JP2007251840A - Mobile terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technology of improving the practicality of functions of predicting a shift from a communication enable state into a communication disable state, and automatically executing a prescribed preparatory processing so as to enhance the usability. <P>SOLUTION: A mobile terminal disclosed herein for executing wireless communications includes a positioning section for measuring own position; a clock section for outputting time information including a date; an information storage section for storing positional information denoting a measured position and the time information in cross reference with each other; an information analysis section for establishing habit information for determining a positional range and a period for predicting the shift to the communication disable state, on the basis of a plurality of stored positional information and time information items; a state discrimination section for discriminating whether a newest position and a newest time that corresponds to the positional range and period determined by the habit information in the communication enabled state; and a preparatory processing section for executing processings, preset as preparatory processing to be executed before the shift to the communication disable state, when the state discrimination section discriminates that the newest position and the newest time correspond to the positional range and period determined by the habit information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a mobile terminal device represented by a mobile phone.

  In recent years, mobile phones have been used on a daily basis as a means of communication and communication, and as a means of obtaining various information such as news, weather, traffic conditions, and stock market conditions. The expansion of additional functions is also thriving, for example, a positioning function that receives radio waves from a GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite.

  Since the mobile phone is a convenient communication means, the user feels inconvenienced when the communication disabled state in which the communication function cannot be used continues for a long time. People who try to contact users are often in trouble. Although the service area of mobile phones is wide, there is a so-called “out of service area” where radio waves do not reach. While the user is outside the service area, the mobile phone is in a communication disabled state. When entering the hospital or theater, boarding an airplane, etc., when the user turns off the power, the mobile phone is in a communication disabled state until it is turned on after that. In addition, installation of a radio wave suppression device that forcibly disables communication in medical facilities or train vehicles is being studied, and it is expected that communication will be suddenly disabled in the future.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-264500 discloses a portable terminal device that notifies a user in advance when communication becomes impossible due to insufficient radio wave intensity. This mobile terminal device keeps a history of reception status, predicts the reception status of radio waves while moving by calculating the distance from the base station and the distance change from the intensity of the received radio waves and the amount of change in strength, making communication impossible If it is predicted that this will be the case, the fact is notified to the user.

In Japanese Patent No. 3432594, the self-position is detected and collated with the service area information, and the change in the positional relationship with the service area is predicted by detecting the moving direction and speed, and there is a risk of deviation from the service area. Mobile communication terminals have been proposed that notify the user of such a situation and automatically store the received predetermined data.
JP 2003-264500 A Japanese Patent No. 3432594

  Conventionally, processing such as notification is automatically performed in advance when radio waves are interrupted due to movement outside the service area. However, there are many places where radio waves do not reach or are difficult to reach even within a service area (within a service area), and users often stay in such places for a long time. In some cases, the user himself / herself turns off the power and becomes unable to communicate. In these cases, processing that the user has determined to be necessary has to be executed manually. As a case where the processing is executed in advance, for example, there is a case where an e-mail notifying that a contact cannot be made for a predetermined time is sent to a related person before boarding an airplane. In some cases, news and mail are received in advance to be read while communication is disabled.

  In addition, in the conventional prediction based on the change of the radio field intensity and the detected value of the moving direction and the speed, there is a possibility that the prediction result may be greatly different due to the influence of the sudden radio wave disturbance, the sudden speed change or the direction change.

  Furthermore, conventionally, since it is not predicted how long the user stays outside the service area, there is a problem that the pre-processing is executed too frequently.

  In view of such a problem, the present invention aims to improve the usability of a function for automatically predicting a transition from a communicable state to a communicable state and automatically performing predetermined pre-processing. .

  The mobile terminal device performs the following operation. Information indicating a situation such as a position and time when communication is disabled is accumulated, and a situation with a high probability of reproduction is estimated by statistics. Then, when the user approaches the estimated position of the situation, that is, when it is predicted that communication will soon be impossible, a process set in advance as a pre-process is automatically executed. This operation is foreseeing a change in state where communication is possible and communication is impossible based on the habit of the user's behavior.

  The mobile terminal device that achieves the above object accumulates position information or position information and time information indicating a state of transition from a communicable state to a communicable state, and transitions to the incommunicable state based on the accumulated information. Set habit information to foresee. Further, the mobile terminal device determines whether or not the current position or position and time corresponds to the position range or position range and period defined by the habit information in the communicable state, and if so, the mobile terminal apparatus is set in advance. Execute the process.

  In the communication disabled state, the reception or transmission strength of radio waves for communication is insufficient (including battery power shortage), the mode in which the communication function is stopped by the user, and radio wave interference has occurred. The state is included.

  The position information to be accumulated should be information that can specify the position with a predetermined accuracy, such as longitude and latitude, block numbers divided into grids, addresses, buildings such as stations and buildings, and received data from GPS satellites. That's fine. The address and the building can be obtained, for example, by comparing a GPS positioning value with map information.

  The accumulated time information includes the date (month / day). You may include the day of the week. If the year, month and day are used, the day of the week can be obtained by calculation or table reference, so the day of the week is substantially included.

  The setting of habit information includes a totaling process for selecting information whose number of appearances is a certain value or more. For aggregation, information that is somewhat similar is considered identical. For example, if the location information is an address, even if the address is different, if the chome is the same, the location is the same. The station and the station front may be regarded as the same. As for the time information, it is possible to arbitrarily divide the month and day, such as a week unit, a unit of 2 hours, a unit of one hour, and a unit of 30 minutes. The time information of the same section is regarded as the same.

  The habit information specifies a situation similar to the transition situation to the communication disabled state that occurred in the past. For example, when a statistical result indicating that communication has been disabled at a place A in the past is obtained, a position within a predetermined range including the place A is specified by habit information. In addition, when a statistical result indicating that communication has been disabled at a location A at a certain time T on a certain date in the past is obtained, a predetermined length from time T ′ to time T before time T on an arbitrary date And a predetermined range including the location A are specified by the habit information.

  The configuration of the habit information may be either of the following two forms. One is a combination of information (actual result) indicating a situation that has occurred in the past and a parameter indicating a range regarded as similar that is set in consideration of the time required for executing the pre-processing. In this form, it is determined whether the current state corresponds to the habit information after referring to the parameters. The other is to correct the performance so that the predetermined range is regarded as similar. In other words, a range that is considered similar may be taken into consideration in the determination, or a range that is considered similar when the habit information is generated may be taken into consideration.

  As a more preferable mobile terminal device, information is stored only when the communication failure time from the transition to the communication disabled state to the return to the communication enabled state exceeds the set value, and the predicted communication disabled time is displayed or mailed For example, there are those that notify the user and the related parties of the user, and those that erase the habit information indicating the situation that has not been met for a certain period or longer.

  According to the first to fifth aspects of the invention, it is possible to enhance the practicality of the function of automatically performing predetermined preprocessing in anticipation of the transition from the communicable state to the incommunicable state, thereby improving usability. . Since the manual operation for executing the pre-processing is not necessary, the operation burden on the user is greatly reduced particularly when the communication is frequently disabled.

  FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of a mobile terminal device. The mobile terminal device 1 illustrated here is a mobile phone capable of sending and receiving e-mails and browsing websites, and includes a radio communication unit 10, a radio wave intensity monitoring unit 20, a positioning unit 24, a clock unit 26, a control unit 30, A display unit 36, an operation unit 38, and a storage unit 40 are provided.

  The wireless communication unit 10 includes a high-frequency circuit including a voice processing circuit for a call using the microphone 14 and the speaker 16 and a switch circuit for sharing the communication antenna 12 for transmission and reception.

  The radio wave intensity monitoring unit 20 outputs a signal corresponding to the radio wave intensity from the base station received by the antenna 12 to the control unit 30. The intensity of the radio wave is displayed stepwise on the display unit 36 by the antenna mark. When the strength of the radio wave is smaller than the set reference, that is, when the so-called “out-of-service state” is established, the control unit 30 recognizes that the mobile terminal device 1 is in the “communication impossible state”.

  The positioning unit 24 receives radio waves from a plurality of GPS satellites by the positioning antenna 22 and measures its own position. In this example, the positioning unit 24 has a function of calculating latitude and longitude based on radio waves from a satellite.

  The clock unit 26 always keeps time and outputs time information indicating the date and time to the control unit 30.

  The control unit 30 includes a ROM that stores a program, a processor that executes the program, and a RAM that is used as a work area, and controls the operation of the mobile terminal device 1 according to the program.

  The display unit 36 includes a liquid crystal panel, an LED lamp, and a vibrator, and displays various screens including a standby screen and notification of incoming calls.

  The operation unit 38 includes a panel on which keys and buttons for inputting numbers and characters are arranged, and includes a camera for inputting images.

  The storage unit 40 includes a readable and writable nonvolatile memory and stores various information including address book data and communication history. An additional function for automatically executing a predetermined process in anticipation of communication failure deeply related to the present invention is realized by accumulating information indicating an out-of-service state occurrence state in the storage unit 40 as described later.

  FIG. 2 shows a functional configuration of the control unit of the mobile terminal apparatus.

  The control unit 30 operates as an information accumulation processing unit 301, an information analysis processing unit 302, a situation determination processing unit 303, and a preprocessing unit 304 by executing a control program recorded in advance. The function of these elements is as follows.

  The information storage processing unit 301 stores predetermined position information and time information each time a user who owns the mobile terminal device 1 moves or some radio wave interference occurs and the radio wave reception state becomes an out-of-service state where communication is not possible. Store in the storage unit 40.

  The location information is data indicating where the radio wave reception state has changed from the communicable range state to the incommunicable out-of-range state. Specifically, the positioning unit responds to detection of the transition from the in-range state to the out-of-range state. 24 (hereinafter referred to as out-of-range occurrence position P). The position here means not only a point or area represented by a numerical value such as longitude and latitude, but also a uniquely identified place including an area represented by an address or a building name.

  The time information corresponds to the time taken from the clock unit 26 in response to the detection of the transition from the in-service state to the out-of-service state (hereinafter referred to as out-of-service occurrence time Q), and the detection of the transition from the out-of-service state to the in-service state. And the time from the out-of-service occurrence time Q to the in-service return time R (hereinafter referred to as out-of-service stay time S).

Each time a series of state changes from the local state to the out-of-service state and then back to the in-service state occurs, it consists of four data of out-of-service location P, out-of-service occurrence time Q, within-service return time R, and out-of-service time S The set is stored in a register provided in the storage unit 40. FIG. 2 illustrates a state in which two sets are stored, and these sets are distinguished by subscripts ₁ and _m attached to reference signs P, Q, R, and S.

  The information analysis processing unit 302 is a statistical processing unit that finds the regularity of the out-of-service state occurrence status in the past, and based on the plurality of position information and time information stored by the information storage processing unit 301, Set habit information to predict the occurrence.

The habit information indicates a situation similar to a situation (this is called a habitual situation) that is estimated to be reproduced among the out-of-service state occurrences in the past. The reason why a similar situation is shown instead of the habitual situation itself is that a predetermined process must be performed before the out-of-service state. The habit information includes the position of the habitual situation (hereinafter referred to as habitual occurrence position UP), the occurrence time of the habitual situation (hereinafter referred to as habitual occurrence time UQ), and the length of the out-of-service state in the habitual situation. (Hereinafter referred to as habitual stay time US) and similar range parameters that define similar ranges of position and time for habitual situations. For each habitual situation, a set of three data of habitual occurrence position UP, habitual occurrence time UQ, and habitual stay time US is stored in a register provided in the storage unit 40. FIG. 2 illustrates a state in which two sets are stored, and these sets are distinguished by subscripts ₁ and _n attached to reference signs UP, UQ, and US. The similar range parameter is stored in the ROM in the control unit 30. However, the user may customize the similar range parameter, and the customized similar range parameter is stored in the storage unit 40.

  The situation determination processing unit 303 determines whether or not the latest position and time obtained by the positioning unit 24 and the clock unit 26 correspond to the position range and period defined by the above-described habit information in the range state. That is, it is determined whether the current situation is similar to the habitual situation.

  Then, when it is determined that the current situation is similar to the habitual situation, the pre-processing unit 304 executes a process set in advance as a pre-process to be performed before shifting to the out-of-service state. Pre-processing includes, for example, a process for sending an e-mail notifying that a contact cannot be made for a predetermined time, a process for receiving a new mail, a process for fetching various information such as news from a website, and an out-of-service state. There is a process of notifying the user that this is the case.

  FIG. 3 shows an operation of accumulating information related to the out-of-service state occurrence status.

  In the mobile terminal device 1, when the radio wave intensity monitoring unit 20 detects an out-of-service state (# 1), the control unit 30 inquires the positioning unit 24 about the current position and stores the out-of-service occurrence position P in the storage unit 40. 26, the current time is queried and the out-of-service occurrence time Q is stored in the storage unit 40 (# 2, # 3).

  After that, when the radio wave intensity monitoring unit 20 detects the range state (# 4), the control unit 30 inquires the clock unit 26 about the current time and stores the range return time R in the storage unit 40 (# 5). Further, the control unit 30 fetches the out-of-service occurrence position P from the storage unit 40, and obtains the out-of-service stay time S that is the length of the out-of-service state based on the within-service return time R and the out-of-service occurrence position P (# 6). The obtained out-of-service stay time S is compared with the set value (# 7). When the out-of-service stay time S is longer than the set value, the out-of-service stay time S is stored in the storage unit 40 (# 9). Thereby, a set of data indicating the occurrence status of the out-of-service state is stored. On the other hand, when the out-of-service stay time S is shorter than the set value, the control unit 30 instructs the storage unit 40 to delete the out-of-service occurrence position P, the out-of-service occurrence time Q, and the in-service return time R. . That is, for example, information is not accumulated for a short-time out-of-service state that occurs due to passing through a tunnel while traveling by automobile. This is an operation for removing the out-of-service state occurrence state that is apparently not habitual from the target of habitual detection, thereby reducing the memory capacity and shortening the statistical processing time.

  The above operation is performed every time an out-of-service state is detected, thereby accumulating information indicating the occurrence state of the out-of-service state. It is desirable that the amount of stored information is larger within a range limited by the memory capacity of the storage unit 40.

  FIG. 4 shows an operation using the stored information.

  When there is a predetermined time such as every day or every week or an instruction operation by the user, the control unit 30 summarizes a plurality of sets of information accumulated at that time into an “out-of-range occurrence status list”, Data regularity (that is, user habits) is detected by statistical processing (# 10). If there is regularity, the control unit 30 sends one or more sets of information (habitual occurrence position UP, habitual occurrence time UQ, and habitual residence time US) corresponding to the regularity to the “habit list”. Is stored in the storage unit 40 (# 11). The habit list is reviewed each time the regularity is detected, and the information set indicating the out-of-service occurrence status determined to be non-habitable is deleted from the habit list.

  On the other hand, when the radio wave reception state is within the range, the control unit 30 periodically acquires the current position from the positioning unit 24. Every time the current position is acquired, the current position is collated with the position information of the habit list (# 12). If the current position does not correspond to the position information in the habit list, the process returns to the normal operation for periodically checking the current position (# 13). When the current position corresponds to the position information of the habit list, the control unit 30 collates the current time obtained from the clock unit 26 with the time information of the habit list (# 14). If the current position does not correspond to the time information in the habit list, the normal operation is resumed (# 15). When the current time corresponds to the time information in the habit list, the control unit 30 executes a pre-processing application registered in advance (# 16).

  FIG. 5 shows a first example of the out-of-service occurrence status list, and FIG. 6 shows a first example of the habit list.

  The out-of-service occurrence status list 101 in FIG. 5 is applicable, for example, when the user commute or travel to school by using a train to move between A station and B station. In the example, in order to make the regularity easy to understand, the place, time, and time are arranged for the situation that can be regarded as the same, but there are actually some variations (the same applies to the examples described later). However, the actual time such as “8:02” or “7:56” may be registered in the list as it is, or “8:02” or “7:56” is set to “8:00”. You may round the number appropriately.

  If a simple statistical process is performed in the out-of-service occurrence status list 101, for example, a situation that occurs multiple times is extracted, the habit list 201 of FIG. 6 is obtained. In this case, the current position in a predetermined period before 8 am (for example, 7:45 am to 7:50 am) is in the vicinity of the point 1, or a predetermined period before 7 pm (for example, 6:45 pm to afternoon If the current position at 6:50) is in the vicinity of the point 2, the mobile terminal device 1 automatically executes the pre-processing.

  The latest application date DA in the habit list 201 indicates the date on which the pre-processing was last performed by applying the habit registered in the habit list 201. The latest application date DA is provided as an item in order to determine whether it was desired to apply over a predetermined period (for example, 3 months, half year, 1 year). The date on which the habit is registered is set as the latest application date DA, and the latest application date DA is updated when the pre-processing is executed after applying the habit. If it is not renewed for a set period, the corresponding habit is deleted.

  In the out-of-service occurrence status list 101, the position information may be a longitude and latitude, an area number, an address, or a building name, but any information that takes map information into account can be applied. For example, when it is known that the out-of-service location is a station and it is almost certain that the user's means of transportation is a train by comprehensively judging from the day of the week and time of occurrence, it is automatically performed as a pre-process. The control unit 30 can be configured to switch to the manner mode.

  FIG. 7 shows a second example of the out-of-service occurrence status list, and FIG. 8 shows a second example of the habit list.

  The out-of-service occurrence status list 102 in FIG. 7 is applicable, for example, when the user takes a plane at the airport A at 9:00 am every Monday and takes a plane at the airport B at 8:00 pm every Tuesday. In the example, information for one month in November is accumulated.

  The out-of-service occurrence status list 102 also has regularity for days of the week. A habit list 202 is obtained based on the out-of-service occurrence status list 102. By reflecting the regularity of the day of the week in the habit list 202, the reliability of automatic execution of the pre-processing is increased.

  As pre-processing, for example, “Taro XX will soon be unable to contact you for about 2 hours. If you want to make an emergency contact, please contact us by 9:00” automatically. Can be considered. You may make it perform the transmission confirmation operation | movement which asks the user permission of transmission before transmission.

  FIG. 9 shows a third example of the out-of-service occurrence status list, and FIG. 10 shows a third example of the habit list.

  The out-of-service occurrence status list 103 in FIG. 9 is applicable, for example, when the user is a salesman who regularly delivers medicines to A hospital or a patient who regularly receives treatment at A hospital. In a hospital, the mobile terminal device 1 may be out of service due to radio wave regulation by the radio wave regulation device.

  A habit list 203 is obtained based on the out-of-service occurrence status list 103. In the customs list 203, the earliest time indicated by the out-of-service occurrence time Q in the out-of-service occurrence status list 103 is reflected in the customary occurrence time UQ, and the average value of the time indicated by the out-of-service stay time S is reflected in the customary stay time US. . The day indicated by the customary occurrence time UQ is a day corresponding to every third day when only business days are counted from the first business day of each month.

  In the above embodiment, the overall configuration of the mobile terminal device 1, the functional configuration of the control unit 30, the operation procedure, and the like can be changed as appropriate in accordance with the gist of the present invention. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the configuration for determining whether or not communication is possible based on the output of the radio wave intensity monitoring unit 20 has been described. However, the input operation is monitored together with the output of the radio wave intensity monitoring unit 20, and the out-of-service state A so-called power-off state in which the mode for stopping the communication function is selected by the user may be set to the communication disabled state. Further, it may be determined that communication is impossible when the automatic power-off function is activated.

  The positioning method in the positioning unit 24 is not limited to using the GPS, and may use a radio wave from the base station. The mobile terminal device 1 may incorporate a large-capacity storage such as a hard disk for storing map information, or necessary map information can be obtained from the server as appropriate via the base station. The period of positioning that is regularly performed in a communicable state may be varied so that positioning is frequently performed when the moving speed is detected and the speed is high.

  A mode in which the user can modify the habit lists 201, 202, and 203 by manual operation may be provided. By expanding or narrowing the range for determining similarity and correcting the time and day of the week, the additional function that automatically executes the pre-processing can be adapted to the actual situation.

  As an application of the mobile terminal device 1, it is also possible to construct a system that collects accumulated information from a plurality of mobile terminal devices 1 and statistics the occurrence of out-of-service states.

  The present invention contributes to improving the convenience of mobile terminal devices such as mobile phones, mobile terminal devices (PDAs), mobile computers, and car navigation devices.

It is a figure which shows the structural example of a mobile terminal device. It is a figure which shows the function structure of the control part of a mobile terminal device. Indicates the operation to accumulate information about the out-of-service status It is a figure which shows the operation | movement which utilizes the accumulate | stored information. It is a figure which shows the 1st example of an out-of-service occurrence status list. It is a figure which shows the 1st example of a habit list. It is a figure which shows the 2nd example of an out-of-service occurrence status list. It is a figure which shows the 2nd example of a habit list. It is a figure which shows the 3rd example of an out-of-service occurrence status list. It is a figure which shows the 3rd example of a habit list.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Mobile terminal device 24 Positioning part 26 Clock part 301 Information storage process part (information storage part)
P Out-of-service location (location information)
Q Out of service time (time information)
Return time (time information) within R
S Out-of-service time UP Location of habitual occurrence (habit information)
UQ Habitual occurrence time (custom information)
US habitual stay time (habit information)
302 Information analysis processing unit (information analysis unit)
303 Situation determination unit 304 Pre-processing unit

Claims (5)

A mobile terminal device that performs wireless communication,
A positioning unit that measures its own position;
An information storage unit that stores position information indicating a position measured by the positioning unit when the communication state shifts to a communication disabled state;
Based on a plurality of position information accumulated by the information accumulation unit, an information analysis unit that sets habit information that defines a position range for predicting a transition to a communication impossible state,
In a communicable state, a status discriminating unit that discriminates whether or not the latest position measured by the positioning unit falls within the position range defined by the habit information;
A pre-processing unit that executes a process set in advance as a pre-process to be performed before shifting to the communication disabled state when it is determined that the latest position falls within the position range. Terminal device. A mobile terminal device that performs wireless communication,
A positioning unit that measures its own position;
A clock unit that outputs time information including the date,
An information storage unit that stores the position information indicating the position measured by the positioning unit and the time information obtained by the clock unit in association with each other when the communication state is changed to the communication disabled state;
Based on a plurality of position information and time information accumulated by the information accumulation unit, an information analysis unit for setting habit information for determining a position range and a period for predicting a transition to a communication disabled state;
In a communicable state, a status determination unit that determines whether or not the latest position and time obtained by the positioning unit and the clock unit correspond to a position range and a period defined by the habit information;
A pre-processing unit that executes a process set in advance as a pre-process to be performed before shifting to the communication disabled state when it is determined that the latest position and time correspond to the position range and period. A mobile terminal device. 3. The movement according to claim 2, wherein the information storage unit stores the position information and the time information only when a communication disabled time from the transition to the communication disabled state to the return to the communication enabled state exceeds a set value. Terminal device. The information storage unit stores, in association with the position information and the time information, a communication disabled time from the transition to the communication disabled state to the return to the communication enabled state,
The habit information extracted by the information analysis unit includes an incommunicable time,
The pre-processing unit notifies that the transition to the communication disabled state is predicted and the communication disabled time predicted when the latest position and time correspond to the position range and period. The mobile terminal device according to claim 2 or 3, wherein processing is performed. The mobile terminal apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the information analysis unit deletes habit information indicating a situation that has not been met for a certain period of time.