JP2008148166A - Portable terminal search system and portable terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system which a searcher can search a portable terminal to be searched for based on the distance information with high accuracy by a method which is hardly affected by disturbance in the search when a portable terminal is lost, especially in the search of portable terminal indoor or at a close distance. <P>SOLUTION: The portable terminal to be searched 1 transmits its own position information to a portable terminal for search 2 using a transceiving means of the side to be searched 1a. The portable terminal for search 2 receives the transmitted position information by the searching transceiving means 2b. When the distance to the portable terminal for search 2 is moved to the radio communication possible range of a wireless communication means to be searched 1j and a searching wireless communication means 2j, the distance between the portable terminal to be searched 1 and the portable terminal for search 2 is acquired by wireless communication between the wireless communication means to be searched 1j and the searching wireless communication means 2j. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a mobile terminal and a search system when a mobile terminal is lost.

In recent years, portable information terminals such as PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) have become easier to carry and more convenient due to their miniaturization and weight reduction. However, on the other hand, there is a problem that it is easily lost due to misplacement or the like.
As a prior art for this problem, for example, a mobile terminal search system as described in Patent Document 1 is known. In this system, a lost mobile terminal that is a search target acquires its own location information using the GPS function or mobile base station information, transmits the acquired location information to the search-side mobile terminal, and the search-side mobile terminal The search is performed based on the position information of the search-target mobile terminal received in step. Further, the search-side mobile terminal also acquires its own location information in the same manner as the search-target mobile terminal, and as a result of comparing the location information of the search-side and search-target mobile terminals, both are within a predetermined range. It is disclosed that a search can be easily performed by providing a notification means by sound, light, or vibration.
JP 2003-284154 A

In the disclosure of Patent Document 1, the GPS function or the mobile base station information is used. When searching for a lost mobile terminal, if the distance between the search side mobile terminal and the search target mobile terminal is long, both of them are used. The acquisition and comparison of rough position information can be an effective means. In addition, when the distance between the search-side mobile terminal and the search-target mobile terminal is within a predetermined range, if a lighter can be seen by the searcher who owns the search-side mobile terminal, or if sound or vibration can be heard, notification by light or sound Means are effective.
However, even in the case of searching indoors, for example, when searching for a search target mobile terminal in a house with a search side mobile terminal, searching for a search target mobile terminal via a GPS satellite or base station There is a problem in that it is easily affected by disturbance between the station and the search target mobile terminal, and under such influence, the accuracy of the position information is lowered and accurate search cannot be performed. In addition, the notification means function effectively, such as when the light of the search target mobile terminal is not visible to the searcher under a state where the accuracy of the position information is low, or when the light is in an object that absorbs sound or vibration. If not, there is a problem that it is difficult for the searcher to search.

  Therefore, the present invention makes it possible to search in a method when the mobile terminal is lost, in particular, in a search for a mobile terminal indoors or in a short distance by a method that is less susceptible to disturbance, and the notification means does not function effectively. Even in such a case, an object is to enable a searcher to search for a portable terminal to be searched based on highly accurate distance information.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the invention described in claim 1 is a mobile terminal search system including a searchable mobile terminal and a search mobile terminal for searching the searchable mobile terminal. The searched mobile terminal is a search-side transmitting / receiving means for transmitting / receiving information to / from the search mobile terminal via a base station, and location information acquisition for obtaining the location information of the searched mobile terminal And a searched-side wireless communication means for performing direct wireless communication with the search portable terminal, wherein the search portable terminal transmits information to and from the searched portable terminal via a base station. A search-side transmission / reception unit for performing transmission / reception; and a search wireless communication unit for directly communicating with the searched portable terminal, wherein the searched portable terminal transmits / receives the location information to / from the searched-side transmission / reception. The mobile terminal for search using means The search portable terminal receives the transmitted position information by the search side transmission / reception means, and the distance between the search portable terminal and the search portable terminal is the search side wireless communication means. When the mobile terminal for search has moved to a position that is within a range where wireless communication with the search side wireless communication means is possible, the wireless communication between the search side wireless communication means and the search side wireless communication means is performed by the wireless communication. A mobile terminal search system that completes a search for the searchable mobile terminal by acquiring a distance between the search mobile terminal and the search mobile terminal.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the portable terminal search system according to the first aspect, the searched portable terminal includes a storage unit that holds predetermined authentication information and data transmitted from the search portable terminal. Authentication means for determining whether or not the authentication information contained in the storage means and the authentication information held in the storage means match, and when the authentication means determines that the authentication information matches, the location information A mobile terminal search system for transmitting to the search mobile terminal is characterized.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the portable terminal searching system according to the first or second aspect, the searched portable terminal includes a portable terminal searching system provided with a notification unit that notifies the presence of the searched portable terminal. Features.

  The invention according to claim 4 is a transmission / reception means for transmitting / receiving information to / from another portable terminal via a base station, a position information acquisition means for acquiring current position information, and predetermined authentication Storage means for holding information; wireless communication means for communicating directly with the other portable terminal; authentication information included in data transmitted from the other terminal via the transmission / reception means; and the storage means An authentication means for determining whether or not the authentication information held in the mobile terminal matches, and when the mobile terminal is searched by the other mobile terminal, the authentication means When it is determined that the information matches, the current position information is transmitted to the other portable terminal by the transmission / reception means, and when the other portable terminal moves and is in a range where it can communicate with the wireless communication means, Wireless communication means and before By communicating a wireless communication means having the other mobile terminals, to the other mobile terminal, and wherein the portable terminal to acquire the distance between the mobile terminal and the other mobile terminals.

A fifth aspect of the present invention is the portable terminal according to the fourth aspect, characterized in that the portable terminal includes a notification unit that notifies the presence of the portable terminal.
The invention according to claim 6 is a transmission / reception means for transmitting / receiving information to / from another portable terminal via a base station, a position information acquisition means for acquiring current position information, and predetermined authentication Storage means for holding information; wireless communication means for communicating directly with the other portable terminal; authentication information included in data transmitted from the other terminal via the transmission / reception means; and the storage means An authentication unit that determines whether or not the authentication information held in the mobile terminal matches, and when the mobile terminal searches for the other mobile terminal, The data including the authentication information is transmitted to the other portable terminal, and the position information of the other portable terminal transmitted from the other portable terminal when the authentication information is authenticated by the authenticating unit is transmitted and received. Before and through By moving the wireless communication unit and the wireless communication unit included in the other portable terminal when the other portable terminal and the wireless communication unit move to a communicable range, the portable terminal and the other A mobile terminal that completes the search for the other mobile terminal by acquiring the distance from the mobile terminal.

  By configuring as described above, according to the present invention, in the search when the mobile terminal is lost, not only a wide range search by GPS is possible, but also a search for a mobile terminal indoors or at a short distance, which is not good at GPS. Can search based on highly accurate distance information with the communication partner obtained from the wireless USB communication function that directly communicates with the communication partner without going through the base station, etc., and can search more easily

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows a mobile terminal composed of a search target mobile terminal (hereinafter referred to as a searchable mobile terminal) 1 that is lost and searched, and a search mobile terminal 2 for searching the search target mobile terminal 1. It is a figure which shows a search system.
The searched portable terminal 1 includes a transmission / reception unit (searched side transmission / reception unit) 1a, a transmission / reception antenna 1b, a GPS (Global Positioning System) reception unit (position information acquisition means) 1c, a GPS reception antenna 1d, a control unit 1e, and a display. 1f, operation unit 1g, storage unit 1h, wireless USB communication unit (searched-side wireless communication unit) 1i, wireless USB communication antenna 1j, authentication unit 1k, and notification unit (notification unit) 1l.
The transmission / reception antenna 1b is used for transmission / reception of radio waves with the base station (access point), and the transmission / reception unit 1a modulates and demodulates the radio waves to be transmitted / received. By providing the transmission / reception unit 1a and the transmission / reception antenna 1b, the searchable mobile terminal 1 can connect to the Internet or the like via a base station and use services such as E-mail transmission / reception and WWW (World Wide Web). In addition, it is possible to communicate with the remote search portable terminal 2.

The GPS receiver 1c and the GPS receiving antenna 1d receive radio waves from GPS satellites and obtain position information of the searched portable terminal 1.
The control unit 1e controls each operation of the mobile terminal 1, and includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit). The storage unit 1h is a memory that stores information necessary for the control unit 1e to control the operation of the searchable mobile terminal 1.
The display unit 1 f is for displaying information in the searched portable terminal 1. The operation unit 1g is for the user to perform operations such as key input. The wireless USB communication unit 1i and the wireless USB communication antenna 1j use a radio wave having a frequency of 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz and do not pass through a base station having a communication speed of about 10 m and a transfer speed of 50 to 480 Mbps. One-to-one short-distance high-speed wireless communication is performed. Then, by communicating with a communication terminal having the same wireless USB communication unit 1i, it is possible to theoretically measure the distance to each other to an accuracy of ± 10 cm. The wireless USB communication will be described in detail later.

As will be described later, the authentication unit 1k confirms whether or not the mail received from the search mobile terminal 2 matches the mail template including the password (authentication information) stored in the storage unit 1h of the searchable mobile terminal 1. To do. If they match, permission is given to transmit the position information of the searchable portable terminal 1 stored in the storage unit 1h to the searchable portable terminal 2. At the same time, the search portable terminal 2 wirelessly communicates with the portable terminal 1. It also gives permission to perform USB communication.
As a result, only a specific person can obtain the position information of the portable terminal 1 and can receive information held by the portable terminal 1 by wireless USB communication, which leads to an improvement in security. The notification unit 11 is for leaving the presence of the mobile terminal 1 in the surroundings by sound, vibration, or light. When the e-mail is received from the search mobile terminal 2 that has passed the authentication, the notification unit 11 is received. , Emit sound, vibration and light. This makes it possible to search visually and audibly. Further, the searcher possessing the search portable terminal 2 can determine whether or not to operate the notification unit 11 based on the distance information by wireless USB communication.
The portable terminal 1 according to the present invention may be in any form as long as it includes the above-described components.

The search portable terminal 2 includes a transmission / reception unit (search-side transmission / reception unit) 2a, a control unit 2e, a display unit 2f, an operation unit 2g, a storage unit 2h, and a wireless USB communication unit (search-side wireless communication means) 2i. . Regarding the transmission / reception unit 2a, the control unit 2e, the display unit 2f, the operation unit 2g, the storage unit 2h, and the wireless USB communication unit 2i, the transmission / reception unit 1a, the control unit 1e, the display unit 1f, the operation unit 1g of the mobile terminal 1 described above, The storage unit 1h and the wireless USB communication unit 1i perform the same functions, and will not be described.
The position information of the lost portable terminal 1 and the distance information of the lost portable terminal 1 obtained by the wireless USB communication unit 1i are displayed on the display unit 2f.
The search portable terminal 2 according to the present invention may be of any form as long as it includes the above-described components. That is, the above-described portable terminal 1 can also function as the search portable terminal 2.
In addition, a mail template including a password necessary for authentication, position information of the mobile terminal 1 obtained by the GPS receiving unit 1c and the GPS receiving antenna 1d, a mail template for turning on the notification function, and a notification function are provided. It is assumed that a mail template for turning off is stored in the storage unit 1h.

Next, a procedure of mobile terminal search by the searchable mobile terminal 1 and the search mobile terminal 2 will be described.
Before performing the search, as information that needs to be set in advance and stored in the storage unit 1h, authentication is performed when acquiring the location information of the searched mobile terminal 1 and when performing wireless USB communication with the mobile terminal 1. There are a mail template including a password to be used, a mail template for turning on the notification function, and a mail template for turning off the notification function. These settings are input through the operation unit 1g of the portable terminal 1 and stored in the storage unit 1h through the control unit 1e.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a procedure for searching for a portable terminal according to the present embodiment. When searching for the lost mobile terminal 1, the search mobile terminal 2 first starts by transmitting a mail including a password (authentication information) to the lost mobile terminal 1 via the transmission / reception unit 2a (S11).
Next, the searchable mobile terminal 1 receives a mail including the password transmitted from the search mobile terminal 2 via the transmission / reception unit 1a (S12).
The authentication unit 1k determines whether the password included in the email matches the password of the email template including the password in the storage unit 1h (S13). This will be described in more detail. For example, assuming that the password is “ABCD”, an email consisting of the text “The password of the lost terminal is ABCD” is set in advance as a template of an email including the password, stored in the storage unit 1h, and the received email If the message starts with “What is the password of the lost terminal?” The character following “The password of the lost terminal” is recognized as the password, and the password of the email template stored in the storage unit 1h in advance Determine whether they match. If an email consisting only of the password “ABCD” is stored in the storage unit 1h as a template, and authentication is performed based on whether or not the password “ABCD” is included in the received email, it is not a search email depending on the password. Nevertheless, there is a possibility that an email containing the word “ABCD” in the text by chance may be received by the lost mobile terminal 1, and in this case, the authentication is not erroneously passed. . In addition, whether the received mail is for search can be determined by whether the text starts with the sentence “The password of the lost terminal is”. It is possible to discriminate whether it is a mail requesting the location information of the lost mobile terminal 1 for search. Here, the “password for lost terminal” part can be set arbitrarily, and it is better to use an expression that is unlikely to be included in the body of a normal email.

  If the passwords match (Yes in S13), the lost mobile terminal 1 acquires position information from the GPS receiving unit 1c and the GPS receiving antenna (1d) and stores it in the storage unit (S14). If the passwords do not match (No in S13), an email indicating that the passwords are different is sent via the transmission / reception unit 1a with the sender address of the email with the wrong password as the destination (S15-1) The search portable terminal 2 receives this mail via the transmission / reception unit 2a (S15-2), knows that the password is different, and can send the correct password again. The lost mobile terminal 1 receives the e-mail of the location information of the mobile terminal 1 obtained by the GPS receiving unit 1c and the GPS receiving antenna 1d stored in the storage unit 1h with the sender address of the mail including the correct password as the destination. It transmits via the transmission / reception part 1a (S16). The search portable terminal 2 receives the location information mail of the lost portable terminal 1 via the transmission / reception unit 2a (S17). The searcher possessing the search portable terminal 2 based on the position information approaches the location of the lost portable terminal 1 and reaches a distance where wireless USB communication is possible (S18). Here, the distance where wireless USB communication is possible is generally within about 10 m. When wireless USB communication becomes possible, the lost mobile terminal 1 and the search mobile terminal 2 perform direct wireless communication via the wireless USB communication units 1i and 2i and the wireless USB communication antennas 1j and 2j, The lost mobile terminal 1 and the search mobile terminal 2 can theoretically know the distance between each other with an accuracy of ± 10 cm (S19). Here, the distance information is displayed on the display unit 2f of the search portable terminal 2, and if the distance information is a distance that the user wants to search by operating the notification unit 1l, the notification function is turned on. The same mail as the mail template to be sent is transmitted via the transmission / reception unit 2a (S20). When the lost mobile terminal 1 receives the mail via the transmission / reception unit 1a and confirms that it is the same mail template as the mail template for turning on the notification function stored in the storage unit 1h, the notification unit 1l The operation is turned on (S21). It is possible to find the mobile terminal 1 that is lost based on the sound, vibration, and light operation and, in addition, accurate distance information by the wireless USB communication function (S23). After finding the lost portable terminal 1, the discovered portable terminal 1 is directly operated to turn off the operation of the notification unit 11 (S24), and the search ends. If the notification function is to be turned off while the notification unit 11 is operating and searching for the lost portable terminal 1, the same email as the mail template for turning off the notification function is transmitted from the search portable terminal 2. Then, it is assumed that the operation of the notification unit 1l can be turned off.

  By configuring as described above, in the search when the mobile terminal is lost, not only a wide range search by GPS is possible, but also the communication partner and the base in the search for the mobile terminal indoors and near distances that are not good at GPS A search can be performed based on highly accurate distance information with a communication partner obtained from a wireless USB communication function that performs direct communication without using a station, and the search can be performed more easily. Further, based on the distance information obtained in this way, it is possible to determine whether or not the notification means such as sound, vibration and light is operated, and the search can be performed more easily by the operation of the notification means. . Further, by providing an authentication unit, it is possible to perform a search in consideration of security.

Finally, the wireless USB (wireless USB) used in the present invention will be described.
The wireless USB is a USB interface that uses UWB (Ultra Wide Band) as a wireless system.
UWB uses a wide frequency band of 7.5 [GHz] of 3.1 to 10.6 [GHz].
In the UWB physical layer, there are two modulation schemes: MB-ODFM (Multi Band-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) and DS-UWB (Direct Spread-UWB).
MB-ODFM divides the band of 3.1 to 10.6 [GHz] into 14 bands. In each band, first, 1 is used to place a digital signal on radio waves by QPSK (Quadrature Phase Shift Keying). Secondary modulation is performed by OFDM modulation to implement communication that is resistant to interference from other radio waves.
DS-UWB uses two bands (dual band) of 3.1 to 4.9 [GHz] and a high band of 6.2 to 9.7 [GHz]. First, QPSK or BPSK is used. After performing primary modulation by (Binary Phase Shift Keying), data is carried using CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) for secondary modulation. At this time, the direct frequency spread method is used.

IEEE (American Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.15.3a is in charge of standardization of the physical layer of UWB. By performing modulation using these modulation methods, UWB suppresses the transmission power level per 1 [MHz].
Specifically, in the FCC (Federal Communications Commission), EIRP (Equivalent Isotropic Radiation) representing a regulation value of transmission power level per 1 [MHz] in UWB communication is set to −41.25 [dBm. ] It is defined as follows.
This is about 0.5 [mW] in terms of total power, which is about 1/20 of PHS (Personal Handyphone System).
In wireless USB, using UWB as a wireless infrastructure, it is possible to realize a high speed of up to 480 [Mbps] within a radius of 3 [m] and up to 110 [Mbps] within a radius of 10 [m]. Yes.

The figure which shows the portable terminal search system comprised from a to-be-searched portable terminal and the portable terminal for a search. The figure which shows the procedure which searches a portable terminal.

Explanation of symbols

  1 mobile terminal, 1a, 2a transmission / reception unit, 1b, 2b transmission / reception antenna, 1c GPS reception unit, 1d GPS reception antenna, 1e control unit, 1f, 2f display unit, 1g, 2g operation unit, 1h, 2h storage unit, 1i, 2i wireless USB communication unit, 1j, 2j wireless USB communication antenna

Claims (6)

In a mobile terminal search system comprising a searched mobile terminal and a search mobile terminal for searching the searched mobile terminal,
The searched mobile terminal is a search-side transmitting / receiving means for transmitting / receiving information to / from the search mobile terminal via a base station, and location information acquisition for obtaining the location information of the searched mobile terminal And a searched-side wireless communication means for performing direct wireless communication with the search portable terminal,
The search portable terminal includes a search-side transmission / reception means for transmitting / receiving information to / from a searched portable terminal via a base station, and a search wireless communication for directly communicating with the searched portable terminal Means, and
The searched portable terminal transmits the position information to the searching portable terminal using the searched transmission / reception means, and the searching portable terminal receives the transmitted position information by the searching transmission / reception means. And
When the mobile terminal for search moves to a position where the distance between the mobile terminal for search and the mobile terminal for search is within a wireless communicable range between the searchable wireless communication means and the searchable wireless communication means, The search for the searched portable terminal is completed by obtaining the distance between the searched portable terminal and the searching portable terminal by wireless communication between the searched wireless communication means and the searched wireless communication means. The portable terminal search system characterized by the above-mentioned.   The mobile terminal search system according to claim 1, wherein the searchable mobile terminal includes storage means for holding predetermined authentication information, authentication information included in data transmitted from the search mobile terminal, and the storage means Authentication means for determining whether or not the authentication information held in the authentication information matches, and when the authentication means determines that the authentication information matches, transmitting the position information to the mobile terminal for search A mobile terminal search system characterized by.   3. The mobile terminal search system according to claim 1, wherein the searchable mobile terminal includes a notification unit that notifies the presence of the searchable mobile terminal. 4.   Transmitting / receiving means for transmitting / receiving information to / from other portable terminals via the base station, position information acquiring means for acquiring current position information, storage means for holding predetermined authentication information, Wireless communication means for directly communicating with another portable terminal, authentication information included in data transmitted from the other terminal via the transmission / reception means, and authentication information held in the storage means match An authentication unit that determines whether or not to perform the search, and when the mobile terminal is searched by the other mobile terminal, the authentication unit determines that the authentication information matches. The present position information is transmitted to the other portable terminal by a transmitting / receiving means, and when the other portable terminal moves and is in a range where communication with the wireless communication means is possible, the wireless communication means and the other portable terminal Nothing the terminal has By communicating a communication unit, a mobile terminal to the another mobile terminal, characterized in that to obtain the distance between the mobile terminal and the other mobile terminals.   The mobile terminal according to claim 4, further comprising a notification unit that notifies the presence of the mobile terminal. Transmitting / receiving means for transmitting / receiving information to / from other portable terminals via the base station, position information acquiring means for acquiring current position information, storage means for holding predetermined authentication information, Wireless communication means for directly communicating with another portable terminal, authentication information included in data transmitted from the other terminal via the transmission / reception means, and authentication information held in the storage means match An authentication means for determining whether to perform the search, when the mobile terminal searches for the other mobile terminal,
The data including the authentication information is transmitted to the other portable terminal via the transmission / reception unit, and the other portable terminal transmitted from the other portable terminal by the authentication information being authenticated by the authentication unit. The wireless communication means and the wireless communication means possessed by the other portable terminal when the position information is acquired via the transmission / reception means and moved to a range where the other portable terminal and the wireless communication means can communicate with each other. By communicating with the mobile terminal, the distance between the mobile terminal and the other mobile terminal is acquired, and the search for the other mobile terminal is completed.

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