JP2017049160A - Radio communication device, positioning system, current position acquisition method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a radio communication device, positioning system, current position acquisition method, and program that can obtain positional information on a group with improved accuracy when the group moves.SOLUTION: A radio communication device comprises: positioning means for obtaining a current position; communication means for communicating with an external apparatus; group relative movement amount calculation means for calculating the amount of group relative movement involved in a plurality of external apparatuses by tallying the amounts of relative movement obtained by the communication means from the plurality of external apparatuses; and current position update means for updating the current position on the basis of the amount of group relative movement and the current position obtained latest.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a wireless communication device, a positioning system, a current position acquisition method, and a program.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a technique for acquiring a current position by performing positioning by receiving radio waves from a plurality of positioning satellites according to GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) and performing arithmetic processing. Radio waves from positioning satellites can be received all over the world, and high-precision positioning is possible over a wide range. However, radio waves from positioning satellites cannot be received indoors or underground, so positioning cannot be performed in such places.

  On the other hand, there is a technique for detecting a movement state of a user of an electronic device using an acceleration sensor, a direction sensor, or the like. By calculating the movement speed and movement direction of the user using these sensors and integrating the movement distance, the relative movement amount can be obtained by the electronic device alone without external support information such as a positioning satellite. . However, with this technique, the calculation error of the relative movement amount is integrated along with the integration of the relative movement amount, so that it is generally not suitable for acquiring the relative movement amount for a long time. In addition, in order to acquire position information by this technique, reference initial position information is necessary.

  In response to these issues, positioning based on the reception of satellite radio waves (referred to as satellite positioning) and calculation of relative movement using electronic device sensors (referred to as autonomous positioning) are appropriate depending on conditions such as whether radio waves can be received. There is a technique for selecting and combining them to acquire a current position with higher accuracy (Patent Document 1).

JP 2006-177772 A

  However, as described above, the accuracy of autonomous positioning is generally not very high. In addition, when multiple people move in groups, the current position and route history obtained by autonomous positioning in the wireless communication devices used by each of the multiple people are likely to diverge, and position information can be acquired appropriately. There is a problem of disappearing.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a wireless communication device, a positioning system, a current position acquisition method, and a program capable of acquiring the position information of the group with higher accuracy during group movement.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention
Positioning means for obtaining the current position;
A communication means for communicating with an external device;
Collective relative movement amount calculating means for calculating the relative movement amounts of the plurality of external devices by summing up the relative movement amounts acquired by the communication means from a plurality of external devices;
Current position updating means for updating the current position based on the group relative movement amount and the current position obtained most recently;
A wireless communication apparatus comprising:

  According to the present invention, there is an effect that the position information of the group can be acquired with higher accuracy when the group moves.

1 is an overall view of a positioning system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of a parent communication apparatus and a communication apparatus, respectively. It is a sequence diagram which shows exchange of the communication data between a parent communication apparatus and a communication apparatus. It is a figure which shows the format of the audio | voice data transmitted from a parent communication apparatus in this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the control procedure of the present position calculation process performed with a parent communication apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the control procedure of the present position acquisition process performed with a communication apparatus.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a positioning system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

This positioning system 1 includes a parent communication device 10 (master client) as a wireless communication device and a computer, a plurality of communication devices 20 (slave clients) as external devices, and an access point 40. The parent communication device 10 and the communication device 20 are connected by a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) via the access point 40, and wireless communication is possible.
The positioning system 1 is used such that a leader, a guide, an attendant, etc. deliver guide information from the parent communication device 10 to a plurality of communication devices 20 used by a plurality of users who act as a single group. Consists of.

  The parent communication device 10 transmits information such as guide voice by multicast to the communication device 20 using a predetermined application program, for example, a voice transmission application. The master communication device 10 outputs the current position information to the communication device 20 and outputs a command for measuring the relative movement amount as necessary. As the parent communication device 10, for example, a general-purpose portable communication device such as a smartphone is used. However, a dedicated communication device such as a voice guide device for a specific purpose may be used, or a notebook PC, a tablet PC, or the like. It may be.

  The communication device 20 performs processing for receiving the information transmitted from the parent communication device 10 and notifying the user, for example, processing for decoding voice data and outputting voice. Further, the communication device 20 measures the relative movement amount of the own device and identifies the current position at a predetermined interval according to the relative movement amount measurement command transmitted from the parent communication device 10, and transmits the measurement data to the parent communication device. 10 to send. As the communication device 20, a smartphone or the like is used like the parent communication device 10.

  The access point 40 has a function of a switching hub that controls transmission / reception of wireless communication data between at least a plurality of communication devices (including the parent communication device 10). Here, the access point 40 is connected to an external Internet or the like. Possible routers and L3 (layer 3) switches. All or some of the clients connected to the access point 40 are set in the same LAN (subnet). For example, a fixed IP address is assigned to the parent communication device 10 and the communication device 20 in advance, and the access point 40 (router) performs subnet setting in which all the assigned IP addresses are included in the same LAN.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating functional configurations of the parent communication device 10 and the communication device 20 according to the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 2A, the master communication device 10 includes a CPU 11 (Central Processing Unit) (current position update means, current position transmission control means, relative movement amount acquisition control means, first movement amount calculation means, group Relative movement amount calculation means), ROM 12 (Read Only Memory), RAM 13 (Random Access Memory), measurement section 14 (first measurement means), storage section 15 (parameter storage means, positioning range storage means), , Input unit 16, output unit 17, communication unit 18 (communication means), satellite radio wave reception processing unit 19 (positioning means, satellite positioning means), bus 100, input / output interface 101, and the like.

  The CPU 11 performs various arithmetic processes and controls the overall operation of the parent communication device 10. Further, the CPU 11 executes the information distribution program 151 to distribute guide information stored in the storage unit 15, guide voice input from the input unit 16, and the like to the communication device 20.

  The ROM 12 stores a basic control program and initial setting data related to the operation of the parent communication device 10. The ROM 12 may include an EEPROM or flash memory that can be rewritten and updated in addition to the mask ROM as a built-in storage.

  The RAM 13 provides a working memory space to the CPU 11 and stores temporary data. Various volatile memories such as DRAM and SRAM are used for the RAM 13.

  The measurement unit 14 performs a measurement operation of a physical amount related to detection of a movement state of the parent communication device 10, more specifically, a relative movement amount. The measurement unit 14 includes, for example, an acceleration sensor 141 (acceleration measurement means), an orientation sensor 142, and the like. The acceleration sensor 141 detects the magnitudes of the vertical and horizontal movements in three axial directions related to the user's walking and the like. The azimuth sensor 142 detects a direction corresponding to the moving direction (a vertical movement direction and a direction perpendicular to the left-right movement direction) detected by the acceleration sensor 141. As the acceleration sensor 141, a semiconductor sensor using a piezoelectric element is used, and as the direction sensor 142, a sensor using an MR element (magnetoresistance element) is used. Further, the moving direction may be measured using a gyro sensor or the like instead of the direction sensor.

  The storage unit 15 is a removable external storage medium such as a miniSD card. The miniSD card stores various applications (programs) and data. The program stored in the storage unit 15 includes an information distribution program 151. The information distribution program 151 further includes a communication control program 151a for controlling the setting of access points of the parent communication device 10 and the communication device 20. Is included. The data stored in the storage unit 15 includes an autonomous positioning setting parameter 152 and reception area setting data 153 related to autonomous positioning described later.

  The input unit 16 includes an operation unit 161 (operation reception unit) for receiving a user operation. The operation unit 161 includes, for example, a touch panel provided on the display screen of the output unit 17 or a side surface of a smartphone casing. Provided with a push button switch and / or a slide switch. The input unit 16 converts an operation performed on the operation unit 161 into an electric signal and outputs the electric signal to the input / output interface 101 as an input signal. The input unit 16 includes a microphone 162 (microphone) for acquiring sound.

  The output unit 17 outputs a signal that can be perceived by the user's vision, hearing, touch, and the like. The output unit 17 includes a display unit having a display screen, a voice output unit 171 for performing a notification operation in response to an incoming call, a vibration generation unit, and the like. For example, an LCD (liquid crystal display) is used as the display screen, but the display screen is not limited thereto. The display unit may include an LED (Light Emitting Diode) lamp or the like. The audio output unit 171 includes a speaker that outputs audio, an earphone connection terminal (earphone jack), a circuit including a piezoelectric element that generates a beep sound, and the like. Moreover, as a vibration generation part, the vibration motor with a weight etc. are used, for example.

  The communication unit 18 performs wireless communication with the outside of the parent communication device 10 in accordance with a predetermined standard. The communication unit 18 includes, for example, a communication radio wave transmission / reception circuit and a built-in antenna with a base station for performing telephone communication, a network card for performing data communication by connecting to the Internet and a wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11), and a built-in antenna. An antenna. Further, the communication unit 18 may include an RFIC tag for performing near field communication, a communication module for performing near field communication such as Bluetooth communication (registered trademark: Bluetooth), and the like.

  The satellite radio wave reception processing unit 19 receives radio waves from a plurality of positioning satellites, demodulates and decodes each navigation message, calculates a current position, and outputs information related to the current position.

  The input / output interface 101 is connected to the bus 100 together with the CPU 11, the ROM 12, and the RAM 13 (collectively referred to as a control unit), and controls the exchange of data between the outside and the control unit in accordance with the standard of the connected device.

The bus 100 is a communication path for exchanging data between each unit of the control unit and the input / output interface 101.
The input / output interface 101 can be separately provided for the storage unit 15, the input unit 16, the output unit 17, and the communication unit 18 and connected to the bus 100.

As shown in FIG. 2B, the communication device 20 includes a CPU 21 (second movement amount calculation unit), a ROM 22, a RAM 23, a measurement unit 24 (second measurement unit), a storage unit 25, An input unit 26, an output unit 27, a communication unit 28 (external communication means), a bus 200, an input / output interface 201, and the like are provided. The input unit 26 includes an operation unit 261 and a microphone 262, and the output unit 27 includes an audio output unit 271.
Of these, the CPU 21, ROM 22, RAM 23, measurement unit 24, input unit 26, output unit 27, communication unit 28, bus 200, and input / output interface 201 are the CPU 11, ROM 12, RAM 13, and measurement in the parent communication device 10, respectively. The configuration is the same as that of the unit 14, the input unit 16, the output unit 17, the communication unit 18, the bus 100, and the input / output interface 101.
The communication device 20 may include a satellite radio wave reception processing unit as with the parent communication device 10.

  The storage unit 25 is a portable external storage medium such as a miniSD card, similar to the storage unit 15 in the parent communication device 10. The storage unit 25 stores an information reception program 251 that receives and processes (reproduces) distribution data distributed from the parent communication device 10, for example, audio data.

Next, the positioning operation by the positioning system 1 of the present embodiment will be described.
When the parent communication device 10 (and the communication device 20) can receive radio waves from the positioning satellite, the master communication device 10 (and communication device 20) can receive the radio waves from the positioning satellite and perform positioning (satellite positioning) independently. When the parent communication device 10 and the communication device 20 move to an area where satellite positioning is difficult, such as indoor or underground, the parent communication device 10 and the communication device 20 calculate the relative movement amount using the measurement data of the measurement units 14 and 24. Then, autonomous positioning is performed to obtain the current position by adding to the position acquired by satellite positioning.

  In the autonomous positioning, for example, when the user of the communication device 20 is walking, the acceleration measured by the acceleration sensor 241 is a combination of the vertical movement accompanying the movement of the center of gravity and the horizontal movement accompanying the alternate movement of the legs. By separating these acceleration changes, the number of steps taken by the user and the direction of movement of the user can be obtained. The direction of the movement direction of the user is specified by the measurement data of the direction sensor 242, and the movement distance is acquired by multiplying the number of movement steps of the user by the step value by registering the user's step length data in advance.

In autonomous positioning, since the step length data is likely to contain an error, the accuracy of the movement distance is likely to be uneven. Further, since the movement amount is integrated, the error from the initial position is also integrated and enlarged accordingly.
In the positioning system 1, the master communication device 10 makes a measurement of the relative movement amount to the plurality of communication devices 20 and requests transmission of the measurement result to acquire information related to the relative movement amount, and the representative position of the group By obtaining (collective position), the low accuracy related to the calculation of each relative movement amount is compensated. The parent communication device 10 transmits the obtained collective position to each communication device 20 so that each communication device 20 can use the data of the collective location.

  At this time, the parent communication device 10 can set stride data in each communication device 20. The stride also depends on various characteristics such as the size (number of people) of the group of users of the communication device 20 and the purpose of movement of the group. For example, the larger the group, the smaller the overall moving speed, that is, the stride, and the more the elderly, the easier the overall moving speed becomes. In addition, for example, the stride is likely to be different between the movement for art appreciation and the movement for outdoor hiking. Therefore, different step length data is stored in the autonomous positioning setting parameter 152 as a list in accordance with the characteristics of the members of the group such as age, gender and number of persons (that is, the user characteristics of the communication device 20) and the purpose of the group. In addition, an appropriate parameter can be selected and transmitted from the parent communication device 10 to each communication device 20 at the time of an autonomous positioning start command, and can be set by each communication device 20. In each communication device 20, the parameter may be further corrected according to the height of each member.

  FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram illustrating communication data exchange between the parent communication device 10 and the communication device 20.

  If the parent communication device 10 determines that the autonomous positioning is necessary, the initial position information set by multicast transmission to the plurality of communication devices 20 via the access point 40 after the initial position is set. And an autonomous positioning start command is transmitted. The situation related to the necessity of autonomous positioning is not limited to whether or not the current satellite radio waves can be received, but the satellite radio wave receivable range (positioning is possible) along the movement path of the group for map data that is stored in advance. Range) reception area setting data 153, and the position (such as the entrance of the building) and timing (predetermined distance from the entrance of the building along the movement route) immediately before the satellite radio wave reception becomes impossible. ), Etc. (predetermined conditions related to the possibility of deviating from the positioning possible range), etc. You may do it.

  When receiving the autonomous positioning start command from the parent communication device 10, the communication device 20 acquires a measurement value from the measurement unit 24 and starts an autonomous positioning operation. The communication device 20 transmits the result of the autonomous positioning, that is, the data of the current position data and / or the relative movement amount (vector value of direction and size) to the parent communication device 10 by unicast at a predetermined interval. The interval of autonomous positioning is set as appropriate, but when acquiring the relative movement amount of the walking state, the movement of the leg of the pedestrian, that is, the period of walking for more than a predetermined number of steps (such as two steps) for step number identification Since a history of changes in acceleration is required, the interval becomes several seconds or longer.

  The parent communication device 10 calculates the relative movement amount (group relative movement amount) of the group by adding up the current position data and / or the data of the relative movement amount received from each communication device 20 every predetermined elapsed time, A new current position (group position) is obtained by adding the group relative movement amount to the most recently obtained current position. The parent communication device 10 transmits the obtained collective position to each communication device 20 as a new reference position. Since the delivery of voice data related to RTP or the like is sufficiently shorter than the interval of autonomous positioning such as a 20 ms interval, when there is no transmission / reception data related to autonomous positioning, only voice data needs to be transmitted. If necessary, transmission / reception data related to autonomous positioning may be added as described above. If there is no transmission of audio data and packet transmission of information data is performed intermittently, and there is no other data transmission / reception during data transmission / reception related to autonomous positioning, only data related to autonomous positioning is transmitted / received. May be.

  The total of the relative movement amounts can be obtained simply by obtaining an average value of the relative movement amounts. Alternatively, predetermined weighting may be performed based on the distribution characteristic of the relative movement amount. For example, in a situation where almost the entire group (almost all of the communication devices 20) is moving within a predetermined azimuth range, the group is stationary (relative movement amount is about zero), or the azimuth of movement is greatly deviated. Relative movement amount data such as existing data can be excluded by setting a variance value of size and exception detection condition of direction, etc., or aggregated by setting the weight to be smaller than other data . Moreover, such conditions can be changed according to the distribution of the relative movement amount. For example, aggregation can be performed under different conditions depending on whether the distribution is close to a normal distribution with respect to movement in one direction or close to a binomial distribution.

  The master communication device 10 is used when the satellite positioning is temporarily possible or when the location information is previously set and stored in the storage unit 15 or the like, for example, a predetermined meeting point in a scheduled patrol route In such a case, the autonomous positioning in each communication device 20 is not stopped by automatic determination or a predetermined input operation by the user to the operation unit 161 of the parent communication device 10, and the obtained current position is used as a reference position for each communication device 20. Can be sent. When returning to a situation in which satellite positioning is possible continuously, the parent communication device 10 outputs an autonomous positioning stop command to each communication device 20, and the communication device 20 causes the measurement unit 24 to Cancel autonomous positioning based on measurement results.

  The parent communication device 10 can embed these communication contents to the communication device 20 in normal distribution data and transmit it. For example, when voice data is periodically transmitted to the communication device 20, a command related to whether or not autonomous positioning is performed and information related to the reference position can be embedded in a packet including the voice data.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a format of audio data transmitted from the parent communication device 10 in the present embodiment.
The parent communication device 10 of this embodiment converts the audio signal acquired by the microphone 162 into digital data, and uses UDP / IP (User Datagram Protocol / Internet Protocol) using RTP (Real-time Transport Protocol) (predetermined format). ) Can be distributed in real time by multicast transmission. As shown in FIG. 4A, RTP data is generated by adding an RTP header in front of an RTP payload composed of audio data and the above-described control data. A MAC (Media Access Control) frame body is obtained by further adding a UDP header (transport layer), an IP header (network layer), and the like to the RTP data. The communication unit 18 appropriately encrypts the MAC frame body (WEP, WPA-TKIP, WPA2-AES, etc.), adds an IEEE802.11 header to generate a MAC frame, and further adds this MAC frame data (frame data). A physical header is added and transmitted to the access point 40. Each communication device 20 confirms that the frame data transmitted from the access point 40 is addressed to its own MAC address (addressed to the MAC address corresponding to the multicast address including its own device), and captures the frame data. The encrypted MAC frame body is decrypted, and data is acquired and processed in a format according to UDP / IP and RTP.

As shown in FIG. 4B, at the head of the RTP header (the fixed header is 12 bytes), the number of RTP version identifiers, a flag related to the presence / absence of padding settings and extension headers, the number of CSRC (Contributing Source) identifiers, 16 bits (2 bytes) including marker bits are included, and the last 7 bits of the 16 bits are an identifier (payload type PT) of the RTP payload. The identifier of the RTP payload is partly assigned as a default value among “0” to “127” according to an encoding method such as audio data or moving image data. In the positioning system 1 of the present embodiment, the default is set as the default value. For the numbers to which no value is assigned, for example, “16” to “23”, the presence / absence or type of control data is set and used by the information delivery program related to voice delivery. Here, as shown in FIGS. 4C and 4D, whether or not the reference position data is included in the contents of the RTP payload (whether or not only audio data in a predetermined format (compression format) is included). Different identifiers are set accordingly.
Although the reference position data is a part of the RTP payload here, it may be an element of an extension header arranged subsequent to the fixed header of the RTP header.

  As described above, the control data may include an autonomous positioning start / stop command and reference position information. In addition, setting parameters such as stride data for autonomous positioning may be included.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a control procedure by the CPU 11 of the current position calculation process executed by the parent communication device 10 of the present embodiment.
Here, the current position calculation process is executed together with the above-described frame data transmission process to the communication device 20 by multicast.

  The CPU 11 starts generating frame data (step S101), and then determines whether it is the acquisition timing of the current position (step S102). If it is determined that it is not the acquisition timing of the current position (“NO” in step S102), the CPU 11 transmits frame data including only distribution data and returns the process to step S102.

  If it is determined that it is the current position acquisition timing (“YES” in step S102), the CPU 11 determines whether satellite positioning is possible (step S103). If it is determined that satellite positioning is possible (“YES” in step S103), the CPU 11 acquires a positioning result from the satellite radio wave reception processing unit 19 (step S104).

  The CPU 11 determines whether or not the autonomous positioning is being performed (step S106). If it is determined that the autonomous positioning is being performed ("YES" in step S106), the CPU 11 stores the current position data. At the same time, the communication device 20 is caused to transmit a frame including an autonomous positioning stop command (step S108). Then, the process of the CPU 11 returns to step S102.

  When it is determined that autonomous positioning is not being executed (“NO” in step S106), the CPU 11 causes the communication device 20 to transmit frame data including the current position data (step S107). Then, the process of the CPU 11 returns to step S102.

  If it is determined in step S103 that satellite positioning is not possible ("NO" in step S103), the CPU 11 has already transmitted an autonomous positioning start command to the communication device 20, and It is determined whether or not data related to the result of autonomous positioning is acquired from the communication device 20 (step S121). When it is determined that the data related to the autonomous positioning result has been acquired (“YES” in step S121), the CPU 11 calculates the group relative movement amount by adding up the acquired autonomous positioning results, and the previous time A new current position is calculated by adding to the current position (step S122). The CPU 11 causes the communication device 20 to transmit frame data including new current position data (step S123). Then, the process of the CPU 11 returns to step S102.

  When it is determined that data related to the result of autonomous positioning has not been acquired (“NO” in step S121), the CPU 11 transmits frame data including an autonomous positioning start command to the communication device 20 together with the current position data. (Step S124). This autonomous positioning start command can include parameters related to the above-described stride setting. Then, the process of the CPU 11 returns to step S102.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a control procedure by the CPU 21 of the current position acquisition process executed by the communication device 20.

  The CPU 21 starts acquiring frame data from the parent communication device 10 (step S201), and acquires current position data in the frame data (step S202). Note that when the current position data is not necessarily included in all the frame data, the CPU 21 determines the PT header as described above, and obtains the current position data from the frame data only when the current position data is included. get. The CPU 21 determines whether or not the autonomous positioning is currently performed (step S203). If it is determined that the autonomous positioning is not performed ("NO" in step S203), the autonomous positioning starts in the frame data. It is determined whether or not an instruction is included (step S204). If it is determined that it is not included (“NO” in step S204), the processing of the CPU 21 returns to step S202.

  When it is determined that an autonomous positioning start command is included (“YES” in step S204), the CPU 21 determines that, if necessary, that is, if each sensor of the measurement unit 24 is not operating, The measurement operation by the sensor is started (step S205). The CPU 21 acquires measurement data from the measurement unit 24 at a predetermined sampling frequency (step S206).

  The CPU 21 determines whether or not it is the positioning timing (step S207). If it is determined that it is not the positioning timing (“NO” in step S207), the processing of the CPU 21 returns to step S202.

  If it is determined that it is the positioning timing (“YES” in step S207), the CPU 21 calculates the relative movement amount from the measurement data acquired from the measurement unit 24 (step S208). The CPU 21 unicasts the calculated relative movement amount to the parent communication device 10 (step S209). Then, the process of the CPU 21 returns to step S202.

  If it is determined in the determination process of step S203 that the current autonomous positioning is being performed (“YES” in step S203), the CPU 21 determines whether or not an autonomous positioning stop command is included in the frame data. (Step S214). If it is determined that it is not included (“NO” in step S214), the processing of the CPU 21 proceeds to step S206.

  When it is determined that the autonomous positioning stop command is included in the frame data (“YES” in step S214), the CPU 21 stops the measurement operation by each sensor of the measurement unit 24 as necessary (step S214). Then, the process of the CPU 21 returns to step S202.

Thus, in each communication device 20, the current position information of the group is acquired from the parent communication device 10 regardless of whether satellite positioning or autonomous positioning is performed. Each communication device 20 can generate digital photo metadata and the like using the acquired current position information of the group.
Here, when the group becomes large, the relative position in the group may be greatly different for each communication device 20. However, the positional relationship among the members within the group often does not change much. Therefore, the parent communication device 10 can acquire the positional relationship information of each communication device 20 and transmit it to each communication device 20 as predetermined offset information together with the collective position information.

As this positional relationship, for example, a change in received signal strength (RSSI) from each communication device 20 with respect to a known access point 40, that is, by obtaining the strongest timing difference, the plurality of communication devices 20 Information related to the order of movement is acquired.
This positional relationship can also be used for the above-described calculation of the collective relative movement amount. For example, the relative movement amount acquired from the communication device 20 related to the member whose movement timing is greatly shifted may be set not to be used for calculation of the collective relative movement amount or to be used with a relatively small weight. I can do it.

As described above, the parent communication device 10 according to the positioning system 1 of the present embodiment includes the satellite radio wave reception processing unit 19 that acquires the current position, the communication unit 18 that communicates with the communication device 20 that is an external device, and the CPU 11. And so on. The CPU 11 calculates the group relative movement amount related to the plurality of external devices by adding up the relative movement amounts acquired by the communication unit 18 from the plurality of external devices as the group relative movement amount calculation unit, and as the current position update unit. The current position is updated based on the collective relative movement amount and the most recently obtained current position.
As described above, since the relative movement amounts related to the autonomous positioning whose accuracy is not so good are aggregated in the trend of the entire group, variation in the relative movement amount of the group can be suppressed. Thereby, the position information of the group can be acquired with higher accuracy when the group moves.

  In addition, by acquiring position information with higher accuracy for the group of the parent communication device 10 and the communication device 20 in this way, and using (including) these position information for metadata (property) of digital photographs and the like. In addition, it is possible to hold the record by utilizing the position information of the room or the like that has been difficult to obtain with high accuracy in the past. In particular, when the time during which satellite positioning is difficult due to indoor movement becomes long, the time until the positioning result of autonomous positioning becomes difficult to use can be extended longer by preventing the deterioration of accuracy in this way. .

  Further, the CPU 11 as the group relative movement amount calculation means calculates the group relative movement amount by weighting each of the plurality of relative movement amounts based on the distribution characteristics of the acquired values of the plurality of relative movement amounts. Features. Accordingly, it is possible to obtain a more appropriate movement amount of the group by excluding the movement of the user of the communication device 20 that temporarily moves out of the movement of the group.

  Further, the CPU 11 determines, as relative movement amount acquisition control means, whether or not positioning by the satellite radio wave reception processing unit 19 is possible, and if not, requests a plurality of external devices to transmit the relative movement amount. To do. As a result, the parent communication device 10 acquires the relative movement amount and performs autonomous positioning only during a necessary period, so that unnecessary communication is reduced and the external device is not allowed to perform an operation related to unnecessary autonomous positioning. Can be made.

The CPU 11 as a relative movement amount acquisition control means includes a storage unit 15 that stores information related to a positioning range by the satellite radio wave reception processing unit 19 as reception area setting data 153. When a predetermined condition relating to the possibility of deviating from the positioning possible range, such as a predetermined distance or less before the entry point, is satisfied, the communication devices 20 are requested to transmit a relative movement amount.
In this way, when the timing at which the satellite radio waves cannot be received can be predicted, rather than after the satellite radio waves can not be actually received, the transmission request for the relative movement amount is transmitted to the communication device 20 immediately before the actual timing. At the timing when satellite radio waves can no longer be received, it is possible to quickly shift to autonomous positioning.

  The satellite radio wave reception processing unit 19 receives radio waves from the positioning satellite and calculates the current position. Further, the positioning possible range stored as the reception area setting data 153 includes a radio wave receiving range from the positioning satellite, that is, a portion whose field of view is wider than a predetermined range centering on the outdoors. In this way, while positioning can be obtained with high accuracy in a wide range of locations around the world, the movement range of the group can be set by appropriately switching between satellite positioning and autonomous positioning where the positioning is difficult such as indoors. Is limited, it is possible to switch to autonomous positioning by a simple discrimination process with a small amount of data.

In addition, the storage unit 15 stores parameters relating to the calculation of the relative movement amount in the plurality of communication devices 20 as the autonomous positioning setting parameter 152, and the CPU 11 serving as the relative movement amount acquisition control unit stores the user characteristics of the plurality of communication devices 20. The parameter selected from among the parameters corresponding to is transmitted to the communication device 20 by the communication unit 18 together with the transmission request for the relative movement amount.
That is, a parameter suitable for movement of a group that tends to be different from the stride associated with normal movement of an individual is transmitted from the parent communication device 10 to each communication device 20 according to the group to calculate the relative movement amount. Thus, the relative movement amount can be calculated more accurately by each communication device 20, and as a result, the accuracy of the collective relative movement amount and the updated current position can be increased.

  In addition, the above-described user characteristics include at least one of age, gender, number of people, and user movement purpose. In this way, by setting parameters for each category that is likely to cause a large difference in stride or the like, the accuracy of calculating the relative movement amount can be further improved.

  In addition, an operation unit 161 that receives a user operation is provided, and parameter selection can be performed in accordance with an input operation received by the operation unit 161. Since such a setting is known by a group leader, guide, or attendant, a complicated determination process or the like is not required when the leader or the like easily performs an input operation. In addition, when such a leader performs an input operation for registering and setting group member information in the parent communication device 10, the appropriate parameter can be easily set without diverting the registration setting. Therefore, the relative movement amount (that is, the collective relative movement amount) can be calculated with higher accuracy.

Moreover, the measurement part 14 which measures the physical quantity which concerns on the movement state of an own machine is provided, and CPU11 operate | moves as a 1st movement amount calculation means which measures the relative movement amount from a reference position based on the measured value by the measurement part 14. To do. Then, the CPU 11 as the group relative movement amount calculation unit uses the relative movement amount calculated as the first movement amount calculation unit for calculating the group relative movement amount.
As described above, when the parent communication device 10 itself has the measurement unit 14, the measurement value of the measurement unit of the measurement unit 14 can be used for autonomous positioning. Thus, by increasing the number of measurements of the relative movement amount related to autonomous positioning, the accuracy of the required current position can be improved.

Further, the CPU 11 operates as a current position transmission control unit that transmits information related to the current position updated as the current position update unit to the plurality of communication devices 20 by the communication unit 18.
In other words, the collective position data calculated with higher accuracy than the conventional individual autonomous positioning is transmitted not only to the parent communication device 10 but also to the communication device 20 so that it can be used in common. Each user can record data by using the good position information.
Further, when comparing information such as digital camera photographs acquired between the respective communication devices 20 later, it becomes easy to achieve alignment by aligning the position information.

The positioning system 1 of the present embodiment includes the parent communication device 10 and the communication device 20 described above. The communication device 20 includes a measurement unit 24 that measures a physical quantity related to the movement state of the own device, a CPU 21, and an external device. The communication unit 28 that communicates with the parent communication device 10 is provided. In the communication device 20, the CPU 21 determines a reference position based on the measurement result by the measurement unit 24 (the current position when the current position is held, the initial position when the current position is held, or the initial position when the current position is not held). The communication unit 28 transmits the calculated relative movement amount to the parent communication device 10.
In this way, the parent communication device 10 and the communication device 20 do not perform autonomous positioning independently, but instead calculate the relative movement amount calculated by the parent communication device 10 once to calculate a more accurate collective relative movement amount. In addition, by calculating the current position of the group using the group relative movement amount, it is possible to easily acquire the position information of the group at the time of group movement with high accuracy using existing techniques.

In the communication device 20, the measurement unit 24 includes an acceleration sensor 241, and the CPU 21 as the second movement amount calculation unit identifies the number of steps of the user of the own device based on the measurement data of the acceleration sensor 241. Autonomous positioning is performed to calculate the moving distance by multiplying the number of moving steps by a preset stride value.
Since the individual communication devices 20 measure the relative movement amount with such a simple configuration, the communication device 20 does not need to have a special configuration, and the load of the communication device 20 does not increase more than necessary. The parent communication device 10 can obtain position information with higher accuracy indoors.

In addition, the information distribution program 151 stored in the storage unit 15 of the parent communication device 10 of the present embodiment includes a positioning unit that acquires the current position of the computer of the parent communication device 10, a communication unit that communicates with an external device, and a plurality of communication units. Group relative movement amount calculating means for calculating the group relative movement amount relating to the plurality of external devices by summing up the relative movement amounts acquired from the external device by the communication means, and the group relative movement amount Based on the current position, it functions as current position updating means for updating the current position.
This program can be used for satellite positioning even if it is normal, and it can be installed and executed on a mobile communication device such as a smartphone that is a general-purpose communication device equipped with an acceleration sensor or direction sensor. Even without preparing a terminal device, the position acquisition accuracy in a room or the like during group movement can be improved easily and widely.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, the parent communication device 10 and the communication device 20 make a local communication connection with a wireless LAN via the same access point. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Internet connection may be made via an access point individually. Alternatively, data may be transmitted and received by short-range wireless communication such as Bluetooth (registered trademark: Bluetooth) without using a LAN.

  Further, in the above embodiment, the relative movement amount data is transmitted from the communication device 20 to the parent communication device 10 only when satellite positioning is difficult, but may be transmitted even when satellite positioning is possible. . In this case, satellite positioning and autonomous positioning may be performed in parallel, and parameters relating to autonomous positioning may be corrected more appropriately. In addition, satellite positioning and autonomous positioning may be performed in parallel only until such correction is completed.

  In the above embodiment, the parent communication device 10 that calculates the group relative movement amount and updates the current position related to autonomous positioning is the communication device that is used by a leader, a guide, or the like. A communication device used by one person may be used. In this case, the autonomous positioning start command, the autonomous positioning stop command, and the current position information are transmitted separately from the delivery of guide information related to RTP or the like.

  In the above-described embodiment, the parent communication device 10 itself calculates the relative movement amount. However, the parent communication device 10 calculates the relative movement amount only by aggregation of the other communication devices 20. It does not have to be done. For example, when a special movement that is frequently different from the movement of the group according to the accompanying work (guidance work), it is possible to set so that the relative movement amount relating to the movement of itself is not calculated from the beginning. .

  Further, the master communication device 10 may acquire the current position based on the information of the connected access point without using the satellite positioning, and the position information is transmitted from the outside via the network line. It may be a thing.

  In the above embodiment, the case where the group moves on foot has been described. However, other methods, for example, bicycles and skis, may be used. Parameters necessary for the calculation are appropriately determined.

In the above description, the storage unit 15 including a portable external (external) storage medium such as a miniSD card is taken as an example of a computer-readable medium for storing the information distribution program 151 according to the present position calculation process of the present invention. Although described above, the present invention is not limited to this. As other computer-readable media, a portable recording medium such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), a flash memory according to various standards, a CD-ROM, and a DVD disk can be applied. A carrier wave is also applied to the present invention as a medium for providing program data according to the present invention via a communication line.
In addition, the specific configuration, processing contents, and procedures shown in the above embodiment can be changed as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and includes the scope of the invention described in the claims and equivalents thereof. .
The invention described in the scope of claims attached to the application of this application will be added below. The item numbers of the claims described in the appendix are as set forth in the claims attached to the application of this application.

[Appendix]
<Claim 1>
Positioning means for obtaining the current position;
A communication means for communicating with an external device;
Collective relative movement amount calculating means for calculating the relative movement amounts of the plurality of external devices by summing up the relative movement amounts acquired by the communication means from a plurality of external devices;
Current position updating means for updating the current position based on the group relative movement amount and the current position obtained most recently;
A wireless communication apparatus comprising:
<Claim 2>
2. The group relative movement amount calculating means calculates the group relative movement amount by weighting each of the plurality of relative movement amounts based on a distribution characteristic of the plurality of relative movement amounts. Wireless communication device.
<Claim 3>
It is determined whether or not positioning by the positioning unit is possible, and includes a relative movement amount acquisition control unit that requests the plurality of external devices to transmit the relative movement amount when it is determined that positioning is not possible. The wireless communication apparatus according to claim 1 or 2.
<Claim 4>
Positioning range storage means for storing information related to the positioning possible range by the positioning means,
The relative movement amount acquisition control means requests the plurality of external devices to transmit the relative movement amount when a predetermined condition relating to the possibility that the current position is out of the positioning possible range is satisfied. The wireless communication device according to claim 3.
<Claim 5>
The positioning means includes satellite positioning means for calculating a current position by receiving radio waves from positioning satellites,
The radio communication apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the positioning possible range includes a radio wave receivable range from the positioning satellite.
<Claim 6>
Parameter storage means for storing parameters relating to the calculation of the relative movement amount in the plurality of external devices,
The relative movement amount acquisition control means causes a parameter selected from parameters according to user characteristics of the plurality of external devices to be transmitted to the external device by the communication means together with the transmission request for the relative movement amount. The wireless communication device according to any one of claims 3 to 5.
<Claim 7>
The wireless communication apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the user characteristics include at least one of age, gender, number of persons, and a purpose of movement of the user.
<Claim 8>
An operation receiving means for receiving a user operation;
The wireless communication apparatus according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the parameter is selected according to an input operation received by the operation receiving means.
<Claim 9>
First measuring means for measuring a physical quantity related to the movement state of the own machine;
First movement amount calculating means for measuring a relative movement amount from a reference position based on a measurement value by the first measurement means;
With
The collective relative movement amount calculating means uses the relative movement amount calculated by the first movement amount calculating means for calculating the collective relative movement amount. The wireless communication device described.
<Claim 10>
The current position transmission control means for transmitting information related to the current position updated by the current position update means to the plurality of external devices by the communication means. The wireless communication device described.
<Claim 11>
A second measuring means for measuring a physical quantity related to the movement state of the own machine;
Second movement amount calculating means for calculating a relative movement amount from a reference position based on measurement data obtained by the second measurement means;
An external communication means for communicating with an external wireless communication device;
An external device comprising:
The wireless communication apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 10,
A positioning system including
The external communication means transmits the relative movement amount calculated by the second movement amount calculation means to the wireless communication device.
<Claim 12>
The second measuring means includes an acceleration measuring means,
The second moving amount calculating means identifies the moving step number of the user of the user's own machine based on the measurement data of the acceleration measuring means, and multiplies the moving step number by a preset stride value to obtain the moving distance. It calculates. The positioning system of Claim 11 characterized by the above-mentioned.
<Claim 13>
A current position acquisition method for a wireless communication device comprising positioning means for acquiring a current position and communication means for communicating with an external device,
A group relative movement amount calculating step for calculating a group relative movement amount relating to the plurality of external devices by summing up the relative movement amounts acquired by the communication means from a plurality of external devices;
A current position updating step for updating the current position based on the group relative movement amount and the most recently obtained current position;
The present position acquisition method characterized by including.
<Claim 14>
Computer
Positioning means to obtain the current position,
A communication means for communicating with an external device,
Group relative movement amount calculation means for calculating the group relative movement amount relating to the plurality of external devices by summing up the relative movement amounts acquired by the communication means from a plurality of external devices;
Current position updating means for updating the current position based on the collective relative movement amount and the most recently obtained current position;
A program characterized by functioning as

1 Positioning System 10 Parent Communication Device 11 CPU
12 ROM
13 RAM
14 Measurement unit 141 Acceleration sensor 142 Direction sensor 15 Storage unit 151 Information distribution program 151a Communication control program 152 Autonomous positioning setting parameter 153 Reception area setting data 16 Input unit 161 Operation unit 162 Microphone 17 Output unit 171 Audio output unit 18 Communication unit 19 Satellite Radio wave reception processing unit 20 communication device 21 CPU
22 ROM
23 RAM
24 measurement unit 241 acceleration sensor 242 direction sensor 25 storage unit 251 information reception program 26 input unit 261 operation unit 262 microphone 27 output unit 271 audio output unit 28 communication unit 40 access point 100 bus 101 input / output interface 200 bus 201 input / output interface

Claims (14)

Positioning means for obtaining the current position;
A communication means for communicating with an external device;
Collective relative movement amount calculating means for calculating the relative movement amounts of the plurality of external devices by summing up the relative movement amounts acquired by the communication means from a plurality of external devices;
Current position updating means for updating the current position based on the group relative movement amount and the current position obtained most recently;
A wireless communication apparatus comprising:   2. The group relative movement amount calculating means calculates the group relative movement amount by weighting each of the plurality of relative movement amounts based on a distribution characteristic of the plurality of relative movement amounts. Wireless communication device.   It is determined whether or not positioning by the positioning unit is possible, and includes a relative movement amount acquisition control unit that requests the plurality of external devices to transmit the relative movement amount when it is determined that positioning is not possible. The wireless communication apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. Positioning range storage means for storing information related to the positioning possible range by the positioning means,
The relative movement amount acquisition control means requests the plurality of external devices to transmit the relative movement amount when a predetermined condition relating to the possibility that the current position is out of the positioning possible range is satisfied. The wireless communication device according to claim 3. The positioning means includes satellite positioning means for calculating a current position by receiving radio waves from positioning satellites,
The radio communication apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the positioning possible range includes a radio wave receivable range from the positioning satellite. Parameter storage means for storing parameters relating to the calculation of the relative movement amount in the plurality of external devices,
The relative movement amount acquisition control means causes a parameter selected from parameters according to user characteristics of the plurality of external devices to be transmitted to the external device by the communication means together with the transmission request for the relative movement amount. The wireless communication device according to any one of claims 3 to 5.   The wireless communication apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the user characteristics include at least one of age, gender, number of persons, and a purpose of movement of the user. An operation receiving means for receiving a user operation;
The wireless communication apparatus according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the parameter is selected according to an input operation received by the operation receiving means. First measuring means for measuring a physical quantity related to the movement state of the own machine;
First movement amount calculating means for measuring a relative movement amount from a reference position based on a measurement value by the first measurement means;
With
The collective relative movement amount calculating means uses the relative movement amount calculated by the first movement amount calculating means for calculating the collective relative movement amount. The wireless communication device described.   The current position transmission control means for transmitting information related to the current position updated by the current position update means to the plurality of external devices by the communication means. The wireless communication device described. A second measuring means for measuring a physical quantity related to the movement state of the own machine;
Second movement amount calculating means for calculating a relative movement amount from a reference position based on measurement data obtained by the second measurement means;
An external communication means for communicating with an external wireless communication device;
An external device comprising:
The wireless communication apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 10,
A positioning system including
The external communication means transmits the relative movement amount calculated by the second movement amount calculation means to the wireless communication device. The second measuring means includes an acceleration measuring means,
The second moving amount calculating means identifies the moving step number of the user of the user's own machine based on the measurement data of the acceleration measuring means, and multiplies the moving step number by a preset stride value to obtain the moving distance. It calculates. The positioning system of Claim 11 characterized by the above-mentioned. A current position acquisition method for a wireless communication device comprising positioning means for acquiring a current position and communication means for communicating with an external device,
A group relative movement amount calculating step for calculating a group relative movement amount relating to the plurality of external devices by summing up the relative movement amounts acquired by the communication means from a plurality of external devices;
A current position updating step for updating the current position based on the group relative movement amount and the most recently obtained current position;
The present position acquisition method characterized by including. Computer
Positioning means to obtain the current position,
A communication means for communicating with an external device,
Group relative movement amount calculation means for calculating the group relative movement amount relating to the plurality of external devices by summing up the relative movement amounts acquired by the communication means from a plurality of external devices;
Current position updating means for updating the current position based on the collective relative movement amount and the most recently obtained current position;
A program characterized by functioning as

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