the server (1
12) (808). Further, status notification registration is performed in the server so as to notify the status of the user A (809).

Next, the server (112) notifies the message client (200b) of the mobile terminal B of the user B of the status of the user A (810). The message client (200b) receives the notification, and the response policy evaluation unit (207) sends the response policy rule 2 (31).
2) is evaluated, and if the condition is satisfied, the process designated by the action is executed (811). Specifically, the notified status and the self status are compared, and if the values are the same, the registration statement 1 is used as the body of the user A.
A message is transmitted to (812).

User A's message client (20
The message receiving unit (206) of 0a) receives the message, and the user A can know that the user B is in the same place.

As a result, both user A and user B can discover each other without performing a special operation for contact.

[0048]

According to the present invention, the state of the other party can be obtained without both the notifier and the notified person actively performing the operation for notification. Therefore, both the notifier and the notified person can save the trouble of repeating the same control and the standard notification,
It is possible to prevent forgetting to execute the operation, and to feel no constraint. In addition, it is possible to convey a rough state.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram in a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a functional configuration diagram of a message client according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a response policy rule in the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a system configuration of a presence service in the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing presence setting information in the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a screen transition diagram for creating a status map in the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a message sequence diagram in the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a system configuration diagram in the second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a message sequence diagram in the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 ... Mobile terminal A, 112 ... Server, 130 ... Router, 131 ... PC, 200 ... Message client,
131 ... PC, 110 ... IP network Y, 111 ...
IP network X, 200 ... Message client, 120 ... Base station, 201 ... Location information acquisition unit, 202
... presence setting / editing section, 203 ... presence setting recording section, 204 ... setting / registration request transmitting section, 205 ... status acquisition section, 206 ... message receiving section, 207 ... response policy evaluation section, 208 ... response policy editing section, 209 ...
Response policy recording unit, 210 ... Message transmitting unit, 21
1 ... Sound playback unit, 212 ... Message / voice recording unit, 300 ... Response policy, 500 ... Presence setting.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A base station equipped with one or more wireless base stations, an IP network, a mobile terminal capable of identifying its own position information based on radio waves from the base station, the mobile terminal or a PC, In a system composed of a station and a plurality of communication software which communicate with each other through the IP network, the communication software holds a status indicating a state of a user, and based on position information of the mobile terminal, Status editing means for changing the status, means for recording the status, means for designating a partner to notify the updated status when the status is updated,
The communication software further has means for notifying the updated status, and the communication software performs a predefined operation when the status notified by the other communication software and the status managed by the communication software match certain conditions. A status notification system having means for holding a response policy for instructing execution and means for executing an operation defined in accordance with the response policy when information matching the condition is received. 2. The status notification system according to claim 1, wherein the communication software has means for registering a combination of one of the status and one or more of the position information, and the combination and the current position information. Status notification system characterized by changing status based on. 3. The status notification system according to claim 1, wherein the communication software has means for editing the response policy. 4. The status notification system according to claim 1, wherein the communication software has a function of reproducing a prerecorded voice as means for executing the defined operation. . 5. The status notification system according to claim 1, wherein the communication software realizes a presence service and a message service. 6. A mobile terminal capable of data communication according to an IP protocol, wherein the communication software is installed. 7. The status notification system according to claim 1, wherein the status is a character string representing a state of the user determined by the position information.