JP4409980B2 - Information providing apparatus, system including the same, operation program thereof, and information providing method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information providing apparatus that is installed in each of a plurality of places and provides information to a terminal at each place, a system including the information providing apparatus, an operation program thereof, and an information providing method, and more specifically, for example, The present invention relates to an information providing apparatus or the like that is installed at each booth in an exhibition hall or the like where a plurality of booths are provided, and that provides venue guidance information and the like at each booth.

  As a conventional information providing apparatus, for example, there is one described in Patent Document 1 below.

  This information providing apparatus counts the number of accesses for each of a plurality of menu items in the menu screen, and preferentially displays menu items having a large number of accesses.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-113863

  In the prior art, since menu items with a large number of accesses are displayed preferentially, popular menu items are easily noticeable to the user. As a result, the access frequency of menu items with a large number of accesses is increased, and the access frequency of menu items with a small number of accesses is further decreased. If this technology is used for venue guidance at the exhibition hall, it will become more crowded due to more people concentrating at the popular booth in the exhibition hall, making it impossible to efficiently guide the venue. However, there is a problem that efficient information provision may not be possible.

  The present invention has been made paying attention to such conventional problems, and is an information providing apparatus capable of efficiently providing information to a user, a system including the information providing apparatus, an operation program thereof, and an information providing method The purpose is to provide.

An information providing apparatus according to an invention for solving the above problems is
In the information providing device that is installed in each of a plurality of locations and provides information to the terminal at each location,
Congestion degree grasping means for grasping the congestion degree around the installation location;
Inter-device transmission / reception for transmitting the congestion degree at the installation location grasped by the congestion grasping means to the information providing device at another location and receiving the congestion degree at the other location from the information providing device at the other location Means,
Storage means for storing the congestion degree at the installation location grasped by the congestion degree grasping means, and the congestion degree at the other place received by the inter-device transmission / reception means;
Priority determining means for determining display priority of display information relating to each location provided to the terminal ;
Provided by the terminal, to be preferentially displayed than the display information of the lower-place display information with high display priority location display priority, to the terminal according to the display priority determined in the priority determining means Display information creating means for creating display information to be
An inter-terminal transmission / reception means for transmitting the display information created by the display information creation means to the terminal;
Equipped with a,
When the inter-device transmission / reception device receives the information provision request from the terminal, the congestion degree grasping means counts the number of information provision requests, and the count value is the degree of congestion at the installation location, or Accept an image from an imaging means for obtaining an image of the surrounding of the installation location, layer processing the received image, the number of people at the installation location as the congestion degree,
The priority determination means calculates the total congestion level by summing up the congestion levels (hereinafter referred to as partial congestion levels) at each location stored in the storage unit, and the overall congestion level is predetermined. When the value is smaller than the value, the display priority for each place is set higher than the display priority for the place where the partial congestion is lower than the place, and when the overall congestion is equal to or higher than a predetermined value, The display priority is set to be higher than the display priority for a place where the degree of partial congestion is higher than the place.
It is characterized by this.

Here, the display information creation means determines whether or not there is a partial congestion degree exceeding a predetermined value among the partial congestion degrees at each location stored in the storage means, When there is a partial congestion level that exceeds a predetermined value, the display information provided to the terminal does not exceed the predetermined value regardless of the display priority set by the priority determination unit. Even if the partial priority is received from a location with a partial congestion level, it is preferable to create display information that restricts display of display information regarding the location.

  Further, the display information creating means creates a menu screen for leading to information on each place, and in the menu screen, a menu item is provided as the display information for each place, and a place with high priority is displayed. The menu item may be located above.

An information providing system according to an invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is
A plurality of the information providing devices are provided.

An information providing method according to the invention for solving the above problems is as follows:
Inter-terminal transmission / reception means installed at multiple locations and providing information to the terminal at each location, and receiving information from information providing devices installed at other locations and providing information installed at other locations In an information providing method to a terminal in an information providing device comprising an inter-device transmission / reception device, a processor, and a storage means for sending information to the device ,
To grasp the pre-Symbol location neighborhood congestion degree, a congestion degree grasping step of storing the congestion degree in the storage means,
The inter-device transmission / reception means transmits the congestion level at the installation location grasped in the congestion degree grasping step to the information providing device at another location, and from the information providing device at the other location to the other location. A congestion degree transmission / reception step of receiving the congestion degree of the other location and storing the congestion degree in the other place in the storage means;
A priority determination step for determining display priority of display information regarding each place to be provided to the terminal ;
Provided by the terminal, to be preferentially displayed than the display information of the lower-place display information with high display priority location display priority, to the terminal according to the display priority determined in the priority determining process A display information creation step for creating display information to be performed;
A display information transmission step for transmitting the display information created in the display information creation step to the terminal by the inter-terminal transmission / reception means ;
The processor executes,
In the congestion degree grasping step, when the inter-terminal transmission / reception apparatus receives an information provision request from the terminal, the number of the information provision requests is counted, and the count value is set as the congestion degree at the installation location, or Accept an image from an imaging means for obtaining an image of the surrounding of the installation location, layer processing the received image, the number of people at the installation location as the congestion degree,
In the priority determination step, the total congestion degree is obtained by adding up the congestion levels (hereinafter referred to as partial congestion levels) at the respective locations stored in the storage means, and the overall congestion level is determined in advance. When the value is smaller than the value, the display priority for each place is set to be higher than the display priority for the place where the degree of partial congestion is lower than the place. The display priority is set to be higher than the display priority for a place where the degree of partial congestion is higher than the place.
It is characterized by this.

Here, in the display information creation step, it is determined whether or not there is a partial congestion level exceeding a predetermined value among the partial congestion levels at each location stored in the storage unit, When there is a partial congestion degree exceeding a predetermined value, the display information to be provided to the terminal is the predetermined value regardless of the display priority determined in the priority determination step. Even when the partial priority is received from a location with a partial congestion level exceeding, it is preferable to create display information that restricts display of display information relating to the location.

An operation program of the information providing apparatus according to the invention for solving the above-described problem is
Inter-terminal transmission / reception means installed at multiple locations and providing information to the terminal at each location, and receiving information from information providing devices installed at other locations and providing information installed at other locations In an operation program of an information providing device comprising an inter- device transmission / reception device for sending information to a device , a processor, and a storage means ,
To grasp the pre-Symbol location neighborhood congestion degree, a congestion degree acquisition step of storing the congestion degree in the storage means,
The inter-device transmission / reception means transmits the congestion degree at the installation location grasped in the congestion degree grasping step to the information providing device at another location, and from the information providing device at the other location to the other location. A congestion degree transmission / reception step of receiving a congestion degree and storing the congestion degree in the other place in the storage means;
A priority determination step for determining display priority of display information relating to each location provided to the terminal ;
Provided by the terminal, so that the display information of the high display priority location is preferentially displayed than the display information of the lower-place display priority, to the terminal according to the display priority determined in the priority decision step A display information creating step for creating display information to be performed;
A display information transmitting step for causing the terminal to transmit the display information created in the display information creating step by the inter-terminal transmitting / receiving means;
To the processor ,
In the congestion degree grasping step, when the inter-terminal transmission / reception apparatus receives an information provision request from the terminal, the number of the information provision requests is counted, and the count value is set as the congestion degree at the installation location, or Accept an image from an imaging means for obtaining an image of the surrounding of the installation location, layer processing the received image, the number of people at the installation location as the congestion degree,
In the priority determination step, the total congestion degree is obtained by adding up the congestion levels (hereinafter referred to as partial congestion levels) at the respective locations stored in the storage means, and the overall congestion level is determined in advance. When the value is smaller than the value, the display priority for each place is set higher than the display priority for the place where the partial congestion is lower than the place, and when the overall congestion is equal to or higher than a predetermined value, The display priority is set to be higher than the display priority for a place where the degree of partial congestion is higher than the place.
It is characterized by this.

Here, in the display information creation step, it is determined whether or not there is a partial congestion level exceeding a predetermined value among the partial congestion levels at each location stored in the storage unit, When there is a partial congestion degree exceeding a predetermined value, the display information to be provided to the terminal is set to the predetermined value regardless of the display priority determined in the priority determination step. Even if the partial priority is received from a location with a partial congestion level exceeding, it is preferable to create display information that restricts display of display information relating to the location.

  According to the present invention, regarding the menu item in the menu screen displayed by the terminal, when the congestion degree of the place indicated by any menu item increases, the display priority of the menu item relating to the place with a high congestion degree is reduced, Since the menu screen is created according to the display priority, the number of accesses from the terminal to the menu item is reduced, and the congestion level in a place with a high congestion level is reduced. For this reason, efficient venue guidance etc. can be performed with respect to a terminal user.

  Hereinafter, various embodiments of an information providing system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  First, an information providing system as a first embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the information provision system of this embodiment is a guidance information provision system in an exhibition hall. In this exhibition hall, for example, in addition to the general reception building 3, the first building 1, the second building 2,. Each exhibition building has a plurality of booths A, B,. In the booths of the general reception building 3 and the exhibition buildings 1, 2,..., Information providing devices 10, 10,.

  The visitors receive guidance information and the like from the information providing apparatus 10 using the mobile terminal 40 handed over at the general reception building 3 or a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone owned by the visitor himself / herself. The portable terminal 40 is provided with a display screen 41. On the menu screen 41 displayed on this display screen, each booth A, B,..., Name 42 as a menu item and a peripheral image 43 showing the peripheral situation in the booth of the top menu item in the menu item are displayed. The

  The plurality of information providing devices 10, 10,... Are connected to the server 30 via a LAN cable 39 as shown in FIG. Further, wireless communication is performed between the information providing apparatuses 10, 10,... And the portable terminal 40. In this embodiment, the information providing devices 10, 10,... And the server 30 are connected by the wired LAN cable 39. However, instead of such wired communication, communication between the two may be performed by wireless communication. Good.

  As shown in FIG. 3, each information providing apparatus 10 performs wireless communication between the camera 11 that captures the surrounding situation, the LAN communication unit 13 a that performs LAN communication between the server 30, and the mobile terminal 40. A wireless communication unit 13b to perform, an I / O control unit 14 to control these inputs / outputs, an external storage device 15, a CPU 16 that executes various calculations, and a memory 17 that stores programs executed by the CPU 16 and various data. A display unit 12, a display control unit 18 for controlling the display unit 12, and a bus control unit 19. The display unit 12 displays information related to the booth where the information processing apparatus 10 is installed. Further, the server 30 includes a LAN communication unit 33 that performs LAN communication with each of the information providing devices 10, 10,..., An I / O control unit 34 that performs input / output control, an external storage device 35, and various types. It has a CPU 36 that executes arithmetic operations, a memory 37 that stores programs executed by the CPU 36 and various data, and a bus control unit 39.

  As shown in FIG. 4, each information providing device 10 functionally includes an inter-device transmission / reception unit 21 that performs communication with the server 30, and an inter-terminal transmission / reception unit 22 that performs communication with the terminal 40. A display information creation unit 23 for creating display information such as a menu screen displayed on the terminal 40, a priority determination unit 24 for determining display priority of menu items in the menu screen, and a main control unit for controlling these operations 25. Among these functional parts, the inter-device transmission / reception unit 21 includes the LAN communication unit 13a and the I / O control unit 14 in FIG. 3, and the inter-terminal transmission / reception unit 22 includes the wireless communication unit 13b and the I / O. And an O control unit 14. Each of the display information creation unit 23, the priority determination unit 24, and the main control unit 25 has a memory 17 in which various programs are stored and a CPU 16 that executes the programs stored in the memory 17. Configured. A program that realizes the operation of each functional part is temporarily stored in the external storage device 15 from a communication medium or a storage medium such as a CD-ROM, and then loaded into the memory 17.

  In the data storage area of the memory 37 of the server 30, as shown in FIG. 5, an acquisition interval storage unit 51 storing an acquisition time interval ww for acquiring data from each information providing device 10, and each information providing device 10. And an apparatus data storage unit 52 in which information providing apparatus data acquired from is stored. As described above, the acquisition interval storage unit 51 stores a time interval for acquiring data from each information providing apparatus 10, in other words, an interval for making a data request to each information providing apparatus 10, and in this example, Stored in seconds. The device data storage unit 52 includes a device ID storage unit 53 that stores the ID of each information providing device 10, and an access number storage unit 55 that stores the number of accesses from the mobile terminal 40 to each information providing device 10. There are a measurement time storage unit 54 that stores the measurement start time and end time of the number of accesses, and a communication status flag unit 56 that indicates whether or not the communication between each information providing apparatus 10 has been successfully completed.

  As shown in FIG. 6, in the data storage area of the memory 17 of each information providing apparatus 10, an acquisition interval storage unit 60 for storing an acquisition time interval ww for acquiring data from the server 30, and the information providing apparatus itself An own device data storage unit 61 in which data is stored and an other device data storage unit 62 in which data of another information providing device 10 is stored are provided. The acquisition interval storage unit 60 stores basically the same time as the time stored in the acquisition interval storage unit 51 of the server memory 37. The own device data storage unit 61 stores a time label unit 63 that stores a measurement time label of the number of accesses of the mobile terminal 40 to the own device, and a measurement that stores a measurement disclosure time and an end time of the number of accesses at each time label. There is a time storage unit 64 and an access number storage unit 65 in which the number of accesses at each time label is stored.

  The time label 63 includes “current” indicating the current measurement time zone in which the number of accesses is being measured, and “immediately before” indicating the time zone immediately before that. A measurement time storage unit 64 and an access number storage unit 65 are set for each of the time labels “current” and “immediately before”. The measurement start time of the measurement time storage unit 64 of the time label “current” stores the measurement end time yy: yy of the measurement time storage unit 64 of the time label “immediately”, and the measurement time storage unit of the time label “current” The current measurement time zz: zz is stored in the 64 measurement end times. When the current time zz: zz indicates the time when the data acquisition time interval ww from the server 30 has elapsed from the measurement start time yy: yy, the data of the time label “current” becomes the data of the time label “immediately before”. Become.

  In addition, the other device data storage unit 62 stores the other device ID storage unit 66 storing the ID of the other information providing device 10 and the priority storing the display priority related to the installation booth of the other information providing device 10. Communication state indicating the communication state between the storage unit 67, the access number storage unit 68 in which the number of accesses from the portable terminal 40 to the other information providing device 10 is stored, and the server 30 and the other information providing device 10 There is a flag part 69.

  The priority storage unit 67 stores display priorities of menu items in the menu screen displayed by the mobile terminal 40. That is, as described above, the display priority order of each booth A, B,... The access count storage unit 68 and the communication status flag unit 69 store data from the server 30 that acquires data of each information providing apparatus 10.

  Next, the operation of the information providing system described above will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS.

  First, according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 7, the operation when the server 30 acquires data from each information providing apparatus 10 will be described.

  The CPU 36 of the server 30 starts to start time measurement and refers to the acquisition time ww seconds stored in the acquisition interval storage unit 51 of the memory 37 to determine whether or not the acquisition time has elapsed since the start of measurement (step) 1). If it is determined that the acquisition time has elapsed, the communication status flag unit 56 of the memory 37 is referred to, the communicable information providing device 10 is confirmed (step 2), and a data transmission request is sent to the communicable information providing device 10. Perform (Step 3). If data can be acquired from the information providing apparatus 10 that is the target of the data transmission request (step 4), this data is stored in the corresponding area of the memory 37 (step 5), and the process proceeds to step 7. If the data cannot be acquired from the information providing apparatus 10 (step 4), the communication state flag section 56 related to the information providing apparatus 10 is set to an error state in the communication state flag section 56 of the memory 37 (step 6). ), Go to step 7. Here, the data requested to be transmitted by the server 30 is data stored in the measurement time storage unit 54 and the access number storage unit 55 (FIG. 5) of the memory 37 of the server 30. Further, data transmitted from the information providing apparatus 10 to the server 30 includes data stored in the measurement time storage unit 64 and the access number storage unit 65 (FIG. 6) “just before” of the memory 17 of the information providing apparatus 10, And a peripheral image captured by the camera 11.

  In step 7, it is determined whether or not data has been acquired from all communicable information providing apparatuses 10, and when it is determined that there is an information providing apparatus 10 that has not been acquired, the process returns to step 3 to return the information. When a data transmission request is made to the providing apparatus 10 and it is determined that data acquisition from all the information providing apparatuses 10 is completed, the process returns to step 1.

  Next, the operation when the server 30 transmits data to each information providing apparatus 10 will be described according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  First, the CPU 36 of the server 30 determines whether or not there is a data transmission request from the information providing apparatus 10 (step 11). When there is a data transmission request, the data acquired from the other information providing apparatus 10 is transmitted to the information providing apparatus 10 that is the transmission source of the request (step 12). Specifically, among the data stored in the measurement time storage unit 54 and the access count storage unit 55 (FIG. 5) of the memory 37 of the server 30, the data related to the information providing device 10 excluding the request source, and the request It is the data of the surrounding image regarding the information provision apparatus 10 except a transmission origin.

  When the reception completion notification is received from the information providing apparatus 10 that has transmitted the data, the transmission is completed (step 13), and the process returns to step 11. If the notification of reception completion cannot be received from the information providing apparatus 10 that has transmitted the data, it is determined that the transmission has not been completed (step 13), and the communication status flag unit 56 relating to the information providing apparatus 10 is set to an error state (step 14) Return to Step 11.

  Next, the operation when the information providing apparatus 10 transmits the display data of the menu screen to the portable terminal 40 will be described according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  The main control unit 25 of the information providing apparatus 10 determines whether or not there is a data transmission request from the portable terminal 40 (step 21). When there is no data transmission request, the acquisition time stored in the acquisition interval storage unit 60 of the memory 17 is referred to and it is determined whether or not the acquisition time has elapsed since the start of measurement (step 22). If the acquisition time has not elapsed, the process returns to step 21. If it is determined that the acquisition time has elapsed, the data of another information providing device 10 is acquired from the server 30, and this data is stored in the access count number storage unit 68 of the memory 17 and the communication. Store in the status flag 69 (step 23).

  The priority determination unit 24 of the information providing device 10 first reads the communication status flag of each information providing device 10 from the communication status flag 69 of the memory 17, and determines whether or not there is an information providing device 10 that is in poor communication with the server 30. Is determined (step 24). If there is no communication failure information providing device 10, the process proceeds to step 26, and if there is a communication failure information providing device 10, the display priority of the menu item in the menu screen of the information providing device 10 is minimized. Then, the process proceeds to step 26. In step 26, the total number of accesses is obtained by summing up the number of accesses of each information providing apparatus 10 (step 27). In this case, the total number of accesses may not include the number of accesses of the information provision apparatus 10 with poor communication, but the number of accesses before the occurrence of poor communication may be included in the total number of accesses. Next, the priority determination unit 24 determines whether or not the total number of accesses is larger than a predetermined value a, that is, whether or not the entire venue is congested (step 27). If it is determined that the entire venue is not congested, the display priority of the menu item related to the information providing apparatus 10 having a large number of accesses is increased, and this priority is stored in the priority storage unit 67 of the memory 17 (step 28). If it is determined that the entire venue is congested, the display priority of the menu items related to the information providing apparatus 10 having a large number of accesses is lowered, and this priority is stored in the priority storage unit 67 of the memory 17 (step 29). . When it is determined in step 24 that there is a communication failure information providing device 10, in steps 28 and 29, the display priority regarding the information providing device 10 excluding the communication failure information providing device 10 is determined. The value determined in step 25 is adopted as the display priority regarding the information providing apparatus 10 with poor communication. In addition, in the calculation of the total number of accesses and the determination of the display priority, the value of the number of accesses immediately before is used. When the display priority of each information providing apparatus 10 is determined (steps 28 and 29), the process returns to step 21.

  In step 21, as described above, the main control unit 25 of the information providing apparatus 10 determines whether or not there is a data transmission request from the portable terminal 40. If it is determined that there is a data transmission request, the main control unit (congestion grasping unit) 25 updates the value of the “current” access number storage unit 65 of the own device data storage unit 61 in the memory 17. Further, the display information creation unit 23 refers to the priority storage unit 67 of the memory 17 to determine the display order of each menu item in the menu screen, and creates a menu screen according to this display order. The data is expanded in the memory 17 (step 30). Specifically, the menu item related to the information providing apparatus 10 having a high display priority is positioned at the upper position in the menu screen, and the menu item related to the information providing apparatus 10 having the low display priority is positioned at the lower position in the menu screen. Further, the peripheral image sent from the information providing apparatus 10 having the highest display priority is attached to the menu screen. When the creation of the menu screen is completed, the inter-terminal transmission / reception unit 22 transmits the menu screen to the portable terminal 40 that has requested transmission (step 31).

  If there are 10 booths with a capacity of 100 in the venue and the capacity of the entire venue is 1000, the value a in step 27 is 1000, and until the total number of accesses exceeds 1000, the mobile terminal 10, menu items related to the booth where the information providing apparatus 10 with a large number of accesses is installed are displayed at the top, and peripheral images of the information providing apparatus 10 with the largest number of accesses are displayed. . When the total number of accesses exceeds 1000, as shown in FIG. 10, on the menu screen 41 displayed on the mobile terminal 10, the menu item 42 relating to the booth C in which the information providing apparatus 10 having a large number of accesses is installed is displayed. A peripheral image 43 of the information providing apparatus 10 with the minimum number of accesses (maximum priority) is displayed in the lower order.

  Specifically, if the number of accesses to B booth is 40 times, the number of accesses to C booth is 160 times, the number of accesses to D booth is 80 times, and the number of accesses to E booth is 120 times, The display order of the menu item 42 is higher in the booth with the least number of accesses, and in the order of B booth, D booth, E booth, and C booth. After that, when the data was updated and the number of accesses to B booth was 110 times, the number of accesses to C booth was 140 times, the number of accesses to D booth was 500 times, and the number of accesses to E booth was 85 times, The display order of the booth menu item 42 is in the order of D booth, E booth, B booth, and C booth.

  In this way, if the entire venue gets crowded to some extent, the menu items of the booth with the fewest accesses are displayed at the top, so the number of accesses to the booth with the few accesses increases, and conversely, the booth with the many accesses Therefore, the congestion distribution of the entire venue tends to be uniform, and the user who is the user of the portable terminal 40 can efficiently visit each booth in the venue.

  Here, the menu screen is updated when there is a data transmission request (step 21) from the portable terminal 40 (step 30), but it is determined that the acquisition time has passed (step 22), The menu screen may be updated when the display priority is determined (steps 28 and 29).

  In the above embodiment, the display order of booths with a very large number of accesses, for example, booth C in FIG. 10, is the lowest. However, for such a large number of booths, entry is temporarily restricted. In this sense, regardless of the total number of accesses, such a booth menu item may not be displayed, or even if a menu item is displayed, the pointer may not be set for that menu item. In this case, in the flowchart of FIG. 9, a process for determining whether or not there is a booth whose number of accesses exceeds b (for example, 150 which is 150% of the booth capacity) between Step 25 and Step 26; When there is a booth exceeding b, it is preferable to add processing for restricting display of menu items related to this booth in preference to the following priority determination processing.

  Next, a modified example of the display form in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

  When displaying information for each booth, as shown in FIG. 10 above, each booth name is displayed as a display item on the menu screen, and the target booth information is displayed by clicking the target item. In addition, as shown in FIG. 11, there is a method of providing a guidance screen on one screen for each booth without providing a menu screen. When such a method is applied, if the total number of accesses exceeds a certain value, a guidance screen for booths with low access numbers, that is, booths with high priority will be displayed first, and booths with high access numbers, that is, priority You may make it display the guidance screen regarding a low booth later.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 12, there is a method of displaying guidance for the target booth by displaying a map of the entire venue and clicking on the name of the target booth in the map, as shown in FIG. When such a method is applied, if the total number of accesses exceeds a certain value, even if you click on a booth with a large number of accesses, that is, a booth with low priority, no pointer will be displayed at that booth, The display may not be executed. For booths other than the booth that does not display a pointer when clicked, clicking on this booth causes the booth from the current location, that is, the information providing apparatus 10 that is currently communicating with the mobile terminal 40 possessed by the user. You may make it display the road order to. In this modification, the pointer is not displayed for a booth having a large number of accesses when the total number of accesses exceeds a certain value. However, when there is a booth having the number of accesses exceeding the above-described b. The pointer may not be displayed with respect to this booth regardless of the total number of accesses.

  Next, a modified example related to grasping the degree of congestion in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 13 and 14.

  In the present embodiment, the number of accesses to the information providing apparatus 10 installed in each booth is simulated with the degree of congestion in the booth. However, this modification example is based on the camera 11a installed in the booth. The degree of congestion in the booth is grasped from the image.

  As shown in FIG. 13, a plurality of cameras 11a, 11a,... Are installed in each booth A, B,. As shown in FIG. 14, the information processing apparatus 10a installed in each booth is provided with an image processing unit 26 for grasping the degree of congestion in the booth from images from a plurality of cameras 11a, 11a,. ing. The main control unit 25 sequentially captures images from a plurality of cameras 11a, 11a,... And passes them to the image processing unit 26. The image processing unit 26 performs image processing on each image, calculates the number of people included in each image, obtains the number of people who will be present in the booth, and sets this number as the congestion level to the main control unit 25. hand over. In the memory 17, a congestion degree storage area is provided instead of the access number storage units 61 and 68 in FIG. 6. The main control unit 25 stores the congestion level passed from the image processing unit 26 in a congestion level storage unit provided in place of the access count storage unit 61 in the memory 17. This series of operations is performed every acquisition interval ww seconds, as is the case of counting the number of accesses of the own device. Further, the data of the other device sent from the server 30 includes the degree of congestion instead of the number of accesses, and the degree of congestion obtained by this other device is used instead of the access number storage unit 68 in the memory 17. It is stored in the provided congestion degree storage unit.

  The display priority of menu items related to each booth is determined depending on the level of congestion. Specifically, in the flowchart of FIG. 9, in step 26, the total congestion degree is obtained, in step 27, the total congestion degree is compared with the predetermined value a ′, and in step 28, the priority of the booth having a high congestion degree is compared. In step 29, the priority of the booth with high congestion is lowered.

  Even in this modified example, if there is a booth with a very high degree of congestion regardless of the total congestion level, the menu item for this booth is not displayed or even if the menu item is displayed, the menu item is not displayed. The pointer may not be set.

  In addition, in this modification, the degree of congestion in the booth is grasped from the image from the camera. Instead, a counter that counts the number of visitors is provided at the entrance of the booth, and the number of exits is counted at the exit of the booth. It is also possible to provide a counter for determining the degree of congestion in the booth from the difference between the two counters.

  Next, an information providing system as a second embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  As shown in FIG. 15, the information providing system of the present embodiment deletes the server 30 in the first embodiment and directly transmits and receives data between a plurality of information providing apparatuses 10, 10,. .

  For this reason, the information providing apparatus 10 of this embodiment is shown in FIG. 16 instead of the data acquisition process from the server (step 23 in FIG. 9) among the processes of the information providing apparatus 10 of the first embodiment. Thus, the data acquisition process (step 23a) from another apparatus is performed.

  In the data acquisition process from the other apparatus (step 23a), as shown in FIG. 17, first, after confirming the communication state with the other information providing apparatus 10 (step 31), information that can be communicated is provided. A data transmission request is made to one of the devices 10 (step 32). If data cannot be acquired in response to this data transmission request (step 33), an error flag is set in the communication status flag section (step 34), and the process proceeds to step 36. If the data can be acquired (step 33), the data is stored in the memory (step 35), and the process proceeds to step 36. In step 36, it is determined whether or not data acquisition has been performed from all communicable information providing apparatuses 10, and if there is an information providing apparatus 10 that has not yet acquired data, the process returns to step 32, and all communicable information providing apparatuses 10 If data acquisition has been performed from 10, the process proceeds to step 24.

  In this embodiment, the plurality of information providing apparatuses 10, 10,... Are connected to each other by the wired LAN cable 39. However, instead of such wired communication, communication between the two may be performed by wireless communication. Good.

  Next, an information providing system as a third embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  The information providing system according to the present embodiment does not provide information at a specific place such as an exhibition hall like the information providing apparatus according to the above-described embodiment, but via a network 5 such as an internetwork as shown in FIG. The information providing apparatus 10b as a server provides information to the terminals 40b, 40b,... Connected to the network 5.

  Functionally, the information providing apparatus 10b functionally includes an inter-terminal transmission / reception unit 22b that communicates with the terminal 40b, a display information creation unit 23 that creates display information such as a menu screen displayed by the terminal 40b, and a menu screen. It has a priority determining unit 24b that determines the display priority of the menu item in the middle, and a main control unit 25b that controls these operations. Further, the information providing apparatus 10b has basically the same configuration as the server 30 of the first embodiment in terms of hardware. Note that the information providing device 10b in this embodiment also stores various programs in the display information creation unit 23, the priority determination unit 24b, and the main control unit 25b, as in the information providing device 10 in the first embodiment. The memory 17 is configured to have a CPU that executes a program stored in the memory 17. A program for realizing the operation of each functional part is temporarily stored in the external storage device 15 from a communication medium or a storage medium such as a CD-ROM, and then loaded into the memory 17.

  In the data storage area of the memory 17 of the information providing apparatus 10b, as shown in FIG. 19, an update interval storage unit 71 in which the update interval ww of the number of accesses from the terminal 40b is stored, and a menu provided to the terminal 40b An item label portion 72 that stores item labels for each menu item in the screen, a priority storage portion 75 that stores the display priority for each item label, and the “preceding” number of accesses for each item label Is stored, and a current access number storage unit 74 for storing the “current” access number for each item label is provided.

  Next, the operation of the information providing apparatus 10b of this embodiment will be described according to the flowcharts shown in FIGS.

  As shown in FIG. 20, when the terminal transmission / reception unit 22b receives an information provision request from the terminal 40b (step 41), it notifies the main control unit 25b to that effect, and displays the data of the menu screen created by the display information creation unit 23. This is received and transmitted to the requested terminal 40b (step 42).

  The main control unit (access count counting means) 25b waits for information on any one of the menu items in the menu screen from the terminal 40b (step 43), and waits for a certain menu item. Is requested, the access count in the current access count storage 73 of the corresponding menu item in the memory 17 is updated (step 44). Subsequently, the main control unit 25b calls information on the corresponding menu item from the external storage device 15, and transmits this to the terminal 40b via the inter-terminal transmission / reception unit 22b (step 45).

  The information providing apparatus 10b according to the present embodiment also executes the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 21 in parallel with the above processing.

  The main control unit 25b refers to the update interval storage unit 71 of the memory 17 to determine whether or not the update time has been reached (step 51). If the update time is reached, the main control unit 25b is stored in the current access number storage unit 74. The number of accesses currently stored is stored in the previous access number storage unit 73, and the number of accesses stored in the current access number storage unit 74 is newly counted (step 52).

  Next, the priority determination unit 24b adds the number of accesses immediately before each item to obtain the total number of accesses (step 53), and determines whether the total number of accesses exceeds a predetermined value a. (Step 54). If the total number of accesses does not exceed the predetermined value a, that is, if the number of accesses to the information providing apparatus 10b is small, the priority of the menu item having the large number of accesses is increased (step 55). Is stored in the priority storage unit 75 of the memory 17, and if the total number of accesses exceeds a predetermined value a, that is, if the number of accesses to the information providing apparatus 10b is large, the menu item having the large number of accesses is stored. The priority is lowered (step 56), the priority is stored in the priority storage unit 75 of the memory 17, and the process proceeds to step 57.

  In step 57, the display information creation unit 23 refers to the display priority of each menu item stored in the priority storage unit 75 of the memory 17 and determines the display order of each menu item in the menu screen. A menu screen is created in accordance with the display order and is expanded in the memory 17 (step 57).

  The new menu screen data expanded in the memory 17 is transmitted from the inter-terminal transceiver unit 22b to the terminal 40b in step 42 of FIG.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, when the number of accesses to the information providing apparatus 10b increases, menu items with a small number of accesses are displayed at the top of the menu screen, and menu items with a large number of accesses are at the bottom of the menu screen. The number of accesses to a menu item with a large number of accesses decreases, the number of accesses to a menu item with a small number of accesses increases, and it is possible to prevent the access from being concentrated on one menu item. As described above, in this embodiment, it is possible to prevent delay in providing information to the terminal due to concentration of access to one menu item, and as a result, information can be efficiently provided to the user.

  Even in this embodiment, when there is a menu item with a very large number of accesses regardless of the total number of accesses, this menu item is not displayed or even if this menu item is displayed, the menu item is not displayed. The pointer may not be set.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the installation place of the information provision system in 1st Embodiment which concerns on this invention. It is a lineblock diagram of the information service system in a 1st embodiment concerning the present invention. It is a hardware block diagram of the information provision apparatus and server in 1st Embodiment which concern on this invention. It is a functional block diagram of the information provision apparatus in 1st Embodiment which concerns on this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the data structure in the data storage area of the server in 1st Embodiment which concerns on this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the data structure in the data storage area of the information provision apparatus in 1st Embodiment which concerns on this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement at the time of the server in 1st Embodiment concerning this invention acquiring data from an information provision apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement at the time of the server in 1st Embodiment concerning this invention transmitting data to an information provision apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement at the time of the information provision apparatus in 1st Embodiment concerning this invention sending menu screen data to a portable terminal. It is explanatory drawing which shows the change of the menu screen of the portable terminal in 1st Embodiment which concerns on this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the display form of the portable terminal as a 1st modification of 1st Embodiment which concerns on this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the display form of the portable terminal as a 2nd modification of 1st Embodiment which concerns on this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the installation place of the information provision system as a modification of 1st Embodiment which concerns on this invention. It is a functional block diagram of the information provision apparatus of the modification shown in FIG. It is a block diagram of the information provision system in 2nd Embodiment which concerns on this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement at the time of the information provision apparatus in 2nd Embodiment concerning this invention sending menu screen data to a portable terminal. It is a detailed flowchart of step 23a in FIG. It is a block diagram of the information provision system in 3rd Embodiment which concerns on this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the data structure in the data storage area of the information provision apparatus in 3rd Embodiment which concerns on this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement at the time of the information provision apparatus in 3rd Embodiment concerning this invention transmitting the information of a menu item. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement at the time of the information provision apparatus in 3rd Embodiment concerning this invention updating the data of a menu screen.

Explanation of symbols

10, 10a, 10b: Information providing device 11, 11a: Camera 16: CPU 17: Memory 21: Inter-device transmission / reception unit 22, 22b: Inter-terminal transmission / reception unit 23: Display information creation unit 24, 24b: Priority determination unit 25, 25b: main control unit 26: image processing unit 30: server 40: portable terminal 40b: terminal 41: display screen 42: menu item 43: peripheral image

Claims (14)

In the information providing device that is installed in each of a plurality of locations and provides information to the terminal at each location,
Congestion degree grasping means for grasping the congestion degree around the installation location;
Between the devices that transmit the congestion degree at the installation location grasped by the congestion degree grasping means to the information providing device at another location and receive the congestion degree at the other location from the information providing device at the other location Transmitting and receiving means;
Storage means for storing the congestion degree at the installation location grasped by the congestion degree grasping means, and the congestion degree at the other place received by the inter-device transmission / reception means;
Priority determining means for determining display priority of display information relating to each location provided to the terminal ;
Provided by the terminal, to be preferentially displayed than the display information of the lower-place display information with high display priority location display priority, to the terminal according to the display priority determined in the priority determining means Display information creating means for creating display information to be
An inter-terminal transmission / reception means for transmitting the display information created by the display information creation means to the terminal;
Equipped with a,
When the inter-device transmission / reception device receives the information provision request from the terminal, the congestion degree grasping means counts the number of information provision requests, and the count value is the degree of congestion at the installation location, or Accept an image from an imaging means for obtaining an image of the surrounding of the installation location, layer processing the received image, the number of people at the installation location as the congestion degree,
The priority determination means calculates the total congestion level by summing up the congestion levels (hereinafter referred to as partial congestion levels) at each location stored in the storage unit, and the overall congestion level is predetermined. When the value is smaller than the value, the display priority for each place is set to be higher than the display priority for the place where the degree of partial congestion is lower than the place. The display priority is set to be higher than the display priority for a place where the degree of partial congestion is higher than the place.
An information providing apparatus characterized by that. The information providing apparatus according to claim 1,
The display information creating means determines whether or not there is a partial congestion degree exceeding a predetermined value among the partial congestion degrees at each location stored in the storage means, When there is a partial congestion degree exceeding the predetermined value, the display information provided to the terminal is a portion exceeding the predetermined value regardless of the display priority determined by the priority determination means Even if the partial priority is received from a place of congestion, display information that restricts display of display information related to the place is created.
An information providing apparatus characterized by that. In the information provision apparatus as described in any one of Claim 1 and 2 ,
An imaging means for obtaining an image around the installation location;
The inter-device transmission / reception unit transmits an image captured by the imaging unit to an information providing device at another location, and receives an image around the other location from the information providing device at the other location,
The display information creating means includes, in the display information, an image around a place with a high display priority determined by the priority determining means;
An information providing apparatus characterized by that. In the information provision apparatus as described in any one of Claim 1 to 3 ,
The display information creating means creates a menu screen for leading to information on each place, and in the menu screen, a menu item is provided as the display information for each place, and a place with a high display priority is provided. The menu item is at the top,
An information providing apparatus characterized by that. In the information provision apparatus as described in any one of Claim 1 to 3 ,
The display information created by the display information creating means is display information relating to each place consisting of a plurality of screens for each place, and is display information indicating information relating to one place on one screen, and has a high display priority. The display order of the information screen regarding the location is ahead of the information screen regarding the location with the low display priority.
An information providing apparatus characterized by that. In the information provision apparatus as described in any one of Claim 1 to 5 ,
The display information creating means does not include display information of a place with a low display priority in the display information.
An information providing apparatus characterized by that. In the information provision apparatus as described in any one of Claim 1 to 3 ,
The display information creation unit creates a screen each location is shown illustrated in which the or each location name, the terminal in the even if accepted regarding low place the display priority in said screen A pointer display restriction instruction not to display the pointer in the screen is included in the display information;
An information providing apparatus characterized by that. A plurality of information providing devices according to any one of claims 1 to 7 ;
Receiving the congestion degree grasped by the congestion degree grasping means of each information providing apparatus from the inter-device transmission / reception means of the plurality of information providing apparatuses, and providing the information of the congestion degree transmission source among the congestion degrees A server for transmitting the degree of congestion excluding the degree of congestion ascertained by the device to the inter-device transmission / reception means of the plurality of information providing devices ;
An information providing system characterized by comprising: A plurality of information providing devices according to any one of claims 1 to 7 ,
The inter-device transmission / reception means of the plurality of information providing devices transmits the congestion degree grasped by the congestion grasping means to the inter-device receiving device of the remaining other information providing devices other than itself .
An information providing system characterized by that. In the information provision system as described in any one of Claim 8 and 9 ,
A plurality of the terminals that transmit and receive information to and from each terminal transmitting and receiving means of the plurality of information providing devices;
An information providing system characterized by that. Inter-terminal transmission / reception means installed at multiple locations and providing information to the terminal at each location, and receiving information from information providing devices installed at other locations and providing information installed at other locations In an information providing method to a terminal in an information providing device comprising an inter-device transmission / reception device, a processor, and a storage means for sending information to the device ,
To grasp the pre-Symbol location neighborhood congestion degree, a congestion degree grasping step of storing the congestion degree in the storage means,
The inter-device transmission / reception means transmits the congestion level at the installation location grasped in the congestion degree grasping step to the information providing device at another location, and from the information providing device at the other location to the other location. A congestion degree transmission / reception step of receiving the congestion degree of the other location and storing the congestion degree in the other place in the storage means;
A priority determination step for determining display priority of display information regarding each place to be provided to the terminal ;
Provided by the terminal, to be preferentially displayed than the display information of the lower-place display information with high display priority location display priority, to the terminal according to the display priority determined in the priority determining process A display information creation step for creating display information to be performed;
A display information transmission step for transmitting the display information created in the display information creation step to the terminal by the inter-terminal transmission / reception means ;
The processor executes,
In the congestion degree grasping step, when the inter-terminal transmission / reception apparatus receives an information provision request from the terminal, the number of the information provision requests is counted, and the count value is set as the congestion degree at the installation location, or Accept an image from an imaging means for obtaining an image of the surrounding of the installation location, layer processing the received image, the number of people at the installation location as the congestion degree,
In the priority determination step, the total congestion degree is obtained by adding up the congestion levels (hereinafter referred to as partial congestion levels) at the respective locations stored in the storage means, and the overall congestion level is determined in advance. When the value is smaller than the value, the display priority for each place is set to be higher than the display priority for the place where the degree of partial congestion is lower than the place. The display priority is set to be higher than the display priority for a place where the degree of partial congestion is higher than the place.
The information provision method of the information provision apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned. In the information provision method of Claim 11,
In the display information creation step, it is determined whether or not there is a partial congestion degree that exceeds a predetermined value among the partial congestion degrees at each location stored in the storage means, If there is a partial congestion level that exceeds the predetermined value, the display information provided to the terminal exceeds the predetermined value regardless of the display priority set in the priority determination step. Even if the partial priority is received from the location of the partial congestion level, display information that restricts the display of the display information related to the location is created.
An information providing method characterized by the above. Inter-terminal transmission / reception means installed at multiple locations and providing information to the terminal at each location, and receiving information from information providing devices installed at other locations and providing information installed at other locations In an operation program of an information providing device comprising an inter- device transmission / reception device for sending information to a device , a processor, and a storage means ,
To grasp the pre-Symbol location neighborhood congestion degree, a congestion degree acquisition step of storing the congestion degree in the storage means,
The inter-device transmission / reception means transmits the congestion degree at the installation location grasped in the congestion degree grasping step to the information providing device at another location, and from the information providing device at the other location to the other location. A congestion degree transmission / reception step of receiving a congestion degree and storing the congestion degree in the other place in the storage means;
A priority determination step for determining display priority of display information relating to each location provided to the terminal ;
Provided by the terminal, so that the display information of the high display priority location is preferentially displayed than the display information of the lower-place display priority, to the terminal according to the display priority determined in the priority decision step A display information creating step for creating display information to be performed;
A display information transmitting step for causing the terminal to transmit the display information created in the display information creating step by the inter-terminal transmitting / receiving means;
To the processor ,
In the congestion degree grasping step, when the inter-terminal transmission / reception apparatus receives an information provision request from the terminal, the number of the information provision requests is counted, and the count value is set as the congestion degree at the installation location, or Accept an image from an imaging means for obtaining an image of the surrounding of the installation location, layer processing the received image, the number of people at the installation location as the congestion degree,
In the priority determination step, the total congestion degree is obtained by adding up the congestion levels (hereinafter referred to as partial congestion levels) at the respective locations stored in the storage means, and the overall congestion level is determined in advance. When the value is smaller than the value, the display priority for each place is set higher than the display priority for the place where the partial congestion is lower than the place, and when the overall congestion is equal to or higher than a predetermined value, The display priority is set to be higher than the display priority for a place where the degree of partial congestion is higher than the place.
An operation program for an information providing apparatus. In the operation program of the information providing device according to claim 13,
In the display information creation step, it is determined whether or not there is a partial congestion degree that exceeds a predetermined value among the partial congestion degrees at each location stored in the storage unit, If there is a partial congestion level exceeding the predetermined value, the display information provided to the terminal exceeds the predetermined value regardless of the display priority determined in the priority determination step. Even if the partial priority is received from the location of the partial congestion level, display information that restricts the display of the display information related to the location is created.
An operation program for an information providing apparatus.

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