JP2005196610A - Terminal information collecting system, congestion information providing system, portable terminal, and information collecting server - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a terminal information collecting system capable of efficiently carrying out collection of existing quantity information of portable terminals usable for grasping a congestion situation of a facility or the like, and behavior of users. <P>SOLUTION: A mobile telephone 2 has a function of reading a tag ID of an RFID tag 1, and it sends the read tag ID to the information collecting server 5. Sending of the tag ID is carried out by using mobile telephone communication via a base station 3 and a network 4. The information collecting server 5 determines the existing quantity information of the mobile telephones 2 in a place (a communicable range of the RFID tag 1) installed with the RFID tag 1 by using the tag ID received from the mobile telephone 2. An existing quantity is determined on the basis of the number of times the tag ID is received by the information collecting server 5 within a certain period. Received terminal identification information is managed along with the tag ID per place corresponding to the tag ID, and the existing quantity is determined on the basis of the managed terminal identification information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a terminal information collection system, a congestion information providing system, a portable terminal, and an information collection server.

  Acquiring the congestion situation and user trends of a specific place or area (for example, department store sales or amusement park facilities) is important to ensure the appropriate placement of personnel in that place or area. . Further, by providing the acquired congestion situation or the like to a person who intends to use the place or area, the convenience for the user can be improved.

  Conventionally, the congestion situation and user trends have been grasped manually, but what is automatically acquired has also been proposed (see Patent Documents 1 and 2).

  The congestion status detector described in Patent Document 1 grasps the number of people in a specific place by grasping the number of mobile terminals in the specific place by using DGPS (Differential GPS) or PHS. Based on the congestion rate calculation means, the congestion rate at a specific place is calculated. However, in order to improve the position detection accuracy, a high-performance GPS device is necessary, and an increase in cost is inevitable.

  In the position information providing system described in Patent Document 2, an IC tag possessed by a user is detected by sensor means installed at a predetermined position in the facility, and the detected identification information of the IC tag and its sensor means The position information indicating the position of the user is obtained based on the predetermined position. However, many IC tag readers (or reader / writers) are required, leading to an increase in cost. The cost of distributing IC tags to users cannot be ignored. Furthermore, since it is impossible to confirm when the information of the IC tag possessed by the user has been read, the user is greatly concerned about the leakage of privacy.

JP 2002-288385 A JP 2003-61131 A

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and a terminal information collection system capable of efficiently collecting information on the number of mobile terminals that can be used for grasping the congestion situation of facilities and the trends of users, such as It aims at providing the portable terminal and terminal information collection server which can be used for a terminal information collection system. It is another object of the present invention to provide a congestion information providing system that provides congestion information of a place where an RFID tag is installed by using information on the number of portable terminals collected by the terminal information collecting system.

  A terminal information collection system according to the present invention is a terminal information collection system for collecting information on the number of mobile terminals, and reading an RFID tag installed at a location for collecting the information on the number of mobile terminals and a tag ID of the RFID tag And a mobile terminal having a wireless communication function, and an information collection server capable of receiving information transmitted from the mobile terminal using the wireless communication function, the mobile terminal using the reading function The read tag ID is transmitted using the wireless communication function, and the information collection server uses the received tag ID to obtain the information on the number of existing units at the place where the RFID tag is installed. Is.

  According to the present invention, since it is only necessary to install an RFID tag in a place where the information on the number of existing mobile terminals is collected, equipment for the place to collect can be easily installed. Information on the number of existing vehicles can be collected efficiently. Further, it is possible to easily add or change the collection location, and set or change the size of the collection area. The acquired number-of-terminals information can be used for surveys and analyzes related to users such as facilities where RFID tags are installed.

  In the terminal information collection system according to the present invention, the portable terminal causes the reading function to be executed at regular intervals, and the number of existing devices is based on the number of times the information collection server receives the tag ID within a certain period. Including those that seek information.

  If the RFID tag reading interval is constant, the number of times the tag ID is received by the information collection server within a certain period has a correlation with the number of terminals present, and the number of terminals present can be easily obtained based on the number of receptions. Can do. In particular, if the reading interval of the RFID tag is matched with the count period of the information collection server, it can be considered that the number of terminals present is equal to the count value for a certain period. According to the present invention, the receiving portable terminal only needs to transmit the tag ID, and the information collecting server only needs to count the number of times the tag ID is received. Therefore, the portable terminal and the information collecting server can be simply configured. it can.

  In the terminal information collection system of the present invention, the mobile terminal transmits terminal identification information together with the tag ID, and the information collection server manages the received terminal identification information for each place corresponding to the tag ID. In addition, the information on the number of existing devices is obtained based on managed terminal identification information. According to the present invention, since the mobile terminals that exist for each place are individually managed, the number of mobile terminals can be accurately grasped.

  In the terminal information collection system of the present invention, the portable terminal causes the reading function to be executed at regular intervals, and the information collection server stops managing terminal identification information that has not been received for a certain period of time. Including things. ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, it can be grasped | ascertained easily whether the terminal which has specific identification information exists in a specific place, and management of the presence terminal for every place can be performed easily.

  The terminal information collection system of this invention contains what the said terminal identification information is the random number which the said portable terminal produced | generated. Since the terminal identification information used here may be information for distinguishing from other terminals when it exists at the place, a random number generated by the portable terminal is sufficient. According to the present invention, it is possible to accurately grasp the number of terminals without leaking the privacy of the portable terminal owner.

  In the terminal information collection system of the present invention, the wireless communication function includes a mobile phone function. Since mobile phones are widely used, when the number of terminals is used for grasping congestion information, highly accurate congestion information can be obtained.

  In the terminal information collection system of the present invention, the wireless communication function includes a short-range wireless communication function. As the short-range wireless communication, a wireless LAN, Bluetooth, or the like can be used. And tag ID etc. are transmitted to an information collection server via the access point (relay equipment in which short-distance wireless communication is possible) installed near the installation place of an RFID tag. According to the present invention, wireless communication can be performed at low cost, and the burden on the portable terminal owner and the terminal information collector can be reduced. In addition, it is possible to cope with an increase in communication traffic at a low price.

  In the terminal information collection system of the present invention, the wireless communication function includes a multi-hop communication function.

  The congestion information providing system of the present invention provides the congestion information of the place where the RFID tag is installed by using the existing number information collected by the terminal information collecting system. According to the present invention, the number of terminals can be acquired efficiently.

  The congestion information providing system of the present invention includes one in which the congestion information is provided via a network. According to the present invention, it is possible to easily acquire congestion information of a necessary place.

  The congestion information providing system according to the present invention includes the congestion information displayed on a bulletin board. The present invention is particularly useful when providing congestion information in facilities such as department stores and theme parks.

  The congestion information providing system of the present invention includes a system in which the congestion information is provided via an information providing server connected to the information acquisition server. By acquiring congestion information on a server different from the information collection server that obtains information on the number of mobile terminals present, it is possible to provide a detailed information providing service such as providing different congestion information depending on the location.

  The portable terminal of the present invention is a portable terminal having a wireless communication function, and transmits an RFID reading unit that reads a tag ID of an RFID tag and the tag ID read by the RFID reading unit using the wireless communication function. A tag ID transmission processing unit.

  The portable terminal of this invention contains what the said RFID reading part performs the process which reads the said tag ID at a fixed interval.

  The portable terminal of the present invention includes one in which the tag ID transmission processing unit transmits terminal identification information together with the tag ID.

  The portable terminal of the present invention includes a mobile terminal including a random number generation unit, wherein the tag ID transmission processing unit transmits a random number generated by the random number generation unit as the terminal identification information.

  The portable terminal of the present invention includes one in which the wireless communication function is a cellular phone function.

  The portable terminal of the present invention includes one in which the wireless communication function is a short-range wireless communication function.

  In the portable terminal according to the present invention, the wireless communication function includes a multi-hop communication function. The mobile terminal described above can be used in the information collection system described above.

  An information collection server of the present invention is an information collection server that is connected to a network and collects information on the number of existing mobile terminals, and has a function of reading an RFID tag installed at a location for collecting the information on the number of existing mobile terminals. A terminal information receiving unit that receives terminal information including the tag ID of the RFID tag, and a terminal number calculation processing unit that obtains the number information of the presence in the place where the RFID tag is installed using the received tag ID Are provided.

  The information collection server of the present invention includes one in which the terminal number calculation processing unit obtains the existing number information based on the number of times the tag ID is received within a certain period.

  In the information collection server of the present invention, the terminal information includes terminal identification information, and the terminal number calculation processing unit manages and manages the received terminal identification information for each place corresponding to the tag ID. The information on the number of existing devices is obtained based on the terminal identification information.

  The information collection server of the present invention includes one in which the terminal number calculation processing unit stops managing terminal identification information that has not been received for a certain period of time.

  In the information collection server of the present invention, the terminal identification information includes a random number generated by the mobile terminal. The information collection server described above can be used in the information collection system described above.

  As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, a terminal information collection system that can efficiently collect information on the number of portable terminals that can be used for grasping the congestion situation of facilities and the trends of users, A portable terminal and a terminal information collection server that can be used in such a terminal information collection system can be provided. In addition, it is possible to provide a congestion information providing system that provides congestion information of a place where an RFID tag is installed by using the information on the number of portable terminals collected by the terminal information collecting system.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a terminal information collection system according to the first embodiment of this invention. The system of FIG. 1 includes a plurality of RFID tags 1 (1A, 1B) installed at a location where information on the number of mobile terminals existing is to be collected, and a mobile phone 2 (2a, 1b) which is a type of mobile terminal having a wireless communication function. 2b, 2c), a base station 3 that performs wireless communication with the mobile phone 2, and an information collecting server 5 that is connected to the base station 3 via the network 4.

  The RFID tag 1 is a tag that includes a chip in which information such as its own identification code (hereinafter referred to as a tag ID) is recorded and transmits the tag ID in a contactless manner. Since RFID tags 1 having various shapes and various communication distances are distributed, detailed description thereof is omitted. The RFID tag 1 includes an active type that incorporates a battery and can perform communication over a relatively long distance, and a passive type that operates by receiving power from the RFID tag reading means and has a relatively short communication distance. Therefore, it can be selected depending on the size of the range in which the presence of the mobile terminal is to be detected. In consideration of the power consumption of the mobile terminal, the active type is preferable. The RFID tags 1A and 1B have transmission possible ranges 10A and 10B, respectively. The tag ID is recorded in advance using an RFID tag reader / writer (not shown).

  The mobile phone 2 has a function of reading the tag ID of the RFID tag 1, and transmits at least the read tag ID to the information collecting server 5. The tag ID is transmitted through the base station 3 and the network 4 using cellular phone communication. The network 4 conceptually describes a communication path including one or a plurality of networks. For example, the network 4 may be a mobile phone network, a mobile phone network and the Internet, or another network.

  The information collection server 5 uses the tag ID received from the mobile phone 2 to obtain information on the number of mobile phones 2 in the place where the RFID tag 1 is installed (the communication range of the RFID tag 1). A method for obtaining the existing number information will be described later.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of the mobile phone 2 shown in FIG. 2 includes a mobile phone communication processing unit 21, a storage unit 22, a control unit 23, an RFID tag reading unit 24, and a random number generation unit 25. Note that FIG. 2 shows only elements related to the collection of the number of mobile phones, and other elements of the mobile phone are omitted.

  The mobile phone communication processing unit 21 performs mobile phone communication processing with the base station 3. The storage unit 22 stores various data including data related to the collection of the number of mobile phones. The control unit 23 controls the operation of the mobile phone including processing related to the collection of the number of mobile phones, and is configured mainly by a processor that operates according to a predetermined program, for example. The RFID tag reading unit 24 reads tag information of the RFID tag. When the RFID tag to be read is a passive type, it has a power supply function for the RFID tag. The random number generation unit 25 generates a random number of a predetermined number of digits, and the generated random number is used as mobile phone identification information transmitted to the information collection server together with tag information of the RFID tag. This is not necessary when the mobile phone identification information is not transmitted and when the information stored in the storage unit 22 in advance as the identification information is used.

  The mobile phone 2 activates the RFID tag reading operation by the RFID tag reading unit 24 at regular intervals under the control of the control unit 23. When the tag ID is read, the read tag ID and identification information of the mobile terminal (random numbers generated by the random number generation unit 25) are transmitted via the mobile phone communication processing unit 21. The transmission destination is stored in the storage unit 22 in advance.

  The information collection server 5 includes a terminal information receiving unit (not shown) that receives terminal information including the tag ID of the RFID tag from the mobile phone 2, and a place where the corresponding RFID tag is installed using the received tag ID. And a terminal number calculation processing unit (not shown) for obtaining information on the number of existing mobile phones. The terminal information receiving unit and the terminal number calculation processing unit are realized by a predetermined program. The information collection server 5 has a terminal information database (not shown; hereinafter referred to as a terminal information DB) used for collecting the number of mobile phones present, and the terminal information DB is a place where an RFID tag is installed. A terminal number table that stores the tag ID and the number of mobile terminals at the location in association with each other, and a presence terminal table that stores the tag ID and the identification information of the mobile phone received together with the tag ID. ing. The number-of-terminals arithmetic processing unit manages and manages the received terminal identification information (hereinafter also referred to as a terminal ID) for each location corresponding to the tag ID using the presence terminal table. The existence number information is obtained based on the existing terminal ID.

  The operation of the terminal information collection system described above will be described using a specific example. In this example, the number of mobile phones present at locations such as department store entrances and sales floors on each floor is collected. An RFID tag is installed at a place where the number of mobile phones to be collected, and the tag ID of the installed RFID tag corresponds to the place where the number of mobile phones to be collected corresponds to the number of terminals of the terminal information server 2. Registered in advance in the table. FIG. 3 shows an example of the terminal number table.

  FIG. 3 shows that RFID tags 1 are installed in “front entrance on the first floor”, “second floor efg sales floor”, “8th event hall”, etc., and the respective tag IDs are “tgd0002f0101”, “tgd0002f0202”, “tgd0002f0802”. It is shown that. Note that FIG. 3 shows a case where one RFID tag 1 is installed corresponding to a place, but a plurality of RFID tags 1 are installed in one place (area) to display unit number information in a wide range. You may make it collect.

  FIG. 4 shows a schematic flow of the RFID reading operation of the mobile phone. When the RFID tag reading operation by the RFID tag reading unit 24 is started under the control of the control unit 23, it is determined in step S401 whether communication with the RFID tag is established. If the mobile phone is within the transmittable ranges 10A and 10B of FIG. 1, communication is established and the tag ID is read (step S402). If the mobile phone does not exist within the transmittable ranges 10A and 10B in FIG. 1 and communication is not established, the RFID reading operation is terminated.

  When the tag ID is read, it is checked in step S403 whether it is the same as the tag ID read last time. Since the ID read last time is stored in the storage unit 22 as will be described later, it is checked whether or not they are the same with reference to the storage unit 22. If they are not the same, it indicates that a new RFID tag has been installed. In this case, a random number is generated in step S404 and transmitted to the information collection server 5 together with the tag ID read as the terminal ID (step S405). The random number is generated by the random number generator 25, and the tag ID and the random number are transmitted by the mobile phone communication processor 21. After transmission of the tag ID and random number, the tag ID and random number transmitted in step S408 are stored in the storage unit 22.

  If it is determined in step S403 that the read tag ID is the same as that read last time, it is checked whether a predetermined time has elapsed since the previous reading (step S406). If the predetermined time has elapsed, it indicates that the device has moved to a new RFID tag installation location, and the process proceeds to step S404. If the predetermined time has not elapsed, it indicates that the RFID tag is installed at the same location, so the tag ID and random number (terminal ID) stored in the storage unit 22 are transmitted to the information collection server 5. Then, the transmitted tag ID and random number (terminal ID) transmitted are stored in the storage unit 22 (step S408).

  As described above, when the mobile phone 2 reads the tag ID of the RFID tag, the mobile phone 2 transmits it to the information collection server 5 together with a random number (terminal ID) for identifying its own mobile phone. The mobile phone existing at the place where the RFID tag 1 is installed can be individually managed. Moreover, since the terminal ID is a random number generated at any time, the privacy of the mobile phone owner is not impaired. When the mobile phone 2 exists in the same place, the same random number is transmitted, so that one mobile phone is not managed as one mobile phone.

  Next, terminal information collection processing of the information collection server 5 will be described using the flow of FIG. In step S501, it is checked whether or not terminal information including the tag ID and terminal ID of the RFID tag is received from the mobile phone 2, and if received, the terminal ID registered in the presence terminal table corresponding to the received tag ID. Is referred to (step S502).

  FIG. 6 shows an example of the presence terminal table. The presence terminal table stores a plurality of records in which the received tag ID, the terminal ID received at the same time, and the existence time indicating the time when the tag ID is detected are associated with each other. The record in the first line of FIG. 6 shows that a mobile phone with a terminal ID “84625931” was present at 12:31:21 on December 30, 2003 at the place where the RFID tag having the tag ID “tgd0002f0101” was installed. Is shown. As the existence time, the reading time of the RFID tag may be received from the mobile phone 2 and stored, but the reception time of the tag ID and the terminal ID may be substituted. Although FIG. 6 shows a list sorted by tag ID, sorting is not always necessary.

  If it is determined in step S503 that the received terminal ID is registered in the existing terminal table corresponding to the tag ID, the existing time of the received terminal ID is updated (step S506), and the process proceeds to step S507. If the received terminal ID is not registered in the presence terminal table, the received terminal ID is newly registered (step S504). Then, the number of terminals at the location corresponding to the received tag ID is updated (step S505). If terminal information with a tag ID “tgd0002f0801”, terminal ID “94438526”, and existing time “December 30, 2003 12:32:58” is newly received, a record with “*” in FIG. Newly registered. Then, the number of terminals “before 8th floor elevator” which is the location indicated by the tag ID “tgd0002f0801” in the terminal number table shown in FIG. 3 is incremented by 1 and updated to “3”. After updating the number of terminals, the process proceeds to step S507.

  In step S507, all the existing times of the records stored in the existing terminal table are referred to. Then, it is checked whether or not a terminal ID that has not been updated for a predetermined time is registered (step S508). If an unupdated terminal ID is registered, the location corresponding to the tag ID of the record of the terminal ID is checked. The number of terminals is updated (step S509), and the record is deleted (step S510). If it is determined that the record with “**” in FIG. 6 has not been updated for a predetermined time, the number of terminals in “before the first floor elevator” that is the location indicated by the tag ID “tgd0002f0101” is “4”. To “3” (update the number-of-terminals table) and delete the record with “**”.

  As described above, the information collection server 5 can individually manage the mobile phone 2 at the place where the RFID tag 1 is installed and can output the number of existing mobile phones as needed. Note that the interval at which the RFID reading operation in FIG. 4 is activated, the predetermined time determined in step S404 in FIG. 4, and the predetermined time determined in step S508 in FIG. Telephone management improves accuracy.

  Further, although a random number is used as a terminal ID for identifying the mobile phone 1, an ID unique to the mobile phone 1 may be used. In that case, the determinations in steps S403 and S404 in FIG. 4 are not necessary, and it is only necessary to always transmit the read tag ID and terminal ID.

  Next, an example in which the information collection server 5 acquires only the number of existing mobile phones that are not individually managed at the RFID tag installation location will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a schematic flow of another example of the RFID reading operation of the mobile phone, and FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a schematic flow of another example of the terminal information collection processing operation of the information collection server.

  When the RFID tag reading operation by the RFID tag reading unit 24 is activated by the control of the control unit 23, it is determined in step S701 whether communication with the RFID tag is established. If the mobile phone is within the transmittable ranges 10A and 10B of FIG. 1, communication is established and the tag ID is read (step S702). If the mobile phone does not exist within the transmittable ranges 10A and 10B in FIG. 1 and communication is not established, the RFID reading operation is terminated.

  When the tag ID is read, the read tag ID is transmitted to the information collection server (step S703), and the process ends. At this time, it is preferable to transmit the reading time as the presence time of the mobile phone together with the tag ID.

  The information collection server 5 includes an interval counter (not shown) that is reset at predetermined intervals and repeats counting. In step S801, it is determined whether or not the interval counter has reached a value Tint indicating the predetermined interval. If it is not Tint, it is determined whether terminal information has been received (step 805). If it has been received, the number counter (not shown) for each location corresponding to the received tag ID is counted up. (Step S806).

  When the interval counter reaches Tint in step S801, the corresponding number of terminals in the number-of-terminals table of FIG. 3 is updated using the values of the number counters at all locations (step S802). Then, all the number counters are reset (step S803), the interval counter is further reset (step S804), and the process proceeds to step S805. In this example, since the number counter counts the number of terminals received within the time specified by the interval counter, the number of mobile phones present at the RFID tag installation location can be easily obtained. Note that it is preferable to match the interval counter cycle with the interval at which the RFID reading operation in FIG. 7 is started.

  Next, a service using information on the number of existing mobile phones collected by the information collection server 5 will be described. FIG. 9 shows a schematic configuration of a congestion information providing system that provides congestion information using the existing number information collected by the terminal information collecting system of FIG.

  The system of FIG. 9 is obtained by adding an information providing server 6 to the system of FIG. The information providing server 6 is connected to the network 4 and acquires the information on the number of mobile phones present at the RFID tag installation location collected by the information collecting server 5. Not all people in a specific location have mobile phones, but the number of mobile phones and the number of people in those locations have a correlation. By determining the ratio, it is possible to obtain the congestion status of the place. As the congestion situation, it is possible to output the ratio with respect to the number of people at that location as the congestion rate. Further, the estimated number of existing persons may be output. Further, the information to be provided is not a strict numerical value but may be step-wise information (normal, slightly congested, very congested, etc.).

  The information providing server 6 provides a service of a congestion situation at a location requested by the terminal to a terminal accessed via the network 4. The terminal that receives the service may be any terminal that can be connected to the network. By providing services free of charge or discounted for access from the mobile phone 2 used for collecting terminal information, it is possible to expect more terminal information to be transmitted from the mobile phone, and the acquisition accuracy of the number of terminals can be improved. Can be improved. 9 is performed by the congestion information providing information providing server 6, but the information collecting server 5 may also perform the congestion information providing process.

(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 10 shows a schematic configuration of a terminal information collection system according to the second embodiment of this invention. The system shown in FIG. 10 includes an access point 7 that can be connected to the information collection server 5 via the network 3. The mobile phone 2 has a short-range wireless communication function and can communicate with the access point 7. As the short-range wireless communication, a wireless LAN, Bluetooth, or the like can be used. The access point is installed near the installation position of the RFID tag 1.

  The system of FIG. 10 is the same as the terminal information collection system of the first embodiment except that terminal information including the tag ID of the RFID tag 1 read by the mobile phone 2 is transmitted using the access point 7. Therefore, explanation is omitted. Since the terminal information can be transmitted using short-range wireless communication, a terminal other than a mobile phone such as a PDA can be used as a mobile terminal that collects information on the number of existing devices. Further, a plurality of transmission paths from the mobile terminal to the information collection server 5 (short-range wireless communication and mobile phone communication) may be used.

(Third embodiment)
FIG. 11 shows a schematic configuration of a terminal information collection system according to the third embodiment of this invention. In the system of FIG. 11, when the mobile phone 2 has a multi-hop communication function and mobile phone communication is impossible, terminal information can be transmitted via the other mobile phone 2 in the surroundings by multi-hop communication. It is what. The example of FIG. 11 shows a case where the mobile phone 2a is not capable of mobile phone communication.

  When the mobile phone 2a reads the RFID tag 1A, if the mobile phone communication is in a place where mobile phone communication is not possible, the terminal information to be transmitted to the information collecting server 5 is indicated by multi-hop communication (in FIG. To the other mobile phone 2c. The mobile phone 2 that has received the terminal information of the mobile phone 2a by multi-hop communication transmits the terminal information of the mobile phone 2a to the information collection server 5 via the base station 3 by mobile phone communication. At this time, the terminal information of the mobile phone 2c may be transmitted together.

  The system in FIG. 11 is a terminal information collection system according to the first embodiment except that terminal information including the tag ID of the RFID tag 1 read by the mobile phone 2 can be transmitted using multi-hop communication. Since this is the same, the description is omitted. By using this system, it is possible to collect information on the number of existing mobile phones even in places where mobile phone communication is difficult.

  In the example of FIG. 11, terminal information of another mobile phone received via multi-hop communication is transmitted using mobile phone communication, but as shown in FIG. You may make it transmit. By using multi-hop communication and access points, the number of access points can be reduced, and it is possible to collect the number of terminals in places where normal wireless communication is difficult without increasing the equipment burden. Become.

  Since the present invention can efficiently collect information on the number of mobile terminals, it is useful for a terminal information collection system, a congestion information provision system, and the like.

The figure which shows schematic structure of the terminal information collection system of the 1st Embodiment of this invention The figure which shows schematic structure of the mobile telephone of the terminal information collection system of the 1st Embodiment of this invention The figure which shows an example of the terminal number table of the terminal information collection system of the 1st Embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the schematic flow of RFID reading operation | movement of the mobile telephone in the terminal information collection system of the 1st Embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the schematic flow of the terminal information collection process operation | movement of the information collection server in the terminal information collection system of the 1st Embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows an example of the presence terminal table of the terminal information collection system of the 1st Embodiment of this invention The figure which shows schematic flow of the other example of RFID reading operation | movement of the mobile telephone in the terminal information collection system of the 1st Embodiment of this invention The figure which shows schematic flow of the other example of the terminal information collection processing operation of the information collection server in the terminal information collection system of the 1st Embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows schematic structure of the congestion information provision system which provides congestion information using the existing number information collected by the terminal information collection system of this invention The figure which shows schematic structure of the terminal information collection system of the 2nd Embodiment of this invention The figure which shows schematic structure of the terminal information collection system of the 3rd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 (1A, 1B) ... RFID tag 2 (2a, 2b, 2c) ... mobile phone 3 ... base station 4 ... network 5 ... information collection server 6 ... information providing server 7・ ・ ・ Access point 21 ・ ・ ・ Mobile phone communication processing part 22 ・ ・ ・ Storage part 23 ・ ・ ・ Control part 24 ・ ・ ・ RFID tag reading part 25 ・ ・ ・ Random number generation part

Claims (24)

A terminal information collection system that collects information on the number of mobile terminals present,
An RFID tag installed at a location for collecting the existing number information,
A portable terminal having a function of reading a tag ID of the RFID tag and a wireless communication function;
An information collection server capable of receiving information transmitted from the portable terminal using the wireless communication function;
The portable terminal transmits the tag ID read using the reading function using the wireless communication function,
The information collection server is a terminal information collection system that uses the received tag ID to obtain the information on the number of existing devices at a place where the RFID tag is installed. The terminal information collection system according to claim 1,
The mobile terminal is to execute the reading function at regular intervals,
The terminal information collection system, wherein the information collection server obtains the existing number information based on the number of times the tag ID is received within a predetermined period. The terminal information collection system according to claim 1,
The mobile terminal transmits terminal identification information together with the tag ID,
The information collection server is a terminal information collection system that manages received terminal identification information for each location corresponding to the tag ID, and obtains the existing number information based on the managed terminal identification information. The terminal information collection system according to claim 3,
The mobile terminal is to execute the reading function at regular intervals,
The information collection server is a terminal information collection system that stops managing terminal identification information that has not been received for a certain period of time. The terminal information collection system according to claim 3 or 4,
The terminal information collection system, wherein the terminal identification information is a random number generated by the mobile terminal. The terminal information collection system according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The wireless communication function is a terminal information collection system which is a mobile phone function. The terminal information collection system according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The terminal information collection system, wherein the wireless communication function is a short-range wireless communication function. The terminal information collection system according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
The wireless communication function is a terminal information collection system including a multi-hop communication function.   A congestion information providing system that provides congestion information of a place where the RFID tag is installed, using the existing number information collected by the terminal information collecting system according to claim 1. The congestion information providing system according to claim 9,
The congestion information is provided through a network. The congestion information providing system according to claim 9,
The congestion information is a congestion information providing system displayed on a bulletin board. The congestion information providing system according to any one of claims 9 to 11,
The congestion information providing system, wherein the congestion information is provided via an information providing server connected to the information acquisition server. A portable terminal having a wireless communication function,
An RFID reader for reading the tag ID of the RFID tag;
A portable terminal comprising: a tag ID transmission processing unit configured to transmit the tag ID read by the RFID reading unit using the wireless communication function. The mobile terminal according to claim 13,
The RFID reading unit is a portable terminal that executes a process of reading the tag ID at regular intervals. The mobile terminal according to claim 13 or 14,
The tag ID transmission processing unit is a portable terminal that transmits terminal identification information together with the tag ID. The mobile terminal according to claim 15, wherein
A random number generator,
The tag ID transmission processing unit transmits a random number generated by the random number generation unit as the terminal identification information. The mobile terminal according to any one of claims 13 to 16,
The wireless communication function is a mobile terminal that is a mobile phone function. The mobile terminal according to any one of claims 13 to 16,
The wireless communication function is a portable terminal that is a short-range wireless communication function. The mobile terminal according to any one of claims 13 to 18,
The wireless communication function is a portable terminal including a multi-hop communication function. An information collection server connected to the network and collecting information on the number of mobile terminals present,
A terminal information receiving unit for receiving terminal information including a tag ID of the RFID tag from a portable terminal having a function of reading an RFID tag installed at a place where the existing number information is collected;
An information collection server comprising: a terminal number calculation processing unit that obtains information on the number of existing devices at a place where the RFID tag is installed using the received tag ID. The information collection server according to claim 20, wherein
The terminal number calculation processing unit is an information collection server for obtaining the existing number information based on the number of times the tag ID is received within a certain period. The information collection server according to claim 20, wherein
The terminal information includes terminal identification information,
The terminal number calculation processing unit manages the received terminal identification information for each location corresponding to the tag ID, and obtains the existing number information based on the managed terminal identification information. An information collecting server according to claim 22, wherein
The terminal number calculation processing unit is an information collection server that stops managing terminal identification information that has not been received for a certain period of time. The information collection server according to claim 22 or 23, wherein:
The terminal identification information is an information collection server that is a random number generated by the mobile terminal.

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