JP2009097998A - Meeting support apparatus, meeting support system, meeting support server device, meeting support method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To select a meeting location from among a plurality of meeting location candidates (e.g., conference room, karaoke lounge, and the like), such that the time taken for all participants to come together is minimized. <P>SOLUTION: A route search means 2 searches the shortest route for each participant, regarding the plurality of meeting location candidates, respectively, which is one of the routes connecting the meeting location candidates to the current position of the participant and has the shortest time required. The meeting location determining means 3 determines a meeting location candidate as the meeting location which is one of the plurality of meeting location candidates and has the shortest time required for the participant having the longest time required, based on the shortest route for each participant, up to the meeting location candidate obtained by the route search means 2. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a gathering support technique for selecting a gathering place from a plurality of gathering place candidates, and more particularly, to a gathering support technique for selecting a gathering place that can shorten the time required for all participants to gather. .

  In various situations, it may be necessary to select a meeting place from a plurality of meeting place candidates. For example, when it is necessary to hold a meeting by a person in charge at each business office, it is necessary to select a conference room to be used from among a plurality of conference rooms (for example, a conference room at each business office). . For example, when going to a karaoke store with friends, it is necessary to select a karaoke store to be actually used from a plurality of karaoke stores. In such a case, generally, participants exchange with each other by telephone or e-mail, and select a conference room or karaoke shop to be used. However, this method has a problem that it takes a lot of time to determine the meeting place because the participants need to exchange many times.

  On the other hand, a technique in which a meeting place is determined based on the current position of each participant has also been known (for example, see Patent Document 1). In Patent Literature 1, the communication server device obtains a point at which the physical distance from each participant and the required time are equal based on the current position of each participant managed in the context management server device, This is set as the center point of the meeting place. Further, in Patent Document 1, in order to check whether each participant can gather at the meeting place by a predetermined meeting time, for each participant, from the nearest station of the participant to the nearest station of the meeting place. It is trying to find the required time.

JP 2006-72812 A

  According to the technique described in Patent Document 1 described above, since the meeting place is determined based on the current position of each participant, the meeting place can be determined in a short time. However, since the technique described in Patent Document 1 only sets the points where the physical distances from the participants and the required time are equal to each other as the set location, a plurality of set location candidates It cannot be used for the purpose of selecting a meeting place from the list.

(Object of invention)
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a meeting support apparatus that automatically selects a meeting place where all participants can gather in a shortest time from a plurality of meeting place candidates.

A first set support apparatus according to the present invention includes:
For each of the plurality of meeting place candidates, for each participant, a route search means for searching for the shortest route that is the route from the current position of the participant to the meeting place candidate and takes the shortest time,
Based on the shortest route to each gathering place candidate for each participant obtained by the route search means, among the plurality of gathering place candidates, the gathering place candidate having the shortest required time for the participant having the longest required time is selected. A meeting place determining means for determining the meeting place is provided.

A first collective support system according to the present invention includes:
A collective support system including a collective support server device and a mobile terminal device of each of a plurality of participants,
The portable terminal device is
Position detecting means for detecting the current position of the own device;
Control means for transmitting the current position detected by the position detection means to the aggregation support server device,
The assembly support server device
For each of the plurality of gathering place candidates, for each participant, a route from the current position sent by the participant's mobile terminal device to the gathering place candidate, and the shortest route with the shortest required time. A route search means for searching;
Based on the shortest route to each gathering place candidate for each participant obtained by the route search means, among the plurality of gathering place candidates, the gathering place candidate having the shortest required time for the participant having the longest required time is selected. A meeting place determining means for determining the meeting place is provided.

The first aggregation support server device according to the present invention is:
For each of a plurality of meeting place candidates, for each participant, a route from the current position sent by the participant's mobile terminal device to the meeting place candidate and searching for the shortest route with the shortest required time is searched. Route search means to
Based on the shortest route to each meeting place candidate for each participant obtained by the route search means, the meeting place candidate having the shortest required time for the participant having the longest required time among the plurality of meeting place candidates is selected. A meeting place determining means for determining the meeting place is provided.

A first set support method according to the present invention includes:
A route search step for searching for each of a plurality of meeting place candidates, for each participant, a route from the current position of the participant to the meeting place candidate, and the shortest route having the shortest required time; ,
Based on the shortest route to each gathering place candidate for each participant determined by the route search step, the computer takes the shortest required time for the participant having the longest time among the plurality of gathering place candidates. And a meeting place determination step for determining a meeting place candidate as a meeting place.

The first program according to the present invention is:
Computer
For each of a plurality of meeting place candidates, for each participant, a route search means for searching for the shortest route that is a route from the current position of the participant to the meeting place candidate and that takes the shortest time,
Based on the shortest route to each gathering place candidate for each participant obtained by the route search means, among the plurality of gathering place candidates, the gathering place candidate having the shortest required time for the participant having the longest required time is selected. It functions as a meeting place determination means for determining a meeting place.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to select a gathering place having the shortest time until all the participants gather from among a plurality of gathering place candidates.

  Next, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[First embodiment of the present invention]
Referring to FIG. 1, the set support apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention includes route search means 2 and set place determination means 3.

  The route search means 2 searches each participant for a plurality of meeting place candidates for the shortest route that takes the shortest time required from the participant's current position to the meeting place candidate.

  The meeting place determination means 3 is based on the shortest route to each meeting place candidate of each participant determined by the route search means 2 and the required time of the participant having the longest required time among the plurality of meeting place candidates. The shortest meeting place candidate is determined as the meeting place.

  Now, for example, the positional relationship between the current positions 5-1 to 5-3 of each participant 4-1 to 4-3 and the plurality of meeting place candidates 6-1 and 6-2 is as shown in FIG. Then, the following processing is performed.

  First, the route search means 2 searches for the shortest routes R11, R21, R31 from the current positions 5-1 to 5-3 to the meeting place candidate 6-1 for each of the participants 4-1 to 4-3. It is assumed that the required times T11, T21, and T31 for the routes R11, R21, and R31 are T11 <T21 <T31, and the longest required time T31 is 30 minutes.

  Thereafter, the route search means 2 searches for the shortest routes R12, R22, R32 from the current positions 5-1 to 5-3 to the meeting place candidate 6-2 for each of the participants 4-1 to 4-3. It is assumed that the required times T12, T22, and T32 by the routes R12, R22, and R32 are T12 <T22 <T32, and the longest required time T32 is 40 minutes.

  Thereafter, the meeting place determination means 3 determines the plurality of the above-mentioned plural routes based on the shortest route to the meeting place candidates 6-1 and 6-2 for each participant 4-1 to 4-3 obtained by the route search means 2. Among the meeting place candidates 6-1 and 6-2, the meeting place candidate having the shortest required time of the participant having the longest required time is determined as the meeting place. In this example, the longest required time for each of the meeting place candidates 6-1 and 6-2 is T31 = 30 (minutes) and T32 = 40 (minutes). -1 is determined as the meeting place.

  The collective support device 1 can be realized by a computer, and when realized by a computer, for example, is as follows. A disk, a semiconductor memory, and other recording media on which a program for causing a computer to function as the collective support apparatus 1 is prepared, and the computer reads the program. The computer realizes the route search means 2 and the meeting place determination means 3 on its own computer by controlling its own operation according to the read program.

[Effect of the first embodiment]
Thus, according to the first embodiment, the time required until all the participants 4-1 to 4-3 gather among the plurality of gathering place candidates 6-1 and 6-2 is minimized. It is possible to select a meeting place 6-1 that can be used. The reason is provided with the meeting place determining means 3 for determining the meeting place candidate having the shortest required time among the plurality of meeting place candidates 6-1 and 6-2 as the meeting place. Because.

[Second embodiment of the present invention]
Next, a collective support system according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. Referring to FIG. 3, the collective support system according to the present embodiment includes a collective support server device 10, a storage device 20, a radio base station 30, a network 40, and mobile terminal devices 50-1 to 50-1 of each user U <b> 1 to Un. 50-n.

  The mobile terminal devices 50-1 to 50-n are realized by a mobile phone or the like, and have a function of transmitting location information indicating the current location of the device itself to the collective support server device 10.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the mobile terminal device 50-1, which includes a transmission / reception unit 51, a control unit 52, a position detection unit 53, an input unit 54 such as a numeric keypad, and a display unit 55 such as an LCD. It has. The other portable terminal devices 50-2 to 50-n have the same configuration.

  The transmission / reception unit 51 has a function of transmitting / receiving data to / from the aggregation support server device 10 via the radio base station 30 and the network 40.

  The position detection means 53 is realized by a GPS (global positioning system) or the like, and has a function of detecting the current position of the device itself.

  The control means 52 responds to a function for transmitting a support request to the collective support server device 10 in accordance with a support request transmission instruction input by the user U1 from the input unit 54, or a position information acquisition request sent from the collective support server device 10. In response, the display unit displays a function for transmitting a position response including the current position of the own apparatus detected by the position detecting unit 53 to the collection support server apparatus 10, meeting place information transmitted from the collection support server apparatus 10, etc. 55 and the like. The support request includes mobile terminal specifying information for specifying the mobile terminal device of each user (participant) who gathers at the meeting place, and type information indicating the type of the meeting place.

  The storage device 20 is realized by a disk device or the like, and includes a meeting place information storage unit 21, a station information storage unit 22, a route search information storage unit 23, and a route search result storage unit 24. .

  In the station information storage unit 22, position information (for example, latitude and longitude) of each station is registered. In the route search information storage unit 23, information necessary for searching for a route between stations and information for obtaining a required time are registered. A route search result is registered in the route search result storage unit 24. The route search result will be described later in detail.

  In the meeting place information storage unit 21, for each of a plurality of meeting places, the meeting place information for specifying the meeting place is registered. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the meeting place information storage unit 21. The meeting place information includes an identifier for uniquely identifying the meeting place, the name of the meeting place (for example, store name, meeting room name, etc.), the nearest station that is the location information of the meeting place, and walking from the nearest station. The required time, address, telephone number, and type (for example, conference room, karaoke shop, etc.) are included.

  In the example of FIG. 5, the meeting place information with the identifier “ID1” has the name “A shop” as the meeting place name, “A1 station” as the nearest station, and the time required for walking from the nearest station “A1 station” as “5”. "Minute", the address is "aaa", the telephone number is "TELa", and the type is "karaoke shop". In addition, the meeting place information of the identifier “ID2” includes the name of the meeting place “B store”, the nearest stations are “B1 station” and “B2 station”, and the nearest stations “B1 station” and “B2 station” are required on foot. The time is “3 minutes” and “8 minutes”, the address is “bbb”, the telephone number is “TELb”, and the type is “karaoke shop”. The B1 station and the B2 station are stations with different routes.

  The aggregation support server device 10 includes a transmission / reception unit 11 and a control unit 12.

  The transmission / reception means 11 has a function of exchanging data with the mobile terminal devices 50-1 to 50-n via the network 40 and the radio base station 30.

  The control means 12 includes position information acquisition means 121, route search means 122, and meeting place determination means 123.

  When a support request is sent from the mobile terminal device 50-j (1 ≦ j ≦ n), the location information acquisition unit 121 acquires location information for the mobile terminal device specified by the mobile terminal specification information included therein. It has a function of transmitting a request and a function of receiving a position response sent from the mobile terminal device in response to a position information acquisition request and passing the position information included in the position response to the route search means 122.

  The route search means 122 is a set whose type matches the type indicated by the type information included in the support request among the set locations specified by the set location information registered in the set location information storage unit 21. A place is a meeting place candidate, and for each meeting place candidate, a search is made for each participant for a route from the current position of the participant to the meeting place candidate and having the shortest required time.

  Based on the shortest route to each gathering place candidate for each user obtained by the route search means 122, the meeting place determining means 123 is the most time required for the participant having the longest required time among the plurality of gathering place candidates. It has a function of determining a short meeting place candidate as a meeting place and transmitting meeting place information specifying the determined meeting place to the mobile terminal device of each participant.

  The collective support server device 10 can be realized by a computer, and when realized by a computer, for example, is as follows. A disk, a semiconductor memory, and other recording media on which a program for causing the computer to function as the transmission / reception unit 11 and the control unit 12 is prepared, and the computer is caused to read the program. The computer implements the transmission / reception means 11 and the control means 12 on its own computer by controlling its own operation according to the read program.

  Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described in detail.

  Now, for example, the user U1 proposes that the users U2 to Un go to the karaoke store, and the users U2 to Un who have received this proposal agree to go to the karaoke store. ).

  When the user U1 is left to select a karaoke store, the user U1 inputs a support request transmission instruction from the input unit 54 of his mobile terminal device 50-1. The support request transmission instruction includes type information indicating the type of meeting place “karaoke shop” and mobile terminals 50-1 to 50-n of users (participants) U1 to Un participating in karaoke. Specific information is included.

  When the support request transmission instruction is input, the control means 52 transmits a support request to the collective support server device 10 as shown in the sequence diagram of FIG. 6 (step S61). The support request includes type information indicating that the type of the meeting place is “karaoke shop”, and mobile terminal specification that specifies the mobile terminal devices 50-1 to 50-n of the users (participants) U1 to Un. Information and included.

  When the location information acquisition unit 121 in the collective support server device 10 receives the support request via the transmission / reception unit 11, each of the mobile terminal devices 50-1 to 50-n specified by the mobile terminal specifying information included therein. A position information acquisition request is transmitted to (step S62).

  When receiving the position information acquisition request, the control means 52 in each of the mobile terminal devices 50-1 to 50-n acquires position information indicating the current position of the own device from the position detection means 53, and includes the acquired position information. The position response is transmitted to the collection support server device 10 (step S63).

  When the location information is returned from all the mobile terminal devices 50-1 to 50-n that transmitted the location information acquisition request, the location information acquisition unit 121 presents each user U1 to Un included in each location response. The location information indicating the location and the type information indicating the type of meeting place “karaoke shop” included in the support request are passed to the route search means 122.

  Thereby, the route search means 122 sets a meeting place whose type is “karaoke shop” among meeting places specified by the meeting place information registered in the meeting place information storage unit 21 as a meeting place candidate, For each gathering place candidate, for each user U1 to Un, the shortest route from the current position of the user U1 to Un to the gathering place candidate is searched (step S64), and the gathering place determining means 123 is the route searching means 122. Based on the shortest route to each gathering place candidate for each of the users U1 to Un, among the plurality of gathering place candidates, the gathering place candidate having the shortest required time for the participant having the longest required time is defined as the meeting place The meeting place information is transmitted to the mobile terminal devices 50-1 to 50-n of the users U1 to Un who are the participants (steps S65 and S66).

  Here, the process performed by the route search unit 122 in step S64 and the process performed by the meeting place determination unit 123 in steps S65 and S66 will be described in detail with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

  When the location information acquisition unit 121 receives the location information indicating the current location of each of the users U1 to Un and the type information indicating the type of meeting place “karaoke shop”, the route search unit 122, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. First, the nearest station of each user U1 to Un as a participant is obtained (step S71). In addition, the nearest station of each user U1-Un is calculated | required based on the positional information which shows each user U1-Un a current position, and the positional information which shows the position of each station registered into the station information storage part 22. FIG.

  Next, the route search means 122 pays attention to one of the meeting place information registered in the meeting place information storage unit 21 (step S72), and the type included therein is passed from the position information acquisition means 121. It is checked whether or not it matches the type “karaoke shop” indicated by the type information (step S74).

  If they do not match (NO in step S74), attention is paid to the next meeting place information (step S72).

  On the other hand, if they match (YES in step S74), the meeting place specified by the noticed meeting place information is set as a meeting place candidate, and the current position of each of the users U1 to Un is determined for each user U1 to Un. To find the shortest route from the meeting place candidate (step S75).

  Here, the process of step S75 will be described in detail. For example, when attention is paid to meeting place information in which only one nearest station (“station A1”) is set like the meeting place information of the identifier “ID1” in FIG. As the shortest route from the position to the candidate for the meeting place, a route from the nearest station of each of the users U1 to Un to the nearest station “station A1” of the candidate for the meeting place and having the shortest required time is obtained. In addition, when attention is paid to meeting place information in which a plurality of nearest stations ("station B1" and "station B2") are set like the meeting place information of the identifier "ID2" in FIG. 5, the users U1 to Un. As the shortest route from the current location to the candidate for the meeting place, the route from the nearest station of the users U1 to Un to the nearest stations “station B1” and “station B2” of the candidate for the meeting place has the shortest required time. Explore. Therefore, the nearest station of the meeting place candidate may be different depending on the users U1 to Un. In this embodiment, the route that takes the shortest time between the nearest stations is set as the shortest route, but considering the walking time from the nearest station, the current location of the participant to the candidate meeting place You may make it search for the shortest route.

  Next, the route search unit 122 passes a pair of the gathering location information under attention and the route search result to the gathering location determination unit 123 (step S76). Note that the route search result includes the shortest route from the nearest station of each user U1 to Un to the nearest station of the candidate for the meeting place and the time required for the shortest route.

  Thereafter, the route search unit 122 repeatedly performs the same process as described above until there is no unfocused gathering place information (until YES in step S73). A completion notice is passed to the determining means 123 (step S77).

  On the other hand, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 8, the meeting place determination means 123 receives the data from the route search means 122 (step S81), whether the received data is a pair of the meeting place information and the route search result, It is determined whether the notification is completion or not (step S82).

  And when it determines with it being a pair of meeting place information and the route search result for every nearest station (step S82 is YES), it takes the most from the time required for each shortest route included in each route search result. A long required time T1 is obtained (step S83).

  Thereafter, the longest required time T1 obtained in step S83 is compared with the longest required time T2 stored in the route search result storage unit 24 (step S84).

  If T1> T2 (YES in step S84), the process returns to step S81. On the other hand, when T1 ≦ T2 (NO in step S84), the route search result storage unit 24 overwrites the route search result storage unit 24 with the pair of the meeting place information and the route search result delivered this time. The content of 24 is updated (step S85), and then the process returns to step S81. In the state where the route search result storage unit 24 is cleared (a state where the pair of route search result and meeting place information is not registered), the determination result in step S84 is NO.

  The meeting place determination means 123 performs the same process as described above every time a pair of the route search result and the meeting place information is received from the route search means 122 (every time step S82 becomes YES).

  Thereafter, when a completion notification is sent from the route search means 122 that has completed the processing for all the meeting place information registered in the meeting place information storage unit 21 (NO in step S82), the meeting place determination means 123 determines the route. It is determined that a meeting place candidate indicated by the meeting place information registered in the search result storage unit 24 is a meeting place, and the meeting place information is used as the mobile terminal devices 50-1 to 50-n of the users U1 to Un. (Step S86 in FIG. 8). In step S86, the meeting place information is transmitted to the mobile terminal devices 50-1 to 50-n of the respective users U1 to Un, but in addition to this, it is registered in the route search result storage unit 24. The route from the nearest station of the user to the nearest station of the meeting place and the required time may also be transmitted. Finally, the meeting place determination unit 123 clears the route search result storage unit 24 (step S87). The above is the details of the processing performed in steps S64 to S66 of FIG.

  When the meeting place information is sent from the meeting support server device 10, the control means 52 in the mobile terminal devices 50-1 to 50-n of the users U1 to Un displays it on the display unit 55 (step S67). ). In addition to the meeting place information, when the route and the required time are sent, they are also displayed on the display unit 55.

  In the present embodiment, the position information acquisition means 121, the route search means 122, and the meeting place determination means 123 are provided in one meeting support server device, but each means 121 to 123 is provided in a different server device. You may make it provide in.

[Effect of the second embodiment]
According to the present embodiment, it is possible to determine the meeting place where the time until all the participants gather is the shortest even when there is a meeting place candidate having a plurality of nearest stations. The reason is that when there are a plurality of nearest stations in the meeting place candidates, the route searching means 122 sets each of the meeting place candidates from the nearest station of the participant as the shortest route from the current position of the participant to the meeting place candidates. This is because the route to the nearest station is searched for the route that takes the shortest time.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to determine a meeting place where all the participants can gather in the shortest time in consideration of the time required from the nearest station of the meeting place candidate. This is because the route searching means 122 searches for a route that takes the shortest time required from the participant's current position to the meeting place candidate including the walking time.

[Third embodiment of the present invention]
Next, a collective support system according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. In this embodiment, a predetermined number of meeting places as meeting place candidates are selected from meeting places specified by meeting place information registered in the meeting place information storage unit based on the current positions of the participants. It is characterized by that. FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the collective support system according to the present embodiment. The difference of the collective support system illustrated in FIG. 3 is that the collective support server device 10 a is provided instead of the collective support server device 10. It is a point.

  The collective support server device 10 a includes a control unit 12 a instead of the control unit 12. This control means 12a is different from the control means 12 in that a route search means 122a is provided instead of the route search means 122, and a meeting place candidate selection means 124 is added.

  The meeting place candidate selection means 124 is based on the current location of the user who is a participant and the type of the meeting place from among the meeting places specified by the meeting place information registered in the meeting place information storage unit 21. And a function of selecting a plurality of meeting places as candidate meeting places.

  The route search unit 122a is different from the route search unit 122 in that each set location candidate selected by the set location candidate selection unit 124 is a processing target.

  Note that the collective support server device 10 a can also be realized by a computer in the same manner as the collective support server device 10.

  Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. Since the operations other than the meeting place candidate selection means 124 and the route search means 122a are the same as those in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the operations of the meeting place candidate selection means 124 and the route search means 122a are mainly described here. explain.

  Now, for example, the user U1 includes “karaoke shop” as the type information of the meeting place from his / her portable terminal device 50-1 to the gathering support server device 10a, and the portable terminal devices of the users U1 to Un as the terminal specifying information. It is assumed that a support request including information specifying 50-1 to 50-n is transmitted. Thereby, the position information acquisition means 121 in the collective support server device 10a acquires the current position information indicating the current positions of the users U1 to Un as described above.

  The meeting place candidate selection means 124, when the position information acquisition means 121 acquires position information indicating the current positions of the users U1 to Un, a reference point at which the maximum value of the distances from the current positions of the users U1 to Un is minimized. Is searched (step S101 in FIG. 10). Note that the reference point searching method is not limited to this, and a method in which the reference point is a point at which the maximum value of the required time from the current position of each user U1 to Un is used, or each user U1 to Un It is also possible to adopt a method in which the point at which the maximum value of the movement cost (fee) from the current position is minimized is used as the reference point.

  Next, the meeting place candidate selection means 124 is predetermined from the station closest to the reference point among the stations registered in the meeting place information storage unit 21 as the nearest station of the karaoke shop (the type of meeting place designated by the user U1). A number (for example, three) of stations are selected (step S102). Here, the station registered as the nearest station of the karaoke shop is the gathering place information whose type is “Karaoke shop” like the gathering place information of the identifiers “ID1” and “ID2” shown in FIG. “A1 station”, “B1 station”, “B2 station”, and the like are set.

  After that, the meeting place candidate selection means 124 searches the meeting place information including the station selected in step S102 as the nearest station from the meeting place information registered in the meeting place information storage unit 21. A candidate for a meeting place is selected from the meeting places specified by the meeting place information (step S103). Finally, the meeting place candidate selection means 124 passes the identifier of each meeting place information searched in step S103 to the route search means 122a (step S104).

  The route search unit 122a performs the process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 7 when the identifier of the meeting place information specifying the meeting place as the meeting place candidate is passed from the meeting place candidate selection unit 124. However, in this embodiment, the processes performed in steps S72 and S73 are different from those in the second embodiment described above.

  In the present embodiment, in step S72, processing for paying attention to one of the meeting place information indicated by the identifier passed from the meeting place candidate selecting means 124 is performed. In step S73, it is determined whether or not all the meeting place information indicated by the identifier passed from the meeting place candidate selection unit 124 is noticed.

[Effect of the third embodiment]
In the present embodiment, there is provided a meeting place candidate selecting means 124 for selecting a meeting place as a meeting place candidate from the meeting places where the meeting place information is registered in the meeting place information storage unit 21, and the route search is performed. Since the number of meeting place candidates to be performed can be reduced, the time required for determining the meeting place can be shortened.

[Fourth embodiment of the present invention]
Next, a collective support system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention is described. FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the collective support system of the present embodiment. The difference from the collective support system of the third exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. A server device group including a main server device 61, a mail server device 62, and a route search server device 63 is provided.

  The main server device 61 has the following functions.

-From the portable terminal device 50-j (1≤j≤n), the type information indicating the type of the meeting place and the portable terminal specification that identifies the portable terminal devices 50-1 to 50-n of the users U1 to Un as the participants When a support request including information (in the present embodiment, a mail address) is sent, position information acquisition including the mail addresses of the mobile terminal devices 50-1 to 50-n is sent to the mail server device 62. Ability to send requests.
When the location information indicating the current location of each user U1 to Un is sent from the mail server device 62 in response to the location information acquisition request, the current location of each user U1 to Un to the route search server device 63 A function for transmitting a route search request including location information indicating the type and type information indicating the type of the meeting place.
A function for determining a meeting place based on the route search result returned from the route search server device 63 (a function similar to the function provided in the meeting place determination unit 123 in FIG. 3).
A function of transmitting to the mail server device 62 a meeting place information transmission request including meeting place information indicating the determined meeting place and the mail addresses of the users U1 to Un.

  The mail server device 62 has the following functions.

When the location information acquisition request including the email addresses of the users U1 to Un as participants is sent from the main server device 61, the mobile terminal devices 50-1 to 50-1 of the users U1 to Un based on the email address A function of sending an e-mail requesting the current position to 50-n.
When the e-mail including the current position is sent from the mobile terminal devices 50-1 to 50-n of the users U1 to Un, the main server device stores the position information indicating the current positions of the users U1 to Un. A function to transmit to 61 (a function similar to the position information acquisition unit 121 in FIG. 3).
A function that, when a meeting place information transmission request is sent from the main server device 61, sends an e-mail describing the meeting place information included therein to the mail address included therein.

  The route search server device 63 has the following functions. The route search server device 63 includes the storage device 20 shown in FIG.

When the route search request including the current location of the users U1 to Un and the type information of the meeting place candidates is sent from the main server device 61, it is registered in the meeting place information storage unit 21 in the storage device 20. Of the meeting places specified by the meeting place information, a meeting place whose type matches the type indicated by the type information included in the support request is set as a meeting place candidate, and each user U1 is assigned to each meeting place candidate. A function of searching for a route from the current position of each of the users U1 to Un to a candidate for a meeting place for each of the Uns and obtaining a required time by the searched route.
A function of returning to the main server device 61 a pair of a route search result for each meeting place candidate and the meeting place information indicating the meeting place candidate.

  Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

  Now, for example, the user U1 proposes that the users U2 to Un go to the karaoke store, and the users U2 to Un who have received this proposal agree to go to the karaoke store. ).

  When the user U1 is left to select a karaoke store, the user U1 inputs a support request transmission instruction from the input unit 54 of his mobile terminal device 50-1. This support request transmission instruction includes type information indicating the type of meeting place “karaoke shop” and e-mail addresses of users (participants) U1 to Un who participate in karaoke.

  When the main server device 61 receives the support request sent from the mobile terminal device 50-1, the main server device 61 includes the mail addresses of the users U1 to Un to the mail server device 62 as shown in the flowchart of FIG. A position information acquisition request is transmitted (step S121).

  As a result, the mail server device 62 transmits an e-mail requesting the current position to the mail addresses of the users U1 to Un. When each of the users U1 to Un receives the e-mail, the e-mail including the current position is transmitted to the mail server device 62 from its own mobile terminal device 50-1 to 50-n. When the e-mail including the position information indicating the current position is sent from each user U1 to Un, the mail server device 62 transmits the position information indicating the current position of each user U1 to Un to the main server device 61. .

  When the location information indicating the current location of each user U1 to Un is sent from the mail server device 62 (step S122), the main server device 61 receives the location information indicating the current location of each user U1 to Un and the meeting location. A route search request including type information indicating the type is transmitted to the route search server device 63 (step S123).

  When a route search request is sent from the main server device 61, the route search server device 63 has the type “Karaoke shop” among the meeting places indicated by the meeting place information registered in the meeting place information storage unit 21. As a candidate for a meeting place, a route from the current position of each of the users U1 to Un to a candidate for a meeting place is searched for each of the users U1 to Un. Find the time required. Thereafter, the route search server device 63 transmits a pair of the route search result (shortest route and the required time) for each candidate for a meeting place and the meeting place information indicating the meeting place candidate to the main server device 61.

  When the main server device 61 receives a pair of the route search result for each candidate for the meeting place and the meeting place information indicating the candidate for the meeting place (step S124), each of the users U1 to U1 included in each route search result. Based on the time required for Un, it is determined that the candidate for the meeting place having the shortest required time is set as the meeting place (step S125), the meeting place information indicating the meeting place, and each user U1 to U1. A meeting place information transmission request including the mail address of Un is transmitted to the mail server device 62 (step S126).

  Receiving the meeting place information transmission request, the mail server device 62 transmits an e-mail describing the meeting place information included therein to the mail address included therein. Each user U1 to Un can recognize the meeting place by receiving the electronic mail sent from the mail server device 62.

  Although not described in the above-described embodiment, when the meeting place is a place that can be reserved, such as a karaoke shop, a reservation is made to the store determined as the meeting place in cooperation with the reservation server device. You may make it enter.

[Effect of the fourth embodiment]
In the present embodiment, since processing is performed by a plurality of server devices, the risk of inconvenience occurring in the system due to load concentration can be extremely reduced.

  The present invention provides a plurality of meeting place candidates (for example, each office, such as when it becomes necessary to hold a meeting by a person in charge at each office or when a friend goes to a karaoke shop) It is preferable to use it when selecting a meeting place from a meeting room or a karaoke shop.

It is a block diagram which shows the example of a structure of the collection assistance apparatus 1 concerning 1st Example of this invention. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the gathering support apparatus 1. It is a block diagram which shows the example of a structure of the collection | support support system concerning the 2nd Example of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the portable terminal device 50-1. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of contents of a meeting place information storage unit 21. FIG. It is a sequence diagram which shows the outline | summary of operation | movement of a present Example. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of processing of route search means 122. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of processing of a meeting place determination unit 123. It is a block diagram which shows the example of a structure of the collection | support assistance system concerning the 3rd Example of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process example of the meeting place candidate selection means 124. FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the example of a structure of the group | assistant assistance system concerning the 4th Example of this invention. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing of a main server device 61.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Set support apparatus 2 ... Route search means 3 ... Meeting place determination means 10, 10a ... Set support server apparatus 11 ... Transmission / reception means 12, 12a ... Control means 121 ... Position information acquisition means 122, 122a ... Route search means 123 ... Set Location determination means 124 ... Meeting place candidate selection means 20 ... Storage device 21 ... Meeting place information storage unit 22 ... Station information storage unit 23 ... Route search information storage unit 24 ... Route search result storage unit 30 ... Radio base station 40 ... Network 50 -1 to 50-n ... mobile terminal device 51 ... transmission / reception means 52 ... control means 53 ... position detection means 54 ... input part 55 ... display parts U1 to Un ... user

Claims (19)

For each of the plurality of meeting place candidates, for each participant, a route search means for searching for the shortest route that is the route from the current position of the participant to the meeting place candidate and takes the shortest time,
Based on the shortest route to each gathering place candidate for each participant obtained by the route search means, among the plurality of gathering place candidates, the gathering place candidate having the shortest required time for the participant having the longest required time is selected. A meeting support apparatus comprising a meeting place and a meeting place determination means for determining. The assembly support device according to claim 1,
For each of a plurality of meeting places, a meeting place information storage unit in which meeting place information including position information of the meeting place is registered is provided, and
A meeting support apparatus characterized in that the route search means sets a meeting place specified by meeting place information registered in the meeting place information storage unit as the meeting place candidate. The assembly support device according to claim 1,
For each of a plurality of meeting places, a meeting place information storage unit in which meeting place information including position information of the meeting place is registered,
A meeting place candidate selecting means for selecting a meeting place as a meeting place candidate from meeting places whose meeting place information is registered in the meeting place information storage unit based on the current position of each participant; ,and,
The meeting support apparatus, wherein the route search means sets the meeting place selected by the meeting place candidate selection means as the meeting place candidate. The assembly support device according to claim 2 or 3,
The location information is the nearest station, and
The route search means, as the shortest route from the participant's current position to the candidate for the meeting place, is the route from the nearest station of the participant to the nearest station of the candidate for the meeting place, and the route having the shortest required time. A collective support device characterized by searching. The assembly support device according to claim 4, wherein
When the route search means has a plurality of nearest stations in the meeting place candidates, as the shortest route from the current position of the participant to the meeting place candidates, each nearest station of the meeting place candidates from the nearest station of the participant A set support apparatus that searches for a route having the shortest required time among routes up to. The assembly support device according to claim 5, wherein
The meeting place information further includes a walking time from the nearest station of the meeting place to the meeting place; and
An assembly support apparatus, wherein the route search means searches for a route that takes a shortest time from a participant's current location to an assembly location candidate including walking time. The assembly support device according to claim 3,
The meeting place candidate selection means
Search for a reference point that minimizes the maximum distance from the current position of each participant, and the station closest to the reference point among the stations registered as the nearest station of the meeting place in the meeting place information storage unit A gathering support apparatus, wherein a predetermined number of stations are selected from the above, and a gathering place having the selected station as the nearest station is set as the gathering place candidate. A collective support system including a collective support server device and a mobile terminal device of each of a plurality of participants,
The portable terminal device is
Position detecting means for detecting the current position of the own device;
Control means for transmitting the current position detected by the position detection means to the aggregation support server device,
The assembly support server device
For each of the plurality of gathering place candidates, for each participant, a route from the current position sent by the participant's mobile terminal device to the gathering place candidate, and the shortest route with the shortest required time. A route search means for searching;
Based on the shortest route to each gathering place candidate for each participant obtained by the route search means, among the plurality of gathering place candidates, the gathering place candidate having the shortest required time for the participant having the longest required time is selected. A meeting support system comprising a meeting place and a meeting place determination means for determining. The collective support system according to claim 8,
The assembly support server device
For each of a plurality of meeting places, a meeting place information storage unit in which meeting place information including position information of the meeting place is registered,
A meeting place candidate selecting means for selecting a meeting place as a meeting place candidate from meeting places whose meeting place information is registered in the meeting place information storage unit based on the current position of each participant; ,and,
The meeting support system, wherein the route search means uses the meeting place selected by the meeting place candidate selection means as the meeting place candidate. The collective support system according to claim 8,
The assembly support server device
For each of a plurality of meeting places, a meeting place information storage unit in which meeting place information including the nearest station is registered as position information of the meeting place, and
When the route search means has a plurality of nearest stations in the meeting place candidates, as the shortest route from the current position of the participant to the meeting place candidates, each nearest station of the meeting place candidates from the nearest station of the participant A collective support system characterized by searching for a route that takes the shortest time among the routes up to. For each of a plurality of meeting place candidates, for each participant, a route from the current position sent by the participant's mobile terminal device to the meeting place candidate and searching for the shortest route with the shortest required time is searched. Route search means to
Based on the shortest route to each meeting place candidate for each participant obtained by the route search means, the meeting place candidate having the shortest required time for the participant having the longest required time among the plurality of meeting place candidates is selected. A meeting support server apparatus comprising a meeting place determining means for determining a meeting place. The collective support server device according to claim 11,
For each of a plurality of meeting places, a meeting place information storage unit in which meeting place information including position information of the meeting place is registered,
A meeting place candidate selecting means for selecting a meeting place as a meeting place candidate from meeting places whose meeting place information is registered in the meeting place information storage unit based on the current position of each participant; ,and,
The meeting support server apparatus, wherein the route search means sets the meeting place selected by the meeting place candidate selection means as the meeting place candidate. The collective support server device according to claim 11,
For each of a plurality of meeting places, a meeting place information storage unit in which meeting place information including the nearest station is registered as position information of the meeting place, and
When the route search means has a plurality of nearest stations in the meeting place candidates, as the shortest route from the current position of the participant to the meeting place candidates, each nearest station of the meeting place candidates from the nearest station of the participant An aggregation support server device that searches for a route having the shortest required time among routes up to. A route search step for searching for each of a plurality of meeting place candidates, for each participant, a route from the current position of the participant to the meeting place candidate, and the shortest route having the shortest required time; ,
Based on the shortest route to each gathering place candidate for each participant determined by the route search step, the computer takes the shortest required time for the participant having the longest time among the plurality of gathering place candidates. A meeting support method comprising a meeting place determination step for determining a meeting place candidate as a meeting place. The set support method according to claim 14,
The computer includes a meeting place information storage unit in which meeting place information including position information of the meeting place is registered for each of a plurality of meeting places, and
A meeting place candidate selection for selecting a meeting place as a meeting place candidate from meeting places whose meeting place information is registered in the meeting place information storage unit based on the current position of each participant Including steps,
In the route search step, the meeting place selection method, wherein the meeting place selected in the meeting place candidate selection step is set as the meeting place candidate. The set support method according to claim 14,
For each of the plurality of meeting places, the computer includes a meeting place information storage unit in which meeting place information including the nearest station is registered as position information of the meeting place, and
In the route search step, when there are a plurality of nearest stations in the meeting place candidate, each nearest station of the meeting place candidate from the nearest station of the participant is used as the shortest route from the current position of the participant to the meeting place candidate. A set support method characterized by searching for the shortest route having the shortest required time among routes up to. Computer
For each of a plurality of meeting place candidates, for each participant, a route search means for searching for the shortest route that is a route from the current position of the participant to the meeting place candidate and that takes the shortest time,
Based on the shortest route to each gathering place candidate for each participant obtained by the route search means, among the plurality of gathering place candidates, the gathering place candidate having the shortest required time for the participant having the longest required time is selected. A program for causing a meeting place to be determined as a meeting place. The program according to claim 17,
The computer includes a meeting place information storage unit in which meeting place information including position information of the meeting place is registered for each of a plurality of meeting places, and
The computer,
Based on the current location of each participant, it functions as a meeting place candidate selection means for selecting a meeting place as a meeting place candidate from meeting places whose meeting place information is registered in the meeting place information storage unit. ,
The route search means sets the meeting place selected by the meeting place candidate selection means as a meeting place candidate. The program according to claim 17,
For each of the plurality of meeting places, the computer includes a meeting place information storage unit in which meeting place information including the nearest station is registered as position information of the meeting place, and
When the route search means has a plurality of nearest stations in the meeting place candidates, as the shortest route from the current position of the participant to the meeting place candidates, each nearest station of the meeting place candidates from the nearest station of the participant A program characterized by searching for a route having the shortest required time among routes up to.

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