JP2010165241A - Terminal device, position information control method and position information control system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a terminal device rapidly tracking a solitary target person, and reducing power consumption for the tracking. <P>SOLUTION: The terminal device includes: a proximity communication part receiving identification information for uniquely identifying a certain terminal device located within a range of a predetermined distance from the terminal device by wireless communication; a position information acquisition part starting acquisition of present position information of the terminal device when the identification information is not received from the terminal device, and stopping the acquisition of the position information when receiving the identification information from the terminal device; and a communication part transmitting the position information to a monitoring center connected to a network. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a terminal device, a position information control method, and a position information control system that monitor a user's action state by wireless communication.

  Conventionally, mobile phones with GPS (Global Positioning System), dedicated position information terminals (hereinafter referred to as mobile terminals), and the like are generally used as means for watching children when going to and from school.

  In these conventional technologies, when an emergency call operation is performed in a location information terminal or the like, the location information acquired by GPS is transmitted together with the notification signal, and a guard rushes to the site based on the information It is used in.

  For example, when a guardian accesses a predetermined site and inquires about the position of a portable terminal carried by a child, there is a method in which the portable terminal is inquired and position information is returned from the portable terminal. Further, there is a method of tracking the mobile terminal by continuously acquiring the location information of the mobile terminal in response to an emergency call operation or a request from a guardian.

  However, according to these prior arts, if the emergency call operation is performed on the mobile terminal or the location information is not inquired from the guardian, the location information is not acquired and the location information is not notified.

  Therefore, as a solution to the above problem, assuming that it is dangerous when a child becomes alone, it is necessary to have the child carry a portable terminal and obtain information on other portable terminals that are present in the surrounding area and use this information. Thus, a technique has been proposed in which a point and time at which a child becomes independent is predicted and notified to a guardian to prompt the child to be picked up (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2007-193710 A

  However, according to the technique described in Patent Document 1, each mobile terminal periodically transmits its own location information and identification information of detected nearby mobile terminals to the monitoring center and receives them on the monitoring center side. Based on the information, it is determined whether or not the mobile terminal is in a single action state.

  For this reason, there is a possibility that a delay may occur in the monitoring center ascertaining that it has actually become a single action depending on the transmission interval to the monitoring center. Moreover, although the point where it becomes a single action is predicted and notified, if the child takes an unplanned action such as a path, the prediction may not be utilized. Furthermore, since location information is always acquired in the mobile terminal and the location information is frequently transmitted to the monitoring center, there is a problem that power consumption increases and communication costs increase.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and provides a terminal device capable of quickly tracking a tracking target person who has become a single action and reducing power consumption associated with monitoring.

  In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, a terminal device according to the present invention is a terminal device, and the other terminal device is uniquely identified from other terminal devices existing within a predetermined distance range. And when the identification information is not received from the other terminal device and the proximity communication unit that receives the identification information for identification by wireless communication, the acquisition of the current position information of the terminal device is started, When the identification information is received from a terminal device, a position information acquisition unit that stops acquiring the position information and a communication unit that transmits the position information to a monitoring center connected to a network are provided. And

  The position information control method according to the present invention includes a wireless communication step of receiving, by wireless communication, identification information for uniquely identifying the other terminal device from another terminal device existing within a predetermined distance range. When the identification information is not received from the other terminal device, the acquisition of the current position information of the terminal device is started, and when the identification information is received from the other terminal device, the position information A location information acquisition step for stopping acquisition and a communication step for transmitting the location information to a monitoring center connected to a network are provided.

  The position information control system according to the present invention is a position information control system including a terminal device and a monitoring center connected to the terminal device via a network, and the terminal device is within a predetermined distance range. When the identification information for uniquely identifying the other terminal device is received by wireless communication from the other terminal device existing in the terminal, and when the identification information is not received from the other terminal device, When the acquisition of the current location information of the terminal device is started and the identification information is received from the other terminal device, the location information acquisition unit that stops the acquisition of the location information is connected to the network. A first communication unit that transmits to the monitoring center, wherein the monitoring center receives the position information from the terminal device, and when receiving the position information, A second communication unit that notifies the user of the mobile terminal to view and further comprising a.

  According to the present invention, since the other terminal device is searched by receiving the identification information from the other terminal device existing within the range of the predetermined distance, the child carrying the terminal device on the monitoring center side takes an independent action. There is an effect that it is possible to quickly grasp what has become.

  In addition, according to the present invention, in order to acquire position information when identification information is no longer received from another terminal device, even when a child carrying the terminal device takes an action different from the daily action pattern, There is an effect that the guardian can surely grasp the state and the position information in the single action.

  Further, according to the present invention, it is determined whether it is a single action or a collective action based on whether or not identification information is received from another terminal device, and only when it becomes a single action, acquisition of position information and notification to the monitoring center are performed. By doing so, it is possible to quickly track a child who has become alone, and to reduce power consumption associated with monitoring.

It is a block diagram of the portable terminal connected to the monitoring center. It is a figure which shows group action mode and single action mode. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure which transmits mode and log information to a monitoring center. It is a timing chart which shows the execution state of each function of a portable terminal. It is an area map in which position information of a portable terminal is described.

  Exemplary embodiments of a terminal device, a position information control method, and a position information control system according to the present invention will be explained below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a network configuration of the location information control system and a functional configuration of the mobile terminal 100 according to the present embodiment. As shown in the figure, the position information control system of the present embodiment has a configuration in which a mobile terminal 100 and a monitoring center 150 are connected to a network such as a mobile phone network or the Internet. The mobile terminal 100 mainly includes a proximity communication unit 101, a GPS unit 102, an update unit 103, a control unit 104, a communication unit 105, and a memory 106, and is connected to a monitoring center 150 via a network. Yes.

  Proximity communication unit 101 uses Zigbee (registered trademark), which is one of the wireless communication means, to set a predetermined distance as a wireless communicable range and store a specific ID within the wireless communicable range Search for. Specifically, other mobile terminals are searched by receiving IDs from other terminal devices.

  The Zigbee (registered trademark) frequency band used here is 2, 4 GHz, the communication speed is 250 kbps, the communication distance is 10 to 75 m, the terminal transmission output is 1 mW, and the connectable number is about 65,000. .

  In addition, when the proximity communication unit 101 receives an ID from another portable terminal, the proximity communication unit 101 stores the received ID and the current time (hereinafter referred to as “log information”) at which the ID is received in the memory 106.

  In the present embodiment, Zigbee (registered trademark) is used as the wireless communication means, but the wireless communication means is not limited to this, and other wireless communication means such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) may be used.

  When the proximity communication unit 101 does not receive the ID of another portable terminal, the GPS unit 102 acquires its current position information such as longitude and latitude by receiving radio waves from GPS satellites.

  In the present embodiment, the GPS unit 102 uses radio waves from GPS satellites as position information acquisition means, but the position information acquisition means only needs to be able to acquire position information of the mobile terminal 100. The position information may be acquired using base station information.

  The memory 106 stores a control program for controlling the mobile terminal 100, setting information such as a wireless communication possible range, log information, and the like.

  The update unit 103 stores a mode (hereinafter referred to as “mode”) indicating the behavior state of the child carrying the mobile terminal in the memory 106. The mode includes a group action mode and a single action mode. The group action mode indicates an action state in which someone is in the vicinity of the child and is performing the group action, and the single action mode indicates a single action when the child is alone. In the initial state, the mobile terminal 100 is set to the collective action mode.

  Specifically, when an ID is received from another mobile terminal by the proximity communication unit 101, it is determined that another person exists near the child and is acting in a group, and the group action mode If the ID is not received from another portable terminal, it is determined that the child is acting alone and is stored in the memory 106 as the single action mode. Details of the mode will be described later.

  The communication unit 105 transmits a mode change, log information, position information, and the like to the monitoring center 150 via a mobile phone line, a wireless LAN, or the like.

  The control unit 104 controls the mobile terminal 100 based on the control program.

  The monitoring center 150 receives log information and location information in addition to the fact that the communication unit 105 has switched to the single action mode and the collective action mode. In addition, when a notification that the mode has been switched to the single action mode is received, an e-mail indicating that the mode has been switched to the single action mode is transmitted to the guardian's mobile terminal.

  Next, the action state mode will be described in detail. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the group action mode and the single action mode.

  Here, the collective action mode is a state in which someone is near the child, and specifically, an ID is received from another portable terminal having a specific ID within a range where the proximity communication unit 101 can perform wireless communication. The mode to be received.

  In addition, the single action mode is a state in which a child is alone, and specifically, a mode in which an ID is not received from another portable terminal having a specific ID within a range where wireless communication can be performed by the proximity communication unit 101. It is.

  In addition, the distance determined as a wireless communicable range is set to 10 m here. In addition, a specific ID is a certain ID that acts together with a child to be watched over, such as the same school, a group of the same club activities, or a teacher, a guardian, or a local collaborator as necessary. It is the identification information of the portable terminal which a member has.

  As shown in FIG. 2, within the wireless communication range 200, the portable terminal 100 carried by the child A is a portable terminal 202 carried by the child B, which is another portable terminal, and the portable terminal carried by the child C. 203 is detected, indicating that it is a collective action mode.

  On the other hand, within the range 210 in which wireless communication is possible, the mobile terminal 100 carried by the child A does not detect other mobile terminals, indicating that it is in the single action mode.

  Next, a procedure of processing for transmitting the reception state to the monitoring center 150 by the mobile terminal 100 will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a series of procedures in which the mobile terminal 100 transmits the reception state to the monitoring center 150.

  First, the proximity communication unit 101 searches whether there is another mobile terminal within a wireless communicable range, for example, within 10 m (step S301). Specifically, if an ID is received from another mobile terminal, it is determined that there is another mobile terminal within a wireless communication range, and if no ID is received, it is determined that there is no other mobile terminal. .

  Next, the near field communication unit 101 refers to the memory 106 and confirms whether or not the setting of the mobile terminal 100 is still the collective action mode set in the initial state (step S302).

  When the proximity communication unit 101 confirms that the collective action mode is still set (step S302: Yes), the proximity communication unit 101 performs a search by receiving the ID of another mobile terminal (step S303).

  When the proximity communication unit 101 receives an ID from another portable terminal (step S303: Yes), the received ID and the current time when the ID is received are accumulated and saved in the memory 106 as log information (step S304). ).

  On the other hand, if the proximity communication unit 101 has not received an ID from another portable terminal (step S303: No), it is determined that the child is acting alone, and the update unit 103 The mode is updated to the single action mode (step S305).

  When the mode is updated to the single action mode by the update unit 103, the GPS unit 102 activates the GPS function (step S306).

  When the GPS function is activated, the GPS unit 102 receives radio waves from GPS satellites and acquires position information of the mobile terminal 100 (step S307).

  The communication unit 105 transmits the single action mode that is the updated mode, the position information acquired by the GPS unit 102, and the current time at the time of acquisition to the monitoring center 150 as position information (step S308). At this time, the log information accumulated so far in the memory 106 may be sent to the monitoring center 150 together.

  Here, the communication unit 105 periodically transmits the acquired position information to the monitoring center 150 at intervals of, for example, 2 minutes. Thereby, in the monitoring center 150, the positional information in single action can be grasped | ascertained continuously.

  Returning to step S302, when the setting of the mobile terminal 100 is not the collective action mode, that is, when the mobile terminal 100 is in the single action mode (step S302: No), the near field communication unit 101 detects another mobile terminal ( Step S309).

  When the near field communication unit 101 receives an ID from another portable terminal (step S309: Yes), the update unit 103 determines that the child is acting as a group, and the reception state mode of the memory 106 is determined. Is updated to the group action mode (step S310).

  When the mode of the reception state is updated to the collective action mode by the update unit 103, the proximity communication unit 101 accumulates and stores the reception log information in the memory 106 (step S311), and the GPS unit 102 stops the GPS function ( Step S312).

  The communication unit 105 transmits the collective behavior mode, which is the updated reception mode, to the monitoring center 150 (step S313). Here, the communication unit 105 may transmit the log information accumulated so far in the memory 106 to the monitoring center 150 together.

  Returning to step S309, if the proximity communication unit 101 has not received an ID from another mobile terminal (step S309: No), the GPS unit 102 receives radio waves from the GPS satellites, The position information is acquired (step S314).

  The communication unit 105 transmits the position information acquired by the GPS unit 102 and the current time at the time of acquisition as position information to the monitoring center 150 (step S315). Here, the communication unit 105 may transmit the log information accumulated so far in the memory 106 to the monitoring center 150 together.

  The above is a series of procedures for transmitting the reception state to the monitoring center 150 by the mobile terminal 100. In the monitoring center 150 side, when the single action mode is received and when the collective action mode is received, an e-mail notification indicating that the mode is switched is sent to the guardian's mobile terminal.

  Next, the execution state of each function of the mobile terminal will be described. FIG. 4 is a timing chart showing the execution state of each function of the mobile terminal.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the search for the portable terminal by the proximity communication unit 101 is always performed. On the other hand, when other mobile terminals are no longer searched by the proximity communication unit 101, it is determined that the child is acting alone, the GPS function by the GPS unit 102 is activated, and another mobile terminal is again in the vicinity. When the search is made, it is determined that the child has moved to the collective action, and the GPS function is stopped.

  Also, the transmission of the location information acquired by the GPS unit 102 to the monitoring center 150 is performed at regular intervals only when there is no other mobile terminal in the vicinity, and when the mobile terminal is searched again in the vicinity. The transmission is stopped.

  According to such an execution state, it is possible to acquire position information by the GPS unit 102, which increases power consumption and communication cost, and to transmit position information and the like to the monitoring center 150 only in a necessary situation. It can be greatly reduced and sufficient operating time can be secured.

  Thus, according to the present embodiment, when it is detected that a child carrying a mobile terminal has become a single action, the monitoring center 150 is notified of this. Also, when the behavior changes from a single action to a collective action, this is notified to the monitoring center 150 and further to the guardian. Thus, the guardian can quickly grasp the situation change that has occurred in the child.

  Thus, according to the present embodiment, the guardian who has received the mail notification from the monitoring center 150 can recognize that the child has become a single action. Thereby, for example, at the time of leaving school, if the child does not come home for a while from the time when the child separated from the friend, the guardian can recognize that some problem may have occurred in the child.

  At this time, parents can check the history of location information from the time when the child became alone if he / she visited the inquiry site when he / she recognized the anomaly. It is possible to judge whether a problem has really occurred and to quickly avoid the danger.

  In addition, when you receive an e-mail notification, you can grasp the location information until you return to your home after accessing the inquiry site. It becomes easy to prevent.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, since the mobile terminal 100 determines whether it is a single action or a collective action, it acquires the position information by GPS and the position information to the monitoring center 150 only when necessary. It is possible to make a notification such as, and to reduce power consumption.

  Thereby, even if it does not use an expensive or large capacity | capacitance battery, a required operating time can be ensured or the portable terminal can be made small and light. In addition, since communication to the monitoring center is limited to cases where it is necessary, communication costs can be reduced.

  Furthermore, according to the present embodiment, acquisition of position information and cancellation of acquisition are automatically switched, so that a special operation by a portable terminal user is not necessary, and operability can be improved.

(Application examples)
As described above, according to the present invention, the GPS unit 102 acquires position information of the mobile terminal 100 while the child is acting alone, and the monitoring center 150 acquires the position information as log information. Can do. Therefore, by superimposing the position information of the single action and the area map on the monitoring center 150 side, it is possible to extract roads and areas with low traffic and high single action frequency.

  FIG. 5 is an area map in which position information of the mobile terminal is described. In FIG. 5, based on the position information acquired from the portable terminal 501 carried by the child D and the portable terminal 502 carried by the child E, a road with a high frequency of single action is represented by a dotted line.

  For example, when the point where the portable terminal 501 carried by the child D is located is a shopping street, the shopping street is often crowded, and the shop owner is often familiar with the child D. Therefore, it is assumed that it is a safe zone even if it is a single action. In this case, the monitoring center 150 may be configured not to send mail to the child terminal of the child's parent.

  On the other hand, when the point where the mobile terminal 502 carried by the child E is out of town, it is generally considered that the out-of-town is less likely to be taken away because there is little traffic, so it is a single action. And a dangerous zone.

  In this way, by extracting the dangerous zone by overlaying the location information on the area map, it is possible to create a crime prevention map, plan crime prevention patrol, install a surveillance camera, etc., and efficiently carry out crime prevention activities it can.

  In this way, just by having the child to be watched hold a mobile device, the parent can grasp the situation where the child is acting alone, not only when going to and from school, but also going to a cram school or a friend's house, Even when various situations are combined, it is possible to reliably grasp the situation where the child is acting alone.

100 202 203 501 502 Mobile terminal 101 Proximity communication unit 102 GPS unit 103 Update unit 104 Control unit 105 Communication unit 106 Memory 150 Monitoring center 200 210 Wireless communication possible range

Claims (7)

A terminal device,
A proximity communication unit that receives, by wireless communication, identification information for uniquely identifying the other terminal device from another terminal device that exists within a predetermined distance;
When the identification information is not received from the other terminal device, the acquisition of the current position information of the terminal device is started, and when the identification information is received from the other terminal device, the acquisition of the position information is performed. A position information acquisition unit to stop;
A communication unit for transmitting the position information to a monitoring center connected to a network;
A terminal device comprising: A storage unit;
The proximity communication unit further stores the received identification information and the received time as history information in the storage unit,
The communication unit transmits the history information to the monitoring center;
The terminal device according to claim 1. The proximity communication unit searches the other terminal device at a predetermined time interval;
The terminal device according to claim 1. The storage unit stores a mode indicating a behavior state of a user of the terminal device,
When reception of the identification information of the other terminal device is started by the proximity communication unit, the mode is updated to a collective behavior mode indicating a state in which users of the terminal device are acting in a collective manner. An update unit for updating the mode to a single action mode indicating a state in which a user of the terminal apparatus is acting alone when the identification information of the other terminal device is not received;
The terminal device according to claim 2, further comprising: The communication unit transmits the updated mode to the monitoring center when the mode is updated by the updating unit;
The terminal device according to claim 4. A position information control method executed by a terminal device,
A wireless communication step of receiving, by wireless communication, identification information for uniquely identifying the other terminal device from another terminal device existing within a predetermined distance;
When the identification information is not received from the other terminal device, the acquisition of the current position information of the terminal device is started, and when the identification information is received from the other terminal device, the acquisition of the position information is performed. A position information acquisition step to stop;
A communication step of transmitting the position information to a monitoring center connected to a network;
A position information control method comprising: A position information control system comprising a terminal device and a monitoring center connected to the terminal device via a network,
The terminal device
A proximity communication unit that receives, by wireless communication, identification information for uniquely identifying the other terminal device from another terminal device that exists within a predetermined distance;
When the identification information is not received from the other terminal device, the acquisition of the current position information of the terminal device is started, and when the identification information is received from the other terminal device, the acquisition of the position information is performed. A position information acquisition unit to stop;
A first communication unit that transmits the position information to a monitoring center connected to a network;
With
The monitoring center is
A second communication unit that receives the position information from the terminal device and notifies the mobile terminal of a user who monitors the terminal device when the position information is received;
A position information control system comprising:

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