JP2006221661A - Position information management method and device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a position information management system with abundant service property. <P>SOLUTION: A portable radio terminal 11 includes a plurality of locating means for locating based on GPS, locating based on a portable-telephone of PHS base station, locating based on a radio marker 33, and independent locating based on a direction detector 20, so that the holder of the portable remote terminal can navigate anywhere. The holder of the portable remote terminal 11 can know the position of a third party similarly holding such a portable remote terminal 11, by inquiring of a central system 10, and he/she can supervise, for example, activities of a wandering old person, a child, or a skier in a skiing area. Further, only the map data of a district which is often used by the holder is stored in the portable remote terminal 11. In this regard, when the holder is in a district not contained within the retained map data, he/she downloads corresponding map data from the central system and uses the downloaded map data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a pedestrian location information management method and apparatus.

  Nowadays, a car navigation system that is attached to a car and displays the current position of the car is put into practical use and put on the market. According to the car navigation system, you can go to your destination without getting lost because the map and the current location of your surroundings are displayed even on the land where you started.

  The car navigation system performs a process of receiving a radio wave from an artificial satellite, acquiring a current position by latitude and longitude, and reading out map information including the acquired latitude and longitude from a storage device.

  Car navigation is to navigate the driving of a car, but a person has a portable terminal, and a system for navigating people by displaying the current position and map information on this portable terminal has also been developed, Sold.

  The system for navigating this person also receives radio waves from an artificial satellite, acquires the current position in latitude and longitude, and displays stored map information together with the current position.

A system that determines the current position by receiving radio waves from an artificial satellite is called a GPS (Global Positioning System).
There exist the following patent documents 1-7 in a prior art. Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for acquiring a next map by inputting a schedule in advance and designating a map number. In Patent Document 2, in a stand-alone system, a wide range of map data is correlated and stored, and a map necessary for scroll display is loaded. In patent document 3, the detailed map information which is not stored in the map information of a system is provided from the outside. In Patent Document 4, various information on the location of the terminal and the surrounding area can be provided to the user. In patent document 5, GPS and a base station are described in parallel. Patent Document 6 describes that GPS is replaced with PHS base station data. Patent Document 7 relates to a system that performs individual guidance by monitoring road conditions, and for a section in which GPS cannot be received, the relative movement amount of the vehicle is detected from the entrance of the tunnel with a gyro to determine the position.
JP-A-6-102050 JP-A-5-119695 JP-A-8-261774 JP-A-9-8917 JP-A-8-322091 JP-A-10-213644 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-22497

  By the way, in the navigation system as described above, since the current position is acquired by catching the radio wave from the artificial satellite, there is a drawback that the system does not operate when the radio wave from the artificial satellite does not reach.

Further, in a system for navigating the movement of a person, the terminal held by the person has a built-in CD-ROM or the like for storing map information, and therefore tends to be slightly larger.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a location information management system with more serviceability.

  The system of the present invention can acquire information from the position identification system in the information terminal, perform processing in the center system, and manage information related to the position of the information terminal, and can use a plurality of types of position identification systems. Thus, it is characterized in that an information terminal configured to automatically switch a position specifying system in an unusable state and acquire a current position using another position specifying system is used.

  The information terminal used in the present invention can communicate with a center system that manages position information, acquires information from the position specifying system, and displays information on the position of the information terminal. A type of location system is available, and is configured to automatically switch between location systems that are not available and use other location systems to obtain the current location. And

  Alternatively, the portable wireless terminal of the present invention includes a position information acquisition unit that obtains current position information and a position information obtained by the position information acquisition unit in response to a position information request from another device via a wireless line. Means for transmitting to the other apparatus via the wireless line.

  In another aspect, a position information acquisition means for obtaining current position information based on radio waves from a satellite, and a means for connecting via a wireless line to a center for managing current position information of a plurality of portable wireless telephone terminals And means for registering the current position information acquired by the position information acquisition means in the center via the connection means, and the current position of a third-party portable wireless terminal from the center via the connection means. And means for acquiring.

  In addition, according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain and display position information in some way without failing to be unable to use a navigation function or the like because one position specifying system cannot be used. It is rich.

  In particular, according to the present invention, the information terminal or the portable terminal can be equipped with a direction detector for estimating the position autonomously, and in this way, GPS and other position identification systems can be used at all. If you don't have one, you can use the navigation function if you know the starting point.

  In addition, the portable terminal or the information terminal can reduce the number of downloads from the center system by providing the IC card with a function to hold the minimum necessary map data as an IC card, and as a removable storage medium. By using an IC card, the terminal itself can be made smaller than using a CD-ROM.

  In addition, the system of the present invention can provide many services, which will be described below by way of example with reference to the drawings.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to monitor behaviors of elderly people and children, to acquire position information between persons having mobile terminals, and to detect abnormal situations of persons having mobile terminals. It is possible to provide a location information management system rich in serviceability, such as being able to know quickly.

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a location information management system of the present invention.
The system of the present invention includes a center system 10 for centrally managing information, a portable terminal 11 carried by a person, an artificial satellite 12 for GPS, a radio wave transmission tower 13 for D-GPS (Diferential GPS), and wirelessly. An information providing station (radio wave marker) 33 for teaching the position of the mobile terminal 11 is provided.

  The mobile terminal 11 includes receivers for the GPS antenna 14, the mobile phone radio 15, the PHS radio 16, and the radio 17 for receiving radio waves from the radio wave marker 33. Each receiver receives radio waves from the respective radio wave transmission stations and passes them to the control unit 22.

The control unit 22 acquires the current position of the mobile terminal 11 using the most accurate position information obtained from each radio wave, and outputs the current position and the surrounding map to the display 18 on the holder. Let me know. Reference numeral 19 denotes an audio microphone which is used when notifying the owner of a warning by sound. The mobile terminal 11 stores the minimum map information such as the map information of the area where the owner frequently visits as the map data 21. When the mobile terminal 11 is in the range of the map data 21, the map data 21 is read and output to the display 18. Moreover, it is preferable that the map data 21 stored in the portable terminal 11 can be used by mounting a removable storage medium such as an IC card or a miniature card. By doing so, it is only necessary to mount a minimum map of the area to be used, and since it does not require more storage capacity than necessary, there is an advantage that the portable terminal 11 can be reduced in size.

  The direction detector 20 is for detecting the movement of the mobile terminal 11 autonomously and specifying the current position when the radio wave does not reach the mobile terminal 11. The direction detector 20 includes a gyro compass and an acceleration sensor, and the control unit 22 calculates the movement direction and movement distance of the terminal by calculating information from the direction detector 20, and displays the current position on the display 18. Output as. In particular, by using a three-dimensional gyro and arranging the acceleration sensor three-dimensionally, it becomes possible to calculate the three-dimensional movement direction and movement distance of the mobile terminal, so that any radio wave cannot be received. Even if there is, you can navigate independently.

  The center system 10 is connected to a wireless device (mobile phone base station) 23 and a wireless device (PHS base station) 24 via a mobile phone switch 25 or a PHS switch 26 and exchanges position information with the mobile terminal 11. . The information providing unit 27 of the center system 10 has map data 28 including position data of mobile phones and PHS base stations, and the map data 21 of the mobile terminal 11 displays the current position. If the data is insufficient, the map data 28 is sent to the portable terminal 11 so that the current position can be displayed. When the mobile terminal 11 cannot receive GPS or D-GPS, the location data of the mobile phone or PHS base station is obtained when the location of the mobile terminal 11 is known from the location of the nearest mobile phone base station or PHS base station. Used for.

  In addition, the information providing unit 27 is connected to the home terminal 32 via a network or the like, and provides location information of the mobile terminal 11 in order to determine the location of an elderly person or child having the mobile terminal 11. To do.

  The information providing station (radio wave marker) 33 is used to acquire the current position when the mobile terminal 11 cannot use GPS, D-GPS, mobile phone, and PHS. The information providing station 33 includes a radio device 29, a control unit 30, and position data 31. The position data 31 stores the latitude and longitude at which the information providing station 33 is provided, and is transmitted from the wireless device 29 to the mobile terminal 11 via the control unit 30. On the mobile terminal 11 side, the current position of the mobile terminal 11 is acquired based on the latitude and longitude information from the information providing station 33.

FIG. 2 is a system switching flow for position information acquisition performed by the control unit 22 of FIG.
The mobile terminal 11 can acquire position information using any of GPS, mobile phone, PHS, and radio wave marker. The accuracy of location information becomes worse in the order of GPS, mobile phone and PHS base station location information, and radio wave marker usage. Use GPS first, and if this cannot be used, the location with the next highest accuracy is used. As it gets, it automatically switches to the one with the lower accuracy.

  In step S1 in the figure, it is first determined whether or not a GPS signal is received. If a GPS signal is received, the position of the portable terminal (11 in FIG. 1) is determined using the GPS. Measure (Step S5).

  If no GPS signal is received in step S1, the process proceeds to step S2 to determine whether the position of the base station of the PHS or the mobile phone is known. The location of the base station of the PHS or mobile phone is transmitted from the mobile terminal to the nearest base station, and the center system receives the call from the mobile terminal by receiving the incoming call to the center system. Conversely, it can be obtained by sending the position of the base station back to the mobile terminal. It is determined that there is a person who has the portable terminal near the position of the nearest base station from this portable terminal, and this position is set as the position of the owner.

  Accordingly, when the position of the base station of the PHS or the mobile phone is known in step S2, the position of the mobile terminal or its owner is acquired using the base station as described above in step S6.

  If the position of the PHS or mobile phone is unknown in step S2, or if a call cannot be made outside the service area of the PHS and mobile phone, whether or not a radio wave marker signal is received in step S3. To be judged. The radio wave marker is provided at a major point in the town and transmits the latitude and longitude of the provided point as radio waves.

  If the portable terminal is receiving radio waves from this radio marker, the current position is substantially the same as the latitude and longitude of the nearest radio marker using the radio marker signal received by the radio in step S7. Is displayed on the display as the position of the portable terminal or its owner.

When the radio wave of the radio wave marker is not received in step S3, it is indicated that the position cannot be measured (step S4).
If it becomes impossible to measure the position in step S4, the direction detector 20 in FIG. 1 is used to calculate the moving direction and moving distance from the location where the position was last measured, and based on this, Guess the position and display it.

FIG. 3 shows the relationship between the map data displayed on the mobile terminal and the display screen of the display.
The left side of the figure shows the relationship between the actually displayed screen display and the acquired map data. There are map data stored in the mobile terminal and data downloaded from the center system. In any case, as shown on the right side of the figure, the map data is divided into blocks within a predetermined latitude and longitude range, and a number is assigned to each block for management.

For example, in the case of the figure, the displayed map data has a range larger than the actual display screen, and the latitude and longitude are (x ₁ , y ₁ ) and (x ₂ , y ₂ ). The specified range is shown. Map data read in the left figure is a map of the No. 1 according to the figure the right of the table, the range of latitude from x ₁ to x _2, those range of longitude from y ₁ to y ₂ It is.

When the latitude and longitude of the current portable terminal are known, the map data including the latitude and longitude of the current portable terminal is read with reference to a table as shown on the right side of FIG. When the current position of the mobile terminal changes and comes to the end of the map data, the next map is read. The map data is set so that the peripheral portions overlap each other, and at the end of the map data, at least two pieces of map data include the latitude and longitude of the current position. If the current position is at the end of the map data and it is not clear which map data is to be read, the travel direction up to that point is calculated and the map ahead of the travel direction is read. In addition, when the mobile terminal is already at the end of the map data when the mobile terminal is turned on and the traveling direction up to that point is not known, for example, a map with a small number is read once and After getting the direction, if necessary, load the next adjacent map.

  Note that map data does not necessarily have to be prepared so as to cover a larger area than the display screen, as shown in the figure, and is managed by dividing it into smaller areas and connecting multiple map data to the display screen. The map of the area covered by the display screen may be displayed. Also in this case, the map data obtained by connecting a plurality of map data is kept slightly larger than the display screen, and new map data is read as needed as the current position moves.

FIG. 4 is a processing flow when the current position is acquired and a map is displayed.
This figure is a map data display flow performed by the control unit 22 of the mobile terminal 11. First, in step S10, an instruction to display the current position is issued from the user. In step S11, the current position is obtained from the GPS. Here, as described in FIG. 2, when the current position cannot be obtained by GPS, the current position is obtained from the position of the base station of the PHS or the mobile phone, and when it is impossible. Uses a radio wave marker, and if that is not possible, the direction detector 20 of the mobile terminal 11 calculates the traveling direction and the moving distance, and estimates the current position by estimating from the position information obtained at the end. . At this time, the display indicates that the current position cannot be obtained and the direction detector 20 estimates the current position.

  If the current position can be obtained in step S11, it is determined in step S12 whether or not the map data 21 stored in the portable terminal 11 includes the current position. If the map data 21 stored in the mobile terminal 11 includes the current position, the process proceeds to step S15 to display the map and display the current position.

  If none of the map data 21 stored in the portable terminal 11 includes the current position, the current position is notified to the center system in step S13. The center system searches for map data including the current position that has been transmitted. The mobile terminal 11 downloads map data including the current position from the center system (step S14), displays the map on the display of the mobile terminal 11 in step S15, and displays the current position in the map. The downloaded map data is stored in the memory as the map data 21 of the mobile terminal 11, and the process returns to step S11 to continue the acquisition of the current position and the display of the map and the current position.

  To end the current position, for example, a display end button is provided on the portable terminal 11, and when this button is pressed, the flow of FIG. 4 may be interrupted to end, or the power may be turned off directly. You may make it complete | finish by.

  In addition, when acquiring map data, it is not efficient to download frequently used map data every time it is used, so the map data 21 held in the mobile terminal includes a map number, latitude, and longitude. In addition, the number of times displayed on the display screen and the latest access date and time are recorded together. The mobile terminal holds the map data for a predetermined time, but the map data that has passed the predetermined time from the latest access date and time is deleted because the storage capacity is limited. At this time, with reference to the number of times indicated on the display screen, the map data displayed for a predetermined number of times or more during a predetermined time is retained without being erased. By doing so, the same map data is not frequently downloaded, and the storage capacity of the mobile terminal can be used effectively.

FIG. 5 is a general process flowchart of the position inquiry system of the portable terminal holder using the system of the present invention.
This system can be realized by using the system of the present invention, and can be used for a person who does not know where to go, such as an elderly person, but needs to monitor the behavior. Therefore, it can be used not only for elderly people but also for child behavior monitoring.

  First, in order to acquire the current position of the mobile terminal, the mobile terminal always acquires the current position at regular time intervals using GPS or the like. Therefore, as in step S20, it is determined whether or not a certain time has elapsed, and the portable terminal transmits the acquired current position to the center system (step S21).

  In the center system, every time the current position sent from the mobile terminal is received, it is recorded in a log so that the user can always know what route the mobile terminal holder has taken (step S22). .

  Here, when the holder does not acquire the current position on the portable terminal side, a process for calling to acquire the current position from the center system side is performed (polling).

  The home terminal requests the center system to inform the location of the portable terminal holder when it is necessary to know where the portable terminal holder is now (step S23). The identification of the portable terminal holder is performed using the ID number or telephone number of the portable terminal. When the center system receives an acquisition request for the current position from the home terminal, the center system determines whether it can receive the incoming call to the mobile terminal (step S24). Whether or not an incoming call is possible is determined by outputting a call signal from the center system and determining whether or not the incoming call is possible by determining whether the portable terminal has sent a response signal.

  If it is determined in step S24 that the incoming call is impossible, the log is referenced in step S28, the speed and direction are determined from the path of the mobile terminal so far, and the current mobile terminal position is estimated. The position is displayed on the home terminal (step S27). At this time, the fact that the incoming call is impossible is also displayed on the portable terminal, so that it is understood that the displayed position is estimated at home.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S24 that an incoming call is possible, the center system issues a command to transmit the current position to the portable terminal. When this is received by the portable terminal (step S25), the current position is transmitted to the home terminal via the center system (step S26). At the home terminal, the current position sent from the portable terminal via the center system can be viewed on the display (step S27).

As a method for estimating the current position of the mobile terminal in the center system, for example, the following method can be considered.
In other words, GPS signals are received when the direction and speed can be calculated even when there is a break by the GPS signal that is occasionally received by the window, such as when traveling on a train for a long distance, or the GPS signal that is received when changing Even if not, the current position is estimated from the moving direction and speed.

  Or, when you ’re moving in a car, you ’ll receive a GPS signal if you ’re able to calculate the direction and speed even when you ’re receiving intermittent GPS signals. Even when it is not possible, the current position is predicted including the range, like the typhoon course prediction in the weather forecast, based on the moving direction and speed.

  In this way, the home supervisor can easily grasp the current position simply by holding the mobile terminal for the elderly or child, and thus it can be used very effectively as a monitoring system.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing processing when the system of the present invention is applied to position information acquisition between portable terminals.
In the case of FIG. 5, the location information of the mobile terminal is acquired at a home terminal. However, in the application example of FIG. 5, the location information between mobile terminals is acquired and the mobile terminal holders You can get where you are.

  In FIG. 6, the mobile terminal holder who wants to know the current position of the other party is himself, the third party is the other party who wants to know the current position, and the position of the third party is displayed on the display of his mobile terminal via the center system. The flow of processing when displaying is shown.

First, a mobile terminal owned by a third party always obtains the current position using GPS, PHS, a mobile phone, and a radio wave marker. Further, it is determined whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed (step S30), and the current position is transmitted to the center system (step S31). In the center system, the current position sent from the third party is recorded in a log (step S32), so that the route along which the third party is moving can be known. Here, the step of transmitting the current position to the center system is not described in the own side having the same mobile terminal, but this is for knowing the current position of the third party from the own side. This is because only the processing is taken out and described. Actually, the portable terminal that the user owns also transmits the current position to the center system at regular intervals, and changes in the current position are recorded in the log. Therefore, the process of FIG. 6 performed from the own side can be similarly performed for the self from the third party side.

  The person who wants to know the current position of the third party instructs the portable terminal to display the relative position with the third party (step S33). Thereby, the portable terminal of itself requests the position of the third party from the center system (step S34). At this time, it is necessary for the user to specify a third party, but this is done by using an ID number, a telephone number, or the like that the portable terminal has.

  When the center system receives a request for acquiring the current position of the third party from itself, the center system checks whether the specified third party can receive a call (step S35). As described above, the method for checking whether or not an incoming call is possible depends on whether or not a third-party portable terminal responds to the call signal.

  If the incoming call is impossible, the current position is estimated by examining the speed and direction of travel from the change in the current position of the specified third party recorded in the log in advance (step S39). Send to your mobile device. The mobile terminal receives this signal (step S40), and then acquires its position using the GPS, PHS or mobile phone base station, or radio wave marker (step S41). The following steps will be described later.

  If an incoming call to the third party is possible, the third party's portable terminal is requested to transmit the current position (step S36). The third-party mobile terminal acquires the current position using any of GPS, PHS, mobile phone, and radio wave marker (step S37), and transmits the current position to the center system (step S38). The center system transmits the current position of the third party to its mobile terminal. As a result, the current position of the third party is received by the user's own mobile terminal (step S40), and then the user's current position is acquired (step S41).

  When the third party's current position is known by transmission from the third party or by estimation in the center system, and the current position of the third party is known, the position of the third party is stored in the map data stored in the portable terminal. It is determined whether or not there is a map that can display its own position (step S42). If map data that can be displayed is stored, the map data is displayed, and the position of the third party identified as the user's position is displayed on the map (step S45).

  When the display is finished, in order to continuously display the relative position, the portable terminal returns the process to step S34 to repeatedly acquire and display the current position of the third party and the current position of the third party. To.

  If there is no map that displays the position of the third party specified in the map data stored in the portable terminal and the position of the third party, the center system displays the current position of the third party and the current position of the third party. (Step S43). The center system searches for map data that can be displayed at the same time from the position of the third party and one's own position, and transmits the map data that can be displayed at the same time to one's portable terminal (step) S44). The own mobile terminal displays the map data sent from the center system, and also displays the position of the third party and the own position (step S45).

  In this way, by using the system of the present invention, it is possible to know the position of a third party who wants to know the location not only from a home terminal but also from a mobile terminal, and while actually searching for elderly people and children, Can be confirmed. Therefore, it is possible to efficiently search for elderly people and children.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating processing performed by the center system in the processing of FIG.
FIG. 5A is a flowchart showing processing performed by the center system when the third party and his / her current position are transmitted from the portable terminal.

  When the center system receives the current positions of the third person and the two points (step S50), the center system calculates a linear distance between the two points from the two points (step S51). When the straight line distance between the two points is obtained, the map type is obtained by referring to a table as shown in FIG. 5B (step S52), and two points are included from the obtained map types. Search for a map (step S53). If a map including two points is found, it is transmitted to the portable terminal that has transmitted the position of the two points (step S54). In the portable terminal that has transmitted the positions of the two points, the center system performs display based on the map data transmitted in step S54.

FIG. 5B is a diagram showing an example of the table used in step S52 of FIG. 5A, and does not show that the correspondence between the straight line distance and the map type is strictly appropriate.
The center system holds many types of map data to cover various regions. In the example of FIG. 5B, it is assumed that four types of maps of 1 / 10,000, 1 / 20,000, 1 / 50,000, and 1 / 100,000 are held. The straight line distance is the distance between two points for which the relative position is to be known, and the unit is km.

  In the example of FIG. 5B, it is indicated that a map of 1 / 10,000 is used when the linear distance between two points is between 0 km and 100 km. In this way, when the center system reads from the table that 1 / 10,000 map should be used, a map including the current position of two points transmitted from 1 / 10,000 map data is displayed in latitude and longitude. Find and send to the mobile terminal that has sent the two straight line distances.

  Whether or not the two points are both included in the same map is determined from the latitude and longitude ranges attached to the map data. For example, as described in FIG. 3, the map data is composed of several individual map data covering a predetermined range, and each individual map data includes the latitude and longitude covered by the map data. A range is attached as data. Accordingly, first, one of the individual map data is selected, and it is determined whether or not the latitude of the two points is included in the latitude range covered by the map data. Next, it is determined whether the longitudes of the two points are included in the longitude range covered by the map data. In this way, it can be determined whether or not two points are included in one individual map data.

  The same applies to other types of maps, and according to the table in FIG. 5B, when the linear distance between two points is between 100 km and 200 km, map data of 1 / 20,000, When the straight line distance is between 200 km and 500 km, 1 / 50,000 map data is searched, and when the straight line distance is 500 km or more, 1 / 100,000 map data is searched. Of course, other types of map data other than those described in this example may be prepared and registered in a table for use.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a process of monitoring a third party on the mobile terminal side.
FIG. 5A is a processing flow for starting the monitoring process.
The user of the mobile terminal sets a monitoring place and a time during which the third party is stopped without moving in order to instruct to monitor the behavior of the third party on his mobile terminal ( Step S60). Designation of the monitoring location may be performed by the area name, or may be performed by the latitude and longitude. When specifying a monitoring location by region name, prepare a table that associates the region name with the latitude and longitude range of the region on the mobile device, and when the region name is entered, obtain the latitude and longitude range The corresponding map data is searched from the map data stored in the portable terminal or downloaded from the center system.

  When the corresponding map data is obtained from the monitoring location, it is displayed on the display (step S61). The user further designates an area to be monitored on the displayed map in order to specify the monitoring location, for example, by surrounding it with a rectangle (step S62). As an instruction method for enclosing with a rectangle, for example, a display of a mobile terminal is configured with a touch screen, and a position of a diagonal line of the rectangle is specified by touching with a pen or the like.

  If the area to be monitored is designated by a rectangle, the latitude and longitude of the designated area are acquired and recorded (step S63). Since the area is specified on the map displayed on the display, when you form a rectangle on the mobile device side, if you make a rectangular side parallel to the latitude line and longitude line on the map, The latitude range and longitude range of the specified area can be easily obtained.

If the latitude and longitude of the designated area can be acquired, the monitoring time is set from when to when monitoring is performed (step S64).
FIG. 5B is a flowchart of the third person's behavior monitoring process.

  When the monitoring process is started, it is first determined whether or not a certain time, which is a time interval for acquiring the current position, has elapsed (step S65). If the fixed time has not elapsed, the system waits for the fixed time to elapse. If the predetermined time has elapsed, the current position of the third person to be monitored is acquired (step S66). When the current position is acquired, it is compared with the previous position to determine whether or not it is the same as the previous position (step S67).

  If it is not the same as the previous position, the counter that counts the time or number of times (counted every predetermined time) at the same position is cleared (step S71). If it is in the same position as the previous position, the value of the counter that counts the time or the number of times that it was in the same position is counted up (step S68). After counting up, it is determined whether or not the value of the counter has exceeded the preset predetermined time (in step S60 in FIG. 5A) (step S69). If it is less than the predetermined time, the process returns to step S65 to continue monitoring.

  If the predetermined time has passed, it is determined whether the third person to be monitored is in the monitoring area and whether the current monitoring time is to be monitored (step S70). If the third person is not in the monitoring area or is not in the monitoring time, the count value of the counter is cleared (step S71), and the process is repeated from step S65. If the third party is in the monitoring area and it is the monitoring time, the third party to be monitored stays in the same place more than necessary, and an alarm is given indicating that an abnormal situation has occurred. Sound (step S72).

  Such a monitoring process is effective when the manager quickly knows that a skier is falling down due to injury at a ski resort or the like and takes action. However, in order to perform such processing, there is a high possibility of receiving an erroneous warning unless a system such as GPS that can perform highly accurate position measurement is available. That is, when using a base station of PHS or a mobile phone, the position of the third party can be specified only at a certain position of the base station, so even if the third party is actually moving little by little, it is in the same position. It is possible to judge that it has stopped. The same applies to the case where position measurement is performed using a radio wave marker. Therefore, in order to monitor the abnormal situation of the third party, it is desirable to perform under the condition that the GPS can be used as much as possible.

FIG. 9 is a display example on the display screen of the mobile terminal in the system of the present invention.
FIG. 4A shows an example of character display.
(1) is a display showing the capture state of a GPS artificial satellite. Examples of display items include “satellite capture state”, “captured satellite count”, and “captured satellite count”. The “number of captured satellites” indicates the number of satellites that are actually catching radio waves, and the “number of satellites that can be captured” is the number of satellites that can be theoretically captured from the current latitude and longitude. The “satellite capture state” indicates the reception state of radio waves from the satellite. For example, if the “captured satellite number” reaches 80% of the “captured satellite number”, “ “Good”. Alternatively, the “satellite capture state” may be determined by calculating a ratio of noise included in the radio wave to the main signal.

(2) is a display example of the current position. The current latitude and longitude are displayed by GPS, and three points are measured using three or more satellites, and the altitude of the current position is also displayed.
(3) is an example of target position display. For example, if you want to go to a specified location, if you specify a specific position on the map to the mobile terminal, the mobile terminal acquires the latitude and longitude of the specified location from the map, the current position The display of (3) shows this. As display items, the latitude and longitude of the target point and the direction from the current position are shown as examples.

  (4) shows an example of navigation display to the target point. As the display items, the distance to the target point, the direction, and the moving speed of the mobile terminal are shown. As for the distance to the target point, if the target point identified as the current position is indicated, the terminal automatically calculates the distance from the difference between the latitude and longitude. The azimuth includes a direction in which the current terminal is directed by the direction detector 20 provided in the mobile terminal, a direction from the current position and the target position to the target position (numbers shown in parentheses), and Are obtained and they are displayed. The moving speed of the portable terminal can also be calculated by an acceleration sensor built in the direction detector 20, and the calculation result is displayed.

FIG. 5B shows an example of simple graphic display.
(1) is an example showing the capture state of the satellite. In the display of (1), the number of captured satellites and the number of satellites that can be captured are displayed as characters, and the satellites captured in the figure are displayed so that the satellites that are not captured can be distinguished.

  (2) is an example of the current position display. The current latitude, longitude, and altitude are indicated by numbers and in a simple figure, the current position is shown along with the route from the point where navigation was started. Although not shown in the display example of (2), in practice, a map is displayed here so that the user can know which region is located.

  (3) is a display example of the target position and navigation. As the character information, the target latitude, longitude, azimuth, distance, and current azimuth and speed are shown. The figure shown below is a figure in the shape of a compass so that the target direction and the current traveling direction can be easily understood. The white arrow indicates the current traveling direction, and the black arrow indicates the direction of the target point.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the appearance of the mobile terminal of the present invention.
FIGS. 2A and 2B are examples of the appearance of a portable terminal, where FIG. 1A is a front view and FIG. 2B is a side view.

  A display screen 50 for displaying navigation information, a map, and the like is provided in front of the terminal, and a GPS antenna 51 is attached to the side. The GPS antenna 51 may be a built-in type or may be retrofitted with a PC card slot or the like. In addition, the GPS antenna 51 may have a structure that allows the mounting portion to move flexibly so that the radio wave of the artificial satellite can be caught and the terminal can face upward regardless of the posture. preferable. This terminal incorporates a communication function so that it can communicate with the center system. However, GPS navigation is possible even without a built-in communication function.

FIGS. 3C and 3D are diagrams showing an example of the appearance of a mobile phone type terminal.
FIG. 2C shows a state in which the flipper (lid) 54 is closed, and a display screen 52 is provided on the front. Navigation information and a map are displayed on this display screen. A GPS antenna 53 is provided at the flipper 54 so that the current position information and the like can be provided to the holder by catching radio waves from the artificial satellite.

  FIG. 4D shows a state where the flipper 54 is opened. When the flipper 54 is opened, an input button 55 appears so that an input for making a call or receiving a service such as navigation can be performed. There is a mouthpiece at the base of the flipper 54, and the flipper 54 reflects a human voice and transmits the voice to the mouthpiece.

In this manner, by incorporating the GPS antenna 53 in a portion such as the flipper 54 that does not have an electric circuit inside, the GPS function can be built in with a small size.
FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a recording medium when processing performed by the mobile terminal is loaded as a program.

  Since the portable terminal assumed in the present invention is small, it may be considered that the portable terminal does not have sufficient storage capacity. Therefore, it is conceivable to carry a program for executing the processing of the present invention by recording it on another recording medium and loading it.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 11, an external storage device 61 (hard disk or the like) is connected to the main body as the portable terminal 60 and used. In this case, the processing program to be executed is recorded in the storage device 61, and the processing is performed by loading the program into the memory on the main body side.

  Alternatively, a program to be executed is recorded in a portable recording medium 62 such as a flexible disk, a CD-ROM, or a memory card, set in the main body, and the program is read into the main body memory and executed. Execution is also possible.

  Further, since the portable terminal 60 of the present invention has a communication function, the database 63 held by the information provider 64 is accessed via the communication line 65, and the program to be executed is downloaded and shown in the present invention. It is possible to execute processing. As the information provider 64, for example, the center system described above can be used. However, the information provider 64 is not limited to this, and may be any access point that the mobile terminal 60 can access via the communication line 65.

It is a system configuration figure of a position information management system of the present invention. It is a system switching flow for position information acquisition which the control part 22 of FIG. 1 performs. The relationship between the map data displayed on a portable terminal and the display screen of a display is shown. This is a flow for acquiring a current position and displaying a map. It is a general process flowchart of the position inquiry system of the portable terminal holder using the system of this invention. It is a figure which shows the process at the time of applying the system of this invention to the positional information acquisition between portable terminals. It is a figure explaining the process which a center system performs in the process of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the process which monitors a 3rd party on the portable terminal side. It is the example of a display on the display screen of the portable terminal in the system of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the external appearance of the portable terminal of this invention. It is a figure which shows a recording medium.

Explanation of symbols

10 Center system 11 Mobile terminal 12 GPS
13 D-GPS
14 GPS antenna 15 Radio (mobile phone)
16 Radio (PHS terminal)
17 Radio device 18 Display 19 Speaker 20 Direction detector 21 Map data 22 Control unit 23 Radio device (cell phone base station)
24 Radio (PHS base station)
25 Mobile phone switch 26 PHS switch 27 Information provider 28 Map data (including mobile phone and PHS base station location data)
29 Radio 30 Control unit 31 Location data 32 Home terminal 33 Information provider (radio wave marker)
50, 52 Display screen 51, 53 GPS antenna 54 Flipper 55 Input button 60 Portable terminal 61 Storage device 62 Portable recording medium 63 Database 64 Information provider 65 Communication line

Claims (10)

A location information management method for transmitting location information of a first terminal to a second terminal,
Computer
A reference step for referring to history information storing position information transmitted from the first terminal;
A determination step of determining whether or not the first terminal has stopped without moving for a predetermined time based on the history information, and whether or not the first terminal is located within a predetermined monitoring area;
As a result of the determination step, if it is determined that the first terminal has stopped for a predetermined time within the monitoring area, a notification step for notifying the second terminal of a warning,
A location information management method comprising: In the determination step, the computer further determines, based on the history information, whether the first terminal has stopped moving for a predetermined time and whether the current date is within a predetermined monitoring time,
2. The notification step according to claim 1, wherein when the computer determines in the determination step that the first terminal is stopped for a predetermined time within a monitoring time, the computer notifies the second terminal of a warning. Location information management method described in 1. In the determination step, the computer further compares a time when the first terminal is stopped without moving based on the history information with a predetermined stop time,
In the notification step, when the computer determines that the time during which the first terminal is stopped in the determination step has reached the predetermined stop time, the computer notifies the second terminal of a warning. The location information management method according to claim 1. 4. The predetermined monitoring area, the predetermined monitoring time, and the predetermined stop time used in the determination step are those previously transmitted from the second terminal to the center. Location information management method.   In the notifying step, when the location information is not transmitted from the first terminal, the computer transmits information indicating that the location information cannot be obtained from the first terminal to the second terminal. The position information management method according to claim 1, wherein: A location information management device that transmits location information of a first terminal to a second terminal,
Storage means for storing the location information transmitted from the first terminal in the history information;
Determining means for referring to the history information and determining whether or not the first terminal has stopped moving for a predetermined time and whether or not the first terminal is located within a predetermined monitoring area;
As a result of the determination by the determination means, when it is determined that the first terminal has stopped for a predetermined time within the monitoring area, a notification means for notifying the second terminal of a warning,
A position information management device comprising: The determination means further determines, based on the history information, whether or not the first terminal stops without moving for a predetermined time, and whether or not the current date and time is within a predetermined monitoring time,
The notification means notifies the second terminal of a warning when it is determined that the first terminal has stopped for a predetermined time within the monitoring time as a result of the determination by the determination means. The location information management device described in 1. The determination means further compares a predetermined stop time with a time during which the first terminal stops without moving based on the history information,
The notification means, as a result of the determination by the determination means, notifies the second terminal of a warning when determining that the time during which the first terminal is stopped has reached the predetermined stop time. The position information management device according to claim 6. 9. The predetermined monitoring area, the predetermined monitoring time, and the predetermined stop time used by the determination unit are those previously transmitted from the second terminal to the center. Location information management device. The notification means transmits, when no position information is transmitted from the first terminal, information indicating that the position information cannot be acquired from the first terminal to the second terminal. The position information management device according to claim 6.

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