JP2013165345A - Radio communication apparatus and method for guiding into communication zone - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To give direction notification for showing the way to a communicable zone when the present location gets out of the communicable zone at or below a certain speed (low speed) while communicating using a radio communication apparatus having radio mounted therein.SOLUTION: A radio communication apparatus having a function to perform radio communication comprises: a photographing unit which can photograph the circumference; a communication zone in/out detection unit which detects whether the present location is within the communication zone of radio communication; a movement vector arithmetic unit which, on the basis of comparison between a first image photographed by the photographing unit when the communication zone in/out detection unit determined that the present location is within the communication zone and a second image photographed by the photographing unit when the communication zone in/out detection unit determined that the present location has moved out of the communication zone, calculates a direction of movement from the timing at which the first image was photographed to the timing at which the second image was photographed; and a notification unit which, on the basis of the direction of movement, gives notification for guiding a near field radio communication apparatus from outside the communication zone into the inside of the communication zone.

Description

  The present invention relates to a wireless communication device and the like, and more particularly to a wireless communication device having a proximity wireless communication function.

  Proximity wireless communication technology such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) is used to link electronic devices in offices and homes. By the way, in close proximity wireless communication, if the distance between the devices increases and becomes longer than the communicable distance, the devices cannot be linked.

  Therefore, it is desirable to be able to guide a wireless communication device outside the communicable range with the communication target to the communicable range without depending on the electric field strength from the communication target. For example, in the technique described in Patent Document 1 below, both the printer and the PDA are configured to be capable of wireless data communication by Bluetooth. The PDA can detect its position by a two-axis acceleration sensor provided in the PDA, and updates and stores its own position as the origin while it is in a communication range where communication with the printer is possible. .

  When the PDA moves out of the communication area and moves to the position B, and further to the position C (current position), the origin A immediately before the movement out of the communication area is stored. From the relative positional relationship, guidance information for returning the PDA to the communication range of the printer is generated and displayed on the screen.

JP 2003-299135 A

  However, in the above technique, since an acceleration sensor is used to know its own position, for example, a wireless communication device equipped with proximity wireless communication, for example, mainly Felica and Trasferjet (both are registered trademarks) When communicating with a communication method whose distance is much shorter than that of Bluetooth, the communication range may be lost at a constant speed (low speed) or less. At this time, there is a problem that the acceleration cannot be detected due to the accuracy of the acceleration sensor, and the direction notification in the direction of the area cannot be performed.

  The present invention provides a direction notification for guiding the user to the direction of the service area even when the communication area is out of the communicable area at a constant speed (low speed) or lower when the communication is performed by the wireless communication device equipped with the proximity wireless communication function. The purpose is to provide technology.

  According to one aspect of the present invention, a wireless communication device having a function of performing wireless communication, a photographing unit capable of photographing the surroundings, and an out-of-communication detection unit that detects whether or not the wireless communication range is present. A first image captured by the imaging unit when the out-of-communication range detection unit determines that the communication range is within a communication range, and a second image captured by the imaging unit when determined to have moved out of the communication range. Based on the comparison, a movement vector calculation unit that obtains a moving direction from the timing when the first image was captured to the timing when the second image was captured, and guidance from outside the communication range to the communication range based on the movement direction There is provided a wireless communication device including a notification unit that notifies information to be performed.

  According to this wireless communication apparatus, when the wireless communication is out of the service area, guidance to the service area can be easily performed. The imaging unit only needs to be able to capture the surroundings as an imageable range.

  It is preferable that the notification unit is a display unit, and the display unit displays a reverse direction of the movement direction obtained by the movement vector calculation unit on the display unit. For example, the reverse direction of the moving direction may be indicated by an arrow or the like on the display unit.

  It is preferable that the first image and the second image are images taken at timing just before going out of communication range and images taken at timing coming out of communication range. It is preferable that at least one of the first image and the second image is acquired based on images continuously photographed by the photographing unit. In this way, the guidance accuracy can be improved.

  When the out-of-communication area detection unit detects that the communication area is out of the communication area, it is preferable to stop the notification by the notification unit and start the close proximity wireless communication.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, a photographing unit having a function of performing wireless communication and capable of photographing the surroundings and out-of-communication detection for detecting whether or not a short-range wireless communication device is within a communication range of wireless communication And a first image captured by the photographing unit when the out-of-communication area detection unit determines that the apparatus is within the communication area, and moved out of the communication area. Based on the comparison with the second image photographed by the photographing unit when it is determined, the movement vector calculation step for obtaining the moving direction from the timing of photographing the first image to the timing of photographing the second image And a notifying step for notifying information for guiding from outside the communication area to the communication area based on the moving direction.

  The present invention may be a program for causing a computer to execute the above guidance method or a computer-readable recording medium storing the program.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, in the radio | wireless communication apparatus carrying a radio | wireless communication function, even when it leaves the communicable area at a fixed speed (low speed) or less, the direction notification to the area direction can be performed.

It is a figure which shows the example of an external appearance structure of the smart phone shown as an example of a radio | wireless communication apparatus. It is a functional block diagram which shows the example of 1 structure of a radio | wireless communication apparatus. It is a flowchart figure which shows the flow of a process in the control part of a radio | wireless communication apparatus. It is a figure which shows an example of the calculation method of the movement vector using the camera image image | photographed with the camera used in the radio | wireless communication apparatus by this Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen display which displays the vector of the reverse direction to the calculated moving direction on a display screen. It is a figure which shows the example of a mode that a card | curd or a radio | wireless communication apparatus is guide | induced to the area in the system by R / W by the modification of this invention, and a card | curd or a radio | wireless communication apparatus.

  A wireless communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an external configuration example of a smartphone illustrated as an example of a wireless communication device. FIG. 1A is a front view, and FIG. 1B is a rear view. The wireless communication device A has a housing 1 and is provided with, for example, a first display unit 3 and a second display unit 5 on the front surface (first surface) 1a side. Icons 7a to 7d and 5a to 5d are displayed.

  On the back (second surface) side 1b, a camera 11 and an interface unit 33 for close proximity wireless communication are provided. In addition, the casing 1 is generally provided with various switches and terminals. Although not shown in the figure, a guidance voice generation unit that functions as a voice notification unit and a speaker may be included.

  FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the wireless communication device A. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the wireless communication device A includes a display device 3, a camera 11, a main processor (CPU: control unit) 21, a vibration module 23, a proximity wireless communication antenna 25, and proximity wireless communication. The controller 27 includes a nonvolatile memory (for example, an SD card (registered trademark)) and a wireless communication interface I / F between other devices.

  The control unit 21 is provided with, for example, a vector calculation unit 21a described later and a display control unit 21b that controls display on the display unit 3 (generally executed by a program).

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in the control unit 21 of the wireless communication device. First, in step S1, the control unit 21 instructs the close proximity wireless communication controller 27 to start close proximity wireless communication. In step S2, the camera 11 is instructed to take a camera image. In step S3, the camera image acquired in step S2 is stored in a memory 31a such as a RAM or a nonvolatile memory 31b. In step S4, the proximity wireless communication controller (out-of-communication area detection unit) 27 determines whether or not the communication area is capable of close-range wireless communication. If within communication range (Y), the process returns to step S2. In step S4, when it is detected that the communication area is out of range, a photographing process by the camera 11 is performed. In step S7, the moving direction (vector) is calculated using the captured camera image and the last captured camera image in step S2. The calculation method will be described later.

  In step S8, a vector in the direction opposite to the movement direction calculated in step S7 is displayed on the display screen, thereby urging the user to move into the area. In step S9, it is determined whether or not the user is within a range. If it is within the range (YES), the process proceeds to step S15. If it is outside the service area, the process proceeds to step S10, and the camera 11 captures the camera image. In step S11, the camera image taken in step S10 is stored in a memory 31a such as a RAM or a nonvolatile memory 31b. In step S12, a moving direction (vector) is obtained using the camera image captured in step S10 and the camera image captured in step S2. In step S13, the inverse vector of the combined vector of the movement vector obtained in step S7 and the movement vector obtained in step S12 is displayed on the display screen of the display unit. Next, in step S14, it is determined whether or not it is within the communication range. If it is out of the communication range (No), the process returns to step S10, and if it is within the communication range (Yes), the process proceeds to step S15.

  In step S15, vector display is stopped on the display screen, and in step S16, close proximity wireless communication is resumed. In step S17, camera shooting processing (camera image) is performed, and the process returns to step S2. Note that the image captured in step S2 is referred to as a first image, and the image captured in step S10 is referred to as a second image.

  As described above, when it is detected that the mobile phone has moved from the communication range of close proximity wireless communication to the outside of the communication range, a photograph of the surrounding area (especially in the direction opposite to the direction away from the communication area) and a surrounding photograph outside the communication area Based on the above, a direction to return to the communication area is obtained, and the direction is displayed on the display unit so that the direction can be understood.

  In the above example, instead of the display device 3 or together with the display device 3, as a notification unit for notifying the movement direction, a speaker or the like is used to announce the movement direction or to emit a sound when approaching the movement direction. You may do it. As described above, any of the known means such as screen display and sound notification may be used as the guiding means in the moving direction.

  The camera image shooting process may be performed continuously at a certain timing. Then, the images at the timings of the communication range and the outside of the communication range may be selected from camera images taken continuously in time.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a method for calculating a movement vector using a camera image taken by a camera, which is used in the wireless communication apparatus according to the present embodiment. FIG. 4A is a diagram illustrating an example of a camera image captured in step S2. Here, a terminal (PC or the like) T is photographed. In addition, a relatively large object such as an indoor television receiver, which is a fixed object, is used as a reference image. Then, the effective pixel area L for creating image data is made smaller than the imageable area. Next, as shown in step S5 of FIG. 3, a camera image is taken by the camera. FIG. 4B is an example of the camera image captured in step S5 of FIG. 3, and is a diagram illustrating an example of the second image captured. At this time, since the wireless communication device is moving, the position of the terminal T, which is the subject, is shifted with respect to the effective pixel region L with respect to the terminal T in FIG. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4C, FIG. 4A is compared with FIG. 4B, and one corner of the effective pixel range L is set so that the terminal T enters a position within the same effective pixel region. A movement vector for moving the position of can be obtained.

  Then, as in step S8 in FIG. 3, a vector in the direction opposite to the calculated moving direction is displayed on the display screen.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a screen display example displayed on the display unit 3 of the wireless communication device in this way. On the screen display 41 of the display unit 3, an arrow 41 b that is an in-range direction display indicating a moving direction and a guidance display 41 a such as “Out of range. Please move the terminal in the direction of the arrow” are displayed. In order to return to the area, the user may move in the direction of the arrow, relying on the arrow. At this time, by repeating the processing from steps S10 to S14 of FIG. 3, the user can move while guiding gradually toward the area (guide the user to the area).

As described above, in the present embodiment, processing is performed as follows during communication using proximity wireless communication (Felica or Transferjet).
1) When communication is started (communication range) or when entering the communication range, the surroundings are photographed and the camera image is saved (a moving image may be used).
2) Repeated camera shooting at a certain time interval, etc., analyzing the camera image when it was out of communication range and the camera image taken immediately before it was out of range, for example, based on the movement vector (in which direction it was shifted) Detect). Based on the detected reverse vector of the movement vector, the user is notified of the direction of guidance to the communication range of the close proximity wireless communication by a method such as a vibrator or LCD screen display. This makes it possible to indicate the direction of the area. 3) When the communication area is reached, the vibrator is stopped, the LCD screen display in the direction toward the communication area is stopped, and the proximity wireless communication is resumed. This confirms that the user has entered the area.

  As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, when close proximity wireless communication is performed with a wireless communication device equipped with a close proximity wireless communication function, even when the communication speed is outside a communicable range at a certain speed (low speed) or less, Guidance can be performed by direction notification in the direction of communication range.

(First modification)
An example in which the technique according to the above embodiment is applied will be described. As an example of close proximity wireless communication, in a system comprising a magnetic card such as a Felica card and a reader / writer (R / W) such as a PC equipped with a Felica port, the magnetic card is inserted by a Web camera provided in the PC or the like. By taking a picture, the moving direction of the magnetic card may be displayed on the display screen of the reader / writer, and the magnetic card may be guided in the correct direction.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of such a system. As shown in FIG. 6, a personal computer (PC) 51 has a display unit 53, a Web camera 55, a keyboard 57a, a touch pad 57b, and a proximity wireless communication port 61 as an input unit as a general configuration. ing. The port 61 for close proximity wireless communication performs close proximity wireless communication with a short distance wireless communication device 71 such as a dedicated card or wireless communication device. The proximity wireless controller 61a can detect whether or not the short-range wireless communication device 71 such as a dedicated card or wireless communication device and the Felica port 61 are within the proximity wireless communication range. In addition, instead of the display unit 53 or together with the display unit 53, as a notification unit that notifies the movement direction, a speaker or the like may be used to announce the movement direction or to emit a sound when approaching the movement direction. . The Web camera 55 may be provided with a rotation mechanism that can change the shooting angle, and the angle can be adjusted so that the short-range wireless communication device 71 can be shot, or connected by a USB cable connection or the like. The movable web camera 55a may be used.

  Then, as in the above embodiment, the web camera 55 captures a dedicated card, a short-range wireless communication device 71 such as a wireless communication device, and the like, and an arrow 81 indicating the direction displayed on the display unit 53 A dedicated card outside the communication range, a short-range wireless communication device 71 such as a wireless communication device, etc. can be guided into the communication range. Further, if the displayed arrow 81 is displayed when the communication area is out of the communication range, it is necessary to guide the short-range wireless communication device 71 or the like such as a dedicated card or a wireless communication device into the communication range. Since this can be notified to the user, reading by the proximity wireless communication port 61 can be reliably performed.

  In this example, the reader / writer (R / W) has been described by taking a PC having a communication port as an example. However, in addition to the payment processing at the time of shopping using a wireless communication device and the ticket gate processing of a station Can also be applied. In this case, it is also possible to perform voice guidance along with or in addition to guidance by displaying an arrow on the display unit. As described above, the direction in which the movement vector should be moved may be notified together with the display of the movement vector or instead of the display. It is also possible to notify the movement outside the area by voice. Or you may alert | report by the grade of a vibration etc. using the vibration module 23. FIG.

  According to this modification, the function of the card or the wireless communication device can be simplified by providing the reader / writer with a guidance function.

  In the above-described embodiment, the configuration and the like illustrated in the accompanying drawings are not limited to these, and can be appropriately changed within a range in which the effect of the present invention is exhibited. In addition, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the object of the present invention.

  In addition, a program for realizing the functions described in the present embodiment is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, and the program recorded on the recording medium is read into a computer system and executed to execute processing of each unit. May be performed. The “computer system” here includes an OS and hardware such as peripheral devices.

  Further, the “computer system” includes a homepage providing environment (or display environment) if a WWW system is used.

  The “computer-readable recording medium” refers to a storage device such as a flexible medium, a magneto-optical disk, a portable medium such as a ROM and a CD-ROM, and a hard disk incorporated in a computer system. Furthermore, the “computer-readable recording medium” dynamically holds a program for a short time like a communication line when transmitting a program via a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line. In this case, a volatile memory in a computer system serving as a server or a client in that case, and a program that holds a program for a certain period of time are also included. The program may be a program for realizing a part of the above-described functions, or may be a program that can realize the above-described functions in combination with a program already recorded in a computer system.

  The present invention is applicable to a wireless communication device.

A ... wireless communication device (mobile terminal), 1a ... front, 1b ... back, 3, 5 ... display unit, 5a-5d, 7a-7d ... icon, 11 ... camera, 21 ... control unit, 23 ... vibration module, 25 ... Antenna, 27 ... Proximity wireless communication controller, 31a ... Memory, 31b ... Non-volatile memory, 33 ... I / F, 55, 55a ... Camera, 59 ... Speaker, 71 ... Short-range wireless communication device (mobile terminal, IC card, etc.) .

Claims (5)

A wireless communication device having a function of performing wireless communication,
A shooting unit that can capture the surroundings
An out-of-communication detection unit that detects whether or not within the communication range of wireless communication;
A comparison between the first image taken by the photographing unit when the out-of-communication area detection unit determines that it is within the communication range and the second image taken by the photographing unit when it is determined that the outside-communication range has been moved. A movement vector calculation unit for obtaining a moving direction from the timing at which the first image is captured to the timing at which the second image is captured;
A wireless communication device comprising: a notification unit that notifies information to be guided from outside the communication range to the communication range based on the moving direction. The notification unit is a display unit,
The wireless communication device according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays on the display unit a reverse direction of the movement direction obtained by the movement vector calculation unit.   The wireless communication device according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the first image and the second image is acquired based on images continuously captured by the photographing unit.   4. The wireless communication is started while the notification by the notification unit is stopped when the detection unit outside the communication range detects that the communication range has been changed from outside the communication range. The wireless communication device according to any one of claims. To a communication area in a device having a function of performing wireless communication and capable of photographing the surroundings and an out-of-communication detection unit that detects whether or not the short-range wireless communication device is within the communication range of wireless communication The method of guiding,
A comparison between the first image taken by the photographing unit when the out-of-communication area detection unit determines that it is within the communication range and the second image taken by the photographing unit when it is determined that the outside-communication range has been moved. A movement vector calculation step for obtaining a moving direction from the timing at which the first image is captured to the timing at which the second image is captured;
And a notifying step for notifying information for guiding from outside the communication area to the communication area based on the moving direction.

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