JP2007164486A - Information report unit - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable reporting the situation of a communication terminal carrying person accurately at a low cost, in regard to an information report unit for detecting a present position and transmitting the detection result. <P>SOLUTION: A CPU in the information report unit repeatedly detects the present positions of a communication terminal (S35), and records the above detection results for an arbitrary period (S37). Also, the CPU decides whether each detection result is included in a particular area each time the detection is made (S39), and if it is decided to be not included in the particular area, the CPU transmits recorded position information to a report receiving party (S47). Because the position information is not transmitted as long as the present position is included in the particular area, the communication cost can be reduced. By simply receiving the position information, the report receiving party can recognize a situation change that the terminal carrying person has left the particular area. Further, by analyzing the position information, the report receiving party can recognize the present position of the terminal carrying person, as well as the trace of movement thereto. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a notification device, and more particularly to a notification device that detects a current position and transmits a detection result, for example.

As a conventional notification device of this type, one disclosed in Patent Document 1 is known. In this prior art, the current position is repeatedly detected using GPS (Global Positioning System), and the detection result is transmitted at regular intervals. By providing such a notification device to a child, the guardian can grasp the location of the child and protect the safety of the child.
JP-A-9-269336

    However, in the conventional technology, the location information is transmitted at regular intervals regardless of the situation where the child is placed, so the communication cost is high and the guardian constantly finds changes in the situation from the location information that is sent Power is required.

  Therefore, a main object of the present invention is to provide a notification device that can accurately and inexpensively convey the situation where the owner is placed.

  The reporting device according to the invention of claim 1 is a reporting device for reporting to a pre-registered reporting destination when a communication terminal goes out of a pre-registered specific area, and a first registration for registering the specific area Means (30a, S13), second registration means (30c, S13) for registering the report destination, position detecting means (24, S35) for detecting the current position of the communication terminal, and position for detecting the detection result of the position detecting means It is determined that the communication terminal is not included in the specific area by the recording means (30b, S37), the determination means (S39) for determining whether or not the detection result of the position detection means is included in the specific area. Transmission means (S47) for transmitting the position information recorded in the position recording means to the report destination.

  In the invention of claim 1, the specific area is registered by the first registration means, and the report destination is registered by the second registration means. The current position of the reporting device is detected by the position detection means. The detection result of the position detection means is recorded by the position recording means. Therefore, the position information indicating the current position of the communication terminal and the trajectory leading to the current position is recorded in the position recording means.

  On the other hand, the determination means determines whether or not the detection result of the position detection means, that is, the current position of the communication terminal is included in the specific area. When it is determined that the current position of the communication terminal is not included in the specific area, the transmission unit transmits the recorded position information to the report destination. Therefore, when it is determined that the current position is outside the specific area, position information indicating the current position and the locus is transmitted to the report destination.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the position information is not transmitted as long as the current position of the communication terminal is within the specific area, the communication cost can be reduced. In addition, the receiving party can know the change in the situation that the owner has gone out of the specific area simply by receiving the location information, and by analyzing the location information, the current location of the owner and this will be reached. You can also know the gait. Furthermore, by registering the report destination and the specific area according to the place and the owner, it is possible to take an appropriate response in an emergency. By restricting the transmission of position information in this way, privacy can be protected. In the preferred embodiment, the reporting device itself is the communication terminal (10).

  The notification device according to the invention of claim 2 is dependent on claim 1, wherein the position detecting means repeatedly detects the position of the communication terminal at predetermined intervals, and the determining means detects the position of the communication terminal by the position detecting means. Each time, it is determined whether or not the position is included in the specific area.

  The notification device according to the invention of claim 3 is dependent on claim 1 or 2, and the motion detection means (26, 26) detects the motion of the communication terminal when the determination means determines that the communication terminal is not included in the specific area. S41) and control means (S43) for controlling the transmission processing of the transmission means in relation to the detection result of the motion detection means.

  In the invention of claim 3, when it is determined by the determining means that the communication terminal is not included in the specific area, the movement of the communication terminal is detected by the motion detecting means. The control unit controls the transmission process of the transmission unit based on the detection result.

  The notification device according to the invention of claim 4 is dependent on claim 3, and the transmission means enables transmission processing of the transmission means when a state in which no motion is detected by the motion detection means continues for a predetermined time.

  According to the invention of claim 4, the position information is transmitted when it remains stationary for a predetermined time outside the specific area. Therefore, even if the user goes out of the specific area, the location information is not transmitted if the reporting device is stationary.

  According to the invention of claim 4, the communication cost can be further reduced, and the report destination can know the change in the situation that the owner stops moving outside the specific area simply by receiving the position information.

  In the preferred embodiment, the notification device further includes third registration means (30d) for registering the message, and the transmission means further transmits the message in connection with the transmission of the position information.

  That is, the message is registered in the third registration unit, and the transmission unit further transmits the message in connection with the transmission of the position information. In this way, the situation change can be transmitted more clearly by transmitting the message together with the position information.

  The position detecting means includes a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver (24). That is, the current position of the communication terminal is detected through the GPS receiver. As a result, detailed position information can be obtained regardless of location, so that the situation can be accurately conveyed.

  In another embodiment, the position detection means performs current position detection based on identification information respectively transmitted from the plurality of radio base stations (4a to 4f). That is, identification information is transmitted from each of the plurality of radio base stations, and the position detecting means detects the current position based on the identification information. In this case, since existing facilities are used, costs can be suppressed.

  The notification control program according to the invention of claim 5 is a program for controlling a notification device that notifies a notification destination registered in advance when a communication terminal goes out of a specific area registered in advance. Registration step (S13) for registering the destination, current position detection step (S35) for detecting the current position of the communication terminal, recording step (30b, S37) for recording the detection result of the current position detection step, detection of the current position detection step A determination step (S39) for determining whether or not the result is included in the specific area. When the determination step determines that the result is not included in the specific area, the position information recorded by the recording step is transmitted to the report destination. The transmission step (S47) is executed.

  In the invention of claim 5 as well, as in the invention of claim 1, the communication cost can be reduced and the situation where the owner is placed can be accurately communicated. In the preferred embodiment, the notification device itself is the communication terminal (10), and the notification control program is executed by the processor (20) of the communication terminal.

  According to the present invention, the situation where the owner is placed can be conveyed accurately and at low cost.

  The above object, other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of embodiments with reference to the drawings.

  With reference to FIG. 1, the monitoring system 1 of this embodiment includes a mobile phone terminal 10. The mobile phone terminal 10 has a wireless communication function for performing wireless communication with another mobile terminal via the mobile phone base station 4, a current position detection function for detecting its own current position, and a motion detection function for detecting its own movement. And an emergency call function for making an emergency call wirelessly in relation to its current position and its movement. Note that the wireless communication mentioned here includes telephone calls and data communication. The current position is detected based on the signal from the GPS satellite 2.

  Specifically, referring to FIG. 2, when a call operation is performed by the input panel 32, the CPU 20 instructs the radio / call processing circuit 14 to perform call processing. The radio / call processing circuit 14 executes call processing. As a result, a call signal is transmitted from the antenna 12 toward the desired call partner, and the state of the mobile phone terminal 10 shifts from the non-call state to the call trial state. To do.

  When the call signal is received through the antenna 12, the radio / call processing circuit 14 gives an incoming call detection signal to the CPU 20, and the CPU 20 outputs a sound notifying the incoming call from the speaker 16. As a result, the state of the mobile phone terminal 10 shifts from the non-call state to the call attempt state.

  If the off-hook operation is not performed for the incoming notification, the state of the mobile phone terminal 10 returns from the call attempt state to the non-call state. On the other hand, if an off-hook operation is performed for the incoming call notification, the state of the mobile phone terminal 10 shifts from the call trial state to the call state.

  When the call state is entered, the uttered voice captured by the microphone 18 is emitted from the antenna 12 after undergoing modulation processing by the radio / call processing circuit 14. The emitted speech sound is received by the mobile phone base station 4 and transmitted from the mobile phone base station 4 to another mobile terminal. The received voice transmitted from another mobile terminal is emitted from the mobile phone base station 4. The emitted reception voice is received by the antenna 12, demodulated by the radio / call processing circuit 14, and output from the speaker 16. When one speaker performs an off-hook operation in this call state, the call connection is interrupted, and the state of the mobile phone terminal 10 shifts from the call state to the non-call state.

  When a data communication operation such as homepage browsing or mail transmission / reception is performed by the input panel 32, the CPU 20 cooperates with the wireless / call processing circuit 14 and the Internet (not shown) to communicate with a server or another portable terminal. Perform data communication with.

  In connection with the emergency call function, the mobile phone terminal 10 includes a GPS receiver 24 and an acceleration sensor 26. The GPS receiver 24 receives a signal from the GPS satellite 2 by the antenna 22, specifies the current position of the mobile phone terminal 10 based on the received signal, and generates position information indicating the specified position. The position information is described in latitude and longitude, and has an accuracy of about 10 m, for example. The acceleration sensor 26 senses the acceleration applied to itself and outputs a signal corresponding to the sensing result.

  The CPU 20 periodically acquires position information from the GPS receiver 24 (for example, every minute), and holds the acquired position information for an arbitrary period (for example, one hour). Moreover, it is discriminate | determined for every acquisition whether the mobile telephone terminal 10 is located in the area E0 (refer FIG. 1) based on the acquired positional information. Here, the area E0 is an area including the home and school and the surrounding area 100m around the school route R0.

  Then, if the result of this determination indicates outside the area, it is further determined whether or not the signal from the acceleration sensor 26 indicates “still”. If the result of this determination indicates “still”, the retained position information And a message to the emergency call destination.

  Note that the LCD 34 displays, for example, a mail browsing screen, map information including a positioning result by the GPS receiver 24, a menu screen for registration / setting, and the like as necessary. The ROM 28 stores a program for the CPU 20 to perform the processing as described above, and the RAM 30 provides a work area to the CPU 20.

  FIGS. 3A and 3B show memory maps of the ROM 28 and the RAM 30, respectively. Referring to FIG. 3A, the main program storage area 28a stores a main program (see FIG. 4; described later), and the emergency call control program storage area 28b stores an emergency call control program (see FIG. 5; described later). Is memorized.

  Referring to FIG. 3B, the area information indicating area E0 described above is stored in advance in area information storage area 30a in RAM 30. The position information acquired from the GPS receiver 24 is held in the position information storage area 30b in the RAM 30 for an arbitrary period (for example, 1 hour). Therefore, the position information stored in the position information storage area 30b indicates not only the current position of the mobile phone terminal 10 but also a route (footprint) traced up to the current position.

  The emergency call destination is, for example, the police, home, school, and the like, and the telephone number / mail address of the desired emergency call destination is stored in advance in the emergency call destination storage area 30c. In the message storage area 30d, for example, a message notifying the situation where the mobile phone terminal 10 is placed is stored, such as “It is stopped at a place off the school road”.

  Specifically, the cellular phone terminal 10 configured as described above operates as follows. Referring to FIG. 1, first, an operation for registering a telephone number and / or mail address of a desired emergency call destination such as a home or police and an operation for registering area E0 along school route R0 by a guardian of a child or the like. And done.

  Here, as a specific registration method, a telephone number / e-mail address is directly input using the numeric keypad of the input panel 32, and for the area E0, area information corresponding to this is downloaded from a server (not shown). is there.

  More specifically, map information for each region is stored in the server, and the mobile phone terminal 10 is connected to this server via the Internet (not shown). When a guardian inputs an address / address of a necessary place on the school route R0 (for example, school, home, intersections P1 to P4, etc.) using the numeric keypad of the input panel 32, the input address / address is transmitted to the server.

  The server receives the address / address from the mobile phone terminal 10, identifies the school route R0 based on the received address / address and the map information held by itself, and is a fixed distance (for example, 100 m) from the school route R0. The area information indicating the area E0 within is generated, and the generated area information is returned to the mobile phone terminal 10. The mobile phone terminal 10 receives the returned area information and records the received area information in the area information storage area 30a.

  In addition, the process which produces | generates the positional information on the area E0 from the input address and address as above may be performed by the mobile phone terminal 10 itself. In this case, the mobile phone terminal 10 may download only necessary map information from the server.

  When the emergency call mode is turned on after the registration operation is completed, the location information is acquired from the GPS receiver 24, and the acquired location information is compared with the location information recorded in the area information storage area 30a. It is determined whether 10 is located in the area E0. Such processing is executed at regular time intervals (for example, every minute). If it is determined that the area is out of the area, the output of the acceleration sensor 26 is referred to, thereby further determining whether or not the mobile phone terminal 10 is moving.

  When it is determined that the mobile phone terminal 10 is not moving, a call is made to the telephone number stored in the emergency call destination storage area 30c. When the mobile phone terminal 10 shifts to a call state, the message stored in the message storage area 30d is stored. Is sent. Further, connection processing to the Internet is performed, and the position information stored in the position information storage area 30b is transmitted to the emergency call destination.

  Therefore, if you go to school and leave the mobile phone terminal 10 in the emergency call mode and put it in your child's school bag, etc., in the unlikely event you are kidnapped, your child will leave the area E0 and go to the criminal's home, etc. Since the emergency call is made when moving and the school bag is lowered there, it is possible to know the occurrence of kidnapping at an early stage, and to identify the place and footsteps of the child. An emergency call is also made when a child stops at a friend's house or the like outside the area, but the guardian can determine whether the child is kidnapped or detoured from the location information.

  Further, since the location information is not transmitted as long as the mobile phone terminal 10 is located in the area E0, the communication cost can be reduced as compared with the case where the location information is periodically transmitted. Furthermore, since the location information is not transmitted if the mobile phone terminal 10 is moving even if it is located outside the area E0, the communication cost can be further reduced.

  In addition, if the guardian determines that it is unnecessary, the emergency call mode is turned off, so that no emergency call can be made.

  In making an emergency call as described above, the CPU 20 stores the main program and the emergency call control program stored in the main program storage area 28a and the emergency call control program storage area 28b (see FIG. 3A) in the ROM 28, respectively. To process. The main program corresponds to the flowchart of FIG. 4, and the emergency call control program corresponds to the flowchart of FIG. The ROM 28 further stores a multitask OS such as μITRON, and the CPU 20 can execute a plurality of programs in parallel under the control of the OS.

  Referring to FIG. 4, when the main program is activated in response to the main power-on operation, initial processing is executed in step S1. In the initial processing, initial setting of the radio / call processing circuit 14 and initialization of the RAM 30 are performed. When the initial process is completed, the process of the CPU 20 enters the event waiting loop of steps S3 to S9. In step S3, it is determined whether there is a call operation or an incoming call, and in step S5, it is determined whether there is an area / report destination registration operation. In step S7, it is determined whether or not the emergency call mode is turned on, and in step S9, whether or not the emergency call mode is turned off is determined.

  When a call operation is performed via the input panel 32 or an incoming call is detected by the radio / call processing circuit 14, YES is determined in step S3, and the call processing is executed by moving to step S11. Since the details of the call processing have already been described, a description thereof is omitted. When the call processing ends, the process returns to the event waiting loop.

  If an area / report destination registration operation is performed via the input panel 32 in the event waiting state in steps S3 to S9, YES is determined in step S5, and the process proceeds to step S13 to execute an area / report destination registration process. The details of the area / report destination registration process have already been described, and will be omitted. As a result of the area / report destination registration process, information indicating the area E0 (see FIG. 1) along the school route R0 is recorded in the area information storage area 30a, and the telephone number / mail address of the emergency report destination such as home or police is stored. It is recorded in the emergency call destination storage area 30c. When the registration process is completed, the process returns to the event waiting loop.

  When the emergency call mode ON operation is performed via the input panel 32 in the event waiting state, YES is determined in step S7, and the process proceeds to step S15 to start the emergency call control program (see FIG. 5; described later). When the startup process is completed, the process returns to the event wait loop.

  When the emergency call mode off operation is performed via the input panel 32 in the event waiting state, YES is determined in step S9, and the process proceeds to step S17 to end the emergency call control program. When the termination process is completed, the process returns to the event wait loop. This main program is terminated in response to the main power-off operation.

  When the emergency call control process program is started in step S15, a series of processes shown in FIG. 5 are executed. Referring to FIG. 5, first, initial processing is executed in step S31. In the initial process, timer reset and start, GPS receiver 24 and acceleration sensor 26 are activated, and the like. When the initial process is completed, the process proceeds to step S33. In step S33, it is determined whether or not a predetermined time (for example, 1 minute) has elapsed since the timer start or the previous position information acquisition. If “YES” here, the process proceeds to a step S35.

  In step S35, position information is acquired from the GPS receiver 24. In the subsequent step S37, the acquired position information is stored in the position information storage area 30b (see FIG. 3B). Then, the process proceeds to step S39 to determine whether or not the current position of the mobile phone terminal 10 is within the registration area. The determination is made based on the position information recorded in the position information storage area 30b and the area information recorded in the area information storage area 30a. If “YES” here, the process returns to the step S33.

  If NO in step S39, that is, if outside the registration area, the process proceeds to step S41. In step S41, the movement of the mobile phone terminal 10 is detected by referring to the output of the acceleration sensor 26. In a succeeding step S43, it is determined whether or not the mobile phone terminal 10 is stationary based on the detection result. If “NO” here, the process returns to the step S33, and if “YES”, the process proceeds to the step S45. In step S45, it is determined whether or not a predetermined time (for example, 10 seconds) has elapsed since the determination in step S39 that the area is out of the area. If “NO” here, the process returns to the step S41, and if “YES”, the process proceeds to the step S47. In step S47, the message and position information are transmitted to the emergency call destination. Therefore, the message and the position information are transmitted when the stationary state continues for 10 seconds outside the area.

  In the transmission process of step S47, the telephone number / mail address of the emergency call destination is read from the emergency call destination storage area 30c, a call is made to the read number, and connection to the Internet is made. When the mobile phone terminal 10 shifts to a call state, the message is read from the message storage area 30d, and the read message is converted into a voice signal and transmitted. Further, when connected to the Internet, the position information is read from the position information storage area 30b, and the read position information is transmitted in the form of an e-mail.

  As is clear from the above, in this embodiment, the CPU 20 registers the specific area E0 and the report destination in advance (S13). Thereafter, when the emergency call mode is turned on, the current position is repeatedly detected through the GPS receiver 24 (S35), and the detection result is recorded over an arbitrary period (S37). Further, it is determined whether or not the detection result, that is, the current position is included in the specific area (S39), and when it is determined that the current position is not included in the specific area, the recorded position information is transmitted to the report destination together with the message. (S47).

  Therefore, as long as the current position is within the specific area, the position information is not transmitted, so that the communication cost can be reduced. In addition, the receiving party can know the change in the situation that the owner has gone out of the specific area simply by receiving the location information, and by analyzing the location information, the current location of the owner and this will be reached. You can also know the gait. This makes it possible to appropriately deal with emergency situations such as kidnapping.

  Note that limiting the transmission of position information in this way also meets the demand for privacy protection.

  Another embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

  With reference to FIG. 6, the monitoring system 1a of this embodiment includes a PHS terminal 10a. The PHS terminal 10a performs wireless communication with another mobile terminal via a plurality of PHS base stations including the PHS base stations 4a to 4f. Identification information is transmitted from each PHS base station, and the PHS terminal 10a receives the identification information to identify its current position. That is, positioning is performed based on identification signals respectively transmitted from a plurality of PHS base stations. Processing other than positioning is performed in the same manner as in the embodiment of FIG.

  Referring to FIG. 7, identification information of PHS base stations 4a to 4f corresponding to areas E1 to E6, respectively, is registered in RAM 30 as area information indicating areas E1 to E6 along school route R0. The CPU 20 receives the identification signal from the PHS base stations 4a to 4f through the radio / call processing circuit 14, and compares the received identification signal with the identification information registered in the RAM 30, so that the current position is within the registration area. Determine whether or not.

  In this embodiment, similarly to the embodiment of FIG. 1, the communication cost can be reduced, and the change of the situation can be accurately conveyed.

  In addition, unlike the embodiment of FIG. 1, since positioning is performed based on identification information transmitted from each of a plurality of PHS base stations, it is not necessary to provide a positioning device such as the GPS receiver 24, and costs can be suppressed. .

  Instead of performing positioning based on identification signals from a plurality of PHS base stations, or in addition to such positioning, positioning using an IC tag (not shown) may be performed. That is, a plurality of IC tags each storing identification information or position information are arranged along the school route R0. In this case, the PHS terminal 10a is provided with an IC tag reader 24a and an antenna 22a for reading information on the IC tag.

  In the above description, the mobile phone terminal 10 and the PHS terminal 10a have been described. However, the present invention can be applied to various mobile terminals having a wireless communication function and a current position detection function. Further, part or all of the notification control process may be executed by the server. Thereby, the processing load on the portable terminal side is reduced.

It is an illustration figure which shows the structure of one Example of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the notification apparatus applied to the Example of FIG. (A) is a block diagram showing a part of a memory map applied to the notification device of FIG. 2, and (B) is a block diagram showing another part of the memory map applied to the notification device of FIG. is there. It is a flowchart which shows a part of CPU operation | movement of the notification apparatus of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows another part of CPU operation | movement of the notification apparatus of FIG. It is an illustration figure which shows the structure of the other Example of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the notification apparatus applied to the Example of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,1a ... Watching system 2 ... GPS satellite 4 ... Cell-phone base station 4a-4f ... PHS base station E0-E6 ... Specific area 10 ... Cell-phone terminal 10a ... PHS terminal 14 ... Radio | wireless / call processing circuit 24 ... GPS receiver 26 ... Acceleration sensor 30 ... RAM

Claims (5)

A notification device for reporting to a pre-registered report destination when a communication terminal goes out of a specific area registered in advance,
First registration means for registering the specific area;
A second registration means for registering the report destination;
Position detecting means for detecting a current position of the communication terminal;
Position recording means for recording a detection result by the position detection means;
Determining means for determining whether or not the detection result of the position detecting means is included in the specific area; and the position recording means when the determining means determines that the communication terminal is not included in the specific area. A reporting device comprising a transmitting means for transmitting the location information recorded by the reporting destination to the reporting destination.   The position detecting means repeatedly detects the position of the communication terminal every predetermined period, and the determining means determines whether the position is included in the specific area every time the position detecting means detects the position of the communication terminal. The notification device according to claim 1, which determines whether or not. A movement detecting unit that detects a movement of the communication terminal when the determining unit determines that the communication terminal is not included in the specific area; and a transmission process of the transmitting unit based on a detection result of the movement detecting unit The notification device according to claim 1, further comprising control means for controlling   The notification device according to claim 3, wherein the control unit enables transmission of the transmission unit when a state in which the movement of the communication terminal is not detected by the movement detection unit continues for a predetermined time. A program for controlling a reporting device that reports to a pre-registered report destination when a communication terminal goes out of a specific area registered in advance,
A registration step of registering the specific area and the report destination;
A position detecting step for detecting a current position of the communication terminal;
A recording step for recording a detection result of the position detection step;
A determination step of determining whether or not the detection result of the position detection step is included in the specific area; and the recording when the determination step determines that the communication terminal is not included in the specific area. A report control program for executing a transmission step of transmitting the position information recorded in the step to the report destination.

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