JP4755076B2 - Communication terminal, positioning system, and positioning method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication terminal, a positioning system, and a positioning method.

  Conventionally, autonomous positioning (UE-Based positioning) that processes radio waves (signals) from GPS (Global Positioning System) satellites by itself and positioning the current position, and positioning the current position in the positioning server Communication terminals that use hybrid positioning together are known. By using not only autonomous positioning but also hybrid positioning, the communication terminal is located in a place where it is difficult to receive radio waves from GPS satellites (for example, indoors, behind a building, etc.). The current position can be calculated. As a result, the current position of the communication terminal can be calculated with high accuracy as a whole.

For example, the following Patent Document 1 discloses a mobile terminal that uses GPS positioning (autonomous positioning), hybrid positioning, and base station positioning in combination. This portable terminal determines a positioning method according to the data stored in the setting table. In particular, when GPS positioning fails, either hybrid positioning or base station positioning is selected, and the current position of the mobile terminal is calculated by the selected positioning method.
JP 2005-77226 A

  However, in the portable terminal described in Patent Document 1, it is determined whether to perform hybrid positioning or base station positioning only after GPS positioning fails, and then the current position is calculated by the selected positioning method. Therefore, the positioning time may increase.

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide a communication terminal, a positioning system, and a positioning method that can calculate the current position of the communication terminal quickly and accurately. And

  In the communication terminal of the present invention, GPS receiving means for receiving a signal from a GPS satellite, calculating means for calculating the current position based on the signal received by the GPS receiving means, and calculation of the current position by the calculating means are started. Transmitting means for transmitting measurement information based on a signal received by the GPS receiving means to a positioning server that calculates a current position based on the measurement information, after a predetermined time has elapsed and before the calculation is completed; Calculated by the calculation means based on the result receiving means for receiving the current position calculated by the positioning server according to the measurement information transmitted by the transmitting means, the calculation result in the calculation means, and the reception result in the result receiving means. Selecting means for selecting either the current position or the current position received by the result receiving means as a positioning result.

  The positioning system of the present invention is a positioning system comprising a communication terminal and a positioning server for calculating the current position of the communication terminal, the communication terminal receiving GPS signals from GPS satellites, The calculation means for calculating the current position based on the signal received by the reception means, and received by the GPS reception means after a predetermined time has elapsed since the calculation of the current position by the calculation means was started and before the calculation is completed. Transmitting means for transmitting measurement information based on the received signal to a positioning server that calculates the current position based on the measurement information, and receiving the current position calculated by the positioning server according to the measurement information transmitted by the transmitting means Based on the result reception means, the calculation result of the calculation means and the reception result of the result reception means, the current position calculated by the calculation means or the result reception means Selecting means for selecting one of the received current positions as a positioning result, and the positioning server calculates the current position based on the measurement information transmitted by the transmitting means and transmits the current position to the communication terminal. Server-side calculating means is provided.

  The positioning method of the present invention includes a GPS reception step in which the communication terminal receives a signal from a GPS satellite, a calculation step in which the communication terminal calculates a current position based on the signal received in the GPS reception step, Based on the measurement information, the measurement information based on the signal received in the GPS reception step after the predetermined time has elapsed since the calculation of the current position in the calculation step is started and before the calculation ends. A transmission step for transmitting to the positioning server for calculating the current position, a result receiving step for the communication terminal to receive the current position calculated by the positioning server according to the measurement information transmitted in the transmission step, and a communication terminal for the calculation step On the basis of the calculation result in step 1 and the reception result in the result reception step, the current position or Results one of the received current position in the receiving step and a selection step of selecting as a positioning result.

  According to these communication terminals, positioning systems, and positioning methods, measurement information based on GPS satellite signals is transmitted to the positioning server while the current position is calculated in the communication terminals. Therefore, the positioning server obtains measurement information in advance regardless of the execution result of autonomous positioning in the communication terminal, starts calculation of the current position of the communication terminal, and provides the current position of the communication terminal to the communication terminal at an early stage. Is possible. The communication terminal transmits the measurement information to the positioning server after a predetermined time has elapsed since the communication terminal started autonomous positioning. Therefore, the positioning server can calculate the current position of the communication terminal using the latest measurement information. Since this method can be used to calculate the nearest position of the communication terminal, it is particularly effective when the position of the terminal is calculated while the communication terminal is moving. In addition, the positioning result is determined based on the calculation result at the communication terminal and the calculation result received from the positioning server. Therefore, it becomes possible to measure the current position of the communication terminal early and accurately.

  In the communication terminal according to the present invention, it is preferable that the predetermined time is set so that the transmission process performed a plurality of times by the transmission unit is terminated at the end of the calculation of the current position by the calculation unit.

  In this case, until the measurement information is transmitted for the first time after the calculation of the current position is started at the communication terminal for a predetermined time, that is, at the end of the calculation of the current position in the communication terminal. The time is determined. Therefore, a plurality of pieces of measurement information can be transmitted to the positioning server at a more appropriate time, and the positioning server can perform an appropriate positioning that takes both accuracy and processing speed into consideration.

  In the communication terminal of the present invention, the selection unit selects the current position as a positioning result when the current position calculated by the calculation unit is equal to or higher than a predetermined accuracy, and the current position calculated by the calculation unit is a predetermined value. If it is less than the accuracy, it is preferable to select the current position received by the result receiving means as the positioning result.

  In this case, either the current position calculated by the communication terminal or the current position calculated by the positioning server is selected as a positioning result based on the accuracy of the current position calculated by the communication terminal. Therefore, it is possible to accurately measure the current position of the communication terminal.

  According to such a communication terminal, positioning system, and positioning method, the current position of the communication terminal can be calculated quickly and accurately.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the description of the drawings, the same or equivalent elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.

  First, the positioning system 1 according to the embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of the positioning system 1. This positioning system includes a mobile phone (communication terminal) 10 and a hybrid positioning system 30 capable of data communication with the mobile phone 10 via a mobile communication network 20. Among these, the hybrid positioning system 30 includes an assist data generation server 31, a communication server 32, and a positioning server 33.

  The mobile phone 10 can receive a signal from the GPS satellite 40, calculate its current position based on the signal (autonomous positioning), and generate measurement information from the signal to generate a hybrid positioning system. 30 can be transmitted. On the other hand, the hybrid positioning system 30 is based on the measurement information from the mobile phone 10 and the distance information between the mobile device and the base station received from the base station (not shown) in the mobile communication network 20. It is possible to calculate the current position of the telephone 10 and transmit the calculation result to the mobile telephone 10 (hybrid positioning). Therefore, the mobile phone 10 can acquire its current position by autonomous positioning and hybrid positioning.

  In FIG. 1, for simplicity, one mobile phone 10 and one GPS satellite 40 are shown, but the positioning system 1 may include a plurality of mobile phones 10 and GPS satellites 40.

  Next, the functional configuration and hardware configuration of the mobile phone 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a functional configuration of the mobile phone 10 shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a hardware configuration diagram of the mobile phone 10.

  The cellular phone 10 includes, as functional components, a GPS antenna 11, a data communication antenna 12, a GPS receiving unit (GPS receiving unit) 13, an autonomous positioning unit (calculating unit) 14, a measurement information transmitting unit (transmitting unit) 15, A position information receiving unit (result receiving unit) 16, a reference position receiving unit 17, and a current position selecting unit (selecting unit) 18 are provided.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the cellular phone 10 includes a CPU 101 that executes an operating system, an application program, and the like, a main storage unit 102 that includes a ROM and a RAM, an auxiliary storage unit 103 that includes a memory, and mobile communication. The communication control unit 104 performs data communication via the network 20, the display unit 105 includes a liquid crystal monitor, and the operation unit 106 includes keys for inputting characters and numbers and executing instructions. Each function described with reference to FIG. 2 reads predetermined software on the CPU 101 and the main storage unit 102 shown in FIG. 3, operates the communication control unit 104 under the control of the CPU 101, and operates the main storage unit 102. Or by reading and writing data in the auxiliary storage unit 103.

  The GPS antenna 11 can receive a predetermined GPS signal from one or more GPS satellites 40. The data communication antenna 12 can transmit / receive a predetermined data signal to / from a base station (not shown) constituting the mobile communication network 20. In the present embodiment, the mobile phone 10 includes antennas for GPS and data communication, but the configuration of the antenna is not limited to this. For example, a single antenna and a plurality of frequency bands are separated. You may employ | adopt the sharing system using a possible sharing device.

  The GPS receiving unit 13 receives and decodes a signal (radio wave) input via the GPS antenna 11 and outputs the decoded data to the autonomous positioning unit 14. Since the GPS antenna 11 receives GPS signals from one or more GPS satellites 40, the GPS receiving unit 13 may output data from a plurality of GPS satellites 40 to the autonomous positioning unit 14.

  The autonomous positioning unit 14 calculates the current position of the mobile phone 10 based on one or more data input from the GPS receiving unit 13 each time (autonomous positioning), and uses the calculated current position as an autonomous positioning result as a current position selection unit. 18 is output. In particular, the autonomous positioning unit 14 can perform two-dimensional positioning when it can generate three pieces of measurement information, and can generate three-dimensional information when it can generate four pieces of measurement information. Positioning is possible. The calculated current position is represented by data including latitude and longitude and an error radius. For example, an autonomous positioning result indicating “35 degrees 39 minutes 31 seconds north latitude, 139 degrees 44 minutes 43 seconds east longitude, error radius 50 m” is calculated and output to the current position selection unit 18.

  Further, the autonomous positioning unit 14 generates measurement information corresponding to the data based on the input data after a predetermined time has elapsed since the start of the calculation of the current position and before the calculation ends. The measurement information is output to the measurement information transmission unit 15. The measurement information generated by the autonomous positioning unit 14 is the navigation message itself transmitted from the GPS satellite 40. This navigation message includes GPS satellite 40 orbit information, clock correction information, ionosphere correction data, almanac (general orbit information for each of a plurality of GPS satellites), and the like.

  The time when the autonomous positioning unit 14 starts to generate and output measurement information, that is, the predetermined time from the start of the calculation of the current position to the start of the generation of measurement information is a preset current position calculation. The time limit is determined based on the time limit and the time reserved for transmitting the measurement information to the hybrid positioning system 30 (hereinafter referred to as “transmission time”). At this time, the autonomous positioning unit 14 receives in advance from the hybrid positioning system 30 control information including the number of times of transmission of measurement information (times) and a transmission interval (seconds) in order to determine the transmission time. Then, the autonomous positioning unit 14 calculates a transmission time based on the received number of transmissions and a transmission interval, calculates a difference between the time limit and the transmission time, and determines this difference as a predetermined time.

  For example, when the time limit is set to 25 seconds in advance and control information including the number of transmissions “10 times” and the transmission interval “1 second” is received, the autonomous positioning unit 14 sets the transmission time to “1 second × 10 times = 10 seconds ”, and the difference“ 15 seconds ”between the limit time“ 25 seconds ”and the calculated transmission time“ 10 seconds ”is determined as the predetermined time. In this case, the autonomous positioning unit 14 outputs the first measurement information to the measurement information transmitting unit 15 when 15 seconds have elapsed since the start of the calculation of the current position.

  Thereafter, the autonomous positioning unit 14 generates measurement information for the designated number of transmissions (for example, 10 times) at the transmission interval specified by the received control information (for example, every second) and sends the measurement information to the measurement information transmission unit 15. Output. Since the latest data is input to the autonomous positioning unit 14 each time, the autonomous positioning unit 14 generates the latest measurement information each time and outputs the measurement information to the measurement information transmission unit 15.

  The measurement information transmission unit 15 transmits the measurement information input from the autonomous positioning unit 14 to the hybrid positioning system 30 via the mobile communication network 20. The time when the measurement information is first input to the measurement information transmission unit 15 is a predetermined time that is a difference between the time limit for calculating the current position in the autonomous positioning unit 14 and the transmission time secured for transmission of the measurement information. Before the calculation by the autonomous positioning unit 14 ends. Therefore, it can be said that the measurement information transmission unit 15 is a part that transmits measurement information after a predetermined time elapses and before the calculation ends. Further, by determining the transmission time in this way, transmission of the measurement information by the measurement information transmission unit 15 is completed at substantially the same time as when the autonomous positioning unit 14 ends the calculation. That is, the transmission processing performed a plurality of times by the measurement information transmission unit 15 is set to end in accordance with the end of calculation of the current position by the autonomous positioning unit 14.

  The position information receiving unit 16 receives the hybrid positioning result transmitted from the hybrid positioning system 30 according to the measurement information transmitted from the measurement information transmitting unit 15 and outputs the result to the current position selecting unit 18.

  The reference position receiving unit 17 receives a reference position (Reference Position) from a base station (not shown) in the mobile communication network 20 before starting autonomous positioning, and outputs it to the current position selecting unit 18. This reference position includes latitude and longitude and an error radius. For example, the reference position receiving unit 17 receives the reference position “35 degrees 39 minutes 20 seconds north latitude, 139 degrees 44 minutes 20 seconds east longitude, error radius 100 m”, and outputs the reference position to the current position selecting unit 18.

  The current position selection unit 18 is input from the autonomous positioning unit 14 based on the calculation result in the autonomous positioning unit 14, the reception result in the position information receiving unit 16, and the reference position input from the reference position receiving unit 17. The selected autonomous positioning result, the hybrid positioning result input from the position information receiving unit 16 or the reference position input from the reference position receiving unit 17 is selected as the current position (positioning result) of the mobile phone 10. The selected current position is displayed on the screen so that it can be visually recognized by the user of the mobile phone 10, or is output to another application program installed in the mobile phone 10.

  Specifically, when the autonomous positioning result is input but the hybrid positioning result is not input, the current position selection unit 18 compares the error positioning radius of the autonomous positioning result with the error radius of the reference position. The smaller positioning result is selected as the current position of the mobile phone 10. That is, when the error radius of the autonomous positioning result is equal to or smaller than the error radius of the reference position (when the autonomous positioning result is equal to or higher than a predetermined accuracy), the current position selection unit 18 displays the autonomous positioning result as the current position of the mobile phone 10. Select as position.

  Apart from this, when both the autonomous positioning result and the hybrid positioning result are input, the current position selection unit 18 first compares the error radius of the autonomous positioning result with the error radius of the reference position. Here, if the error radius of the autonomous positioning result is less than or equal to the error radius of the reference position (when the autonomous positioning result is greater than or equal to a predetermined accuracy), the current position selection unit 18 displays the autonomous positioning result as the current position of the mobile phone 10. Select as position. On the other hand, when the error radius of the autonomous positioning result is larger than the error radius of the reference position (when the autonomous positioning result is less than a predetermined accuracy), the current position selection unit 18 displays the hybrid positioning result as the current position of the mobile phone 10. Select as.

  Furthermore, when the hybrid positioning result is input but the autonomous positioning result is not input (when the autonomous positioning result is less than a predetermined accuracy), the current position selection unit 18 displays the hybrid positioning result as the current position of the mobile phone 10. Select as position. When neither the autonomous positioning result nor the hybrid positioning result is input, the current position selection unit 18 selects the reference position as the current position of the mobile phone 10.

  Next, the functional configuration of the hybrid positioning system 30 and the hardware configuration of each server included in the hybrid positioning system 30 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. 4 is a diagram showing a functional configuration of the hybrid positioning system 30 shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a hardware configuration diagram of the positioning server 33 included in the hybrid positioning system 30.

  The hybrid positioning system 30 includes, as functional components, an assist data generation unit 31a in the assist data generation server 31, a communication unit 32a in the communication server 32, a control information generation unit 33a in the positioning server 33, and a hybrid positioning. (Server side calculation means) 33b.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the positioning server 33 includes a CPU 331 that executes an operating system, application programs, and the like, a main storage device 332 that includes ROM and RAM, an auxiliary storage device 333 that includes a hard disk, a network card, and the like. The communication control device 334 includes an input device 335 such as a keyboard and a mouse, and an output device 336 such as a monitor and a printer. The functions of the control information generation unit 33a and the hybrid positioning unit 33b shown in FIG. 4 are such that predetermined software is read on the CPU 331 and the main storage device 332 shown in FIG. 5 and the communication control device 334 is controlled under the control of the CPU 331. This is realized by operating and reading and writing data in the main storage device 332 and the auxiliary storage device 333.

  The assist data generation server 31 and the communication server 32 also have the same hardware configuration as the positioning server 33. And each functional component with which these servers are equipped is also implement | achieved on hardware similarly to the control information generation part 33a in the positioning server 33, and the hybrid positioning part 33b.

  The assist data generation unit 31a generates and generates assist data indicating the distance between the mobile phone 10 and the base station based on a signal received from a base station (not shown) in the mobile communication network 20. The assist data is output to the hybrid positioning unit 33b.

  The communication unit 32a receives measurement information transmitted from the mobile phone 10 via the mobile communication network 20, and outputs the measurement information to the hybrid positioning unit 33b. In addition, the communication unit 32a transmits various control information input from the control information generation unit 33a and the hybrid positioning result input from the hybrid positioning unit 33b to the mobile phone 10 via the mobile communication network 20.

  The control information generation unit 33a outputs various control information for controlling the autonomous positioning executed by the mobile phone 10 to the communication unit 32a. As an example, the control information generation unit 33a generates control information including the number of transmissions and a transmission interval when the measurement information transmission unit 15 of the mobile phone 10 transmits measurement information, and outputs the control information to the communication unit 32a. . For example, the control information generation unit 33a generates and outputs control information including the number of transmissions “10 times” and the transmission interval “1 second”. In addition, when the hybrid positioning unit 33b receives the measurement information for a predetermined number of transmissions, the control information generation unit 33a generates and outputs control information for causing the mobile phone 10 to stop transmitting the measurement information. Note that the control information generated by the control information generation unit 33a is not limited to these.

  The hybrid positioning unit 33b calculates the current position of the mobile phone 10 based on the assist data input from the assist data generating unit 31a and the measurement information input from the communication unit 32a (hybrid positioning). Then, the hybrid positioning unit 33b outputs a hybrid positioning result indicating the calculated current position to the communication unit 32a. This hybrid positioning result includes latitude and longitude and an error radius. For example, the hybrid positioning unit 33b calculates and outputs a hybrid positioning result “35 degrees 39 minutes 10 seconds north latitude, 139 degrees 44 minutes 40 seconds east longitude, error radius 80 m”.

  Next, processing of the positioning system 1 shown in FIG. 1 will be described using FIG. 6 and a positioning method according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram showing processing of the positioning system 1 shown in FIG.

  When acquisition of the current position is instructed by a user of the mobile phone 10 or another application program, the mobile phone 10 and the hybrid positioning system 30 are connected via the mobile communication network 20 (not shown). Then, the control information including the number of transmissions and the transmission interval generated by the control information generation unit 33a is transmitted to the mobile phone 10 and held (step S01).

  In the mobile phone 10, based on the control information, the GPS receiver 13 starts to receive and decode signals from GPS satellites, and the decoded data is output from the GPS receiver 13 to the autonomous positioning unit 14 (step S02, GPS reception step). Then, the autonomous positioning unit 14 starts calculation of the current position (autonomous positioning) based on the input data (step S03, calculation step). While the autonomous positioning unit 14 is performing autonomous positioning, the GPS receiving unit 13 receives and decodes signals from GPS satellites, and the decoded data is sent from the GPS receiving unit 13 to the autonomous positioning unit 14 at a predetermined interval. (Step S04, GPS reception step).

  Then, when a predetermined time has elapsed since the start of autonomous positioning, the first measurement information is generated by the autonomous positioning unit 14, and the measurement information is output to the measurement information transmitting unit 15 (step S05). Next, the measurement information is transmitted to the hybrid positioning unit 33b by the measurement information transmission unit 15 (step S06, transmission step). The measurement information generation and transmission start timing depends on a predetermined time which is a difference between the time limit for autonomous positioning and the transmission time calculated from the number of transmissions and the transmission interval included in the control information received from the control information generation unit 33a. Determined.

  Thereafter, output of decoded data from the GPS receiving unit 13 to the autonomous positioning unit 14, output of measurement information from the autonomous positioning unit 14 to the measurement information transmitting unit 15, and measurement thereof from the measurement information transmitting unit 15 to the hybrid positioning unit 33b. Information transmission is executed according to the transmission interval and the number of transmissions included in the control information transmitted in step S01 (step S07, transmission step). Then, when the autonomous positioning by the autonomous positioning unit 14 ends due to the elapse of the time limit (step S08), the measurement information transmission unit 15 transmits the measurement information for the number of transmissions received to the hybrid positioning unit 33b. Is done.

  Thereafter, control information for stopping transmission of measurement information is generated by the control information generation unit 33a and transmitted to the mobile phone 10 (step S09). Next, the hybrid positioning unit 33b performs hybrid positioning based on measurement information from the mobile phone 10 (step S10), and the hybrid positioning result is transmitted to the mobile phone 10 via the communication unit 32a. This hybrid positioning result is received by the position information receiving unit 16 of the mobile phone 10 (result receiving step), and then input to the current position selecting unit 18 (step S11). On the other hand, in the mobile phone 10, the autonomous positioning result calculated by the autonomous positioning unit 14 is output to the current position selecting unit 18 (step S12). Finally, the current position selection unit 18 selects one positioning result among the input one or more positioning results as the current position of the mobile phone 10 (step S13, selection step).

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, while the current position is calculated in the autonomous positioning unit 14, the measurement information generated from the signal of the GPS satellite 40 by the autonomous positioning unit 14 is obtained from the positioning server 33. Sent to. Therefore, the positioning server 33 can acquire measurement information in advance regardless of the execution result of the autonomous positioning in the communication terminal, start calculating the current position of the mobile phone 10, and provide the positioning result to the mobile phone 10 at an early stage. It becomes possible. The measurement information transmission unit 15 transmits the measurement information to the positioning server 33 after a predetermined time has elapsed since the autonomous positioning unit 14 started autonomous positioning. Therefore, the positioning server 33 can calculate the current position of the mobile phone 10 using the latest measurement information. By using this method, the most recent position of the mobile phone 10 can be calculated, which is effective in calculating the position of the mobile phone 10 that often moves. In addition, the positioning result is determined based on the calculation result in the autonomous positioning unit 14 and the calculation result received from the positioning server 33. Therefore, the current position of the mobile phone 10 can be measured early and with high accuracy.

  In addition, according to the present embodiment, the calculation of the current position is started in the predetermined time, that is, the autonomous positioning unit 14 so that the transmission of the measurement information is completed at the end of the calculation of the current position in the autonomous positioning unit 14. Until the first time measurement information is transmitted. Therefore, a plurality of pieces of measurement information can be transmitted to the positioning server 33 at a more appropriate time, and the positioning server 33 can perform an appropriate positioning that takes both accuracy and processing speed into consideration. Become.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, the predetermined time from the start of autonomous positioning in the autonomous positioning unit 14 to the start of measurement information transmission by the measurement information transmitting unit 15 is based on the number of transmissions and the transmission interval transmitted from the positioning server 33. It is determined. Therefore, the predetermined time can be determined more easily, and the end of autonomous positioning and the end of measurement information transmission can be more accurately matched.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, when the autonomous positioning result calculated by the autonomous positioning unit 14 is equal to or higher than a predetermined accuracy, the autonomous positioning result is selected as the current position of the mobile phone 10, while the autonomous positioning result is When the positioning result is less than the predetermined accuracy, the hybrid positioning result calculated by the positioning server 33 is selected as the current position of the mobile phone 10. Therefore, it becomes possible to accurately measure the current position of the mobile phone 10.

  The present invention has been described in detail based on the embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. The present invention can be modified in various ways as described below without departing from the scope of the invention.

  In the above embodiment, the predetermined time is determined so that the transmission of the measurement information for a predetermined number of times is completed at the end of the autonomous positioning, but the measurement information processing method is not limited to this. For example, the predetermined time may be determined so that transmission of measurement information for a predetermined number of times ends before autonomous positioning ends, or transmission of measurement information for a predetermined number of times ends after autonomous positioning ends. The predetermined time may be determined as follows.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, the autonomous positioning part 14 starts the production | generation and output of measurement information after predetermined time progress, and the measurement information transmission part 15 outputs the measurement information input from the autonomous positioning part 14 to the hybrid positioning part 33b as it is. However, the processing method after the lapse of the predetermined time is not limited to this. For example, the autonomous positioning unit 14 generates measurement information regardless of before and after the lapse of a predetermined time and outputs the measurement information to the measurement information transmission unit 15 so that the measurement information transmission unit 15 starts transmitting the measurement information after the lapse of the predetermined time. The mobile phone 10 may be configured.

  In addition, the current position selection method in the current position selection unit 18 is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, when the autonomous positioning result and the hybrid positioning result are input to the current position selection unit 18, the error radius of the autonomous positioning result is compared with the error radius of the hybrid positioning result, and the error radius of the autonomous positioning result is determined by the hybrid positioning. The autonomous positioning result may be selected as the current position of the mobile phone 10 when the error radius is less than the result. Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the positioning result was selected by making the error radius of a reference position into predetermined precision, what is made into predetermined precision is not limited. For example, a predetermined fixed value may be determined as the predetermined accuracy.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the measurement information transmission part 15 transmitted the measurement information of the predetermined number of times, the measurement information transmission part 15 does not need to always transmit the number of times. For example, the control information generation unit 33a generates control information including a transmittable time (seconds) instead of the control information including the number of transmissions and the transmission interval, and the measurement information transmission unit 15 transmits the measurement information for the transmittable time. You may comprise the positioning system 1 so that it can do. In this case, the predetermined time can be set as a difference between the time limit for autonomous positioning and the transmittable time.

  In addition, the measurement information transmission unit 15 may calculate an autonomous positioning result with a predetermined accuracy or higher before transmitting the measurement information for the number of transmissions included in the control information from the control information generation unit 33a. Transmission of measurement information may be stopped. In this case, it is not necessary to perform hybrid positioning by the positioning server 33, and the current position selection unit 18 may select the autonomous positioning result as the current position of the mobile phone 10. This modification will be specifically described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram showing processing of the positioning system according to the modification.

  Processing from transmission of control information (step S21) to output of decoded data after the start of autonomous positioning (step S24) is the same as the processing from steps S01 to S04 in the above embodiment. However, in this modified example, after the predetermined time has elapsed and the number of times measurement information is generated and transmitted (the number of times less than the number of transmissions included in the control information) is performed (step S25), the autonomous positioning unit 14 calculates It is determined whether the obtained autonomous positioning result is equal to or higher than a predetermined accuracy and within the time limit (step S26). In the example shown in FIG. 7, it is determined that the autonomous positioning unit 14 has calculated an autonomous positioning result with a predetermined accuracy or more within the time limit, and the autonomous positioning is terminated (step S27). And the autonomous positioning part 14 produces | generates the positioning success notification which shows that autonomous positioning was successful, and transmits the positioning success notification to the positioning server 33 via the measurement information transmission part 15 (step S28). The positioning server 33 determines that the hybrid positioning is not performed in accordance with the positioning success notification, and ends the process (step S29).

  In the example shown in FIG. 7, when the autonomous positioning is not completed within the time limit, that is, when an autonomous positioning result equal to or greater than the predetermined system is not obtained within the time limit, first, from the control information generating unit 33a The autonomous positioning result is output from the autonomous positioning unit 14 to the current position selecting unit 18 in accordance with the control information (transmission stop instruction). Further, hybrid positioning is performed in the hybrid positioning unit 33b, and the hybrid positioning result is transmitted to the current position selecting unit 18. Then, the current position selection unit 18 selects one of the input positioning results as the current position of the mobile phone 10. That is, when the autonomous positioning is not completed within the time limit, the processes of steps S09 to S13 shown in FIG. 6 are performed.

  In FIG. 7, the autonomous positioning is finished after the measurement information is generated and transmitted a certain number of times. However, the autonomous positioning may be finished before a predetermined time elapses. Thus, by stopping transmission of measurement information when an autonomous positioning result with a predetermined accuracy or higher is calculated, the current position of the mobile phone 10 can be provided earlier. Further, unnecessary transmission of measurement information is avoided, so that the communication load on the mobile communication network 20 is reduced. Furthermore, since the autonomous positioning result is selected as the current position of the mobile phone 10 at an early stage, unnecessary hybrid positioning by the hybrid positioning system 30 is avoided.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the hybrid positioning system 30 was provided with the assist data generation server 31, the communication server 32, and the positioning server 33, the structure of the hybrid positioning system 30 is not limited to this. For example, the hybrid positioning system 30 may be configured by only one server, or the system may be configured by a plurality of servers different from the above embodiment.

  In the above embodiment, the mobile phone 10 is used as a communication terminal. However, a simple mobile phone (PHS: Personal Handy-phone System) or a portable information terminal (PDA: Personal Digital Assistant) is used as a communication terminal. May be used.

It is a figure showing the whole positioning system composition concerning an embodiment. It is a figure which shows the function structure of the mobile telephone shown by FIG. FIG. 3 is a hardware configuration diagram of the mobile phone shown in FIG. 2. It is a figure which shows the function structure of the hybrid positioning system shown by FIG. It is a hardware configuration of the positioning server shown in FIG. It is a sequence diagram which shows the process of the positioning system shown by FIG. It is a sequence diagram which shows the process of the positioning system which concerns on a modification.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Positioning system, 10 ... Mobile telephone (communication terminal), 13 ... GPS receiving part (GPS receiving means), 14 ... Autonomous positioning part (calculating means), 15 ... Measurement information transmitting part (transmitting means), 16 ... Position information Receiving unit (result receiving unit), 18 ... current position selecting unit (selecting unit), 30 ... hybrid positioning system, 33 ... positioning server, 33b ... hybrid positioning unit (server side calculating unit).

Claims (5)

GPS receiving means for receiving signals from GPS satellites;
Calculating means for calculating a current position based on a signal received by the GPS receiving means;
The measurement information based on the signal received by the GPS receiving means after the predetermined time has elapsed after the calculation of the current position by the calculation means is started and before the calculation is completed is based on the measurement information. Transmitting means for transmitting to the positioning server to calculate
A result receiving means for receiving the current position calculated by the positioning server according to the measurement information transmitted by the transmitting means;
Based on the calculation result of the calculation means and the reception result of the result reception means, either the current position calculated by the calculation means or the current position received by the result reception means is selected as a positioning result. A communication terminal comprising a selection unit.   2. The communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined time is set so that a transmission process performed a plurality of times by the transmission unit ends at the end of calculation of a current position by the calculation unit. .   The selection unit selects the current position as a positioning result when the current position calculated by the calculation unit is equal to or higher than a predetermined accuracy, and the current position calculated by the calculation unit is less than a predetermined accuracy. The communication terminal according to claim 1 or 2, wherein in this case, the current position received by the result receiving means is selected as a positioning result. A positioning system comprising a communication terminal and a positioning server that calculates a current position of the communication terminal,
The communication terminal is
GPS receiving means for receiving signals from GPS satellites;
Calculating means for calculating a current position based on a signal received by the GPS receiving means;
The measurement information based on the signal received by the GPS receiving means after the predetermined time has elapsed after the calculation of the current position by the calculation means is started and before the calculation is completed is based on the measurement information. Transmitting means for transmitting to the positioning server to calculate
A result receiving means for receiving the current position calculated by the positioning server according to the measurement information transmitted by the transmitting means;
Based on the calculation result of the calculation means and the reception result of the result reception means, either the current position calculated by the calculation means or the current position received by the result reception means is selected as a positioning result. Selecting means,
The positioning server
Calculating a current position based on the measurement information transmitted by the transmission means, and comprising a server-side calculation means for transmitting the current position to the communication terminal;
A positioning system characterized by that. A GPS reception step in which the communication terminal receives a signal from a GPS satellite; and
A calculation step in which the communication terminal calculates a current position based on the signal received in the GPS reception step;
Measurement information based on the signal received in the GPS reception step after the predetermined time has elapsed after the communication terminal starts calculating the current position in the calculation step and before the calculation ends. A transmission step of transmitting to a positioning server that calculates a current position based on
A result receiving step in which the communication terminal receives the current position calculated by the positioning server according to the measurement information transmitted in the transmitting step;
Based on the calculation result in the calculation step and the reception result in the result reception step, the communication terminal determines either the current position calculated in the calculation step or the current position received in the result reception step. A positioning method comprising a selection step of selecting as a positioning result.

Images