JP2004280350A - System and method for retrieving and providing service limited to area - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a means for easily providing a service limited to a specific place or area. <P>SOLUTION: This service providing system is provided with a tag/universal object ID converting means for converting tag information into universal object ID, one or more local servers for retrieving first information associated with the universal object ID, a global area server for retrieving second information associated with the universal object ID and a local server specifying means for specifying the corresponding local server from the location. First information and second information are at least partially made differen from each other. Thus, it is possible to provide a service to be provided so as to be associated with the first information by limiting the service to a specific place or area. It is possible to provide another service associated with the same universal object ID by associating the service with the second information different from the first information. That is, it is possible to separately provide the service as a service to be provided much more globally. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a service providing system and method for searching for a service, and more particularly to a service providing system and method for providing a service limited to a specific place.
[0002]
[Prior art]
As introduced in the Nikkei Communication article below, it was known to extract information about an item from a tag attached to the item and use it for inventory management, etc. A system for searching for and providing a service associated with an article or the like has not been known.
[0003]
Accordingly, the applicant of the present application associates an identifier with a product or the like in the earlier patent application 2002-109629 “Service providing system and service providing method”, reads this identifier, and searches for and provides a service associated with the product or the like. The system was proposed.
[0004]
FIG. 1 shows a simplified configuration of the configuration disclosed in the earlier application by the present applicant. In the following, the system shown in FIG. 1 uses a tag 101 for a product or the like, a mobile terminal 102 such as a mobile phone, a PDA, or a notebook computer, and a mobile network 103 (in the earlier application, the network is specified as a mobile network. Although not described in this specification, in this embodiment, a network for a mobile phone service, that is, a mobile network will be described as an example, a portal server 104, a UDS server 105 (a wide area including an identifier analysis server 1051 and a service discovery server 1052). Service search server) and a service 106 associated with the object. Hereinafter, such a system will be referred to as a UDS (Ubiquitous Discovery Service) system for convenience. In particular, the UDS system disclosed in the earlier application by the present applicant is referred to as a “UDS system based on the earlier application”. It shall be. Next, an outline of the operation of the UDS system according to the earlier application will be described.
[0005]
The user's mobile terminal is equipped with a tag reading device such as an infrared ray, bar code reader, and RF-ID reader, and can read the tag. The read tag is sent to the portal server via the mobile network, and is transferred to the identifier analysis server 1052 in the UDS server 105 therefrom. Therefore, the read tag is converted into a unique identifier called a universal identifier (hereinafter referred to as universal ID), which is used centrally for identifying a product or the like in the UDS system, and is returned to the portal server. This universal ID can be handled as an identifier in the UDS system.
[0006]
When there is a request for a service search related to a product or the like, the portal server transmits the universal ID to the service discovery server in the UDS server, and receives a ticket group 1053 of the related service. The ticket is service provision information, and includes information such as a service location (URL) associated with a product or the like, an information provider, and a service type. The service is selected based on the ticket (a specific example of the ticket is shown in FIG. 6). To select a service, the portal server performs filtering based on the user's personal preference information, or the portal server creates a menu based on the ticket and presents it to the user, and the user selects from the presented items. There is a way.
[0007]
In recent years, an information providing service has been provided which searches for information on a nearest restaurant, for example, by applying that a mobile (or PHS) network can detect the current position of a mobile phone or PHS.
[0008]
[Non-patent document 1]
Nikkei Communication February 3, 2003 issue, "Everything has a miniature wireless tag built-in-product tracking via the Internet is possible.
[0009]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The UDS system according to the earlier application is a global service based on a network such as a mobile telephone network. The same service can be provided nationwide if the mobile phone network provider covers the whole area of one country. While this is convenient, it can be inconvenient for users and service providers. A user moves anywhere with a mobile terminal and requests information according to the place where the user has moved, and a service provider may want to provide a service corresponding to the place. For example, information that is valid only for mobile users in one area of Tokyo may be less valuable as information to people in other areas. Further, there is a case where information about a customer in a certain store is not desired to be given to a person other than the customer. In such a case, it is necessary to detect the current location of the user and thereby select a service.
[0010]
In the UDS system according to the earlier application, location information is written in the ticket, and the portal server can select a service according to the location of the user. In this case, if the latitude and longitude are written in the ticket in accordance with, for example, POIX (Point of Interest eXchange language), information as a "point" can be obtained, but information such as "in a park" can be obtained. It is not possible to write information on the range (for the POIX specification (Version 2.0 Document Revision 1), see http://mostect.aplix.co.jp/poix.html). If the area is expressed in a rectangular shape, the data becomes complicated, and as a result, the information amount of the ticket increases. Also, when searching for a service for a user in Osaka, the portal server picks up a ticket for a service relating to an unrelated place such as Tokyo or Hokkaido, and narrows down information on Osaka from there. Furthermore, even if there is an information service that you want to provide only to customers who come to the store, such as the sales price of products in the store, if you register it in the UDS system that provides nationwide services, that information will also be available to other customers and peers. May be known.
[0011]
Further, in the earlier application filed by the present applicant, in selecting a service to be actually provided to a user from among many services searched using an identifier, there are a place where the service is provided and a user. It is also disclosed that search results are narrowed down by using location information, such as selecting a closest business location by comparing locations. However, this uses the current position as a condition for narrowing down information in an information search service provided regardless of a location, similarly to the above-described information providing service for each area using a mobile (or PHS) network. In that sense, it is not to search for services from location information.
[0012]
In view of these problems of the related art, the present invention provides a method of searching for a service associated with an object, and searching for a specific service in another place. However, by providing a system and method that can be searched when searching at a specific place, it is possible to easily provide a service specific to a place or a region, and to provide a product other than a specific place or region. It is another object of the present invention to easily realize that a specific service associated with is reliably prevented from being provided. Here, "things" include not only physical objects such as industrial products and buildings, but also conceptual objects having no physical entities such as services and data. An object can be tagged with an identification tag by using a barcode, an RF-ID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag, or another method. In addition, to attach a tag to data, for example, there is a method of embedding a tag in the data. Everything ID can be associated with this tag.
[0013]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The service providing system and method of the present invention have the following several modes for achieving the above object.
[0014]
The first to twentieth aspects relate to the service providing system, and the twenty-first to twenty-third aspects relate to the service providing system.
[0015]
A first aspect is a tag-universal ID conversion means for converting tag information into a universal ID, one or a plurality of local servers for searching for first information associated with the universal ID, A service providing system comprising: a global server for searching for associated second information; and a local server specifying unit for specifying a corresponding local server from a position, wherein the first information and the second information are provided. Is at least partially different.
[0016]
According to the first aspect, tag information for identifying an object is converted into a universal ID managed in the present system. Then, a service can be associated with the universal ID, and first and second information (for example, access destination information of the service) can be associated with the service. Since the first information and the second information can be different from each other, even if the universal ID is the same, the service related to the information searched between the local server and the global server is different. It can be. Here, the local server is specified from the position by the local server specifying unit. Therefore, for example, if the location of the user is known, a local server covering the location can be specified, and a service corresponding to the location of the user can be provided. In addition, by associating the second information associated with the same universal ID with a service different from the first information, for example, a service for providing a wider area, those services can be provided separately.
[0017]
According to a second aspect, in the service providing system according to the first aspect, the local server identification unit includes: a unit for receiving information indicating a spatial position; and a local server corresponding to the local server from the information indicating the spatial position. It has means for specifying.
[0018]
According to a third aspect, in the service providing system according to the first or second aspect, the local server specifying means includes means for transmitting an address of the local server corresponding to the position, and means for receiving the transmitted address.
[0019]
According to a fourth aspect, in the service providing system according to any one of the first to third aspects, the first information is at least partially different between some or all of the local servers. . Therefore, the user can use different information for each local server according to the position where the local server is located.
[0020]
In a fifth aspect, the service providing system according to any one of the first to fourth aspects is characterized in that the first information retrieved by the local server specified by the local server specifying means and the first information retrieved by the global server. Service request mediating means for receiving the second information.
[0021]
According to a sixth aspect, in the service providing system according to the fifth aspect, the service request mediating means is configured to send the location information to the local server specifying means.
[0022]
According to a seventh aspect, in the service providing system according to the fifth or sixth aspect, the service request mediation means is configured to send the tag information to the tag-everything ID conversion means.
[0023]
According to an eighth aspect, in the service providing system according to any one of the first to seventh aspects, the local server includes first information finding means for extracting the first information based on the universal ID.
[0024]
According to a ninth aspect, in the service providing system according to any one of the first to eighth aspects, the global server includes a second information finding means for extracting the second information based on the universal ID.
[0025]
According to a tenth aspect, in the service providing system according to any one of the first to ninth aspects, the tag-everything ID conversion means is an identifier analysis server provided in a global server.
[0026]
According to an eleventh aspect, in the service providing system according to the tenth aspect, a tag-everything ID conversion unit is provided in a local server. According to such a configuration, the local server itself can more quickly convert to the universal ID without receiving the universal ID from the global server.
[0027]
According to a twelfth aspect, in the service providing system according to any one of the eighth to eleventh aspects, the service request mediating means receives the universal ID converted by the tag-universal ID converting means, and sends the universal ID to the first information finding means. The sending, local server is configured to send the universal ID to a higher order local or global server. According to the twelfth aspect, by configuring the upper-level local server to send the universal ID to the higher-level local server, the local server can be configured in multiple stages. In this case, if a different service is searched for and provided for each local server in each stage, server maintenance becomes easier, and the user can more easily select a service to be used. become.
[0028]
According to a thirteenth aspect, in the service providing system according to any one of the ninth to eleventh aspects, the service request mediating means receives the universal ID converted by the tag-universal ID converting means and outputs the first and second information. Configured to send to the discovery means.
[0029]
According to a fourteenth aspect, in the service providing system according to any one of the first to thirteenth aspects, the local server confirms a position of the user when providing information to the user. According to the fourteenth aspect, the system can check whether the user who is to receive the service is actually present in the service target area when providing the service. Therefore, the service can be prevented from being provided to a person who is not qualified to use the service.
[0030]
According to a fifteenth aspect, in the service providing system according to any one of the fifth to twelfth or fourteenth aspects, the local server has address information of the global server, and communicates with the global server specified by the address information. Then, the second server retrieves the second information retrieved by the global server and sends the second information to the service request mediating means together with the first information.
[0031]
According to a sixteenth aspect, the service providing system according to any one of the fifth to fifteenth aspects further includes a terminal device for reading the tag information and sending the tag information to the service request mediation unit. According to the sixteenth aspect, the user can use the service by operating the terminal devices arranged in each area. Furthermore, if the terminal device is a portable terminal that can be carried by the user, the user receives a service corresponding to each area by moving the terminal device to the area targeted by each local server with the terminal device. be able to.
[0032]
According to a seventeenth aspect, in the service providing system according to the sixteenth aspect, the service request mediating means sends the first information or the second information to the terminal device according to a selection signal sent from the terminal device. Is configured to be selected. According to this aspect, the user can use the terminal device to select the information provided by the local server and the information provided by the global server, and use any desired service.
[0033]
According to an eighteenth aspect, in the service providing system according to the sixteenth or seventeenth aspect, the terminal device generates position information of the user and sends the position information to the service request mediation means.
[0034]
According to a nineteenth aspect, in the service providing system according to any one of the sixteenth to eighteenth aspects, the terminal device and the service request mediation unit are connected via a mobile network. As the network, a mobile network, that is, a network for an existing mobile phone service that is already widely used can be used.
[0035]
According to a twentieth aspect, in the service providing system according to any one of the first to nineteenth aspects, the first information is information on a service uniquely provided in an area under the control of each local server, and Is information on services commonly provided to the area controlled by the global server.
[0036]
A twenty-first aspect is a method for providing a service in a service providing system including one or a plurality of local servers and a global server, wherein a step of reading position information and a step of reading tag information for identifying an object Converting the tag information into the universal ID, identifying the corresponding local server from the position information, and searching the identified local server for the first information associated with the universal ID, Retrieving second information associated with the universal ID in the global server, wherein the first information and the second information are at least partially different.
[0037]
In a twenty-second aspect, the method according to the twenty-first aspect further includes a step of receiving the retrieved first information and the second information, and a step of presenting the received information to a user.
[0038]
According to a twenty-third aspect, the method of the twenty-second aspect further comprises the steps of selecting the received information and activating a corresponding service based on the selected information.
[0039]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, the term "service" includes not only a service that involves some processing for a certain target but also a service that presents information as it is.
[0040]
2 and 3 show the configurations of the first and second embodiments of the present invention, respectively. Each of the information providing systems (UDS systems) according to the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 has a configuration in which the local server 202 is connected to the UDS system according to the earlier application. The first embodiment shown in FIG. 2 uses GPS for detecting the position of the user, and the second embodiment shown in FIG. 3 uses an infrared beacon for detecting the position of the user. Specifically, the network address of the local server 202 that controls the location is received by the infrared beacon.
[0041]
Hereinafter, the first embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2 will be described. However, the following description is different from the first embodiment except for a part related to detection and authentication of a user's position and a unit for specifying a local server. The same applies to the second embodiment. Note that, in an example applied to a supermarket chain company described later, the second embodiment is adopted. The UDS server 105 in these embodiments of the present invention does not necessarily need to provide a nationwide service, but provides a uniform service to the entire service area covered by the entire UDS system. Can be configured as Although the local server can be further hierarchically arranged between the local server 202 and the UDS server 105, in the present embodiment, the only higher-level server (parent server) for the local server 202 is the UDS server 105, which is It is a higher server. Hereinafter, this uppermost UDS server is referred to as a “global server”.
[0042]
The components of the embodiment described below can be associated with the components in the respective aspects described in the means for solving the above problems as follows. That is, the tag-everything ID conversion means is the identifier analysis server 1051 (FIGS. 2 and 3) in the global server, the service request mediation means is the portal server 104 (FIGS. 2 and 3), and the local server identification means is the local server identification means. In the local server database 1031 (FIG. 2), the first and second information discovery means are respectively stored in the local service discovery server 2021 and the global service discovery server 1052 (FIGS. 2 and 3). Can be associated with the tickets 2022 and 1053, respectively.
[0043]
The local server 202 provides a service to a limited area (area) (a store, a shopping mall, a museum, a theme park, a department in a company, or the like) (that is, the local server determines a jurisdiction area in which the service is provided). Have). The local server 202 includes a local service discovery server 2021 for searching for a service associated with the thing, that is, the thing ID, from the thing ID for identifying the thing 101 in its jurisdiction area. The local service discovery server 2021 performs this service search by a well-known technique of searching for a table associated with data of all things ID and information associated therewith, using the all things ID as a key and searching for information associated therewith. Can be. The local server 202 further includes an interface unit 2025 for interfacing with the global server 105.
[0044]
The conversion from the tag to the universal ID (tag-universal ID conversion) may be performed, for example, by preparing a table of the tag-universal ID conversion pair and directly converting the tag to the universal ID, or another table. The tag-everything ID conversion may be performed by performing the conversion using a plurality of stages. This conversion function can be provided in the local server 202, or the portal server 104 receives this conversion request via the mobile network 103 and transfers it to the global server (the identifier analysis server 1051 in the global server 105). The identifier analysis server 1051 may perform this. The first and second embodiments described in this specification adopt the latter.
[0045]
The local server 202 does not provide data on a global information service associated with the thing 101 outside the jurisdiction of the local server 202 or on a service not managed by the local server 202, that is, a service associated with a thing that is not a target of information provision. It is not necessary to keep them, and it is not necessary to provide a service discovery server for searching for those services in the local server. The data and the service discovery server are usually held and provided in other servers (other local servers and global servers).
[0046]
Further, the information or services provided (203, 106 in FIGS. 2 and 3) are independent of whether the corresponding ticket is retrieved by a local server or a global server, for example, a site on the Internet. Or on another server. A search request for the information is transferred to the local service discovery server 2021 in the local server 202 or the global service discovery server 1052 in the global server 105 via the portal server 104, and the service is provided by the service discovery server. A ticket containing site information (such as a URL) is searched.
[0047]
Hereinafter, the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 will be described with reference to the processing flow shown in the flowchart of FIG. The numbers in parentheses are reference numbers for the respective steps in FIG. First, the mobile terminal 102 reads its own position, that is, the current position of the user (410). How to read the current position of the user will be described in the section “Reading the User Position”. The position information of the user is sent to the portal server 104 via the mobile network 103 and is held in the mobile network 103. Next, when the user uses the mobile terminal 102 (the input device 1021 of the terminal 102) to read an identifier tag (hereinafter, referred to as a tag) from the thing 101 in a certain area (415), the mobile terminal 102 The read tag and position information are sent to the portal server 104 (420).
[0048]
The portal server 104 sends the tag to the identifier analysis server 1051 in the global server 105. The identifier analysis server 1051 in the global server converts the tag into a universal ID and sends it back to the portal server 104 (425). The portal server 104 sends the location information sent from the mobile terminal to the local server database 1031 via the mobile network 103. The local server database 1031 holds information indicating the correspondence between the identifier of the local server and the position information of the area under the jurisdiction of the local server, and determines the position of the user from the position information of the user sent via the mobile network 103. The local server responsible for the area to be covered can be searched (430). The portal server 104 acquires, via the mobile network 103, an identifier of a local server that has an area including the position of the user who has sent the area as a jurisdiction area.
[0049]
The portal server sends the universal ID that has been converted and sent in step 425 to the local server having the obtained identifier (435). Next, the local server 202 that has received the universal ID sends the universal ID to the upper server (440). Since the local server 202 holds the URL 2023 of the high-order server, the local server 202 can specify the high-order server to be connected by this URL. In this embodiment, since the upper server is the global server 105, the local server 202 sends the universal ID to the global server 105 specified by the URL 2023 via the interface unit 2025 with the global server 105. .
[0050]
At this point, the local server 202 and the global server 105 are sent the universal IDs corresponding to the items sent from the user's mobile terminal 102, and they are respectively referred to as the local service discovery server 2021 and the global server in the local server 202. It is sent to the global service discovery server 1052 in 105.
[0051]
The global service discovery server 1052 in the global server 105 searches for a ticket corresponding to the service associated with the universal ID, and returns the searched ticket to the local server 202 via the interface unit 1054 (450). The ticket search can be performed using, for example, a table including a set of all things ID and a ticket associated therewith. In this case, a plurality of tickets may be associated with one universal ID, and in that case, the local server 202 receives the group of tickets.
[0052]
Similarly, the local service discovery server 2021 in the local server 202 searches for a ticket corresponding to the service associated with the universal ID (455), but before that, performs authentication of the user's position in step 445 as necessary. be able to. The authentication of the position of the user will be described in the section “Authentication of User Position”.
[0053]
The local service discovery server 2021 of the local server 202 transmits to the portal server 104 the ticket 2022 retrieved by the local service discovery server 2021 in step 455 and the ticket 1053 retrieved and returned by the global service discovery server 1052 in step 450. (460).
[0054]
Next, the portal server 104 sends the received ticket to the mobile terminal 102, and the mobile terminal 102 displays the received ticket. The user can select a desired service from the displayed tickets (465). When the user selects a ticket, the information is sent to the portal server 104, and the portal server activates a service corresponding to the ticket selected by the user (470). The method of activating a service on another computer is not limited to one. For example, in the case of a service provided on a web server, a specified file is returned to a request source by giving a URL to the server. For example, there is a method of activating a service to provide a URL or giving a URL, and activating a program specified in the URL on the WEB server side to provide a more complicated service with this program.
[0055]
Here, the ticket 2022 searched by the local service discovery server 2021 includes information and services (local service 203 and the like) for providing locally such as a selling price of a product in a store and a discount service. In the ticket 1053 searched by the service discovery server 1052, global information such as detailed information of the product provided by the product maker (such as the service 106 associated with the thing), that is, information to be provided in a wider area is provided. include. As described above, the entity of these services (including the information itself) can be placed on another server or a site on the Internet.
[0056]
Which information is to be provided may be selected by the user from a menu presented by the portal server 104, or may be determined by the portal server 104 based on a predetermined criterion. For example, the portal server 104 holds an access history of each user who has accessed the system, analyzes the user's preference from the frequency of the information accessed included in the history, and determines based on the analyzed preference. You may do so. Alternatively, the portal server 104 is automatically set based on a standard considered to be natural due to the nature of the service, such as selecting a nearby store or the like in a service where the person who receives the service must finally go there. You can also select and prioritize.
[0057]
In the above configuration, the upper local server is a global server. However, the upper local server does not necessarily need to be a global server, and may be another local server (not shown). For example, when there is a shopping mall having a plurality of stores, local servers are arranged for each store (they can be said to be local servers at the same level, that is, at the same level), and local servers at higher ranks are arranged. Alternatively, a local server in a shopping mall can be located. In this case, the higher-order local server can have a function of searching for information common to each store or information to be provided as the entire shopping mall. That is, the user can also obtain information provided by each store from a local server installed for each store, and obtain information commonly provided in a shopping mall from a local server one level higher. You can also. As described above, when the local server is configured to be hierarchized in a plurality of levels, the global server 105 can be positioned as the highest server in the hierarchical structure.
[0058]
In the above example, when there are a plurality of shopping malls, a server arranged in a center that supervises each shopping mall can be a higher-order local server. If the UDS system does not provide information on a wide range of services that are not limited to a specific company or organization, and if the information provider is limited to services provided by a specific company or organization, Such an upper local server may be a global server. Hierarchization of local servers is not limited to the above example. For example, a local server is arranged in one section (a first sales section, a second sales section, etc.) in a certain company, and a section ( It is also possible to create a hierarchy in which local servers are arranged in units such as a sales department.
[0059]
As described above, when the upper server of the local server has an even higher server, the above-mentioned local server sends the universal ID to the upper server and receives the ticket of the search result (steps 440 to 440). In step 460), the higher server sends the received universal ID to the higher server, and returns the ticket returned from the server together with the ticket searched by the service discovery server to the lower server. , A recursive operation is performed.
[0060]
For example, in the case of a company having a large number of stores, if the company has only one level of local server that manages one terminal store or several stores, there is a lot of information that these many local servers have in common. In order to update such common information, it is necessary to frequently download the information to many local servers, or there is a high possibility that the common information before the update remains in some local server due to some failure. However, such problems can be reduced or prevented by increasing the number of hierarchies of local servers.
[0061]
In the flowchart of FIG. 4, the portal server sends the universal ID to the local server (435), and further, the local server sends the universal ID to the higher server (440), as shown in the flowchart of FIG. Alternatively, the portal server may send the universal ID to the local server and the top-level global server (555, 575). In this case, the tickets searched by the global service discovery server in the global server and the local service discovery server in the local server are separately sent to the portal server (570, 580).
[0062]
"Read User Position"
Although the mobile terminal 102 reads the position information in step 410 described above, this is necessary for searching for the local server 202 that controls the area where the user is located (local area 201) from the position where the user is located. The reading of the user position is also required in the user position authentication step of step 445. In the above-described embodiment, the position of the user is measured using the GPS in order to read the current position of the user. However, there are various other methods, and the local server 202 of the local server 202 depends on which method is adopted. The discovery procedure is decided.
[0063]
In the system configuration of FIG. 2, a GPS 1022 mounted on the mobile terminal 102 as a user position detecting unit measures its own position (latitude and longitude) by communicating with a GPS satellite. In this case, the GPS 1022 mounted on the user's mobile terminal 102 can measure the user's own position as long as radio waves can be easily reached even outdoors or indoors. Also, instead of performing all the GPS processing in the mobile terminal 102, the GPS 1022 in the mobile terminal 102 performs only simple pre-processing of the received signal, and heavy processing such as position calculation is connected to the mobile network 103. May be performed by another server (not shown).
[0064]
As a method other than using the GPS, the ID of the base station or detailed location information using the ID can be calculated using information managed internally by the mobile network 103. When the location of the user is known, the local server that manages the location can be found from the location of the user using the local server database 1031. As a specific example of the position reading using the ID, for example, there is a method of using a CSID which is an ID of a base station (not shown) to which the mobile terminal 102 is connected. In this method, the current position of the user can be known from a database (not shown) that manages the position (latitude and longitude) of the base station corresponding to the CSID. However, the area covered by a mobile base station is determined by the strength of radio waves and the like and is generally large (radius of 500 meters to several kilometers). In a PHS network or the like, there is a service that provides more detailed user position measurement by triangulation based on a plurality of CSIDs and the strength of radio waves received by each base station, so that this service can also be used.
[0065]
As another method, the user explicitly communicates with an infrared beacon (a second embodiment shown in FIG. 3) placed at the entrance of a store or a device equipped with a Bluetooth function, and the like. There is also a method of specifying In the case of using an apparatus equipped with an infrared beacon or a Bluetooth function, the apparatus and the user terminal 102 can communicate with each other and receive the address of the local server 202 on the network. In this case, since there is no need to perform conversion from spatial position information such as latitude and longitude to a local server address, such a conversion server is not required.
[0066]
In the second embodiment of FIG. 3, the steps of FIG. 4 are modified as follows:
The operation of step 410 is "the mobile terminal receives the address of the local server from the infrared beacon". The operation of step 420 is "the mobile terminal sends the tag and the address of the local server to the portal server". There is no step corresponding to step 430. The operation of step 435 is “the portal server sends the converted universal ID to the local server at the specified address”. Steps 510, 520, 530, 545, and 555 in FIG. 5 are similarly changed.
[0067]
As described above, the user position (information for specifying the position such as latitude and longitude) is specified by using the existing measurement method, and a local server associated with the user position is found by searching the database from the user position. (Specifically, a computer name or address on the network can be searched from the user position). Further, in the second embodiment shown in FIG. 3, by receiving an infrared beacon, it is possible to directly receive the address of the local server that controls the location and specify the local server.
[0068]
"User Location Authentication"
The step of “performing user position authentication” of step 445 will be described. The reading of the user position in step 410 is a process necessary to specify the local server 202 that is in charge of the area. However, this authentication step 445 is performed when the user actually enters the area at the time of providing the service. This is a step for confirming whether or not the user is present.
[0069]
That is, after reading the position of the user in step 410, the user may have moved out of the area under the jurisdiction of the local server 202. Also, knowing the address of the local server may result in the user attempting to gain access to the local server by misrepresenting the location when he is not actually there. Therefore, if it is desired to operate the local server 202 with a policy of “providing services only to customers in this store”, at the time of providing the service, the system determines whether the user is really in the store, that is, It is necessary to check whether the user is in the area under the jurisdiction of the local server 202.
[0070]
Here, as described above, when the position of the user is calculated from the GPS or the base station, the position information is sent to the mobile network 103, and the mobile network 103 acquires and holds the current position of the user. Therefore, the authentication of the user position can be performed, for example, by the local server 202 inquiring the mobile network 103 via the portal server 104. Specifically, the local server 202 sends the location information of the store under the jurisdiction to the mobile network 103, and the mobile network 103 receives the location information of the store and the stored location information of the user (or the user from the initial location). If it is necessary to know if the user has moved, it authenticates that the user is in the store (from re-measured user location information). Alternatively, the current position of the user may be transmitted from the mobile network 103 to the local server 202, and the local server may determine whether the user is in the jurisdiction area.
[0071]
However, the authentication of the user position is an optional step, and it is not necessary to confirm the position of the user at the start of the session, that is, after detecting the position of the user in step 410 (or specify the position from the user side). If the user believes that the address was received by the user from the infrared beacon), this step can be omitted.
[0072]
In the case where the infrared beacon (2024 in FIG. 3) is used as in the second embodiment, when the mobile terminal 102 communicates with the infrared beacon 2024, an identifier relating to the user is transmitted to the infrared beacon 2024, and the portal server 104 is transmitted. By writing the user identifier also in the request from the local server 202, the local server 202 itself can authenticate that the request is from the user at the location. The same applies to the case where a device equipped with a Bluetooth function is used.
[0073]
Hereinafter, an example in which the second embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 3 is applied to a supermarket chain company (company A) having a plurality of supermarkets (sales branches) will be described. The local area 201 in FIG. 3 is the area of the D shop, that is, the area under the jurisdiction of the local server of the D shop. Although the other branches are not shown, the system configuration is the same for each branch. In this example, the infrared beacon 2024 detects the position of the user. In addition, the server above the local server of each branch is the global server 105.
[0074]
Supermarket chain company A is conducting a sales promotion campaign in which a prize will be given for 10 products X of a manufacturer B company. Company A has several branches, each selling X at a different price. Store D, which is a branch of Company A, provides the mobile user with the sales price of the store and information on the sales promotion campaign of Company A in association with X.
[0075]
In this case, at the shop D, the local server 202 and the local service discovery server 2021 are activated. As described above, the global server 105 is specified as a higher-level server of the local server 202. Store C has a local server 202 ', local service discovery server 2021', and infrared beacon 2024 'different from store D (as described above, these systems at store C are not shown, but provide information content to be provided. The same system configuration as that of the store D can be provided in the store, and the global server 105 is designated as the upper server (of course, instead of installing these servers for each store, For example, such a server may be provided centrally at a center that provides such a local server service, or may be logically separate servers or physically combined into one or a small number of servers.)
[0076]
A customer arriving at store D finds local server 202 at store D by communicating with infrared beacon 2024 using mobile terminal 102 and receiving the address of the local server on the network therefrom. Thereafter, while at this store, the user can receive the information service 203 and the information discovery service provided by the local server 202 of the store D. The customer reads the identifier tag attached to the product X on the mobile terminal 102 and sends the same to the mobile network. As a result, the customer can obtain information about the price of the product X provided by the store D from the local server 202 and information about the sales promotion campaign for the product X from the global server 105. The customer can also select which of these services to receive by operating his mobile terminal 102.
[0077]
【The invention's effect】
ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, compared with the conventional service provision system, it is possible to provide efficiently the service limited to the area "only in a certain store", "only in a theme park". Further, it is possible to prevent a service from being provided to a person other than a customer who is actually visiting a specific area, for example, a specific store.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a UDS system according to an earlier application.
FIG. 2 shows a configuration of a service providing system for realizing a local service according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 shows a configuration of a service providing system for realizing a local service according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing flow of the service providing system of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing another example of the processing flow of the service providing system of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a ticket according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
101 Objects (products, etc.)
102 Mobile terminal
103 Mobile Network
104 Portal server
105 Global server
106 Information services associated with things
1021 Input device
1031 Local server database
1051 Identifier analysis server
1052 Global Service Discovery Server
1053 tickets
1054 Global server interface
201 Local Area
202 local server
2021 Local service discovery server
2022 tickets
2023 Host server address (eg, URL)
2024 infrared beacon
2025 Interface part of local server
1022 GPS
203 Local Information Service

Claims (23)

Tag-everything ID conversion means for converting tag information into all things ID,
One or more local servers for retrieving first information associated with the universal ID,
A global server for searching for second information associated with the universal ID,
A service providing system including a local server specifying unit for specifying the corresponding local server from a position, wherein the first information and the second information are at least partially different. The local server specifying means,
Means for receiving information indicating the spatial location;
2. The service providing system according to claim 1, further comprising means for specifying the corresponding local server from the information indicating the spatial position. The local server specifying means,
Means for transmitting the address of the local server corresponding to the location;
3. The service providing system according to claim 1, further comprising means for receiving the transmitted address. 4. The service providing system according to claim 1, wherein the first information is at least partially different between some or all of the local servers. 2. A service request mediating unit for receiving the first information retrieved by the local server specified by the local server specifying unit and the second information retrieved by the global server. The service providing system according to any one of the above-described items 4 to 4. 6. The service providing system according to claim 5, wherein the service request mediation unit sends the location information to the local server specifying unit. The service providing system according to claim 5, wherein the service request mediation unit sends the tag information to the tag-everything ID conversion unit. The service providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the local server includes first information finding means for extracting the first information based on the universal ID. The service providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the global server includes a second information discovery unit for extracting the second information based on the universal ID. The service providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the tag-everything ID conversion unit is an identifier analysis server provided in the global server. 11. The service providing system according to claim 10, wherein said tag-everything ID conversion means is provided in said local server. The service request mediating means receives the universal ID converted by the tag-universal ID converting means and sends the universal ID to the first information finding means, and the local server transmits the universal ID to an upper-level local server or a global server. The service providing system according to any one of claims 8 to 11, wherein the service is sent to a service provider. The service providing system according to any one of claims 9 to 11, wherein the service request mediation unit receives the universal ID converted by the tag-universal ID converting unit and sends the universal ID to the first and second information finding units. 14. The service providing system according to claim 1, wherein the local server confirms a position of the user when providing information to the user. The local server has address information of the global server, communicates with the global server specified by the address information, acquires the second information retrieved by the global server, The service providing system according to any one of claims 5 to 12, or 14, wherein the service providing system is configured to be sent to the service request mediating means together with one piece of information. 16. The service providing system according to claim 5, further comprising a terminal device for reading the tag information and sending the tag information to the service request mediation unit. 17. The service providing system according to claim 16, wherein said service request mediating means selects, based on a selection signal sent from said terminal device, whether to send said first information or said second information to said terminal device. 18. The service providing system according to claim 16, wherein the terminal device is configured to generate position information of a user and send the position information to the service request mediation unit. 19. The service providing system according to claim 16, wherein the terminal device and the service request mediation unit are connected via a mobile network. The first information is information on a service provided uniquely in an area controlled by each local server, and the second information is information on a service commonly provided in an area controlled by the global server. The service providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 19. A method for providing a service in a service providing system including one or a plurality of local servers and a global server,
Reading location information;
Reading tag information for identifying an object;
Converting the tag information into a universal ID;
Identifying a corresponding local server from the location information;
Searching the identified local server for first information associated with the universal ID;
Retrieving at the global server second information associated with the universal ID, wherein the first information and the second information are at least partially different. Receiving the retrieved first information and second information;
Presenting the received information to the user. Selecting the received information;
Invoking a corresponding service based on the selected information.

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