JP2009260740A - Search system, server, and mobile terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a search system which minimizes consumption of network resources and surely displays search targets existing in the periphery. <P>SOLUTION: For the search targets existing around a mobile terminal, search requests are transmitted at every predetermined period, search results are acquired at every predetermined period, and acquired data are displayed on a screen of the terminal. When a search request is received, a group management server searches for the targets existing around the mobile terminal while taking into account a predicted moving range of the mobile terminal until next transmission timing of the search request. The result of the search is transmitted to the mobile terminal. As a result, even if the mobile terminal moves a long distance in a short time, information is acquired, and search targets existing in the periphery can be surely displayed on the screen of the terminal. Therefore, consumption of network resources can be minimized. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a search system, a server, and a mobile terminal, and more particularly to a search system based on position information of a mobile terminal used by a user, and a server and mobile terminal used therefor.

In recent years, SNS (Social Network Service) using a mobile terminal is known. One of the functions of the SNS is a community function. In this case, users having the same preference participate and exchange opinions (for example, Non-Patent Document 1).
Moreover, if a plurality of users perform group communication using a communication terminal, topics can be shared by a plurality of people and communication can be deepened. A PTT (Push-to-talk) service is known as a service for realizing group communication. This uses a communication terminal such as a mobile phone like a transceiver to realize group communication with a simple operation.

  When performing communication using a PTT service using a communication terminal having a GPS (Global Positioning System) function, there is also a technique for acquiring and displaying the geographical position of a communication terminal in the group (for example, see Patent Document 1). . In addition, there is a technique for acquiring position information by GPS or RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) in the PTT service, and forming a group based on the acquired information (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

In addition, there is a technique for acquiring position information of PTT service subscribers by GPS or the like and enabling group communication between subscribers located within a predetermined range in distance (for example, see Patent Document 3).
By using the above-described technology, group communication with other communication terminals that are close to each other in distance can be realized by acquiring the position of the other communication terminal using GPS or the like. And the community mentioned above is realizable by performing group communication with another terminal using the mobile terminal which is a communication terminal. Depending on the community, it may be possible to set a condition that participation is possible only when the user is in a position designated by the community.

  When participating in a community where you can participate only when you are at a location specified by the community using a mobile terminal, grasp the communities that exist around the user (that is, communities that can participate if you move a little) There is a need. If the user joins a community near the mobile terminal used by the user, there is an effect that a sense of unity occurs between users of the community, and the community often rises.

  Here, the positions where each community can participate can be managed by a server that manages the community. Then, by transmitting a search request including location information of the mobile terminal itself from the mobile terminal to the server, it is possible to search for a community existing in the vicinity. When the position of the mobile terminal changes (that is, when the terminal moves), the community existing in the vicinity changes, so the community search result changes.

The community search result, that is, the community existing around the terminal itself is displayed on the screen of the display unit provided in the mobile terminal. The display unit is configured by a liquid crystal display, for example.
JP 2007-150768 A JP 2007-150985 A JP 2006-81184 A “ZIMenu”, [online], [Search December 7, 2007], Internet <URL: http://www.zimenu.jp/>

By the way, the latest search result displayed on the display unit of the mobile terminal is desirable. For this reason, a method of searching for a community whenever the position of the mobile terminal changes can be considered.
However, if a community search is performed every time the location of a mobile terminal changes, there is a problem that consumption of network resources increases. If the search frequency is reduced in order to reduce the consumption of network resources, when the mobile terminal moves a long distance in a short time, the information to be displayed cannot be acquired in time, and the information to be displayed does not exist in the mobile terminal. Things can happen. When such a situation occurs, the community that actually exists in the vicinity cannot be displayed on the screen. In this case, there is a problem that an opportunity to participate in a community where the user wants to participate is lost.
The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and its purpose is to minimize the consumption of network resources and to display all the search targets existing in the vicinity. It is to provide a server and a mobile terminal.

A search system according to claim 1 of the present invention comprises:
Search request transmission means for transmitting a search request for a search target existing in the vicinity of the own terminal; data acquisition means for acquiring data related to a search result obtained by performing a search for the search target at a predetermined period; A mobile terminal including display means for displaying the data acquired by the data acquisition means on the screen of the terminal;
Search means for searching for a search target existing around the mobile terminal in consideration of a predicted movement range in which the mobile terminal can move before the next transmission timing of the search request when the search request is received And a server including data transmission means for transmitting data related to a search result by the search means to the mobile terminal,
It is characterized by having. In this way, even when the mobile terminal moves a long distance in a short time, the acquisition of information to be displayed is not in time, and the search target such as the community existing in the vicinity is displayed on the screen of the mobile terminal. It can be displayed reliably. For this reason, it is possible to minimize the consumption of network resources and to display all the search targets such as communities existing in the vicinity. Therefore, the possibility that the user will miss the opportunity to participate in the community that the user wants to participate is reduced.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a server for searching for a search target existing around a mobile terminal in response to a search request transmitted from the mobile terminal at a predetermined cycle, and a search result by the search means And a data transmission means for transmitting data related to the mobile terminal, wherein the search means takes into account a predicted movement range in which the mobile terminal can move by the next transmission timing of the search request. A search is performed for. In this way, even when the mobile terminal moves a long distance in a short time, the acquisition of information to be displayed is not in time, and the search target such as the community existing in the vicinity is displayed on the screen of the mobile terminal. It can be displayed reliably. For this reason, the possibility that the user will miss the opportunity to participate in the community that the user wants to participate in decreases.

The server according to claim 3 of the present invention is as follows.
The data transmission means transmits only the difference from the data transmitted last time among the data related to the search result by the search means. In this way, the consumption of network resources can be minimized.
The mobile terminal according to claim 4 of the present invention acquires the data related to the search result, which is the result of searching for the search target existing in the vicinity of the own terminal, by the data acquisition unit and the data acquisition unit. A mobile terminal including display means for displaying data on the screen of the terminal, wherein the data acquisition means searches for a search range that takes into account a predicted movement range in which the terminal can move before the next data acquisition timing. Data corresponding to the results obtained is acquired. In this way, even if the mobile terminal has moved a long distance in a short time, the information to be displayed will not be acquired in time, and the search target such as the community existing in the vicinity will be displayed reliably on the screen. can do. For this reason, the possibility that the user will miss the opportunity to participate in the community that the user wants to participate in decreases.

  The mobile terminal according to claim 5 of the present invention is the mobile terminal according to claim 4, in which the display content of the display means is moved based on the data acquired by the data acquisition means and the elapsed time of a predetermined time and the terminal moves by a predetermined distance. It further includes display control means for updating at least one of the timings. In this way, by properly setting the predetermined distance for a predetermined time, even if the mobile terminal has moved a long distance in a short time or stayed in the same place for a long time, the community etc. that exist in the vicinity The latest state of the search target can be displayed reliably on the screen. For this reason, the possibility that the user will miss the opportunity to participate in the community that the user wants to participate in decreases.

  The mobile terminal according to claim 6 of the present invention further includes a travel distance calculating means for calculating an average travel distance nearest to the mobile terminal according to claim 5, wherein the display control means is calculated by the travel distance calculating means. The predetermined distance is determined based on an average moving distance. In this way, since the predetermined distance can be set appropriately, the display content can be updated at an appropriate timing.

The mobile terminal according to claim 7 of the present invention is the mobile terminal according to claim 5 or claim 6,
The display control means sets the level related to the search target on the screen by using at least one of a color, a character, or a graphic corresponding to the level value, It is characterized by displaying at at least one of the neighboring positions. In this way, the distance to the search target and the level related thereto can be displayed at the same time, and the user who sees the display content can grasp the content of the search result sensuously.

A mobile terminal according to claim 8 of the present invention is the mobile terminal according to claim 7,
The search target is a community realized using a communication network,
The level is a level of excitement of the community. In this way, the community and the degree of excitement can be grasped sensuously, so that it is possible to facilitate determination when determining the intention to participate in the community.

A mobile terminal according to claim 9 of the present invention is the mobile terminal according to any one of claims 4 to 8,
The data acquisition unit acquires only the difference from the previously acquired display data when acquiring the display data. In this way, the consumption of network resources can be minimized.
A mobile terminal according to claim 10 of the present invention is the mobile terminal according to any one of claims 4 to 9,
It further includes trajectory creation means for sequentially storing the location information of the terminal itself, and creating the trajectory of the own terminal as line data based on the stored location information,
The display means displays the line data on the screen. In this way, when the intention to participate in a search target such as a community is determined, the moved trajectory can be used as a judgment material.

  According to the present invention, even when the mobile terminal travels a long distance in a short time by searching for the predicted travel range in which the mobile terminal can move by the next transmission timing of the search request by the mobile terminal Since the search targets existing in the vicinity can be reliably displayed on the screen of the mobile terminal, it is possible to minimize the consumption of network resources and display all the search targets existing in the vicinity. it can.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the drawings referred to in the following description, the same parts as those in the other drawings are denoted by the same reference numerals.
(Configuration of search system)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a search system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to the figure, the system includes a group management server 20 that manages a group such as a community, and a mobile terminal 60 of a user who desires to join the group. Hereinafter, the group management server 20 and the user's mobile terminal 60 will be described separately.

(Group management server configuration)
In FIG. 1, a group management server 20 includes a search unit 21 that searches for a group that exists in the vicinity of a mobile terminal that has transmitted a search request, a communication unit 22 that transmits and receives data to and from each mobile terminal, and a mobile terminal A management unit 23 that manages a group configured by doing so, and a determination unit 24 that performs various types of control and determination processing are included.

(Group DB)
The management unit 23 of the group management server 20 manages the correspondence between a group and a mobile terminal that is a member of the group, using the group DB. This group DB will be described with reference to FIG. Referring to the figure, the group DB 230 manages the correspondence between a group ID for identifying a group and a mobile terminal ID for identifying a mobile terminal of a user participating in the group. In addition, you may use user ID memorize | stored in USIM (universal subscriber identity module) etc. with which a mobile terminal is mounted | worn as said mobile terminal ID.

  Furthermore, the group DB 230 is registered with possible positions of each group. For example, parameters such as the latitude and longitude of the center position and the radius are stored as “participable positions”. In this example, the group ID “GR1” is “latitude 35 degrees 39 minutes 30 seconds north latitude, longitude 139 degrees 44 minutes 43 seconds east longitude, 200 m radius”, and the group ID “GR2” is “latitude 35 degrees latitude 27 degrees 10 seconds, longitude It is 139 degrees 38 minutes 21 seconds east, 1km radius. When this system is operated in Japan, “north latitude” and “east longitude” of the positions where participation is possible may be omitted.

In this example, the group ID “GR1” corresponds to the mobile terminal IDs “MT001”, “MT003”, and “MT004”. This indicates that mobile terminals with mobile terminal IDs “MT001”, “MT003”, and “MT004” are participating in the group with the group ID “GR1”.
In this example, the group ID “GR2” corresponds to the mobile terminal IDs “MT002”, “MT005”, “MT006”, “MT008”, and “MT010”. This indicates that mobile terminals with mobile terminal IDs “MT002”, “MT005”, “MT006”, “MT008”, and “MT010” are participating in the group with the group ID “GR2”.

Here, FIG. 3A shows a functional configuration example of the group management server 20. Referring to the figure, the group management server 20 of the present example includes search means 211 for searching for search targets existing around the mobile terminal 60 in response to a search request transmitted from the mobile terminal 60 in a predetermined cycle. The data transmission means 221 transmits data related to the search result by the search means 211 to the mobile terminal 60. The search means 211 predicts that the mobile terminal 60 can move by the next transmission timing of the search request. A search is performed for a search range that takes the movement range into consideration.
As shown in FIG. 3 (a), in the group management server 20 of this example, the search means 211 is the search section 21 in FIG. 1, and the data transmission means 221 is the communication section 22 in FIG. Respectively.

In order to realize the functions of the group management server 20 as described above, for example, a hardware configuration as shown in FIG. The group management server 20 shown in FIG. 1 exchanges signals with a keyboard 201 and a mouse 202 for inputting various types of information, a display 203 for displaying various types of information, and other devices and terminals. A communication interface 204, a CPU 205 for controlling each unit, a memory 206 for storing various types of information, and a bus 200 for connecting each unit to realize signal exchange. The above functions can be realized by the CPU 205 executing a program by software or firmware.
Note that the hardware configuration in FIG. 3B is merely an example, and is not limited to the configuration in FIG. For example, although the keyboard 201 and the mouse 202 are provided in the group management server 20 in the above, it is not essential to provide them.

(Configuration of mobile terminal)
In FIG. 1, the mobile terminal 60 includes a position recognition unit 61 that recognizes the position of its own terminal, a communication unit 62 that acquires information from the group management server 20, and a display unit that displays information acquired by the communication unit 62. 63 and a display control unit 64 that updates the display content of the display unit 63.
The position recognition unit 61 receives GPS positioning assist data, and calculates position information by a GPS satellite. Thereafter, the position recognition unit 61 continues positioning.
The communication unit 62 transmits a community information acquisition request existing around the terminal itself to the group management server 20 at a predetermined cycle. In addition, the communication unit 62 acquires community information existing around the terminal, that is, a search result for the community from the group management server 20.

The display unit 63 displays the data acquired from the group management server 20 on the screen of the own terminal. An example of the display screen by the display unit 63 will be described later.
The display control unit 64 updates the display content on the display unit. The display content is updated at intervals of 1 minute, for example. It is desirable to update the display content at a cycle shorter than a cycle (for example, every 5 minutes) for acquiring data to the group management server 20.
However, the display content may be updated when the terminal moves a predetermined distance without passing one minute which is the display content update cycle. In this way, even when a large distance is moved within a short period of time, the contents corresponding to the current position can be displayed on the screen. That is, the display content update timing may be at least one of the elapse timing of the predetermined time and the movement timing of the own terminal moving a predetermined distance.

  Note that the average moving distance nearest to the terminal may be calculated, and the “predetermined distance” may be determined based on the calculated average moving distance. For example, the average moving speed (the average moving speed for each of the latitude direction and the longitude direction) for the past 5 minutes is calculated, and based on this, the average moving distance is estimated. Thereby, the movement distance used as the update timing of the display content can be set appropriately, and the display content can be updated at an appropriate timing.

  Here, FIG. 4A shows a functional configuration example of the mobile terminal 60. Referring to the figure, the mobile terminal 60 of the present example includes a data acquisition unit 621 that acquires data related to a search result, which is a result of performing a search on a search target existing in the vicinity of the own terminal, and this data acquisition. Display means 631 for displaying the data acquired by the means 621 on the screen of the own terminal, and based on the data acquired by the data acquisition means 621, the display content of the display means 631 is determined based on the elapsed timing of the predetermined time and the own terminal. Display control means 641 for updating at at least one of the movement timings of movement, and the data acquisition means 621 is a search that takes into account the predicted movement range in which the terminal can move by the next data acquisition timing. Data corresponding to the result of the search for the range is acquired.

In addition, the mobile terminal 60 of this example sequentially stores the movement distance calculation unit 611 that calculates the latest average movement distance of the own terminal and the position information of the own terminal, and based on the stored position information, The display control unit 641 further includes a trajectory creation unit 612 that creates the trajectory that has been moved as line data. Update.
As shown in FIG. 4A, in the mobile terminal 60 of this example, the movement distance calculation means 611 and the trajectory creation means 612 are replaced with the position recognition unit 61 in FIG. 1, the display unit 631 corresponds to the display unit 63 in FIG. 1, and the display control unit 641 corresponds to the display control unit 64 in FIG.

In order to realize the functions of the mobile terminal 60 as described above, for example, a hardware configuration as shown in FIG. The mobile terminal 60 shown in the figure includes a keypad 601 for inputting various information, a display 602 for displaying various information, and a communication interface 603 for exchanging signals with other devices. And a CPU 604 for controlling each unit, a memory 605 for storing various types of information, and a bus 600 for connecting each unit to realize signal exchange. Then, each function described above can be realized by the CPU 604 executing a program by software or firmware. This program may be originally incorporated when the mobile terminal 60 is manufactured, or may be downloaded from another device via a network.
Note that the hardware configuration in FIG. 4B is an example, and is not limited to the configuration in FIG. For example, although the keypad 601 is provided in the mobile terminal 60 in the above, providing this is not essential.

(System operation)
The operation of this system having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. When the CPU of the mobile terminal executes the above program, the following processing such as acquisition of position information is performed.
First, in FIG. 5, when acquisition of position information by the position recognition unit 61 is started (S101), a GPS positioning request is output from the mobile terminal 60 (step S102). As a result, GPS positioning assist data is acquired by the mobile terminal 60 from a server (not shown) or the like (step S103), and position information is calculated using the acquired assist data (step S104). The acquisition of position information is completed by the above processing (step S105). Thereafter, in the mobile terminal, positioning, that is, calculation of position information of the own terminal is continuously performed. The calculation of the position information may be performed using the assist data. As for the positioning result, display in a known tracking mode, that is, the positioning result may be displayed on a map.

Next, a surrounding community information acquisition request for acquiring surrounding community information is transmitted from the mobile terminal 60 to the group management server 20 and input to the search unit 21 (steps S106a and S106b). This acquisition request includes the location information of the mobile terminal 60.
The group management server 20 that has received the surrounding community information acquisition request from the mobile terminal 60 collects community information regarding the surrounding community based on the location information of the mobile terminal 60 (step S107). Next, the determination unit 24 of the group management server 20 confirms the degree of excitement of each community based on the collected community information (step S108). Further, in the management unit 23 of the group management server 20, the stored contents of the database storing the location information where each community can participate are searched, and the search result is held (step S109). The search result is transmitted from the group management server 20 to the mobile terminal 60 and input to the display control unit 64 (steps S110a, S110b, and S110c). This search result includes at least community center point position information indicating the position of the center point of the position where the community can participate, and climax degree information indicating the degree of climax of the community.

  The mobile terminal 60 that has acquired the community search result performs a drawing process on the terminal screen based on the received community search result (step S111). Then, the latest positioning result is sent from the position recognition unit 61 to the display control unit 64 (step S112a), and the screen display content of the display unit 63 is updated based on the result (steps S112b and S112c). That is, when the mobile terminal 60 changes, that is, moves to the position of the mobile terminal 60, drawing processing with the position after the movement as the center point is performed. In addition, the process of the above step S111 and step S112a-S112c is repeatedly performed, for example at a 1-minute space | interval (namely, it is performed with a 1-minute period).

  A request for updating neighboring community information is transmitted from the mobile terminal 60 to the group management server 20 and input to the search unit 21 (steps S113a and S113b). In addition, the request | requirement for acquiring surrounding community information from the mobile terminal 60 to the group management server 20 is transmitted, for example at intervals of 5 minutes. That is, the interval between step S106a and step S113a is, for example, 5 minutes, and thereafter, requests are transmitted at the same interval.

  Transitioning to FIG. 6, after steps S113a and S113b described above, the search unit 21 of the group management server 20 that has received the update request for the surrounding community information from the mobile terminal 60 determines the surroundings based on the location information of the mobile terminal 60. Community information about the community is collected (step S114). Next, the determination unit 24 of the group management server 20 confirms the degree of excitement of each community based on the collected community information (step S115).

  Further, the determination unit 24 of the group management server 20 searches the stored contents of the group DB 230 that stores the location information of each community that can be participated in, compares it with the search results already held, and determines the information to be transmitted. (Step S116). This information to be transmitted is information corresponding to the difference with respect to the content already transmitted in steps S110a to S110c.

The search result for the group DB 230 is held again in the management unit 23 (step S117). The search result is transmitted from the group management server 20 to the mobile terminal 60 and input to the display control unit 64 (steps S118a, S118b, and S118c). This search result includes at least community center point position information indicating the position of the center point of the community participation positions and swell degree information indicating the degree of swell of the community. However, this search result includes only information corresponding to the difference with respect to the content already transmitted in steps S110a to S110c. Thus, by transmitting only the information corresponding to the difference, it is possible to minimize the consumption of network resources.
In the mobile terminal 60, based on the community search result received from the group management server 20, the neighboring community information is updated, and the drawing process on the terminal screen is performed (steps S119a and S119b).

(Exciting degree)
The degree of excitement is obtained by counting the number of comments issued at intervals of 5 minutes from the creation of the community until the deadline for new participation, and indexing the number in stages. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 7, there are three levels. In this example, if the number of comments issued in 5 minutes is any of “0” to “5”, the excitement degree is “level 1”, and the number of comments is also “6” to “10”. In the case of any of the above, the degree of excitement is “level 2”, and when the number of comments exceeds “10” (that is, “11” or more), the degree of excitement is “level 3”.
In the operation described above with reference to FIG. 5, the degree of excitement is confirmed when community information related to surrounding communities is collected. It is also possible to manage the information by holding it in the section and refer to it.

(Example of screen display)
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a display screen of the mobile terminal 60. In this example, a community realized using a communication network is set as a search target.
Referring to FIG. 5A, the center point P of the display screen is the current position of the mobile terminal, and the communities C1 to C3 existing around the center point P are displayed around the center point P. The communities C1, C2, and C3 are circular in this example, and their center points are P1, P2, and P3. In this example, the level of community excitement is displayed in a color corresponding to the level value. In this example, the circular display color is displayed in a color corresponding to the level value of the degree of excitement. In the figure, for the convenience of drawing, the density of display color is expressed by hatching density. As for the display color, for example, it is desirable to display a color with a high level of climax with a warm color, and a low color with a cold color, but the display color is not limited to this.

  In this way, by displaying the level of excitement level at the location where the search target community can participate, the distance to the search target and the level related thereto can be displayed at the same time. The contents of the search result can be grasped sensuously. In this example, the level of excitement is displayed at the position of the search target, but the position of the search target itself is displayed as a point, and the level of excitement is displayed at a position near it (for example, a position immediately next to it). May be displayed. Further, the level may be displayed at a position to be searched and the level may be displayed at a position near the position. In other words, it may be displayed at at least one of the positions to be searched or the positions in the vicinity thereof.

Further, instead of displaying the level of the degree of excitement with the display color, the level may be displayed with a circular size (that is, a radius), or the level may be displayed with a character indicating a numerical value. The figure to be displayed is not limited to a circle but may be a rectangle or a triangle. A star shape having a plurality of vertices may be displayed, and the number of vertices may be changed according to the level.
In short, the level may be displayed with colors, characters, graphics, or a combination thereof.

(Search target)
The search target, that is, the display target on the screen is not limited to the community. For example, there are the following examples. In other words, if the search target is related to a job information advertisement, the recruitment number and the current application number can be displayed as levels.
Further, if the search target is related to a store such as a restaurant, the current degree of congestion of the store can be displayed as a level. In this case, the current degree of congestion can be calculated by subtracting the number of registered cashiers from the number of shoppers.
Furthermore, if the search target is a group of children who go to school, the number of children belonging to the group can be displayed as a level. If this is displayed, it can be used as a reference when assigning parents or teachers to groups in the group school.
In the operation described above with reference to FIG. 5, the search result of the stored contents of the database storing the location information of each community is stored in the management unit of the group management server, but it is stored in the search unit. It may be.

(Information acquisition according to the display capability of the mobile terminal)
In the mobile terminal 60, when acquiring the surrounding community information centered on the position of the own terminal from the group management server 20, if the moving distance of the mobile terminal 60 is large with respect to the acquisition frequency, the surrounding community information is displayed on the screen. Sometimes it cannot be displayed. If the movement distance is small, the surrounding community information centered on the position after movement is in the mobile terminal and can be displayed on the screen. On the other hand, when moving a long distance in a short time, there is no surrounding community information in the mobile terminal 60 centered on the position after the movement, and if it is not newly acquired from the group management server 20, it will be displayed on the screen. It cannot be displayed.

  In order to solve this problem, when the surrounding community information centered on the position of the own terminal is acquired from the group management server 20, a wide search range is set on the assumption that the mobile terminal moves. (Ie, extra information) can be obtained. That is, the group management server 20 searches for a search target existing around the mobile terminal in consideration of a predicted movement range that the mobile terminal can move before the next transmission timing of the search request from the mobile terminal. become.

  When acquiring a lot of information by setting a wide search range, how much search range is set depends on the display capability of the mobile terminal (for example, the size of the display screen or the size of the display area). . For example, if the display screen is large and the amount of data to be displayed at a time is large, even if you move a long distance in a short time, the surrounding community information centered on the position after the movement is in the mobile terminal, and it is displayed on the screen. Can be displayed. On the other hand, if the display screen is small and the amount of data to be displayed at one time is small, if you move a long distance in a short time, the surrounding community information centered on the position after the move is not in the mobile terminal, and it is displayed on the screen Can not do it. In general, since a mobile terminal has a limited capacity for storing data and cannot store a large amount of data, it is necessary to appropriately set the amount of data to be acquired.

  In order to realize this, when the neighboring community information is acquired from the group management server 20, a search range corresponding to the size of the display screen or the size of the display area may be set. For this purpose, information related to the display capability (for example, the size of the display screen or the size of the display area) of the mobile terminal 60 is added to the surrounding community information acquisition request transmitted from the mobile terminal 60 to the group management server 20. Just keep it.

  However, not the information regarding the display capability itself but the machine information (for example, the machine number) of the mobile terminal 60 is transmitted to the group management server 20, and the server identifies the display capability of the mobile terminal 60 from the machine information and responds accordingly. Thus, the search range (that is, the data acquisition range) of the surrounding community information may be determined. Then, for example, the data amount corresponding to 1/2 of the vertical direction of the display screen, the data amount corresponding to 1/2 of the vertical direction, and the like may be acquired. In addition, depending on the model of the mobile terminal 60, there is a device that can realize a vertically long display and a horizontally long display by switching the vertical and horizontal sides of the display screen. In this case, the larger one of the vertical and horizontal directions of the display screen is used as a reference, and for example, a data amount corresponding to ½ of the larger one may be acquired.

  When the group management server 20 specifies the display capability of the mobile terminal from the machine information, the group management server 20 may manage the correspondence between the machine information and the search range. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, the group management server 20 is provided with a search range DB that stores the correspondence between the “machine number” that is the aircraft information and the “data acquisition range” that is the search range. The search range may be determined with reference to the DB. For example, the latitude and longitude of the current position of the user and parameters such as the radius are stored as the “data acquisition range”. This radius is set to a value (for example, about 5 times) larger than the radius of the joinable position in FIG.

  In the case of this example, the data acquisition range of the aircraft number “Axxx” is “latitude 35 degrees 39 minutes 30 seconds north latitude 139 degrees 44 minutes 43 seconds east longitude, 1 km radius”, and the machine number “Bxxx” The data acquisition range is “latitude 35 ° 27: 10” latitude, longitude 139 ° 38: 21 east longitude, radius 5km ”, and the data acquisition range of the aircraft number“ Cxxx ”is“ latitude 35 ° 39: 28, Longitude 139 degrees 44 minutes 42 seconds east longitude, 1km radius. When operating this system in Japan, “north latitude” and “east longitude” in the data acquisition range may be omitted.

  By the way, if the frequency of acquiring the surrounding community information from the group management server 20 is increased, there is no problem even if the amount of data acquired at a time is small. However, if the frequency is high, the influence on the network resource becomes large, which is not appropriate. In addition, if information is acquired at a high frequency, the battery consumption of the mobile terminal becomes large, and an excessive communication cost may be charged depending on the contents of the communication contract. Therefore, in this example, the period for acquiring the surrounding community information from the group management server 20 is a 5-minute period, and the terminal screen update period is a 1-minute period. In this way, if the information acquisition cycle from the server and the update cycle of the terminal screen are set appropriately, consumption of network resources can be minimized, and all search targets existing in the vicinity can be displayed. it can. Further, it is possible to suppress the consumption of the battery that is the power source of the mobile terminal, and to prevent an increase in communication costs.

(Display of movement trajectory of mobile terminal)
In each communication terminal, an existing group is displayed, and if the movement locus of the terminal is displayed on the screen, the group existing in the direction toward the present can be confirmed. As a result, it is possible to determine to participate in priority over the group existing in the place going ahead rather than the group existing in the place already passed.
What is necessary is just to process as follows, in order to display the movement locus | trajectory of an own terminal. That is, the location information of the terminal itself is stored in sequence. Then, among the stored location information of the own terminal, a plurality of consecutive positions, that is, the locus of movement of the own terminal is created as line data. Then, the created line data is displayed on the screen. For example, as shown in FIG. 8B, a trajectory SS that is line data is displayed on the screen. If displayed in this way, the user can grasp the movement locus of the terminal.

By the way, it is desirable to store the data regarding the position of the own terminal in the mobile terminal. However, since the storage capacity of the mobile terminal has a certain limit, it may be stored in the group management server 20 and other devices, and the mobile terminal may acquire it and create line data.
Note that the movement trajectory is effective if displayed when the scale of the display screen is changed. When the scale of the display screen is changed, the current position of the mobile terminal (that is, its own position) is often lost from the display screen. Therefore, if the movement trajectory is displayed, the current position of the mobile terminal can be easily grasped.

(Display content update timing)
The screen display content of the mobile terminal is performed when it is time to update, that is, when the update time has elapsed. But you may carry out at the timing which moved predetermined distance. Moreover, you may update at the timing of both the update at the timing when update time passed, and the timing which moved predetermined distance. In short, it is only necessary to update the screen display content at at least one of the update time elapse timing and the movement timing after moving the predetermined distance.

(Modification)
The above describes the case where the position acquired by the GPS function is used as the position information of the mobile terminal. However, the position of the wireless LAN (Local Area Network) access point device (hereinafter abbreviated as AP) and the position of the base station are described. It can also be used as location information of a mobile terminal.
Since unique identification information is given to the AP, this identification information specifies an AP in a state where the mobile terminal can communicate. That is, the AP identification information can be handled as the location information of the mobile terminal.

  In addition, since unique identification information is given to a radio base station apparatus (hereinafter referred to as a radio base station) for realizing communication by a cellular phone, the identification information is stored in an area where the cellular phone is located ( That is, the location location) is specified. That is, when the mobile terminal is a mobile phone, the identification information of the radio base station can be handled as the position information of the mobile terminal.

  Thus, when the position of the AP or the position of the radio base station is handled as the position of the mobile terminal, the operation of the system is as shown in FIG. That is, in the figure, the position information is acquired by the position recognition unit 61 (S101 '). Acquisition of this position information is performed continuously. The operations after step S106a in the figure are the same as the contents described with reference to FIG.

Here, an example of position information acquisition processing by the position recognition unit 61 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram showing signal exchange between the mobile terminal 60, the AP 30 used by the mobile terminal 60 for communication, and the group management server 20.
In the figure, the AP 30 is used for communication with the group management server 20 by the communication unit 62 of the mobile terminal 60 (steps S1101 and S1102). When the signal from the mobile terminal 60 is received by the communication unit 22 of the group management server 20, the management unit 23 extracts ID information that is identification information of the AP from the signal (step S1104). The ID information extracted by the management unit 23 can be handled as the position information of the mobile terminal 60 as described above.

This location information is sent from the management unit 23 of the group management server 20 to the mobile terminal 60 via the communication unit 22 and the AP 30 in order (steps S1105, S1106, S1107). This position information is sent from the communication unit 62 of the mobile terminal 60 to the position recognition unit 61 (step S1108). Thereby, the position recognition unit 61 can acquire position information.
By constantly performing the above processing, the mobile terminal 60 does not need to use the GPS function. A communication terminal that does not have a GPS function can be used as the mobile terminal 60.

A case where a radio base station is used instead of the AP will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram showing signal transmission / reception between the mobile terminal 60 and the radio base station 50 and the group management server 20 that are used by the mobile terminal 60 for communication.
In the figure, the radio base station 50 is used for communication with the group management server 20 by the communication unit 62 of the mobile terminal 60 (steps S1301 and S1302). When the signal from the mobile terminal 60 is received by the communication unit 22 of the group management server 20, the management unit 23 extracts ID information that is identification information of the radio base station from the signal (step S1304). The ID information extracted by the management unit 23 can be handled as the position information of the mobile terminal 60 as described above.

This location information is sent from the management unit 23 of the group management server 20 to the mobile terminal 60 via the communication unit 22 and the radio base station 50 in this order (steps S1305, S1306, and S1307). This position information is sent from the communication unit 62 of the mobile terminal 60 to the position recognition unit 61 (step S1308). Thereby, the position recognition unit 61 can acquire position information.
By constantly performing the above processing, the mobile terminal 60 does not need to use the GPS function. A communication terminal that does not have a GPS function can be used as the mobile terminal 60.

(Summary)
As a mobile terminal that can be used in the present invention, a well-known PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) and a well-known notebook PC (Personal Computer) can be considered in addition to a mobile phone.
Although the above has mainly described the case where a community realized by using a communication network is a search target, the search target in the present invention is not limited to a community. Any device that can be searched based on information managed by the group management server can be a search target.

  The present invention can be used when searching for a search target in the vicinity thereof based on the position information of the mobile terminal used by the user.

It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the search system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of group DB which manages the correspondence of the group and the mobile terminal which is the member who participates in it. (A) is a figure which shows the function structural example of a group management server, (b) is a figure which shows the hardware structural example for implement | achieving the function of (a). (A) is a figure which shows the function structural example of a communication terminal, (b) is a figure which shows the hardware structural example for implement | achieving the function of (a). It is a sequence diagram which shows operation | movement of the search system of FIG. FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram showing an operation of the search system of FIG. 1 and showing a continuation of the operation shown in FIG. 5. It is a figure which shows the example of a rise frequency. (A) is a figure which shows the example of the display screen of a mobile terminal, (b) is a figure which shows the example of a display of a movement locus | trajectory. It is a figure which shows the example of search range DB which manages the correspondence of machine body information and a search range. It is a sequence diagram which shows operation | movement of a system in the case of handling the position of AP and the position of a wireless base station as a position of a mobile terminal. It is a sequence diagram which shows the example of the acquisition process of the positional information by a position recognition part. It is a sequence diagram which shows signal transfer in the case of using a wireless base station instead of AP.

Explanation of symbols

20 group management server 21 search unit 22 communication unit 23 management unit 24 determination unit 60 mobile terminal 61 position recognition unit 62 communication unit 63 display unit 64 display control unit 200, 600 bus 201 keyboard 202 mouse 203, 602 display 204, 603 communication interface 205, 604 CPU
206, 605 Memory 211 Search means 221 Data transmission means 230 Group DB
601 Keypad 611 Movement distance calculation means 612 Trajectory creation means 621 Data acquisition means 631 Display means 641 Display control means C1 to C3 Community P, P1 to P3 Center point SS Trajectory

Claims (10)

Search request transmission means for transmitting a search request for a search target existing in the vicinity of the own terminal; data acquisition means for acquiring data related to a search result obtained by performing a search for the search target at a predetermined period; A mobile terminal including display means for displaying the data acquired by the data acquisition means on the screen of the terminal;
Search means for searching for a search target existing around the mobile terminal in consideration of a predicted movement range in which the mobile terminal can move before the next transmission timing of the search request when the search request is received And a server including data transmission means for transmitting data related to a search result by the search means to the mobile terminal,
A search system characterized by comprising:   In response to a search request transmitted from a mobile terminal in a predetermined cycle, search means for searching for a search target existing around the mobile terminal, and data for transmitting data related to a search result by the search means to the mobile terminal A server including transmission means, wherein the search means searches for a search range that takes into account a predicted movement range in which the mobile terminal can move before the next transmission timing of the search request. .   The server according to claim 2, wherein the data transmission unit transmits only a difference from the previously transmitted data among the data related to the search result by the search unit.   Data acquisition means for acquiring data related to the search result, which is a result of searching for a search target existing in the vicinity of the own terminal, and display means for displaying the data acquired by the data acquisition means on the screen of the own terminal The data acquisition means acquires data corresponding to a result of searching for a search range that takes into account a predicted movement range in which the terminal can move before the next data acquisition timing. A mobile terminal characterized by that.   Display control means for updating the display content of the display means based on the data acquired by the data acquisition means at at least one of the elapse timing of a predetermined time and the movement timing of the own terminal moving a predetermined distance. The mobile terminal according to claim 4. A moving distance calculating means for calculating the nearest average moving distance of the terminal itself;
The mobile terminal according to claim 5, wherein the display control unit determines the predetermined distance based on the average moving distance calculated by the moving distance calculating unit.   The display control means sets the level related to the search target on the screen by using at least one of a color, a character, or a graphic corresponding to the level value, The mobile terminal according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the mobile terminal is displayed at at least one of the neighboring positions. The search target is a community realized using a communication network,
The mobile terminal according to claim 7, wherein the level is a degree of excitement of the community.   The mobile terminal according to any one of claims 4 to 8, wherein, when the display data is acquired, the data acquisition unit acquires only a difference from the previously acquired display data. It further includes trajectory creation means for sequentially storing the location information of the terminal itself, and creating the trajectory of the own terminal as line data based on the stored location information,
The mobile terminal according to any one of claims 4 to 9, wherein the display means displays the line data on the screen.

Images