JP4470568B2 - Information providing system, information providing method, and information center - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information providing system, an information providing method and an information center for providing information from a radio station and an information center to an information terminal receiving information.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, techniques for providing various types of information from an information center using a communication environment such as the Internet have been proposed for in-vehicle devices having a communication function. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-157206 describes a technique for distributing map information and the like from an information center to an in-vehicle navigation device that presents information to a user.
By using these information providing systems, the user intends to obtain useful information.
JP 2003-157206 A

However, the only information that can be said to be useful when communicating with the information center is information that is unknown to the user. However, conventional information provision systems provide information without considering the acquired knowledge of the user. Had gone.
Therefore, when a radio device is used in a vehicle, even if information is acquired from an information center using a telematics device as an information providing system, known information already acquired by the radio device is frequently and repeatedly provided. Will be.
Therefore, there is a problem that the user feels uncomfortable and uncomfortable when the known information is repeatedly provided.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an information providing system, an information providing method, and an information center capable of providing appropriate information to a user.

  The present invention provides an information center that provides information, a radio station that provides a radio program, a content provider that provides information to the information center and the radio station, information provided by the information center, and the radio station In an information providing system comprising an information terminal that receives information to be provided, the information terminal makes an information provision request to an information center and a radio receiver that receives a radio program from a radio station. An information communication unit that receives information of the information terminal, and the information center stores an information storage unit that stores information provided by the content provider; and when there is an information provision request from the information communication device, the radio receiver of the information terminal Information type determination means for determining whether the information provided from the information and the information scheduled to be provided in response to a request from the information communication device are the same, and the information type From the comparison result by the judging means, information excluding information that is the same as the information type and information providing source is extracted from the information to be presented from the information storage unit, and the extracted information is stored in the information communication device. The information provision control means to provide is provided.

  According to the present invention, the information provided from the radio receiver is not provided to the information communication device by the information control means, so that the known information already provided by the radio device is transmitted to the user through the information communication device. It is possible to eliminate the user's uncomfortable feeling caused by repeatedly providing known information.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described by way of examples.
FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of the embodiment.
A content provider group 10 is composed of content providers 11, 12, and 13 that provide various information (traffic information, weather information, news information, etc.) to radio stations and information centers.
A radio station group 20 is composed of radio stations 21 and 22, the radio station 21 receives various information from the content provider 11, and the radio station 22 receives various information from the content provider 12.
The information center 50 receives various information from the content providers 12 and 13.

An in-vehicle device 30 that provides various kinds of information to a user is mounted on a vehicle (not shown).
The radio station group 20 distributes the information provided from the content providers 11 and 12 to the in-vehicle device 30 as a radio program, and the information center 50 receives the information provided from the content providers 12 and 13 from the in-vehicle device 30. To the in-vehicle device 30 via the network 40 in response to the request.
The network 40 is an information network that can exchange information by wireless communication.

The in-vehicle device 30 includes a radio receiver 31 and a telematics communication device 32 inside.
The radio receiver 31 receives various information distributed from the radio station group 20 and presents the received information to the user.
The telematics communication device 32 is connected to the network 40 through the mobile communication terminal 33, makes a telematics information request to the information center 50, or receives information from the information center 50, and receives the received information to the user. provide.
Further, the telematics communication device 32 simultaneously transmits the setting information (power on / off, reception frequency, time information, etc.) of the radio receiver 31 to the information center 50 when telematics information is requested.

The information center 50 is provided from a content providing server 54 that controls communication performed with the in-vehicle device 30, a content generation server 52 that generates information to be provided to the in-vehicle device 30 in a specified format, and the radio station group 20. And the same information discriminating unit 55 for judging whether the information to be provided from the information center 50 is the same.
The content providing server 54 receives an information presentation request from the telematics communication device 32 through the communication terminal 51 provided in the information center 50 and further provides information to the telematics communication device 32.
The information center 50 also includes a content database (DB) 53 that records various types of information received from the content providers 12 and 13. The content generation server 52 refers to the information recorded in the content database 53 based on an instruction from the content providing server 54 and generates information in a specified format.

  Further, the information center 50 includes a radio program table 57 having radio program ID information that can uniquely specify a radio program. Thereby, the same information discriminating unit 55 acquires the current time from the current time acquiring unit 56, and based on the setting information of the radio receiver 31 transmitted from the telematics communication device 32 and the acquired current time, the radio program guide By referring to 57, it is possible to acquire a radio program ID that allows the radio receiver 31 to identify the radio program currently being broadcast.

The information center 50 includes a telematics program master database (DB) 58 and a radio program master database (DB) 59.
In the telematics program master database 58, for each telematics program ID that can uniquely specify a service provided from the content providing server 54 (hereinafter referred to as a telematics program), the type of information of the telematics program, information of the information provider, Is remembered. The telematics program master database 58 stores information as many as the number of telematics programs that can be provided by the content providing server 54.
In the radio program master database 59, the type of information provided by the radio program and information of the information provider are stored for each radio program ID that can uniquely identify the radio program. The radio program master database 59 stores information as many as the number of radio programs of all receivable radio stations.

Next, the operation of the information center 50 will be described using the flowchart of FIG.
In step 200, the content providing server 54 determines whether the telematics communication device 32 has been operated by the user and a telematics information request has been received from the telematics communication device 32.
Here, the telematics communication device 32 makes a telematics information request to the information center 50 through the mobile communication terminal 33 and the network 40, and the content providing server 54 receives the telematics information request via the communication terminal 51.
The content providing server 54 repeats the processing in this step until a telematics information request is received from the telematics communication device 32.

When there is a telematics information request, in step 201, the content providing server 54 determines whether the power of the radio receiver 31 is on based on the setting information of the radio receiver 31 received simultaneously with the telematics information request. I do.
If the power of the radio receiver 31 is off, the process proceeds to step 209. If the power of the radio receiver 31 is on, the process proceeds to step 202.

In step 209, the content providing server 54 generates information to be presented using the content generation server 52 in response to a telematics information request from the user.
In step 210, the content providing server 54 transmits the generated information as information on a telematics program to be presented in response to a telematics information request requested by the user.

On the other hand, in step 202, the same information determination unit 55 specifies the type of information provided to the user by the radio receiver 31 and the information provider.
Here, in order to specify the type of information and the information provider, the same information determination unit 55 first sets the setting information of the radio receiver 31 transmitted from the telematics communication device 32 and the current time acquired from the current time acquisition unit 56. Thus, the radio program ID that can uniquely identify the radio program currently broadcast by the radio receiver 31 is acquired with reference to the radio program table 57.
After acquiring the radio program ID, the type and information of information provided to the user by the radio program provided from the radio receiver 31 by referring to the radio program master database 59 based on the acquired radio program ID. The provider can be identified.

  Further, in this embodiment, as the type of information of the specified radio program and the information provider, as shown in FIG. 3A, opening, traffic information provided from VICS, and general information provided from A newspaper News and sports news, weather information provided by a weather information provider, and ending.

  Returning to FIG. 2, in step 203, the identical information determination unit 55 extracts the telematics program ID from the telematics information request transmitted from the telematics communication device 32, and refers to the telematics program master database 58 based on the extracted telematics ID. Thereby, when a telematics program is transmitted based on a telematics information request, it is possible to specify the type of information and the information provider that are scheduled to be provided to the user from the telematics communication device 32.

  In the present embodiment, as the type of information and the information provider of the specified telematics program, as shown in FIG. 3B, traffic information provided by VICS, weather information provided by the Japan Meteorological Agency, B Sports news provided by newspapers, stock news provided by C news agency, and political news provided by D newspapers.

Returning to FIG. 2, in step 204, the same information determination unit 55 determines the identity between the information provided by the radio receiver 31 and the information scheduled to be provided through the telematics communication device 32.
The range of radio information used for the determination of identity is information provided in the near past, information currently provided, and information scheduled to be provided in the near future. The range of the near past and the near future is within the range of the radio program currently provided.
In this embodiment, the range of the radio information used for the identity determination is all information provided in the radio program 1 shown in FIG.
Therefore, the same information discriminating unit 55 compares the information provided in the radio program 1 shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B with the information provided in the telematics program 1 and A determination of identity is made.

Subsequently, in step 205, the content providing server 54 determines that the information requested by the user through the telematics communication device 32 and the information provided by the radio receiver 31 are all based on the result of identity determination by the identity determining unit 55. Determine whether the information is the same.
In addition, even if the type of information is the same, if the information provider is different, the information content differs depending on the information provider, so the information is not the same.
In this embodiment, the opening provided in the radio program 1, traffic information, general news, sports news, weather information, ending, traffic information provided by the telematics program 1, weather information, sports news, stock news, Comparison with political news is done.

  When the information provided from the radio receiver 31 and the information scheduled to be provided from the telematics communication device 32 are all the same information, in step 206, the content providing server 54 determines that the user is the telematics communication device 32. The information requested through the radio receiver 31 is the same as or provided with the radio receiver 31, and the information is not transmitted because it is not necessary to be provided to the user from the telematics communication device 32.

On the other hand, when the information provided from the radio receiver 31 and the information scheduled to be provided from the telematics communication device 32 are not all the same information, the process proceeds from step 205 to step 207 and the content providing server 54 uses the information. Among the information provided by the telematics program requested by the user, information that is not the same as the information provided by the radio receiver 31 and information that is the same type of information but is different from the information providing source are included in the content generation server 52. Generate using.
In the present embodiment, weather information, sports news, stock news, and political news are generated by the content generation server 52 as information provided by the telematics program 1 requested by the user.

  In step 208, the content providing server 54 uses the content generation server 52 as the information on the telematics program 1 to be presented in response to the telematics information request requested by the user from the communication terminal 51. To the machine 32.

As a result, information different from the information provided by the radio receiver 31 is provided from the telematics communication device 32 to the user.
For example, if the user requests the provision of a telematics program whose information provider is the content provider 13 using the telematics communication device 32 while listening to a radio program broadcast by the radio station 21 from the radio receiver 31, the same applies. The information determination unit 55 determines that the information providing source provided by the radio receiver 31 is different from the information providing source scheduled to be provided by the telematics communication device 32, and the content providing server 54 is requested. All the information to be provided by the telematics program is generated and provided to the telematics communication device 32.

  In this embodiment, the in-vehicle device 30 constitutes the information terminal in the present invention, and the telematics communication device 32 and the mobile communication terminal 33 constitute the information communication device in the present invention. Further, the content database 53 constitutes an information storage unit. Further, steps 205 to 208 constitute information provision control means in the present invention, and steps 202 to 204 constitute information type determination means in the present invention.

The present embodiment is configured as described above, and the content providing server 54 uses the content generation server 52 to generate only information whose type of information is different from the provider based on the determination result of the same information determination unit 55. The generated information is provided to the telematics communication device 32.
Thereby, the known information provided from the radio receiver 31 to the user is not repeatedly provided from the telematics communication device 32, and the user feels uncomfortable when the known information is repeatedly provided. There is no feeling.

By not providing the information provided by the radio receiver 31 from the telematics communication device 32, the communication time between the telematics communication device 32 and the information center 50 can be shortened and the communication cost can be reduced.
In addition, since no known information is provided to the user, the user can efficiently obtain unknown information.

  In the present embodiment, when the information provided from the radio receiver 31 and the information scheduled to be provided from the telematics communication device 32 are all the same information, no information is transmitted. However, information indicating that the information is the same as the information provided by the radio may be transmitted to the telematics communication device 32.

In the above embodiment, the range of radio information used by the same information determination unit 55 when determining the identity of information is the information provided in the near past, the information currently provided, and the information scheduled to be provided in the near future. Although it is assumed to be information, it is not limited to this.
For example, if the user starts to listen to the radio program shown in FIG. 3 (a) halfway (the radio receiver 31 is turned on) and makes a telematics information request without listening to traffic information, the same is true. Even if the information discriminating unit 55 determines that the traffic information of the radio program 1 and the traffic information of the telematics program 1 are the same, the content providing server 54 has not heard the traffic information from the progress of the radio program. It may be determined and the traffic information may be provided to the user.
The progress of the radio program can be determined by comparing the time when the radio program is started with the current time.

It is a figure which shows the whole structure of an Example. It is a figure which shows the flow of the process performed within an information center. It is a figure which shows the information which a radio program and a telematics program provide.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Content provider group 11, 12, 13 Content provider 20 Radio station group 21, 22 Radio station 30 Car equipment 31 Radio receiver 32 Telematics communication device 33 Mobile communication terminal 40 Network 50 Information center 51 Communication terminal 52 Content generation server 53 Content database 54 Content providing server 55 Same information determination unit 56 Current time acquisition unit 57 Radio program guide 58 Telematics program master database 59 Radio program master database

Claims (7)

An information center that provides information, a radio station that provides a radio program, a content provider that provides information to the information center and the radio station, information provided by the information center, and information provided by the radio station In an information providing system consisting of an information terminal that receives
The information terminal is
A radio receiver for receiving radio programs from the radio station;
An information communication device that makes an information provision request to the information center and receives information from the information center;
The information center
An information storage unit for storing information provided by the content provider;
An information provision control means for providing information stored in the information storage unit to the information communication device in response to an information provision request from an information communication device provided in the information terminal;
Information type determination means for determining whether information provided from a radio receiver of the information terminal and information scheduled to be provided in response to a request from the information communication device are the same,
When there is an information provision request from the information communication device,
The information type determination unit compares the type of information provided by the radio receiver and the information provider, and the type of information scheduled to be provided and the information provider according to the information provision request,
The information provision control means extracts from the information storage unit information obtained by removing information that is the same as the information type and the information provision source from the information to be provided from the comparison result by the information type determination means, An information providing system for transmitting the extracted information to the information communication device. The information communication device transmits the setting information of the radio receiver to the information center simultaneously with the information provision request,
The information type determination means specifies information provided from the radio receiver of the information terminal based on the setting information of the radio receiver transmitted from the information communication device, and requests from the information communication device. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the information is compared with information scheduled to be provided. 3. The radio receiver setting information is at least one of power-on / off information of the radio receiver, frequency information received by the radio receiver, and time information. Information provision system. When the information type determining unit determines that the information type and the information providing source are the same, the information providing control unit has the same information type and information providing source as the information communication device. The information providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a notification to that effect is made. The information provided by the radio receiver used when the information type determination unit compares the information is information provided in a radio program currently provided from the radio receiver. Item 5. The information providing system according to any one of Items 1 to 4. An information center that provides information, a radio station that provides a radio program, a content provider that provides information to the information center and the radio station, information provided by the information center, and information provided by the radio station An information center of an information providing system comprising an information terminal that receives
An information storage unit for storing information provided by the content provider;
Information provision control means for providing information stored in the information storage unit to the information terminal in response to an information provision request from the information terminal;
Information type determination means for determining whether the information of the radio program received by the information terminal is the same as the information scheduled to be provided in response to a request from the information terminal;
When there is an information provision request from the information terminal,
The information type determination means compares the information type and information provider of the radio program received by the information terminal with the information type and information provider scheduled to be provided in response to the information provision request. And
The information provision control means extracts from the information storage unit information obtained by removing information that is the same as the information type and the information provision source from the information to be provided from the comparison result by the information type determination means, An information center of an information providing system, wherein the extracted information is transmitted to the information terminal. An information center that provides information, a radio station that provides a radio program, a content provider that provides information to the information center and the radio station, information provided by the information center, and information provided by the radio station In an information providing method of an information providing system comprising an information terminal that receives
The information terminal makes an information provision request to the information center,
The information center compares the information type and information provider of the radio program received by the information terminal with the information type and information provider scheduled to be provided in response to the information provision request, Information obtained by excluding information having the same information type and information providing source from the information to be provided is extracted from the information storage unit, and the extracted information is transmitted to the information terminal. Information providing method of information providing system.

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