JP2014190707A - Positioning device, electronic apparatus and positioning method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a positioning device, electronic apparatus and positioning method or the like for accurately correcting position information under the consideration of a correspondence relationship between position information acquired by autonomous positioning and position information from the other position specification part.SOLUTION: A positioning device 20 includes: a processing part 21 for acquiring the position information of a traveling object by performing the arithmetic processing of autonomous positioning on the basis of sensor information from a sensor 10 for autonomous positioning; and a storage part 23 for storing the position information acquired by the processing part 21 and specification information for specifying the position information in association. The processing part 21 acquires the first position information of the traveling object, and acquires second position information of the traveling object specified by the other position specification part 30 and second specification information, and acquires third position information corresponding to the second specification information among the position information stored in the storage part 23, and corrects the first position information on the basis of the second position information and the third position information.

Description

  The present invention relates to a positioning device, an electronic device, a positioning method, and the like.

  In recent years, an apparatus or the like that acquires position information of a moving body (which may be a person in a narrow sense, but is not limited to this) by some method and presents the position information has been used. As a service using position information, for example, a navigation service that guides a user to a destination, a logging service that accumulates a change history of position information, and the like can be considered.

  In particular, a mobile terminal such as a smartphone is provided with a navigation function for presenting a user's current position or presenting a route to a destination on a map application using GPS (Global Positioning System). Similar applications are also provided in car navigation systems.

  However, GPS generally consumes a large amount of power, and it is often difficult to execute an application for a long time in a device having a large battery capacity limit such as a smartphone. Therefore, in such a device, the absolute position information is not acquired from the outside as in the GPS, but the device itself or the various devices including the various sensors (for example, an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor, etc.) included in the device itself are used. A method using autonomous positioning (dead reckoning or also referred to as inertial navigation) for positioning the position information of the user carrying the device is conceivable.

  For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a method for obtaining final position information of a moving body by performing correction processing using both position information acquired by GPS and position information acquired by autonomous positioning. Patent Document 2 discloses a method for obtaining current position information by performing correction processing (map matching processing) using map information on acquired position information.

JP-A-9-297030 JP 2012-233791 A

  In autonomous positioning, in principle, distance information can be obtained by second-order integration of acceleration information from the sensor, so if the initial position is determined by some method, the distance information that is displacement relative to the initial position is integrated. By doing so, the current position can be estimated. However, it is difficult to provide sufficient accuracy for the distance information obtained from the sensor information, and naturally the accuracy of the position information that is the result of the autonomous positioning is also lowered. Furthermore, in autonomous positioning, as described above, since the estimated displacement is integrated, errors are accumulated and the accuracy is significantly reduced.

  Therefore, when autonomous positioning is used, various methods are generally used to improve the accuracy of position information. In Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2, correction processing is also performed.

  However, in Patent Document 1, GPS signals are acquired at a certain frequency. From the viewpoint of power consumption described above, when positioning processing needs to be realized with low power consumption as in the present invention. Not applicable.

  In Patent Document 2, map matching is used for the correction processing. However, since the map matching processing requires a large processing load and power consumption, it is not preferable to always execute the map matching processing in the positioning device. Considering from the viewpoint of low power consumption, a device for performing position specifying processing corresponding to map matching processing is provided separately from a positioning device for performing autonomous positioning. With such a configuration, the position information obtained by the positioning device is output to the outside, the output position information is processed externally, and the processed position information is input to the positioning device. Interaction occurs. In this case, a delay due to the exchange of information becomes a problem, and even if the result of the map matching process is used, an appropriate correction process cannot be performed. However, this point is not taken into consideration in Patent Document 2.

  According to some aspects of the present invention, a positioning device that corrects position information with high accuracy in consideration of a correspondence relationship between position information acquired by autonomous positioning and position information from another position specifying unit, an electronic device Equipment and positioning methods can be provided.

  One embodiment of the present invention includes a processing unit that performs autonomous positioning calculation processing based on sensor information from a sensor for autonomous positioning, and obtains positional information of a moving body, and the positional information obtained by the processing unit. And a storage unit that associates and stores the specific information that specifies the position information, and the processing unit obtains the first position information of the moving body, and the movement specified by another position specifying unit The second position information and the second specific information of the body are acquired, the third position information corresponding to the second specific information among the position information stored in the storage unit is acquired, and the second The positioning device corrects the first position information based on the position information and the third position information.

  In one aspect of the present invention, the positioning device specifies the third position information corresponding to the second position information specified by another position specifying unit, and based on the second position information and the third position information. First position information correction processing is performed. Therefore, since the process can be performed after taking correspondence between the position information obtained by the calculation process of autonomous positioning and the second position information specified by the other position specifying unit, the position information is more accurately detected. It is possible to perform the correction process.

  Further, according to one aspect of the present invention, based on sensor information from an autonomous positioning sensor, an autonomous positioning calculation process is performed to obtain position information of a moving body, and the processing unit obtains the position information A storage unit that associates and stores position information and specific information that specifies the position information, and the processing unit obtains first position information and first specific information of the mobile body, The second position information and the second specific information of the mobile body specified by the specific unit are acquired, and the third position corresponding to the second specific information among the position information stored in the storage unit The present invention relates to a positioning device that acquires information and corrects the first position information based on the second position information and the third position information.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to obtain the first specific information together with the first position information at each timing.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, the processing unit obtains difference information between the first position information and the third position information, and calculates the difference information and the second position information. The result of the correction process based on the information obtained by performing may be used as the position information of the moving body.

  Accordingly, it is possible to obtain the position information of the moving body from the difference information between the first position information and the third position information, and the second position information.

  In one aspect of the present invention, the processing unit outputs a result of map matching processing in the position specifying unit for the position information output from the processing unit at a given timing, as the second position information. You may get as

  As a result, the result of the map matching process for the position information output from the processing unit can be used as the second position information.

  In one aspect of the present invention, the processing unit outputs the fourth position information associated with the fourth specific information to the position specifying unit, and then receives the second specific information from the position specifying unit. When the associated second position information is acquired, the fourth position information may be specified as the third position information based on the second specifying information.

  As a result, it is possible to specify the fourth position information output from the positioning device as the third position information corresponding to the second position information using the specific information specifying the position information.

  In the aspect of the invention, when the output fourth specific information corresponds to the acquired second specific information, the processing unit transmits the fourth position information to the third position information. May be specified as the position information.

  Accordingly, when the fourth specific information and the second specific information correspond, it can be determined that the fourth position information and the second position information correspond.

  In the aspect of the invention, the storage unit stores N (N is an integer of 2 or more) pieces of the position information in association with the specific information, and the processing unit is stored in the storage unit. From among the N pieces of position information, the third position information corresponding to the second position information is specified based on the second specifying information associated with the second position information. Also good.

  Accordingly, it is possible to specify the third position information corresponding to the second position information using the specific information from among the plurality of position information stored in the storage unit.

  In the aspect of the invention, the processing unit may specify the third position information corresponding to the second position information from the N pieces of position information stored in the storage unit. If there is no position information, the position information stored most recently in time among the N pieces of position information stored in the storage unit may be used as the third position information.

  Accordingly, even when the third position information cannot be specified from the plurality of position information stored in the storage unit, it is possible to perform a correction process that suppresses the occurrence of an error.

  In the aspect of the invention, the processing unit may associate time stamp information indicating a processing timing of the position information with the position information as the specific information.

  Thereby, the time stamp information can be used as the specific information.

  In one aspect of the present invention, the processing unit performs an update process of the position information based on the calculation process of the autonomous positioning at an update timing of the first period, and at an acquisition timing of the second period. The second position information is acquired from the position specifying unit, the update timing at which the given position information is updated, and the second position information corresponding to the given position information is the position specified. The acquisition timing acquired from the unit may be different.

  As a result, when the update timing for the given position information is different from the acquisition timing of the second position information corresponding to the given position information, the method of the present embodiment can be applied. Become.

  In one aspect of the present invention, the processing unit outputs the position information that has been subjected to the update process at the update timing to the position specifying unit at an output timing of a third period, The update timing at which the given position information is updated is different from the output timing at which the given position information is output, and the output timing at which the given position information is output; The acquisition timing at which the second position information corresponding to the position information is acquired from the position specifying unit may be different.

  Thereby, when the update timing and output timing for the given position information are different, and the output timing and the acquisition timing of the second position information corresponding to the given position information are different, It becomes possible to apply the method.

  In the aspect of the invention, the processing unit may specify the update timing based on a walking detection timing for detecting a walking of a user who is the moving body.

  Thereby, when the update timing is specified by the walking detection timing, it is possible to apply the method of the present embodiment.

  Another aspect of the present invention relates to an electronic apparatus including the above positioning device.

  In another aspect of the present invention, the electronic device may further include the position specifying unit.

  Further, according to another aspect of the present invention, an autonomous positioning calculation process is performed based on sensor information from an autonomous positioning sensor to obtain first position information of a moving body, and is specified by another position specifying unit. The second position information and the second specific information of the mobile body obtained are acquired, and the position information that is the result of the calculation process of the autonomous positioning stored in the storage unit is included in the second specific information. The present invention relates to a positioning method for acquiring corresponding third position information and correcting the first position information based on the second position information and the third position information.

1A and 1B are a system configuration example of a positioning device according to the present embodiment and an electronic apparatus including the positioning device. FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B are specific examples of the electronic apparatus according to this embodiment. The figure explaining the process of this embodiment. The figure explaining the processing timing and delay of 1st Embodiment. The flowchart explaining the conventional method relevant to 1st Embodiment. The flowchart explaining the process of 1st Embodiment. The figure explaining the processing timing and delay of 2nd Embodiment. The flowchart explaining the conventional method relevant to 2nd Embodiment. The flowchart explaining the process of 2nd Embodiment. FIGS. 10A and 10B are diagrams illustrating an example of the data structure stored in the buffer and the third position information specifying process. Explanatory drawing of a process when 3rd position information cannot be specified.

  Hereinafter, this embodiment will be described. In addition, this embodiment demonstrated below does not unduly limit the content of this invention described in the claim. In addition, all the configurations described in the present embodiment are not necessarily essential configuration requirements of the present invention.

1. First, the method of this embodiment will be described. As described above, in recent years, an apparatus that acquires and presents position information of a moving body is used. GPS is widely used for acquiring position information. From the viewpoint of power consumption and the like, a method using autonomous positioning that can be realized with lower power consumption than GPS is also useful. In addition, although this embodiment uses autonomous positioning, it is not limited to what does not use GPS at all. Autonomous positioning can only determine the relative position, so there is a possibility of using GPS to set the absolute initial position, and GPS signals are acquired at a low frequency that does not cause a problem from the viewpoint of power consumption. It does not prevent the modification from being performed.

  A problem in obtaining position information by autonomous positioning is that an error occurs in the estimated position information, which may cause the actual position of the mobile object to be significantly different from the estimated position. For example, if the acceleration information is acquired from the acceleration sensor and is second-order integrated, the distance information (the fluctuation of the distance in a narrow sense) can be obtained, but the value has a large error. Furthermore, since the position is obtained as a change with respect to the reference position in the autonomous positioning, the current position information is an addition process of the estimation result (distance fluctuation) so far, and when an error occurs in the estimation result at each timing, The error is accumulated up to a significant drop in estimation accuracy. Although it is possible to improve accuracy by using other methods instead of simply performing second-order integration of acceleration information, it is desirable to perform some correction processing in view of accumulation of errors.

  As an example of the correction process for the estimated position information, a map matching process can be considered. The map matching process holds or acquires map information (for example, information indicating a traffic network such as a road or other information), and acquires positional information before correction processing (here, The position information obtained by autonomous positioning) is corrected using the map information. For example, suppose that a car is considered as a moving body, and information that can distinguish a road on which a car can pass from other roads is held as map information. In that case, if the position information obtained by autonomous positioning corresponds to a position where the automobile cannot enter, such as the inside of a building, the position information is not appropriate, A process for correcting the position information is performed on a road that can be located. Since map matching processing is widely known, detailed description thereof is omitted. In addition, various embodiments can be widely applied to the map matching processing in the present embodiment.

  However, the map matching process and other position information correction processes generally have a heavy processing load compared to the position information estimation process in autonomous positioning. Therefore, even if a positioning device that performs autonomous positioning is realized with low power consumption, power consumption can be reduced if a block that performs map matching processing (hereinafter referred to as a position specifying unit) is started constantly or frequently. The effect is low. That is, the positioning device that performs the autonomous positioning process and the position specifying unit need to be realized as separate blocks even if they are provided in different electronic devices or in the same electronic device. As an example realized as another electronic device, FIG. 2B described later can be considered. Here, the positioning device is provided as the microcomputer 201 in the smartphone 1002, and the position specifying unit 30 is connected to the smartphone 1002 via the network 40. The server system 300 is connected to the server system 300. In addition, as an example provided in another block in the same electronic device, FIG. 2A described later can be considered. Here, the positioning device is realized as the microcomputer 201 in the smartphone 1001, and the position specifying unit 30 is the CPU 301 of the smartphone 1001. It is realized by. In FIG. 2A, if it is possible to have a configuration in which the CPU 301 is caused to sleep for a long time (activates at a low frequency) and only the microcomputer 201 and the autonomous positioning sensor 10 are activated, the entire smartphone 1001 is provided. As a result, low power consumption can be realized with respect to the position information estimation processing.

  The problem here is that when given position information is acquired by autonomous positioning in the positioning device, a time lag occurs until the position information is returned to the positioning device through processing by the position specifying unit. The time lag here is the time required to transmit the position information acquired by the positioning device to the outside (waiting time from acquisition of position information to transmission processing, network delay in the case of FIG. 2B, etc. And the time required for processing in the position specifying unit and the time required for transmitting the processed position information from the outside to the positioning device.

  Specific examples are shown in FIGS. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the timing of each process. The update timing represents the timing at which one piece of position information is obtained and updated as the latest position information in the positioning device. The update timing is performed at a frequency such as 32 Hz as described later. On the other hand, not all of the location information updated at the update timing is the target of the map matching process, and the output of the location information to the location specifying unit is an output timing that is a cycle different from the cycle of the update timing. Done. The output timing is, for example, about 1 Hz as will be described later. In FIG. 4, the position information updated at the timing D1 is output at the timing E1. In FIG. 4, the delay between D1 and E1 is not considered.

  The position information output at the timing E1 is acquired by the positioning device at the timing F1 through the output to the position specifying unit and the map matching process at the position specifying unit. The delay described above occurs between E1 and F1. As a result, the result of the map matching process for the position information at D1 is acquired at the timing of D3 that is later than D1. At this time, as can be seen from the update timing in FIG. 4, new position information has already been acquired in D3, and generally the position information in D3 represents a position different from the position information in D1. That is, although the position information after the map matching process acquired in F1 is a value for correcting the position information in D1, if the conventional method is applied as it is, the position information in D3 is the position information acquired in F1. There arises a problem that information is corrected.

  This is schematically shown in FIG. A1 to A4 in FIG. 3 are position information acquired by autonomous positioning by the positioning device. Here, although the road is running in the vertical direction, A3 is off the road. Therefore, the position information of A3 is output to the position specifying unit, the map matching process is performed and corrected to the position on the road to acquire the position information of B3, and A3 is corrected by B3 (in the narrow sense, simply It may be replaced, but is not limited to this).

  However, if A3 corresponds to the timing D1 in FIG. 4, B3, which is the result of the map matching process for A3, is acquired at the timing D3 (= F1), and the moving body is also moved during this time. In FIG. 3, A4 represents position information acquired as a result of autonomous positioning at timing D3. In FIG. 4, the position information at the timing D3 is not the target of the map matching process, but if the map matching process is performed on A4, B4 should be obtained as a result. That is, if the result of the map matching process is used at timing D3 (= F1), B4 should be used originally, but B3 is used due to the delay shown in FIG. If it does in this way, although the movement of the moving body was performed between A3 and A4, the correction process which assumes that the said movement did not exist will be performed. As a result, the moving distance of the moving body is smaller than the original value. This distance reduction is assumed to have a small value per time, but as described above, in autonomous positioning, errors are accumulated to accumulate the results so far, and when positioning is performed for a certain period of time, This error cannot be ignored.

  Note that, as indicated by D2, D4, E2, and F2 in FIG. 4, the delay occurs at each of a plurality of output timings and acquisition timings. In FIG. 4, the delay between E1 and F1 and the delay between E2 and F2 are shown as the same time. However, depending on the processing status in the position specifying unit 30 and the network delay, the length of the delay for each timing is shown. Are expected to be different.

  Therefore, the present applicant obtains difference information (Δ in FIG. 3) between A3 and A4, which is considered not to be a conventional method, and proposes a method using the difference information. Specifically, B3 which is the result of the map matching process obtained at timing D3 (= F1) is not used as it is, but C3 is obtained by adding B3 and Δ, and position information is obtained using the obtained C1. Correct. In this case, the position information A4 at the timing D3 may be simply replaced with C1, or A4 may be corrected based on the result of performing some processing using C1.

  In this case, when the result of the map matching process is acquired at the timing F1, it is necessary to specify at which timing the result is the result of the map matching process for the updated position information. In FIG. 3, when the position information of A4 is updated, the information of B3 is acquired from the position specifying unit. Which of these corresponds to A1 to A3 (or whether it corresponds to the one before A1? This is because Δ cannot be obtained without specifying).

  Therefore, in this embodiment, when updating the position information, the specific information for specifying the position information is stored in association with it, and when the position information is output to the position specifying unit, the corresponding specific information is output in association with it. . And when acquiring the result of the map matching process from the position specifying unit, it is acquired together with the specific information, and the specific information is used to specify the position information for which the result of the map matching process is the processing result. It shall be.

  Details will be described below in the first embodiment and the second embodiment. In the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, a case where there is no delay between the update timing and the output timing will be described. In this case, a time lag between the output timing and the acquisition timing is considered as the delay. On the other hand, in the second embodiment, as will be described later with reference to FIG. 7, a case where a delay between the update timing and the output timing is considered will be described. As shown in FIG. 7, it is assumed that the cycle differs between the timing of the processing loop performed at 32 Hz or the like and the update timing at which the position information is actually updated. In this case, the update timing and the output timing are It is necessary to consider delay 1 that is a time lag and delay 2 that is a time lag between the output timing and the acquisition timing. However, the second embodiment is also different only in how the delay occurs, and the concept of processing in the positioning device is basically the same.

2. First Embodiment A first embodiment will be described. Specifically, a system configuration example of a positioning device and an electronic device including the positioning device will be described, and then details of processing will be described using a flowchart.

2.1 System Configuration Example FIGS. 1A and 1B show a configuration example of an electronic device 100 including the positioning device 20 of the present embodiment. FIG. 1A is an example in which the electronic device 100 includes a position specifying unit 30. In this case, electronic device 100 includes autonomous positioning sensor 10, positioning device 20, and position specifying unit 30. However, the electronic device 100 and each part configuring the electronic device 100 are not limited to the configuration in FIG. 1A, and various components such as omitting some of these components or adding other components. Variations are possible. Moreover, the point which can implement various deformation | transformation is also the same also about FIG.1 (B)-FIG.2 (B) etc. which are mentioned later.

  The autonomous positioning sensor 10 includes an acceleration sensor 11, a gyro sensor 13, a pressure sensor 15, and a geomagnetic sensor 17. Since each sensor is widely used, detailed description is omitted. Various specific configurations (examples of structures) of each sensor are conceivable, but the present embodiment is not limited to a specific configuration, and various configurations can be widely applied. Further, a sensor other than the above may be used as the autonomous positioning sensor 10, or one or more of the sensors may be excluded from the autonomous positioning sensor 10. Further, modifications such as using the sensor for purposes other than autonomous positioning are possible.

  The positioning device 20 includes a processing unit 21 and a storage unit 23. The processing unit 21 performs various processes based on sensor information from the autonomous positioning sensor 10 and information acquired from the position specifying unit 30. The function of the processing unit 21 can be realized by hardware such as various processors (CPU and the like), ASIC (gate array and the like), a program, and the like. Details of the processing in the processing unit 21 will be described later with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  The storage unit 23 serves as a work area for the processing unit 21 and the like, and its function can be realized by a memory such as a RAM, an HDD (hard disk drive), or the like. In the memory | storage part 23, the positional information acquired based on the sensor information from the sensor 10 for autonomous positioning in the process part 21 is linked | related with the specific information which specifies the said positional information, and is memorize | stored.

  The position specifying unit 30 acquires position information obtained by autonomous positioning from the processing unit 21, performs position specifying processing (map matching process in a narrow sense as described above) on the acquired position information, and obtains the processing result. Output to the processing unit 21. Since the processing content in the position specifying unit 30 may be a known method, detailed description thereof is omitted. Note that map information in the case of performing the map matching process may be stored in the electronic device 100, or may be acquired from the outside (for example, a data server) during the map matching process.

  FIG. 2A shows an example of the electronic device 100 in FIG. In the example of FIG. 2A, the electronic device 100 corresponds to the smartphone 1001, and the smartphone 1001 includes the autonomous positioning sensor 10, the microcomputer 201, and the CPU 301. A specific part is realized. In this case, if the microcomputer 201 acquires a signal from the autonomous positioning sensor 10 without going through the CPU 301, the autonomous positioning calculation process can be executed even when the CPU 301 with high power consumption is in a sleep state. Autonomous positioning with low power consumption is possible.

  Alternatively, the positioning device 20 of the present embodiment and the electronic device 100 including the positioning device 20 may have the configuration shown in FIG. Electronic device 100 includes an autonomous positioning sensor 10 and a positioning device 20. The electronic device 100 is connected to the position specifying unit 30 via the network 40. Compared to FIG. 1A, the position specifying unit 30 is the same except that the position specifying unit 30 is provided outside the electronic device 100, and thus detailed description of each unit is omitted.

  FIG. 2B shows an example of the electronic device 100 in FIG. In the example of FIG. 2B, the electronic device 100 corresponds to the smartphone 1002, and the smartphone 1002 includes the autonomous positioning sensor 10, the microcomputer 201, and the CPU 301, and a positioning device is realized by the microcomputer 201. The smartphone 1002 is connected to the server system 300 via the network 40, and the server system 300 includes the position specifying unit 30. In this case, since processing in the position specifying unit 30 having a relatively heavy processing load is performed outside the smartphone 1002, it is not necessary to consider the processing power of the position specifying unit 30.

2.2 Details of Processing Next, details of processing according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to flowcharts of FIGS. 5 and 6. In the following process, the moving body is a person, and the position information is estimated when the person walks. However, the present invention is not limited to this.

  First, the conventional method will be briefly described with reference to FIG. In the conventional method, first, the initial position is set using GPS or the like (S101). This is because, as described above, only the relative position can be acquired in the autonomous positioning, and it is necessary to set a reference position.

  Then, a loop process is started at a predetermined cycle (here, 1/32 second cycle) (S102). In the loop, the walking speed and the walking direction are calculated using the sensor information (S103, S104). Then, the position information P is obtained using the calculated walking speed and walking direction (S105). The timing of S105 corresponds to the update timing in FIG.

  Then, it is determined whether or not there is feedback from the position specifying unit 30 (specifically, position information after the map matching process, where the position information is referred to as “Proad”) (S106). In FIG. 4, this corresponds to the determination of whether or not the current timing is the acquisition timing. If Proad is acquired, P correction processing is performed using it (S107). Proad may not be the result of the map matching process for P updated by the process of the latest S105, but may be the result of processing for P in the past loop. However, as described above, this point is not considered in the conventional method. Therefore, as shown in S107, P is corrected by Proad.

  Then, the obtained P is output to the position specifying unit 30 (S108), one loop is finished, and the process returns to S103.

  In FIG. 4, the update timing is 1/32 second cycle, and the output timing is expressed as a cycle longer than the update timing. However, as shown in FIG. 5 (and FIG. 6 described later), the output timing is This also does not prevent the 1/32 second period. Even if the output timing is high, there is no change in that the position information output at a given output timing is fed back to the processing unit 21 with a certain delay, and can be considered as in FIG. .

  In the method of FIG. 5, the delay until position information is fed back is not considered as described above, and the movement distance is calculated to be short by performing the process in S107. On the other hand, the flowchart of FIG. 6 shows the details of the processing of this embodiment.

  S201 to S204 are the same as S101 to S104 in FIG. When the position information P is obtained based on the walking speed and the walking direction obtained in S203 and S204, the position information is updated and specific information for specifying the position information is associated (S205). The specific information here is information that can specify position information (in a narrow sense, given position information can be distinguished from other position information). For example, time information such as a time stamp indicating the timing at which P is obtained in S205 may be used as the specific information. Or it may not be the information showing time itself, for example, information, such as ID allocated to position information one by one.

  Thereafter, it is determined whether or not Proad is fed back from the position specifying unit 30 (S206). When P is output from the processing unit 21 to the position specifying unit 30, specific information corresponding to P is also output in S211 as will be described later. When the Prod is acquired in S206, the Prod is also displayed. Specific information at the time of output is associated. In this embodiment, the specific information acquired in S206 is compared with the specific information stored in the past loop (specifically, stored in the buffer in S210), and the Prod acquired in S206 is updated in the past. It is determined which of the received position information P corresponds (S207). In FIG. 3, this corresponds to a process of specifying A3 from A1 to A4 (or previous position information) when B3 is acquired.

  Then, difference information Δ between the specified position information Pold and the current position information (P updated in S205 of the current loop) is obtained (S208). This corresponds to the processing for obtaining the difference between A4 (P) and A3 (Pold) in FIG. Further, instead of using the acquired Proad as it is, Proad + Δ is obtained, and P is corrected using the obtained information (S209). In FIG. 3, this corresponds to the process of obtaining C1 from B3 and Δ and using C1 for the correction of A4.

  If No in S206, P obtained in S205 and the specific information corresponding to P are stored in the buffer for comparison processing in S207 in a later loop (S210). On the other hand, if Yes in S206, P after the processing in S209 and the specific information corresponding to P are stored in the buffer for comparison processing in S207 in the later loop (S210). The buffer here corresponds to the storage unit 23 of FIGS. 1A and 1B. The number of P and specific information held in the buffer can be variously set. However, when a delay time is assumed to some extent, it is desirable to store information within the delay time in a buffer. As described above, in the present embodiment, when the feedback Prod from the position specifying unit 30 is acquired, it is necessary to appropriately specify the position information Pold corresponding to the Prod and obtain the difference information Δ. The case where the information held in the buffer is too small and the corresponding Pold is deleted from the buffer when the Prod is acquired is not preferable because appropriate processing cannot be performed. In the flowchart of FIG. 6, P and specific information are stored at a period of 1/32 second. Therefore, if the delay time τ is known, only N satisfying τ <1/32 × N can be obtained. It is advisable to store specific information in a buffer.

  An example of the data structure stored in the buffer in S210 and an example of the identification process of the Pold in S207 are shown in FIGS. 10 (A) and 10 (B). FIG. 10A shows an example of the data structure stored in the buffer. Here, it is assumed that one set of the positional information P and the specific information t is associated with each other and holds N sets thereof. t1 is information that can specify P1, and t2 is information that can specify P2. That is, t1 to tN need to be mutually distinguishable information. In FIG. 10A, the position information is represented by P. However, the position information may be expressed in a vector representing a relative positional relationship with respect to the start position, or using latitude and longitude. Expression is possible. Further, as described above, the specific information t is not limited to time information.

  FIG. 10B is a diagram for explaining the Pold identification process in S207. As shown in FIG. 10A, N sets of information are stored in the buffer by repeating the process of S210 a plurality of times. As shown in FIG. 10B, when the Prod as a result of the map matching process is acquired in association with the specific information tk, the processing unit 21 corresponds to tk from the specific information held in the buffer. Search for what to do (in the narrow sense, match). As shown in FIG. 10B, when the specific information tk associated with the k-th position information Pk matches the specific information tk associated with Proad, the map matching process is performed for Pk. It can be determined that the result obtained is Proad, that is, Pk = Pold.

  In the present embodiment described above, the positioning device 20 performs autonomous positioning based on the sensor information from the autonomous positioning sensor (autonomous positioning sensor 10), as shown in FIG. 1 (A) or FIG. 1 (B). And a storage unit 23 for storing the position information obtained by the processing unit 21 and the specific information for specifying the position information in association with each other. Then, the processing unit 21 obtains the first position information of the moving object, acquires the second position information and the second specifying information of the moving object specified by the other position specifying unit 30, and stores them in the storage unit 23. The third position information corresponding to the second specific information is acquired from the obtained position information, and the first position information is corrected based on the second position information and the third position information.

  Specifically, the processing unit 21 obtains difference information between the first position information and the third position information, and information obtained by performing arithmetic processing between the obtained difference information and the second position information. The result of the correction process based on the above may be used as the position information of the moving object.

  Here, the “other position specifying unit 30” means that the position specifying unit 30 is provided separately from the positioning device 20 that performs autonomous positioning. As described above, the present embodiment assumes that the position information obtained by the positioning device 20 is associated with the position information obtained by the position specifying unit 30. In other words, when the positioning device 20 and the position specifying unit 30 share information to such an extent that a position information matching process is not required (for example, the positioning device 20 includes the position specifying unit 30). Need not be considered in this embodiment. That is, the position specifying unit 30 is described as “other” because the position specifying unit 30 is provided as a separate block outside the positioning device 20 (as shown in FIG. 1A, in the same electronic device). This situation is considered in consideration of the situation such as

  The second position information is position information acquired from the position specifying unit 30 and corresponds to the above-described “Proad” in a narrow sense. The third position information is information corresponding to the second position information among the position information acquired by the positioning device 20 and stored in the storage unit 23, and in a narrow sense, corresponds to the above-described Pold. . The difference information corresponds to Δ described above in a narrow sense. The information obtained by performing the calculation process (for example, addition process) between the difference information and the second position information corresponds to the above-described Prod + Δ in a narrow sense, but the addition process here is a simple addition. The present invention is not limited and includes various processes performed based on addition. The correction process based on the information obtained by performing the addition process may be a process of replacing the current P with Prod + Δ as described above, or another correction process using Prod + Δ as an input value. Various modifications may be made.

  Note that “another block” in the present specification means that when the given electronic device 100 is configured by a plurality of blocks, the positioning device 20 and the position specifying unit 30 correspond to different blocks. To do. Here, each block of the electronic device 100 may be set based on a physical positional relationship, but from the viewpoint of power saving, power management can be performed independently (active, non-active). It is desirable that the unit (which can determine active independently) is a block. Or you may use other viewpoints, such as setting a block from an electrical connection relationship.

  Thereby, even when the positioning device 20 acquires position information (second position information) from the other position specifying unit 30, the second position information and the position information held by the positioning device 20 itself The current position information (first position information) can be corrected after the association. Therefore, a timing shift (for example, the delay shown in FIG. 4 or the delay described later with reference to FIG. 7) occurs between the current position information to be corrected in the positioning device 20 and the second position information. Even if it is, it is possible to suppress adverse effects such as shortening the estimated moving distance.

  Further, the processing unit 21 may acquire the result of the map matching process in the position specifying unit 30 for the position information output from the processing unit 21 at a given timing as the second position information.

  As a result, the result of the map matching process can be acquired as the second position information, so that the current position information can be corrected based on the map matching process. As shown in FIG. 3, by performing map matching processing, when an error occurs in the target position information, correction is made to a realistic position (for example, a position where the moving body can move). be able to. In map matching processing, map information that generally has a large amount of data is stored, or processing that is acquired from a map database via a network or the like is required during processing, and the map matching processing itself However, the processing load is not light. Map matching processing is useful as position information correction processing, but when used in the method of the present embodiment that presumes low power consumption, it is practical to perform it outside the positioning device 20, and as a result, There is a high possibility that a delay occurs between the current position information and the second position information. That is, when performing the map matching process, it can be said that the advantage of using the method of the present embodiment in which the process is performed in consideration of the delay is high.

  In addition, the processing unit 21 outputs the fourth position information associated with the fourth specific information to the position specifying unit 30, and then the second position information associated with the second specific information from the position specifying unit 30. May be specified as the third position information based on the second specifying information.

  Specifically, the processing unit 21 may identify the fourth position information as the third position information when the output fourth identification information corresponds to the acquired second identification information. Good. More specifically, the processing unit 21 may associate time stamp information indicating the processing timing of position information with the position information as specific information.

  As a result, the positioning device 20 outputs the positional information (fourth positional information) stored in the storage unit 23 and the second positional information to the positional identification unit 30 and associates the identification information with the specific information. Can be used. Specifically, the determination process based on the fourth specific information and the second specific information may be performed. In the above example, when the fourth specific information matches the second specific information, It is determined that the position information corresponds to the fourth position information, that is, the fourth position information is the above-described third position information. However, the fourth specific information and the second specific information do not necessarily coincide with each other, and other modified implementations are possible, for example, when the error is smaller than a given threshold, it is determined to correspond. The specific information may be time stamp information (or similar time information) as described above. However, the specific information is not limited to this, and various types of information that can uniquely specify position information can be used.

  In addition, the storage unit 23 stores N (N is an integer of 2 or more) pieces of position information in association with specific information, and the processing unit 21 selects the first position information from among the N pieces of position information stored in the storage unit. The third position information corresponding to the second position information may be specified based on the second specifying information associated with the second position information.

  Accordingly, it is possible to specify the third position information corresponding to the second position information using the data structure as shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B. Limiting the number of data stored in the buffer (in the example of FIG. 10A, the number of pairs of position information and specific information) to N can prevent the buffer size from becoming excessively large. In many cases, a certain upper limit value can be assumed for the time (delay) until the position information output from the processing unit 21 is returned to the processing unit 21 after being processed by the position specifying unit 30. Even if the previous position information is held, it is unlikely that the position information becomes the third position information. Therefore, for example, an appropriate buffer size can be set by determining the value of N from the upper limit value. Further, as shown in FIG. 10B, the third position information identification process based on the specific information may be a search process for matching specific information, or other processes (for example, one identification process). Various examples such as obtaining a hash value of information and comparing it with the other specific information are conceivable.

  The processing unit 21 stores the third position information corresponding to the second position information from the N pieces of position information stored in the storage unit 23 when the third position information cannot be specified. Of the N pieces of position information, the position information stored most recently in time may be used as the third position information.

  As a result, even when the third position information is not held in the buffer, it is possible to appropriately cope with it. Here, the case where the third position information is not included in the position information stored in the storage unit 23 means that the position information that should be the third position information has been deleted from the buffer because the delay is large. The case is assumed. In this case, it is important to avoid the situation of specifying position information that is completely misplaced as the third position information and to take the next best measure to reduce the error as much as possible.

  An example of specific processing is shown in FIG. In FIG. 11, R1 to R4 are acquired as position information as a result of autonomous positioning, R4 is current position information, R3 and R2 are stored in the buffer (N = 2), and R1 has been deleted from the buffer. I am thinking. Here, it is assumed that S1, which is the result of the map matching process for R1, is acquired from the position specifying unit 30 at the timing when R4 is acquired. In this case, since R1 is not held in the buffer, the third position information cannot be specified. Originally, it is desirable to specify R1 as the third position information, obtain difference information Δ1 between R1 and R4, and use S2 obtained from S1 and Δ1 for the correction processing. However, in a situation where the delay is large and the information to be the third position information is lost from the buffer, the obtained difference information becomes the original difference information regardless of which position information in the buffer is the third position information. It is assumed that the difference information of R4 and R3 and the difference information of R4 and R2 are both smaller than the difference information of R4 and R1 in the example of FIG. Therefore, in this embodiment, even if it is smaller than the difference information that should be originally obtained, the error is minimized as much as possible by using the largest value obtained from the information currently stored in the buffer as the difference information. . In the example of FIG. 11, R2 and R2 can use R2 as the third position information because R2 can increase the difference information. In this case, since S3 is used where S2 is originally intended to be used, an error occurs as compared with the case where the third position information can be appropriately specified, but other position information held in the buffer (here, R3). The error is small compared to the case where is used as the third position information. In the example of FIG. 11, the fact that R2 is the third position information means that the oldest information among the position information held in the storage unit 23 is the third position information when considered in general terms. Correspond.

  Further, the processing unit 21 performs position information update processing based on the autonomous positioning calculation processing at the update timing of the first cycle, and the second position from the position specifying unit 30 at the acquisition timing of the second cycle. Information may be acquired. The update timing at which the given position information is updated is different from the acquisition timing at which the second position information corresponding to the given position information is acquired from the position specifying unit 30.

  As a result, as shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 7 described later, it is possible to apply the method of the present embodiment when there is a time lag between the update timing and the acquisition timing. If the technique of this embodiment is generalized, when the correspondence between the position information in the positioning device 20 and the second position information from the outside is not taken, it is caused by a time lag. Although it is widely applicable even when not, it is typically due to a time lag (delay), and in this embodiment described above, the timing lag has been described as an example.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 1B, the above-described embodiment can be applied to an electronic device including the positioning device 20 (an electronic device not including the position specifying unit 30 in a narrow sense) As shown in FIG. 1A, the present invention can also be applied to an electronic device including a position specifying unit 30 in addition to the positioning device 20 described above.

  Examples of these electronic devices are as described above with reference to FIGS. 2A and 2B and the like, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted.

3. Second Embodiment Next, a second embodiment will be described. The configuration example of the positioning device according to the second embodiment and the electronic device including the positioning device are the same as those shown in FIG. 1A and FIG. The detailed explanation is omitted.

  The difference from the first embodiment is that the period of the update timing is mainly different. FIG. 7 shows an example of the timing in the present embodiment. The processing loop timing is performed at a cycle of 1/32 seconds, for example, and the walking speed and the walking cycle are obtained from the sensor information, and based on these, the processing speed is determined temporarily. This is the timing at which position information can be obtained. In the first embodiment, the position information obtained at this timing is used as it is.

  However, as described above, the accuracy of autonomous positioning tends to be low, and it is desirable to increase the accuracy by performing some processing on the position information at the processing loop timing. Here, when the mobile object is a person and the position information is estimated when the person walks (or runs), the position information in autonomous positioning is obtained by using information of one step at a time. It is possible to improve the estimation accuracy. In human walking, the exercise performed during one step of walking is almost the same as the one step walking, and the characteristics of acceleration and angular velocity correspond to the walking cycle. Due to having periodicity, there are periods where acceleration is large and small even during one-step walking, and it is easy to identify the motion characteristics of the moving object by appropriately processing the sensor information .

  Considering this point, instead of using the position information acquired at a period of 1/32 second as it is, first, one step is detected based on the sensor information, and processing is performed at the timing when a human walk is detected. The position information estimation accuracy can be measured by obtaining the position information for each step. As a specific method, not only processing is performed for each step, but a Kalman filter or the like may be used for the processing for each step. The Kalman filter performs a process of estimating a value that cannot be directly observed (here, true position information) based on an observed value having an error (sensor information or position information obtained therefrom).

  In this case, unlike the processing loop timing as shown in FIG. 7, the position information is updated at an update timing that is a cycle corresponding to the walking cycle. In addition, since a human walk is about 1.5 to 2 steps per second, the update timing is a cycle of about 1/2 to 1 / 1.5 seconds. In addition, since the update timing is determined by the walking cycle, it is assumed that the update timing has high periodicity, but the cycle is not constant.

  Therefore, the output timing (for example, 1-second cycle) assumed to be a given constant cycle and the update timing basically do not match. As a result, there may be a time lag until the position information updated at a certain timing is output to the position specifying unit 30. In the example of FIG. 7, as a result of the processing at the processing loop timing, walking is detected at the timing G1, and the position information is updated at the timing H1 (= G1). However, H1 is not an output timing, and the position information updated at H1 is output at J1, which is the next output timing. Therefore, in this embodiment, it is necessary to perform processing in consideration of delay 1 which is a time lag between H1 and J1. Note that delay 2 which is a delay between the output timing J1 and the acquisition timing K1 is the same as the delay described in the first embodiment.

  Further, as shown in G2, H2, and J2, there are cases where the update timing and the output timing may coincide with each other depending on the detection timing of the gait and the delay 1 may be set to 0, but there are many cases where they do not coincide. It is done.

  The details of the processing will be described below using the flowcharts of FIGS. First, the conventional method will be described using FIG. 8 as in the first embodiment. S301 to S307 are the same as S101 to S107 in FIG. As can be seen from S305, position information that actually takes walking into consideration is acquired only at an update timing that is less frequent than 32 Hz. In FIG. 8, it is assumed that position information is obtained at 32 Hz. Yes. When correction processing is performed using Proad in S307, P acquired at 32 Hz is set as a correction target, not P at the update timing.

  Thereafter, it is determined whether one step has been detected (S308). If walking is detected, the position information is corrected based on walking information (S309), and if not detected, the process proceeds to S310. To do. In FIG. 7, the timing at which S309 is performed corresponds to the update timing.

  Then, it is determined whether the current timing is the output timing (S310), and if it is the output timing, the latest P is output to the position specifying unit 30 (S311). In S309 of the same loop, if P corresponding to one step is obtained by the correction process, that P is output. If walking is not detected in the same loop and S309 is skipped, in S309 of the past loop The latest P of the obtained P is output.

  In the process of FIG. 8, the result of the map matching process acquired at K1 (= G3) in FIG. 7 should be used for correction of position information at G1, as in the first embodiment, but acquired at K1. The obtained information is used for correcting the position information of G3, which causes a problem that the required moving distance is shortened.

  On the other hand, the process of this embodiment is shown in FIG. S401 to S406 in FIG. 9 are the same as S301 to S306 in FIG. When the Prod is acquired from the position specifying unit 30 in S406, the specific information (time information) associated with the Prod is compared with the specific information stored in the buffer to search for a match (S407). ). Note that the storage of the position information in the buffer and the specific information specifying the position information is performed in S412 described later. Then, among the position information stored in the buffer, the position information corresponding to the Prod specified by the process using the specific information is set as the third position information Pold.

  Then, difference information Δ between the current position information P (in a narrow sense, P obtained in S405 in the current loop) and the Pold specified in S407 is obtained (S408). Thereafter, P is updated using Proad + Δ as correction information (S409). That is, when the process of S409 is performed, the value that has been subjected to the correction process in S409 is used as P, not P obtained in S405. Note that if the Prod is not acquired in S406, the processing of S407 to S409 is skipped.

  S410 and S411 are the same as the processes of S308 and S309 in FIG. However, in the method of the present embodiment, after the process of S411, P and specific information for specifying the P are associated with each other and stored in the buffer (S412).

  After the processing of S412, or when S410 is No, it is determined whether it is the output timing (1-second cycle) as in S310 of FIG. 8 (S413). 30 is output in association with P and specific information for specifying P (S414). The position specifying unit 30 performs a map matching process on the output P, and returns Prod, which is a result of the map matching process, to the positioning device 20 in association with the specific information corresponding to the acquired P. Thus, the specific processing in S407 becomes possible.

  In the above embodiment, the processing unit 21 outputs the position information that has been updated at the update timing to the position specifying unit 30 at the output timing of the third cycle. The update timing at which the given position information is updated is different from the output timing at which the given position information is output, and the output timing at which the given position information is output, and the given position information. The acquisition timing at which the corresponding second position information is acquired from the position specifying unit 30 is different.

  Here, the processing unit 21 may specify the update timing based on the walking detection timing for detecting the walking of the user who is the moving body.

  Accordingly, the technique of the present embodiment can be applied to the positioning device 20 that performs each process at the timing shown in FIG. As described above, taking human walking as an example, the position information acquired at the processing loop timing is not used as it is, but is used for external output after performing some kind of processing (in a narrow sense, processing for improving accuracy). To do is well thought out. In this case, the delay between the update timing and the acquisition timing is not only the delay between the output timing and the acquisition timing described in the first embodiment, but as shown as delay 1 in FIG. Also, it is necessary to consider the delay between the output timing and the acquisition timing.

  The two embodiments 1 and 2 to which the present invention is applied and the modifications thereof have been described above, but the present invention is not limited to the embodiments 1 and 2 and the modifications as they are, The constituent elements can be modified and embodied without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, in FIGS. 6 and 9, the autonomous positioning device corrects the position information of autonomous positioning using the position information acquired by map matching as another position specifying unit. Instead of this map matching, a wireless position measurement means such as GPS may be used as another position specifying unit. When using a positioning means such as GPS, unlike the map matching, the autonomous positioning device does not need to output the current position information to another position specifying unit. Various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the above-described first and second embodiments and modifications. For example, you may delete a some component from all the components described in each Embodiment 1-2 or the modification. Furthermore, you may combine suitably the component demonstrated in different embodiment and modification. In addition, a term described together with a different term having a broader meaning or the same meaning at least once in the specification or the drawings can be replaced with the different term anywhere in the specification or the drawings. Thus, various modifications and applications are possible without departing from the spirit of the invention.

10 Autonomous positioning sensor, 11 Acceleration sensor, 13 Gyro sensor,
15 pressure sensor, 17 geomagnetic sensor, 20 positioning device, 21 processing unit,
23 storage units, 30 position specifying units, 40 networks, 100 electronic devices,
201 microcomputer, 300 server system, 1001, 1002 smartphone

Claims (14)

Based on the sensor information from the sensor for autonomous positioning, a processing unit for performing autonomous positioning calculation processing to obtain the position information of the moving body,
A storage unit that associates and stores the position information obtained by the processing unit and specific information that specifies the position information;
Including
The processor is
Obtaining first position information of the mobile body;
Obtaining the second position information and the second specific information of the mobile body specified by another position specifying unit;
Obtaining third position information corresponding to the second specific information among the position information stored in the storage unit;
A positioning apparatus that corrects the first position information based on the second position information and the third position information. In claim 1,
The processor is
Obtaining difference information between the first position information and the third position information;
A positioning apparatus characterized in that a result of correction processing based on information obtained by performing calculation processing of the obtained difference information and second position information is used as the position information of the moving body. In claim 1 or 2,
The processor is
A positioning apparatus, wherein the position information output from the processing unit at a given timing is obtained as the second position information, as a result of map matching processing in the position specifying unit. In any one of Claims 1 thru | or 3,
The processor is
When the second position information associated with the second specific information is acquired from the position specifying unit after the fourth position information associated with the fourth specific information is output to the position specifying unit. A positioning device that identifies the fourth position information as the third position information based on the second identification information. In claim 4,
The processor is
A positioning device that identifies the fourth position information as the third position information when the output fourth identification information corresponds to the acquired second identification information. In claim 4 or 5,
The storage unit
N (N is an integer of 2 or more) pieces of the position information are stored in association with the specific information,
The processor is
Of the N pieces of position information stored in the storage unit, the third corresponding to the second position information based on the second specific information associated with the second position information. A positioning device characterized by identifying position information of the vehicle. In claim 6,
The processor is
When the third position information corresponding to the second position information cannot be specified from the N pieces of position information stored in the storage unit, the N stored in the storage unit Among the pieces of position information, the position information stored most recently in time is used as the third position information. In any one of Claims 1 thru | or 7,
The processor is
A positioning apparatus characterized in that time stamp information indicating processing timing of the position information is associated with the position information as the specific information. In any one of Claims 1 thru | or 8.
The processor is
At the update timing of the first period, the position information is updated based on the calculation processing of the autonomous positioning,
In the acquisition timing of the second cycle, the second position information is acquired from the position specifying unit,
The update timing at which the given position information is updated is different from the acquisition timing at which the second position information corresponding to the given position information is acquired from the position specifying unit. Positioning device. In claim 9,
The processor is
The position information subjected to the update process at the update timing is output to the position specifying unit at an output timing of a third period,
The update timing at which the given position information is updated is different from the output timing at which the given position information is output, and the output timing at which the given position information is output; The positioning apparatus, wherein the second position information corresponding to given position information is different from the acquisition timing at which the second position information is acquired from the position specifying unit. In claim 10,
The processor is
The positioning device, wherein the update timing is specified by a walking detection timing for detecting a walking of a user who is the moving body.   An electronic apparatus comprising the positioning device according to claim 1. In claim 12,
The electronic device further comprising the position specifying unit. Based on the sensor information from the sensor for autonomous positioning, the autonomous positioning calculation processing is performed to obtain the first position information of the moving body,
Obtaining the second position information and the second specific information of the mobile body specified by another position specifying unit;
Of the positional information that is the result of the calculation processing of the autonomous positioning stored in the storage unit, obtain third positional information corresponding to the second specific information,
A positioning method, wherein a process of correcting the first position information is performed based on the second position information and the third position information.

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