JP2009053118A - Direction specification system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a direction specification system capable of specifying the present location and direction of a terminal device. <P>SOLUTION: Each luminaire 3 transmits a visible light signal containing positional information at a fixed interval by turning on a light source. When in the visible light transmitting range 6 of the first luminaire 3a, the terminal device 1 specifies the positional information from the visible light signal of the luminaire 3a. Then, an infrared signal containing the positional information and destination information is transmitted. In the second luminaire 3b, an infrared receiving part with an infrared receiving range 5a to the first light 3a receives the infrared signal out of four infrared receiving parts. Then, a communication signal containing the positional information and the destination information from the terminal device 1 and the information of the infrared receiving part which received the infrared signal is transmitted to a control device 4. The control device 4 specifies the present location of the terminal device 1 from the positional information and map information, and also specifies whether the terminal device 1 is in the direction of the second luminaire 3b and the route of the terminal device 1 from the present location to the destination. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a direction identification system.

  Conventionally, as a system for transmitting information to a terminal device, Patent Literature 1 discloses a lighting fixture having a blinking controller that controls lighting of a light source and performing visible light communication, and a lighting system including the same. In the illumination system of Patent Document 1, an LED as an illumination light source that emits light in the visible light region is flashed while fixing a lighting time and a light-off time at a predetermined ratio, and a lighting fixture, a light receiver (terminal device), and Is used for visible light communication. When performing the visible light communication, fixing the lighting time and the extinguishing time at a predetermined ratio can reduce the change in the lighting environment due to the blinking operation for visible light communication.

When such a lighting system is used, if the position information about the current location is included in the visible light signal from the luminaire, the receiver can know the current location of the receiver, and even if the receiver moves, The latest position information can be acquired by receiving a visible light signal from the arranged lighting fixture.
JP 2004-120101 A (0009 to 0019 and FIG. 1)

  However, the conventional lighting system has a problem that although the terminal device (receiver) can know its current location, the lighting device cannot identify the current location of the terminal device and the direction in which it is facing. It was.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to provide a direction specifying system capable of specifying the current location and direction of a terminal device.

  The invention according to claim 1 is a direction specifying system including a terminal device that moves together with a mobile object and an information processing device that communicates with the terminal device, wherein the terminal device acquires position information regarding the current location. And an infrared transmission means for transmitting an infrared signal including the position information when the acquisition means acquires the position information, and each of the information processing devices has a function of receiving the infrared signal. And a plurality of infrared receiving means installed together in one place of the building so as to have different receiving directions, a storage means for storing direction information regarding the receiving direction of each infrared receiving means, and the plurality of infrared rays When any of the receiving means receives the infrared signal, the positional information included in the infrared signal and information on the infrared receiving means that has received the infrared signal; By using the direction information stored in the serial storage means and having a specifying means for specifying a current position and direction of the terminal device.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the terminal device relates to a receiving means for receiving information from the information processing apparatus, a notifying means for notifying information received by the receiving means, and a destination A destination information acquisition unit configured to acquire destination information, and the infrared transmission unit transmits the destination information together with the position information in the infrared signal, and the information processing device transmits the destination information to the terminal device. A transmission unit configured to transmit information, and the specifying unit receives the infrared signal when any of the plurality of infrared reception units receives the infrared signal, the position information and the destination information included in the infrared signal, and the infrared ray A route from the present location to the destination is obtained using information on the infrared receiving means that has received the signal and the direction information stored in the storage means. Constant, and characterized in that to control the transmission means to transmit the information on the route to the terminal device.

  A third aspect of the present invention is the information processing apparatus according to the first or second aspect, wherein the information processing apparatus includes a visible light transmitting unit that transmits the position information by visible light communication, and the acquisition unit of the terminal device The position information is acquired from the visible light transmitting means by visible light communication.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to third aspects, the plurality of infrared receiving means of the information processing apparatus are incorporated in a lighting fixture that controls lighting of a light source. To do.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, in the information processing apparatus, the current location of the terminal device can be grasped, and the terminal device is suitable depending on which infrared receiving means receives the infrared signal from the terminal device. The direction can be specified. Thus, for example, when the light source is turned off at normal times to save energy, the information processing device is installed in the direction from the current location of the terminal device to the terminal device by specifying the current location and direction of the terminal device. It is possible to lighten only the light source that is being turned on. As another example, when a terminal device is attached to a cart in a supermarket, the information processing device specifies the current location and direction of the cart, and then puts a product into the shopping cart and then purchases which product next. Since it is possible to grasp the purchase route such as whether or not it is going, it can be used for the display method of the product.

  According to the invention of claim 2, the route from the current location of the terminal device to the destination can be notified to the terminal device along with the direction of the terminal device, so that accurate navigation can be performed.

  According to the invention of claim 3, since the terminal device can acquire the position information from the information processing apparatus, the position information can be easily acquired as compared with the case where the position information is manually input.

  According to the invention of claim 4, by installing a plurality of infrared receiving means in the lighting fixture, it is possible to secure an installation space even when the empty space is not sufficient.

  First, the structure of the direction identification system of this embodiment is demonstrated using FIGS. This direction specifying system is mainly used indoors, and communicates between a terminal device (mobile terminal) 1 that moves together with a moving body (not shown) and the terminal device 1, as shown in FIG. And an information processing apparatus 2 that performs the above. Here, examples of the moving body include a human and a robot, and an object moved by these.

  As illustrated in FIG. 2, the terminal device 1 stores a visible light receiving unit (acquiring unit) 10 that receives a visible light signal, an infrared transmitting unit (Ir transmitting unit) 11 that transmits an infrared signal, and the acquired information. A storage unit 12, an operation unit 13 that can be operated by a user, a display unit (notification unit) 14 that displays information, and a control unit 15 that controls the units 10 to 14.

  The visible light receiving unit 10 is a light receiving element such as a photodiode or a phototransistor including a visible light band used in visible light communication with a lighting fixture 3 to be described later, for example, and receives position information and other information about the current location. The visible light signal (illumination light signal) is received from each lighting fixture 3 (see FIG. 1) described later by visible light communication. The visible light signal received by the visible light receiver 10 is converted into an illuminance signal, which is an electrical signal, based on the brightness intensity. The illuminance signal includes the information of the visible light signal as it is.

  The infrared transmitter 11 is an infrared LED, for example, and transmits an infrared signal under the control of the controller 15. Information included in the infrared signal is selected by the control unit 15 and output to the infrared transmission unit 11.

  The storage unit 12 is, for example, a nonvolatile semiconductor storage element such as an EEPROM or a flash memory, and stores the relationship between the blinking pattern of the visible light signal and the position information, and the actually acquired position information.

  The operation unit 13 is, for example, an operation device such as a push button. When the moving body that holds the terminal device 1 is a human, the operation unit 13 serves as an interface that transmits the intention of the person to the control unit 15. For example, destination information regarding the destination is input from the operation unit 13. When the operation unit 13 is operated to transmit an infrared signal, a transmission request is output from the operation unit 13 to the control unit 15.

  The display unit 14 is a display device such as a liquid crystal display or an LED indicator, and displays information requested from the control unit 15 through the operation unit 13 or information received by the visible light receiving unit 10.

  When the illuminance signal including the position information is input from the visible light receiving unit 10, the control unit 15 extracts the position information included in the illuminance signal. The extracted position information is output from the control unit 15 to the infrared transmission unit 11 together with the destination information input from the operation unit 13 when the control unit 15 receives a transmission request from the operation unit 13. By the control, an infrared signal including position information and destination information is transmitted from the infrared transmission unit 11.

  The infrared signal including the position information and the destination information may be transmitted when the position information is extracted, not when the transmission request is received from the operation unit 13. By doing so, it is not necessary to operate the operation unit 13, and an infrared signal can be automatically transmitted.

  On the other hand, the information processing apparatus 2 shown in FIG. 1 has a plurality (three in FIG. 1) of lighting fixtures 3, 3, and 3 (first lighting fixture 3a, first lighting control) each of which controls lighting of the light source 30 (see FIG. 3). 2 lighting fixtures 3b and 3rd lighting fixtures 3c), and a control device 4 that performs communication (for example, power line communication) between the respective lighting fixtures 3.

  As shown in FIG. 3, each lighting fixture 3 includes a light source 30 that emits visible light, a lighting device 31 that controls lighting of the light source 30, a storage unit 32, and a plurality of (four in this embodiment) infrared reception. Unit (Ir receiving unit) 33 (first infrared receiving unit 33a, second infrared receiving unit 33b, third infrared receiving unit 33c, fourth infrared receiving unit 33d), control unit 34, and communication interface unit 35. The light source 30 is, for example, an LED or a fluorescent lamp.

  The lighting device 31 emits visible light from the light source 30, and is a dedicated power circuit when the light source 30 is an LED, and is a ballast when the light source 30 is a fluorescent lamp. The lighting device 31 changes the brightness of the light source 30 with an arbitrary blinking pattern at a high speed by a control signal from the control unit 34, and outputs a visible light signal from the light source 30. That is, the lighting device 31 is a visible light transmitting unit that transmits position information and information from the control device 4 to the terminal device 1 by visible light communication.

  The memory | storage part 32 is non-volatile semiconductor memory elements, such as EEPROM and flash memory, for example, The positional information and the arbitrary blink patterns which do not overlap with the other lighting fixture 3 are memorize | stored beforehand. The writing of the position information to the storage unit 32 is performed from the communication interface unit 35 via the control unit 34.

  The communication interface unit 35 is, for example, a power line communication modem or an Ethernet (registered trademark) transceiver, and exchanges information with the control device 4 (see FIG. 1).

  Each of the plurality of infrared receivers 33a to 33d has a function of receiving an infrared signal, and is incorporated in the luminaire 3 so as to have infrared reception ranges 5a to 5d in different reception directions as shown in FIG. ing. More specifically, 5a is the infrared receiving range of the first infrared receiving unit 33a, 5b is the infrared receiving range of the second infrared receiving unit 33b, 5c is the infrared receiving range of the third infrared receiving unit 33c, and 5d is the first receiving range. 4 is an infrared receiving range of the infrared receiving unit 33d. Each of the infrared receiving ranges 5a to 5d faces a different direction by 90 degrees in the horizontal direction. Infrared signals received by the respective infrared receivers 33a to 33d are converted into received signals that are electrical signals and output to the controller 34 (see FIG. 3).

  The control unit 34 shown in FIG. 3 is a microcomputer, for example, and controls the lighting device 31 so that the light source 30 is normally lit with an arbitrary output. In addition, the lighting device 31 is controlled so that a visible light signal including position information stored in the storage unit 32 and information from the control device 4 is output from the light source 30 during normal lighting.

  Further, when a reception signal is input from any of the infrared reception units 33a to 33d, the control unit 34 outputs the position information and destination information included in the reception signal, and the infrared reception unit 33a that outputs the reception signal. To 33d are output to the communication interface unit 35, and the communication interface unit 35 causes the control device 4 to transmit a communication signal including the information.

  Further, when a communication signal is received from the control device 4 by the communication interface unit 35, the control unit 34 causes the lighting device 31 to transmit information included in the communication signal to the terminal device 1 by visible light communication. Control.

  Next, the configuration of the control device 4 will be described with reference to FIG. The control device 4 includes a storage unit 40 that stores map information (see FIG. 6) including installation locations of the respective lighting fixtures 3 and direction information related to the reception direction of each infrared receiving unit 33 of each lighting fixture 3, and each lighting fixture. 3 includes a communication interface unit 41 that transmits and receives a communication signal to and from 3, and a specifying unit 42 that specifies the current location and direction of the terminal device 1 based on information included in the communication signal from any of the lighting fixtures 3. .

  When the communication interface unit 41 receives a communication signal from any of the lighting fixtures 3, the specifying unit 42 receives the position information and the destination information included in the communication signal, and the infrared receiving unit 33 that has received the infrared signal. In addition to specifying the current location and direction of the terminal device 1 using the information regarding the map information and the direction information stored in the storage unit 40, the route from the current location of the terminal device 1 to the destination is also specified.

  Then, the specifying unit 42 controls the communication interface unit 41 so that a communication signal including information regarding the route is transmitted to the lighting fixture 3 installed at the current location of the terminal device 1. And the information regarding the said route is transmitted to the terminal device 1 from the lighting fixture 3 which received the communication signal.

  Next, the operation of the direction specifying system of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. First, when the direction specifying system shown in FIG. 7 is turned on, in each luminaire 3, the lighting device 31 shown in FIG. 3 is stored in the storage unit 32 at regular intervals between normal lighting under the control of the control unit 34. The light source 30 is turned on according to an arbitrary blinking pattern, and a visible light signal including position information is transmitted.

  Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 7, when the terminal device 1 enters the visible light transmission range 6 of the first lighting fixture 3a and the terminal device 1 is exposed to the visible light of the first lighting fixture 3a, the terminal shown in FIG. The visible light receiving unit 10 of the device 1 reads an arbitrary blinking pattern of the first lighting fixture 3a, refers to the relationship between the blinking pattern stored in the storage unit 12 and the position information, and corresponds to the blinking pattern. Specify location information. Here, the position information specified by the terminal device 1 changes as the terminal device 1 moves. That is, the position information of the lighting fixture 3 that transmits a visible light signal to the visible light receiver 10 is changed. Thereafter, when the operation unit 13 is operated toward the front in the traveling direction (right side in FIG. 7) in this state, an infrared signal including position information and destination information is transmitted from the infrared transmission unit 11.

  When an infrared signal is transmitted from the terminal device 1, the second lighting fixture 3b has an infrared reception range 5a on the first lighting fixture 3a side among the four infrared receiving sections 33a to 33d shown in FIG. The first infrared receiver 33a receives an infrared signal (see FIG. 4). Thereafter, the communication signal including the position information and the destination information received by the first infrared receiving unit 33a and the information of the first infrared receiving unit 33a of the second lighting fixture 3b is controlled by the control unit 34. The data is transmitted to the control device 4 via the communication interface unit 35.

  In the control device 4, the specifying unit 42 shown in FIG. 5 specifies the current location of the terminal device 1 (the position of the first lighting fixture 3 a) from the position information received by the communication interface unit 41 and the map information in the storage unit 40. And it is specified from the information of the 1st infrared receiving part 33a of the 2nd lighting fixture 3b that the terminal device 1 has faced the direction of the 2nd lighting fixture 3b. Furthermore, the specifying unit 42 also specifies a route from the current location of the terminal device 1 to the destination. Thereafter, a communication signal including information regarding the route is transmitted to the first lighting fixture 3a via the communication interface unit 41.

  In the 1st lighting fixture 3a, the information regarding the route contained in the communication signal which the communication interface part 35 shown in FIG. 3 received is transmitted to the terminal device 1 by visible light communication. The terminal device 1 can receive a route from its current location to the destination.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the control device 4 can grasp the current location of the terminal device 1, and any of the infrared receiving units 33 a to 33 d of the lighting fixture 3 has received the infrared signal from the terminal device 1. The direction in which the terminal device 1 is facing can be specified.

  In addition, since the route from the current location of the terminal device 1 to the destination can be notified to the terminal device 1 together with the direction of the terminal device 1, accurate navigation can be performed.

  Furthermore, since the terminal device 1 can acquire position information from the lighting fixture 3, position information can be easily acquired compared with the case where position information is manually input.

  By installing the plurality of infrared receivers 33a to 33d in the lighting fixture 3, it is possible to secure an installation space even when the empty space is not sufficient.

  In addition, it can utilize for the lighting control of illumination load as a modification of this embodiment. For example, when the lighting load is turned off at normal times in order to save energy, the control device 4 specifies the current location and direction of the terminal device 1, so that the terminal device 1 is directed from the current location to the terminal device 1. Only the installed lighting load can be lit to make it brighter.

  Moreover, it can use in a supermarket as another modification. For example, when the terminal device 1 is attached to the cart, the control device 4 specifies the current location and direction of the cart, and after purchasing a certain product in the shopping cart, purchasing which product is next to be purchased. Since the route can be grasped, it can be used for the display method of goods.

It is the schematic which shows the structure of the direction specific system of embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of a terminal device same as the above. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of a lighting fixture same as the above. It is a figure which shows the receiving range of each infrared receiving part same as the above. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of a control apparatus same as the above. It is a figure which shows the map information memorize | stored in the control apparatus same as the above. It is a data flow figure for demonstrating operation | movement of a direction specific system same as the above.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Terminal device 10 Visible light receiving part 11 Infrared transmission part 14 Display part 2 Information processing apparatus 3 (3a-3c) Lighting fixture 31 Lighting device 33 (33a-33d) Infrared receiving part 4 Control apparatus 40 Storage part 42 Identification part 5a- 5d Infrared reception range 6 Visible light transmission range

Claims (4)

A direction specifying system comprising a terminal device that moves together with a mobile body, and an information processing device that communicates with the terminal device,
The terminal device includes an acquisition unit that acquires position information regarding a current location, and an infrared transmission unit that transmits an infrared signal including the position information when the acquisition unit acquires the position information.
The information processing apparatus has a function of receiving the infrared signal and a plurality of infrared receiving means that are collectively installed in one place of the building so as to have mutually different receiving directions; and each infrared receiving means Storage means for storing direction information regarding the receiving direction, and position information included in the infrared signal when any one of the plurality of infrared receiving means receives the infrared signal and the infrared receiving means that has received the infrared signal A direction specifying system comprising: specifying means for specifying the current location and direction of the terminal device using information and direction information stored in the storage means. The terminal device includes receiving means for receiving information from the information processing apparatus, notifying means for notifying information received by the receiving means, and destination information acquiring means for acquiring destination information related to the destination. In addition, the infrared transmission means transmits the destination information together with the position information included in the infrared signal,
The information processing apparatus includes a transmission unit that transmits information to the terminal device, and the specifying unit is included in the infrared signal when any of the plurality of infrared reception units receives the infrared signal. A route from the current location to the destination is specified using position information, the destination information, information on the infrared receiving means that has received the infrared signal, and direction information stored in the storage means, and the route The direction specifying system according to claim 1, wherein the transmission unit is controlled to transmit information to the terminal device. The information processing apparatus has visible light transmitting means for transmitting the position information by visible light communication,
The direction specifying system according to claim 1, wherein the acquisition unit of the terminal device acquires the position information from the visible light transmission unit through the visible light communication.   The direction specifying system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the plurality of infrared receiving units of the information processing apparatus are incorporated in a lighting fixture that controls lighting of a light source.

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