JP4692942B2 - Communication support device for portable terminal and communication system using the same - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus that supports communication using a portable terminal with a GPS function, and a system using the same.

  In recent years, services that support communication between strangers have increased on the Internet including mobile phone networks, and the number of users has been increasing year by year. In such a service, a plurality of users are connected to the WWW server of the management center that provides the service by using a fixed terminal, a portable terminal, etc., and the management center server has attributes such as the user's hobbies and ages. Based on the above, matching between users is performed, and communication between users becomes possible. Note that in this specification, mobile phones are abbreviated as mobile terminals.

  When communication is possible, the user can provide personal information such as contact information from one to the other or each other via the server, and the parties can actually meet each other. In particular, in recent years, communication is frequently performed between users using a portable terminal that can be connected to the Internet.

Note that prior art document information relating to the invention of this application includes the following.
JP 2001-357158 A

  As communication support services such as those described above become widespread, strangers are more likely to communicate with each other, but there is an increasing need to prevent crimes that exploit them. For example, when a stranger communicates with each other using a mobile terminal, users can communicate with each other wherever they are basically, so even if they do not aim to meet, they can be from any specific place. Organizationally, various personal information of a plurality of users can be obtained. Then, there is a possibility that various crimes will occur by misusing the obtained personal information.

  On the other hand, by using the communication support service effectively, strangers can meet each other, become friends, and sometimes get married. There are also people who want to meet with users in their surroundings using a little free time at their travel destinations and claims. That is, in many cases, a communication support service using a mobile terminal is used for the purpose of such a serious encounter. However, there is a problem that this service may be misused and linked to a crime. ing.

  Therefore, in view of the present situation described above, the present invention has an object to provide a communication support device for a mobile terminal capable of reducing crimes that abuse this type of service and a communication system using the same.

The communication support system according to claim 1, wherein has been made to solve the above problem, as shown in FIG. 1 (B), is communicatively connected to a plurality of user portable terminal 11 has subscribed to the Internet, the user portable A device that supports communication between the terminals 11, a schedule storage unit 4 </ b> D that acquires and stores in advance a scheduled communication time zone and a scheduled communication area of the user portable terminal 11, a position of the user portable terminal 11, and From the position time acquisition means 4E that sequentially acquires the acquisition time of this position and one user portable terminal 11 out of the user portable terminals 11 , a communication scheduled time zone and a communication scheduled area are input and set as search conditions. Scheduled communication time entered as search criteria The user portable terminal 11 that matches the scheduled communication area is read from the schedule storage means 4D and listed up, and the listed user portable terminal 11 is connected to the one user portable terminal side. The position transmitting means 4I for transmitting to 11 and the position of the user portable terminal 11 selected by the one user portable terminal 11 from the listed user portable terminals 11 by the position time acquiring means 4E. Means for acquiring and determining whether or not both of the one user portable terminal 11 and the selected user portable terminal 11 are in a communication scheduled area input and set as a search condition; and the one user Both the mobile terminal 11 and the selected user mobile terminal 11 are input as search conditions. If it is determined that existing in communication planned area, which is a; and a communication control unit 4G to allow communication between the user portable terminal 11 of one the the user portable terminal 11 said selected To do.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the scheduled communication time zone and the scheduled communication area of the plurality of user portable terminals 11 are acquired and stored in advance. Then, the user portable terminal 11 that matches the predetermined scheduled communication time zone and the communication scheduled area desired by one of the user portable terminals 11 is searched as a communication partner, and communication is permitted between the two user portable terminals 11. .

The communication support system according to claim 2, which has been made to solve the above problem, is a communication support system for a mobile terminal using the communication support device according to claim 1 , wherein the user mobile terminal 11 includes: A mobile terminal without a GPS function whose position is acquired based on the location of the wireless base station to which the user mobile terminal 11 belongs is also included.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, not only a GPS portable terminal for the purpose of position acquisition, but also a portable terminal without a GPS function can be used in the communication support system.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the scheduled communication time zone and the scheduled communication area of the plurality of user portable terminals 11 are acquired and stored in advance. Then, the user portable terminal 11 that matches the predetermined scheduled communication time zone and the communication scheduled area desired by one of the user portable terminals 11 is searched as a communication partner, and communication is permitted between the two user portable terminals 11. . Therefore, the user can communicate with the other party with more peace of mind, and personal information is less likely to be abused. As a result, crimes that abuse this type of service can be reduced.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, not only a GPS portable terminal for the purpose of position acquisition, but also a portable terminal without a GPS function can be used in the communication support system. Therefore, any portable terminal can be applied to this communication support system.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First, the entire system and hardware according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a system configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 3A and 3B are block diagrams showing configurations of a GPS portable terminal and a portable terminal without a GPS function, respectively. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a member information database.

  In FIG. 2, each of the users SB1 to SB11 owns and carries either a well-known GPS portable terminal 11 or a portable terminal 11 ′ having no GPS function. Both the GPS portable terminal 11 and the portable terminal 11 ′ can be connected to the Internet (including a portable network), and their owners subscribe to a communication support service provided by the management center 4. This communication support service basically supports communication between users, similar to the support service described above, but has been devised to increase safety. This will be described later. The GPS portable terminal 11 and the portable terminal 11 ′ correspond to the user portable terminal in the claims.

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3A, the GPS portable terminal 11 includes a control unit 110, a transmission / reception unit 111, a GPS reception unit 112, a storage unit 113, a transmission / reception unit 114, an operation unit 115, and a display unit 116. Consists of. The GPS portable terminal 11 is basically intended for a call, but in recent years, it is also used as a terminal for collecting location information and a terminal for message transmission / reception other than a call.

  The control unit 110 basically includes a microcomputer including a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM, and the CPU executes various processes including the control according to the present embodiment in accordance with a control program stored in the ROM. The RAM appropriately stores data, programs, and the like necessary for the CPU to execute various processes. The control unit 110 performs control related to a call according to a control program stored in the ROM, reads the terminal ID 113a corresponding to the telephone number stored in the storage unit 113, or uses the GPS reception unit 112. Get location information.

  The transmission / reception unit 111 includes a modem, and is wirelessly connected to the radio base station 33 of the mobile phone communication network 3 to transmit / receive call information and position information. The GPS receiver 112 receives GPS signals from a plurality of GPS satellites 8 constituting the GPS via the GPS antenna 112a, and acquires current position information based on the GPS signals. The storage unit 113 stores at least a terminal ID 113a corresponding to the telephone number of the terminal 11. The transmitter / receiver unit 114 includes a microphone and a speaker used during a call. The operation unit 115 includes a call destination, a numeric keypad for performing various settings, and the like. The display unit 116 is configured by an LCD that displays various information, transmission / reception messages, operation guidance, and the like. Note that the GPS portable terminal 11 includes a battery (not shown).

  Specifically, the portable terminal 11 ′ without the GPS function includes a control unit 110, a transmission / reception unit 111, a storage unit 113, a transmission / reception unit 114, an operation unit 115, and a display unit 116, as shown in FIG. Composed. That is, the mobile terminal 11 ′ is obtained by removing the GPS receiving unit 112 and the GPS antenna 112 a related thereto from the GPS mobile terminal 11. Therefore, since the position information collecting function using GPS is the same as that of the GPS mobile terminal 11 described above, redundant description is omitted. The mobile terminal 11 ′ without the GPS function does not have a position information collecting function by itself, but it has a certain degree of self-regulation from the service area to which the own terminal belongs, that is, from the location of the base station where the received electric field of the control signal generated by the own terminal is strongest. The current position of the terminal can be grasped. Therefore, a portable terminal 11 ′ without a GPS function can also be applied to this system.

  Returning to FIG. 2, the GPS mobile terminal 11 and the mobile terminal 11 ′ are communicatively connected to the management center 4 via the mobile phone communication network 3. The mobile phone communication network 3 is an established communication network compatible with the Internet provided by NTT Docomo, for example. The mobile phone communication network 3 is connected to the GPS mobile terminal 11 and the mobile terminal 11 via the radio base station 33. 'Is connected to the communication. Needless to say, the GPS portable terminal 11 and the portable terminal 11 ′ can talk to each other and can also talk to a wired telephone (not shown). The mobile phone communication network 3 is also connected to the management center 4 via the connection center 34.

  The mobile phone communication network 3 also includes a mobile phone switch 31 and a location registration device 32. These are usually deployed in the operation company of the mobile phone communication network 3. As is well known, the mobile telephone switch 31 is a communication control device that controls the line connection between mobile terminals (may be mobile terminals between different companies) and the line connection between the mobile terminal and a fixed telephone. The location registration device 32 registers information such as information indicating which base station each mobile terminal is under control of, ie, which service area it belongs to, while sequentially updating it. Further, in the case of the GPS portable terminal 11, the position registration device 32 registers the position of the terminal obtained from the GPS while sequentially updating it. That is, it is assumed that the latest positions of all the mobile terminals are registered in the position registration device 32.

  The management center 4 is a kind of ASP (Application Service Provider) that is also connected to the Internet 5 and provides this service, and includes an information processing device 41, a communication device 42, and a storage device 43. ASP is an operator that provides various services using a wide-area communication network such as the Internet, which is becoming popular in recent years. The information processing device 41 receives information via a communication device 42 including a router and a DSU (digital line connection device), and performs a communication function with the GPS mobile terminal 11 and the like, processing related to this service, and the like. And a computer device having a ROM. The processing procedure of this apparatus will be described later with reference to FIG. The management center 4 does not indicate a building, but here refers to a device. Therefore, the management center 4 corresponds to the communication support apparatus in the claims.

  The storage device 43 stores at least a program file 431 and a terminal subscriber information database 432. The storage device 43 corresponds to schedule storage means in the claims.

  The program file 431 is communication control software that enables communication with the mobile terminal, and software for executing a processing procedure according to the present invention described later. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the terminal subscriber information database 432 includes a member code, a communication schedule area, a communication scheduled time zone, a member profile, and a message. The member code is information for identifying each user of the service. The member profile is detailed information relating to each user input when subscribing to the service, and includes, for example, a name (nickname), gender, age, occupation, hobby, and the like. Profile registration is based on the consent of each user.

  The scheduled communication area and the scheduled communication time zone are those transmitted from users who wish to communicate among users who subscribe to this service. Specifically, the communication scheduled area is latitude / longitude information indicating an area scheduled for communication, and the communication scheduled time zone is information indicating a time zone scheduled for communication.

For example, if “Shinjuku station premises” is transmitted as “Scheduled communication area” and “December 20 evening” as the scheduled communication time zone from “One user”, the terminal subscriber information database 432 stores “One user. In correspondence with the membership code, the latitude and longitude information indicating the Shinjuku station premises is indicated in the communication scheduled area, and the communication scheduled time zone is from 6:00 on December 20, 2004 to 7:00 on December 20, 2004. Etc. are set.

  In addition, latitude and longitude information indicating safe and representative event venues, leisure spots such as landmarks, amusement parks, ski resorts, etc. are registered in the system in advance as communication scheduled areas, so that the user can set the area. Becomes easier.

  The management center 4 is connected to the Internet 5 through the connection center 34 together with the mobile phone communication network 3. The Internet 5 includes Internet-compatible mobile phone networks of different companies. The Internet 5 is connected to a fixed terminal deployed at the user's home or the like.

  Next, the processing procedure according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure at the time of schedule registration according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure during operation according to an embodiment of the present invention. 7 to 11 are diagrams showing display examples on the display unit of the mobile terminal according to the processing procedure of FIG. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a display example on the display unit of the partner mobile terminal.

  At the time of schedule registration, in step S101 of FIG. 5, the member code is input at the GPS portable terminal 11 (may be the portable terminal 11 ′) that desires communication. Next, in step S102, a connection request is transmitted together with the member code by a predetermined operation of the portable terminal. These are transmitted to the management center 4 via the radio base station 33, the mobile phone communication network 3 and the connection center 34.

  In step S401, the management center 4 refers to the member code registered in the member information database 432 and authenticates the received member code. If authenticated (Y in step S401), the process proceeds to step S402, and the connection permission is returned to the portable terminal 11 through the reverse route.

  In the mobile terminal 11 that is permitted to connect, the scheduled communication time zone as described above is set in step S103, and the scheduled communication area as described above is set in step S104. Next, in step S105, a registration request is transmitted together with the member code by a predetermined operation of the portable terminal. These are transmitted to the management center 4 via the radio base station 33, the mobile phone communication network 3 and the connection center 34.

  In the management center 4, in step S403, the received scheduled communication time zone and the scheduled communication area are registered in association with the member code. When the registration is completed, the process proceeds to step S404, where the registration completion is returned to the portable terminal 11 through the reverse route, and a series of registration processing on the management center side is completed.

  Then, in the portable terminal 11 that has received the registration completion, in step S106, that effect is displayed on the display unit 116, and the series of registration processing on the portable terminal side ends.

  If the authentication is not performed in step S401 of the management center 4 (N in step S401), the process proceeds to step S405, and connection rejection is returned to the portable terminal 11 via the route, and the process proceeds to step S401. Return. In response to this, the portable terminal 11 displays that fact on the display unit 116 and returns to step S101.

On the other hand, at the time of operation, in step S111 in FIG. 6, the member code is input at the GPS portable terminal 11 (may be the portable terminal 11 ′) that desires communication. Next, in step S112, a connection request is transmitted together with the member code by a predetermined operation of the portable terminal. These are transmitted to the management center 4 via the radio base station 33, the mobile phone communication network 3 and the connection center 34.

  In step S411, the management center 4 refers to the member code registered in the member information database 432 and authenticates the received member code. When authenticated (Y in step S411), the process proceeds to step S412 and the connection permission is returned to the portable terminal 11 through the reverse route.

  In the mobile terminal 11 that is permitted to be connected, in step S113, a search condition input screen that prompts the user to input the scheduled communication time zone and the scheduled communication area as described above is displayed on the display unit 116, but this search is performed in step S114. As a search condition for the condition input screen, a scheduled communication time zone and a scheduled communication area are input and set. As described above, the input scheduled communication time zone can be input such as “December 20 evening” indicating the future time zone, or can be input such as “present” indicating the current time. It is. As described above, the communication scheduled area to be input can be input such as “in Shinjuku Station”, or vaguely “periphery” or the like. However, the definition of the periphery is set in the system in advance, such as within a 5 km radius from the own terminal. As a result of such input setting, a screen 116a showing the input setting result as shown in FIG. In step S115, the input search condition is transmitted to the management center 4 via the radio base station 33, the mobile phone communication network 3, and the connection center 34.

  In the management center 4 that has received the search condition, the current position of the portable terminal 11 is acquired in step S413. Since the latest location of each mobile terminal is basically registered in the location registration device 32 in the mobile phone communication network 3, the management center 4 obtains permission and accesses the location registration device 32. Thus, the current position of the terminal can be acquired.

  Next, a condition search is performed based on the search condition received in step S414, and the search result is transmitted to the mobile terminal 11 through a route reverse to the above in step S415. At the time of the condition search, the member information database 432 in the storage unit 43 is referred to. For example, in the set scheduled communication time zone, only the mobile phone users SB1 to SB8 belonging to the scheduled communication area AR set as the search condition are searched among the mobile phone users SB1 to SB11 in FIG.

  The management center 4 that has received the search result displays the search result on the display unit 116 in step S116. In this display example, for example, as shown in FIG. 8, it is preferable that peripheral members [1] to [5] of the listed self-terminal are listed in the order close to the self-terminal. In step S116, a communication partner is selected from the listed peripheral members [1] to [5] using the operation unit 115. Here, when it is desired to search the peripheral members [1] to [5] under different conditions (N in Step S117), it is possible to return to Step S113 by specifying “Return” in [0]. is there.

  In step S117, if there is a member to be selected, the number can be designated to proceed to step S118. In step S118, as shown in FIG. 9, detailed information 116c regarding the selected communication partner is displayed. For example, name, age, gender, and message are displayed as detailed information. For displaying the detailed information, the member information database 432 of the storage unit 43 is referred to.

  Next, when the “contact” button in FIG. 9 is designated in step S117, the process can proceed to step S119. In step S119, as shown in FIG. 10, a message creation screen 116d is displayed on display unit 116, and a desired message is entered. When the “Send” button in FIG. 10 is designated, the process proceeds to step S120.

  Next, in step S120, the selected communication partner and the typed message are transmitted to the management center 4 via the radio base station 33, the mobile phone communication network 3, and the connection center 34.

  In step S117, the management center 4 that has received the communication partner and the message obtains the current location of the communication partner by accessing the location registration device 32. This is because the above-described condition search is performed based on a communication scheduled area set in the past, and therefore, it is for confirming that this condition is actually satisfied even at the present time.

  Next, in step S417, it is determined whether or not both, that is, the communication applicant and the communication partner are within the communication planned area as a condition. For this determination, the position acquisition results in steps S413 and S416 are referred to.

  Then, if it is determined that both are currently in the scheduled communication area (Y in step S417), in step S418, the message created in step S119 is transmitted to the communication partner. As a result, a message from a communication applicant as shown in FIG. 12 is delivered to the display unit of the mobile terminal on the communication partner side, and communication between the two is permitted. Since the subsequent exchange is the same as that of the regulation service, the description is omitted.

  If authentication is not performed in step S411 of the management center 4 (N in step S411), or if neither of them is within the predetermined area in step S417 (in step S417). N), the process proceeds to step S419, the connection disapproval is returned to the portable terminal 11 via the route, and the process returns to step S411. In response to these, the portable terminal 11 displays messages 116e and 116f to that effect as shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B, respectively, on the display unit 116, and returns to step S111.

  As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, only the user portable terminals (carried by the users SB1 to SB8) belonging to the desired communication area AR are allowed to communicate, so the user can feel secure. It becomes possible to communicate with the other party, and personal information is hard to be abused. As a result, crimes that abuse this type of service can be reduced. Furthermore, it is possible to communicate with users in the vicinity easily and safely by using a little free time at a travel destination or claiming destination.

  In addition to the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1A, position acquisition means 4A for sequentially acquiring the position of the user portable terminal 11 and one user portable terminal among the user portable terminals 11. The search means 4B for searching only the user portable terminal 11 belonging to the predetermined communication area desired by the user 11 based on the position of the user portable terminal 11 acquired by the position acquisition means 4A, and the searched user portable terminal 11 And a communication control unit 4C that permits communication with one user portable terminal 11.

It is a block diagram which shows the basic composition of this invention. It is a figure which shows the system configuration | structure which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. FIGS. 3A and 3B are block diagrams showing configurations of a GPS portable terminal and a portable terminal without a GPS function, respectively. It is a figure which illustrates a member information database. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence at the time of the schedule registration which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence at the time of the operation | movement which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a display on the display part of the portable terminal which concerns on the process sequence of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a display on the display part of the portable terminal which concerns on the process sequence of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a display on the display part of the portable terminal which concerns on the process sequence of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a display on the display part of the portable terminal which concerns on the process sequence of FIG. 11A and 11B are diagrams illustrating a display example on the display unit of the mobile terminal according to the processing procedure of FIG. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a display example on the display unit of the partner mobile terminal.

Explanation of symbols

3 Mobile phone communication network 4 Management center (communication support device)
5 Internet 6 Fixed terminal 8 GPS satellite 11 GPS mobile terminal (user mobile terminal)
11 'mobile phone (user mobile terminal)
31 Mobile phone switch 32 Location registration device 33 Base station 34 Connection center 41 Information processing device 42 Communication device 43 Storage device SB1 to SB11 Mobile phone users

Claims (2)

A device connected to a plurality of user portable terminals subscribed to the Internet and supporting communication between the user portable terminals,
Schedule storage means for acquiring and storing in advance the scheduled communication time zone and scheduled communication area of the user portable terminal;
Position time acquisition means for sequentially acquiring the position of the user portable terminal and the acquisition time of the position;
When a scheduled communication time zone and a scheduled communication area are input and set as search conditions from one of the user mobile terminals , the scheduled communication time zone and communication schedule that are input and set as search conditions A user portable terminal that matches the area is read from the schedule storage means, and listed up means for listing up,
List transmitting means for transmitting the listed user portable terminal to the one user portable terminal side;
The position of the user portable terminal selected by the one user portable terminal from the listed user portable terminals is acquired by the position time acquisition means, and the one user portable terminal and the selected user portable terminal are selected. A means for determining whether or not the user mobile terminal is in the communication scheduled area that is input and set as a search condition;
When it is determined that both the one user portable terminal and the selected user portable terminal are in the communication scheduled area set as a search condition,
Communication control means for permitting communication between the selected user portable terminal and the one user portable terminal;
A communication support device for a portable terminal, comprising: A mobile terminal communication support system using the communication support apparatus according to claim 1 ,
The user portable terminal includes a portable terminal having no GPS function, the position of which is acquired based on the location of the wireless base station to which the user portable terminal belongs.
This is a communication support system for portable terminals.

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