JP2005293502A - Object management system and object retrieving method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an object management system capable of efficiently retrieving an object positioning within a desired range. <P>SOLUTION: This object management system 1 comprises information management devices 31-3n each having a position acquisition part 302 acquiring object position information and writing it into a property information storage part 301, and a position transmission part 303 transmitting object identification information and the object position information, and a position management device 40 having a position reception part 401 receiving the object identification information and the object position information and storing them into a position information storage part 402, a terminal position reception part 403 receiving terminal position information, an object retrieving part 404 extracting the object identification information regarding an object of which the distance from a communication terminal 60 is within a predetermined range, and an identification transmission part 405 transmitting the object identification information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an object management system for managing attribute information of an object and an object search method using the object management system.

In recent years, with the miniaturization of computers and memory chips, technology that incorporates IC tags and the like into various things around (objects) and performs mutual information communication, so-called ubiquitous computing, has attracted attention. As an example of such a technique, one described in Non-Patent Document 1 below is known. In this technology, first, after a uID (Ubiquitous ID) is read from an object having an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag, an IC card, or the like in a user terminal, a uID resolution database is searched based on the uID. As a result, the storage destination network address of the attribute information related to the object is acquired. Thereafter, the user terminal refers to the attribute information about the object by referring to the database server on the network based on the acquired network address. The object attribute information is distributed and managed by the database servers installed on the network.
Ken Sakamura, Noboru Iizuka, “Ubiquitous ID Center Initiative”, Monthly Barcode, Nihon Kogyo Publishing, April 2003, vol. 16, no. 5, p. 15-20

  However, in the above-described prior art, when searching for attribute information related to a known object, the attribute information can be obtained by directly reading the uID from the object. The search time tends to increase when the uID cannot be directly specified, such as when searching for. That is, as described above, since attribute information is distributed and managed by a plurality of database servers, it is necessary to search the attribute information of all objects in the search range in order to specify the position of the target object. In this case, the time required for the search depends on the processing capacity and installation location of each database server, and even when parallel processing is performed between the database servers, the database server having the lowest processing capacity or the farthest distance. Depends on the processing time. Further, this increase in search time becomes prominent when the number of managed objects increases.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object thereof is to provide an object management system and an object search method that can efficiently search for an object located within a desired range. And

  In order to solve the above-described problems, an object management system according to the present invention identifies (A) object identification information for identifying an object and attribute information storage means for storing attribute information related to the object in association with each other, and identifies the object from the object. A position acquisition unit that acquires object identification information and object position information that identifies the position of the object and writes it to the attribute information storage unit, and a position to transmit the object identification information and the object position information acquired by the position acquisition unit An information management device comprising: a transmission means; (B) a position reception means for receiving the object identification information and the object position information transmitted by the position transmission means; and the object identification information and the object position received by the position reception means. Associating with information Position information storage means for receiving, terminal position receiving means for receiving terminal position information relating to the position of the search requester terminal, terminal position information received by the terminal position receiving means, and object position stored in the position information storage means An object search means for extracting object identification information relating to an object whose distance from the search requester terminal is within a predetermined range based on the information, an identification transmission means for transmitting the object identification information extracted by the object search means, And a position management device having the following.

  Alternatively, in the object search method of the present invention, the information management apparatus obtains the position from which the object identification information for identifying the object and the object position information for identifying the position of the object are obtained and written in the attribute information storage means. A position transmitting step in which the information management apparatus transmits the object identification information and the object position information acquired in the position acquisition step; and an object identification information and object position information in which the position management apparatus is transmitted in the position transmission step. A position receiving step for receiving the information, a position information storing step in which the position management device associates and stores the object identification information and the object position information received in the position receiving step, and the position management device Terminal position with respect to location A terminal location receiving step for receiving information, and the location management device, based on the terminal location information received in the terminal location receiving step, and the object location information stored in the location information storage step, An object search step for extracting object identification information relating to an object whose distance is within a predetermined range, and an identification transmission step in which the position management device transmits the object identification information extracted in the object search step. .

  According to such an object management system and object search method, an information management device that stores attribute information of an object obtains object identification information and object position information from the object, and then writes the object identification information and object position information to the attribute information storage means. The identification information and the object position information are transmitted to the position management device. Further, when the location management device receives the object identification information and the object location information from the information management device and stores them in the location information storage means and then receives the location information of the search requester, the distance from the search requester's terminal Returns object identification information regarding objects within a predetermined range. In this way, by collectively managing the position information related to the objects whose attribute information is distributed and managed, it is possible to immediately specify the object located within the predetermined range from the search requester terminal.

  Further, the information management apparatus refers to the object position information stored in the attribute information storage unit based on the object identification information and the object position information acquired by the position acquisition unit, so that the object position information changes. Update position determination means for determining whether the object position information is changed by the update determination means, the position transmission means includes the object position information after the change and the object position information. It is preferable to transmit corresponding object identification information.

  In this case, it is possible to minimize the amount of communication data when providing the object position information from the information management apparatus that manages the attribute information about the object to the position information management apparatus.

  Further, (C) a terminal location acquisition unit that acquires terminal location information, a terminal location transmission unit that transmits terminal location information acquired by the terminal location acquisition unit to the terminal location reception unit, and an identification transmission unit, It is preferable to further include a search device having an identification receiving means for receiving the object identification information.

  When such a search device is provided, the position information of the search requester terminal is acquired in advance, and the object identification information relating to the object located within the predetermined range is received from the search requester terminal, whereby the object from the search requester terminal is received. It is possible to further reduce the search time when there is a search request for attribute information regarding.

  Still further, the search device includes a search request unit that transmits the object identification information received by the identification reception unit to the information management device, and attribute information returned from the information management device in response to transmission by the search request unit. Further comprising: an attribute receiving means for receiving; and a search accepting means for sending the attribute information received by the attribute receiving means to the search requester terminal after accepting an object search request from the search requester terminal. The apparatus responds to the object identification information by referring to the attribute information storage means based on the request receiving means for receiving the object identification information transmitted by the search request means and the object identification information received by the request receiving means. Attribute search means for searching for attribute information to be received, and attribute information searched by the attribute search means for receiving attributes It may further include an attribute transmitting means for transmitting to the stage, the.

  In this way, the search device transmits object identification information related to objects within a predetermined range received in advance to the information management device, and the information management device searches and returns attribute information corresponding to the transmitted object identification information. To do. Further, the search device transmits the attribute information in response to the search request from the search requester terminal. Thereby, the object attribute information within the predetermined range can be efficiently provided to the search requester.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to efficiently search for an object located within a desired range.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, in each figure, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the same element and the overlapping description is abbreviate | omitted.

[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a first embodiment of an object management system according to the present invention. This object management system 1 is a network system for managing and providing attribute information of “objects” which are various objects such as products and living things.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the object management system 1 includes a plurality of objects 20 to be managed, information management devices 31 to 3n that manage attribute information of the object 20, and a position management device 40 that manages the position of the object 20. And a search device 50 that relays object attribute information in response to a search request from the terminal, a communication terminal (search requester terminal) 60 used by the search requester, and a storage address of the object attribute information. An address management device 80 is included. The information management devices 31 to 3n, the location management device 40, the search device 50, and the address management device 80 are connected to a network 70A including a LAN (Local Area Network), a WAN (Wide Area Network), and the like, respectively. Data can be transmitted / received to / from each other via 70A. Further, the search device 50 and the communication terminal 60 are connected to a communication network 70B such as a fixed telephone network, a mobile communication network, a PHS (Personal Handyphone System) network, and the Internet network, and transmit / receive data to / from each other via the communication network 70B. Is possible.

  In this figure, for convenience of explanation, the object management system 1 includes one location management device 40, one search device 50, and one address management device 80. However, by installing the management system 1 for each specific area, A plurality of each may be provided. Hereinafter, each component of the object management system 1 will be described in detail.

  The object 20 is an object to be managed, such as a camera or a notebook computer, and includes an IC tag such as an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag. The object 20 stores object identification information for identifying itself and object position information for specifying its position in the IC tag. This position information is stored by positioning using GPS (Global Positioning System) or by receiving in advance from an IC tag reader / writer (not shown), and is updated periodically or as needed. For example, object identification information “xxxxxxx1” and object position information “area A” are stored in the IC tag provided in the object 20 that is a camera.

  The communication terminal 60 is a communication terminal used by a search requester, and is configured to be able to send and receive data to and from the search device 50 via the communication network 70B. Examples of such communication terminals include mobile phones, PHS, PDA (Personal Digital Assistants) and the like. Further, the communication terminal 60 has a function of acquiring terminal position information regarding the coordinate position of the communication terminal 60 by positioning using GPS. Further, the communication terminal 60 includes a function of sending the acquired terminal position information “(X, Y)” to the search device 50 prior to the search for the object, and a search request for requesting a search for the attribute information of the object. And a function of transmitting to the search device 50. This advance sending of the position information is performed at a timing when the position of the communication terminal 60 grasped from the terminal position information “(X, Y)” has changed by a predetermined distance or more.

  The address management device 80 is a database server that stores the correspondence between the object identification information and the storage destination network address of the attribute information of the object identified by the object identification information. In this case, the network address of the information management devices 31 to 3n is set as the storage destination network address. For example, when the attribute information of the object 20 identified by the object identification information “xxxxxxx1” is managed in the information management device 31, the address management device 80 uses the network address “WWW.XXX.YYY” of the information management device 31. .ZZZ ”is stored in association with the object identification information“ xxxxxxx1 ”.

  The information management devices 31 to 3n are computer systems that manage object attribute information. Each of the information management devices 31 to 3n distributes and manages attribute information of a plurality of objects. FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration diagram of the information management device 31. As shown in the figure, the information management apparatus 31 includes an attribute information storage unit (attribute information storage unit) 301, a position acquisition unit (position acquisition unit) 302, a position transmission unit (position transmission unit) 303, and an update determination. Unit (update determination unit) 304, request reception unit (request reception unit) 305, attribute search unit (attribute search unit) 306, and attribute transmission unit (attribute transmission unit) 307. Hereinafter, the configuration of the information management devices 32 to 3n is the same as that of the information management device 31, and thus the description thereof is omitted.

  Hereinafter, each component of the information management apparatus 31 will be described.

  The attribute information storage unit 301 is a storage unit such as a hard disk or a memory that stores data including attribute information of objects. The attribute information storage unit 301 stores attribute information related to objects to be managed by the information management apparatus 31. Here, “attribute information” represents characteristics and properties unique to the object such as name, manufacturer, type, position, expiration date, and handling method regarding the object. FIG. 5 shows an example of the data configuration in the attribute information storage unit 301. According to the example shown in the figure, the name “camera”, the object position information “area D”, the manufacturer “company A”, the model “ABCD”, and the color “black” as the attribute information of the object 20 Is stored in association with the object identification information “xxxxxxx1” corresponding to.

  Returning to FIG. 2, the position acquisition unit 302 is a part that periodically acquires object identification information and object position information regarding the object 20 from the object 20 via the IC tag reader / writer. For example, the position acquisition unit 302 acquires object identification information “xxxxxxx1” and object position information “area A” from the object 20. In addition, the position acquisition unit 302 outputs the acquired object identification information and object position information to the update determination unit 304. At the same time, the position acquisition unit 302 updates the object position information corresponding to the object 20 stored in the attribute information storage unit 301 based on the acquired object identification information and object position information.

  The update determination unit 304 is a part that determines whether or not the object position information has changed based on the object identification information and the object position information received from the position acquisition unit 302. More specifically, the update determination unit 304 refers to data with matching object identification information from the attribute information storage unit 301 and refers to object position information stored in association with the object identification information. Then, it is determined whether or not the object position information received from the position acquisition unit 302 is different from the object position information before being updated in the attribute information storage unit 301. The update determination unit 304 outputs the determination result “changed / not changed” information and the object identification information and object position information received from the position acquisition unit 302 to the position transmission unit 303. For example, when the object position information regarding the object 20 that is the object identification information “xxxxxxx1” has changed from “area D” to “area A”, the determination result “changed”, the object identification information “xxxxxxx1”, and the object position information “Area A” is output to the position transmission unit 303.

  The position transmission unit 303 is a part that transmits the object identification information and the object position information received from the update determination unit 304 to the position management device 40. At this time, when the determination result received from the update determination unit 304 is “changed”, the position transmission unit 303 uses the changed object position information received from the update determination unit 304 and the corresponding object identification information. It transmits to the position management device 40. On the other hand, when the determination result received from the update determination unit 304 is “no change”, the position transmission unit 303 does not perform transmission to the position management device 40. In the case of the example described above, the position transmission unit 303 transmits the object identification information “xxxxxxx1” and the object position information “area A” to the position management device 40.

  The request receiving unit 305 is a part that receives an object search request transmitted from the search device 50. Object identification information for specifying an object to be searched is added to this object search request. The request reception unit 305 outputs the object identification information included in the received search request to the attribute search unit 306.

  The attribute search unit 306 is a part that searches the attribute information corresponding to the object identification information related to the search target object by referring to the attribute information storage unit 301 based on the object identification information received from the request reception unit 305. More specifically, the attribute search unit 306 reads data that matches the object identification information received from the request reception unit 305 from the attribute information storage unit 301 and acquires attribute information in the read data. In addition, the attribute search unit 306 outputs the acquired attribute information and object identification information to the attribute transmission unit 307. According to the example of FIG. 5, when the attribute search unit 306 receives the object identification information “xxxxxxx1”, the name “camera”, the object position information “area A”, the manufacturer “A company”, the model “ABCD”, and the color The attribute information including “black” and the object identification information “xxxxxxx1” are output to the attribute transmitting unit 307.

  The attribute transmission unit 307 is a part that transmits the attribute information and the object identification information received from the attribute search unit 306 to the search device 50 via the network 70A.

  The position management device 40 is a computer system that manages the position of an object. In FIG. 3, the schematic block diagram of the position management apparatus 40 is shown. As shown in the figure, the position management device 40 includes a position receiving unit (position receiving unit) 401, a position information storage unit (position information storage unit) 402, a terminal position receiving unit (terminal position receiving unit) 403, An object search unit (object search unit) 404 and an identification transmission unit (identification transmission unit) 405 are provided.

  Hereinafter, each component of the position management device 40 will be described.

  The position receiving unit 401 is a part that receives the object identification information and the object position information transmitted from the position transmitting unit 303 of the information management device 31 via the network 70A. In addition, the position receiving unit 401 stores the received object identification information in the position information storage unit 402 in association with the object position information. At this time, if the object position information corresponding to the received object identification information is already stored, the position receiving unit 401 updates the latest object position information. FIG. 6 shows a configuration example of data in the position information storage unit 402 stored in this way. As shown in the figure, the object identification information “xxxxxxx1” received from the information management apparatus 31 is stored in association with the object position information “area A”.

  The terminal position receiving unit 403 is a part that receives the terminal position information “(X, Y)” of the communication terminal 60 from the search device 50. The terminal location receiving unit 403 outputs the received terminal location information to the object search unit 404.

  Based on the terminal position information received from the terminal position receiving unit 403 and the object position information stored in the position information storage unit 402, the object search unit 404 selects an object whose distance from the communication terminal 60 is within a predetermined range. This is the part to be extracted. According to the example of FIG. 6, the object search unit 404 reads the object position information “area A” from the position information storage unit 402, and uses the object position information “area A” and the terminal position information “(X, Y)”. The distance D between the position indicated by the object position information and the position of the communication terminal 60 is calculated. This distance calculation is performed by storing the coordinate position corresponding to the object position information “area A” in advance and calculating the distance between the two points using the coordinate position and the terminal position information. As a result, when the calculated distance D is equal to or less than the predetermined distance D0, the object search unit 404 identifies and transmits the object identification information “xxxxxxx1” and “xxxxxxx2” stored in association with the object position information “area A”. Output to the unit 405. The object search unit 404 repeats the above distance determination process for all the object position information stored in the position information storage unit 402.

  The identification transmission unit 405 is a part that transmits the object identification information received from the object search unit 404 to the search device 50 via the network 70A.

  The search device 50 is a computer system that relays attribute information of the object 20 in response to a search request from the communication terminal 60. FIG. 4 shows a schematic configuration diagram of the search device 50. As shown in the figure, the search device 50 includes a terminal location acquisition unit (terminal location acquisition unit) 501, a terminal location transmission unit (terminal location transmission unit) 502, an identification reception unit (identification reception unit) 503, an identification The information storage unit 504 includes a search reception unit (search reception unit) 505, a search request unit (search request unit) 506, an attribute reception unit (attribute reception unit) 507, and an attribute information storage unit 508.

  Hereinafter, each component of the search device 50 will be described.

  The terminal location acquisition unit 501 is a part that receives terminal location information “(X, Y)” sent in advance from the communication terminal 60 via the communication network 70B. The terminal location acquisition unit 501 outputs the received terminal location information to the terminal location transmission unit 502.

  The terminal location transmission unit 502 is a part that transmits the terminal location information “(X, Y)” received from the terminal location acquisition unit 501 to the terminal location reception unit 403 of the location management device 40. The terminal location transmission unit 502 transmits terminal location information to the location management device 40 via the network 70A.

  The identification receiving unit 503 is a part that receives the object identification information extracted by the position management device 40 from the identification transmission unit 405 of the location management device 40 in response to the transmission of the terminal location information of the terminal location transmission unit 502. The identification receiving unit 503 stores all the received object identification information in the identification information storage unit 504.

  The search reception unit 505 is a part that receives a search request for object attribute information from the communication terminal 60. This search request includes search condition information indicating a search condition regarding the object to be searched. This search condition information is for designating conditions relating to attribute information desired to be returned to the communication terminal 60, such as “name: camera; complete match”, “model: ABC; forward match”, and the like. The search reception unit 505 outputs the search request received from the communication terminal 60 to the search request unit 506. Further, the search reception unit 505 is obtained from the object identification information and attribute information acquired from the information management devices 31 to 3n and stored in the attribute information storage unit 508 in accordance with the output of the search request to the search request unit 506. Then, what matches the search condition included in the search request is extracted and returned to the communication terminal 60. For example, in the case of “name: camera; complete match”, attribute information including the name “camera” and object identification information corresponding to the attribute information are transmitted to the communication terminal 60.

  The search request unit 506 adds the object identification information stored in the identification information storage unit 504 to the search request received from the search reception unit 505 and transmits it to the information management devices 31 to 3n. In this case, the search request unit 506 determines a transmission destination for each object identification information stored in the identification information storage unit 504, collects the object identification information for each determined transmission destination, and then adds the transmission request to the search request. To do. Here, the transmission destination of the object identification information is determined by obtaining the storage address network address of the attribute information corresponding to the object identification information from the address management device 80.

  The attribute receiving unit 507 receives the attribute information and the object identification information returned from the attribute transmitting unit 307 of the information management devices 31 to 3n in response to the transmission of the search request by the search request unit 506, and receives the attribute information storage unit This is a part stored in 508. FIG. 7 is a configuration example of data in the attribute information storage unit 508 stored in this way. As shown in the drawing, the attribute information received from the information management apparatus 31 includes name “camera”, object position information “area A”, manufacturer “company A”, model “ABCD”, and color “black”. Are stored in association with the object identification information “xxxxxxx1”.

  Subsequently, an operation of the object management system 1 according to the present embodiment will be described, and an object search method according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  First, an operation when performing location registration from the object 20 in the object management system 1 will be described. FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram showing an operation when performing location registration from the object 20 to the location management device 40.

  First, the object position information “area A” and the object identification information “xxxxxxx1” are acquired from the IC tag of the object 20 by the IC tag reader / writer and transmitted to the information management device 31 (step S101). Next, the position acquisition unit 302 of the information management device 31 receives the object identification information and the object position information, and sets the object position information corresponding to the object identification information “xxxxxxx1” stored in the attribute information storage unit 301 to “area”. Update to “A” (step S102). At the same time, the update determination unit 304 determines whether or not the object position information acquired from the object 20 has changed (step S103). If the object position information has changed as a result of the determination (step S103; YES), the position transmission unit 303 transmits the changed object position information and object identification information to the position management device 40 (step S104). ).

  In response to this, the position receiving unit 401 of the position management device 40 stores the object position information and the object identification information received from the information management device 31 in the position information storage unit 402 (step S105). The position registration operation from the object 20 described above is periodically performed by repeatedly reading the IC tag of the object 20 by the IC tag reader / writer.

  Next, an operation when performing advance sending of position information from the communication terminal 60 in the object management system 1 will be described. FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram showing an operation when sending location information in advance from the communication terminal 60 to the search device 50.

  First, after the terminal position information “(X, Y)” is acquired in the communication terminal 60 (step S201), it is detected that the position of the communication terminal 60 has changed by a predetermined distance or more from the previous acquisition of the terminal position information. Then, the terminal position information “(X, Y)” is transmitted to the search device 50 by the communication terminal 60 (step S202). On the other hand, the terminal location acquisition unit 501 of the search device 50 receives the terminal location information “(X, Y)”, and the terminal location transmission unit 502 receives the terminal location information of the location management device 40. The data is transmitted to the unit 403 (step S203). Next, the object search unit 404 extracts object identification information related to an object whose distance from the communication terminal 60 is within a predetermined range from the data stored in the position information storage unit 402 (step S204). Thereafter, the identification transmission unit 405 transmits the extracted object identification information to the search device 50 (step S205).

  On the other hand, the identification receiving unit 503 of the search device 50 once deletes all the object identification information stored in the identification information storage unit 504 (step S206). Thereafter, the identification receiving unit 503 stores all the object identification information received from the position management device 40 in the identification information storage unit 504 (step S207).

  Next, an operation when searching for an object from the communication terminal 60 in the object management system 1 will be described. FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram illustrating an operation when searching for attribute information of an object from the communication terminal 60.

  First, when an object search request and an input of a search condition are received by the input means of the communication terminal 60, a search request including search condition information is transmitted from the communication terminal 60 to the search reception unit 505 of the search device 50. (Step S301).

  In response to this, the search request unit 506 of the search device 50 reads out all the object identification information stored in the identification information storage unit 504 (step S302). Next, the search request unit 506 inquires the address management device 80 for each read object identification information, thereby acquiring the network addresses of the information management devices 31 to 3n in which attribute information corresponding to the object identification information is stored. (Step S303). Then, the search request unit 506 adds the object identification information to the search request transmitted from the communication terminal 60 and transmits it to the information management devices 31 to 3n corresponding to the network address (step S304).

  In response to this, the attribute search unit 306 of the information management devices 31 to 3n reads attribute information corresponding to all object identification information included in the search request from the attribute information storage unit 301 (step S305). Then, the attribute transmitting unit 307 transmits the read attribute information and the corresponding object identification information to the attribute receiving unit 507 of the search device 50 (step S306).

  When the search device 50 receives the attribute information and the object identification information, they are sequentially stored in the attribute information storage unit 508 (step S307). In this way, after the attribute information corresponding to all the object identification information included in the search request is stored in the attribute information storage unit 508, the search reception unit 505 matches the search condition set in the search condition information. The attribute information is extracted from the attribute information storage unit 508. Then, the search reception unit 505 returns the extracted attribute information and object identification information to the communication terminal 60 (step S308). On the other hand, attribute information for each object is output to data output means such as a display of the communication terminal 60 (step S309).

  According to the object management system 1 described above, the information management devices 31 to 3n that store the attribute information of the object acquire the object identification information and the object position information from the object 20, and then write them into the attribute information storage unit 301. The object identification information and the object position information are transmitted to the position management device 40. Further, when the position management device 40 receives the object identification information and the object position information from the information management devices 31 to 3n and stores them in the position information storage unit 402 and then receives the terminal position information of the communication terminal 60, the communication terminal Object identification information relating to an object whose distance from 60 is within a predetermined range is returned. In this way, by collectively managing the position information related to the objects whose attribute information is distributed and managed, it is possible to immediately specify the object located within the predetermined range from the search requester terminal.

  In addition, when providing the object position information from the information management devices 31 to 3n to the position management device 40, it is determined whether or not the object position information has changed. Therefore, from the information management devices 31 to 3n that manage the attribute information about the object, The amount of communication data when providing the object position information to the position management device 40 can be minimized.

  Further, in the search device 50, the position information of the communication terminal 60 is acquired in advance, and the object identification information related to the object located within the predetermined range from the communication terminal 60 is stored, so that the attribute information related to the object from the communication terminal 60 The search time when there is a search request can be further shortened.

  Further, the search device 50 transmits the object identification information stored in advance to the information management devices 31 to 3n in response to the search request from the communication terminal 60, and the information management devices 31 to 3n transmit the transmitted objects. Since attribute information corresponding to the identification information is searched and returned, object attribute information within a predetermined range can be efficiently provided to the search requester.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the object management system 901 according to the second embodiment of the present invention, the search device 50 acquires the attribute information from the information management devices 31 to 3n at the timing when the terminal location information sent in advance from the communication terminal 60 is received. The points to be set are different from those of the first embodiment. In the following, differences between the components of the object management system 901 and the first embodiment will be described in detail.

  FIG. 11 is a schematic configuration diagram of a search device according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In the search device 50, the identification reception unit 513 outputs all the object identification information received from the identification transmission unit 405 of the position management device 40 to the search request unit 516.

  In addition, the search request unit 516 transmits the object identification information received from the identification reception unit 513 to the information management devices 31 to 3n.

  In addition, when the search reception unit 515 receives a search request for attribute information of an object from the communication terminal 60, the search reception unit 515 searches for the search included in the search request from the object identification information and attribute information stored in the attribute information storage unit 508. Those that match the conditions are extracted and returned to the communication terminal 60.

  Next, the operation of the object management system 901 will be described with reference to FIG. 12, and the object search method in the object management system 901 will be described in detail. FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing an operation at the time of object attribute information search in the object management system 901. In addition, since each process of step S401-S405 in FIG. 11 is the same as each process (refer FIG. 9) of step S201-S205 explained in full detail in 1st Embodiment, respectively, it differs from 1st Embodiment. The processing after S406 will be described.

  When the object identification information is transmitted from the position management device 40 to the search device 50 by the processing (steps S 401 to S 405) after the terminal position information is sent from the communication terminal 60 in advance, the search request unit 516 displays the address management device 80. To obtain a storage destination network address for each object identification information (step S406). Then, the search request unit 516 collects the object identification information for each network address and transmits it to the information management devices 31 to 3n corresponding to the network address (step S407).

  In response to this, the attribute search unit 306 of the information management devices 31 to 3n reads attribute information corresponding to all object identification information included in the search request from the attribute information storage unit 301 (step S408). Then, the attribute transmitting unit 307 transmits the read attribute information and corresponding object identification information to the attribute receiving unit 507 of the search device 50 (step S409).

  After receiving the attribute information and the object identification information, the attribute receiving unit 507 of the search device 50 stores them in the attribute information storage unit 508 (step S410).

  After that, when an object search request and search condition input are received by the input means of the communication terminal 60, a search request including search condition information is transmitted from the communication terminal 60 to the search reception unit 515 of the search device 50. (Step S411). On the other hand, the search reception unit 515 extracts attribute information that matches the search condition set in the search condition information from the attribute information storage unit 508 (step S412). Then, the search reception unit 515 returns the extracted attribute information and object identification information to the communication terminal 60 (step S413). As a result, attribute information for each object is output to data output means such as a display of the communication terminal 60 (step S414).

  According to the object management system 901 described above, the search device 50 acquires position information of the communication terminal 60 in advance, and stores object attribute information related to objects located within a predetermined range from the communication terminal 60. The search time when there is a request for attribute information related to an object from the communication terminal 60 can be further shortened. In particular, in the object management system 901, it is not necessary to make an inquiry to the information management apparatuses 31 to 3n when a search is requested from the communication terminal 60, so that the search time can be shortened more effectively.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments. For example, in the object management systems 1 and 901, object identification information and object position information are read from an IC card provided in the object 20, but this is done by attaching a bar code, magnetic memory, etc. to the object. You may make it read from. The object position information may be acquired from the IC tag reader / writer as information for identifying the IC tag reader / writer.

  Further, when acquiring the terminal location information, the search device 50 acquires a radio base station code or the like for specifying the radio base station area where the communication terminal is located from a location register or the like that manages the location of the communication terminal. It may work.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a first embodiment of an object management system according to the present invention. It is a schematic block diagram of the information management apparatus of FIG. It is a schematic block diagram of the position management apparatus of FIG. It is a schematic block diagram of the search device of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure in the attribute information storage part of the information management apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of a data structure in the positional information storage part of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure in the attribute information storage part of the search device of FIG. It is a sequence diagram which shows the operation | movement at the time of performing location registration to a location management apparatus from an object. It is a sequence diagram which shows the operation | movement at the time of performing prior sending of positional information from a communication terminal to a search device. It is a sequence diagram which shows the operation | movement at the time of searching the attribute information of an object from a communication terminal. It is a schematic block diagram of the search device concerning 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement at the time of the object attribute information search in the object management system concerning 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,901 ... Object management system, 20 ... Object, 31-3n ... Information management apparatus, 301 ... Attribute information storage part, 302 ... Position acquisition part, 303 ... Position transmission part, 304 ... Update determination part, 305 ... Request reception part 306 Attribute search unit 307 Attribute transmission unit 40 Position management device 401 Position reception unit 402 Position information storage unit 403 Terminal position reception unit 404 Object search unit 405 Identification transmission unit , 50 ... Search device, 501 ... Terminal location acquisition unit, 502 ... Terminal location transmission unit, 503, 513 ... Identification reception unit, 504 ... Identification information storage unit, 505, 515 ... Search reception unit, 506, 516 ... Search request unit 507 ... Attribute receiving unit, 508 ... Attribute information storage unit, 60 ... Communication terminal, 70A ... Network, 70B ... Communication network, 80 ... Address management device

Claims (5)

Attribute information storage means for associating and storing object identification information for identifying an object and attribute information about the object;
Position acquisition means for acquiring object identification information for identifying the object and object position information for specifying the position of the object from the object, and writing to the attribute information storage means;
Position transmitting means for transmitting the object identification information and the object position information acquired by the position acquiring means;
An information management device having
Position receiving means for receiving object identification information and object position information transmitted by the position transmitting means;
Position information storage means for storing the object identification information and the object position information received by the position receiving means in association with each other;
Terminal location receiving means for receiving terminal location information relating to the location of the search requester terminal;
Based on the terminal position information received by the terminal position receiving means and the object position information stored in the position information storage means, object identification information regarding an object whose distance from the search requester terminal is within a predetermined range is obtained. An object search means to extract;
Identification transmission means for transmitting the object identification information extracted by the object search means;
A location management device having
An object management system comprising: The information management device changes the object position information by referring to the object position information stored in the attribute information storage unit based on the object identification information and the object position information acquired by the position acquisition unit. Update determining means for determining whether or not
The position transmitting means transmits object position information after the change and object identification information corresponding to the object position information when the update determining means determines that the object position information has changed,
The object management system according to claim 1. Terminal location acquisition means for acquiring the terminal location information;
Terminal position transmitting means for transmitting terminal position information acquired by the terminal position acquiring means to the terminal position receiving means;
An identification receiving means for receiving the object identification information from the identification transmitting means;
Further comprising a search device having
The object management system according to claim 1, wherein the object management system is an object management system. The search device includes:
Search request means for transmitting the object identification information received by the identification receiving means to the information management device;
Attribute receiving means for receiving attribute information returned in response to transmission by the search request means from the information management device;
Search accepting means for sending attribute information received by the attribute receiving means to the search requester terminal after accepting an object search request from the search requester terminal;
The information management device includes:
Request receiving means for receiving the object identification information transmitted by the search request means;
Attribute search means for searching for attribute information corresponding to the object identification information by referring to the attribute information storage means based on the object identification information received by the request receiving means;
Attribute transmitting means for transmitting attribute information searched by the attribute searching means to the attribute receiving means;
Further having
The object information management system according to claim 3. A position acquisition step in which the information management device acquires, from the object, object identification information for identifying the object and object position information for specifying the position of the object, and writes the object position information in the attribute information storage unit;
A position transmission step in which the information management device transmits the object identification information and the object position information acquired in the position acquisition step;
A position receiving step in which the position management device receives the object identification information and the object position information transmitted in the position transmitting step;
A position information storing step in which the position management device stores the object identification information and the object position information received in the position receiving step in association with each other;
A terminal location receiving step in which the location management device receives terminal location information relating to the location of the search requester terminal;
Based on the terminal position information received by the terminal position reception step and the object position information stored in the position information storage step, the position management device has a distance from the search requester terminal within a predetermined range. An object search step for extracting object identification information about the object;
An identification transmission step in which the location management device transmits the object identification information extracted in the object search step;
An object search method comprising:

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