JP3013759B2 - Terminal-based communication system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication system using terminals, and more particularly to communication between a portable terminal, a vehicle-mounted terminal and an information center.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, various driving assistance devices such as a navigation device have been developed in accordance with the sophistication of vehicles.
It is installed. On the other hand, information devices such as personal computers have also been reduced in size and performance, and portable terminals have emerged. Therefore, it has been proposed to perform communication between the portable terminal and the on-board terminal to improve the use efficiency of both.

For example, in an electronic organizer disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-289997, an adapter is provided which is connected to a navigation system mounted on a vehicle and an electronic organizer.
A configuration including a communication circuit for exchanging data in an electronic organizer with data in a navigation system is disclosed. According to this, data such as an address book registered in the electronic organizer can be transmitted as destination data of the navigation system by a simple operation, and a troublesome key input operation in the conventional navigation system can be omitted.

[0004]

On the other hand, there is also a system for performing communication between a vehicle-mounted terminal (such as a navigation device) and an information center by a car telephone or the like and acquiring necessary information from the center with the development of an infrastructure. It has been developed, and it is conceivable that not only communication between the portable terminal and the in-vehicle terminal as in the related art, but also mutual communication between the portable terminal, the in-vehicle terminal, and the information center is performed.

In such a situation, for example, when trying to obtain traffic information using a portable terminal, data is input from the portable terminal and transmitted to an information center, and the information center edits the traffic information according to the data. However, since the traffic information itself is required when driving in a vehicle, the information acquired by the mobile terminal must be transferred to the on-board terminal before boarding the vehicle, Even with the use of the prior art adapter, the complexity remains. Also, even if you make an inquiry to the information center using the in-vehicle terminal,
Depending on the contents of the inquiry, it may take a long time for the information center to transmit the information, and during that time, the operator may not be able to leave the vehicle.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the related art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method for communicating with an information center using a plurality of mobile terminals to obtain necessary information. Another object of the present invention is to provide a communication system that transmits information directly from an information center to a mobile terminal, thereby reducing the complexity of operation and improving the usability.

[0007]

[0008]

[0009]

To achieve the above Symbol purposes SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention communicates between a plurality of the plurality of terminals and information center including a vehicle terminal, obtains the desired information in the terminal device A communication system for use, wherein each of the plurality of terminals includes a data input unit, a transmission unit that transmits input data to the information center, and information transmitted from the information center based on the input data. Receiving means for receiving information, wherein the information center classifies information to be transmitted based on the input data for each terminal type, and transmits the information for each terminal type. Means are provided.

[0010] Here, the classification means that the information to be transmitted is divided into terminals which are considered to be suitable for use in accordance with the content of the information to be transmitted. And collectively receive the information, and thereafter the operator can save the trouble of distributing the information for each terminal.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a system according to this embodiment. The home 100 is provided with a portable terminal (referred to as a PDA) 100a and a personal computer (personal computer) 100b, each of which is connected to the information center 300 by a telephone line. The PDA 100a and the personal computer 100b each include an input device (such as a keyboard),
It has communication means (modem, communication software, etc.) and a display device. On the other hand, the vehicle 200 has the navigation device 2
00a, and a data processing device 200b for supplying data to the navigation device. Communication between the vehicle 200 and the information center 300 is performed by an automobile telephone line, and data transmission and reception are performed by the data processing device 200b.
Runs. Also, in the information center 300, a database 300a in which various information is stored, a storage device 300b, and a search device 300c that accesses the database based on data transmitted from the home 100 or the vehicle 200 and searches for desired information; A communication control device 300d for transmitting a search result is provided.

In such a system, communication between the PDA 100a as a terminal, the personal computer 100b, the navigation device 200a and the information center 300 will be described by taking the acquisition of traffic congestion information and the acquisition of travel plan information as examples.

<Acquisition of Traffic Congestion Information> When driving with the vehicle 200, traffic congestion information for the area is often required. In this case, the driver first sends a request to search for traffic jam information from the PDA 100a or the personal computer 100b to the information center 300. Specifically, data required for the search is input from the input device, and transmitted to the information center 300 over a telephone line using communication software. Note that, for the search request, for example, a command determined in advance between the centers can be used.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a data format sent from the PDA 100a or the personal computer 100b to the information center 300. "ID" as a header,
"Password", "reply destination", and "reply destination ID" are specified, and "command" and "argument" are specified as data. The “ID” is for identifying the transmission source PDA 100a or the personal computer 100b, and a telephone number or the like can be used. The “reply destination” indicates whether or not there is a reply destination and the number of the reply destinations. In the example of FIG. 2, the reply destination is designated, and one reply destination is designated. If a reply destination is not specified, that is, if a reply is desired to the sender, this may be set to 0. The "reply destination ID" is used to specifically specify a reply destination.
The telephone number of the reply destination can be used. In the example of FIG. 2, the information to be acquired is traffic congestion information, and this information is
Since it is better to obtain it at 00, the reply destination ID is specified in the car phone of the vehicle 200. The “command” is previously agreed with the center as described above.
“11H” means search. The "argument" is used to specify an area for executing the command.
In the example of, traffic information is designated by a secondary mesh number on a map of an area in which traffic information is desired.

When designating the reply destination, the reply destination data can be sent sequentially following the command and the argument, instead of the header part.

As described above, when the search data is transmitted to the information center, the presence / absence information of the designation of the reply destination and the reply destination ID information are superimposed and transmitted as a header. When the search device 300c accesses the database 300a by interpreting the contents and obtains the necessary traffic congestion information, the information is transmitted to the designated reply destination. In this example, the mobile phone of the vehicle 200 is used. In the vehicle 200, the data congestion information transmitted from the information center 300 is processed by the data processing device 200b and supplied to the navigation device 200a. Therefore, when the operator gets on the vehicle, the necessary traffic jam information is
Because it is set to a, there is no need to wait at home until the search result of traffic congestion information is returned as in the past, and it is not necessary to connect with an adapter to input the search result to the vehicle. Information can be easily obtained and used.

<Acquisition of Travel Plan Information> Next, the case of acquiring a travel plan will be described. Note that, in this example, unlike the above-described acquisition of the traffic jam information, an example is shown in which the operator does not specify the reply destination and selects the terminal to which the reply is to be sent independently on the information center 300 side and sends the reply. Therefore, it is necessary for the operator to register a plurality of terminals desiring to reply to the information center 300 in advance. FIG. 3 shows an example of a terminal registered in advance, which is composed of “ID” and “device number”. As the “ID”, a telephone number or the like can be used. As the “device number”, for example, “01” is a PDA.
100a, "02" is the navigation device 200a,
“03” can be the personal computer 100b. In addition, it is also conceivable to register an office personal computer or the like as the device number “04”. The reply destination is stored in the storage device 300b of the information center 300.

After registering the reply destination in advance,
The operator requests travel plan creation using the PDA 100a or the personal computer 100b. FIG. 4 shows an example of a data format transmitted to the information center 300 when making a request. The header includes “ID”, “password”, and “reply destination”, but since the reply destination is not specified, 0
Is set. Further, as data, "command" and "number of people" which are information necessary for drafting a travel plan,
There are "Budget", "Destination", "Schedule", and "Requests". "Command" is pre-arranged with the center,
“12H” means travel planning. The "request items" are items for specifying ancillary facilities and the like.

When data is transmitted in such a data format, the information center 300 prepares a travel plan that meets the conditions. That is, the search device 300c accesses the database 300a in which various travel plans are stored, and searches for a travel plan that meets the conditions. Instead of holding the travel plan in the database 300a, external databases (owned by travel companies) 301, 302, and 303 may be accessed by communication as shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the result obtained by the search. The search result is composed of a time, a place, contents, a moving means to the place, and remarks, and is arranged in order of time in FIG. The remarks column is for displaying whether or not the place has been reserved if the content is a meal or the like. When a travel plan is drafted, the communication control device of the information center 300 uses the reservation terminal of each facility. The automatic reservation is performed by executing the reservation processing for. When the reservation is not possible or when the plan is not established due to a closed day of the facility, only that part may be changed to an alternative facility, and the plan may be redrawn. Specifically, if the restaurant searched as a place to eat is a holiday, a nearby alternative restaurant is newly searched again from the database, a reservation process is performed, and only the meal item is searched again. I just need. Further, at the time of replacement, a change in time required for the movement is calculated from the distance relationship between the facilities before and after the replacement, and a feasible travel plan can be made by adjusting the entire time schedule. After completing the travel planning, the communication control device 300d of the information center 300 returns the plan to the terminal that issued the planning request (since the return destination is "0").

The search device 300 of the information center 300
When c makes a travel plan, he classifies the plan for each terminal. Specifically, focusing on the item of “transportation means” in the travel plan, only the schedule in which the transportation means is a vehicle is extracted. FIG. 7 shows the plan extracted in this manner. Then, communication control device 300d of information center 300 transmits the plan to vehicle 200.
Therefore, for example, when a travel plan is requested using the PDA 100a, the entire plan is returned to the PDA 100a, and only the portion of the travel plan that uses the vehicle is automatically supplied to the navigation device 200a of the vehicle 200. become. Navigation device 20 for vehicle 200
0a stores the supplied schedule in memory,
The vehicle is guided according to this. Specifically, at a predetermined date and time, a destination and a stopover are automatically set based on the supplied schedule data, a route is calculated, and the driver is guided to the destination based on a route guidance function. I do.

If the vehicle is not started by the operator even at the predetermined date and time indicated in the schedule, the navigation device 200a automatically discards the input schedule, that is, stores the schedule in the memory. Delete the contents of the schedule. This eliminates the hassle of setting destinations and stopovers in the navigation system according to the schedule, and it is necessary to release the set destinations and stopovers each time even if the schedule changes and you do not go to drive. Disappears.

FIGS. 8 and 9 show flowcharts of the processing described above. FIG. 8 shows the processing in the information center 300, and FIG. 9 shows the processing in the vehicle 200.

In FIG. 8, the information center 300 has a PD
Upon receiving a command transmitted from the A 100a or the personal computer 100b (S101), the database 300a
Alternatively, an external database is searched (S102), and the result is returned (S103). In addition, it is determined whether or not the search result includes a part that uses another terminal (specifically, an in-vehicle terminal) (S104).
The data is extracted (S105) and the other terminal (vehicle 20)
0) (S106).

On the other hand, in FIG. 9, when the vehicle 200 receives data from the information center 300 (S201),
The data is stored in the memory of the navigation device 200a, and a predetermined date and time, that is, whether or not the date and time of the stored schedule has been reached is collated using a built-in calendar function or the like (S20).
2). If it is a predetermined date and time, the navigation device 200a sets a destination and a waypoint based on the schedule and creates a guidance route (S203). Specifically, the location indicated in the schedule is mapped on a map, and a conventional route search method (for example, the Dijkstra method) is used.
Is used to calculate the guidance route. Then, it is determined whether or not the movement of the vehicle has started during a predetermined time, that is, whether or not the operator has an intention to act as scheduled (S2).
04) If the vehicle starts moving within a certain time, for example, one hour before or after the first time of the schedule, route guidance is executed; otherwise, it is determined that the operator has changed the schedule. The destination and the waypoint that have been set are automatically deleted (S205).

Although the present embodiment has been described taking the terminal of the home and the vehicle as an example, the present invention can be applied to the terminal of the office and the vehicle, and the terminal of the office and the vehicle. In this embodiment, an example in which a search request is transmitted from a personal computer or a PDA at home has been described. However, a search request may be transmitted from a vehicle to an information center.

Further, in this embodiment, the case of requesting traffic jam information or a travel plan has been described, but it is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to request of other information. For example, when visiting a plurality of customers using a vehicle, it is also possible to request an information center for details of the costs required for the entire process and automatically transmit the data to a personal computer in an office. It is also conceivable that when requesting weather information from an information center, the information is automatically transmitted to the vehicle and the travel plan already set by the navigation device is changed.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the information requested by one terminal can be received by another terminal, the procedure of information transmission can be simplified. In particular, when a search request that requires time is performed, the operator does not need to wait for the end of the search and is automatically transmitted to a desired terminal, so that efficient information management becomes possible.
Usability is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a transmission format diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of reply destination registration according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is another transmission format diagram of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of an information center according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example (schedule) of a search result according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of data transmitted to a vehicle according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a processing flowchart of the information center according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a processing flowchart of the vehicle according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100 homes, 200 vehicles, 300 information centers.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A terminal communication system for communicating between a plurality of terminals including an in-vehicle terminal and an information center and acquiring desired information at the terminal, wherein each of the plurality of terminals has data input means and A transmitting unit that transmits input data to the information center; and a receiving unit that receives information transmitted from the information center based on the input data. A terminal-based communication system, comprising: communication control means for classifying information to be transmitted based on data for each terminal type and transmitting the information for each terminal type.