JP2008002905A - Slack time estimation method, system, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To estimate slack time by calculating the difference between an estimated transit time at a transit point on a route and an actual transit time. <P>SOLUTION: A slack time estimation method comprises accumulating in advance pieces of position information and an estimated transit time for each piece of position information in a position-information-estimated-transit-time corresponding database, measuring the position information of a present position, acquiring a present time, acquiring an estimated transit time at the present position by referring to the position-information-estimated-transit-time corresponding database on the basis of the position information of the present position and the present time, calculating the difference between the estimated transit time and the present time, and outputting the difference as slack time. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a margin time estimation method, apparatus, and program, and more particularly, in a navigation system, not only provides estimated arrival time and route passing time, but also provides information on scheduled time and actual passing or arrival time. The present invention relates to a margin time estimation method, apparatus, and program for calculating a difference and estimating a margin time.

  Conventionally, a number of navigation methods for performing a route search by inputting a starting point and a destination have been reported.

  For example, there is a navigation technology that includes means for generating a guidance map including landmarks, generating guidance information including the positional relationship between landmarks, and editing and outputting each information (see, for example, Patent Document 1). ).

  On the other hand, many methods for estimating the arrival time have been reported.

  For example, there is a technique for collecting the latest section travel time information with high accuracy and automatically presenting the predicted arrival time to the user at an appropriate timing (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

However, a method for estimating the difference between the predicted time at the passing point and the current time after leaving the departure place has not been reported so far.
Japanese Patent No. 3587791 JP 2003-42776 A

  In the conventional route search system, it is only necessary to know the shortest route connecting the departure point and the destination, and the time required and the arrival time can be predicted. However, when leaving the actual departure place, there is often a margin time, and the time of actually passing through the passing point tends to be earlier than the predicted time. Therefore, it is preferable to efficiently use the time by sequentially knowing how much time is left in the current location.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and a margin time estimation method, apparatus, and program for calculating a difference between a predicted passage time at a passage point on a route and an actual passage time and estimating a margin time The purpose is to provide.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the principle of the present invention.

The present invention (Claim 1) is a margin time estimation method for estimating a margin time until a scheduled arrival time at a destination,
The estimated passage time estimation means
A database creation step (step 1) for storing the position information and the estimated passage time for each position information in the position information passage scheduled time correspondence database in advance,
A current location acquisition step (step 2) in which the current location acquisition means measures position information of the current location;
A time acquisition means for acquiring a current time, a current time acquisition step (step 3);
The difference calculation means obtains the estimated passage time at the current location by referring to the position information passage scheduled time correspondence database based on the current location information and the current time, and calculates the difference between the estimated passage time and the current time. Then, a difference calculation step (step 4) for outputting the difference as a margin time is performed.

Further, the present invention (Claim 2) is a database creation step (Step 1).
An input step in which the input receiving means obtains input information including a departure place, a destination, and a time;
A route search step in which the route search means searches for a route based on a departure place and a destination;
A position information extracting means for extracting position information of a certain point on the route;
The estimated passage time estimation means estimates the time of passing a certain point, and stores the position information of the point together with the position information of the point in a position information estimated passage time correspondence database;
I do.

Further, according to the present invention (Claim 3), the recommended information around the route is displayed on a display device on a map representing the route according to the obtained margin time;
Receiving a change of destination based on input from the user;
I do.

  FIG. 2 is a principle configuration diagram of the present invention.

The present invention (Claim 4) is a margin time estimating device for estimating a margin time until a scheduled arrival time at a destination,
Database creation means 160 for previously storing position information and estimated passage time for each position information in the position information passage scheduled time correspondence database 150;
Current location acquisition means 210 for measuring location information of the current location;
Time acquisition means 220 for acquiring the current time;
Based on the location information of the current location and the current time, the estimated passage time at the current location is obtained by referring to the location information passage scheduled time correspondence database 150, the difference between the estimated transit time and the current time is calculated, and the difference And difference calculating means 230 for outputting as a margin time.

Further, the present invention (Claim 5) is the database creation means 160,
Input receiving means for acquiring input information including a departure place, a destination, and a time;
A route search means for searching for a route based on a starting point and a destination,
Position information extracting means for extracting position information of a certain point on the route;
A passage time estimation means for estimating a time of passing a certain point and storing it in the position information passage scheduled time correspondence database 150 together with the position information of the point.

Further, according to the present invention (Claim 6), a means for displaying recommended information around the route on a map representing the route on a display device according to the obtained margin time,
And a means for accepting a change in destination based on an input from the user.

  The present invention (Claim 7) is a margin time estimation program for causing a computer to execute each means of the margin time estimation apparatus according to claims 4 to 6.

  As described above, according to the present invention, a route search is performed in advance to estimate the estimated passing time of the passing point, and by calculating the difference from the passing time when actually passing, how much is currently It is possible to grasp whether there is a surplus time, and it is possible to use the time efficiently. Further, in the information providing service, it is possible to change the content of the recommendation according to the spare time.

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

  FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram in one embodiment of the present invention.

  The system shown in the figure is composed of a device A100 and a device B200.

  Device A100 is assumed to be a personal computer, and device B200 is assumed to be a mobile phone.

  Apparatus A100 includes an input receiving unit 110 that receives input information such as a departure point, a destination, and a time, a route search unit 120 that searches for a route based on the input information, and a position that extracts positional information such as latitude and longitude from the route. The information extraction unit 130 includes an estimated passage time estimation unit 140 that estimates a scheduled passage time at a passage point, and a location information passage scheduled time correspondence DB 150 that stores position information and the scheduled passage time.

  The device B200 refers to the current location acquisition unit 210 that acquires the location information of the current location, the current time acquisition unit 220 that acquires the current time, and the location information passage scheduled time correspondence DB 150 of the device A100, and acquires the current time and the scheduled passage A difference calculation unit 230 that calculates a time difference and an output unit 240 that outputs the calculated difference (margin time).

  The operation in the above configuration will be described.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart of processing in one embodiment of the present invention.

  Step 101) The input receiving unit 110 of the device A100 receives input of information such as a departure place, a destination, and time. The time is either the scheduled departure time or the estimated arrival time.

  Step 102) The route search unit 120 searches for a route based on the input information of the departure place and destination. There are various route search methods, and this can be realized by installing a route search program in the apparatus A and executing it. At the same time, the estimated arrival time is calculated if the input time is the estimated departure time, and the estimated departure time is calculated if the input time is the estimated arrival time. The estimated arrival time or the estimated departure time can be obtained by using the method according to Patent Document 2 described above.

  Step 103) The position information extraction unit 130 extracts position information (longitude, latitude, etc.) of a point on the searched route. Here, it is assumed that there are a plurality of points on the route.

  Step 104) The scheduled passage time estimation unit 140 estimates the scheduled passage time at each passage point, and accumulates the position information and the scheduled passage time of each passage point in the position information scheduled passage time correspondence database 150.

  Note that the processing in steps 101 to 104 described above is processing that is performed in advance before processing in apparatus B described below.

  Next, processing in apparatus B200 will be described. The following processing is performed after leaving the actual departure place.

  Step 201) The current location acquisition unit 210 of the device B200 acquires location information of the current location. For example, if the device B200 is a mobile phone with a GPS function, the latitude and longitude of the current location can be acquired. Alternatively, the position can be specified by an RF tag embedded in a certain place, or an automatic ticket gate of a station can be used.

  Step 202) At the same time, the time acquisition unit 220 acquires the current time. As a time acquisition method, the time acquisition function of a mobile phone may be used, or the passage time of an automatic ticket gate at a station may be used.

  Step 203) Based on the current position acquired in Step 201 and the current time acquired in Step 202, the difference calculation unit 230 refers to the position information scheduled passage time database 150 of the device A100 and extracts the scheduled passage time of the current location. To do. The difference between the acquired scheduled passage time and the current time is obtained, and this is set as a margin time and output to a display device on the device B200. At this time, information on or near the route can be displayed according to the margin time.

  If the margin time is negative, it means that there is no margin in time and the scheduled arrival time is delayed.

  When the margin time is estimated, the things shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 can be realized.

  That is, it is possible to present the recommended information of the area on the map representing the route from the departure place to the destination according to the spare time. At this time, the map DB and the recommended information / map / allowance time correspondence DB are prepared, the map DB is searched according to the current location information, the map is acquired, and the current location information and the extra time are used. Then, the recommended information / map / allowance time corresponding DB is searched, and the map information and the recommended information are superimposed and displayed.

  In the example of FIG. 5, the spare time is 30 minutes. At this time, the recommended information indicates a coffee shop with a and a convenience store with b.

  On the other hand, in the example of FIG. 6, the spare time is 60 minutes. At this time, the recommended information is c lunch time information, d French restaurant information, and e exhibition information. As described above, by estimating the margin time, it is possible to change the recommended contents according to the margin time.

  For the above recommended information, a database including recommended time information, regional information, recommended contents, etc. is constructed, and regional information that is close within a predetermined range is searched and displayed based on the current time and route information. It is possible.

  The user can also change the destination by looking at the recommended information displayed.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the destination change process according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  When the margin time is output from the output unit 240 (step 301), based on the current location information and the margin time, the corresponding information is obtained by referring to the recommended information / map / margin time correspondence DB ( Step 302), map information is acquired from the map DB based on the current location information, recommended information from the recommended information report / map / allowance time correspondence DB (step 303), and the information is superimposed and displayed. (Step 304). At this time, if the user inputs a change of destination (step 305, Yes), the processing after step 302 is repeated again. In this case, the recommended information / map / allowance time correspondence DB and map DB are searched based on the changed location information of the destination.

  It is possible to construct the configuration shown in FIG. 3 as a program and install it on a computer that is used as a margin time estimation device and execute it, or distribute it via a network.

  In addition, the constructed program can be stored in a portable storage medium such as a hard disk, a flexible disk, or a CD-ROM, and can be installed or distributed on a computer used as a margin time estimation device. .

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications and applications can be made within the scope of the claims.

  The present invention is applicable to a navigation system.

It is a figure for demonstrating the principle of this invention. It is a principle block diagram of this invention. 1 is a system configuration diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart of the process in one embodiment of this invention. It is an output example in the case of the allowance time of 30 minutes in one embodiment of the present invention. It is an example of an output in the case of the allowance time of 60 minutes in one embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart of the destination change process in one embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

100 Device A
110 Input Reception Unit 120 Route Search Unit 130 Position Information Extraction Unit 140 Passing Time Estimating Unit 150 Location Information Passing Time Correspondence Database
160 Database creation means 200 Device B
210 current location acquisition unit, current location acquisition unit 220 time acquisition unit, time acquisition unit 230 difference calculation unit, difference calculation unit 240 output unit

Claims (7)

A margin time estimation method for estimating a margin time until a scheduled arrival time at a destination,
The estimated passage time estimation means
A database creation step for storing the position information and the estimated passage time for each position information in the position information passage scheduled time correspondence database in advance,
A current location acquisition step in which the current location acquisition means measures position information of the current location;
A time acquisition means for acquiring a current time, a current time acquisition step;
Based on the location information of the current location and the current time, the difference calculating means refers to the location information passage scheduled time correspondence database to obtain an estimated transit time at the current location, and calculates the estimated transit time and the current time. A difference calculating step of calculating a difference and outputting the difference as a margin time;
A margin time estimation method characterized by: In the database creation step,
An input step in which the input receiving means obtains input information including a departure place, a destination, and a time;
A route search step in which a route search means searches for a route based on the departure place and the destination;
A position information extracting unit for extracting position information of a certain point on the route;
The estimated passage time estimation means estimates the time of passing through the certain point, and stores the position information of the point together with the positional information of the point information passage scheduled time correspondence database,
I do,
The margin time estimation method according to claim 1. Displaying the recommended information around the route on a map representing the route on a display device according to the obtained margin time;
The margin time estimation method according to claim 1, wherein the step of accepting a change of the destination based on an input from the user is performed. A margin time estimating device for estimating a margin time until a scheduled arrival time at a destination,
Database creation means for previously storing position information and estimated passage time for each position information in a position information passage scheduled time correspondence database;
Current location acquisition means for measuring location information of the current location;
Time acquisition means for acquiring the current time;
Based on the position information of the current location and the current time, refer to the position information passage scheduled time correspondence database, obtain an estimated passage time at the current location, calculate a difference between the estimated passage time and the current time, A difference calculating means for outputting the difference as a margin time;
A margin time estimation device comprising: The database creation means includes
Input receiving means for acquiring input information including a departure place, a destination, and a time;
Route search means for searching for a route based on the departure place and the destination;
Position information extracting means for extracting position information of a certain point on the route;
A passage time estimating means for estimating a time of passing through the certain point and storing it in the position information passage scheduled time correspondence database together with the position information of the point;
including,
The margin time estimation apparatus according to claim 4. Means for displaying on the display device recommended information around the route on a map representing the route according to the determined margin time;
Means for accepting a change of destination based on input from the user;
The margin time estimating device according to claim 4, further comprising: On the computer,
A margin time estimation program that causes each means of the margin time estimation apparatus according to claim 4 to be executed.

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